New Music Show Preview w/ The Black Angels, Rodney Crowell & more!

XPN’s New Music Show airs every Monday night at 8pm. 

We’ve been in fundraising mode here at WXPN but tonight we’ll take a break from the pledge phones and focus entirely on new music.  A big thank you to all our members who support what we do and thanks (in advance) for hanging out tonight.  With new albums from Ryan Adams and Old 97’s on the way, we’ll make it a point showcase both of those artists.  Longtime favorites Wesley Stace and Jeb Loy Nichols have new tunes for us to check out, and we will.  Plus, in advance of tonight’s show, here are a few highlights you can listen to now …   

THE BLACK ANGELS “Currency”

Their dark brand of psych-rock earns them must-hear status this week.  “Currency” is the leadoff track to The Black Angels new album Death Song (another tip of the cap to the Velvet Underground).  The Austin based band offer up a sludgy, hypnotic opener that really harkens back to their debut Passover.  The edgy, piercing guitars seal this as one most ambitious points in the band’s catalog.  Check out the equally trippy video that accompanies “Currency”:

RODNEY CROWELL “It Ain’t Over Yet” (feat. Rosanne Cash & John Paul White)

And now for something completely different, musically speaking.  For decades Rodney Crowell has been an influential and important voice in country & Americana music.  His clever style of songwriting has always had the ability to be amusing and poignant, often at the same time.  He strikes again on “It Ain’t Over Yet” which is as direct a message as you could imagine … he’s still got something to say.  Accompanied by The Civil Wars John Paul White and his ex-wife Rosanne Cash, this is a very well-crafted song by a great songwriter.

FIRST IMPRESSION: BLAENAVON

Tonight’s First Impression artist offers quite a bit of upside.  There is an immediacy to the music of BLAENAVON that might make you think of bands like Interpol, Foals or Arctic Monkeys.  And to be fair, musically, they’re not that far off.  The trio is from Hampshire, England and have already had quite a bit of success in England.  This April they’ll release their debut album Orthodox Man, just remember where you heard them first.  We’ll hear two in a row from their forthcoming album at 8:30pm tonight.

If you miss anything on the show or want to keep up on new music, make sure to subscribe to our ‘XPN Best New Music’ Playlist on Spotify: