14
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Fresh Album Fridays: Olivia Rodrigo, James Blake, The Chemical Brothers and more
Good morning ~ This is a thread to discuss new album releases that have arrived on our doorstep this week. Feel free to share albums and EPs that have caught your eye and interest!
Discussion Points
What are you looking forward to listen to?
Have you listened to any of these releases?
What are your thoughts?
What have you enjoyed from these artists in the past?
Why Friday?
Most (but not all) new LPs release on a Friday, as labels want to give the release a full week of sales before entering the charts.
~~ Feedback on the format welcome!
Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS
Single
Genre(s): Pop Rock
Country: United States
Spotify
RYM
I really liked GUTS, although I will say I think I liked Sour more. But GUTS really felt like the natural progression from Sour, a little bit more grown up and a little bit happier. As sombody who grew up in the early 2000s, I absolutely love the homage to the late 90s, 2000s pop songs. I've heard a lot of people describing the songs as very Avril Lavigne, which I can't disagree with. In my opinion (don't come for me) 'vampire', 'the grudge', and 'ballad of a homeschooled' girl are the best of the album, with an honourable mention to 'making the bed' and 'bad idea right?'.
James Blake - Playing Robots Into Heaven
Single
Genre(s): Garage, Electronic
Country: United Kingdom
Spotify
RYM
UK Jazz - Matthew Halsall's new album An Ever Changing View dropped today. It's more 'Journey in Satchidananda' or 'Thembi' than it is 'Kind of Blue' (his earlier album Colour Yes being more like the latter, which is what originally got me into his work). Gave it a first listen this morning while cycling through the nearby countryside. It was a gratifying combination.
The Chemical Brothers - For That Beautiful Feeling
Single
Genre(s): House
Country: United Kingdom
Spotify
RYM
Tinashe - BB/ANG3L
Single
Genre(s): R&B
Country: United States
Spotify
RYM
Slim week this week and that's completely fine. Fossilization is a strong enough release that it could stand alone for this week. But I'll toss in a distant runner-up.
A lot of my favorite non-metal bands/genres just don't seem to hit my radar the same way- and a lot of the new music outside of metal right now just doesn't always reach me. Trying to change that- as I'm very open when it comes to music, it's just that metal is my wheelhouse so I find it hard to discover and stay up on bands in other genres.
Fossilization - Leprous Daylight
bc / a.l
Fossilization does it again with their first real full-length. There is no contest for best album of the week. This is AOTY-material for me. I absolutely loved their debut EP He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten and this just takes it up another step further. One of my favorite death/doom bands.
Cryptopsy - As Gomorrah Burns
bc / a.l
Out of the plethora of boring tech-death clones only a few bands transcend the genre tropes and venture into genuinely good songwriting- for me Cryptopsy is one of them (among others like Archspire). Feels like the grind influence helps here. Still yet, this does have its faults. Tech-death production leaves a lot to be desired and Cryptopsy's in particular often feels a bit thin and also very strange when it comes to drum/cymbal hits in the mix. If they improved their production/mixing this would be a much stronger recommendation, but I still think it's worth checking out.
UnityTX - Ferality
Genre is a mix of hardcore and rap.
I haven't gone through the whole album yet but my favorite so far is ROC SH!T
Link to Spotify Album