Release Day Picks: July 12th New Album Highlights

Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday. This week we highlight new albums by Jerry Garcia Band, Khruangbin and The Steel Wheels. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

Jerry Garcia Band – GarciaLive Volume 11, November 11th, 1993 Providence Civic Center

The Scoop: A concert from the Jerry Garcia Band’s final East Coast tour is featured in the latest installment of the GarciaLive archival series. Round Records’ GarciaLive Volume 11, November 11th, 1993 Providence Civic Center captures the longest-running JGB lineup of guitarist Jerry Garcia, drummer David Kemper, bassist John Kahn, keyboardist Melvin Seals and vocalists Gloria Jones and Jacklyn LaBranch performing a mix of repertoire staples and rarities. The 13-track set contains Garcia originals “Deal,” “Cats Under The Stars” and “Deal” plus 10 covers such as Bob Dylan’s “Simple Twist Of Fate,” Norton Buffalo’s “Ain’t No Bread In The Breadbox,” The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” and Smokey Robinson’s “When The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game.”

Khruangbin – Hasta El Cielo

The Scoop: Khruangbin enlisted Jamaican producer Scientist to create a dub version of the trio’s latest studio album, 2018’s Con Todo El Mundo. The resulting Hasta El Cielo features a pair of new dub tracks added by Scientist. Here’s how bassist Laura Lee, guitarist Mark Speer and drummer Donald “DJ” Johnson explained the motivation behind the project:

For us, dub has always felt like a prayer. Spacious, meditative, able to transport the listener to another realm. The first dub albums we listened to were records mixed by Scientist featuring the music of the Roots Radics. Laura Lee learned to play bass by listening to Scientist Wins The World Cup. His unique mixing style, with the emphasis on space and texture, creates the feeling of frozen time; it was hugely influential to us as a band. To be able to work alongside Scientist, a legend in the history of dub, is an honor. This is our dub version of Con Todo El Mundo.

The Steel Wheels – Over The Trees

The Scoop: The Steel Wheels recorded their seventh studio album, Over The Trees, in Maine with producer Sam Kassirer. “This is a bit of an experimental record at times, with new sounds and influences,” said guitarist/banjoist Trent Wagler. “We know where we come from. We are a string band from Virginia, but we are evolving with this album, and we are embracing the future.” Wagler, fiddler Eric Brubaker, bass Brian Dickel and guitarist/mandolinist Jay Lapp were joined on the new album by multi-instrumentalist Kevin Garcia who officially became a member of the group following the release of 2017’s Wild As We Came Here. Surviving tragedy became a theme across the record’s 11 tracks, such as when an illness tragically and suddenly took the life of Brubaker’s 10-year-old daughter. “At times our human response is muted and resigned, at other times triumphant and steadfast,” Brubaker said. “Over The Trees is an ode to the community that rises up to support those in need, and is dedicated to the memory of Norah Brubaker.”

Compiled by Scott Bernstein and Andy Kahn.