Don’t Miss New Albums Out Today From Yo La Tengo, Tennis, Andy Shauf, Doom Flamingo & More
Stream these six new releases out today, Friday, February 10.
By Team JamBase Feb 10, 2023 • 6:37 am PST
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 Yo La Tengo, Tennis, Andy Shauf, Doom Flamingo, The Runaway Grooms and The Rolling Stones. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.
Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World
This Stupid World is the 16th studio album released by Yo La Tengo, arriving today on Matador Records. The trio – Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley and James McNew – had gone five years since their last full length, There’s A Riot Going On. Yo La Tengo self-produced This Stupid World, recording nine new songs for the album without usual outside producers and engineers. Three This Stupid World songs were played by Yo La Tengo during their 2022 Hanukkah Run in New York City as they debuted “Apology Letter,” and the singles “Aselestine” and “Fallout.” In an essay about the pending album, author/journalist Marc Masters wrote:
“Another new thing about This Stupid World: it’s the most live-sounding Yo La Tengo album in years. At the base of nearly every track is the trio playing all at once, giving everything a right-now feel. Take the signature combination of hypnotic rhythm and spontaneous guitar on ‘Sinatra Drive Breakdown,’ or the steady chug of ‘Tonight’s Episode,’ a blinkered tunnel of forward-moving sound. There’s an immediacy to the music, as if the distance between the first pass and the final product has become more direct.”
Tennis – Pollen
Denver-based duo Tennis released the couples’ new studio album, Pollen, today through the Mutally Detrimental label. Pollen follows husband and wife duo Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore’s 2020 LP, Swimmer. Riley and Moore produced and recorded the 10-track Pollen in their Denver home studio. Regarding Pollen, Moore shared the statement below:
“We wanted to write a big album something suited for radio, but our songs don’t follow conventional pop structures. Instead of choruses with universal themes, I write with a specificity that is new to me, narrowing in on the smallest details of our lives. The more we try to broaden our scope, the more we turn inward. To keep ourselves from falling into old habits, we used instruments and gear that are new to us. We work alone and Patrick engineers. The sounds he creates are as foundational as any part he writes. We resist the urge to over edit or do too many takes. Unlike previous albums which have been more wall of sound, we make a point not to overpower my voice with a dense mix. We named the album Pollen. It is about small things with big consequences: a particle, a moment, a choice. It is me in a fragile state; sometimes inhabited freely, sometimes reacted against. It is striving to remain in a moment without slipping into dread. It is about the way I can be undone by a very small thing.”
Andy Shauf – Norm
ANTI- Records released Norm, Saskatchewan-born singer-songwriter Andy Shauf’s eighth studio album. Despite his penchant for the format, a concept album was not the initial intent when Shauf set out to create the follow-up to his previous two concept records, 2016’s The Party and 2020’s The Neon Skyline. Intending to create a “normal record,” Shauf instead abandoned his attempt at writing unrelated songs and created a new universe connecting the compositions together. The 12-track Norm, which follows 2021’s Wilds that featured songs about a character from The Neon Skyline, sees Shauf narrating through the lenses of four distinct voices. Engineer Neal Pogue, whose credits include hip-hop stars Outkast and Tyler, The Creator, was tasked with mixing Norm.
“I had been working on those songs for over a year, just tinkering away,” Shauf stated. “And so when Neal sent me a first mix, he would focus on things that I had forgotten were important to the track. He brought this technical know-how that could more purely bring out the sound of the record … I was trying to shift away from my usual starting point, and begin with purely the melody, then find different ways to support it, hopefully avoiding the things I’m used to doing … Big subjects are trickier to write about. But the way that I found to write about them was by writing about them as a bunch of small things. Everything is everything. Big is just a bunch of small things.”
Doom Flamingo – Peaches & Bobbi
Doom Flamingo today released Peaches & Bobbi, the Charleston, South Carolina-based band’s debut, full-length album. Doom Flamingo is made up of bassist Ryan Stasik of Umphrey’s McGee, lead singer Kanika Moore, keyboardist Ross Bogan, guitarist Thomas Kenney, saxophonist Mike Quinn and drummer Sean Bing. The 12-track Peaches & Bobbi features Stuart White on drums on five songs. The six-piece band previewed the debut LP with the singles “Evil,” “303 Love,” “Happy Boi” and the title track. The band held a Peaches & Bobbi listening party aboard Jam Cruse and then performed the album in its entirety on the main stage The group that formed in 2018 described their long-awaited full-length studio release:
Tender heartbreakers, heavy anthems, dreamy synths, soaring vocals… Peaches & Bobbi is a love story revolving around three main imaginary characters from the 80s, Peaches, Bobbi and Mr. Happy Boi himself. Ultimately the narrative of Peaches & Bobbi is up to the listener, but there is a tale of tragedy and renewal in the album.
The Runaway Grooms – This Road
Colorado’s The Runaway Grooms released a new album today, This Road. The band — guitarists Adam Tobin and Zac Cialek, keyboardist Cody Scott, bassist Zach Gillam and drummer Justin Bisset — fittingly captured the five-track record on the road at Memphis’ Paloma Sound Studios with former Ardent Studio engineer Jeremy Horn. Press materials for the album detailed This Road:
…the Grooms’ third LP marks the band’s return to more of an American roots rock songwriting style, all while keeping one foot in the tight-knit jam band circle from which they emerged. Equally inspired by jazz-fusion exploration from the likes of Steely Dan, Atlanta Rhythm Section, and Yes, and the guitar-driven prowess of Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Grateful Dead, This Road dives in and out of grooves and moods, turning on a dime, but always focusing on what the band sees as the most important aspect; the song.
JamBase was pleased to premiere This Road lead single “Jenny” in November. The Runaway Grooms followed with “Heartwork” early this year.
The Rolling Stones – GRRR Live!
Legendary rockers The Rolling Stones today issued the hit-filled live archival set GRRR Live! via Mercury Studios. The 24-song album documents a show from their 50 & Counting Tour commemorating the band’s 50th anniversary that took place at Newark, New Jersey’s Prudential Center on December 15, 2012.
Former member guitarist Mick Taylor joined his old mates for “Midnight Rambler” in Newark, while home state hero Bruce Springsteen sang “Tumbling Dice.” The night also included guest appearances by The Black Keys on “Who Do You Love?,” Lady Gaga for “Gimme Shelter” as well as both John Mayer and Gary Clark Jr. on “Going Down.” While the concert was broadcast on pay-per-view in 2012, the show remained unreleased otherwise until today.
Compiled by Scott Bernstein, Nate Todd and Andy Kahn.
