It’s Saturday and I’d like to welcome you to another installment of my weekly feature taking a look at developments on the new music front. All four picks are from albums that were released yesterday (October 27).
The Third Mind/Groovin’ Is Easy
The Third Mind are an experimental group blending rock, blues, psychedelia, jazz and improvisational music. Dave Alvin, co-founder of roots rock band The Blasters, envisaged a Miles Davis approach to “gather great musicians in a studio, pick a key and a groove and then record everything live over several days.” Davis and his producer Teo Macero subsequently edited and shaped the improvised material into compositions. After their eponymous debut album from February 2020, The Third Mind are now out with their follow-on, The Third Mind 2. Apart from Alvin (guitar), they include Jesse Sykes (vocals, acoustic guitar), David Immerglück (Counting Crows, Cracker, Monks of Doom) (guitar, keyboards, vocals) Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker) (bass) and Michael Jerome (John Cale, Richard Thompson, Better Than Ezra) (drums, percussion). Here’s Groovin’ Is Easy – intriguing stuff!
Video Age/Better Than Ever
Video Age are a band from New Orleans formed by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Ross Farbe and Ray Micarelli, who AllMusic notes make mellow synthesizer pop that touches on ’80s pop, new wave, AM pop, and other adjacent styles. Starting with their 2016 debut Living Alone, they have released four albums to date. Off their latest, Away From the Castle, here’s Better Than Ever, co-written by Farbe and Micarelli. The song’s upbeat vibe drew me in.
Black Pumas/Angel
Black Pumas, who I first featured in July 2020, are a partnership between producer and multi-instrumentalist Adrian Quesada and singer-songwriter Eric Burton, who according to AllMusic fuse cinematic neo-soul, light psychedelia, and a touch of urban grit. Formed in 2018, they released their eponymous debit album in June 2019. They are now out with their second full-length album, Chronicles of a Diamond. Here’s Angel, a great-sounding song that gives me chills!
The Gaslight Anthem/Little Fires
The Gaslight Anthem are a rock band from New Brunswick, N.J., which is right in my neck of the woods. Currently featuring Brian Fallon (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Alex Rosamilia (lead guitar, backing vocals), Alex Levine (bass, backing vocals) and Benny Horowitz (drums, percussion), they have been together since 2006 and put out six studio albums to date. In 2015, the band went on an indefinite hiatus from which they emerged in March 2022. Off History Books, their latest and first new album in 9 years, here’s Little Fires. In the past, the group’s sound has often been compared to Bruce Springsteen, who apparently not only encouraged their reunion but also is featured on the album’s title track. I included it in the Spotify playlist below. Here’s a nice rocker called Little Fires.
Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; The Third Mind website; YouTube; Spotify
Christian's Music Musings 