Don’t Miss New Albums From King Gizzard, Black Pumas, TAUK, Mountain Goats & More
The Kills, The Gaslight Anthem and Bruce Hornsby also have new releases out today.
By Team JamBase Oct 27, 2023 • 6:30 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 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Black Pumas, TAUK, The Mountain Goats, The Kills, The Gaslight Anthem and Bruce Hornsby. Read on for more insight into the records we have ready to spin.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – The Silver Cord
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard released their 25th album in half as many years today through their KGLW label. The Silver Cord is perhaps an extrapolation of the Australian rockers’ electronic-leaning 2021 record, Butterfly 3000. The Silver Cord sees the musically fickle sextet manning synth spaceships to explore the intergalactic glitches, zips and zaps in a crackling corner of the Gizzverse. In true KGLW fashion, The Silver Cord is actually two records, as the band’s Stu Mackenzie explained:
“The first version’s really condensed, trimming all the fat. And on the second version, that first song, ‘Theia’, is 20 minutes long. It’s the ‘everything’ version – those seven songs you’ve already heard on the first version, but with a whole lot of other shit we record while making it. It’s for the Gizz-heads. I love Donna Summer’s records with Giorgio Moroder, and I’d never listen to the short versions now – I’m one of those people who wants to hear the whole thing. We’re testing the boundaries of people’s attention spans when it comes to listening to music, perhaps – but I’m heavily interested in destroying such concepts.”
Black Pumas – Chronicles Of A Diamond
Seven-time Grammy-nominated group Black Pumas are back with their highly anticipated second album, Chronicles of a Diamond, out today via ATO Records. The new LP is the follow up to their 2019 self-titled debut album. Black Pumas’ Adrian Quesada and Eric Burton co-produced Chronicles of a Diamond. Black Pumas returned in August with the first Chronicles of a Diamond single, “More Than A Love Song.” Additional advance singles included “Mrs. Postman,” “Angel” and “Ice Cream (Pay Phone).” Six-time Grammy-winner Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, The War on Drugs) handled most of the mixing on the 10-track sophomore effort, which Burton noted added a bit of urgency to the sessions in an interview with NME.
“We were under pressure this time. Being that it’s the dreaded sophomore album it was really heavy, I’m not gonna lie. It was also a fun process and very cathartic as well. We were very fortunate for the fact that when Black Pumas first started, Adrian had made a lot of the music beforehand. I also had the opportunity to share some of my own music with Adrian for the first project. This round, I had a lot more to do with the creation of the music outside of lyrics and melody.”
TAUK – Equalizer
Progressive-jam act TAUK gets back to their instrumental ways on Equalizer, a seven-track studio album released today. The LP is the quartet’s second of 2023 following their TAUK Moore collaborative album with Doom Flamingo vocalist Kanika Moore. The band — guitarist Matt Jalbert, bassist Charlie Dolan, drummer Isaac Teel and keyboardist Alric “A.C.” Carter recorded the 36-minute collection at their How Now Studios facility in Oyster Bay, New York. Jalbert stated the following in regards to Equalizer:
“Equalizer leans into the part of TAUK that is all about letting the compositions take you through a lot of twists and turns. Chaos Companion focused a lot on groove and texture and pushing ourselves to explore new tonal territories as a band. And of course TAUK Moore led us down an entirely new path. This album is a bit of a return to some of our formative writing styles. I’m not worrying about trying to condense the songs into a more concise statement. All the guys in the band bring so much to the table and it’s just fun to throw some wild ideas out there and see how we all make sense of them together. These songs are about just finding joy in the wild noises us four guys can make together when we don’t set any boundaries.”
