New Music Musings

Happy Saturday and welcome to the latest installment of my weekly new music review. All picks are included on albums that appeared yesterday (August 25).

Mason Jennings/Fear Is Wrong

Mason Jennings, who was born in Hawaii, is a Minneapolis-based roots and folk-oriented singer-songwriter who began playing guitar and writing songs when he was 13. AllMusic notes he blends the personal insights of a poet, the political broadsides of a protest singer, and the broad musical eclecticism of a jazz musician with a rock & roller’s passion. Since his self-released eponymous debut in June 1997, 15 additional studio albums have come out, including his latest, Underneath the Roses. Here’s the great Fear Is Wrong.

MxPx/Stay Up All Night

MxPx are a punk rock band from Bremerton, Wash., who were founded as Magnified Plaid in 1992 by 15-year-old high school students Mike Herrera (lead vocals, bass), Yuri Ruley (drums, percussion) and Andy Husted (lead guitar). Herrera and Ruley remain part of the current line-up, which also includes Tom Wisniewski (lead guitar, backing vocals) and Chris Adkins (rhythm guitar, backing vocals). To date, MxPx have released 14 studio albums. From their latest, Find a Way Home, here’s the melodic Stay Up All Night, written by Herrera.

Sonny & The Sunsets/Androids

Sonny & The Sunsets are a San Francisco-based band around songwriter, author, filmmaker and visual artist Sonny Smith. According to the group’s Bandcamp page, their busted beach-pop songs spark recollections of doo wop’s otherworldly despair, a dose of goofball humor from the Michael Hurley school, and positive possibilities exuded by Jonathan Richman. Sonny & The Sunsets’ full-length debut Tomorrow Is Alright appeared in 2009. Off their new album Self Awareness Through Macrame, here’s Androids.

Ratboys/Morning Zoo

Chicago-based indie rock band Ratboys were formed in 2010 by songwriters and then-Notre Dame students Julia Steiner (guitar, vocals) and Dave Sagan (guitar). The group also includes Sean Neumann (bass, vocals) and Marcus Nuccio (drums). In June 2015, they released their debut album AOID. Their fifth and latest album is titled The Window. Here’s Morning Zoo, a catchy tune credited to all four members of the band.

Old Crow Medicine Show/One Drop

Old Crow Medicine Show are a Nashville, Tenn.-based Americana string band formed in 1998. According to their Apple Music profile, they have influenced a generation of 21st-century roots musicians with their infectious mix of hollers, jug band favorites, and pre-rock ’n’ roll blues. I first featured them in this new music review from April 2022 with a tune from their then-latest album Paint This Town. One Drop featuring the great Mavis Staples is from their latest release Jubilee, an appropriate title as the band celebrates their 25th anniversary

Alice Cooper/Welcome to the Show

My final pick for this week is by an artist who I trust doesn’t need much of an introduction. At 75 years and after a 50-year-plus recording career, Alice Cooper continues to shock rock. Following seven albums with the band of the same name, Cooper launched his solo career in 1975 with the release of the cheerfully titled the Welcome to My Nightmare. From his 22nd and latest solo album Road, which was recorded with his touring band live-in-studio, here’s Welcome to the Show – now, that’s what a call an upbeat title!

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; Mason Jennings website; MxPx website; Sonny & The Sunsets Bandcamp page; Ratboys website; Old Crow Medicine Show website; Alice Cooper website; YouTube; Spotify