Album of the Week – 04/06/21

It’s a week without any big releases, so that means we just have to dig a little deeper!

The biggest release this week is probably Wolf Alice with their album Blue Weekend. Other sounds that perked our interest include Hildegard (Hildegard) and Japanese Breakfast (Jubilee), both of which are featured below.

In the end, the 70s infused rock and roll sounds of Outlaw R&B are what captured the imagination more than anything else. I can only imagine how good they’d be live… Yes, live music just doesn’t seem that far away anymore!

Album of the Week – Outlaw R&B by Night Beats

Made during the height of the California wildfires (where Blackwell now resides), rioting in the streets and a nation in lockdown, ‘Outlaw R&B’ deals in a psychedelic, R&B-infused sound that Blackwell says is “bathed in post-apocalyptic bliss”. Outlining the album’s mission statement, he continues: “Outlaw R&B is music for the borderless, the free, the outcasts and the forgotten. Through this medium you escape the confines of mental feudalism and bask in the euphoric glow of psychedelic R&B. The outlaw is the runner. Those whose minds aren’t sold by perfect pitch and clean fingernails.”

With four albums now behind them –their self-titled 2011 debut, 2013’s ‘Sonic Bloom’, 2016’s ‘Who Sold My Generation’ and 2019’s ‘Myth of A Man’ –Night Beats have garnered a reputation as one of the finest purveyors of contemporary rock’n’roll hedonism around. They’ve clocked up critical acclaim, toured across North and South America, Europe, Asia and South Africa and shared the stage with the likes of The Black Angels, Roky Erickson, The Jesus and Mary Chain, BRMC, The Zombies, Black Lips, Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees, among many others. Their fifth album, ‘Outlaw R&B’, arrives June 4th on London-based label Fuzz Club Records.

— Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend

— Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee

— Hildegard – Hildegard

Released on June 4th:

— Alicia Keys – Songs in A Minor (20th Anniversary Edition)

— All Wasted – Burn With Me

— Annie Keating – Bristol County Tides

— Atreyu – Baptize

— The Avalanches – Since I Left You (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

— Biesmans – Trains, Planes & Automobiles

— Billy F. Gibbons (of ZZ Top) – West Coast Junkie

— Bizou – Tragic Lover

— Black River Delta – Shakin’

— Black Veil Brides – The Phantom Tomorrow

— Brett Young – Weekends Look a Little Different These Days

— Cavetown – Man’s Best Friend EP

— Chad Lawson – You Finally Knew (Deluxe Edition)

— Chief Ghoul – These Lycanthropic Blues

— Children of Zeus – Balance

— Chris Thile – Laysongs

— Circle of Sighs – Narci

— Circus Rhapsody – Just Kidding

— cleopatrick – BUMMER

— Colin Hay (of Men at Work) – Somewhere (Vinyl Reissue)

— Crowded House – Dreamers Are Waiting

— The Cucumbers – The Desk Drawer Tapes

— Dark0 – Eternity

— Darkminds – Good News

— Das Beat – Identität EP

— deep tan – creeping speedwells

— easy life – life’s a beach

— Eric Johanson – Covered Tracks: Vol. 2

— EXUM – Xardinal Coffee

— feeo – feels like we’re getting older doesn’t it EP

— Flotsam and Jetsam – Blood in the Water

— Fousheé – Time Machine

— Frank Turner – England Keep My Bones: 10th Anniversary Edition

— Gary Louris (of The Jayhawks) – Jump For Joy

— Ghost Twin – Love Songs for End Times

— Goat Sanctuary – Chthonic EP

— Goldford – Dreams of Summertime EP

— Goose – Shenanigans Night Club

— Greentea Peng – Man Made

— Hard Nips – Master Cat

— Hays Street Hart – All Things Are

— Hildegard (Helena Deland + Ouri) – Hildegard

— Inhuman Condition – Rat God

— J3PO – MAINS

— James – All The Colours Of You

— Jána – Works EP

— Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee

— Jens Lekman – When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog (Vinyl Reissue)

— Jeshua – Unreliable Narrator

— Jonny Kosmo – Pastry

— João Donato, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad – João Donato JID007

— JOMORO (Joey Waronker and Mauro Refosco) – Blue Marble Sky

— Juana Molina – Segundo (Vinyl Reissue)

