{"id":9913,"date":"2023-06-02T08:42:53","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T12:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=9913"},"modified":"2023-06-02T08:42:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T12:42:53","slug":"music-update-may-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2023\/06\/02\/music-update-may-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Music update, May 2023."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This might be my longest monthly playlist ever, at 31 songs and and 110 minutes; it was at two hours before a few late cuts as I put this post together. As always, you can <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/5gDFWzvuiQYSapflQ8VYYP?si=b18553f23077449a\">access the playlist here<\/a> if you can\u2019t see the Spotify widget below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Klaw&amp;apos;s May 2023 music update\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/playlist\/5gDFWzvuiQYSapflQ8VYYP?si=6351c001f3a848d4&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Hives \u2013 Bogus Operandi. <\/strong>Yep, early aughts faves the Hives are back, with their first new album in eleven years, <em>The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons<\/em>, due out on August 11<sup>th<\/sup>. The Hives have been good for one kickass single per LP, so here we are, with a killer guitar riff and earworm shout-along chorus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Royal Blood \u2013 Mountains at Midnight.<\/strong> This got in just under the wire, coming out last Friday as the lead single from the British duo\u2019s upcoming fourth album <em>Back to the Water Below<\/em>, coming out on September 8<sup>th<\/sup>. They produced the LP themselves, after sharing those duties with Josh Homme on the previous record, so it\u2019ll be interesting to see if they maintain the slightly funkier sound from <em>Typhoons<\/em> or go back to more straightforward rock as they do on this single.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Island of Love \u2013 I\u2019ve Got the Secret.<\/strong> This London garage-rock band just released their self-titled debut album on Jack White\u2019s Third Man Records label, and the LP is all over the place, drawing from a ton of genres \u2013 like the rockabilly sound merged with punk on this track \u2013 but with a maddening lack of consistency. They\u2019re still a prospect, I guess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Coral \u2013 Wild Bird.<\/strong> The Coral have been around for nearly 30 years, but I associate them more with psychedelic rock and as the darlings of the post-Britpop rock scene, but this song sounds like they\u2019re doing their best Lord Huron impression, and it\u2019s great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Grian Chatten \u2013 Fairlies.<\/strong> Chatten is the lead singer of Irish punk band Fontaines D.C., but his debut solo album, <em>Chaos on the Fly<\/em>, is going to be an entirely different affair based on the two singles he\u2019s released so far. This jangly acoustic number sounds like it should be consumed along with a not-too-cold Guinness in a smoky bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Blur \u2013 The Narcissist.<\/strong> Another surprising return in a month full of them, Blur gifted us their first new song&nbsp; in eight years this month, and their album <em>The Ballad of Darren<\/em>, due out in July, will be just their second new LP in the last two decades. It\u2019s not quite peak Britpop Blur, but it ranks among their best tracks post-<em>Blur<\/em>, which gave us the very un-Blur-like \u201cSong 2.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>BLOXX \u2013 Happy Anniversary (To Being Lonely).<\/strong> This is more like it, the sort of straightforward punk-pop that made BLOXX\u2019s debut album <em>Lie Out Loud<\/em> such a joy. We\u2019re still waiting for news on a sophomore LP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Queens of the Stone Age \u2013 Emotion Sickness.<\/strong> Speaking of Homme, it looks like he produced QotSA\u2019s upcoming album <em>In Times New Roman&#8230;<\/em> rather than Mark Ronson, who was responsible for the tonal shift on 2017\u2019s <em>Villains<\/em>, with its more uptempo sound and its very funk-influenced hit \u201cThe Way You Used to Do.\u201d This sounds much more like the <em>Era Vulgaris <\/em>QotSA sound, just slightly modernized, which I imagine will please a lot of longtime fans. I\u2019ve liked just about everything they\u2019ve put out, so I\u2019m here for it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Damned \u2013 You\u2019re Gonna Realize.<\/strong> I had no idea these guys were still recording, but they put out an album, <em>Darkadelic<\/em>, at the end of April, their first since 2018\u2019s <em>Evil Spirits <\/em>(which I missed completely). The Damned were a seminal punk band that eventually morphed into one of the earliest gothic rock acts; this track fits more with the latter tradition, and any trace of their punk origins is absent here, but succeeds on its own merits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wombo \u2013 Slab.