Well folks, it’s the freaking weekend and I’m ready to have me some fun. I’ve got a big weekend planned and am very happy to have some new albums to check out over the course of the next few days. As you’re breaking out your flannels and hoodies this weekend, push play on some new tunes as the season changes.
Kevin Griffin Anywhere You Go
Rock and Roll Frontman 101:
- Start rock band
- Have off the charts charisma
- Write and record platinum album
- Have #1 song on Billboard Rock Chart
- Write hits for other artists
- Release solo album
Kevin Griffin is the latest in a long line of rock frontmen to go release a solo album. Kevin formed ‘90s alternative band Better Than Ezra in 1988 while their debut album, Deluxe, wasn’t released by Elektra Records until 1995. Deluxe went on to become a Platinum selling record behind #1 Billboard Modern Rock single “Good.” BTE has spent the following 24 years releasing 6 other studio albums while continuing to be one of best touring bands around.
During the down time over the years between Better Than Ezra albums, Kevin began to expand his songwriting resumé by writing songs for Blondie, Howie Day, Sugarland, Meatloaf, Barenaked Ladies and the Struts. Howie Day’s “Collide”and Sugarland’s “Stuck Like Glue” both landed in the Billboard Hot 100, solidifying Kevin as a hit song writer. 2019 now finds the Pilgrimage Festival co-founder releasing his first solo album and fans of both his songwriting and the most recent BTE albums will be very pleased with his outing.
Anywhere You Go is a very intimate album with Kevin providing lyrics full of narrative and beautiful harmonies. Early favorite “Someone Tonight” tells the all to familiar story of how distant we sometimes become with the person closest to us. “Someone Tonight is how we can be close to each other physically, like in the same room, but be miles apart emotionally. We end up putting up walls when all we want to do is connect.”
Push play on Anywhere You Go, put your phone down, and connect with someone special to you while listening to the first solo project from Kevin Griffin and be sure to catch KG at the Franklin Theater in Franklin, TN on October 24th. @kevinmgriffin
City and Colour A Pill For Loneliness
I’m not going to lie City and Colour has always been a band I’ve been familiar with, but never kept up with – so imagine my surprise when I was researching the band’s 6th studio album to find out it’s not an actual band. City and Colour is rather the alias for frontman Dallas Green. A Pill For Loneliness is the follow-up to his number one album If I Should Go Before You and is a very personal yet relatable record that long time fans will certainly embrace. Current single “Strangers” is hitting home with many listeners due to its lyrics that hopes for one to reconnect with someone they become a stranger to. City and Colour is set to play a sold out show at the Basement East on October 9th but tickets remain for his solo show the next night at the James K. Polk Theater. @cityandcolour
The Darkness Easter Is Cancelled
Justin Hawkins and the other members of the Darkness find themselves in the middle of a controversy in regards to their latest album. The uproar isn’t over risqué lyrics or upsetting themes but rather for the cover art. The artwork for Easter Is Cancelled has been banned by numerous platforms due to its religious connotations while the album itself may be their most diverse record to date. Easter Is Cancelled is the band’s first concept record incorporating love, loss and ultimately heartbreak themes. Frontman Justin Hawkins claims that Easter is “a literally Biblical record, and those who have said that rock and roll is the Devil’s music should listen and understand that it is, in truth, the voice of God.” The Darkness will be playing what Hawkins calls the “grandest statement any band has ever made” live in its entirety when they hit the road for a European tour starting November 26th in Belfast. @thedarkness
FEET What’s Inside Is More Than Just Ham
If you were to take Madness, Blur, English Beat, Pulp and the Talking Heads and place them in a crock pot and let it simmer on low for eight hours, FEET would be the result. FEET bring their take on Britpop to a whole new generation. The band’s debut album What’s Inside Is More Than Ham is filled with the group’s mutual influences like Frank Zappa, Todd Rundgren and Parquet Floors. The band spent their time between playing festivals and other gigs living in an abandoned barn writing and recording their debut album. The result of the Barn Sessions is one of the best debut rock albums to come from the U.K. in quite some time. @feetband
Brantley Gilbert Fire & Brimstone
A favorite “Bad Boy” of country music is back with his fifth studio album. Fire & Brimstone is Brantley Gilbert’s first album since 2017’s The Devil Don’t Sleep and is musically Brantley’s most mature album. The album features so many guest stars, you’d think it was a hip-hop record. Colt Ford, Lukas Nelson and Willie Nelson drop in for “Welcome to Hazeville,” a country ode to the sticky icky, while Jamey Johnson and Alison Krauss crash the title track. A big theme of the album is Gilbert’s journey into fatherhood and the ups and downs of marriage. Brantley wrote or co-wrote all 15 of the tracks on the very personal Fire & Brimstone. You can catch Brantley Gilbert live on Valentines Day next year in Louisville. @brantleygilbert
Angel Olsen All Mirrors
Taking on a 14-piece orchestra is a very daunting task for an artist, but for Angel Olsen, it’s just another day in the studio. Olsen’s fourth album, All Mirrors, which she describes as a record “about losing empathy, trust, love for destructive people,” flows beautifully through cinematic string arrangements to the darker more goth-like musical elements. The orchestra filled album deals with Olsen’s search for happiness after leaving destructive partners. Angel is fearless in All Mirrors, taking no shit from her partners and finds herself happier than she’s ever been. The bio for the album says that it “is about walking away from the noise and realizing that you can have solitude and peace in your own thoughts, that your thoughts alone can be just as valid, if not more.” @angelolsen
Danny Brown uknowhatimsaying¿
Detroit rapper Danny Brown delivers the most focused, determined album of his nearly 10-year career. Hip-hop god Q-Tip is behind the board, producing a few of the album tracks while delivering his signature psychedelic sounds that work as a great backdrop for Brown’s lyrics. Current single “3 Tearz” finds Brown trading infectious bars with Run The Jewels. Fans of Danny’s comedic rhyming will be happy to find that the comedic spirit is very much there, along with the increased production. “Dirty Laundry” and “Theme Song” are the two highlights of the album, but it’s safe to say that if you’ve always been on the fence about Danny Brown, then uknowhatimsayin¿ is one to make you see him in a different light. Check out Danny when he comes to the Basement East on October 14th. @xdannyxbrownx
Also check out….
Avett Brothers Closer Than Together
SuperM The 1st Mini Album
Anna Vogelzang Beacon
Wilco Ode to Joy
Dallas Moore Tryin’ To Be A Blessing
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Ghosteen
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