Release Day Picks: June 3rd New Album Highlights

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 Paul Simon, The David Grisman Sextet, Michael Franti & Spearhead, William Tyler and The Claypool Lennon Delirium. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

Paul Simon – Stranger To Stranger

The Scoop: Legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon releases his first album since 2011’s So Beautiful Or So What today. Simon worked with longtime collaborator Roy Halee who produced Stranger To Stranger along with Andy Smith. The 11-track effort finds Paul collaborating with the Italian EDM artist Clap! Clap! on three songs as the pairing worked together via email over the course of making the album. Paul also employs a bevy of custom-made instruments to give the LP an experimental sound. Stream “Wristband,” the first single off Paul Simon’s Stranger To Stranger:

Label: Concord Records

Producer: Andy Smith, Roy Halee

Number Of Tracks: 11

Running Time: 37:05

Guest Musicians: Clap! Clap!

Tracklist:

1. The Werewolf
2. Wristband
3. The Clock
4. Street Angel
5. Stranger to Stranger
6. In a Parade
7. Proof of Love
8. In the Garden of Edie
9. The Riverbank
10. Cool Papa Bell
11. Insomniac’s Lullaby

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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David Grisman Sextet – David Grisman Sextet

The Scoop: Forty years after the David Grisman Quintet recorded and released its first album of dawg music comes the first recording of the David Grisman Sextet. The six-piece finds Grisman backed by veterans of his ensembles Jim Kerwin (bass), Matt Eakle (flute), George Marsh (drums) as well as new members Chad Manning (fiddle) and George Cole (guitar). The album art for the famed mandolinist’s first album of originals in a decade is similar to that of the David Grisman Quintet’s 1976 debut. Look for the signature Dawg mix of bluegrass, latin, funk, ragtime and swing. Here’s “Hannah & Rio”:

Label: Acoustic Oasis

Producer: David Grisman

Number Of Tracks: 9

Running Time: 53:14

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. Bells Of Camoglia
2. The Purple Grotto
3. Newly Wedding
4. Slinky
5. Horn Pipe Dream
6. Waltz For Gigi
7. Dawg’s Bounce
8. Hannah & Rio
9. Del & Dawg

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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Michael Franti & Spearhead – Soulrocker

The Scoop: Typically, Michael Franti embodies the “pick a lane and stay in it” variety of musician, whereby he rarely strays too far from his socio-aware reggae pop formula from album to album. On Soulrocker though he does evolve, teaming up with Jamaican producers Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor and Dwayne “SupaDups” ChinQuee with the intention of adding an element of EDM into the mix. The songs were still crafted as usual on an acoustic guitar, but production team carefully focused the songs around electronic beats and atmospherics to complement the usual Spearhead arrangements. Have a listen to “Once A Day” from Soulrocker below:

Label: Fantasy Records

Producer: Michael Franti, Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor and Dwayne “SupaDups” ChinQuee

Number Of Tracks: 13

Running Time: 52:16

Musicians: Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor, Dwayne “SupaDups” ChinQuee, Carl Young, and Spearhead which includes Dave Shul, J Bowman, Jolene Rust, Bob Crawford, Jennifer Kloetzel, Cecily Ward, Ras I Zulu, James Gray, Gordon Ramos, DJ Choco, Raleigh Neal, Ramon Lazo, Victor Castro and Trinna Simmons

Tracklist:

1. Crazy For You
2. My Lord
3. Get Myself To Saturday
4. Summertime Is In Our Hands
5. We Are All Earthlings
6. Still Standing
7. Good To Be Alive Today
8. My Favorite Wine Is Tequila
9. Once A Day
10. We Do This Every Day
11. I Got Love For Ya
12. Do You Feel The Way That I Do?
13. Love Will Find A Way

Stream / Download / CD, Vinyl, and Digital

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William Tyler – Modern Country

The Scoop: Guitarist William Tyler’s fourth full-length studio album was recorded at Justin Vernon’s April Base Studios in Eau Claire, Wisconsin marking the first time he’s recorded outside his hometown of Nashville. Multi-instrumentalist Phil Cook who’s worked with Vernon, Hiss Golden Messenger, Blind Boys of Alabama and bassist Darin Gray who’s worked with Tweedy and Jim O’Rourke as well as Wilco’s drummer Glenn Kotche provided the foundation for the new record. Cook’s brother and Megafaun band mate Brad Cook co-produced Modern Country with Tyler, marking the musician’s first release on Merge. Stream “Gone Clear” below:

Label: Merge Records

Producer: Brad Cook, William Tyler

Number Of Tracks: 7

Running Time: 40:09

Guest Musicians: Glenn Kotche, Phil Cook, Darin Gray

Tracklist:

1. Highway Anxiety
2. I’m Gonna Live Forever (If It Kills Me)
3. Kingdom of Jones
4. Albion Moonlight
5. Gone Clear
6. Sunken Garden
7. The Great Unwind

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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The Claypool Lennon Delirium – Monolith Of Phobos

The Scoop: The debut album from the new project featuring bassist Les Claypool and multi-instrumentalist Sean Lennon was conceived last summer when the former’s band Primus was on tour with the latter’s band Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (GOASTT). When Claypool’s attempt to reunite with Trey Anastasio and Stewart Copeland for another Oysterhead collaboration failed, he turned to Lennon to make “an old-school, psychedelic/prog record.” Over six weeks the pair wrote and recorded 10 new songs, with each sharing vocals duties and playing a multitude of instruments. Here’s one of the record’s singles, “Cricket And The Genie”:

Label: ATO Records/Prawn Song Records/Chimera Music

Producer: Self-produced

Number Of Tracks: 11

Running Time: 50:15

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. The Monolith Of Phobos
2. Cricket and the Genie – Movement I, The Delirium
3. Cricket and the Genie – Movement II, Oratorio Di Cricket
4. Mr. Wright
5. Boomerang Baby
6. Breath of a Salesman
7. Captain Lariat
8. Ohmerica
9. Oxycontin Girl
10. Bubbles Burst
11. There’s No Underwear In Space

Stream / Download / CD/LP

Compiled by Ryan Dembinsky, Andy Kahn and Scott Bernstein