by Philip Moss and Joseph Purcell
Gruff Rhys – Frontier Man
Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys – the enigmatic leader of the Super Furry Animals and all round Welsh national treasure – this week gives us a taster of his new solo album, Babelsberg- releasing opening track and lead single, Frontier Man.
Rhys’s first offering since the thoroughly enjoyable American Interior was recorded in early 2016, also sees him accompanied by the 72 piece BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The song combines Rhys’s magically understated vocal with orchestral arrangements, and its Lee Hazlewood-evoking sound certainly leaves us eager to hear more.
Babelsberg is due out on June 8th on Rough Trade
Arthur Buck – I am The Moment
R.E.M guitarist, Peter Buck, continues his current trend of collaborations- this time with singer/ songwriter, and former Fistful of Mercy member, Joseph Arthur.
Collectively known as Arthur Buck, this collaboration certainly has the potential to create impressive musical output. There is currently no release date for Arthur Buck’s self-titled debut album, but it is preceded by the first single, I Am The Moment.
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Talking Straight
Melbourne’s Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever debut album, Hope Downs, has been announced this week and will be released on 15th June via Sub Pop. To coincide with this news, they’ve shared a new video and single, Talking Straight.
Following last year’s critically acclaimed The French Press EP, Talking Straight is the second single to be released from the upcoming debut album. In singer/songwriter/guitarist Joe White’s own words, “The concept came about when I heard someone talking about the possibility of us, humans, being alone in the universe, and how sad that would be. The idea in this song is that we might be lonely, but we could be lonely together.”
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever are on tour in the UK in May, and will also play Green Man Festival in the summer.
Kamasi Washington – Fists of Fury
After springing to the wider musical conscious in 2015 with his incredible sprawling debut, The Epic, and his acclaimed contribution to Kendrick Lamar’s masterpiece To Pimp a Butterfly, Kamasi Washington returns with new track, Fists of Fury.
The song is taken from his upcoming double album Heaven and Earth, which according to Washington clocks in at two and a half hours in length. After spending years contributing to albums as wide-ranging as Ryan Adams’ Gold and Run The Jewels 3, plus the aforementioned work with Lamar, Washington is now firmly established as a creative musical force in his own right, and here’s to hoping Heaven and Earth continues his progression.
Heaven and Earth will be released later in 2018.
Jeff Ament ft Angel Olsen – Safe In The Car
Pearl Jam’s bassist, Jeff Ament, this week releases the lead single, Safe in the Car, from his forthcoming album, Heaven/Hell.
Ament is joined on the track by fellow Pearl Jam bandmates Mike McCready and Matt Cameron, as well as Secret Meeting favourite, Angel Olsen, who lends her vocals to an intriguing collaboration that fuses the legendary bass of the Pacific North West’s Ament with the incredibly talented Olsen.
Heaven/Hell will be released through Monkeywrench later this year.
Lou Barlow – Love Intervene
Dinosaur Jr bassist, Lou Barlow, returns with new track, Love Intervene.
The song forms part of a limited 7” pressing that is due out today. Barlow has recently completed a short tour of the UK with J. Mascis, and once more they received excellent reviews from those in attendance.
Barlow’s last solo offering was 2016’s five track EP, Apocalypse Flesh, which followed on from 2015’s underrated LP, Brace the Wave.
The new tracks have both been recorded with a full band, and Barlow has described them as a way of battling back against the cold hard winters of the small town he now resides in.
Jenny Hval – Spells
Jenny Hval returns with the follow up to 2016’s acclaimed album, Blood Bitch, with new single, Spells- the first track from forthcoming EP, The Long Sleep.
After checking out Hval on her previous UK tour, she certainly left a lasting impression on a number of Secret Meeting’s contributors, and her live shows are quite unlike anything else on the musical landscape- combining menstruation, vampires and pornography. This, however, does not detract from her supreme talents and ability to create unique musical soundscapes. As with many of Hval’s previous works, Spells provides the platform for one of alternative music’s finest vocalists to display her talents.
Long Sleep will be released on the 25th May through Sacred Bones.
