A short New Music Monday post this week, but plenty of provocation. Enjoy!
Rhiannon Giddens
Greensboro, NC
“Freedom Highway”
Giddens covers the Staple Singers’ classic and injects it with both musical and political urgency. “Freedom Highway” is the title track off Giddens’ upcoming album, which drops on 2/24. On her Facebook page, Giddens says that the new songs “are based on slave narratives from the 1800s, African American experiences of the last century, the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and headlines from streets of Ferguson and Baltimore today. Voices demanding to be heard, to impart the hard-earned wisdom of a tangled, difficult, complicated history; we just try to open the door and let them through.” – bill
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24HREP
Savannah
24HREP
A fascinating experiment by a talented group of young musicians who wrote, produced, recorded, and uploaded a 5-song EP in 24 hours. I don’t know if we’ll hear anymore from 24HREP as a group, but challenges like this can point artists in new directions. – bill
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Mac McCaughan
Durham, NC
“Happy New Year (Prince Can’t Die Again)”
Superchunk frontman and Merge Records head honcho Mac sums up a lot of thoughts about our last trip around the sun, and a bit about the one we’re starting. This one’s got to be better, right? RIGHT? – Tom
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King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Melbourne, Australia
“Nuclear Fusion” from Flying Microtonal Banana, out February 24, 2017
Hyper prolific Australian psych band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are said to be planning to release 5 studio albums in 2017!! They’re a small font band at Coachella!! There’s a sitar on this song!! I think they might smoke weed!! Seriously, though, I dig this song. – Tom
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The Flaming Lips
Oklahoma City, OK
“We A Fambly” off of upcoming full length Oczy Mlody due out Jan. 13.
Have you ever been to a Flaming Lips show?? Man, they are some weirdos. Singular, endearing weirdos who happen to write some catchy, offbeat psych pop and put on amazing, sensory overload shows, but definitely weirdos. This song is…wait…is that Miley Cyrus singing now? It is? Huh, okay. Let’s be honest, at this point you either like The Flaming Lips or you don’t like The Flaming Lips. Here’s their new song. – Tom