New Music Friday: 13th Floor New Album Picks: January 19, 2024

Its New Music Friday so you know what that means – time for some new music to get your teeth, (and ears) into. This week we’ve selected our top picks, specially selected to set your appetite a-tingling.

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

1. Green Day – Saviors (Reprise) The band that keeps on giving. Their 14^th studio album opens with a fiery call to action on The American Dream Is Killing Me. “As soon we cut it, we said, `Okay, that’s going first,’ says Billie Joe Armstrong who describes the new song as “a look at the way the traditional American Dream doesn’t work for a lot of people — in fact, it’s hurting a lot of people”. Go check it out.

2. Sleater – Kinney – Little Rope (Loma Vista) This power duo follow-up to 2021’s Path of Wellness the 11^th studio album and they keep the intensity on max. Little Rope deals with topics including “global crisis and personal tragedy”, exploring the question “how we navigate grief, who we navigate it with, and the ways it transforms us”. All with their trademark Punk and New Wave attitude.

3. Eliza McLamb –Going Through It (Royal Mountain) This debut LP is described as a plunge pool with a still surface that betrays its staggering depth. Eliza (from popular podcast Binchtopia), explains the track Glitter as  “a song about the simultaneously beautiful and heartbreaking experience of moving through girlhood with a best friend. It’s a love letter, a cry for help, and a search for meaning in the darkness.” It’s a heart puller folks.

4. The Incurables – Inside Out & Backwards (Big Stir Records) We invite you to check out  the long-awaited label debut from Detroit punk-pop heroes. Their 5^th full length studio album, This band of brothers have built up a strong live following. “The basic idea is to let your inner child out to play as often as you can” – and you can’t argue with that. Watch out for a 13th Floor interview!

5. Town Mountain– Dance Me Down Easy: The Woodstock Sessions EP (New West Records) This 6-song Bluegrass adventure was produced by Town Mountain & Justin Francis and recorded at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, NY. “I would say Levon Helm is one of, if not, the biggest influences on this band as a whole. He was a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll, but definitely down home.” Guaranteed to get your toes tapping. And yes, be on the lookout for a 13th Floor interview with these guys.