Release Day Picks: March 4th New Album Highlights
By Team JamBase Mar 4, 2016 • 1:42 pm 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 M. Ward, Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, The Brothers Comatose, Ray LaMontagne and Unified Highway. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.
M. Ward — More Rain
The Scoop: M. Ward has kept busy in the four years since his last solo album, putting out two records with Zooey Deschanel, the She in the retro-pop group She & Him, as well as producing Livin’ On a High Note from soul legend Mavis Staples. With his eighth studio effort, Ward picks up where he left off with another album full of his unmistakable brand of Americana that merges everything from doo-wop harmonies, to pedal steel guitar licks, to dusty 1970s AM pop. Drenched in enough oohs and aahs to make Phil Spector jealous, More Rain is the kind of record you don’t mind being stuck inside with as winter turns into spring. Check out the album’s lead single “Girl From Conejo Valley”:
Label: Merge Records
Producer: M. Ward
Number Of Tracks: 12
Running Time: 37:28
Guest Musicians: Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Neko Case, k.d. lang, The Secret Sisters, Joey Spampinato (NRBQ)
Tracklist:
- [More Rain]
- Pirate Dial
- Time Won’t Wait
- Confession
- I’m Listening (Child’s Theme)
- Girl From Conejo Valley
- Slow Driving Man
- You’re So Good to Me
- Temptation
- Phenomenon
- Little Baby
- I’m Going Higher
Thao & The Get Down Stay Down — A Man Alive
The Scoop: Over the course of three studio albums Thao Nguyen has perfected her quirky, yet instantly likable syncopated folk-pop sound. For her latest with her band The Get Down Stay Down, Nguyen recruited tUnE-yArDs’ Merrill Garbus to produce and help ratcheted up a bit of the weirdness. Full of angular junkyard-funk and hip-hop beats, A Man Alive, also features some of Nguyen’s most personal material yet drawing from her strained relationship with her father. Don’t let the heavy subject matter keep you away, this is a record is that is likely to end up on many Best-Of lists come year-end. Check out the video for “Astonished Man”:
Label: Ribbon Music
Producer: Merrill Garbus (tUnE-yArDs)
Number Of Tracks: 12
Running Time: 41:55
Guest Musicians: N/A
Tracklist:
- Astonished Man
- Slash/Burn
- The Evening
- Departure
- Nobody Dies
- Guts
- Fool Forever
- Millionaire
- Meticulous Bird
- Give Me Peace
- Hand to God
- Endless Love
The Brothers Comatose – City Painted Gold
The Scoop: After nearly four years since the release of 2012’s Respect The Van, Northern California’s The Brothers Comatose have finally issued a new studio album. City Painted Gold was inspired by the band’s 14 year run living in San Francisco and watching the city’s gentrification from artist-friendly haven to a home for rich techies. After the album’s completion, The Brothers Comatose were themselves displaced from San Francisco. The bluegrass/folk quintet features real-life brothers Ben Morrison (vocals/guitar) and Alex Morrison (vocals/banjo) joined by Gio Benedetti (vocals/bass), Ryan Avellone (mandolin) and Philip Brezina (fiddle). Listen to “Tops Of The Trees” for a taste of City Painted Gold:
Label: Swamp Jam Records
Number Of Tracks: 11
Running Time: 40:55
Guest Musicians: T. Sisters
Tracklist:
- Brothers
- Angeline
- City Painted Gold
- Tops Of The Trees
- Knoxville Foxhole
- She’s A Hurricane
- The Way The West Was Won
- Black Light Moon
- Dance Upon Your Grave
- Valerie
- Yohio
Ray LaMontagne – Ouroboros
The Scoop: Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne’s sixth studio album was recorded at La La Land in Louisville with co-producer My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James. Conceived by LaMontagne partly through a dream, the record unfolds over two four-song suites, and features Ray on lead guitar and vocals with James adding rhythm gutiar and vocals. Also brought into the mix were James’ solo-project veterans Dan Dorff on keyboards and vibes, Dave Givan on drums and Kevin Ratterman on Moog. LaMontagne will tour this summer with the other members of MMJ in support of the new studio effort. Here’s the single from the first half of the album, “Part One – Hey, No Preasure”:
Label: RCA Records
Producer: Jim James (My Morning Jacket) & Ray LaMontagne
Number Of Tracks: 8
Running Time: 39:39
Guest Musicians: Jim James, Dan Dorff, Dave Givan, Kevin Ratterman
Tracklist:
- Part One – Homecoming
- Part One – Hey, No Pressure
- Part One -The Changing Man
- Part One – While It Still Beats
- Part Two – In My Own Way
- Part Two – Another Day
- Part Two – A Murmuration of Starlings
- Part Two – Wouldn’t It Make A Lovely Photograph
theNEWDEAL – Mercury Switch
The Scoop: Jamtronica trio theNEWDEAL returns with their first studio album in over a decade. Mercury Switch contains seven tracks, some of which have been shared over the past year, and will be followed a series of remix releases. Bassist Dan Kurtz calls the LP the band’s “most creative” to date. The current lineup of theNEWDEAL features Kurtz, keyboardist Jamie Shields and drummer Joel Stouffer who joined upon the group’s 2014 reunion. Stream “Quattro” off Mercury Switch:
Label: Self-Released
Producer: theNEWDEAL
Number Of Tracks: 7
Running Time: 37:12
Guest Musicians: N/A
Tracklist:
- Dark One
- Mercury Switch
- Very Good Then
- Eazy Lazy
- Quattro
- Telluride Fixer
- Sabotage The System
Unified Highway – Unified Highway
The Scoop: Rebelution guitarist/vocalist Eric Rachmany and producer Amp Live – formerly of Zion I – united to form Unified Highway, with their first formal recording session coming back in 2014. The seeds of what would become their self-titled reggae/dancehall debut album were planted then, and the duo later enlisted a bevy of peers for their first LP. Among the 13-tracks, the record features a re-interpreted cover of R.E.M.’s hit “Losing My Religion.” Follow this link to enter a contest to win a copy of Unified Highway and watch the official video for the album track “My Space” here:
Label: Audible Collision / Strange Focus Records
Producer: Amp Live
Number Of Tracks: 13
Running Time: 41:49
Guest Musicians: Busy Signal, Zion I & The Grouch, Keznamdi, Tahir Panton & Courtney Panton Jr of New Kingston, Shana Halligan, Garrett Douglas, Sophia Scott
Tracklist:
- The Beginning
- Unified
- My Space
- Distraction (feat. Garrett Douglas)
- Stand Proud (feat. Shana Halligan, Tahir Panton & Keznamdi)
- Cuatro Veinte
- My Only (feat. Busy Signal)
- Rainy Day in Autumn
- Same Thing Coming (feat. Zion I & The Grouch)
- Losing My Religion
- We Can’t Fall (feat. Courtney Panton Jr.)
- Never the Same (feat. Sophia Scott)
- Highway
Compiled by Jeffrey Greenblatt, Andy Kahn and Scott Bernstein