<\/strong> I wasn\u2019t familiar with Wombo, an art-rock trio from Louisville, before hearing this track, which melds some experimental guitarwork with a traditional foundation of bass and drums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Nation of Language \u2013 Stumbling Still.<\/strong> One project I would love to do someday when I have infinite time is to catalog all of the tracks I\u2019ve put on these playlists to see how often certain bands have appeared. I feel like Nation of Language have popped up repeatedly over the years even though I have probably never listened to a full album by the Brooklyn post-punk band. They put out a lot of songs I like, including this one, with its driving bass line and big synth line in the chorus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jungle \u2013 Dominoes.<\/strong> The British funk\/soul duo\u2019s fourth album <em>Volcano<\/em> is due out August 11<sup>th<\/sup>. They really don\u2019t miss \u2013 if anything, they keep improving, although I do miss the horns that were more prevalent on their first album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Simply Red \u2013 Let Your Hair Down.<\/strong> I was unaware Mick Hucknall &amp; company had re-formed and put out an album in 2019, but they did and then released another album, <em>Time<\/em>, just last Friday. The Mancunians had two #1 hits in the U.S. with \u201cHolding Back the Years\u201d and their cover of Harold Melvin &amp; the Blue Notes\u2019 \u201cIf You Don\u2019t Know Me By Now,\u201d although they were far more commercially successful in the U.K. with songs beyond those two ballads. This is a better indicator of their blue-eyed soul sound, with some great bass and lead guitar work beyond Hucknall\u2019s vocals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jorja Smith \u2013 Little Things.<\/strong> Smith\u2019s voice is lovely, and here she almost sounds like she\u2019s scatting over the piano-and-drum jazz lines behind her voice. She finally announced that her sophomore LP, <em>Falling or Flying<\/em>, will be out in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arlo Parks \u2013 Devotion.<\/strong> Parks\u2019s first album <em>Collapsed in Sunbeams <\/em>was my #2 album of 2021 and won the Mercury Prize that fall; the album I had at #1, Little Simz\u2019s <em>Sometimes I Might be Introvert<\/em>, won the Mercury Prize in 2022. Anyway, Parks\u2019s second album <em>My Soft Machine<\/em> came out last Friday and it\u2019s tremendous, with her signature vocals and poetic lyrics, but now with a broader range of music behind her, such as the rock guitar backing on this track or electronic elements interspersed throughout the album. I almost included \u201cPegasus,\u201d which features vocals from Phoebe Bridgers as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rahill \u2013 Futbol.<\/strong> Rahill Jamalifard is, according to her own website, \u201ca multidisciplinary artist working within numerous overlapping musico-poetic traditions.\u201d Those are some words. Anyway, I love this song and its late \u201890s trip-hop feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Portugal. the Man featuring Black Thought &amp; Natalia Lafourcade \u2013 Thunderdome (W.T.A.)<\/strong> Portugal. the Man\u2019s followup to their breakout album <em>Woodstock<\/em>, titled <em>Chris Black Changed My Life<\/em>, will be out on June 23<sup>rd<\/sup>, and it seems like it\u2019s going to be a stylistic free-for-all for the Portland band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Killer Mike featuring Eryn Allen Kane \u2013 MOTHERLESS.<\/strong> I\u2019ve never been a huge Killer Mike fan, but this tribute to his late mother is the best thing he\u2019s ever done. It\u2019s from <em>Michael<\/em>, his first solo album in eleven years, due out on June 16<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>James BKS \u2013 Celebrate Blessings.<\/strong> Another banger from James BKS, incorporating gospel traditions from several sub-Saharan cultures along with hip-hop and some Bantu rhythms. His album <em>Wolves of Africa Part 2<\/em> is due out in September, the follow-up to last year\u2019s <em>Part 1<\/em>, and will feature a contribution from the legendary Afropop singer Angelique Kidjo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sparks \u2013 Nothing is as Good as They Say It Is.<\/strong> How the hell are these guys my parents\u2019 age and still churning out pop gems like this one, which comes 51 years after their first-ever hit, \u201cThis Town Ain\u2019t Big Enough for Both of Us.\u201d They\u2019ve changed sounds so many times over the years, but if you listen to that track and this one, it\u2019s clear they\u2019re both from the same songwriters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Geese \u2013 Mysterious Love.<\/strong> From a pair of septugenarians to a group of kids barely out of their teens. Geese\u2019s debut album <em>Projector<\/em> was like a teenaged love letter to Gang of Four and early Wire. Their second album is going to be an entirely different affair, but no less weird, just more ambitious and bonkers. This is my favorite of the three singles released so far, with the full album, <em>3D Country<\/em>, out on June 23<sup>rd<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brad \u2013 In the Moment That You\u2019re Born.