New Music Friday: 13th Floor New Album Picks: March 8, 2024
It’s happening again! New Music Friday is upon us once more. There’s something for everyone this week as we bring you everything from Judas Priest to Norah Jones.
The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda picks these five new releases for your consideration:
Kim Gordon – The Collective (Matador) The former Sonic Youther’s second solo album and follows 2019’s No Home Record. As with that album, Gordon once again collaborated with producer Justin Raisen. Anthony Paul Lopez provided additional production.A press release describes the album in more detail: “The album advances their joint world building, with Raisin’s damaged, blown out dub and trap constructions playing the foil to Gordon’s intuitive word collages and hooky mantras, which conjure communication, commercial sublimation, and sensory overload.”
2. Judas Priest – Invincible Shield (Epic) Its the veteran hard rockers’ 19th studio album. Guitarist Richie Faulkner says: “It’s sounding fantastic. It’s sounding great. Obviously, I’m gonna say that, but if it didn’t sound great, we wouldn’t be bothering. You’ve gotta do something that we think is better than the last one so to speak. And if it wasn’t, Priest don’t need to do that.”
3.
Norah Jones – Visions (Blue Note) Just the 9th studio album for Norah. Jones says, “The reason I called the album Visions is because a lot of the ideas came in the middle of the night or in that moment right before sleep. We did most of the songs in the same way where I was at the piano or on guitar and Leon was playing drums and we were just jamming on stuff. I like the rawness between me and Leon, the way it sounds kind of garage-y but also kind of soulful, because that’s where he’s coming from, but also not overly perfected.”
4. Joe Pug – Sketch Of A Promised Departure (Nation Of Heat/Soundly) Joe’s first new album since 2019. Ten brand new songs featuring performances from world-class musicians such as Robert Ellis, JT Bates (Big Red Machine, Taylor Swift, Trampled by Turtles), Andrew Marlin (Watchhouse), and Zack Hickman (Josh Ritter, Ray Lamontagne).
5. Torrey – Torrey (Slumberland) Second album from this hip new band from the San Fran Bay Area led by siblings Ryann and Kelly Gonsalaves. Are they “Shoegaze” or “Dreampop”? You decide. Ryann and Kelly found a new freedom while creating this album, setting up a controlled recording environment that allowed them to follow every impulse and make their most fully considered work to date. It’s a prism of different shades of soft-focused brilliance, bleary enough to purposefully obscure its deft construction without ever dulling its impact. Watch for a 13th Floor interview coming soon.
