New Music Friday: 13th Floor New Album Picks: February 2, 2024

Happy Groundhog Day! Its New Music Friday once again and once again we pick 5 new releases that we think you should wrap your ears around.

The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda picks these five new releases for your consideration:

1. J Mascis – What Do We Do Now (Sub Pop) Is this the 4th or 5th solo album from the Dinosaur Jr. frontman? That’s a matter of opinion. What we’re sure of is that this is one of J’s finest. Mascis reveals, “Usually, I try to do the solo stuff more simply so I can play it by myself, but I really wanted to add the drums. Once that started, everything else just fell into place. So it ended up sounding a lot more like a band record. I dunno why I did that exactly, but it’s just what happened.”

2. Britti – Hello, I’m Britti (Easy Eye Sound) Another cool discovery from Dan Auerbach’s label. Dan found Britti in New Orleans and says, “Britti’s lush debut is an invitation to a stoned soul picnic somewhere between New Orleans and Nashville, a porch hang on a hazy summer afternoon, and a late-night slow dance party, all at once. Recommended if you dig: Diana in ’71, Dolly in ’78, Sade in ’86, Erykah in ’97″

3. The Last Dinner Party – Prelude To Ecstasy (Island) This is the acclaimed London band’s highly-anticipated debut album. The members said: “Ecstasy is a pendulum which swings between the extremes of human emotion, from the ecstasy of passion to the sublimity of pain, and it is this concept which binds our album together.”

4. Kula Shaker – Natural Magick (Strange F.O.L.K.) Its the veteran band’s first new album with the original lineup in 25 years. “This chapter in the band’s life is very much driven by live energy and that spiritual connection with the audiences which comes with it,” explained vocalist and guitarist Crispian Mills. “We all agreed to make this album a Kula Shaker fan’s dream. It was very similar to the way we recorded K, back when we only had half an hour to blow people away, and recording much of it in-between shows while touring.” 

5. The Boondocks – The Boondocks EP (Self) 4-song EP from New Zealand’s Awhitu Peninsula. The duo are Scott Parker and Brandon Pritchard and they rock hard. Scott says, “The album art is a drawing of the Awhitu Lighthouse. We take a lot of pride in our small rural community, being one of the first bands to really come out of there in a long time.”