Don’t Miss New Albums From Green Day, Sleater-Kinney, Brittney Spencer & TR3

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 Green Day, Sleater-Kinney, Brittney Spencer and TR3 featuring Tim Reynolds. Read on for more insight into the records we have ready to spin.

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Green Day – Saviors

Pop punk rockers Green Day released their 14th studio album, Saviors, through Reprise/Warner Records. The trio made up of frontman/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool reteamed with producer Rob Cavallo who last worked with the band on their 2012 album, ¡Tré!. Cavallo also produced Green Day’s breakthrough 1994 album, Dookie and their acclaimed 2004 LP, American Idiot. The 15-track Saviors was recorded in London and in Los Angeles and serves as the follow-up to their 2020 album, Father of All Motherfuckers. Green Day previewed the record with the singles “The American Dream Is Killing Me,” “Look Ma, No Brains!” and “One Eyed Bastard.”

“‘One Eyed Bastard’ started off as just a riff that I had — a shuffle, almost like a Black Sabbath kind of riff,” Billie Joe Armstrong stated. “Lyrically, I was just reflecting on bad times in life. That’s the thing about nostalgia, sometimes you think, ‘That was an awful time.’ Everybody’s got that ugly place in their life where they have to deal with ugly thoughts — it could be like revenge or whatever. Thankfully, I have an outlet in songwriting.”

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Sleater-Kinney – Little Rope

Alt-rock duo Sleater-Kinney issued their 10th album, Little Rope, today via Loma Vista Recordings. The band fronted by Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein recorded Little Rope — their second album released after drummer Janet Weiss’ departure — in Portland at Flora Recording and Playback. Grammy-winning producer John Congleton helmed the 10-track album, which a press release described as “a meditation on what living in a world of perpetual crisis has done to us, and what we do to the world in return.” The record was informed by the grief that came after Brownstein’s mother and stepfather died in a car accident in Italy. Tucker notified Brownstein of the tragedy as Carrie had listed Corin as an emergency contact and had since changed her phone number.

“I just needed to feel my fingers on something that was solid,” Brownstein, who found solace in playing guitar, told the AP. “When people leave this Earth, you are aware of what is still here, and what is tactile versus what you’ll never touch again.” Brownstein further elaborated on the experience, telling the AP:

“A lot of these songs were written before I lost my mom, but her death informed the process as much as it informed the actual content of the songs. Music, to me, is a ritual that is very sacred and thus very close to prayer. You know, there is something prayerful about the choreography of returning to guitar or singing. And so, I think it is actually a very natural, probably age-old way of processing sorrow.

“Playing music is really important for the process of living with grief. Sleater-Kinney has always been a container for our vulnerabilities. We have so many songs that come from a place of strife or anger and then they just start to sound triumphant after a while. And that, I think, is the beauty of sharing music with people.”

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Brittney Spencer – My Stupid Life

Fresh off appearances at Dead Ahead and on Good Morning America, Brittney Spencer today released her debut full-length studio album, My Stupid Life. The Nashville-based singer-songwriter stayed close to home to record the 13-track My Stupid Life at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios and Blackbird Studio. The bulk of the album was produced by Daniel Tashian, with Marcus “MarcLo” Lomax producing the song “Bigger Than The Song” and Romil Hemnani producing the track “New To This Town.” Guests who appear on My Stupid Life include Grace Potter, Jason Isbell and Maren Morris. Spencer stated the following about the highly-anticipated album:

“This feels like a long time coming. It took me three years from the time I released my first EP Compassion to now to release my first album. These songs serve as my introduction to country music and I wanted to give them all the time and care that they (and my fans) deserve. I wrote a lot of songs from the back corners of my mind because I wanted to take a good, deeper look at myself and create something true to who and where I am at this time in my life. The more I put the pen to my feelings and thoughts, the more I realize I’ve heard similar sentiments throughout my life. Through making this album, I’ve learned we’re not alone in our heads, and I hope this album hugs the tiny, loud parts of our overthinking brains that sometimes need it most.”

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TR3 featuring Tim Reynolds – Watch It

Dave Matthews Band lead guitarist Tim Reynolds returns with his experimental trio TR3, who released their new studio album, Watch It. Reynolds formed the project in the mid-1980s, solidifying the lineup in 2007 with bassist Mick Vaughn and drummer Dan Martier. TR3’s last studio LP was 2019’s The Sea Versus The Mountain, which was followed by the 2022 live album, Wild In The Sky. TR3 recorded Watch It at the Dave Matthews Band’s private recording facility Haunted Hollow in Charlottesville, Virginia. Consisting of 10 mostly-instrumental tracks, Watch It was produced by DMB chief engineer/studio manager Rob Evans. Reynolds expanded on the new record, stating:

“I like the idea of emotive expression, where you’re not really trying to play technical things, you’re just trying to emote things that are in the songs. [Rob] is so seamless as an engineer/producer. He’s so passive, but he’s also a great teacher who doesn’t say anything about how he’s teaching you, because he’s doing his magic — he’s like a member of the band. There’s this sense of trust. Everybody really gets along, so that comes through in the music. We love each other, and with that we’re able to unlock all kinds of possibilities. We understand the drill, we understand the process — if it wasn’t working, we wouldn’t have been here this long.

“If there wasn’t that [continued] sense of discovery, then it wouldn’t be worth it — it’d just be totally boring. With [Watch It], it’s not about shredding [the guitar], it’s more about melody and form. I spent a lot less time soloing, more time working beyond that, to where it’s about finding a rhythm and just going with the flow together.”

“I used to play [guitar] with my teeth and play behind my back. But, when you get older, you get more into different kinds of musical aspects. [Nowadays], I would rather play some music and try my hardest to play something that goes inside of you — it’s not something you have to see, it’s something you hear and feel.

“When you want to express yourself, it’s always kind of a journey. Because there’s always thing that you how to play, but then, once-in-a-while, in the middle of something, something fresh happens and it’s hard to describe — it’s this different feeling, and you try to hang on to that. I guess I’m lucky that things you thought would happen and things you didn’t think would happen, well, did. Over the years, you’re trying to find a balance. And I’m lucky to be able to do two things that I really love with TR3 and DMB — it’s nothing but gratitude.”

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Compiled by Team JamBase.