Vusi Mahlasela’s Live Album ‘Shebeen Queen’ Out Today
New Repressings of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s ‘Nonagon Infinity’ and ‘Sketches of Brunswick East’ Just Released
Freshly colored 2020 re-pressings of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s Nonagon Infinity and Sketches of Brunswick East are shipping now from the ATO webstore before hitting US record stores on August 14th!
Purchase Tri Colored Nonagon Infinity Vinyl
Purchase Translucent Yellow with Sky Blue Splatter Sketches of Brunswick East Vinyl
Nonagon Infinity, King Gizzard’s classic 2016 album constructed as an infinite loop, is now available on red/black/yellow tri-color vinyl. Upon release Pitchfork called it their “most ballistic, berserker album to date, a merciless atomic-bomb“. This single LP comes housed in a gatefold jacket with a custom inner-sleeve and digital download card. Shipping from the shop now!
Sketches of Brunswick East was King Gizzard’s third album of 2017 (out of an eventual five!) and first time collaborating with Mild High Club’s Alexander Brettin. The result is a psychedelic stew made of equal parts jazz, folk, and soul. Sketches of Brunswick East is available on colored vinyl for the first time from the ATO shop and will hit US record stores on August 14.
Cordovas Annouce New Album ‘Destiny Hotel’ + Release First Single “High Feeling”
Cordovas’ new album Destiny Hotel, out October 16th is a work of wild poetry and wide-eyed abandon, set to a glorious collision of folk and country and groove-heavy rock-and-roll. In a major creative milestone for the Tennessee-based band—vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Joe Firstman, keyboardist Sevans Henderson, guitarist/vocalist Lucca Soria and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Toby Weaver—the album harnesses the freewheeling energy of their live show more fully than ever, all while lifting their songwriting to a whole new level of sophistication. The result is a batch of songs that ruminate and rhapsodize with equal intensity, inviting endless celebration on the way to transcendence. The band will also make their national TV debut on CBS This Morning this coming Saturday, August 8th, performing songs from Destiny Hotel!
Recorded in Los Angeles, Destiny Hotel expands on the harmony-soaked roots rock of That Santa Fe Channel, their 2018 release. Before heading to L.A., Cordovas spent over three months in their second homebase of Todos Santos (an artist community in Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula), sketching dozens of songs partly sparked from their voracious reading of authors like mythologist Joseph Campbell, poet/novelist Rainer Maria Rilke, and spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle. And when it came time for the recording sessions—a frenetic seven-day stretch squeezed in just before stay-at-home orders took effect in response to the global pandemic—the band methodically eliminated any lyrics they deemed inconsequential.
“We wanted to strike the term ‘want’ from our music—to get rid of all the ‘Baby, baby, baby, I want this, I want that,’ and create something more useful,” says Firstman. “We needed to make sure these were songs we’d be proud to sing forever.”
But while Destiny Hotel unfolds in untold revelations on fear and ego and self-liberation, Cordovas offer up that insight without ever slipping into didacticism. In fact, much of the album radiates utter elation, each moment echoing Cordovas’ band-of-brothers kinship and extraordinary closeness: when they’re not touring the world, taking the stage at leading festivals like Stagecoach, Newport Folk and Pickathon, or hosting their own Tropic of Cancer Concert Series down in Todos Santos, Cordovas spend much of their time practicing in the barn at their communal farm home just outside Nashville. “I can’t imagine that many bands rehearse more than we do,” says Firstman, whose wife and young child also live on the farm. “We’re all here together in this wonderful space, and we’re pretty good about never taking it for granted.”
New 15th Anniversary Repressing of My Morning Jacket’s ‘Z’ Now In ATO Shop
My Morning Jacket’s classic & groundbreaking 4th album, Z, is back on newly pressed purple vinyl to celebrate its 15th anniversary!
This double LP pressing is limited to 2,500 copies and comes housed in a beautiful gatefold jacket with artwork by Kathleen Lolley. Often hailed as their OK Computer, Z is a favorite amongst fans and critics alike, with Rolling Stone ranking it one of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Purchase Z Here in the ATO shop!
