New Albums - Page 145

Guitar great Steve Vai has released a DVD detailing an Oct. 12, 2012 in Los Angeles and featuring a video tour diary. The package is titled Stillness in Motion. The show occurred at the Club Nokia as part of Vai’s Story of Light world tour, which included Vai’s longtime bassist Philip Bynoe. Stillness in Motion is available on a ....

Brian Wilson’s 11th solo album, No Pier Pressure, features a wealth of guest vocalists and the bass talents of Don Was, who is also well known for his work as a producer, bandleader and record label president. Wilson, the primary songwriter for The Beach Boys during the group’s most prolific and influential years, recorded the album at Ocean Way Studios...

Drum-bass noise rock duo Lightning Bolt is back with its first full-length studio album in several years, Fantasy Empire. The record, being released duo’s 20th anniversary year, reflects the pair’s live sound, and utilizes live loops. Bassist Brian Gibson worked to achieve a clear, yet distorted bass sound on the album that continues the band’s aesthetic of making a meaningful...

Jazz bassist and composer Avishai Cohen and his trio, including pianist Nitai Hershkovits and drummer Daniel Dor, have released From Darkness. Cohen’s goal with the record, as it often is for him, is to reach toward purity of sound. He’s absolutely making his way there. Take a listen to the album’s “Lost Tribe” in the video below. From Darkness is...

Jazz bassist John Patitucci, known for his work with Chick Corea, Sting, Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, and Wayne Shorter, lent his talents to vocalist José James’ latest, Yesterday I Had The Blues: The Music of Billie Holiday. Released on Blue Note and produced by Blue Note President Don Was (also a bassist), the album also features pianist Jason Moran and...

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (GYBE) has released Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress, the Canadian post-rock group’s first record since 2012’s Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! The group, with its two-bassist lineup of Thierry Amar (double bass, bass) and Mauro Pezzente (bass), has a sound marked by major unison riffage, noise/drones, and guitar/strings counterpoint. Just this one description from the record’s promotional...

Post-hardcore/post-metal band Prong offers up its take on a variety songs that have influenced the band over the years on its latest album, Songs From the Black Hole. The band, featuring bassist Jason Christopher, covers songs like Black Flag’s “Bars,” Husker Du’s “Don’t Want to Know if You Are Lonely,” Bad Brains’ “Banned in DC” and Neil Young’s “Cortez the...

Believe it or not, Van Halen never released a live album with founding singer David Lee Roth. That is, until now. Van Halen’s Tokyo Dome in Concert features not only Diamond Dave, but also Wolfgang Van Halen (son of guitarist Eddie and nephew of drummer Alex) on bass. Wolfgang has been part of the band since 2006, when he replaced...

Jazz bass player Andy Galore has released his debut album as a bandleader, Out and About, which features both meaningful covers and original work from the electric bassist. Galore, known for his work with guitarist Mike Stern, has assembled an impressive group for the record, which is inspired by and reflects his affection for New York City. Guitarist Oz Noy...

Double bassist Eberhard Weber has released his latest album, Encore. For it, the jazz player (known for his work on electric double bass) pulls from his live work with Jan Garbarek Group, turning solos into new pieces. “I became what you might call a composer of New Music,” Weber said, “with the proviso that I make use of old things.”...

Eclectic, multi-genre bassist and producer Bill Laswell has turned his ever-prolific talents to the island of Hawaii with Kauai – The Arch Of Heaven. The album not only combines natural, environmental ambient sounds and traditional, tribal music of Kauai, but also incorporates Jamaican dancehall, dub and reggae. The five-song Kauai – The Arch of Heaven is available on and ....

The 1997 album, The Buena Vista Social Club, alerted many music fans to a world of Cuban music they may not have fully appreciated or even known about previously. The majority of the Buena Vista players were older at the time of the original, self-titled album’s release, with music careers prominent in the 1940s and 1950s. Sadly, many of those...