<\/strong> Brad\u2019s lead singer Shawn Smith, who also sang vocals on Pigeonhed\u2019s \u201cBattle Flag,\u201d died in 2019 of a torn aorta. The remaining members, including Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard, announced that they will release their final album, including the songs they were recording with Smith when he died, on July 28<sup>th<\/sup>, with this epic, sludgy song the title track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>bdrmm \u2013 Pulling Stitches.<\/strong> These shoegaze revivalists from Hull will release their second album, <em>I Don\u2019t Know<\/em>, on June 30<sup>th<\/sup>. They do the My Bloody Valentine wall of distorted guitars exceptionally well here, but the production is so much better and you can distinguish various elements, including the vocals, like you never could with MBV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Spiritual Cramp \u2013 Phone Lines Down.<\/strong> Named for a song by the highly influential goth-rock band Christian Death, this San Francisco sextet delivers pop-edged punk that also shows some of the members\u2019 roots in that city\u2019s hardcore scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Girls in Synthesis \u2013 I Know No Other Way.<\/strong> This London trio has punk, noise rock, and art-rock influences, and released their second album last October, with this a one-off single ahead of a summer tour in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Protomartyr \u2013 Elimination Dances. <\/strong>This post-punk band from Detroit released its sixth album, <em>Formal Growth in the Desert<\/em>, today, with this slow-burning track actually released at the end of April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Squid \u2013 The Blades.<\/strong> Squid\u2019s highly experimental, genre-defying sound has earned them substantial critical acclaim over the last three years, with everything from art rock to jazz to punk to new wave and more thrown into the mix. This track, off their second album <em>O Monolith<\/em> (out June 9<sup>th<\/sup>), even brings in some shoegaze guitar sounds towards the end below vocalist Ollie Judge\u2019s acrobatic vocals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lambrini Girls \u2013 Lads Lads Lads.<\/strong> Iggy Pop called this Brighton punk duo his \u201cfavourite new band\u201d and has played them extensively on his BBC 6 show this spring. This track is the highlight of their debut EP <em>You\u2019re Welcome<\/em>, released on May 18<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Enforcer \u2013 Metal Supremacia.<\/strong> Old-school speed metal from Sweden. These throwbacks are part of the \u201cnew wave of traditional heavy metal\u201d movement, the name a nod to the new wave of British Heavy Metal that brought us Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and more (including the Tygers of Pan Tang, who have a new and not that great album out). I have my doubts that this style of music can ever catch on again, but as someone who came of age as a music listener in the \u201880s I\u2019ll always have a soft spot for classic thrash and speed metal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard \u2013 Gila Monster. <\/strong>This Australian rock band will release their 24<sup>th<\/sup> album in just thirteen years, <em>PetroDragonic Apocalypse<\/em>, on June 16<sup>th<\/sup>, and their shapeshifting has them returning to the thrash-influenced sound of 2019\u2019s <em>Infest the Rats\u2019 Nest<\/em>, at least on this stuttering, pounding guitar track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Horrendous \u2013 Ontological Mysterium.<\/strong> Horrendous\u2019s second and third albums were some of the best progressive death metal records I\u2019d ever heard, showcasing incredible guitar work and musical experimentation, but their most recent album, <em>Idol<\/em>, seemed to lose steam, with the same intricate fretwork but less sense of melody or songcraft. This title track off their upcoming fifth album sounds more like the style they captured so well on <em>Ecdysis <\/em>and<em> Anareta<\/em>, with a great central guitar riff, experimenting with time signatures, and a clear, powerful drum line behind it. The vocals will turn off a lot of listeners \u2013 and I completely understand this \u2013 but Horrendous tends to mix them further back into the music so it\u2019s easier for me to focus on the music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This might be my longest monthly playlist ever, at 31 songs and and 110 minutes; it was at two hours before a few late cuts as I put this post together. As always, you can access the playlist here if you can\u2019t see the Spotify widget below. The Hives \u2013 Bogus Operandi. Yep, early aughts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1328,359,780,167,757,852,747,787,261],"class_list":["post-9913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2023-in-music","tag-alternative","tag-death-metal","tag-indie","tag-metal","tag-music","tag-post-punk","tag-progressive-metal","tag-rap","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9914,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9913\/revisions\/9914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}