Release Day Picks: March 16th 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 Yo La Tengo, The Dean Ween Group, Bill Frisell, The Decemberists, Stone Temple Pilots and Dungen & Woods. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

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Yo La Tengo – There’s A Riot Going On

The Scoop: For their latest release, Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley and James McNew self-produced and self-engineered the 15-track There’s A Riot Going On during sessions held in their Hoboken, New Jersey rehearsal space. There’s A Riot Going On is the first Yo La Tengo album of all-new material since the 2013 release of Fade. Last year the trio issued Stuff Like That There, which was a collection of re-worked originals and some covers made with former band mate Dave Schramm. Its title clearly inspired by Sly and the Family Stone’s 1971 LP There’s A Riot Goin’ On, a statement describes There’s A Riot Going On as, “An expression of freedom and sanity and emotional expansion, a declaration of common humanity as liberating as it is soft-spoken.” Check out the “For You Too” video below:

Label: Matador Records

Producer: Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, James McNew

Number Of Tracks: 15

Running Time: 1:03:23

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. You Are Here
2. Shades of Blue
3. She May, She Might
4. For You Too
5. Ashes
6. Polynesia #1
7. Dream Dream Away
8. Shortwave
9. Above the Sound
10. Let’s Do It Wrong
11. What Chance Have I Got
12. Esportes Casual
13. Forever
14. Out of the Pool
15. Here You Are

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The Dean Ween Group – rock2

The Scoop: While it took over 30 years for Ween guitarist Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo to issue his solo debut, 2016’s The Deaner Album, less than two years later he’s back with rock2. Once again, Deaner recruited a number of his longtime musical collaborators under the moniker The Dean Ween Group to put out recordings made at his Lambertville, New Jersey studio. Rock2 collects 11 tracks laid down during the Fall of 2016 and features his Ween band mates Claude Coleman Jr., Dave Dreiwitz and Glenn McClelland as well as others including percussionist Mike Dillon and vocalist/guitarist Bill Fowler. One of the songs on the LP is a revised version of “Don’t Let The Moon Catch You Crying,” a song originally demoed for Ween’s Quebec album that has been reworked in a big way. Listen to “Don’t Let The Moon Catch You Crying”:

Label: Schnitzel Records

Producer: Dean Ween

Number Of Tracks: 11

Running Time: 38:35

Guest Musicians: Glenn McClelland, Dave Dreiwitz, Claude Coleman Jr., Bill Fowler, Mike Dillon

Tracklist:

1. Showstopper
2. Fingerbangin
3. Don’t Let The Moon Catch You Crying
4. Waste Station 9
5. Love Theme From Skinheads Kicking You Ass
6. Someone Greased The Fatman
7. The Ritz Carlton
8. This Heart Of Palm
9. Yellow Pontiac
10. Pussy On My Pillow
11. Sunset Over Belmar

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Bill Frisell – Music IS

The Scoop: Renowned guitarist Bill Frisell’s worked with his regular collaborator Lee Townsend to produce the 16-track Music IS. Recorded last August in Portland, Oregon at Tucker Martine’s Flora Recording and Playback studio, the new album is Frisell’s first solo release since 2013’s improvised Silent Comedy. His last proper solo album was 2000’s Ghost Town. The guitarist turning 67 on Saturday mixed new original compositions with some of his classic songs on Music IS. “Playing ‘solo’ (alone) is always a challenge”, Frisell stated. “For me, music has all along been so much about playing with other people. Having a conversation. Call and response. Playing all by myself is a trip. I really have to change the way I think. In preparation for this recording I played for a week at The Stone in New York. Each night I attempted new music that I’d never played before. I was purposely trying to keep myself a little off balance. Uncomfortable. Unsure. I didn’t want to fall back on things that I knew were safe. My hope was to continue this process right on into the studio. I didn’t want to have things be all planned out beforehand.” Heres’ the “Rambler (Alternate Version)” official video:

Label: Okeh Records/Sony Music Masterworks

Producer: Lee Townsend

Number Of Tracks: 16

Running Time: 58:34

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. Pretty Stars
2. Winslow Homer
3. Change in the Air
4. What Do You Want?
5. Thankful
6. Ron Carter
7. Think About it
8. In Line
9. Rambler
10. The Pioneers
11. Monica Jane
12. Miss You
13. Go Happy Lucky
14. Kentucky Derby
15. Made to Shine
16. Rambler (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track]

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The Decemberists – I’ll Be Your Girl

The Scoop: For their eighth studio album The Decemberists’ frontman Colin Meloy wanted to step a bit out of the band’s comfort zone. The literate folk-rock act recruited producer John Congleton, who is known for his work with St. Vincent and David Byrne, and left the confines of their home base of Portland to record. Meloy & Co. walked away with I’ll Be Your Girl an 11-track collection described as sounding like “an apocalyptic dance party” that draws influence from Roxy Music and early glam. Check out the music video for “Severed”:

Label: Capitol Records

Producer: John Congleton

Number Of Tracks: 11

Running Time: 43:09

Guest Musicians: Kelly Hogan, Nora O’Connor, Mikaela Davis, Joe Cunningham, Gaelynn Lea

Tracklist:

1. Once In My Life
2. Cutting Stone
3. Severed
4. Starwatcher
5. Tripping Along
6. Your Ghost
7. Everything Is Awful
8. Sucker’s Prayer
9. We All Die Young
10. Rusalka, Rusalk/Wild Rushes
11. I’ll Be Your Girl

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Stone Temple Pilots – Stone Temple Pilots

The Scoop: Over two years ago Stone Temple Pilots began a search for a new lead singer. The band was looking for a vocalist who would not only be able to pull of their old songs in concert, but would compose new material with them. STP settled on Detroit scene veteran Jeff Gutt and spent a long time writing songs for their seventh studio album, which is out today. All 12 songs on Stone Temple Pilots, the group’s second self-titled LP in a row, were composed by Gutt and founding members Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz. The DeLeo brothers handled production duties on a release Robert DeLeo told Rolling Stone, ” feels like a completed journey for the band. The record breathes resilience. A lot of life has been funneled into this body of music.” Listen to the lead single off the album, “Meadow”:

Label: Rhino

Producer: Robert DeLeo & Dean DeLeo

Number Of Tracks: 12

Running Time: 48:18

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. Middle Of Nowhere
2. Guilty
3. Meadow
4. Just A Little Lie
5. Six Eight
6. Thought She’d Be Mine
7. Roll Me Under
8. Never Enough
9. The Art Of Letting Go
10. Finest Hour
11. Good Shoes
12. Reds & Blues

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Dungen & Woods – Myths 003

The Scoop: Each spring the record label Mexican Summer hosts a multi-day music and culture festival in Marfa, Texas dubbed Marfa Myths. Prior to last year’s installment Dungen and Woods were invited to participate in the third edition of Mexican Summer’s Myths series. Gustav Ejstes and Reine Fiske of Dungen and Jeremy Earl and Jarvis Taveniere of Woods convened at Marfa Recording Studios where the, “only requirement was to make music together, and share it with the wider world.” The results are the seven-track Myths 003 which fluctuates between hazy, acid-drenched instrumentals and ethereal sun-baked psych-folk. Give a listen to “Turn Around”:

Label: Kemado Records, Inc./Mexican Summer

Number Of Tracks:7

Running Time: 30:54

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. Loop
2. Turn Around
3. Marfa Sunset
4. Morning Myth
5. Jag Villle Va Kvar
6. Saint George
7. Just For The Taste

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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Compiled by Jeffrey Greenblatt, Andy Kahn and Scott Bernstein.