Tag: music

A Few Odes to the Road

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“Highway Prayers” is the new album from bluegrass singer and guitarist Billy Strings released on September 27, 2024.

It’s Strings’ fourth album overall and his first studio album for Reprise Records following a live album released earlier this year. It’s also the follow-up to 2021’s “Renewal” and 2022’s “Me/And/Dad,” a collection of traditional bluegrass and country tracks made with Strings’ father, the singer/guitarist Terry Barber.

“Highway Prayers” was co-produced by Los Angeles industry veteran Jon Brion, who has previously worked with artists including Fiona Apple and Jellyfish. It totals 74 minutes over 20 tracks.

Over the course of the album, Strings and his band touch stylistically on psychedelia and Americana in addition to a few comedic novelties. The material is all bound, however, by an adherence to string-band instrumentation and virtuoso-level musicianship.

Although Strings has lived in Nashville for nearly a decade according to AllMusic, the songs make frequent references to his home state of Michigan. These references occur through both lyrics, and instrumental odes to Upper Peninsula locales.

All in all, “Highway Prayers” would seem to provide bluegrass, jam band, folk rock and country music fans as well as guitar enthusiasts with a thoughtful and relatable set of songs. Supported throughout by Strings’ exceptional guitar skills.

The album’s tendency to delve into social and political issues might also resonate with many fans. As might its channeling of the excitement and energy of Strings’ live performances.

As during Strings’ live shows, the album’s instrumentals tend to showcase the technical prowess and musical innovation of his band. As well as their signature blend of traditional bluegrass with more modern rock and folk influences.

On “Highway Prayers,” this band includes Strings’ longtime personnel of Billy Failing on banjo, Royal Masat on bass, Jarrod Walker on mandolin and Alex Hargraves on fiddle. As well as numerous other contributors.

Strings was born William Apostol in 1992 in Lansing, Michigan. He relocated with his mother to Morehead, Kentucky following the death of his biological father when Strings was two, and his mother’s remarriage to Barber. Both Barber and Strings’ uncle were accomplished musicians, and the youngster was surrounded by acoustic music practically from birth.

At the age of four, Strings asked for a guitar, and he was soon learning to play on a second-hand instrument that cost $25. By age six he was good enough to join Barber at bluegrass picking parties, and his aunt gave him the nickname Billy Strings.

By middle school Strings picked up electric guitar and was playing in a heavy metal band. But by the time he completed high school he had returned to playing bluegrass. After graduation he moved to Traverse City in Northern Michigan. And found a mentor and picking partner in the mandolist Don Julin.

Strings and Julin recorded a duo album titled “Rock of Ages,” and Strings also recorded a home-brewed solo album in 2014 called “Fiddle Tune X.”

In 2016, Strings left Traverse City for Nashville. He released the album “Turmoil & Tinfoil” in 2017. It was produced by Glenn Brown, who had previously worked with the string band Greensky Bluegrass and singer-songwriter Luke Winslow-King.

Strings subsequently landed a deal with roots music specialists Rounder Records and released the album “Home” in 2019.

Buy Generic

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“No Name” is the latest album from former White Stripes blues-rock singer and guitarist Jack White released during July and August of 2024.

Overall it’s a straightforward rock & roll album consisting of 13 guitar-based songs. Stylistically, these songs meld the punk-influenced minimalism of the White Stripes with blues-rock obsessions like Led Zeppelin, making them a return to more familiar territory for White.

This is a contrast with White’s two albums released in 2022, “Fear of the Dawn” and “Entering Heaven Alive,” which found him introspectively exploring the outer margins of his music. Explorations that were fueled by White’s struggle with the isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to AllMusic.

The lyrics on “No Name” are full of blues-style boasts and brags, and matched by rhyming guitar licks. Lead guitar lines tend to swing from elemental chunkiness to more technical flash.

And a clean, unobtrusive production style lets other musicians be heard clearly without taking focus off White himself. Making for an idiosyncratic but on the whole economic and powerful set of rock tunes.

Another essential part of the story of the album is the publicity stunt surrounding its release. On July 19, 2024, anyone who made a purchase at one of White’s Third Man stores in Detroit, Nashville or London found a mysterious LP in a plain white sleeve in their bags. The white labels on the records were simply stamped “No Name.”

Before long, music media outlets were reporting widely on stories about White releasing a new album in a manner that was both secretive and bound to call attention to itself. Needle-drop bootlegs of the album soon circulated online, and within a week “No Name” had an official wide release.

