Album of the Week – 19/05/22

Where are the weeks going? It’s nearly June, so almost halfway through the year already!

It’s another good week for new releases, although not quite as epic as last week. We’ve new sounds from Craig Finn (of The Hold Steady – A Legacy of Rentals), Mary Lattimore & Paul Sukeena (West Kensington), Lykke Li (EYEYE) and SOAK (If I Never Know You Like This Again).

Grant-Lee Phillips returns with his 11th album under his own name, dating back to the year 2,000. This one is called All That You Can Dream and he’ll be in Whelans on the 1st of  December to celebrate.

However, we’ve gone for the dreamy art rock which is Porridge Radio… and their second release on Secretly Canadian, called Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky.

Album of the Week – Porridge Radio – Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky

Porridge Radio are one of the most vital new voices in alternative music, having gone from being darlings of the DIY underground to one of the UK’s most thrilling bands in the space of less than a year. Their barbed wit, lacerating intensity and potent blend of art-rock, indie-pop and post-punk sounds like little else around, and led their 2020 album Every Bad to make the nominees list for the coveted Mercury Music Prize.

For frontperson Dana Margolin, drummer Sam Yardley, keyboardist Georgie Stott and bassist Maddie Ryall – who met in the seaside town of Brighton and formed Porridge Radio in 2014 – global recognition has been a long time coming, after years of self-releasing and music booking their own tours. In those eight years, Dana has gained a reputation as one of the most magnetic band leaders around with an ability to “devastate you with an emotional hurricane, then blindside you with a moment of bittersweet humour” (NME).

Albums of Note –

— Craig Finn (of The Hold Steady) – A Legacy of Rentals

— Everything Everything – Raw Data Feel

— Grant-Lee Phillips – All That You Can Dream

— Lykke Li – EYEYE

— Mary Lattimore & Paul Sukeena – West Kensington

— SOAK – If I Never Know You Like This Again

— Zola Jesus – Arkhon

May 20th:

— The Alchemy – Idle Ghosts

— Alex Izenberg – I’m Not Here

— Andrew Bernstein – a presentation

— Annie Hamilton – the future is here but it feels kinda like the past

— Anvil – Impact Is Imminent

— Arca – KICK Box Set

— Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk – Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk (Deluxe Edition)

— AV Dummy – Pornoviolence

— Avi Kaplan – Floating On a Dream

— Banditos – Right On

— Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow – MEN – Original Soundtrack

— Ben Talmi – Berkshires

— Bess of Bedlam – Dance Until the Crimes End

— Blake Morgan – Violent Delights

— Blut Aus Nord – Disharmonium – Undreamable Abysses

— Bog Body – Cryonic Crevasse Cult

— Boldy James x Real Bad Man – Killing Nothing

— Booze & Glory – Raising The Roof EP

— Brandon Coleman – Interstellar Black Space

— Bright Dog Red – Under the Porch

— Bryon White – Solo Album‽

— Cave In – Heavy Pendulum

— Charlie Hickey – Nervous At Night

— The Clash – Combat Rock / The People’s Hall

— Cola (feat. members of Ought and US Girls) – Deep In View

— Come To Grief – When The World Dies

— Courtney Jaye – Hymns And Hallelucinations

— Craig Finn (of The Hold Steady) – A Legacy of Rentals

— DÄTCHA MANDALA – The Last Drop

— Dave Stewart – Ebony McQueen

— The Dead Licks – In Disguise

— Dean Spunt and John Wiese – The Echoing Shell

— Delta Spirit – One Is One

— Dengue Dengue Dengue and Prisma – Pliegues EP

— Drift Into Black – Earthtorn

— Eliza & The Delusionals – Now And Then

— Em Spell – The Carillon Towers

— Evergrey – A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament)

— Everything Everything – Raw Data Feel

— fanclubwallet – You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

— Flume – Palaces

— For Breakfast – Trapped in the Big Room EP

—Gavin DeGraw – Face The River

— Gentle Giant – Civilian (Reissue)

— Grant-Lee Phillips – All That You Can Dream

— Gronibard – Regarde Les Hommes Sucer

— Hanson – Red Green Blue

— Harry Styles – Harry’s House

— Hate Moss – NaN

— Hodgy – Entitled

— Jeremy & The Harlequins – ABRA CaDaBRA

— Jess Jocoy – Let There Be No Despair

— Jo Schornikow – ALTAR

— Joe Rainey – Niineta

— John Coltrane – My Favorite Things: 60th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

— John Rocca (of Freeez) – Once Upon a Time in N.Y.C.

