As April winds down, the album release schedule is heating up! Offering a stately collection of collaborations, The National are joined by Taylor Swift, Sufjan Stevens, and Phoebe Bridgers on First Two Pages of Frankenstein. PNW trio Joseph‘s The Sun puts the family harmonies from and center for an invigorating set. Josh Ritter puts personal grief in cosmic perspective, incorporating literal sounds of the universe into Spectral Lines. Luz Elena Mendoza Ramos explores heritage and identity on Lucha, their seventh album as Y La Bamba.
On That! Feels Good!, Jessie Ware is in top form paying tribute to the big voices of the funk and disco era. North Carolina singer Indigo De Souza‘s third LP, All of This Will End, tempers unflinching tales of pain with a hopeful melodicism. Levelling up from her already compelling songwriter roots (one of her songs was recently covered by Susanna Hoffs), Joy Oladokun commands the spotlight on Proof of Life. On Hardly the Same Snake, Johannesburg-born Skinny Pelembe demonstrates a knack for nimble rhythms and ear-catching sonic experimentation.
PRESS PLAY on these new releases below. Listen for spotlights on new records like these (and more) every Friday on the XPN Morning Show and Indie Rock Hit Parade.
The National – First Two Pages of Frankenstein
CHECK OUT: “Tropic Morning News” “New Order T-Shirt”
Joseph – The Sun
CHECK OUT: “Nervous System” “Fireworks”
Josh Ritter – Spectral Lines
CHECK OUT: “For Your Soul” “Honey I Do”
Y La Bamba – Lucha
CHECK OUT: “Collapse” “Hues (feat. Devendra Banhart)”
Jessie Ware – That! Feels Good!
CHECK OUT: “Pearls” “Begin Again”
Indigo De Souza – All of This Will End
CHECK OUT: “Smog” “Younger and Dumber”
Joy Oladokun – Proof of Life
CHECK OUT: “We’re All Gonna Die (feat. Noah Kahan)” “Changes”
Skinny Pelembe – Hardly the Same Snake
CHECK OUT: “Like a Heart Won’t Beat” “Don’t Be Another”
FUTHER LISTENING…
Anna of the North – Crazy Life (Deluxe Edition), Baba Ali – Laugh Like a Bomb, Bill Orcutt – Jump On It, Braids – Euphoric Recall, Chet Baker – Blue Room: The 1979 VARA Studio Sessions in Holland, Country Westerns – Forgive the City, The Damned – Darkadelic, Dave Hause – Drive it Like it’s Stolen, Don Letts – Outta Sync, Erica Dawn Lyle – SYMPOIESIS, Gabriels – Angels & Queens, Glen Matlock – Consequences Coming, Hariette – I Heart the Internet EP, Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires – The Sound Emperor EP, John Andrews & the Yawns – Love for the Underdog, Megafauna – Olympico, Neil Gaiman + FourPlay String Quartet – Signs of Life, The Orb – Prism, Photo Ops – Burns Bright, Rickie Lee Jones – Pieces of Treasure, Rush – Signals (40th Anniversary Edition), Smokey Robinson – GASMS, Stephen Stills – Live at Berkeley 1971, Taj Mahal – Savoy, Tim Hecker – No Highs, Tommy Emmanuel – Accomplice Two, Wild Carnation – Tricycle (Reissue)