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The Mountain Goats – Jenny from Thebes
Another prolific group, The Mountain Goats today released Jenny From Thebes, the 22nd studio album issued by the project founded by John Darnielle. The titular “Jenny” character named in the title first appeared on the 2001 EP Jam Eater Blues in the song “Straight Six” and resurfaced in the song “Jenny” on the 2002 album, All Hail West Texas, which Darnielle recorded alone using a Panasonic RX-FT500 boombox. Jenny appeared again in the song “Night Light,” from 2012’s Transcendental Youth. Among the 12 songs on the new record is the track “Jenny III.” The album liner notes state, “The narrator of ‘Cleaning Crew’ — ‘I’ — is Jenny from All Hail West Texas. She’s speaking to the narrator of ‘Source Decay’ from the same album. Enterprising travelers will work out the rest.” Darnielle recorded Jenny From Thebes in January at The Church Studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma with bandmates Peter Hughes, Matt Douglas and Jon Wurster. The Trina Shoemaker-produced album also features Bully’s Alicia Bognanno on guitar as well as backing vocals from Matt Nathanson and The Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine. Describing the 12-track new album, the band stated:
The Mountain Goats’ catalog is thick with recurring characters — Jenny … is one of these, someone who enters a song unexpectedly, pricking up the ears of fans who are keen on continuing the various narrative threads running through the Mountain Goats’ discography before vanishing into the mist. In these songs, Jenny is largely defined by her absence, and she is given that definition by other characters. She is running from something. These features are beguiling, both to the characters who’ve told her story so far and to the listener. They invite certain questions: Who is Jenny, really? What is she running from? Well, she’s a warrior and a thief, and, this being an album by the Mountain Goats, it’s a safe bet whatever she’s fleeing is something bad. Something catastrophically bad.
Jenny From Thebes is the story of Jenny, her southwestern ranch style house, the people for whom that house is a place of safety, and the West Texas town that is uncomfortable with its existence. It is a story about the individual and society, about safety and shelter and those who choose to provide care when nobody else will.
The Kills – God Games
God Games is the first album from The Kills — the duo of Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince — in seven years. The long-awaited sixth album and follow-up to 2016’s Ash & Ice was released today through Domino Records. Mosshart was encouraged by Hince to purchase a “$100 keyboard and try to write.” Additionally, Hince stepped outside of his typical process and for the first time primarily used a piano to compose songs for the record, writing “on guitar less than ever.” The resulting 12 songs were recorded by The Kills at an old church with previous collaborator, producer Paul Epworth.
“Paul was our very first soundman in 2002,” Hince stated. “Since he was with us when we had two amps, a lightbulb, and a couple of mics in a van, it seemed perfect. He knew how far it had come and could trace the thread back.”
The Gaslight Anthem – History Books
History Books is the first album from The Gaslight Anthem in nine years. The New Jersey-bred band’s long-awaited sixth album and follow-up to 2014’s Get Hurt was released today through their own Rich Mahogany Recordings label via Thirty Tigers. Vocalist/guitarist Brian Fallon and his bandmates — drummer Benny Horowitz, bassist Alex Levine, and lead guitarist Alex Rosamilia — recorded History Books with producer Peter Katis at his Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The album’s title track lead single featured special guest and New Jersey icon Bruce Springsteen. Fallon discussed the new album and collaboration with The Boss, stating:
“When you have a band reach any level of success or popularity, that’s a gift. It’s truly a miracle to be able to do your art for a living. Having the band come this far and be able to still find inspiration and connection in our music is a treasure. We’re thrilled to be back, and we thank our fans for allowing us time to regroup.
“None of us wanted to make a very somber or serious record showing how much we’ve matured. We’ve all changed and grown and learned so much, but the overall mood was a feeling of excitement to be back together and making music that means something to us.
“When Bruce Springsteen said I should write a duet for us, I think my head exploded. It will never get old to me that one of the greatest songwriters in the world, and one of my hero’s voices, will forever be captured in a song I wrote at a small wooden desk, in October, in New Jersey.”
Bruce Hornsby – Spirit Trail 25th Anniversary Edition
Bruce Hornsby isn’t one to linger on the past, forever choosing to move his music forward. Yet, he couldn’t help but recognize the 25th anniversary of Spirit Trail, a severely-underrated double album released in 1998 featuring 20 tracks. Hornsby celebrates the occasion today by putting out Spirit Trail 25th Anniversary Edition digitally and as a 3-CD and 3-LP set. The digital version and 3-CD collection brings together the original album newly remastered by Bob Ludwig, four previously unreleased studio cuts (Lost And Found On The Spirit Trail) and over 70 minutes of never-before-heard live tracks (Live Trail).
Why did Hornsby pick Spirit Trail for the reissue treatment? The keyboardist said, “that for my true fans – devotees who’ve followed me through this crazy and stylistically peripatetic journey I’ve taken – this record is their favorite.” Hornsby added, “It’s the record from my more distant past that personally holds up best for me. It’s the first record where I thought the singing has aged well, and I’m still very proud of the songwriting on it. We’re trying to get the word out again, shine a light now on something we thought was pretty special.”
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Compiled by Scott Bernstein, Nate Todd and Andy Kahn.
