Welcome to the BroBible New Music Round-Up, where we think that if takes feral hogs to get people to pay attention to Jason Isbell’s Twitter feed, then so be it. For more follow me on Twitter:  @ryanoconnell79

This Week’s Playlist

Heading into August, let’s take a look and see how the Best of 2019 (so far) playlist is looking.

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Tool “Fear Inoculum”

When I saw that Tool had dropped the first single off of their new album, I initially thought that the song wasn’t just their first new tune in 13 years, but that the track was 13 minutes long. I wasn’t surprised by any means. If anything, Tool releasing a new song that wasn’t roughly that long would have been surprising.

They’ve only recorded a handful of songs that are that long, but I feel that despite that, I just associate Tool with long, expansive songs.

This new song clocks in at a little over ten minutes. Joke’s on me, I guess.

But it’s definitely a Tool song. It’s sprawling and weird and atmospheric and heavy and by the time it’s over, you’re both hungry for more and a tad bit exhausted.

In a recent interview with Revolver, Maynard James Keenan says the album is about “learning from your mistakes, learning from your successes. So if anything is a broad stroke of this album, it would be embracing where we are right now, acknowledging where we’ve come from and some of the things we’ve grown through.”

The new album is about 85 minutes long and in addition to being released digitally (which is a new thing for the band,) a special edition physical copy will be released. The release was “conceived by guitarist Adam Jones, the package contains a 4” HD rechargeable screen with exclusive video footage, charging cable, 2 watt speaker, a 36-page booklet, and a digital download card. Details on a vinyl release will be announced shortly.”

Fear Inoculum comes out on August 30th.

SiR feat. Kendrick Lamar “Hair Down”

Listen, if one of your label mates is Kendrick Lamar and you’re about to release a new album, you definitely try to get Lamar on your album. I’m talking whatever it takes, whether it’s bake goods, promising to help him move or if it comes to it, agreeing to do his laundry.

Get. Kendrick. On. Your. Album.

And that’s exactly what SiR did on “Hair Down,” a track on his upcoming album, Chasing Summer. It’s SiR’s follow-up to his 2018 album, November.

On the Kendrick front, it’s been two years since he released DAMN, but as of late he’s popped up on tracks by 2Chainz and J.Cole, as well as showing up on Lion King: The Gift.

Chasing Summer comes out later this month.

Ra Ra Riot Superbloom

So Ra Ra Riot are an East Coast band, comprised of five Northeastern souls. When it came time to record their new album, the follow-up to 2016’s Need Your Light, the group decided they needed a change of scenery.

They headed west and ended up in sunny Los Angeles. And as luck would have it, that general and universally agreed-upon laid back vibe of Southern California can be a heavy influence on a band when they come to town to record a new album.

“There’s a lot of L.A. that seeped into it,” vocalist Wes Miles says about the new record. “It’s a little bit of an east coaster’s perspective of L.A., since we’re all from the northeast.”

Before you start to think that the band’s new album, Superbloom, is all sunshine and desert-rock, just know that the band was mindful not to abandon their East Coast-roots.

“We needed a song, again like “Endless Pain/Endless Joy,” because it kind of spins you back around to where we’re from. We did that in New Jersey on our own, so there’s both sides of the spectrum,” Miles says.

For the new record, the band once again worked with Rostam Batmanglij (formerly of Vampire Weekend) on a few tracks, an experience Miles says was special, as “he gets a lot out of us that we definitely wouldn’t be able to on our own.”

Ra Ra Riot head out on tour soon with Jimmy Eat World and Third Eye Blind.

Pixies “Catfish Kate”

The Pixies are back with the second single off of their upcoming album, Beneath the Eyrie. This is the band’s second album with their revamped lineup, following 2016’s Head Carrier.

The tune has somewhat of a wide-open feel to it, especially when it gets to the chorus. I bet it sounds pretty great when they play it on tour, which they’re currently on, now that we mention it.

If you’re sick of true crime podcasts and are looking for something new, the band are the subject Past Is Prologue, a 12-part series about the recording of their new album.

It’s cool, but you kind of wish they had focused more on why Black Francis had killed all those people and the bungled police investigation that followed instead of spending so much time with jailhouse interviews.

Dirty Heads Super Moon

Dirty Heads are back with their seventh album, Super Moon, and according to the band’s singer Jared Watson, the album has the vibe of the soundtrack of a “’70s sci-fi Western car chase movie.”

So like, Westworld?

Eh, whatever. It’s good summer music and here at The New Music Round-Up, we are all for good summer music, especially in the summer. Actually, we’re down with it even in the winter. And spring.

Really all year long we’re cool with good summer music and no, we’re not going to apologize for it.

The Southern California-based band kind of pulled the opposite move that Ra Ra Riot did and headed east to record, landing in Nashville to work with Dave Cobb, a producer who has worked with our favorite Nashville-based tweeter Jason Isbell, among others. Super Moon is not a country album, though. The band joked that it was, but settle down, they were joking.

