New Releases
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February 21, 2020Pat Metheny's From This Place features ten compositions by Metheny, who is joined on the album by drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Linda May Han Oh, pianist Gwilym Simcock, the Hollywood Studio Symphony led by Joel McNeely, and special guests Meshell Ndegeocello (vocals), Gregoire Maret (harmonica), and Luis Conte (percussion). "From This Place is a kind of musical culmination," says Metheny, "reflecting a wide range of expressions that have interested me over the years, scaled across a large canvas, presented in a way that offers the kind of opportunities for communication that can only be earned with a group of musicians who have spent hundreds of nights together on the bandstand." Pre-order to download two tracks now.
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Early James, an Alabama native and the latest signing to Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound roster, releases his debut album, Singing for My Supper, via Easy Eye and Nonesuch Records. The album spans hard-charging blues, wistful folk, and ages-old pop crooning, anchored by the singer's voice that oscillates from gravel-gruff shout to a honey-smooth whisper. James' inspirations run from Fiona Apple and Tom Waits to the Southern gothic poets, as heard in the album's darker themes and in the wry humor with which he writes about them.
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Pat Metheny's From This Place features ten compositions by Metheny, who is joined on the album by drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Linda May Han Oh, pianist Gwilym Simcock, the Hollywood Studio Symphony led by Joel McNeely, and special guests Meshell Ndegeocello (vocals), Gregoire Maret (harmonica), and Luis Conte (percussion). "From This Place is a kind of musical culmination," says Metheny, "reflecting a wide range of expressions that have interested me over the years, scaled across a large canvas, presented in a way that offers the kind of opportunities for communication that can only be earned with a group of musicians who have spent hundreds of nights together on the bandstand." Pre-order to download two tracks now.
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"We’ve spent the last couple years writing songs and recording demos in various places round the world, assembling the bones of what will be our next album," say The Staves. "This song was written in a bedroom in east London and, later, recorded in a studio in Wisconsin. It’s been a while since we put new music out and we thought that seeing as this is the season of giving, we’d let one of these demos surface for anybody who is interested to hear ... We appreciate our wonderful fans so much and thought it would be a cool thing to show you a small sliver of the process ... The song is called 'Nothing’s Gonna Happen.' Yes, 'gonna' sounds American doesn’t it? And we are not. But it flows the right way. And, well, what you gonna do?"
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Mountain Man follows up its 2018 Nonesuch debut album, Magic Ship, its Sings John Denver EP, and its Sings White Christmas single with Sings Wilco, a cover of that band’s song “You and I.” “We have been band members, collaborators, friends and business partners for over 10 years now,” says the band, “so a song like ‘You and I,’ a celebration of creating a relationship that is totally unique and filled with mystery, seemed very appropriate.”
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Composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker's 7” single featuring parts one and two of his song “Max Brown” is available via a newly formed partnership between International Anthem and Nonesuch Records. The song was produced by Parker alongside Paul Bryan, who also plays bass; also featured are Josh Johnson on alto sax, Nate Walcott on trumpet, and Jamire Williams on drums. Part one of the song is available digitally. It is a sneak peek of Jeff Parker’s new album, due in early 2020. "For all his rootedness in music history, some of Parker’s music actually sound more like tomorrow—if future music can be cobbled together from shards of the past," says LA Weekly. "Parker is dedicated to the jazz tradition and to probing its edges, but he’s unconfined within its bounds."
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On the Fatal Flower Garden EP (A Tribute to Harry Smith), Sam Amidon performs four songs from Anthology of American Folk Music, Smith’s beloved and influential 1920s and ’30s folk music recordings. Amidon and frequent collaborator Shahzad Ismaily play all the instruments; Leo Abrahams engineered, produced, and mixed. "Harry Smith believed in the secret connections and mysteries that existed in culture," says Amidon, "whether it was the feeling of Thelonious Monk’s rhythmic phrasing; the patterns in string games and Ukrainian egg painting designs; the wild fiddle tunes; or the epic folk ballads."
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The original cast recording for Dave Malloy's musical Octet features a score for an a cappella chamber choir and an original libretto inspired by internet comment boards, scientific debates, religious texts, and Sufi poetry. Octet, which premiered at the Signature Theatre in 2019, explores addiction and nihilism within the messy context of twenty-first century technology. "The most original and topical musical of the year," says the New York Times; "the sublime a cappella chamber opera is a portrait in song of perhaps the greatest David and Goliath struggle of our time."
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Mountain Man—the trio of Amelia Meath, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, and Molly Sarlé—follows up its 2018 Nonesuch debut album, Magic Ship, and its Sings John Denver EP with the second in its Sings cover series: the 1942 Irving Berlin holiday classic, "White Christmas." "We wanted to record a song that could be played in people's homes throughout the holidays, like a gentle push of light," says the band. "We thought 'White Christmas' might do the trick!"