With her ninth studio album, "Visions", Norah Jones dives deeper into the soulful side of her music. Teaming with Leon Michels, a musician and producer who played with several soul bands that includes being a founding member of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings as well as touring with the alt-rock band, the Black Keys, Jones, now a forty-four year old wife to musician, Pete Remm and mother to their two children, has gotten looser and funkier with her sound. Yet fear not, long time jazz era fans of Jones, there are still elements of her smooth musical style on this record that first brought her fame twenty-two years ago.
Some new music I'm feeling right now is the latest single from Tyla with the South African singer's self titled debut has also just been released; the Irish rocker, Hoizer has dropped an EP with a track enjoying Tik Tok popularity; another single from Colombian performer, Shakira has her teaming up with hip-hop artist, Cardi B.; the new single by the reunited '90's boy-band,New Kids on the Block who are now middle-aged men and Lorde's contribution for a tribute album to Talking Heads which celebrates the re-release of the band's amazing 1984 feature film, "Stop Making Sense" which will be released through the movie studio, A24's music label.
Kim Gordon first found success as one of the founding members of the influential alternative rock band, Sonic Youth. After spending thirty years with this experimental band, Gordon parted ways not only with this musical group but with her husband and fellow band member, Thurston Moore in 2011. She has since spent her time creating art, working on a fashion line, doing a little acting and producing for other musical artists.
Gordon had little interest in recording as a solo artist yet when she met producer, Justin Raisen in 2015, he convinced her to forge ahead. Their first project together was "No Home Record" four years later which was well received. This musical duo set about working together again and their latest collaboration has been released. "The Collective", with the title inspired by Jennifer Egan's novel, "The Candy House", is vigorous blending of thrashing guitars and hip-hop beats. The Tik Tok generation has embraced the seventy year old Gordon and a track from the album, "Bye Bye", which describes a list of items she will pack for a trip enhanced by pulsating, noisy beats.
The Bailey sisters, Chlöe and Halle, have been working together professionally since they were young children. The girls had impressive depth and range at that time and have since grown (Chlöe is now twenty-five; Halle is twenty-three) into even more considerable talents. After taking a hiatus, with each pursuing solo endeavors over the last few years, there has been some chatter that this duo are coming back together to create new music. However, each sister has recently just released their own new song.
Chlöe first premiered "FYS". an alt-r&b song co-written by the singer with producer, BongoByTheWay. The title stands for "Fuck Your Status" which she explains means the trappings of wealth and success shouldn't matter with the only thing that is important in a relationship is love.
Meanwhile, Halle just delivered "In Your Hands", the second track from her still, on-the-way debut solo album. This lovely ballad expresses the deep love that she feels for her partner, fellow musician, DDG and their new born son, Halo.
Kacey Musgraves explored the end of her marriage and the painful healing process with her last album, "Star-Crossed". And with that collection, the country singer had distanced herself somewhat musically from the genre, diving deeper into pop, folk and rock textures. Now with her sixth studio album, "Deeper Well", Musgraves has returned closer to her musical roots. Since we last heard from her, she has done some work on herself, getting rid of bad habits that were a distraction in her life and moving into a new phase emotionally and spiritually. This is revealed musically on this record with Musgraves sharing her new life discoveries yet with her rebellious spirit still firmly intact. Beginning in April, Musgraves will be spending the rest of the year on a world tour to support the album.
LEDISI
With her eleventh studio album out now, "Good Life", Ledisi has released more of her stylish classic soul that spotlights her gloriously rousing voice. Following the already charting songs, "I Need to Know" and "Sell Me No Dreams", the latest single is "Perfect Stranger", a sensual ballad that features a duet with fellow crooner, Kenny Latimore. Ledisi is currently on the road for the Good Life tour with a twenty-seven US city stop.
ST. VINCENT
Annie Clark, known to the world as St Vincent, is on the verge of delivering a new collection of music. "All Born Screaming" will be the eclectic artist's seventh album and due out in April. Not only will it be released on Clark's own label, Total Pleasure but it is the first time she has self-produced her own music. This album also moves in an unexpected direction with St. Vincent stating she wanted to go even further with darker and edgier sounds. The first single, "Broken Man" is an eerie track filled with throbbing beats and thrashing guitars. Cate Lebron of the alt-band, Drinks and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters make contributions and there is a musical tribute to the late Scottish electronic musician, Sophie with the song, "Sweetest Fruit".
