The Felice Brothers – Jazz on the Autobahn
Beach House – Holiday House
Allison Russel and Mumu Fresh – 4th Day Prayer
The National – The Alcott (feat. Taylor Swift)
Kelly Fraser – Sedna
PJ Harvey – A Child’s Question, August
TEKE:TEKE – Gotoku Lemon
The Gaslight Anthem – Positive Charge
Hurray for the Riff Raff – Broken Arrows
The Felice Brothers – Jazz on the Autobahn
well, I didn’t know this – The duo craft these vivid, at times even violent, images through a sweet, sweet melody, an ironic balance of sound and content. As the song’s starring sheriff does, “Jazz on the Autobahn” drives us “through the principalities of unreality” in its whimsical, albeit tragic version of the end of the world.
Listening to the Felice Brothers, I don’t think I agree with this. But, this review was written in 2008. This song is from their upcoming album.
From Pitchfork:
Who knows whether or not the Felice Brothers– brothers Ian, Simone, and James, plus a friend called Christmas– are actually, consciously trying to come as close as possible to replicating Dylan an/or the Band on their self-titled latest. Regardless, the point is, whether they intended to or not, they’ve come eerily, awkwardly, creepily close to capturing that familiar mix of mood, mystery, atmosphere, and aesthetic.
The Felice Brothers
Allison Russel and Mumu Fresh – 4th Day Prayer
Allison Russell has won or has been nominated for an incredible number of awards and from Rolling Stone a look into her upcoming work.
ALLISON RUSSELL STOPPED by Jimmy Kimmel Live to deliver a raucous, soulful performance of her song “4th Day Prayer”. Backed by a live band that included the duo Sista Strings and singer-guitarist Joy Clark, Russell gave the song a vibrant sensibility that matched the colorful stage backdrop.
“4th Day Prayer” comes off the singer-songwriter’s debut solo album Outside Child, released last year. The album is nominated for three Grammys — including Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Performance for single “Nightflyer.” Russell performed that track on Jimmy Kimmel Live last year, with accompaniment from Brittney Spencer and Brandi Carlile.
Rolling Stone
And from Wikipedia, a really impressive list of award nominations and wins
Kelly Fraser – Sedna
From her album Sedna released in 2023. Kelly Fraser tragically died by suicide in 2019. From a CBC article:
The death of musician, advocate and Indspire youth laureate Kelly Fraser was met with shock and sadness by those who knew her, her music and her advocacy work.
When Fraser released her Inuktitut cover of Rihanna’s Diamonds in 2013, it quickly went viral. Her success was followed by a Juno nomination for her second album, Sedna, and a 2019 Indspire Youth Award, which honours the outstanding achievements of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people.
You can see her performing Sedna in this CBC appearance from 2018
TEKE:TEKE – Gotoku Lemon
Terrific Montreal-based Japanese psych-rock band has been on the show before. This is from their upcoming album and their music has such incredible energy.
From GhettoBlaster: (interesting name)
Acclaimed Montreal-based Japanese psych-rock band TEKE::TEKE have released “Gotoku Lemon,” the second single from their upcoming sophomore album, Hagata, out June 9 via Kill Rock Stars
and this
The result is something of a drunken bluesy calypso, with a lingering intensity just below the surface.
That could be a new genre of music!
Finally…
Translating to “Lemon Enlightenment” in English, the track sees lead vocalist Kuroki spinning a whimsical short story about a world in which glow-in-the-dark lemons are found to be the cure for all ills
Hurray for the Riff Raff – Broken Arrows
again, another band that I have never heard of (my bad) but Hurray For The Riff Raff has been around for 17 years.
From Pitchfork:
Fifteen years ago, Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff chose their band name to celebrate outsiders who threatened the status quo: “the riff raff” being “the weirdos and the poets,” they once said, “the rebellious women and the activists” whom society disregarded. These were the people who kept Segarra going as they carved an itinerant path from their fractured Bronx upbringing to their longtime home in New Orleans,
Now I realize I know this – here is a song from 5 years ago – Living in the City
Beach House – “Holiday House” from the Become EP
Beach House is an American band that has been kicking around since 2004. For lack of a better term, Beach House is often categorized as “dream pop”. They have released 9 albums to generally favourable reviews. The new EP was an official Record store Day release. To quote the band, “The Become EP is a collection of 5 songs from the Once Twice Melody sessions. We didn’t think they fit in the world of OTM, but later realized they all fit in a little world of their own. To us, they are all kind of scuzzy and spacious, and live in the spirit realm. It’s not really where we are currently going, but it’s definitely somewhere we have been. We hope you enjoy these tunes”.
Here’s the official video
The National – “The Alcott” (feat. Taylor Swift) from the album First Two Pages Of Frankenstein
The National is an American band based in Brooklyn. Band members are Matt Berninger , twin brothers Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner (guitar, piano, keyboards), as well as brothers Scott Devendorf and Bryan Devendorf. They produced a couple of indie albums and in 2005, released their breakthrough lp, Alligator. The National have now released 9 albums in total garnering Grammy nominations along the way. Since 2020 Aaron Dessner has co-wrote and produced several blockbuster albums for Taylor Swift. Here, Swift returns the favour by performing a wonderful duet.
The Atlantic has a great piece on this collaboration.
…
PJ Harvey – “A Child’s Question, August” – single
Polly Jean Harvey is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. She has been creating music since the late eighties to overwhelming critical acclaim. Among the awards Harvey has received are both the 2001 and 2011 Mercury Prize for Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea and Let England Shake. She has also eight Brit Award nominations, seven Grammy Award nominations and two further Mercury Prize nominations. “A Child’s Question, August” is from her upcoming 10th studio album I Inside the Old Year Dying. Any song that references both Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Elvis in the space of 2 and half minutes is alright in my books.
Here’s nice little capsule review/summary of the song.
The Gaslight Anthem – “Positive Charge” – single
The Gaslight Anthem is a New Jersey rock band formed in 2006. Possibly their finest moment was the 2008 release The ‘59 Sound which updated the urgency of Bruce Springsteen for a new generation. The band took a break in 2015, returned briefly in 2018. In March 2022, the band announced that they had reunited and returned to “full time status”, and that they had begun writing their sixth studio album which would be the band’s first new music release in nine years. “Positive Change” is the lead single for the upcoming album.
Speaking of New Jersey, here’s The Gaslight Anthem with Bruce himself
Whole-Hearted 