PRESS PLAY: New Albums out May 9th

In past years, I’ve put together only a brief PRESS PLAY for the Friday that caps off the restless week of activity that is our annual NonCOMMvention. Rather than giving these deserving artists, many of whom joined us over the preceding days, the short shrift just because I am completely spent, I put together this week’s roundup ahead of time. If anything about these new releases has changed, please understand that I am very, very tired.

Taking a more democratic approach to songwriting and arrangement, The Head and the Heart present their stirring sixth album, Aperture. With gauzy production by Jack Antonoff and Greg Kurstin, Maren Morris’s D R E A M S I C L E is a reflective and resilient set from the country star. Counting Crows expand on their playful 2021 EP for the loopy and rollicking Butter Miracle: The Complete Sweets!. Folk trio I’m with Her showcase the effortless way in which Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, and Aoife O’Donovan combine their individual styles on Wild and Clear and Blue.

Avant-garde musician Mark Prichard teams up with Thom Yorke for a collection of Tall Tales, a collaboration built off COVID-era demo exchanges between the two British auteurs. An idiosyncratic songwriter, Deradoorian’s Ready for Heaven sees the former Dirty Projectors member recontextualizing herself as a production-focused alchemist in the vein of Sly & Robbie and ESG. On Strike Up the Band, their first album of original material in over a decade, veteran rockers Little Feat deliver lively and heartfelt collaborations with Robert Hunter, Molly Tuttle, and Larkin Poe.

PRESS PLAY on these new releases

The Head and the Heart – Aperture
CHECK OUT: “Arrow” “After the Setting Sun”

Maren Morris – D R E A M S I C L E
CHECK OUT: “carry me through” “bed no breakfast”

Counting Crows – Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!
CHECK OUT: “Spaceman in Tulsa” “Under the Aurora”

I’m with Her – Wild and Clear and Blue
CHECK OUT: “Ancient Light” “Standing on the Fault Line”

Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke – Tall Tales
CHECK OUT: “This Conversation is Missing Your Voice” “Back in the Game”

Deradoorian – Ready for Heaven
CHECK OUT: “Set Me Free” “No No Yes Yes”

Little Feat – Strike Up the Band
CHECK OUT: “Midnight Flight” “Too High to Cut My Hair”

Listen for spotlights on new records like these (and more) every week on the XPN Morning Show and Indie Rock Hit Parade.

The PRESS PLAY-list

FURTHER LISTENING

Andy Bell – Ten Crowns, Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet – HausLive 4, Carriers – Every Time I Feel Afraid, Clem Snide – Oh Smokey, Club Night – Joy Coming Down, Dope Lemon – Golden Wolf , Eric Church – Evangeline vs. The Machine, Erica de Casier – Lifetime, Esther Rose – Want, The Farm – Let the Music (Take Control), Gentle Giant – Playing the Fool: The Complete Live Experience, Gringo Star – Sweethearts, James Krivchenia – Performing Belief, Jenny Hval – Iris Silver Mist, Josh Groban – Gems, Låpsley – I’m a Hurricane and I’m a Woman in Love, Messer Chups – Don’t Worry, Be Creepy EP, Model/Actriz – Pirouette, Pet Shop Boys – Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live at the Royal Arena Copenhagen, Pet Symmetry – Big Symmetry, Pink Floyd – Pink Floyd at Pompeii MCMLXXI, Propaghandi – At Peace, Punchbag – I’m Not Your Punchbag EP, Real Estate – The Wee Small Hours: B-Sides and Other Detritus 2011-2025, RÜFÜS DU SOL – Inhale / Exhale Remixed, Sally Potter – ANATOMY, Samantha Crain – Gumshoe, Say Sue Me – Time is Not Yours EP, Sextile – yes, please, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings – Naturally (20^th Anniversary Edition), Yarn – Live Yarn: Vol. 1, Yusuf / Cat Stevens – Saturnight: Live from Tokyo (Reissue)