Eric Carmen, the musician and songwriter who first found fame as part of pop-rock group, the Raspberries then later going solo to achieve even greater success, has passed away on March 11th at the age of seventy-four. No cause of death has been revealed at this time.
Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, music had played an important part of his life since he was a child, being classically trained to play the piano and the violin. But after discovering rock & roll as a teenager, Carmen taught himself how to play the guitar and joined several rock bands. By the time he attended college, Carmen became certain that his career would involve music.
In 1970, Carmen joined Wally Bryson on lead guitar, rhythm guitarist, Dave Smalley and Jim Bonfanti on drums to form the Raspberries. After recording some demos, with Carmen performing lead vocals, playing bass and writing many of their originals songs, several record labels became interested and the Raspberries signed with Capital Records. The band's self-titled debut became an instant success with their biggest hit, "Go All the Way" reaching number five on the US pop chart in 1972. The Raspberries would make three more albums but tensions grew within the group, largely over Carmen's creative dominance in the band. With members exiting and new musicians joining, the Raspberries would come to an end in 1975.
Carmen wasted no time and began a solo career. His self-titled debut album was released later that year and contained two big hits; "All By Myself" which made it to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" which just missed reaching the top ten on the chart. Carmen also made the chart writing pop songs for actor-turned-singer, Shaun Cassidy with "That's Rock and Roll" which peaked at number three in 1977 and "Hey Deanie" which hit the top ten the following year.
Carmen co-wrote with Dean Pitchford, "Almost Paradise" for the 1984 film, "Footloose" performed by Ann Wilson of Heart and Mike Reno of Loverboy, reaching number seven on the pop chart. And Carmen's last major charting hits for himself were "Hungry Eyes" for the "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack and "Make Me Lose Control" a single that appeared on his greatest hits collection in 1988. Carmen would release his final album, "I Was Born to Love You" in 2000 and became part of the tour with Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band.
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, collectively known as Pet Shop Boys, have been creating music together since 1981. Throughout this time, the British music duo have never strayed too far from their original sound: electronic dance music. Pet Shop Boys have just announced their upcoming fifteenth studio album, "Nevertheless", due out in April. With producer, James Ford, the Boys continue to explore the diverse emotions that makes us human through dance-oriented beats and their sound has expanded to include orchestral string arrangements. The first single, "Loneliness" from the album takes me back to the time of their breakout song, "West End Girls" which will be celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the original dance club version with the song re-recorded two years later and becoming a worldwide pop music smash.
Here is a collection of recent dance songs which includes the latest from Charli XCX (with a wild, crazy music video that I love); the inspired pairing of Sia and Kylie Minogue; another sexual, dance-floor ditty by Kim Petras from her recent EP, "Slut Pop Miami", a sequel to her 2022 release; Olly Alexander of Years & Years just dropped a romantic, beat heavy track and the latest dance anthem from the queer performer, Vincint.
Miley Cyrus has dropped a new song yet it's not actually new. Back in 2013, Cyrus teamed up musician, Pharrell Williams during the recording of her "Bangerz" album where the pop star played with a more musically funky style. An outtake from those sessions, "Doctor (Work It Out)" has just been released. Why is this song seeing the light of day at this particular moment in time? Who knows and who really cares because "Doctor" sounds just as fresh as if it were recorded yesterday. For the music video, Cyrus seems to be channeling Las Vegas showgirls who stomped on the casino stages like Ann-Margaret and Lola Falana (look 'em up) back in the '70's, right down to the choreography.
Frankie Goes to Hollywoodburst on to the music scene back in 1983 with the song, "Relax" which not only topped the charts in their native Britain but became an international sensation. But what made this band really stand out beyond their popular music was that they were unapologetically queer, which was not at all common by pop artists to reveal at this time. Two following singles, "Two Tribes" and "The Power of Love" impressively also reached number one on the UK pop chart . Not long after this incredible success, Frankie Goes to Hollywood imploded and went their separate ways in 1987. In the recent film, "All of Us Strangers", filmmaker, Andrew Haigh effectively uses Frankie's ballad, "The Power of Love" to close out his deeply moving dramatic fantasy about loss and acceptance. Haigh has stated that this song was an important part of his music playlist from his youth in the '80's during a time when he was trying to come to terms with love and his identity as a gay teenager.