Dirty Heads are out on tour with 311 this summer.

Slipknot We Are Not Your Kind

Yeah Slipknot, we know that you are not our kind. We’ve known that for a while. Cat is kind of out of the bag there.

Now that that’s behind us, Slipknot are back with thrashing, take no prisoners metal complete with from-the-pits-of-hell screams, thumping and thunderous drums and wait, is someone just bashing on a metal trash can? Awesome.

Consequence of Sound says that the band’s new album “encompasses all that has been and is Slipknot.” And Loudwire says that “there are so many elements of creativity at play at times it’s dizzying.”

Meanwhile my dog asks if I could kindly turn it down because it’s going to give her nightmares.

Chali 2NA & Krafty Kuts Adventures of a Reluctant Superhero

My dudes, don’t act like you don’t know who Chali 2NA is. You listened to Jurassic 5. WE ALL LISTENED TO JURASSIC 5 and that dude had the most distinctive voice out of the legendary crew.

Since his days with J5, Chali has been busy working with groups like Ozomatli and Galactic and now he’s releasing his first album with producer Krafty Kuts, who he has been touring with and working with since 2017. The album kicks off with a track featuring long-time Chali 2NA homies Lyrics Born and The Gift of Gab and continues to descend into funky, hip hop goodness from there.

The duo are spending the rest of the summer mainly playing festivals in Europe, but you can imagine they’ll be bringing their act stateside sometime soon.

Elsewhere in Music…

Get Well Soon, Willie

Fans of Willie Nelson got a scare this week when it was announced that Nelson was putting his current tour on hold because of breathing problems. Nelson had been scheduled to tour throughout the fall, including an appearance at this year’s Farm Aid, but that all seemed in doubt on Wednesday.

But hold onto your butts Willie fans because our dude is not going to be on the sidelines for too long. A day later it was announced that the tour would only be on hold until early September, when Nelson would resume touring.

Thank God. We live in weird, strange times these days. The last effin’ thing we need is for something to happen to Willie Nelson.

This Week in Deep Thoughts with Cardi B

Can’t leave doors open in the summer, Cardi. I keep trying to tell you that.

We’re Here For Anniversaries (cont’d)

Okay, we got a couple this week, so try and keep track.

The Beatles are raising a glass to the 50th anniversary of Abbey Road with massive box set. The set includes 4 CDs and 23 additional tracks. Giles Martin, the son of the band’s long-time producer, handled mixing duties for the project. There’s also a book (because there’s always a box) that features a forward by Paul McCartney, an introduction from Giles Martin, “several chapters of written history by author Kevin Howlett, track-by-track session notes, the cover art photo shoot, and an essay by author David Hepworth about the album’s influence half a century later.” It also features rare photographs of the band during that time.

Blues Traveler will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of their breakthrough album, Four, this fall with a series of dates in which they’ll play the entire album. Come for “Hook,” but stay for “Crash Burn.”

Third Man Records, the label run by rock ‘n roll vampire Jack White, is paying tribute to the 20th anniversary of White’s old band, The White Stripes, and their debut, self-titled album, with the release of THE WHITE STRIPES XX. Available via the label’s subscription service, the release will include a Jack White remix of the album as well as previously unheard outtakes, a live show, a DVD of two 1999 performances in Michigan, and a 24-page booklet of archival material. Yes! A book. That’s how it’s done.

We all listened to Jeff Buckley at least once in our lives and what we listened to most likely came from his classic album, Grace. Well, guess what? Grace is turning 25 and to celebrate, a remastered version of the album is being released, as well as remastered versions of his other albums, plus live releases. All of these releases will hit streaming services in late August.

I’m Late to This and I Hate Myself For It

Bob Weir: Man About Town

https://twitter.com/RambleToodleloo/status/1159128711192547328

No Woodstock 50, No Problem

As has been chronicled here, Woodstock 50, a celebration of the legendary festival 50th anniversary, was going to happen, then wasn’t going to happen, then maybe was going to happen, then was going to happen, but like, somewhere else and then finally definitely wasn’t going to happen. It was exhausting.

However, if you’re bummed because you were really itching for some Woodstock nostalgia, WXPN, a Philly radio station, has you covered.

Starting a few minutes after 5 p.m. EST on Thursday August 15th, “Woodstock – As It Happened – 50 Years On” will be an immersive replay of the festival, including all 32 artist performances, set breaks and stage announcements. Using a new box set, the experiment will be essentially replaying the festival in real time.

“WXPN is going to pay the most effective tribute to the music, the way it was originally performed, at exactly the same times the sets were performed to give our listeners a feel for how it all really went down,” said WXPN Associate General Manager for Programming Bruce Warren.

You can listen online at WXPN’s website if you’re not in the Philly area.

And hey, once it’s done, you should keep listening to WXPN. That station is great.

And We’ll End Here

https://twitter.com/coachjetha/status/1158606586132226048

 

See you next week!