— Kajsa Lindgren – Momentary Harmony

— Kevin Hays, Ben Street, and Billy Hart – All Things Are

— King Buffalo – The Burden of Restlessness

— Kirk McElhinney – You Are Not Your Past

— Lanterna – Hidden Drives

— Latewaves – Hell to Pay

— Leni Stern – Dance

— Lightning Orchestra – Freedom of Creation

— Liholesie – Shamanic Twilight

— Lil Baby and Lil Durk – The Voice of the Heroes

— Liz Phair – Soberish

— Loraine James – Reflection

— Lucy Francesca Dron – Leftovers EP

— Lycanthro – Mark of the Wolf

— Mark Shippy & Alex Cunningham – Ghost Note

— Mndsgn – Rare Pleasure

— Monograms – Floors and Ceilings EP

— The Mumps – Rock & Roll This, Rock & Roll That: Best Case Scenario, You’ve Got Mumps

— My Name Is Ian – Fantastic Company

— Myronath – Djevelkraft

— Necronemesis – Some Things Should Stay Underground

— Nephila – Nephila

— New Candys – Vyvyd

— New Morning Blues – London

— The New Rising Sons – Demo to Demolition

— Niia – If I Should Die EP

— Nonô – Midnight Mimoas EP

— Not Moving – Live In the 80s (Reissue)

— Ô Lake – Gerry (Music Inspired by the Motion Picture)

— Ohmwork – Pareidolia

— Okuté – Okuté

— One-Trick Pony – MORE

— Ormiston – Hammer Down

— Oslo Tapes – ØR

— Osmond Chapman Orchestra – There’s More where That Came From

— Our Nameless Boy – Colour From The Doves

— Overcoats – Used to Be Scared of the Dark EP

— Pan Daijing – Jade 玉观音

— Paris Pick – Hope For The Best

— Past Chimp – Drool

— Pastel Coast – Sun

— Paul Gilbert – Werewolves of Portland

— Peter Rosenberg – Real Late

— PJ Sykes – Fuzz

— Plaguestorm – Purifying Fire

— Porterfield – Rome

— Poté – A Tenuous Tale of Her

— Powfu – TBA EP

— Qlowski – Quale Futuro?

— Raheem DeVaughn & Apollo Brown – Lovesick

— Rebecca Vasmant – With Love, From Glasgow

— Red Fang – Arrows

— renforshort – Saint Dominique EP

— Rhapsody Of Fire – I’ll Be Your Hero EP

— Rise Against – Nowhere Generation

— Rod Stewart – Rod Stewart 1975-1978

— Rostam – Changephobia

— Saka – Penumbra EP

— Satsang – All. Right. Now.

— Sedibus (The Orb’s Alex Peterson with Andy Falconer) – The Heavens

— Septus – Phantom Indigo

— SHUN – SHUN

— Sickrecy – First World Anxiety EP

— Sigillum S | Macelleria Mobile Di Mezzanote – Blues and Doped Flowers from Twenty Three Years After Eschaton

— Simone Istaw – Heartweb EP

— Skids – Songs From A Haunted Ballroom

— Skinner – Gunge EP

— Sofia Rei – UMBRAL

— Sojourner – Perennial

— Somnuri – Nefarious Wave

— Soulful Femme – It Is Well With My Soul

— Soul Grinder – Lifeless Obsession EP

— Squarepusher – Feed Me Weird Things (25th Anniversary Edition)

— Steve Kilbey and The Winged Heels – The Hall of Counterfeits

— Strut Avenue – How Do You Think It Should Be?

— Stubborn Heart – Made Of Static

— SUF/SOND – A Perfect Little Death

— SUNDUR – Somewhere There’s Music

— Sunglasses For Jaws – Everybody’s Made Of Bones

— Sunjacket – More Lifelike

— Sunstrom Sound – Stormspace

— SUSTO – Rogue Acoustic

— Talk Show Host – Mid Century Modern

— Tape Waves – Bright

— Tig Notaro – Live (Vinyl Reissue)

— TMG FRE$H – Margiela Language

— Totally Slow – Casual Drag

— Tristen – Aquatic Flowers

— Van Canto – To the Power of Eight

— Various Artists – Allen Ginsburg’s The Fall of America – A 50th Anniversary Musical Tribute (Physical Release)

— Wallice – Wallice EP

— Wanton Witch – Wanton Witch LP

— The War on Drugs – Wagonwheel Blues (Vinyl Reissue)

— We Are The Union – Ordinary Life

— Whitney – Light Upon the Lake (Vinyl Reissue)

— Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend

— Wooden Veins – In Finitude

— Woody & Jeremy – Gravy in my Coffee

— Worm Shepherd – In The Wake Ov Sòl

— XVOTO – XVOTO

— yumbo – 間違いの実 / The Fruit Of Errata