Listen to “Wordless Chorus” from My Morning Jacket’s Z Below
Black Pumas Announce Deluxe Edition Of Their Grammy-Nominated Debut Album + Release New Live Video For “Confines”
Black Pumas, the Austin duo of frontman/songwriter Eric Burton and producer/guitarist Adrian Quesada, will release a deluxe version of their breakout self-titled debut album on August 28 digitally and October 9 physically. The new 2-LP deluxe edition will feature new artwork and a gatefold with unpublished in-studio and live photographs, as well as a bonus 7-inch featuring three new unreleased originals; three live in-studio versions (“Colors,” “Oct 33,” “Confines”); a live version of “Know You Better” recorded at C-Boys Heart & Soul, the Austin club where the band first made a name for itself; and covers of the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” Death’s “Politicians in My Eyes,” Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City,” and Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” a cover they premiered live on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last month.
Black Pumas (Deluxe Edition) is available for pre-order here!
Watch Black Pumas new live video for “Confines” below!
Grammy® Award-Winning Rodrigo y Gabriela Unveil All-New Double Live Album
METTAVOLUTION LIVE RECORDED DURING LAST YEAR’S
METTAVOLUTION WORLD TOUR
EPIC LIVE VERSION OF PINK FLOYD’S “ECHOES” OUT NOW
PRE-ORDER ALBUM NOW, AVAILABLE ON OCTOBER 2 HERE!
GRAMMY®-Award-winning guitar virtuosos Rodrigo y Gabriela have announced the upcoming release of METTAVOLUTION LIVE, an all-new double album recorded during last year’s METTAVOLUTION World Tour. The 13-track collection arrives as a 2LP, 2CD, and digital download- the LP comes in a double gatefold pressed an black vinyl.
“Hearing this recording is to be able to reconnect with our marvelous fans from our live gigs during 2019,” say Rodrigo y Gabriela, “the year we got to promote our METTAVOLUTION album all over the world. That was the very moment we felt truly complete as artists and musicians.”
METTAVOLUTION LIVE is heralded by today’s premiere of an awe-inspiring, 20-minute-plus live version of Pink Floyd’s epic “Echoes,” audaciously reimagined for two acoustic guitars and streaming now.
The release of METTAVOLUTION LIVE comes in the wake of a deeply creative period that Rod and Gab are continuing to experience in these pandemic days at home in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. One of the world’s most in-demand live acts, the duo had planned to spend this summer celebrating METTAVOLUTION and their historic GRAMMY® Award triumph with an eagerly awaited world tour. Instead, they performed an extremely popular NPR Tiny Desk (Home) performance in April, and have been releasing their daily Lumbini Sessions with inspired live versions of their favorite metal songs, film themes, jazz tunes, RyG album cuts as well as covers of Motorhead, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Dave Brubeck, Van Morrison, Lil Nas X, Radiohead and more.
WATCH NPR’S TINY DESK (HOME) PERFORMANCE BELOW
2019 proved a milestone year for Rodrigo y Gabriela, highlighted by the release of their GRAMMY® Award-winning new album, METTAVOLUTION. The duo’s fifth studio LP and first album in five years and hailed by Pitchfork as “fast, heavy, and relentlessly precise,” METTAVOLUTION ultimately earned Rodrigo y Gabriela their first-ever GRAMMY® nomination and first-ever GRAMMY® win for “Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.” Rodrigo y Gabriela celebrated the album with a truly global 92-city work tour, performing METTAVOLUTION in its entirety each night alongside fan favorites and classic pieces from their beloved original canon. As now captured on METTAVOLUTION LIVE, the shows saw the virtuoso duo operating at the very peak of their powers, the perfect balance of melody and metal, fire and finesse, honed over two decades of musical collaboration.
Indeed, the new album stands out as some of the most powerful music of Rodrigo y Gabriela’s remarkable career, including spectacular live versions of METTAVOLUTION’s crunching “Terracentric” and propulsive title track. The duo’s third official live release, METTAVOLUTION LIVE is further driven by breathtaking performances of such longtime concert favorites as “Diablo Rojo,” “11:11,” and “Tamacun,” offering ample evidence of Rodrigo y Gabriela’s staging virtuosity and dedicated commitment to using music as a positive force for healing and inspiration in trying times.
# # #
TRACKLISTING:
Krotona Days
Witness Tree
The Soundmaker
11:11
Diablo Rojo
Echoes
Mettavolution
Tamacun
Gabriela Solo
Electric Soul
Cumbe
Hanuman
Terracentric
Vusi Mahlasela Announces New Live Album ‘Shebeen Queen’
A Tribute to Township Music Dedicated to His Grandmother Ida: “She was and still is my greatest hero.”
Photo credit: Andre Badenhorst
Out August 14! Pre-order Shebeen Queen HERE.
