Hello and happy Friday!
Well, pretty much everyone (or at least about 200,000 people, including 80% of my friends / colleagues, it feels like) are at Glastonbury. It’s a terrible day to release an album (at least in the UK), but some brave souls have gone for it. Lorde doesn’t care about some commercial hippie festival either.
Lots of albums I really want to listen to today - Kevin Abstract, Greg Ashley, Frankie Cosmos, Blonde Redhead etc.
Do I have it in me to listen to the entire Bruce Springsteen box set today? For 5 hours. No, I don’t.
Never heard of eastern twee US bands Lightheaded and Jeanies who both have albums out today. Sounds good though and saw that they’re both playing in Brighton in July (Jeanies supporting Lightheaded), so I bought a ticket!
Been tired this week so mainly stayed in and watched movies :
“Friendship” - with Tim Robinson from “I think you should leave” - loved it.
”28 Years Later” - I hated it… felt dated, scrambled together and like 30 films in one, but nothing being explored properl.y
”Sister Midnight” - fantastic and weird Indian film
”Red Eye” - Wes Craven thriller from 2005 starring Cillian Murphy and Rachel McAdams. Loved it when it came out, has dated a bit but still solid.
”Survive Style 5+” - wacky Japanese film from 2005, starring Vinnie Jones and the amazing Tadanobu Asano. Too long, too wacky. Looks amazing but goes on for ages and the script is not … great. Realised halfway through I’ve seen it before, but forgotten most of it...
”Final Destination: Bloodlines” - Fun classic Final Destination film. A little bit too long and too gory for me (I’ve gotten a bit wimpy with gore in my older days), but it did the trick.
Also managed to go for a little beach hang and dip in the sea on Friday last week. What a treat.
Next few days are more action packed, seeing Chloe Petts do a stand-up show on Saturday, going to cinema on Tuesday to see “Clueless” (the original) and “Jurassic World: Rebirth in cinema on Wednesday (could be terrible).
Gelli Haha
Debut album from eccentric Los Angeles songwriter Angel Abaya under her synth dance persona alias.
7.6 / 10 Pitchfork
Lorde
Fourth album from the New Zealand pop megastar.
8/10 Exclaim! 4/5 The Guardian! 3/5 The Independent
Kevin Abstract
Fifth album from the Texan and founder / leader of hip-hop group Brockhampton. His 2019 album "ARIZONA BABY" album was excellent. Feat Love Spells, Danny Brown, Dominic Fike, JPEGMAFIA etc etc.
Greg Ashley
Tenth (?) solo album from the Gris Gris frontman, from Oakland, California. Big fan of some of his older albums. Especially this song, that sounds a bit like Daniel Johnston.
Jeanies
Third album from C-86-style indie folk-rock jangle twee Brooklyn duo.
Lightheaded
Second album from C-86-style indie jangle twee (yeah two twee albums from the US east coast out today) Jersey Shore band.
8/10 Record Collector
BC Camplight
Seventh album from the Manchester-based American indie folk artist that I know some of my friends are big fans of, so I'll give it a go!
4.5/5 XS Noize 4/5 Uncut / Mojo 8/10 God is in the TV / The Arts Desk
Frankie Cosmos
Sixth solo album from NYC's Greta Kline (Kevin's daughter).
4/5 Mojo 3.5/5 Uncut 6.8/10 Paste 3/5 The Skinny
Bruce Springsteen
Tracks II. Seven unreleased albums 1983–2018, features 82 previously unreleased songs.
10/10 Classic Rock 5/5 Mojo 4.5/5 Rolling Stone / Uncut 8.5/10 Pitchfork
Blonde Redhead
Eleventh album from the great NYC weird rock trio. Some new songs, some reimagined songs and an ... ASMR track (?)
4.5/5 Far Out
Juan Wauters
Seventh album from the Uruguay NYC-based singer-songwriter.
4/5 Mojo 3.5/ Uncut
Adrian Quesada
New album from the Texan Grammy nominee and Oscars nominee, musician, producer, and songwriter and half of Black Pumas. Feat. Cuco, iLe, Angélica Garcia, Trish Toledo etc.
4/5 Mojo
Durand Jones & The Indications
Fourth album from the American contemporary R&B and soul group.
4/5 The Skinny / The Uncut / Mojo 8/10 The Arts Desk
Wavves
Ninth album from the San Diego rock band.
Sport
Fourth album from Lyon, France emo band, and first one in 9 years.
Oklou
Remix EP (remixes by jamesjamesjames, Malibu, Nick León, Aaron Hibell)
ALBUMS I MISSED LAST WEEK
Breezy Supreme - Space Invader
Fifth (?) album from the Washington DC / Maryland area pop punk band. I enjoyed their 2023 album a lot (it was my 24th favourite album of that year).
Maskinen
New EP from the electro rap duo consisting of Frej Larsson and Herbert Munkhammar (one of my favourite bands in the world, usually what I put on late at Friday night in the office when everyone else had go home but I still had work to do).
I love the Florida rapper Denzel Curry, one of my top 5 rappers at the moment. He's done a slew of great albums, but this one (his fourth one) from 2019 is my favourite. Great album cover too. It’s got some fantastic tracks on it. One of my top rap albums in recent years!
Makes me want to listen to it.
Listened to The Streets’ “Original Pirate Material” yesterday, which is always fantastic. Otherwise I’ve been all over the place - Ted Gärdestad, Strebers, Randy, serpentwithfeet, Little Simz etc etc.
10 summer songs for … summer!
04 July - The Reds, Pinks & Purples
04 July - Dropkick Murphys
04 July - Tucker Zimmerman
07 July - Kae Tempest
11 July - Gina Birch
11 July - Wet Leg
11 July - Goon
11 July - Gwenno
11 July - Kokoroko
11 July - Clipse
18 July - Madeline Kenney
18 July - Roddy Ricch
25 July - Tim Minchin
25 July - Folk Bitch Trio
08 August - Hurula
15 August - American Football
22 August - Greg Freedman
22 August - Ava Max
22 August - Mac DeMarco
23 August - Illuminati Hotties
29 August - The Hives
29 August - Wolf Alice
29 August - CMAT
29 August - Sabrina Carpenter
05 September - Saint Etienne
05 September - Big Thief
12 September - Baxter Dury
12 September - Joviale
19 September - The Divine Comedy
19 September - Cardi B
26 September - Cate Le Bon
24 October - The Lemonheads
31 October - Witch Fever
TBC - Lana Del Rey
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Have a lovely weekend and chill out!
Simon