— John Williams, Yo-Yo Ma, and the New York Philharmonic – A Gathering of Friends

— Jordana – Face the Wall

— José Medele – Railroad Cadences & Melancholic Anthems

— Laddio Bolocko – ’97-’99

— LaMacchia – Thunderheads

— Lampland – Dry Heat

— Leo Nocentelli (of The Meters) – Another Side (Vinyl Reissue)

— The Lickerish Quartet – Threesome Vol. 3 EP

— Life on Planets – Dreamcatcher EP

— Liz Lamere – Keep It Alive

— The Loyal Seas – Strange Mornings In The Garden

— Lou Tides – Infinite Loop EP

— Lucy Liyou – Welfare / Practice (Reissue)

— Luminous Vault – Animate The Emptiness

— Lykke Li – EYEYE

— Marina Herlop – Pripyat

— Matt Koziol – Wildhorse

— Mary Lattimore & Paul Sukeena – West Kensington

— Matmos – Regards Bogusław Schaeffer / Ukłony dla Bogusław Schaeffer

— Mavis Staples and Levon Helm – Carry Me Home

— MNRVA – Hollow

— Movement – Transformation

— mxmtoon – rising

— Mychelle – Someone Who Knows EP

— Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood – Nancy & Lee (Reissue)

— Nate Bergman – Metaphysical Change

— Neighborhood Libraries – Postcards For The Backyard EP

— NOT THE MAIN CHARACTERS – Bad Things Come In 3’s EP

— Omni of Halos – Care Free EP

— Ophe – Somnium Nocte Mendaciis

— OSLO – Great Places

— Pete Muller – Spaces

— Peter Coccoma – A Place to Begin

— Peter McPoland – Slow Down EP

— The Police – The Police: Around The World Restored & Expanded

— Pond – 9 (Deluxe Edition)

— Porridge Radio – Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky

— Prateek Kuhad – The Way That Lovers Do

— QUINQUIS – SEIM

— Ravyn Lenae – Hypnos

— Rebelution – Live in St. Augustine

— Reo Cragun – Diary Of A Loner

— Robert Pollard (of Guided By Voices) – Our Gaze

— Ronnie Foster – Two Headed Freap (Vinyl Reissue)

— Runkus x Toddla T – OUT:SIDE

— Search & Seizure – Nothing Natural

— Semantics – Paint Me Blue

— Serpentent – Mother of Light

— Seth Walker – I Hope I Know

— Seth MacFarlane – Blue Skies

— Sheridan Riley – Participant

— Simon Joyner – Songs from a Stolen Guitar

— SOAK – If I Never Know You Like This Again

— Space Of Variations – Imago

— SPICE – Viv

— Sylvia Rose Novak – A Miss / A Masterpiece

— Tess Parks – And Those Who Were Seen Dancing

— Texas Murder Crew – Wrapped In Their Blood

— Thomas Dollbaum – Wellswood

— The Toxic Avenger – Carbone Toxique EP

— Thy Kingdom Will Burn – The Void and the Vengeance

— Train – AM Gold

— Uffie – Sunshine Factory

— The Unlikely Candidates – Panther Island

— Various Artists – ZZK Sound Vol. 4

— The Volebeats – Lonesome Galaxy

— Volturian – Red Dragon

— Weird Nightmare (METZ’s Alex Edkins) – Weird Nightmare

— Will Joseph Cook – Every Single Thing

— xPropaganda – The Heart Is Strange

— Yotam Ben Horin – Young Forever

— Zach Bryan – American Heartbreak

— Zinny Zan – Lullabies for the Masses

— Zola Jesus – Arkhon