New Music Friday: 13th Floor New Album Picks: February 14, 2025
Happy New Music Friday and Happy Valentines day! We’ve got plenty of good new stuff for lovers of fine music, including new releases by Horsegirl, The Delines and a 100-year-old sax player.
The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda picks these five new releases for your consideration:
- Marshall Allen – New Dawn (Mexican Summer) Marshall Allen is 100 years old and today he releases his debut solo album. Of course those in the know are familiar with the saxophonist’s long and esteemed career playing with the Sun Ra Arkestra. New Dawn signals Allen as his own singular voice, one that’s swinging and bopping and reflecting into the future, with no sign of stopping. On New Dawn, Allen’s sax is paired with vocals from Neneh Cherry, who settles right into the song’s slow New Orleans groove. It’s downcast yet hopeful, weathered yet majestic.
2. The Delines – Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom (El Cortez) The spark that ignited Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom, came from a night in Dublin, Ireland, when after a gig, vocalist Amy Boone took songwriter Willy Vlautin aside and said, “Listen man, you have to write me a straight-up love song where no one dies and nothing goes wrong or I’m going to lose my mind.” After the tour ended, Vlautin went to work. Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom, maybe the most romantic Delines tune to date. It’s the story of two ragged misfits: a failed criminal and a depressive house cleaner who somehow hit the lottery in meeting each other. That song determined the soul of the record.
3. Horsegirl – Phonetics On And On (Matador) It’s the highly-anticipated second album by the highly-talented trio from Chicago. Phonetics On An On was produced by Cate Le Bon and recorded at Wilco’s studio, The Loft. It’s hard to imagine any of these songs being written by anyone but Nora, Penelope, and Gigi. Horsegirl write with unanticipated honesty, leading us through scenes of girlhood and youth. These are moments of their lives. Be sure to watch The 13th Floor MusicTalk Interview with Horsegirl Nora Cheng.
4. Gary Louris – Dark Country (Sham/Thirty Tigers) This is The Jayhawks’ frontman’s third solo album. “Dark Country is a love letter to my wife Steph, plain and simple,” Louris explains. “It was written and recorded in my little studio in our home in the mountains of Quebec. Just my guitar and my voice, occasionally piano, and on two songs a bit of magic from my friends. It is the most intimate and straightforward record I have ever made. Just me in a room with my songs and you the listener. I am not typically an autobiographical lyricist but these songs are as literal as can be….all directed to my love.” Click here to read The 13th Floor album review.
5. Kestrals – Better Wonder (Darla) Kestrals are shoegazing East Coast alt rockers led by Chad Peck. In a statement, Peck called the album “a nighttime record riddled with anxiety written during a weird time. I had lived alone in the woods most of my adult life and I loved that lifestyle in a lot of ways. But during that time period there was so much change and tumult and those feelings of insanity at three in the morning. I was trying to capture it in a murky, uncomfortable sound.”
