Don’t Miss New Albums Out Today From Childish Gambino, Dr. Dog, GUM, Beachwood Sparks & More
Jeff Coffin, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Glass Animals, Denzel Curry, Los Campesinos! and Oneida also have new releases out now.
By Team JamBase Jul 19, 2024 • 7:00 am PDT
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 Childish Gambino, Dr. Dog, GUM, Beachwood Sparks, Jeff Coffin, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Glass Animals, Denzel Curry, Los Campesinos! and Oneida. Read on for more insight into the records we have ready to spin.
Childish Gambino – Bando Stone & The New World
Bando Stone & the New World is actor/comedian/rapper Donald Glover’s sixth, and final, album under his Childish Gambino moniker. The album follows the release earlier this year of Atavista, the “finished version” of the 2020 Childish Gambino album, 3.15.20. The 17-track Bando Stone includes guest appearances by Khruangbin, Flo Milli, Jorja Smith, Amaarae, Yeat, Chlöe, Steve Lacy and Fousheé. Glover’s eldest son, Legend, also makes a cameo.
“It really was just like, ‘Oh, it’s done,’” Glover told The New York Times of retiring the Childish Gambino moniker. “It’s not fulfilling. And I just felt like I didn’t need to build in this way anymore … Success to me is, honestly, being able to put out a wide-scale album that I would listen to. For this album, I really wanted to be able to play big rooms and have big, anthemic songs that fill those rooms, so that people feel a sense of togetherness.”
Dr. Dog – Dr. Dog
Dr. Dog released their self-titled new album today via We Buy Gold Records. The Philadelphia-based band recorded Dr. Dog — their first LP since 2018 — over five days at a Pennsylvania cabin. Their 11th studio album was tracked by bassist Toby Leaman, lead guitarist Scott McMicken, rhythm guitarist Frank McElroy, keyboardist Zach Miller and drummer Eric Slick direct to McMicken’s 8-track tape machine without any rehearsals or overdubs. McMicken served as producer, a first for him on a Dr. Dog record, with Grammy-winner Matt Ross-Spang handling the mix. After the initial sessions in the rural and intimate setting, the members of Dr. Dog each wove in new parts to the original recordings separately at home. Then, the quintet assembled at their Philadelphia studio for one last phase of sessions to complete the 11-track follow-up to 2018’s Critical Equation.
“For this record there was an emphasis on creating something very soulful and live-feeling, which meant starting with all of us looking each other in the eye and connecting to the music,” McMicken staged. “The idea was, ‘Let’s be loose, let’s not overthink.’ The more you can let go of that fear of being imperfect, the more you open yourself up to deeper expression.”
“I moved to Asheville a while back and built a little yard-shed studio that’s changed my whole perspective on music,” McMicken added. “Because you’re in a shed, there’s no pretense that what’s happening is very serious—but over time, that sense of playfulness ends up allowing for more serious things to happen. When we started planning this new album, it felt right to try to merge my universes and make a Dr. Dog record the same way I was making records every day in my backyard.”
GUM – Ill Times
GUM, the project of Jay Watson (Pond, Tame Impala) and Ambrose Kenny-Smith (King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, The Murlocs) issued a new album, Ill Times, on King Gizzard’s new label p(doom) records. Loss was a common theme across Ill Times as Kenny-Smith wrote lyrics for the project following the passing of his father, renowned Australian musician Broderick Smith (the opening track “Dud” is credited to Ambrose-Kenny Smith and Broderick Smith), as well as the death of a close friend. “I learned life is too short to live it in regret or a hole of depression,” Kenny-Smith added. A press release further detailed Ill Times:
Ill Times is an album that takes swings at losers with god complexes, that builds the Impressions’ slow-burning ballad “Fool For You” into something so massive and brawny it’d give Jack White the willies, and closes with Watson and Kenny-Smith delivering righteous rough justice to an unabashed villain, and then riding off into the sunset like the heroes they are. The album is easily as much fun as the duo had making it, and that was a truly ridiculous amount of fun.
For six albums now, you’ve heard Jay Watson’s brain, unfiltered, as GUM. Now you can hear what that brain sounds like when it’s refracted through Ambrose Kenny-Smith’s bluesy, soulful lens. And it’s a very wonderful sound indeed.
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Beachwood Sparks – Across The River Of Stars
Alt-country band Beachwood Sparks are back after 12 years with a new album, Across The River Of Stars, produced by The Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson. Released today through Curation Records, Across The River Of Stars is Beachwood Sparks’ first studio album of new material since 2012’s The Tarnished Gold. The band recorded the album at John Dwyer’s Discount Mirrors Studios in Los Angeles. Beachwood Sparks’ co-founding members — guitarist Chris Gunst, bassist Brent Rademaker and Farmer Dave Scher (lap steel/keyboards) — were joined on the record by Ben Knight (guitar), Jen Cohen Gunst (keys/guitar), Clay Finch (vocals) and Andres Renteria (drums).