All in all, “No Name” would seem to offer classic rock, blues, indie, alternative and garage rock fans a raw and energetic listening experience with a stripped-down production style.

White’s passionate vocals could resonate with fans who appreciate authenticity and raw energy in their music. And his eclectic mix of blues, rock and experimental sounds could appeal to listeners who admire a willingness to push boundaries.

The prominence White gave to the vinyl LP version of the album during the release process might further appeal to fans who appreciate the physical and tactile experience of traditional records. And who are drawn by White’s commitment to analog formats.

One of the great rock conceptualists of the 21st century, White came to fame as the leader of the White Stripes, the Detroit-based garage-punk duo who became of the biggest rock acts of the 2000s.

While the White Stripes established White as a roots rocker, he also continued to maintain an interest in modernist art. These dueling, sometimes complementary instincts fueled myriad artistic pursuits for White both inside and outside the confines of the White Stripes.

Almost immediately after their album “White Blood Cells” became a blockbuster for the White Stripes in 2001, White began stepping out of the band’s confines. He produced the 2004 album “Van Lear Rose” for country singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn, and formed the bands the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather.

After the breakup of the White Stripes in 2011, White divided his time between his Third Man Records empire and his two remaining bands. As well as a solo career that became increasingly idiosyncratic with each new album.

Getting Noisy

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“Flow Critical Lucidity” is the new album by former Sonic Youth alternative rock guitarist and vocalist Thurston Moore released on September 20, 2024. Featuring seven tracks, it’s Moore’s ninth proper solo album overall.

Writer/poet Radieux Radio, whom Moore has collaborated with on previous projects, wrote the lyrics for the entirety of the album, according to AllMusic. These lyrics tend toward counterculture references as well as ethereal descriptions of otherworldly scenes, and are of a similar mind as Moore’s in the past.

My Bloody Valentine’s Deb Googe plays bass throughout the album. And Netativland member Jon Leidecker contributes electronics that span from foreboding sound clouds to more straightforward grooves.

All in all, Moore doesn’t do much to change his established sound on “Flow Critical Lucidity.” But the substantial contributions from Radio and the band allow the entire crew to go deeper and longer on Moore’s signature no wave guitar thrashing and heavy, transcendent bliss-outs.

The album in sum would seem to offer experimental, avant-garde and noise rock enthusiasts the chance to explore new sonic territories featuring a diverse range of textures. All bolstered by the band’s complex arrangements and musical sophistication. As well as Moore’s technically skilled, intricate guitar work, and the intellectual depth of the album’s lyrics.

An alternative rock icon, Moore’s work with Sonic Youth merged experimental art rock tendencies with unconventional guitar tunings. His abstract, poetic lyrics and perpetually mysterious aura were core ingredients of Sonic Youth during their 30-plus-year run. But these tendencies also bled into countless side projects and less-frequent solo albums such as 1994’s “Psychic Hearts.”

After Sonic Youth broke up in 2011, Moore continued to pursue his ambitions with projects like his band Chelsea Light Moving. As well as noisy collaborations with Merzbow and John Zorn. And solo albums that continued exploring the type of moody, twisting art rock that made him an icon with his pioneering indie rock band.

Moore was born in 1958 in Coral Gables, Florida. At age 18, he dropped out of college after one semester and moved to New York City to take part in the punk and downtown art rock scenes of the mid-1970s that were then forming.

The guitarist then immersed himself in the underground poetry and music communities, exposing himself to a constant flow of new ideas and artistic influences. He took in live readings from punk poet Patti Smith, and was also moved by composer Glenn Branca’s experimental approach to guitar.

In 1980, Moore co-founded Sonic Youth to bring aspects of Branca’s avant guitar techniques to noisy art rock songs. The band then became Moore’s main focus for the next three decades.

Pop/Rock Animal

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“Indoor Safari” is a new album from veteran UK pub rocker Nick Lowe in collaboration with Nashville, TN rock & roll combo Los Straitjackets released on September 13, 2024.

Lowe began touring and recording with Los Straitjackets in the late 2010s. They put out three singles between 2018 and 2022, which were re-recorded for this year’s release, according to AllMusic, Lowe’s first album in years.

As a whole, “Indoor Safari” is about half remakes and half new songs, all played in an old-fashioned rock & roll style. A few of the songs update Lowe’s crooner persona of recent albums. But the band strips off some of the layers of sophistication and gloss, while adding some surf rock guitar work.

