I Built You a Tower
Death Cab for Cutie
June 5th
Produced with John Congleton, recorded over three weeks, the group's first album to be released on an independent label in about twenty years, I Built You a Tower it is a sort of restart after the celebratory tours and the “collapse” of Ben Gibbard's private life. «The anniversary tours have eliminated every trace of nostalgia», assure Death Cab for Cutie.
Sanctuary
Evanescence
June 5th
«We've been working on it for three years and after listening to it from start to finish, with the release almost away, I can say I'm proud of every second of music», assures Amy Lee. «Working there represented an outlet for many things that I feel are wrong and out of control, a place to rekindle hope through the power of music and connection». They are available Who Will Follow And Afterlifethe latter released some time ago and taken from the Netflix series Devil May Cry.
Bitches
Lizzo
June 5th
«It seemed more than right to call it a name Bitches because it has become my favorite word”, explains Lizzo of the album of which the title track and have now been released Don't Make Me Love You. «Claiming the word bitch it's a form of power: it means taking a label that was once used to belittle women and transforming it into a declaration of confidence and self-love without complexes.” A curiosity: in September the singer will publish the children's book Lil Lizzo Meets Sasha B. Flootin'.
Spatial, No Problem
Lee “Scratch” Perry / Mouse on Mars
June 5th
Five years after his death, the first posthumous album by the Jamaican dub legend arrives, this time a collaboration with the German electronic duo Mouse on Mars, recorded in Berlin in December 2019. “We didn't talk much, but we had a lot of fun,” the two said. «And we also cooked fish soup and ate papaya». No problem.
Cry Baby
Staples wins
June 5th
More traditional, more political, angrier. It was anticipated by pieces like Blackberry Marmalade, White Flag And Cotton which evoke a disco imagery that describes America today using live band instrumentation. «While the world is on fire, I decided to release this album», he says. And no feat.
Mirage
Thomas Bangalter
June 5th
A minimalist electronic composition divided into eight parts, the soundtrack of a ballet for 16 elements created by the choreographer Damien Jalet and the contemporary artist Kōhei Nawa. It is presented as a work that adopts «a sculptural approach to sound and music, in the wake of Iannis Xenakis». Yes, we are far from Daft Punk (again). A taste at this link.
You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love
Olivia Rodrigo
June 12th
Produced by Dan Nigro, previewed by Drop Dead (the one from the video shot in Versailles) e The Cureand the controversy over the singer's use of a babydoll, You Seem Perry Sad for a Girl So in Love it is Olivia Rodrigo's third album, the one in which she will have to prove that she is destined to remain in the pop scene. You said that the album revolves around love songs in which you also sing about the negative feelings that accompany them. Al SNL he sang too Beggedhere is the video of the performance. Somewhere on backing vocals on the album is Robert Smith of The Cure.
Songs of Personal Loss and Protest
Jon Spencer
June 12th
«Garage rock for the times we live in». This is how a press release defines the album recorded by Jon Spencer (the Blues Explosion present?) with drummer Macky “Spider” Bowman and bassist (and multi-instrumentalist) Kendall Wind. It promises well judging by the description: «Loud screams, foaming at the mouth, sensual melodies and vehement laments for these difficult times». We look forward to some rock'n'roll.
Dirty Blonde
Bebe Rexha
June 12th
That Dirty Blonde by Bebe Rexha wants to do things big and announces an album full of top-level features such as David Guetta, DJ Snake, Faithless and Diplo. A mix of pop, EDM, country and hip hop that aims to heat up the summer.
Mission of Mercy
Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs
June 12th
A record for lovers (and also a little nostalgic) of the times of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers who are evoked in No Regrets and in I Remember. In Bongo Mania there's Kate Pierson of the B-52s, in the title track a tribute to Brian Wilson and others Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys.
Aurora
Yes
June 12th
Yes, they're still around and still making records. Aurora it is, if we have not miscalculated, the 24th album of the group led by Steve Howe, since 2012 with Jon Davison on vocals (he was also a good friend of Taylor Hawkins, at this link our interview). Geoff Downes assures that the album «has a decidedly more progressive sound than the last ones». We listened to the seven and a half minutes of the title track and above all Turnaround Situation. Artwork by Roger Dean and Freya Dean.
