The Friday Refrain: Your Weekly New Music Digest

And it's Friday (when I started writing this, actually technically I wrote the intro on Thursday)! So here's the deal. Marilyn Manson of odd metal lore and famous for his cover of "Sweet Dreams" has returned with Heaven Upside Down. Liam Gallagher, of Oasis once but then he and his brother got into it and now one is called Potato, released As You Were. AH! JD McPherson, who I regretfully missed at the Minnesota State Fair because we were all very sick, releases Undivided Heart & Soul. Kele Okereke of Bloc Party, is on his own with Fatherland. (I mean not on his own in Fatherhood but Fatherhood is the title of the album even though sometimes being a parent can feel like being on one's own, but I digress) Ooh.. I loved watching the PBS fundraising when they would show Andre Rieu in concert, and now today he releases Shall We Dance. Yes we shall Andre. Keep up the adrenaline with Weaves who's last album this household enjoyed thoroughly but now they're back with Wide Open. Yumi Zouma, I believe another favorite around these parts, Willowbank is out today. The Weather Station and Mark Kozelek with Ben Boye and Jim White continue our trend of:

2017 the year of the self titled album.

Seriously people, this getting is crazy. So there's all of that. Well, we already posted the lists for the 22nd and 29th, so time to make some odd lists and post my 5 To Listens of the Week.

Little Sets

  • The Horrors, V; The Bronx, V
  • Monarch, Never Forever; Reverend & the Makers, Death of A King;
  • Mastodon, Cold Dark Place; Matt Cameron, Cavedweller
  • Leon Russell, On A Distant Shore; Martial Canterel, Lost At Sea
  • Wolf Alice, Visions of a Life; Wolves in the Throne Room, Thrice Woven; Torres, Three Futures
  • Kamasi Washington, Harmony of Difference; Jag Panzer, The Deviant Chord
  • Ibeyi, Ash; Adam Holmes & the Embers, Midnight Milk; DC Almond Milk,  Full Day, Cool Times;

The To Listen 5

  • Kadavar, Rough Times - a little harder than Wolfmother at times but has that vintage pyschedelic rock quality to it.
  • Johanna Glaza, Wind Sculptures - Her voice has that quality that is not easy to be defined but would be compared to Bjork or Regina Spektor. Her music is layered and beautiful but part of me wants to say disarming at the same time
  • Castello Branco, Sintoma - this singer-songwriter has a beautiful sound to his songs. And he's from Brazil, continuing my trend this year of liking Brazilian music. time to learn Portuguese...
  • Iglooghost, Neō Wax Bloom - This is an interesting one.
  • Keyon Harrold, The Mugician - I'venoted a lack of jazz recommendations lately, so I made note to include one. Though last week it could well have been more (Blue Note All-Stars, Art Pepper, or Vince Mendoza are also stacked up in my liked pile) but the breadth of this album is quite interesting which is obvious when you look at the guest spots ranging from Gary Clark Jr. to Big K.R.I.T.

Well that does it for me this week. See you next week and until then, Happy Listening!

MusicRebecca RuizFriday Refrain, Music Review