Don’t Miss New Albums Out Today From J Mascis, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Vijay Iyer & Dizgo

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 J Mascis, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Vijay Iyer and Dizgo. Read on for more insight into the records we have ready to spin.

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J Mascis – What Do We Do Now?

Dinosaur Jr. guitarist J Mascis released his fifth solo album since 1996, What Do We Do Now?, today through Sub Pop Records. Mascis recorded the 10-song effort in Western Massachusetts at his personal studio Bisquiteen. What Do We Do Now? is Mascis’ first solo album with “full drum and electric leads, although the rhythm parts are still all acoustic.” Mascis recruited fellow Western Mass local Ken Mauri of The B-52s to play keyboards and Ontario-based multi-instrumentalist Matthew “Doc” Dunn to play steel guitar. Mascis wrote some of the songs on the new album during the final days of the COVID-19 pandemic, taking a more acoustic approach from the typically electric output of Dinosaur Jr. Speaking about the solo material, Mascis stated:

“When I’m writing for [Dinosaur Jr.], I’m always trying to think of doing things Lou [Barlow] and Murph would fit into. For myself, I’m thinking more about what I can do with just an acoustic guitar, even for the leads. Of course, this time, I added full drums and electric leads, although the rhythm parts are still all acoustic. Usually, I try to do the solo stuff more simply so I can play it by myself, but I really wanted to add the drums. Once that started, everything else just fell into place. So it ended up sounding a lot more like a band record. I dunno why I did that exactly, but it’s just what happened.”

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Lee “Scratch” Perry – King Perry

King Perry is a posthumously released album recorded by late influential reggae dub pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry, who died in August 2021 at age 85. Perry recorded King Perry during the COVID-19 pandemic with producer Daniel Boyle. The 12-song album, positioned as Perry’s “final,” was created out of Perry’s desire “to do something new, something different but still with a dub framework.” A number of guests appear alongside the Jamaican music legend, such as Greentea Peng, Shaun Ryder, Marta, Rose Waite and Fifi Rong. Additionally, Tricky contributed and co-produced two of the tracks on the album that came out on his False Idols label. According to the label:

“Armed with influences as diverse as synthwave, big beat, drum & bass and electronica, Boyle and Perry traded ideas, beats and lyrics in a project that continued to grow as its various guest performers were added, resulting in a kaleidoscopic and engaging melting pot of rhythms, melodies, and voices. Poignantly, closing track ‘Goodbye’ was Perry’s last ever recorded vocal performance.”

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Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh & Tyshawn Sorey – Compassion

Acclaimed pianist Vijay Iyer released Compassion, his second album on ECM Records featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey. The new ECM release marks Iyer’s eighth overall as a bandleader for the venerable jazz record label and follows the 2021 album showcasing the same trio, Uneasy. Like its predecessor, the trio recorded the 12-track Compassion at Oktaven Audio in Mount Vernon, New York just outside New York City. Iyer co-produced the new record with ECM’s Manfred Eicher. The album sees Iyer honoring and taking inspiration from the likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Emmett Till, Eve L. Ewing and Iyer’s father. Alongside several Iyer original compositions are covers of Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed” (acting as a tribute of sort to Chick Corea), “Nonaah” by avant-garde composer and Iyer mentor Roscoe Mitchell, and an arrangement of “Free Spirits” by John Stubblefield, which Iyer first heard performed by Mary Lou Williams. Iyer described making Compassion, stating:

“Tyshawn is a complete musician. He hears everything, understanding music as a composer as well as a player. Because of that, he can hear into the future — imagining possibilities before they come to be, making new things happen in the music. With Linda, she has this unfettered quality as a soloist, working as a melodic foil to me in a way that I usually experience with horn players. That said, she doesn’t solo so much at the top of the instrument like some bassists. She can solo in the bass register in a way that sings.

“The unease I experience making art in times of suffering never goes away, nor should it; that tension shapes the creative process at every stage. Its counterpart, the response to its call, is the rejuvenating feeling of making music with, for and among people. I am endlessly inspired by Tyshawn and Linda… We developed this music on stage, out in the world, in spaces of community and encounter.”

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Dizgo – Melt

Out today from Dizgo is Melt, the Bloomington, Indiana-based jam quartet’s third studio album. The band — Andrew Pickel (guitar, vocals), Kevin Hinnefeld (bass, keyboards), Jake Evatt (keyboards, vocals) and Jacob Powell (drums) — mainly composed the material featured on the LP between 2022 and 2023. The two-year period was an eventful time for the musicians in the group both personally and professionally that included weddings, entering fatherhood, transitions to new locales and plenty of time on the road. Melt consists of nine original tracks, four of which the band previously issued as singles. Dizgo shared the following within a preview of an album intended to showcase and spotlight the best attributes of each member:

While most of the songs on the album are lyric-driven, we included three instrumental songs and even our first interlude, that helped tie the project together. We named it after a funky, psychedelic band-favorite instrumental that seemed to ‘bring it all home’ when it came to what the album is about, or what it means to us. We found the name and the song ‘Melt’ fitting because we feel the song strongly represents the ‘heart’ and current sound of our music and also accurately encapsulates the intrinsic connection between us as a band, and our audience in a live setting, we all ‘melt’ into one collective unit, experiencing time and space together. The special moment where music connects and creates community – melting together a bond between the music, musician, and listener.

The album was recorded and produced by the band in our rehearsal space over a two month period and was our first attempt at a fully in-house project outside of the art and masters. We were lucky to have some awesome art from Max Powers, to help paint the story single-by-single leading into the album release. This was our first attempt at a project that brought each song into the world of the artwork. The songs were mastered by Austin Litz of the band Litz, who had a great ear and helped these recordings come to life. We look forward to sharing Melt with the world and want to thank everyone for supporting us and this music.”

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Compiled by Team JamBase.