Category: Rock

Five Cool Ones: Five New Albums Released This Week (January 31, 2024)

We’re in the waning hours of the first month of the year, and for those that say that there is no new music released anymore we at Rock is the New Roll say: nay nay.

If you don’t believe us, The Darkness is out with their latest single “Rock and Roll Cowboy Outlaw,”

Skunk Anansie is prepping up a new record, and if An Artist is An Artist” is any indication, the record is going to be a banger.

And, after retiring from his main gig as bass player for Aerosmith, Tom Hamilton is out front and center with his new band Close Enemies.

And now, strap on those earbuds, plug in that Marshall stack, and envelope yourself in these Five new records released into the wild this week.

Thorbjorn Risager – House Of Sticks

Dutch Blues Rock is a pretty big deal these days and Thorbjorn Risager and the Black Tornado are the torchbearers.

Blasting a high-energy blend of Swamp Rock, cinematic Blues-Rock, and Soul Ballads, “Already Gone” is a great way to gain an introduction to the band. “Light of You Love” mourns along like Robert Cray’s best single, and the closer “Fine Summer Night” resonates like a later Day Eric Clapton album.

As eclectic a record as you are sure to find this year, this one has everything you would want in a blues rock record.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy – The Purple Bird

Recorded in Nashville, Purple Bird, the latest record courtesy of Will Oldham under the Bonnie “Prince” Billy moniker, is a country-adjacent record in the John Prine mold.

Working together with Nashville OG songwriting veterans along with a wrecking crew of talented musicians, the resultant song set includes the rambunctious “Turned to Dust,” the spot-on Prine delivery on “One Of These Days (I’m Gonna Spend The Whole Night With You),” and the forlorn “Boise, Idaho.”

The songs presented here, with the lap steel guitar and electric mandolin, play to the old school soul of country music and can be compared favorably to the Johnny Cash American series.

For some artists relocation to Nashville signals the beginning of the end with the artist getting caught up in the machinery. For Oldham, the rebirth is refreshing, and if this one is any indication, there is hope for the Roger Miller, Tom T Hall, and Don Williams patois than the Post Malone and Beyoncé oeuvre that is all the rage today in country music.

The Hellacopters – Overdriver

Let there be Rock! And if the Swedish band Hellacopters have anything to say about it, 30 years in, good, pure rock and roll is back, and here to stay.

Burning down the highway, these retro-riffers deliver on a swagger of early-era Aerosmith, prime Stooges, and accessible Ramones.

“Don’t Let Me Bring You Down” is the best tune on the record and should be the leader in the clubhouse for rock song of the year, and “(I Don’t Wanna Be) Just A Memory” is the best song Cheap Trick never wrote.

This one is quite simply a great rock and roll record.

Lilly Hiatt – Forever

As the daughter of Americana legend John Hiatt, the talent apple doesn’t fall far from the talent tree for Lilly Hiatt as supremely demonstrated on her latest record, Forever.

A jaunty blend of rock and country with a voice that is both vintage and sultry Hiatt also demonstrates her songwriting chops on the Wilbury worthy “Ghost Ship” and the simplistic subject matter of “Evelyn’s House.”

Overall, this may not be her best, Walking Proof to our ears takes that honor, but this one is certainly a worthy record that our ears can get behind.

Circa Waves – Death and Love, Pt. 1

More than 10 years now into their Indie Rock career Circa Waves have evolved into a Vampire Weekend worthy band of evolving expectations and emotionally powerful offerings.

Given the mortality reckoning that the lead singer Kieren Shudall experienced following his diagnosis in 2023 of a heart condition, it makes sense that this record would be a sort of soul-soothing mantra grappling with the fragilities of life.

“We Made It” is a perfect festival-ready wave your hands in the air Indie Rock anthem, and “Let’s Leave Together” is as buoyant a pop song as you are likely to hear all year.

Ultimately, this is a record that extolls the virtues of living in the moment because it’s all we have.

Five Cool Ones: Five New Albums Released This Week (January 24, 2024)

The year is careening along and there are plenty of gems to savor this week, but don’t sleep on the one-offs.

ZZ Ward lays down some bone-rattling down home blues on her latest single.

Rock is the New Roll favorites Sunset Strip rockers Crazy Lixx are back and better than ever.

And, Lake Street Dive is releasing selective singles live from the road. “Walking Uphill” is spectacular.

But don’t put away those head phones just yet, it is a stellar week for new releases.

Larkin Poe – Bloom

With a consistently morphing sound, this time into the world of country-rock, the sisters Poe might be the best band you never listen to, but should.

“Pearl” is a proper country-glam rager, “Bluephoria” dips their toes into soul territory and “Bloom Again” is a tender ballad showing off their versatile chops.

If these descendants of Edgar Allen Poe are not your cup of musical tea, seek help pronto.

Matt Berry – Heard Noises

More widely known as the vampire Lazlo in the hit series What We Do In The Shadows, Matt Berry is more mostly known as a musician and has 13 Albums under his vampire belt.

Known for his 60’s influenced jazz-tinged beats and an Austin Powers esthetic, this record is set somewhere squarely in the late ’60s, early ‘70s

“Sky High” has a spooky vibe that would fit in perfectly in a remake of the X files, the hipness of “Stay on the Ground” comes across like a slightly stoned David Byrne, and “I Gotta Limit” soars in the Box Tops “Cry Like A Baby”Mold.”

With the hippy beats and unicorn song textures this one is the leader in the clubhouse for party recording of the year.

Jeannie Piersol – The Nest

A card-carrying member of the San Franciso psychedelic scene of the ‘60s Jeannie was a Grace Slick-adjacent singer and a founding member of the enigmatic band The Great Society.

And now, High Moon Records has released an anthology of her work that includes demos, outtakes, and performances.

With a quick listen it will become auditorially apparent why Piersol never reached the heights of her fellow scenesters Grace Skick and Janice Joplin, but since beauty is in the ear of the beholder there is a lot to savor here with a few spins of this record. The title track is worth the price of admission alone.

Rose City Band – Sol Y Sombra

If Poco, The Pure Prairie League, and a Grateful Dead cover band merged together they would sound suspiciously like Rose City Band. A self-professed space-aged country jam band their latest effort Soul Y Sombra would have been a ‘70s country rock fm radio fixture back in the day.

Opener “Lights On The Way” lives and breathes Grateful Dead’s “Sugar Magnolia showcasing Barry Walker’s stellar pedal steel guitar, “Open Roads” might be the driving tune of the year thus far, and “Seeds Of Light” is a hippy-dippy mellow wonderment.

Stop taking life so seriously for a minute and bathe yourself in this one Grateful-Dead style.

C Duncan – It’s Only A Love Song

Lush, atmospheric, and it couldn’t be more beach boy adjacent and without fighting with Mike Love, the latest fom C Duncan, the love child of Todd Rundgren and Brian Wilson is a smooth ride down a river of rose petals.

The opening title track introduces the piano-centric artist in all his Barry Manilow meets England John and John Ford Coley glory.

The understated vocals along with the lush orchestration will meander your ears back to a timeless era when pop was king and Carole was Queen.