New Music Friday: 13th Floor New Album Picks: January 10, 2025

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New Music Friday is back! Its a new year and we’ve got five new albums to recommend to you that are released today.

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

  1. Ringo Starr – Look Up (Lost Highway) What better way to start 2025 than with a new album from Mr. Peace and Love himself, Ringo Starr. After seeing Peter Jackson’s Get Back doco, everyone’s a Ringo fan and this new collection of country songs will only add fuel to the fire. Produced by T Bone Burnette, Ringo has roped in guests like Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings and Alison Krauss. But the real revelation is just how great the 84-year-old ex-Beatle sounds himself…his vocals have never been stronger….and there’s his drumming. Click here to read the 13th Floor Album Review.

Ringo Starr

 

2. Franz Ferdinand – The Human Fear (Domino) Recorded at AYR studios in Scotland, the 11-songs on The Human Fear all allude to some deep-set human fears and how overcoming and accepting these fears drives and defines our lives. Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand said: Making this record was one of the most life-affirming experiences I’ve had, but it’s called The Human Fear. Fear reminds you that you’re alive. I think we all are addicted in some way to the buzz it can give us. How we respond to it shows how we are human. So here’s a bunch of songs searching for the thrill of being human via fears. Not that you’d necessarily notice on first listen. Click here to read the 13th Floor Album Review.

Franz Ferdinand

3. Joan Armatrading – How Did This Happen And What Does It Now Mean (BMG) Entirely written, produced, programmed and engineered by Armatrading herself, the record is the latest offering in a catalogue that opened in 1972 with her debut LP Whatever’s For Us, launching a career that has led to MBE and CBE decorations, Ivor Novello and BASCA Gold Badge Awards for songwriting, BRIT and Grammy nominations, honorary degrees and more. Explaining the album’s title, Armatrading says: “You can apply it to just about anything, ‘How did this happen and what does it now mean?’ We are in such a weird place at the moment, and you do think, how did this happen?

Joan Armatrading

 

4. Early James – Medium Raw (Easy Eye Sound/Concord) Discovered, produced and signed by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, this is Early James’ 3rd album for the Easy Eye label. Instead of a typical studio setup, Auerbach felt the album needed to be recorded in an old house, like many of his favorite Arhoolie records. The house in question, known as “Honky Chateau,” was an old Nashville property owned by photographer and artist Buddy Jackson. Over 100 years old, the house has plaster on the walls, plastered ceilings, old wallpaper, big oak floors and a painting of Harry Dean Stanton on the wall. Click here to read The 13th Floor Album Review. 

 

Early James

5. Lambrini Girls – Who Let The Dogs Out (City Slang) For the most adventurous music fans, may we suggest this new City Slang release. Who Let The Dogs Out bottles everything wrong with the modern world and shakes it up. If peppering political songs with humour is like sticking a sparkler in some bread, then Who Let The Dogs Out is like a fireworks display in the factory itself: strange, dangerous, exciting. It’s a take-no-prisoners debut from one of the UK’s most fun and fearless bands. “You know how Fleetwood Mac almost dedicated Rumours to their cocaine dealer? I think we should dedicate this album to all the booze we bought at Tesco.”

Lambrini Girls

Marty Duda
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