In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on July 5, 2024:
Zach Bryan, The Great American Bar Scene
Zach Bryan celebrated Independence Day with the release of his fifth album, The Great American Bar Scene, less than a year after his last. The 19-song LP includes the advance singles ‘Pink Skies’ and the Noeline Hoffman collab ‘Purple Gas’, as well as guest appearances from Bruce Springsteen, John Mayer, and John Moreland. “The making of this album tested me and everyone close to me,” Bryan wrote on Instagram. “It drove me to my ends and my beginnings. I saw the lights of Paris after saying I would for ten years, road the coast of Australia with a beautiful woman, was locked in a pub until 7 am in Ireland, walked my favorite street in New York over a hundred times, thought I was going to bleed out in a field in Tennessee, spent a few hours in handcuffs, hugged my grandma more than a few times, laid in the grass of my mother’s hometown, sang ‘State Trooper’ in a bar in South of Boston, and wrote something that I think was important. I wrote and produced all of these with the help of some truly great friends.”
Fire-Toolz, Breeze
Angel Marcloid has released a new Fire-Toolz album titled Breeze. Following up last year’s i am upset because i see something that is not there, the 14-track collection was preceded by the singles ‘To Every Squirrel Who Has Ever Been Hit By A Car, I’m Sorry & I Love You’, ‘The Envy of the Heavenly Powers’, and ‘RE: Official Request for Reciprocal Indwelling Procedure’. The record features contributions from Sam Greenfield, Nylist and Lipsticism, Cole Pulice, Joseph Trahan, Nick Krueger, Jordan Reed, and COCOJOEY, among others.
Kasabian, Happenings
Kasabian have released their eighth studio album, Happenings, via Columbia. It follows the Leicester band’s 2022 record The Alchemist’s Euphoria. “Thinking about where we are with phone screens, us being able to create something that people can be a part of in the real world has got to be a positive,” frontman Serge Pizzorno said in a press release. “I’ve seen it in people’s faces at the shows, that need to experience something that just snaps you out for yourself, to feel a connection. Well, that’s Happenings.” He concluded, “It’s 20 years this year since we released our debut album, but we felt the best way this band, at this time, should celebrate that was by making a new album.”
Bacchae, Next Time
D.C. punks Bacchae have dropped a new LP, Next Time, via Get Better Records. The follow-up to 2020’s Pleasure Vision was produced by J. Robbins and includes the advance tracks ‘Cooler Talk’, ‘Just a Rat’, ‘Dead Man’, and the title song. According to press materials, “Next Time is a lament. Almost every song on the album is about mourning or regretting something that has been lost: work-life balance, a lover, a way of life, your motivation, your mental health, a sense of self. The displeasure of work and the disappointment of the daily grind are topics revisited throughout the album.”
KOKOKO!, BUTU
Congolese group KOKOKO! have dropped their sophomore album, BUTU, which means “the night” in Lingala. The follow-up to 2019’s Fongola was inspired by the Congolese capital Kinshasa and its dynamic nightlife. “Congolese and moreover Kinshasa people try to stand out – if you’re a street vendor, you will have your style, your catchphrase, your rhythm, so that you can tell who’s around you without seeing them,” producer Xavier Thomas said in press materials, adding: “Compared to Fongola, this album is intentionally way more intense, because it’s quite upbeat and quite full-on.”
HNNY, Light Shines Through
Swedish producer HNNY (aka Johan Cederberg) has returned with Light Shines Through, his first album in a decade. The follow-up to his debut album Sunday was led by the single ‘I’ll Come Your Way’. “I started the album a couple of weeks after the New Year and I wrote, recorded and mixed everything in my home studio which is in a small shed in the yard of our house,” Cederberg explained in a statement. “I’ve found it difficult to undertake larger projects like an album, which often take one or more years to complete. But like my previous album, I did everything in a fairly short period of time, about 3 months this time. I wanted to create something more electronic than what I’ve done in recent years and on a more abstract level, to make a record where I explored something kind of spiritual. Making music about that which cannot be touched.”
Other albums out today:
Kiasmos, II; Subdued, Abattoir; FINK, Beauty in Your Wake; Rhinestone Pickup Truck, Self Deprecation at Hourly Rates; Mines, Warm & Safe; Million Moons, I May Be Some Time.