Album of the Week – 02/02/24

There are new albums this week from the likes of Brittany Howard (What Now) and J Mascis (What Do We Do Now) but the winner is not an obvious one!

We’ve gone for Vera and her new album Peacemaker. She’s playing in the Workman’s Club in April if you want to hear what it sounds like live. I suspect it might be a bit more stripped down, but you never know. She’s been called everything from the “love child of Leonard Cohen and Nancy Sinatra” to “PJ Harvey at her most irate, teeth-bared”, so expect the unexpected!

Album of the Week – Peacemaker by Vera Sola

Peacemaker follows Vera Sola’s critically acclaimed 2018 debut Shades. It marks a dramatic shift from the shadowy, enclosed nature of her first recordings, to a sweeping new sonic landscape and renewed focus on her remarkable voice. Recorded predominantly in Nashville over the fall of 2019, Vera Sola, ever the orchestrator, opened herself up to the magic of collaboration, working alongside co-producer Kenneth Pattengale, to bring in dozens of musicians to embellish the sound. The record is at times bold and orchestral while retaining some of the dirt and grit that was present under the fingernails of Shades, realising a whole world while managing to also find remarkable detail in snapshot vignettes. Influences range from New World Symphony – Antonín Dvořák’s exploration of American history and landscapes – to the rattling percussion and distorted guitar of 80s era Tom Waits. The lyrics are at times surreal, at others tender, unflinchingly bold and revealing or touching with jolts of everyday mundanity.

Albums of Note-

— BARATRO (feat. Dave Curran of Unsane) – The Sweet Smell of Unrest

— Big Scenic Nowhere (feat. members of Fu Manchu, Mos Generator, and Yawning Man) – The Waydown

— Brittany Howard – What Now

— J Mascis – What Do We Do Now

February 2nd:

— Amy Winehouse – Frank (Vinyl Reissue)

— Andy Williams – When You Fall in Love—Lost Columbia Masters 1977-1982

— Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer – The Closest Thing

— Artimus Pyle (of Lynyrd Skynyrd) – Anthems – Honoring the Music of Lynyrd Skynyrd

— BARATRO (feat. Dave Curran of Unsane) – The Sweet Smell of Unrest

— Big Scenic Nowhere (feat. members of Fu Manchu, Mos Generator, and Yawning Man) – The Waydown

— Brittany Howard – What Now

— Britti – Hello, I’m Britti.

— Daisy World – Toothpick

— Dave Okumu & The 7 Generations – I Came From Love (Live from the Roundhouse)

— Dylan John Thomas – Dylan John Thomas

— Flight Mode – The Three Times EP

— Giant Rooks – How Have You Been?

— Good Cop Bad Cop – Welcome to the Mable Zone

— Grazia – In Poor Taste EP

— J Mascis – What Do We Do Now

— J. Robbins – Basilisk

— Jamie Webster – 10 For the People

— Joe Wong – Mere Survival

— Kim Krans – MIRRORMIRROR

— Kirin J Callinan – If I Could Sing

— The Last Dinner Party – Prelude to Ecstasy

— Lee “Scratch” Perry – King Perry

— Liquid Mike – Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot

— LUCI – They Say They Love You

— Matisyahu – Hold the Fire EP

— Meanstreak – Blood Moon EP

— Meth Math – Chupetones

— Mindchatter – This Is A Reminder That You Are Not Behind Your Face EP

— The Miserable Rich – Overcome

— MORGXN – BEACON

— Necrowretch – Swords of Dajjal

— NiCKY – by EP

— Orgy – Candyass (Vinyl Reissue)

— Orgy – Vapor Transmission (Vinyl Reissue)

— The Paranoid Style – The Interrogator

— Paul McCartney & Wings – Band on the Run (50th Anniversary Edition)

— PERSEFONE – Lingua Ignota: Part I EP

— Reconciler – Art For Our Sake

— Rick Rude – Laverne

— The Rolling Stones – The Rolling Stones Singles 1966-1971

— Ronnie Stone – Ride Again

— Runner – Stardust

— Shitty Person – Dignity

— Teejay – I Am Chippy EP

— The Thing – The Thing Is

— TiaCorine – Almost There EP

— Vera Sola – Peacemaker

— The Who – Quadrophenia (Vinyl Reissue)

— The Who – The Who By Numbers (Vinyl Reissue)