New Albums - Page 158

Royal Blood, which has been generating buzz in the music press and online for almost a year, now has its . The U.K duo creates a massive rock vibe, even though the only instrumentation comes from vocalist Mike Kerr’s bass and Ben Thatcher’s drums. In our interview with Kerr, he said the group’s epic sound came “more [from] curiosity than...

The Bad Plus, on the heels of releasing its take on The Rite of Spring earlier this year, has now released its first album of original music since 2012’s Made Possible. is an album “rich with mystery,” according to the website for the leaderless avant-jazz piano-bass-drums trio. The group is devoted to exploring musical forms birthed from jazz, and those...

Motörhead has added something extra to its 2013 Aftershock album — a live CD. The package, called , features not only the original album, but also the bonus material, culled from the band’s mini Best of the West Coast Tour earlier this year. The live recording features Aftershock tunes and Motörhead classics, like “Ace of Spades.” Fronted by bassist, singer...

It’s all about the rhythm for Rodney Whitaker, the double bassist and head of Jazz Studies at Michigan State University who has released his eighth album, . The record features five originals and six arrangements of others’ work. But in the latter case, even standards become new when a different kind of rhythm is employed, Whitaker says in a short...

Emmy-award winning composer and guitarist Brian Tarquin has gathered some “Heavy Friends” to create the album, , featuring instrumental music inspired by America’s soldiers. For the record, Tarquin, owner of Jungle Room Studios, called upon a host of metal guitarists, including bass player Billy Sheehan. Sheehan’s work is featured on the album’s opening track, “Black Hawk.” “I had a blast...

Wonderlush’s funk sound is in full display on the , which features five versions (the original and four remixes) of the song “Jam” from their upcoming debut album. Propelled by terrific grooves from one half of the duo, bassist Punk Pappa, “Jam” is quite the… jam. With sounds like these, it’s not surprising the group has opened for George Clinton...

Dirty Loops, the Swedish trio known for its wild cover versions of songs by Justin Bieber, Adele and Justin Timberlake, has released its first album, . The band is still somewhat amazed by its success, which led to the creation of the record, according to bassist Henrik Linder. “We thought the combination of fusion and pop was so unsexy that...

Famed drummer Simon Phillips, known for his work as both a session player and in Toto, has released his first solo project in 14 years — the jazz/rock/fusion instrumental , featuring Ernest Tibbs on bass. Tibbs is a renowned session player (David Benoit, David Garfield, Pat Kelley and Kevin Toney) who also teaches at the Musician’s Institute. Phillips says he...

Double bassist George Mraz, known for his work with a slew of jazz greats (Oscar Peterson, Charles Mingus, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, and Carmen McRae, just to name a few) has lent his talents to pianist Yelena Eckemoff’s latest, . The album, which is attributed to the Yelena Eckemoff Quartet, is the first to feature Eckemoff...

Ever thought about what it would have been like if avant-garde composer John Cage had performed on the funkiest show on TV back in the 1970s? Well bassist/experimental composer Dywane “MonoNeon” Thomas Jr. has. And he, with the help of microtonal guitarist and composer, Michael Vick, has created a 5-track EP called, appropriately enough, John Cage on Soul Train. MonoNeon,...

D.C.-based reggae band SOJA has released its sixth album, . Featuring bassist/vocalist Bobby Lee, SOJA’s latest is the followup to its most successful record, 2012’s Strength to Survive. The record features not only the work of Jamaican producer Supa Dups (Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Eminem) but also guest appearances by Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and Michael Franti. Amid the Noise and...

Spoon’s eighth album, , is the band’s first in four years. It also marks the Texas band’s shift from an indie label (Merge) to a major (Loma Vista, an imprint of Universal Music Group) and the addition of a new member — Alex Fischel on guitar and keyboards. During that four-year hiatus, bassist Rob Pope (also of The Get Up...