Best of What’s New

Happy Saturday! The new music show must go on. Here’s what I found this week. All tunes are on releases that appeared yesterday (Nov 30).

Warren Zeiders/One Hell of an Angel

My first pick is by Warren Zeiders, a young country singer-songwriter from Pennsylvania. From his website: Warren Zeiders’ distinctive, high energy country music is powered by a steady supply of youthful grit, honesty, and muscle. Hailing from Hershey, Pennsylvania, the 22-year-old singer/ songwriter delivers outlaw sermons in a gravelly, world-weary voice that belies his young age. His music is suited more to the vast wilderness of his home state than the bright lights of Nashville, injecting a healthy dose of Heartland ethos into the honky tonks of Music City. But it’s that space he lives in—between lonesome outsider and magnetic performer—that helps him relate to listeners from all walks of life through songs fueled by unshakeable soul-searching. This brings me to 717 Tapes The Album, Zeiders’ new release, which combines songs from two previous 717 Tapes EPs (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) with four new tunes. Here’s one of the latter, One Hell of an Angel, co-written by Zeiders, Benjy Davis and Josh Jenkins – nice country rocker!

Pixies/Vault of Heaven

Pixies are an alternative rock band from Boston, associated with the ’90s alternative rock boom. During their initial phase from 1986 until 1993, they released four albums. They broke up in early 1993 and reunited 10 years later. Their current line-up includes co-founding members Black Francis (lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar), Joey Santiago (lead guitar, backing vocals) and David Lovering (drums, percussion, backing vocals), together with Paz Lenchantin (bass, violin, backing and lead vocals), who became a member of the group after they reunited. Vault of Heaven, penned by Francis (credited as Charles Thompson, his birth name), is a track from Pixies’ eighth and latest studio album Doggerel. Good song. The video is a bit odd!

Snarky Puppy/Keep It On Your Mind

While I didn’t know any of their music, I had heard of Snarky Puppy before and based on their name pictured a punk band – well, not exactly! From their AllMusic bio: An acclaimed fusion-influenced jam band, Snarky Puppy have built a loyal following with their adventurous blend of jazz, rock, and funk. Led by bassist Michael League, the Texas group emerged in the mid-2000s and garnered buzz with albums like 2006’s The Only Constant, 2010’s Tell Your Friends, and 2013’s Family Dinner, Vol. 1, which took home the Grammy for Best R&B Performance for their cover of the Brenda Russell song “Something” featuring singer Lalah Hathaway. More accolades followed, including further Grammy Awards for 2015’s Sylva and 2016’s Culcha Vulcha, the latter of which also topped Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart. The band again reached the Top Ten of the jazz charts with 2019’s Immigrance and picked up their fourth Grammy Award for 2020’s Live at the Royal Albert Hall. Empire Central is the group’s new live-recorded album that thematically revolves around the Texas city of Dallas. Here’s Keep It On Your Mind – definitely very different from what I expected. That said, I like it!

Dropkick Murphys/Talking Jukebox

What a coincidence – only three weeks ago, I featured some new music by Irish-American Celtic punk band Flogging Molly. Now it’s the turn of their Boston area cousins Dropkick Murphys who were formed in 1996, the year before Flogging Molly. Since their January 1998 debut Do or Die, the Murphys have released 10 additional albums, including their latest This Machine Still Kills Fascists. The all-acoustic album is composed of unused lyrics and words by Woody Guthrie and is the group’s first without lead vocalist Al Barr who was on hiatus from the band to take care of his ailing mother. In addition to Barr, Dropkick Murphys feature Ken Casey (lead and backing vocals, bass), Tim Brennan (accordion, mandolin, bouzouki, keyboard, piano, tin whistle, backing vocals, lead guitar), James Lynch (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Jeff DaRosa (banjo, mandolin, bouzouki, guitar, keyboard, piano, harmonica, tin whistle, backing vocals) and Matt Kelly (drums, bodhrán, backing vocals). Here’s Talking Jukebox. The music is credited to the band.

This post wouldn’t be complete with a Spotify playlist of the above songs and a few additional tunes by each of the featured artists.

Sources: Wikipedia; Warren Zeiders website; AllMusic; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

It’s Saturday, which means the time has come again to take a fresh look at newly released music. All highlighted tunes appear on albums that came out yesterday (Sep 9).