So Help Me God
Kelsey Lu
June 12th
«It was born from a long period of pain, spiritual questions and reconstruction after a personal, professional and existential loss. After the pandemic and a series of upheavals in my life, I found myself living between two worlds: faith and doubt, love and autonomy, belonging and exile. This album represents everything I am today: the most sincere and welcoming version of myself. It is an act of full self-appropriation. It's about being completely within myself – complex, imperfect, vulnerable, powerful – and allowing that wholeness to be seen.” Co-produced with Jack Antonoff and Yves Rothman, featuring Kim Gordon, Kamasi Washington, Sampha.
Real Life Evolution
Joan As Police Woman
June 12th
«People ask me all the time: “Do you ever get tired of playing the old songs?”. Absolutely not. And if that ever happened, I would reinvent them to bring back the joy, not as an act of revision, but of rediscovery. Songs have a life of their own that goes beyond whoever created them. Like us, over time they find their balance, becoming more and more themselves. This is the spirit and the beating heart of my new album Real Life Evolutionten reinterpreted versions of every song from the original Real Life. Some transformations are subtle, others are profound. All were made with a completely new cast of collaborators.” Among the guests, Iggy Pop in Save Me and Krystle Warren in The Defys. In November in Rome, in February 2027 in Bologna and Milan.
White magic
Francesca Michielin
June 12th
«A medieval record for the royal country». Thus Francesca Michielin launched the new album preceded by the single A woman can't. «It's a pop record (perhaps one of the most pop I've made). It mixes 80s and dungeon synth with hallucinated vocals, with angry lyrics, magical and romantic elements. It is an album for witches, for those who want to be free, for those who are tired of labels, for those who want to have fun and dream with their imagination, for those who want to dance even if they are not capable, for those who stride in a world of fake and serious order, for those who love chaotic energy».
Castle Park
Graham Coxon
June 19th
A “rediscovered” album recorded in 2011, and which was born as a sequel to Graham Coxon's album of unreleased songs A+E released in 2012. The guitarist had postponed it due to commitments with his Blur, until he left it behind. Ten tracks that, after 15 years, finally see the light.
EP
Big Freedia & Sophie
June 19th
Three tracks recorded by Big Freedia in a session with Sophie back in 2016 in Los Angeles. «I can't believe we made these tracks 10 years ago. Recording with Sophie is something I hold close to my heart, especially now that she's gone.” The first single Blaze That Ass it's already out.
Placebo Re:Created
Placebo
June 19th
Taking the past and revisiting it is always a risky gesture. But Brian Molko and Placebo have never been afraid to be loved, or despised. Placebo Re:Created it will be a new version of their debut album, released 30 years ago, and sees the band revisiting that work that launched them into the collective imagination. «Let's imagine this album as a director's cutwe didn't make anything from scratch. When we made the first album, we didn't yet have the experience or technical skills to fully translate what we had in mind. Over time, the songs came to life on stage, growing and evolving. It is a celebration of our origins and a meeting point between what we were and what we are today.” In November at the Assago Forum.
Reality Awaits
The Strokes
June 26th
When the Strokes announce an album it's always a little coincidence. The band, which hasn't released an LP since The New Abnormal of 2020, the more time passes the more it creates a cult of nostalgic indie sleazers around it. So there's a lot of waiting for this one Reality Awaits even though the first two singles released, Going Shopping And Falling Out of Lovewere also highly criticized for Julian Casablancas' use of Auto-Tune. Albert Hammond assures us that “it's my favorite record of the ones we've made”. We will see. Nick Valensi will certainly not be on the tour, replaced “temporarily” by Steve Schiltz. At this link the story of the “appropriationist” cover.
The Wow! Signal
Muses
June 26th
A tablet at 33 thousand meters high, in the stratosphere, to launch the new album The Wow! Signal and the single Be With You. It's the latest idea from Matt Bellamy's Muse, who will release the album on June 26th. It's the first since Will of the People of 2022. After the launch (in every sense) they came out Cryogen and Hexagonsbeyond Unravelling. The album, explains a press release, «takes its name from one of the most fascinating interstellar mysteries of the last century: a powerful radio pulse lasting 72 seconds detected in 1977, coming from the constellation of Sagittarius, with a bandwidth and intensity that suggested a possible extraterrestrial origin. The astronomer who discovered the anomaly circled the now-iconic sequence 6EQUJ5 and wrote “Wow!” in the print next to it, giving this name to the signal and consolidating its position in scientific tradition and popular culture.”
Offering
Ibeyi
June 26th
The Franco-Cuban twins Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz have not released a solo album since 2022. Offering it is the first as an independent, with their own label (Ibeyi Records), preceded by the single Aset.
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
