New Music Friday: 13th Floor New Album Picks: June 9, 2023

New Music Friday is here again and there some goodies being released today. Here are the five new albums that we think deserve, even demand, your attention.

The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda has chosen these 5 new albums for your consideration released today:

1. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Weathervanes (Southeastern) We’ve been waiting for this one for a while. Here’s what Jason has to say about it: “There is something about boundaries on this record,” Isbell says. “As you mature, you still attempt to keep the ability to love somebody fully and completely while you’re growing into an adult and learning how to love yourself.”

2. Janelle Monáe – The Age Of Pleasure (Atlantic) Janelle’s 4th album is a real pleasure. Just ask Janelle: “All the songs were written from such an honest space,” Monae explains. With this album, this project. I’m just like, ‘You know what? It takes work.’ I have to learn things all over again. I have to practice. I have to… And thank God I love the songs. Yeah. So it’s always a fun thing to do to. It’s like starting on a blank canvas.”

3. Calla – Patterns Of Remedy  Ōtepoti Dunedin electronic musician, Calla, releases her second studio album. The album is an exploration in how intergenerational processes shape the way we love. This is a listening experience designed to stir the depths of our primal and vulnerable inner worlds. Expect elements of operatic vocals, heavy bass, and homages to the worlds of folk, pop, and cinema epics.

4. Jenny Lewis – Joy’All (Blue Note) Jenny’s 5th album and first in 4 years. “I started writing some of these songs on the road, pre-pandemic… and then put them aside as the world shut down, says Jenny. “Then I joined a week-long virtual songwriting workshop with a handful of amazing artists, hosted by Beck. “The challenge was to write one song every day for seven days”.

5. Lontalius – Life On The Edge Of You (Kartel) The latest from Kiwi Eddie Johnston finds him in his mid-20s and on the precipice of adulthood in all its nascent fits and spurts, moments of growth and regression, thoughtless impulses and newfound control. On his own again after moving back in with his parents in Wellington, New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic—Johnston is taking stock of his life: the relationships that may be, the periods of adjustment, the person he is and the person he hopes to become.