Release Day Picks: March 30th 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 Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite, The Voidz and . Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

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Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite – No Mercy In This Land

The Scoop: Back in 2013 Ben Harper and harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite teamed up for collaborative album Get Up!, which earned the duo a Grammy Award for Best Blues Album. Now, five years later, the pair have reunited for the follow-up, No Mercy In This Land. The 10-track effort, which once again is a subgenre-hopping masterclass in the all aspects of the blues, “recounts both Ben and Charlie’s personal stories and adds to the sonic history of American struggle and survival.” Check out the live music video for “No Mercy In This Land”:

Label: Anti-/Epitaph

Producer: Ben Harper

Number Of Tracks: 10

Running Time: 35:03

Guest Musicians: Jesse Ingalls, Jimmy Paxson

Tracklist:

1. When I Go
2. Bad Habits
3. Love And Trust
4. The Bottle Wins
5. Found The One
6. When Love Is Not Enough
7. Trust You To Dig My Grave
8. No Mercy In This Land
9. Movin’ On
10. Nothing At All

Stream / Download / CD/LP

The Voidz – Virtue

The Scoop: While The Strokes seem to be permanently stuck in a “will they, won’t they” status when it comes to releasing new music, the band’s lead singer Julian Casablancas appears more than content with focusing his energy on his side project The Voidz. The one-time king of New York City cool is still out to prove that he still has edge. The band’s sophomore album Virtue is full of Casablancas’ unmistakable vocals fused with the sounds of some futuristic underground psychedelic disco. Check out the music video for “All The Wordz Are Made Up”:

Label: RCA

Producer: Shawn Everett

Number Of Tracks: 15

Running Time: 58:07

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. Leave It In My Dreams
2. Qyurryus
3. Pyramid Of Bones
4. Permanent High School
5. ALieNNatioN
6. All Wordz Are Made Up
7. Think Before Your Drink
8. Wink
9. My Friend The Wall
10. Pink Ocean
11. Black Hole
12. Lazy Boy
13. We’re Where We Were
14. Pointlessness

Stream / Download / CD/LP

The Drunken Hearts – The Prize

The Scoop: Colorado Americana quintet The Drunken Hearts have accomplished many things since the band was formed including embarking on national tours, selling out large venues and throwing their own festival, YarmonyGrass. However, the Front Range favorites had never put out a full-length album. Now, The Drunken Hearts can cross that item of their bucket list with the release of The Prize, an LP featuring 10 original songs. The Prize was recorded in Denver and produced and engineered by Todd Divel (Hard Working Americans). Guitarist and vocalist Andrew McConathy is also The Drunken Hearts’ main songwriter. Some of the tunes on the album date back years while others are fresher, written during an intense May 2017 session that birthed The Prize. Listen to the single “Broken Hearts”:

https://soundcloud.com/thedrunkenhearts/broken-things-single

Label: Self-Released

Producer: Todd Divel

Number Of Tracks: 10

Running Time: 38:03

Tracklist:

1. Broken Things
2. Black Snake
3. Wilderness
4. White Whale
5. Greyhound
6. Bed Of Stone
7. Tear My Heart Out
8. Heart Strings
9. Machines
10. Seasons

Stream / Download / CD/LP

Compiled by Jeffrey Greenblatt and Scott Bernstein.