As big fans of Tedeschi Trucks Band and long-time Joe Jackson enthusiasts, we're glad to have new music from both this week. Joining them in our New Music Bin: the latest from a California indie band we first featured a couple of years ago; another track from a Nashville duo's new release; and the debut of a "pop orchestra" from Norway. Variety!
Tedeschi Trucks Band's Let Me Get By was one of our absolute favorite albums of 2016, so we're really looking forward to their upcoming release, Signs. We're jumping right on the first single, "Hard Case," which NPR called "an upbeat, shuffling, instant classic. "It's a fun song for us to play," Susan Tedeschi says, "And like so many other songs on the album, is a great showcase for the band." She and husband Derek Trucks have an all-time-great traveling band (seen above at New York's Beacon Theater last October), and we're not sure how they found time between tours to record. The full release is due in mid-February.
Joe Jackson is about to release his 20th studio album, 40 years after he made his debut with Look Sharp! Jackson's literate-punk style is intact on Fool, judging by the songs released so far. Our featured pick, "Friend Better," echoes the sardonic view of love behind classics like "Happy Loving Couples" and "Fools In Love" from the 1979 record. "If you were to use your head, / Then you would just forget her. / Listen what the wise man said: / Lover good, friend better."
Next we turn to Lonely Avenue, an indie quartet from Bakersfield, Calif., that cites influences ranging from Merle Haggard through the Allman Brothers and Tom Petty to Wilco. Their songs often come with heart-felt, personal lyrics. Lead singer Jon Ranger describes their latest single, "Wrong To Assume," as "basically an apology to someone for taking advantage of their strength, and realizing that we can’t just 'want' to make a change, there must be action in order to better ourselves."
A few weeks ago, we introduced ourselves and our listeners to Frances Cone, the duo of Christina Cone and Andy Doherty. We've been spinning "Failure" from their new album, Late Riser, and now we're featuring the opening track, "Wide Awake." Despite its title, the song has a languid, dreamy atmosphere. But the lyric suggests awakening to the realization that a relationship isn't working: "You call me, you call me, you call me a fool / And I don't know why I was asking you to."
And we've just been introduced to an alternative pop/rock band from Bergen, Norway, called Secret Treehouse. This five-member "pop orchestra" has put out several singles in the past couple of years, and just released its debut album, The Big Rewind. We're featuring the lead single, "Fear of Frogs." "It's about the fear of holding someone you love back," says guitarist and songwriter Sveinung Bukve. "And the feeling of just wanting to run away from it all, coz you're afraid you'll end up just doing damage."
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