Don’t Miss New Albums From Johnny Cash, Nathaniel Rateliff, Wilco, Megan Thee Stallion & More

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 Johnny Cash, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Wilco, Megan Thee Stallion, Little Stranger, Prefuse 73, Omar Apollo, Lil Yachty & James Blake, Hiatus Kaiyote, Camila Cabello, Aloe Blacc, and Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Read on for more insight into the records we have ready to spin.

Johnny Cash – Songwriter

Country legend Johnny Cash recorded a series of demos in early 1993 at Nashville’s LSI Studios featuring songs he wrote over many years. The 11 tracks were built upon with help from several of the late musician’s frequent collaborators along with an impressive roster of artists to create Songwriter, which was released today via Mercury Nashville/UMe. Cash was between labels at the time he laid down the demos at LSI Studios. Johnny and June Carter Cash’s son, John Carter Cash, unearthed the recordings and decided to breathe fresh life into them. Produced by John Carter Cash and David “Fergie” Ferguson, the pair recruited guitarist Marty Stuart, the late bassist Dave Roe and drummer Pete Abbott to record new parts at the Cash Cabin to accompany Johnny’s vocals and acoustic guitar.

The core band featured on the bulk of Songwriter also includes Ana Cristina Cash (background vocals), Matt Combs (acoustic guitar, mandolin, strings), Mike Rojas (B3 organ, piano), Russ Pahl (acoustic & electric guitar, bass, dobro, steel) and Sam Bacco (congas, percussion). Grand Ole Opry guitarist Harry Marx and vocalist Harry Stinson appear on select songs. Additionally, Dan Auerbach laid down a guitar solo, Vince Gill sang a tune and Waylon Jennings‘ vocals from the original session are featured on two songs.

“Dad’s advice with anything, whether it was life or making music, was always ‘follow your heart,” said John Carter. “He was always my hero and I just felt like the luckiest guy in the world to get to record him,” noted Fergie, Johnny Cash’s longtime engineer.

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Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – South Of Here

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats issued their fourth studio album, South of Here, through the renowned Stax record label. The follow-up to 2021’s The Future was produced by Brad Cook, who decamped with the band at Sonic Ranch outside El Paso to record South of Here. Rateliff is joined in The Night Sweats by Luke Mossman, Joseph Pope III, Mark Shusterman, Patrick Meese, Daniel Hardaway, Jeff Dazey and Andreas Wild. Rateliff wrote all 11 original cuts featured on South of Here.

“Brad was a great producer to write alongside,” explained Rateliff. “This album is a look into my own struggle with anxiety, insecurity and also stories of my life. He encouraged me to take responsibility for my own narrative in the songs and to write about what’s happening in my own life. These recordings were done together in a room with my closest friends. I hope these songs and stories give you an opportunity to better understand your own struggles whatever they may be.”

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Wilco – Hot Sun Cool Shroud

Wilco put out a new EP, Hot Sun Cool Shroud, through the band’s dBpm Records. The release coincides with Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival getting underway today at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts. Hot Sun Cool Shroud contains material recorded but not completed during Wilco’s sessions for their latest LP, 2023’s Cousin. Frontman Jeff Tweedy returned to the studio with engineering mixer Tom Schick to finish off the six tracks making up Hot Sun Cool Shroud. Solid Sound attendees will have a chance to pick up a white vinyl pressing of Hot Sun Cool Shroud available exclusively at the festival. The EP’s artwork incorporates images from visual artist Kathleen Ryan’s “Bad Fruit” collection. Tweedy detailed the new EP:

“It’s fun to have something new to release at Solid Sound. This year we’re putting out an EP with a summertime-after-dark kind of feeling. It starts off pretty hot, like heat during the day, has some instrumentals on it that are a little agitated and uncomfortable and ends with a cooling breeze. There are tracks on Hot Sun Cool Shroud that are more aggressive and angular than anything we’ve put out in a while, and a song about love melting you like ice cream into a puddle of sugary soup. All the pieces of summer, including the broody cicadas.”

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Megan Thee Stallion – Megan

Megan Thee Stallion released her new album, Megan, via Hot Girl Productions Megan Thee Stallion’s first LP since 2022’s Traumazine, the 18-track Megan includes features by Kyle Richh, Yuki Chiba, GloRilla, UGK and Victoria Monét. Megan also sees the rapper taking a new approach thematically. In a recent interview with L’OFFICIEL, Megan discussed the diverse emotional spectrum covered in the new album.

“I don’t even know how to describe [the new album], honestly. [Single] ‘Hiss’ was me just getting the things that I had to say off my chest. I’m really not focused on the negativity on my album. I have a lot of different songs on the album because my emotion doesn’t stop at anger. My emotion doesn’t stop at sadness because I did grow and I did start feeling more things. I started feeling really happy. So you have songs on the album that are about the positive times that I’m starting to have. You get a little bit of everything. You get all the emotions in there.”

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Little Stranger – Sat Around Trippin

Charleston, South Carolina-based duo Little Stranger released a new album, Sat Around Trippin, through Ineffable Records. The pair of Kevin Shields and John Shields (no relation) recruited several special guests for the new album. Andy Frasco & The U.N., G. Love & Special Sauce, The Movement, Damn Skippy, Wax and Jarv appear on the follow-up to Little Stranger’s 2022 album, Trip Around Saturn.