Flogging Molly/Lead The Way

Irish-American Celtic punk band Flogging Molly, founded in 1997, are kicking off this week’s new music revue. I had only heard of their name but hadn’t been aware of their music. From their AllMusic bio: Los Angeles-based seven-piece Flogging Molly are an interesting mix of traditional Irish music and spunky punk rock. Former Fastway acoustic guitarist/frontman and Dublin native Dave King formed the band with fiddle player Bridget Regan, guitarist Dennis Casey, accordion player (and former pro skateboarder) Matt Hensley, bassist Nathen Maxwell, drummer George Schwindt, and mandolinist Bob Schmidt…Their rowdy folk-rock punk revival sound has been compared to the likes of other Irish bands such as the Pogues and Black 47, but the raucous septet opted for its own unique brashness that defied genre lines. Flogging Molly’s debut studio album Swagger was released in March 2000. The band’s international breakthrough came in March 2008 with their fourth album Float. In the U.S. it peaked at no. 4 on the Billboard 200 and charted within the top 50 in various European countries, including Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Finland and Sweden. Lead The Way, credited to Maxwell, Regan, King, Casey and Hensley, is from the group’s seventh and latest album Anthem. I love the combination of Irish folk music and rock, which in addition to The Pogues reminds me of Dropkick Murphys.

The Afghan Whigs/A Line Of Shots

The Afghan Whigs are a rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio. Initially formed in late 1986 by Greg Dulli (vocals, rhythm guitar), Rick McCollum (lead guitar), John Curley (bass) and Steve Earle (drums) (no relation to the “other” Steve Earle), the group released six albums until their breakup in 2001. A first reunion in 2006 was short-lived and led to the release of two new tracks that were included on a compilation titled Unbreakable: A Retrospective 1990–2006. The Afghan Wigs came together again in December 2011 and have since released three additional albums including their new one How Do You Burn? Dulli and Curley remain in the band’s current lineup, which also includes Rick Nelson (keyboards, strings, guitar, backing vocals), Christopher Thorn (guitar) and Patrick Keeler (drums). Here’s A Line Of Shots, a track off the group’s new album, penned by Dulli. Nice tune!

The Amazons/Bloodrush

The Amazons are a British rock band formed in 2014. From their Apple Music profile: Playing an arena-sized brand of indie that combines the grandeur of Arcade Fire with the muscle of Nirvana, the Amazons crafted catchy, melodic anthems built for singalongs. At the time of their formation, vocalist Matt Thomson, guitarist Chris Alderton, and bassist Elliot Briggs were already in a group together, but when they recruited Josef “Joe” Emmet — who is also a bassist — on drums, the Reading band was born. Building a grassroots following in their local scene, Thomson, then working at a supermarket, would slip demo CDs into shoppers’ baskets. Their debut EP, 2015’s Don’t You Wanna, was produced by Catherine Marks, who’d previously worked with Wolf Alice and White Lies. In May 2017, The Amazons released their eponymous debut album, which was an instant success in the UK on the Official Albums Chart where it reached no. 8. Two years later, sophomore release Future Dust followed. Once again, it made the top 10 in the UK charts, peaking at no. 9. Bloodrush is a tune from the band’s third and latest album How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me? This is great melodic indie rock!

Julian Lennon/Save Me

My last pick for this week is another tune from Julian Lennon’s new album Jude, which is now out. Back in July, I featured Breathe, one of the tracks that had been released upfront. Jude is Lennon’s seventh studio album and his first in 11 years. The title is a nod to the legendary song ‘Hey Jude,’ by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney to comfort 5-year-old Julian following his parents’ separation, according to an announcement on Lennon’s website. “Many of these songs have been in the works for several years, so it almost feels like a coming-of-age album,” said Lennon. With great respect for the overwhelming significance of the song written for me, the title JUDE conveys the very real journey of my life that these tracks represent.” Until I learned about Jude a few months ago, I hadn’t thought we would see new music from Lennon, given his other activities over the past 20-plus years, including photography, publishing children’s books and producing film documentaries. Here’s the opener Save Me, co-written by Gregory Darling and Lennon. I really like what I’m hearing here and look forward to checking out the rest of the album!

Here’s a Spotify playlist of the above and a few additional tracks.

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; Apple Music; Julian Lennon website; YouTube; Spotify