Watch the Vibrant Preview Video HERE
“Vusi Mahlasela is more than just a popular musician in South Africa. His simple yet powerful storytelling has helped connect and carry a nation recovering from an apartheid past… He recognizes the power that his talent has in bringing hope to others in South Africa.” – NPR
“For more than 25 years, the legendary singer has been celebrated globally for his powerful vocals and universal messages of freedom and human kindness.” – CNN
Vusi Mahlasela, the legendary activist and singer-songwriter known as “The Voice” in his native South Africa, will release a new live album of traditional township songs, Shebeen Queen, on August 14. The “shebeen queen” of the title is Mahlasela’s late grandmother Ida (whom he calls Magogo), who raised him in the township of Mamelodi (meaning “mother of melody”), where he still lives today. Following her husband’s murder in 1961, Ida opened a shebeen (speakeasy) and began selling home-brewed beer (umqombothi) to make her living. Her space became known for its lively musical gatherings at night, where the townspeople would use buckets, tins, and plastic drums as instruments, and Ingoma’buksu – music rooted in Mbube culture, meaning “Songs of the Night” – would be celebrated with everyone singing together in full voices. Ida became known as the “Shebeen Queen.” As a boy, Mahlasela saw a man playing a guitar at one of these gatherings and was inspired to build his first guitar from fishing line and a cooking oil can.
Shebeen Queen is a celebration of the vibrant musical culture of his hometown, first encountered at Ida’s shebeen. “Ida was a strong woman and was respected by all in our community,” he says. “In 1976, when I witnessed the Soweto Uprising, my political education began and I realized how important music was. I began writing songs of justice, of freedom, of revolution, of love, of peace and of life. For these songs, I was arrested and thrown into solitary confinement. Magogo was always there for me –she fought for me, protected me and stood up for what was right. She was and still is my greatest hero. I decided I wanted to record some of these great Township songs in an effort to preserve this important music, so critical to our community and to our history. I wanted to honour this music and my grandmother by recording a live show, right here in Mamelodi at Magogo’s house.”
My Morning Jacket Release New Album ‘The Waterfall II’
MY MORNING JACKET RELEASE THE WATERFALL II
ALBUM LISTENING PARTY CONFIRMED FOR THIS THURSDAY, JULY 9 AT 9PM ET VIA YOUTUBE AND FACEBOOK
ALBUM PRE-ORDERS AVAILABLE NOW
PHYSICAL CD AND VINYL OF THE WATERFALL II OUT AUGUST 28
THE WATERFALL II DELUXE includes:
· Orange & green “splash” colored LP
· 180-gram vinyl
· Deluxe gatefold foil jacket
· Animated zoetrope labels
· Limited to 5,000 worldwide
· Includes digital download
Back in late 2013, the members of My Morning Jacket arrived at Stinson Beach, a tiny Northern California town set right on the ocean and near the majestic Muir Woods. Massively inspired by their idyllic surroundings—and a sense of charmed isolation that frontman Jim James likened to “living on our own little moon”—the Kentucky-bred five-piece ended up creating over two dozen songs at the mountaintop studio known as Panoramic House. Though they flirted with the idea of putting out a double album, the band ultimately decided to lay aside a batch of songs and release the rest as The Waterfall: a 2015 full-length that later earned Grammy Award nomination for Best Alternative Music Album. After years of keeping the remaining songs stashed away, My Morning Jacket are now set to share The Waterfall II, a strangely timely continuation of a psychic and sonic journey begun long ago.
As James reveals, the decision to unearth The Waterfall II was sparked from a bit of serendipity in the early days of self-quarantine. While out on a walk, he placed his music library on shuffle and soon stumbled upon “Spinning My Wheels,” a tender rumination on the struggle for presence, its lyrics confessing to feeling “hypnotized from doing the same old thing.” Struck by the song’s enduring relevance, James revisited the other tracks reserved from the Panoramic House sessions and found that they invited a welcome moment of self-reflection—an outcome perhaps even more perfectly suited to the chaos of the current day than the circumstances of their recording.
Like its predecessor, The Waterfall II mines its mood of dreamy contemplation from certain heartbreak James had recently experienced, including the demise of a monumental relationship. Unfolding in a loosely threaded narrative of loss and recovery, the album conjures an indelible pain but never drifts into despair, gracefully conveying James’s message that “there is hope beyond the pain and loss, if you learn to flow with life like water.”
