Don’t Miss New Albums From Neil Young, King Gizzard, Queens Of The Stone Age & More

Legendary Canadian rocker Neil Young issued the debut album, Talkin To The Trees, today through Reprise Records. Young is joined in the band by guitarist Micah Nelson, drummer Anthony LoGerfo, organist Spooner Oldham and bassist Corey McCormick. Young recorded the album with producers Lou Adler and John Hanlon at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studio in Malibu.

“It is a happy feeling I have today, knowing I have made an album I think people will enjoy,” Young said. “Playing with the Chrome Hearts was a joy as we recorded song after song at Shangri-La in Malibu. I wrote these songs in November and December.”

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard released their highly-anticipated orchestral album, Phantom Island, via the band’s p(doom) records. Phantom Island, the band’s 27th studio album, follows their August 2024 LP, Flight b741. Phantom Island was recorded in the same sessions as Flight b741 but in true King Gizz fashion the band added a twist by lacing the songs with orchestral arrangements. Inspired by an encounter with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic backstage at KGLW’s 2023 Hollywood Bowl concert, the songs allocated for Phantom Island were deemed worthy of extra attention.

“The songs felt like they needed this other energy and color, that we needed to splash some different paint on the canvas,” said King Gizz frontman Stu Mackenzie, who contacted his friend British historical keyboardist, conductor and arranger Chad Kelly.

“[Kelly] brings this wealth of musical awareness to his chameleon-like arrangements,” Mackenzie stated. “We come from such different worlds – he plays Mozart and Bach and uses the same harpsichords they did, and tunes them the exact same way. But he’s obsessed with microtonal music, too, and all this nerdy stuff like me.”

Queens of the Stone Age released an album version of their just-released concert film, Alive In the Catacombs. Queens of the Stone Age captured Alive In the Catacombs in July 2024 during a challenging time for the band as they had just made the tough decision to postpone the remaining tour dates on their The End is Nero trek due to frontman Josh Homme’s medical emergency. Performing in the Paris catacombs fulfills a Queens of the Stone Age dream 18 years in the making.

This utterly unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience features a carefully selected setlist spanning the Queens of the Stone Age catalog, each song chosen and epically reimagined for the Catacombs. The result is an unprecedented incarnation of Queens of the Stone Age at their most intimate, yet surrounded by literally millions of human remains — “the biggest audience we’ve ever played for,” says Joshua Homme.

Singer-songwriter Brittany Davis released her sophomore album, Black Thunder, through Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard’s label Loosegroove Records. The Seattle-based keyboardist, who has been blind since birth, recorded Black Thunder with drummer D’Vonne Lewis and bassist Evan Flory-Barnes. The trio went into the two-day recording session with little prior interaction. The three musicians improvised what became the Josh Evans-produced Black Thunder.

“Brittany, Evan, and D’Vonne have, in some way, been preparing for this recording all their lives,” Evans said. “Honing their instrumental craft and ability, of course — but more importantly, preparing their ears, emotions, and egos to be fully present and create absolutely in the moment. To listen deeply and respond empathetically. To speak with uncomfortable honesty. To listen, and be vulnerable.”

Colorado alt-country outfit Gasoline Lollipops issued their new album, Kill The Architect, as the group’s first LP with ALP Recordings. Produced by Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin, Kill The Architect grew out of Gasoline Lollipops frontman and lyricist Clay Rose working on a psychedelic country ballet, Sam & Delilah, based on the Biblical story of Samson and Delilah. Rose met Berlin when Gasoline Lollipops opened for Los Lobos in Colorado on the latter’s 50th anniversary tour. Rose and the band convened with Berlin at Dockside Studio in Lafayette, Louisiana where they captured the album in a series of live-in-the-studio performances. The record also sees guest spots from Gregory Alan Isakov and Fruition’s Mimi Naja. Rose enlisted his Nashville songwriter mother, Donna Farar — who co-wrote Willie Nelson’s 1982 hit “Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning” — to craft the song “Tennessee Nights.”

“As humans, we’ve separated ourselves based upon our beliefs and the identities we’ve created,” Rose stated. “Those things might have weight, but ultimately, it’s not real. It’s fleeting. It goes away when you go to sleep. It’s not worth dying for, and it’s certainly not worth killing for. If you’ve gotta kill something, kill your identity and be liberated. That’s what Kill The Architect is about.”

About Ghosts is Brooklyn-based guitarist Mary Halvorson’s new album out today through Nonesuch Records. The eight-song set was produced by Deerhoof’s John Dieterich and recorded at Sear Sound in New York City. Like Halvorson’s previous three albums, Amaryllis, Belladonna and Cloudward, the current release features her backing band Amaryllis, which is composed of Patricia Brennan on vibraphone, Nick Dunston on bass, Tomas Fujiwara on drums, Jacob Garchik on trombone and Adam O’Farrill on trumpet. Saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins and Brian Settles contributed to five of the tracks.

“I started writing this record in the fall of 2023, for Amaryllis, and I thought, ‘You know what? I want to add more saxophones.’ And I just started writing,” Halvorson stated. “It felt like an experiment. I was just feeling … denser harmony, more horns. But I wanted to stick with Amaryllis, so it felt natural to add a couple of saxophones to Amaryllis rather than doing an entirely new thing; I’d been playing so much at that point with Amaryllis and we were in a really good place.

Influential rapper Slick Rick released Victory, his first album since 1999’s The Art of Storytelling. Arriving with an accompanying Meji Alabi-directed visual album, Victory was executive produced by Idris Elba. The album was recorded in London and France and features guest spots from Nas, Giggs and Estelle.

“Victory is all about perseverance, storytelling, imagination, and evolution,” Slick Rick stated. “A visual blend of art and heart — a sonic journey that reflects where I’ve been and where I’m going. Victory isn’t just music — it’s a bold in your face statement, showcasing British artistry at its finest!”