“‘Sat Around Trippin’ is what happens after you take a ‘Trip Around Saturn’ with the crew,” explained Little Stranger. “The album finds us doubling down on the strangeness, chaos, and authenticity we hold tight to. The album started at a little cabin at the top of a mountain in Bat Cave, NC that we spent the month in with the goal of disappearing a bit and recalibrating our creative minds after months of grinding on the road.”

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Prefuse 73 – New Strategies for Modern Crime Vol. 2

Prefuse 73 (electronic musician Guillermo Scott Herren) issued, New Strategies For Modern Crime Vol. 2, his latest album arriving today through Lex Records. Featuring 16 tracks, New Strategies For Modern Crime Vol. 2 is the companion to Prefuse 73’s album New Strategies For Modern Crime Vol. 1, which arrived in March. Speaking about his creative process, Herren stated:

“I always have a movie or some random visuals playing on mute behind me in the studio. It could be horror from any era or just an old Fellini film; they tend to be playing on a loop. I will turn around from the mixing board and just stare at the images to get inspired. It means that when you do finally hear my music, it’s hopefully created in a way that prompts you to see a whole scene play out in your head.”

Omar Apollo – God Said No

https://open.spotify.com/album/4zP3lXg6RHEiUDOtUkr5yh?si=Bvmqcsf5Rl6NMyV82SlsMA

Pop star Omar Apollo returns with a new album, God Said No, which he released through Warner Records. Teo Halm executive produced the follow up to Apollo’s 2022 debut full-length album Ivory. God Said No features guest spots from musician Mustafa and actor Pedro Pascal. Apollo recorded the new record at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios with producers Halm, Carter Lang and Blake Slatkin. While in London recording the album, the singer-songwriter drew inspiration from the poems of Mary Oliver, Victoria Chang and Ocean Vuong. He also noted he had the music of Kate Bush, Labi Siffre, Giorgio Moroder, Beyoncé and Lana del Rey was in heavy rotation.

For Apollo, the essence of God Said No comes from the Spanish phrase “lo que sera, sera,” the English equivalent of “whatever will be, will be” or “it is what it is.” Omar came upon the title for the record after speaking with a friend following the end of a relationship.

“I gave it my everything,” Apollo recalled, “And God said ‘no.’”

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Lil Yachty & James Blake – BAD CAMEO

BAD CAMEO is the first collaborative album by American hip-hop musician Lil Yachty and British singer-songwriter James Blake. Out today through Quality Control Music/Motown/Republic Records, little information about the collaborative effort was revealed in advance of its release.

“I think James has worked with a quite substantial amount of hip-hop artists,” Yachty said on Instagram. “But this project is so left for both of us. Then, aside from the one picture that James posted, which he doesn’t have many followers actually, I don’t think people know that we know each other exist.”

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Hiatus Kaiyote – Love Heart Cheat Code

Australian alt-funk outfit Hiatus Kaiyote put out their latest studio album, Love Heart Cheat Code, through Brainfeeder Records/Ninja Tune. The 11-track LP follows the group’s Grammy-nominated 2022 album, Mood Valiant. Fellow Melbourne-based musicians appear on the album, including guitarist Tom Martin, flutist Nikodimos, and Taylor “Chip” Crawford who plays an instrument he created that he calls the frello. Love Heart Cheat Code was produced by Mario Caldato Jr.. Frontwoman Nai Palm spoke about the new record, stating:

“I’m a maximalist. I complicate fucking everything. But the more you go through things in life, you become more relaxed and uninhibited. Sometimes you can still have depth and reach people and really stop dancing around the fact: What do you want to communicate to people? And I feel like this album is a result of that clarity for us. We didn’t need to spell out complexity if the song didn’t call for it.”

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Camila Cabello – C,XOXO

C,XOXO is fourth solo album by singer Camila Cabello and her first since leaving Epic Records. The follow-up to 2022’s Familia arrived today through Geffen/Interscope Records featuring 14 new tracks. Several guests appear on the new album, with features by Lil Nas X, Playboi Carti, Lil Nas X, BLP Kosher, Drake, JT and Yung Miami.

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Aloe Blacc – Rock My Soul Volume 2

Aloe Blacc is back with the second and final installment in his Rock My Soul cover EP series. Rock My Soul Volume 2 features covers of songs by The White Stripes (“Seven Nation Army”), Oasis (“Wonderwall”), Blur (“Song 2”), R.E.M. (“Everybody Hurts”) and Rage Against The Machine (“Born of a Broken Man”).

“I’ve always been drawn to the emotional depth and powerful messages in these songs,” Blacc stated upon announcing the project. “With Rock My Soul, I wanted to honor the originals while also bringing my own perspective to the music. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it.”

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Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Early Daze

Early Daze is a new Neil Young & Crazy Horse album made up of rare and unreleased studio recordings. The 10 tracks were recorded in 1969 by Neil Young and the Crazy Horse lineup of guitarist Danny Whitten, drummer Ralph Molina, bassist Billy Talbot and keyboardist Jack Nitzsche, the same lineup that appeared on the Live At The Fillmore East album recorded in 1970. Early Daze features previously unreleased versions of “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown,” “Winterlong,” “Wonderin’,” and more, including the original 7″ mono mix of “Cinnamon Girl.”

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