Overall, the album would seem to offer fans of classic rock and pop, including British-influenced styles, a signature blend of nostalgia, humor and relatable themes. All combined under Lowe’s distinctive musical approach.

Lyrics about domesticity, everyday life and the passage of time might resonate with listeners who appreciate a touch of sentimentality combined with wry wit and an observational lyrical bent.

Meanwhile, the incorporation of musical elements from a mixture of genres including country and the blues, along with rock and pop could appeal to broader audiences and keep listeners engaged. And explorations of universal themes like relationships, loss and the human experience, delivered through Lowe’s heartfelt and honest songwriting, might feel relevant to audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

A pioneer of pub rock, Lowe was a pivotal figure in the early days of punk, had subsequent hits as a power popper and then had a dignified third act as an elegant crooner.

He started his career in Brinsley Schwarz, a collection of hippies that helped create the back-to-basics pub rock circuit of the early 1970s. And the scene that eventually mutated into punk rock.

After the split-up of Brinsley Schwarz, Lowe aligned with punk and new wave, serving as house producer for Stiff Records and helming seminal LPs for the Damned and Elvis Costello. It was in this period that he earned the nickname “Basher” for his fast and rough production style, and also helped establish punk’s D.I.Y. aesthetics.

During new wave’s heyday, Lowe co-led the band Rockpile with Dave Edmunds and the pair regularly appeared on each other’s solo albums into the early 80s. Lowe’s high-water mark during this time was the 1979 power pop album “Labor of Lust,” which featured the hit single “Cruel to Be Kind.”

After Rockpile disbanded, Lowe moved steadily toward country-rock. He experienced a renaissance with the 1994 album “The Impossible Bird” featuring the song “The Beast in Me.” This led him toward his latter-day sophisticated crooner incarnation. A style he maintained even after hiring Los Straitjackets to lend a little rock & roll instrumental support for a series of EPs.

Most Peculiar

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Pink Floyd guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour released “Luck and Strange,” his fifth solo album and only his third of the 21st century, on September 6, 2024. The album was co-produced by Gilmour and Charlie Andrew, who is best known for his work with UK alternative rock band Alt-J. It also features veteran players Guy Pratt on bass and Steve Gadd on drums.

In addition, Gilmour’s daughter Romany plays a significant role on the album, even taking lead vocals on “Between Two Points,” a cover of the Montgolfier Brothers’ 1999 dream pop song. As on all of Gilmour’s solo albums since the 1990s according to AllMusic, the guitarist’s wife Polly Samson serves as lyricist and direct collaborator.

The title cut of the album is built around a pre-existing 2007 jam with the late Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright.

Overall, the album would seem to offer progressive, psychedelic and blues rock fans a blend of familiar elements and fresh explorations within the progressive rock genre. Listeners who enjoy Gilmour’s signature style and want to hear a continuation of his musical journey might appreciate the complex compositions. As well as the intricate guitar work and introspective lyrics.

At the same time, the reworking of “Between Two Points” with Romany Gilmour brings the album a nostalgic touch that could connect with fans who have followed the Pink Floyd guitarist for decades. While the incorporation of electronic music elements with blues and folk might help further broaden the album’s appeal among fans of progressive rock and rock music at large.

Meanwhile, the top-notch production of the album delivers a signature clarity, impact and attention to detail. For listeners who have come to expect a high level of craftsmanship from this progressive rock legend.

After joining Pink Floyd in 1967 and replacing founder Syd Barrett as singer/guitarist, Gilmour contributed heavily to landmark albums from the band including 1973’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” and 1975’s “Wish You Were Here.”

Gilmour assumed leadership of Pink Floyd in 1987 after a contentious fallout with bassist and chief songwriter Roger Waters. After that followed a massively successful second act for the band that included several world tours and albums like 1994’s “The Division Bell.”

In addition, Gilmour has also produced and done session work for a range of acts, from Kate Bush and the Dream Academy to Paul McCartney. His successful solo career has also included chart-topping albums like 2006’s “On an Island” and 2015’s “Rattle That Lock.”

Born on March 6, 1946, Gilmour’s father was a lecturer in Zoology at Cambridge University and his mother was a teacher. As a schoolboy, he became friends with a boy who attended the same grade school, Roger Barrett, who later gained the nickname Syd.

Gilmour and Barrett became re-acquainted when they were studying at the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology. Both were interested in music and learning to play guitar in their spare time, as was Barrett’s friend Roger Waters.