The halls are buzzing here at Rock is the new Roll Hall with a bevy of new music to savor as we zoom into the year.
The Cynz – Heartbreak Time
Coming to you from Brunswick New Jersey The Cynz will have you feeling Joan Jett vibes courtesy of lead singer Cyndi Dawson. “Heartbreak Time” is a retro-style rocker with plenty of earworms.
Sorrows – Out Of My Head
If you have ever sat around wondering what a band would sound like that was a mind-meld of the Stones, Beatles, and The Who and wasn’t Cheap Trick, hip your ears to Sorrows and the single from their latest record “Out Of My Head.”
Brass Camel – Borrowed Time
This gem from Brass Camel is Sly Stone funky, a bit proggy, with a lot of classic rock influences thrown in for good measue.
Blues Pills – What Has This Life Done To You
A bit of a departure from the more psychedelic side of Blues Pills, “What Has This Life Done To You” would make a terrific Bonnie Raitt cover.
Black Eyed Sons – Cowboys In Pinstriped Suits
A tribute to the glam-glitter bands of yore, most notably Mott The Hoople, “Cowboys In Pinstriped Suits features Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, Chip Z’Nuff, and Ryan Roxie.
Her latest single, “1972” was released in advance of her upcoming album, Beneath The Neon Glow, celebrates doing our best to live in the moment just like in 1972. The record is set to see the light of ear later in the year.
Kyle Daniel (feat. Maggie Rose) – Fire Me Up
One of the best contemporary Southern artists in the game today, old-school meets new-school on this backwoods charmer, “Fire It Up.” Produced by Jaren Johnston of The Cadillac Three, this single is from the newly released long-player, Kentucky Gold.
Gorilla Riot – Molotov Sister
There is more than a little Rolling Stones swagger on this grunge-adjacent single from Manchester’s own Gorilla Riot. The new record, Salvation, coming out in October is set to be epic.
Blues Pills – Bad Choices
It’s no secret that here at Rock is the New Roll we carry the torch for Blues. With their latest, “Bad Choices,” we are treated to a head-shaking bombast of Blues Rock courtesy of the best front women in Rock.
Austin Gold – The Wire Defines
There is nothing like a bit of Night Ranger-adjacent AOR to take you back to the days of your youth riding around in your El Camino with Eddie Money blasting on the cassette player with the smoke so heavy you can barely see out of the windshield.
A perfect song for this Blues Rock to make their own while spending the pandemic downtown lamenting the fact that that can’t tour behind their latest full album release.
The song mas made for singer Elin Larsson to sing as she wraps her back of the barroom pipes around the song with the force of a tropical storm.
By far the best week of the year thus far, there is something for everyone. If you are an old soul, Jefferson Starship has a new album out called Mother of the Sun that is an unironic vintage “Jane” version of the musically polarizing band and Rock is the new Roll favorites Pink Martini are not ashamed to go retro on “The Lemonade Song,”
And, Raul Malo and the rest of the Mavericks are out with, surprisingly, their first all Spanish album in their storied career.
It was tough to narrow things down, but here are five tasty records we like this week.
The Killers – Imploding The Mirage
Much like Vampire Weekend Las Vegas’ own The Killers seem to go away and return just at the time that we really need them most. Bright, bouncy, anthemic, it’s all here “Mr. Brightside” style. The synths are absolutely soaring and on the Springsteen worthy “My Own Soul’s Warning” you know immediately that the boys are back in town. There is not a dud to be found here, and the collaborations with k.d. Lang on “Lightning Fields” and with Weyes Blood on “My God” come out of left field and are both utterly brilliant. Good, bordering on great and just maybe the album of the year so far.
Blues Pills – Holy Moly
It has been almost 4 years since Erin Larsson and Blues Pills shared their retro-tinged blend of Psychedlic Blues with the unwashed masses, and it has definitely been worth the wait. With Holy Moly, their latest release, the third time is definitely a charm as now, three records in, the band has definitely hit their stride with a revamped more rock less blues sound that seems to fit the Janis meets Melissa Etheridge vocal stylings just perfectly.
Old 97’s – Twelfth
The Old 97’s, the Americana version of The Replacements, are back and with leading man Rhett Miller singing as good as he ever, the band’s playing is better than ever. While the group has fine-wine mellowed (sort of) with age, their core values of singing songs about women, whiskey and life on the road are still intact. And face it, Rhet Miller’s voice alone could melt butter. Highlights here are many, but “Absence (What We’ve Got)” and the mournfully beautiful “Belmont Hotel” are definite standouts.
The Waterboys – Good Luck Seeker
After a couple of semi-uneven affairs the classic Waterboys with Mike Scott at the helm are back to what brought them here with their latest release, Good Luck Seeker. Pieced together by trading files between the various home studios of the band members may tend to make the overall record seem a bit disjointed, and maybe it is, but since each song stands alone as its own excellent entity this minor flaw is easily overlooked. The opener, “The Soul Singer” is a horn-infested stunner and any song that rhymes Dennis Hopper and Steve Cropper has got to be cool, and the song “Dennis Hopper” definitely is. You will need to look past the electronic forward texture of this record to enjoy it fully if you are an old-school Waterboys fan but the Emerald Isle travelogue worthy “Postcard From the Celtic Dreamland” will take you back home.
L.A. Witch – Play With Fire
If the Addams Family had a house band, it most probably would have been L.A. Witch. And, if Erik Vonzipper had a Halloween party, L.A. Witch would have been his house band. With frontwoman Sade Sanchez at the helm her Surf-Goth (if there is such a genre) guitar playing almost literally transcends space and time. Never before have our ears been pleasured with this blend of Goth, Punk, and Surf music all at the same time. This band is as tight as any three piece you will find in the game today. Sultry Rock songs, aggressive garage anthems, and crisp in-your face songwriting is the order of the day, and weighing in at just under 30 minutes the entire mind escape can be savored in one sitting.
We haven’t heard much new music from Erin Larsson and her 60’s vibing Blues Rock band, but here’s hoping this live performance means they will Be in the studio very soon.
Rock Is The New Roll 