Don’t Miss New Albums From Snow Patrol, The Jesus Lizard, Willie Watson, Floating Points & More

Snow Patrol have returned with their first album in six years, The Forest Is The Path, through Polydor Records. The Northern Irish band – Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly and Johnny McDaid – co-produced their eighth album with Fraser T Smith. According to the band, the 12-song follow-up to 2018’s Wildness is “rooted in reflection, introspection and interrogation” and “the idea of love from the distance of time.” Lightbody described his mindset while making The Forest Is The Path, stating:

“I haven’t been in a relationship for a very long time, 10 years or more, so love from a distance to me meant the way a relationship sits in your memory from a distance of, say, 10 years. That’s not something I’d previously thought about as a way to write about love.

“So it’s like, when you’re in love, you’re standing in the lobby of the Empire State Building. When you’ve broken up with that person, you’re out in the street. You can still see the building, but you’re not in there anymore. And when it’s 10 years later, now you’re standing in Brooklyn looking at the Manhattan skyline.”

Influential rockers The Jesus Lizard made their long-awaited return with their first album in 26 years, Rack, arriving today via Ipecac Recordings. The Jesus Lizard — vocalist David Yow, guitarist Duane Denison, bassist David Wm. Sims and drummer Mac McNeilly — convened with producer Paul Allen at Nashville’s Audio Eagle Studio to capture the 11-track Rack. The LP is the quartet’s first studio album since 1998’s Blue.

“There are definitely some references to the past,” Denison said of the new album, “but it’s more as a point of departure: We don’t stay there.”

“We literally only made the record because we thought it would be fun to make the record,” Sims stated.

“We are bonded by the music we make, and also by the respect we have for each other,” McNeilly added.

Old Crow Medicine Show co-founder Willie Watson issued his self-titled debut solo album, via Little Operation Records/Thirty Tigers. The singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist captured the new album in Los Angeles with producers Gabe Witcher and Kenneth Pattengale. He assembled an all-star band for the record including Paul Kowert on bass, Dylan Day on guitar, Benmont Tench on keys, Jason Boesel on drums and Sami Braman on fiddle. While Watson’s musical skills have appeared on OCMS albums, films by the Cohen Brothers and collaborations with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, John Prine, John C. Reilly and Watkins Family Hour, Willie Watson marks the musician’s first solo album of original material. The debut solo album is a milestone, but for Watson, releasing the new record was also an achievement in a different sense.

“After 30 years of playing music professionally – this is my debut album,” Watson stated. “This record is me beating the devil, or the story of what finally did it anyway. I didn’t make any specific pact or anything but I know we’ve been tangled up most of my life. Now that he’s gone I can love myself again.”

Cascade is the first solo Floating Points released by electronic musician Sam Shepard since 2019’s Crush. In the interim, Floating Points released the critically acclaimed album Promises recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and jazz legend Pharoah Sanders prior to his death in 2022. Shepard also composed “Mere Mortals,” his debut ballet score, composed as a collaboration with the San Francisco Ballet. Despite those tranquil projects, Cascade sees Floating Points returning to his dancefloor beginnings.

“I have a studio at home with all the gear I usually use, but I wasn’t there so I had to use my laptop, doing it all on headphones,” Shepard said. “There’s something about Manchester that keeps coming back to me, and I think it’s partly to do with its record shops… As a kid, my school was around the corner from the Northern Quarter so at lunchtimes, I’d run out of the school gates and skip lunch altogether to go and listen to records. I’m sure I was a total pain in the arse constantly pulling records off the shelves, but it was amazing. I’d be listening to Autechre at Pelican Neck, Dilla at Fat City, David Morales mixes at the Factory Records shop… It gave me a parallel education in music to what I was being taught at school.”

Veteran rapper Talib Kweli reunited with producer J. Rawls for their new collaborative album, The Confidence of Knowing, which i.s out now via Javotti Media/Fat Beats Distribution. Rawls, who is currently a professor at Ohio State University, produced the track “Brown Skin Lady” on Kweli’s acclaimed Black Star album with Mos Def. Consisting of 13 songs, The Confidence Of Knowing includes features by Blu, Jimetta Rose, TriState, Coast Contra, Buckshot, Skyzoo, Ras Kass, IDK, Planet Asia, Phil the Agony, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Diani, NIKO IS, Solene and Middle Child.

As its title implies, Live Drugs Again, is The War On Drugs‘ new live album, following their 2020 live record, Live Drugs. Available today through High Quality Records, Live Drugs Again contains The War on Drugs favorites such as “Harmonia’s Dream,” “Pain,” “Burning,” “Under The Pressure” and more. The War on Drugs captured the new live offering on tour between February 2022 and December 2023 in the U.S., U.K., Europe and Australia. A description of the live album explains:

“Live Drugs Again chronicles the evolution of these songs from the studio to stages all over the world; documenting our continued growth as a live band. This series ensures that these versions, and some of our favorite moments on stage, will live on.”

Country singer-songwriter Miranda Lambert released Postcards From Texas, marking her first album since signing to Republic Records earlier this year. Lambert, a native of Texas, stayed in her home state to record Postcards From Texas in Austin at Arlyn Recording Studios. The 14-song LP was recorded by Lambert with co-producer Jon Randall. The tracklist includes a cover of David Allan Coe’s “Living On The Run. Lambert wrote or co-wrote 10 songs, including “Santa Fe” which features guest vocalist and fellow Texan, Parker McCollum.

Oakland-born retro-soul outfit The California Honeydrops’ new sunkissed new album, Keep On Diggin, dropped today through Tubtone. The follow-up to the collective’s 2022 album, Soft Spot features special guest Lindsay Lou on “Fall In Love Again,” one of 10 songs making up the new record.

The Frank Zappa camp prepped the Apostrophe (‘) – 50th Anniversary Edition which is available now through Zappa Records/UMe. Zappa released Apostrophe (‘) on March 22, 1974. The critical and (strictly) commercial success of the record turned on a whole new audience to Zappa, which reverberated through the generations as an entry point into the vast Zappaverse along with its predecessor Over-Nite Sensation. Frank’s son Ahmet Zappa and Vaultmeister Joe Travers produced Apostrophe (‘) – 50th Anniversary Edition, which boasts 75 studio and live tracks, including a remastering of the original album’s nine cuts — by the renowned Bernie Grundman — along with two live shows.

“Here we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of arguably the most popular record in Frank Zappa’s epic catalog,” Travers wrote. “With Apostrophe (’), Zappa continued to carve out his own genre in music while celebrating ten years in the business. Nobody sounded like Frank Zappa. This album, and specifically ‘Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow,’ brought that unique wonderful sound to the masses in a way that nobody, including Frank, would expect.”