Opening on the weary reverie of “Spinning My Wheels,” The Waterfall II endlessly illuminates My Morning Jacket’s eclectic sensibilities, encompassing everything from lilting sunshine-pop to fantastically ramshackle country-rock. While the album slips into heavenly psychedelia on tracks like “Feel You” (a mesmerizing epic James developed deep in the Muir Woods), a more ominous tone permeates “Magic Bullet” and its rattled response to a then-recent school shooting. An intimate documenting of keeping an open heart in the face of devastation, The Waterfall II embodies a wistful longing on “Run It” (a song about “the desire to disappear and turn back into water,” according to James) and later gives way to overwhelming gratitude on “Welcome Home” (a portrait of “coming home from tour feeling so sad and defeated and lonely, but realizing how much love I was lucky to have in my friends and family”). And on “The First Time,” My Morning Jacket close out the album with a sweetly rambling meditation on the possibility of finding love again, channeling both ineffable sorrow and wide-eyed hope to incredibly glorious effect.
Even in its most heavy-hearted moments, The Waterfall II radiates an undeniable sense of wonder, a testament to the wild-mindedness that’s long imbued the music of My Morning Jacket. With their unabashed curiosity infinitely stirred by their time at Stinson Beach, the band hopes that the album might lead others to look beyond what’s human-made in the search for solace and renewal. “As so many of us feel out of tune and long for the world to be a better place, we have to look to nature and the animals and learn from them: learn to love, accept, move on, and respect each other,” says James. “We gotta work for it and change our ways before it’s too late, and get in harmony with love and equality for all of humanity and for nature too.”
Thad Cockrell’s Debut Album ‘If In Case You Feel The Same’ Out Today
Thad Cockrell’s debut If In Case You Feel The Same is out today, and the album has already won a wide swath of critical praise, a quickly growing amount of radio airplay and success at streaming platforms. Produced mainly by Tony Berg (an industry veteran who’s worked with everyone from Phoebe Bridgers to the Replacements), and mixed and engineered by Shawn Everett (Vampire Weekend, Beck, The War on Drugs), the album features an all-star backing band appearing on various songs throughout – Brittany Howard (backing vocals on “Higher”), Blake Mills (guitar), Chris Dave (drums), Matt Chamberlain (drums), Ethan Gruska (piano, synths), Ian Fitchuk (multiple instruments). If In Case You Feel the Same pushes beyond the understated country of Cockrell’s earliest work to illuminate his more idiosyncratic impulses. Throughout If In Case You Feel The Same, Cockrell reveals his rare ability to create songs that instantly hit on a visceral level, yet subtly invite intense contemplation.
Listen to “Higher” (featuring Brittany Howard) below
The New York Times recently praised album standout “Higher,” which features backing vocals from Howard, saying “Thad Cockrell sings in a quivering tenor about sorrow and heartbreak, but Brittany Howard swoops in to rescue him, harmonizing a vow that grows ever more persuasive: ‘I’m gonna lift you higher when I’m feeling low.'” Rolling Stone says Thad “gets into cosmic gospel mode on ‘Higher,’ enlisting the Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard to help him strain toward the sky. Nestled between lush, arresting bits of psychedelia, Cockrell’s urgent tenor makes a promise: ‘I’m gonna lift you higher, when I’m feeling low.'”
Cockrell has co-written with a notable list of artists that include Joy Williams (on her GRAMMY-nominated 2019 album Front Porch), Joseph, Devon Gilfillian and Mathew Caws of Nada Surf, and there’s a palpable sense of communion that infuses all of If In Case You Feel The Same, including Cockrell’s collaborations with Howard. An ardent fan of the Alabama Shakes frontwoman, Cockrell first linked up with Howard thanks to a wholly unexpected introduction from his dear friend, singer/songwriter Becca Mancari.
“I never wanted Becca to feel like a pass-through, so I put it out into the universe that if I was meant to meet Britt, it would just happen someday,” says Cockrell. One very late night while hanging out with Howard, Mancari shared some recordings of Cockrell’s songs, which then prompted Howard to hijack Mancari’s phone and send Cockrell a text professing her love for his music. “Twenty minutes later they’re walking into my house, and I’m making mezcal margaritas and playing Britt songs from the new album,” says Cockrell. “At some point she said me, ‘I never like anything, but I love all of this.’” Soon enough, Howard had sent Cockrell’s demos to ATO Records, thus paving the way for his signing to the label.
Old 97’S Return With New Album ‘Twelfth’ Out August 21 + New Music Video
Watch Lyric Video for “Dropouts” Below