Jeff Coffin – Only The Horizon
Saxophonist Jeff Coffin’s new solo album, Only The Horizon, is a solo album in name only. Over 40 musicians appear across the album featuring eight Coffin-written compositions. The impressive roster of contributors includes Coffin’s Dave Matthew Band bandmates, drummer Carter Beauford, bassist Stefan Lessard, trumpeter Rashawn Ross and keyboardist Buddy Strong, as well as Coffin’s one-time Béla Fleck & The Flecktones bandmates, banjoist Béla Fleck, bassist Victor Wooten and percussionist Roy “Futureman” Wooten. Among the others recruited by Coffin include guitarists Cory Wong and Keb’ Mo’, drummers Nate Smith and Daru Jones, bassists Tony Hall, MonoNeon and Alana Rocklin, saxophonists Mars Williams and Bill Evans, Nashville-based West African group Yeli Ensemble and musicians from the Gullah Geechee community of the South Eastern Coastal United States. Regarding the collaborative effort, Coffin stated:
“My vision for this recording was to explore the way West African rhythms could co-exist with the music I was currently writing. I chose the players very specifically for certain tunes and all of them brought high art to the table. There are too many highlights to list fully here but a few from my studio really stick out…
“Having the great Daru Jones on drums and hearing his groove and pocket up close. Truly an awe-inspiring musician! To witness Keb’ Mo’ carve his guitar parts from thin air in a way I have never witnessed before was at once befuddling and stunning. To have my dear friend Mars Williams lay down a tenor sax solo in what was one of his last recordings was such a gift. To hear Yeli Ensemble bring their magic time and again and in particular, percussionist Ibro Dioubate, was a dream come true – their comprehension and initiation of time and rhythm is done in a way that is quite unique in comparison to how I learned about rhythm and time, but there is deep common ground!
“To witness what Matt White and Quentin Baxter brought from the Gullah Geechee culture in Charleston, South Carolina, was amazing on every level and made deeper a track that was already, at once, earthbound and in the sky.”
AJ Lee & Blue Summit – City of Glass
Santa Cruz, California-based bluegrass band AJ Lee & Blue Summit put out a new studio album entitled City Of Glass through Signature Sounds. Produced by The California Honeydrops’ Lech Wierzynski (who is featured on a track), City Of Glass is AJ Lee & Blue Summit’s third studio album. The band consisting of AJ Lee on mandolin, Jan Purat on fiddle and Scott Gates and Sullivan Tuttle on guitar, was joined by bassist Forrest Marowitz. Additionally, the 12-track album, which is the group’s first backed by a label, features a contribution from Sullivan Tuttle’s sister Molly Tuttle as well.
Glass Animals – I Love You So F***ing Much
The fourth studio album by British rockers Glass Animals, I Love You So F***ing Much, arrived today through RCA Records. The quartet consisting of frontman Dave Bayley, guitarist/keyboardist Drew MacFarlane, bassist/keyboardist Edmund Irwin-Singer and drummer Joe Seaward announced the follow-up to their critically and commercially successful 2020 album Dreamland through an elaborate and mysterious international marketing campaign. In a statement regarding the 10-song new release, Bayley shared:
“I love you so f***ing much, I LOVE YOU SO F***ING MUCH, I love you SO f***ing MUCH, I love you so F***ING much, I LOVE you so f***ing MUCH. These words take on a different meaning every time you say them. The universe may make us feel overwhelmingly small, but we have this human connection that is far vaster and more mysterious. Love comes in an infinite number of forms and shapes and sizes. It is so complex, and so powerful that even witnessing the tiniest instance of it can change your life forever.”
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Denzel Curry – King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2
Rapper Denzel Curry‘s long awaited follow-up to King of the Mischievous South Vol. 1 Underground Tape 1996 (which came out in 2012) was made available today with the release of King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 through PH Recordings/Loma Vista. Once again portraying his persona “Big Ultra,” the guest-filled second edition in Denzel Curry’s mixtape series features appearances by 2 Chainz, Armani White, ASAP Ferg, ASAP Rocky, Juicy J, Kenny Mason, Key Nyata, Kingpin Skinny Pimp, Maxo Kream, Mike Dimes, PlayThatBoiZay, Project Pat, Ski Mask the Slump God, TiaCorine, That Mexican OT and Ty Dolla Sign
Los Campesinos! – All Hell
Welsh rockers Los Campesinos! issued their seventh album, All Hell, on the band’s Heart Swells record label. No longer using the “Campesinos” surname monikers, Gareth David, Kim Paisey, Jason Adelinia, Matthew Fidler, Neil Turner, Rob Taylor and Tom Bromley recorded their first album in seven years between October 2023 and February 2024. The 15-track effort was tracked in Frome, England and in their hometown of Cardiff, Wales. Bromley produced and wrote the music on the album, while David provided the lyrics. Additional All Hell contributors included violinist Holly Carpenter, cellist Eileen McDonald Sparks and saxophonist Jon Natchez. A description of All Hell accompanying the album stated:
All Hell is an album on…
drinking for fun and drinking for misery // adult acne // adult friendship // football // death and dying // love and sex // late-stage capitalism // Orpheus // day dreaming // night terrors // the heart as an organ and as a burden // suburban boredom // Tears of the Kingdom // the punks on the playlist // increments of time // climate apocalypse // the moon the moon the moon ///
It’s All Hell
Oneida – Expensive Air
Brooklyn art rockers Oneida released their 17th studio album, Expensive Air. The band — Bobby Matador, Kid Millions, Hanoi Jane, Shahin Motia and Barry London — self-produced and recorded the follow-up to 2022’s Success over three sessions held throughout 2023 at Colin Marston’s Menegroth The Thousand Caves studio in Woodhaven, Queens. Matador initiated the process by creating demos in Boston. He then sent the unfinished tracks to the other four members to flesh out in New York.
“We were working out the songs in New York without Bobby,” said Kid Millions. “We would start out riding the riffs, and then Shahin and Jane would add wild, out-of-tune licks. It seemed so perfect.”
“I found myself thinking about this record as a darker, looser, louder, counterpart to Success,” Matador added. “Both records charge forward from the jump and mix the elliptical with the blunt, and longing with self-mockery. But Success is like laughing in a car gunning carelessly through an ice storm, and Expensive Air is how you laugh at yourself as the car spins into the ditch, or a tree. Same trip, but a little closer to the bone.”
