New Albums - Page 135

Duran Duran, famed for its 80s pop stardom, 90s resurgence, and love of art rock and Chic, has released its 14th studio album, Paper Gods. Bassist John Taylor told San Francisco’s Radio Alice that the album’s title refers to the “temporary obsessions” most people are guilty of indulging. He also said that work on the record began two years ago,...

Legendary thrash metal band Slayer has released its eleventh studio album, Repentless. According to bassist and vocalist Tom Araya some material for the album was written prior to the May 2013 death of band co-founder and co-guitarist Jeff Hanneman. Gary Holt (Exodus) started playing with Slayer back in 2011 and handled guitar parts on Repentless. With the loss of Hanneman,...

Punk/rockabilly/blues band The Legendary Shack Shakers has returned with The Southern Surreal, the band’s first album since 2010’s AgriDustrial. Co-produced by the group’s double bassist and co-founder Mark Robertson, the record with a Southern gothic theme features contributions from actor Billy Bob Thornton (who pens a song) and Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison. Check out “Mud” from The Southern Surreal:...

Music from two concerts held in early 2015 in Germany to honor jazz bassist Eberhard Weber (Jan Garbarek, Colours, Kate Bush) – featuring Scott Colley (once a private student of the late Charlie Haden) on double bass and onetime Weber collaborator Pat Metheny on guitar – has been captured on the live recording, Hommage à Eberhard Weber. Each concert revolved...

Jazz pianist/composer Orrin Evans has teamed with Grammy-winning virtuoso bassist Christian McBride on his latest record, The Evolution of Oneself. Evans says the album, recorded live in the studio, directly acknowledges things and people that opened his eyes and made him evolve as a person and artist. It also includes surprising elements, such as three versions of the jazz standard...

Acid jazz band Incognito celebrated its 35th anniversary with a 2014 performance in London at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire. That show is now available on record as Live In London — 35th Anniversary Show. Featuring the tremendous Francis Hylton (Afro Celt Sound System, Gianna Nannini) on bass, the two-disc set ranges across the band’s long history and includes favorites...

The personnel of Brand X ebbed and flowed over the years for the jazz fusion band. Famed drummer and vocalist Phil Collins was often a member, and one of the more stalwart presences in the both the band’s mid-1970s-to-1980 and 1992-99 incarnations was bassist Percy Jones (Tunnels, ex-Soft Machine) who appears on a new Official Bootleg Series Release, Brand X:...

Iron Maiden, featuring the legendary Steve Harris on bass, has released its 16th studio album, The Book of Souls. Harris, a founding member of the band, co-wrote six songs on the record and has the sole writing credit on another. “We approached this album in a different way to how we’ve recorded previously,” Harris said. “A lot of the songs...

Jazz bassist Ron Carter is legendary. His work is on more than 2,500 recordings, including ones with Miles Davis and Gil Evans. And now, the first recordings of his compositions with a big band have been released on My Personal Songbook, credited to Ron Carter and The WDR Big Band, recorded in early 2013 in Germany. Carter describes the result...

Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork has released its last album with bassist Ola Flink, who left the band in June. The Ride Majestic is a work informed by deaths affecting several band members, according to vocalist Bjorn “Speed” Strid. In June, Strid addressed Flink’s departure: “We all sooner or later come to a crossroad in our lives, when our...

Bassist/multi-instrumentalist Evan Marien has released his latest solo effort, Artifacts. Marien composed, produced and mixed the album, which he said “slowly took shape over three years–a painstakingly careful process to produce some of the most unique sounds and textures that reflect what I’ve seen and heard in my life.” Marien said he’s particularly proud of his solos on the album,...

When Rainbow hit the road in 1979, the band looked different. Singer Ronnie James Dio had exited and Graham Bonnet had taken over vocals for the Ritchie Blackmore-led band. Guitarist Blackmore’s Deep Purple bandmate, bassist Roger Glover, had also newly joined the fold as both bassist and producer, and the reformed group recorded a commercially successful album, Down to Earth....