New Music Friday: 13th Floor New Album Picks: September 13, 2024

New Music Friday is upon us once more! And there’s a lot to take in. Along with new albums by Eminem, Jack White and Miranda Lambert, here are five new titles we don’t want to get lost in the mix.

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

1. The Jesus Lizard – Rack (Ipecac) Its been a long time between drinks, but 26 years after their last album and 25 years after they split (the first time) The Jesus Lizard returns with Rack. The band describes the project as “astonishing”, and confirmed that while it does have nods to their earlier discography, it aims to build from there. “There are definitely some references to the past, but it’s more as a point of departure: We don’t stay there,” says guitarist Duane Denison. Click here for the 13th Floor album review and watch this pace for an interview with Jesus Lizard front man David Yow.

2. Nick Lowe – Indoor Safari (Yep Roc) The Jesus Of Cool teams up with his touring buddies Los Straitjackets for this, his first album in over a decade. All credit to the band on making this happen…“We’ve really got a style together now,” Lowe says. “When it started out, it was just to do shows. We had no thoughts of recording, really. But after a while, we started to attract an audience – and a much younger one. My feeling is that the record is pretty good, actually,” he says. “I think there are some cuts on it which are really fabulous. Will I make more records?”, asks the 75-year-old, “Well, if I can come up with some more cool tunes, I don’t see why not.” Click here for the 13th Floor album Review. 

3. Snow Patrol – The Forest Is The Path (Republic) The Northern Irish band, now down to a trio, releases their first new album in six years. Says founding member Gary Lightbody, “This album took us on many uncharted routes, with sometimes weird and sometimes wonderful turns, and so it’s hard not to think of the start of this album as a new beginning. We honour the past, deeply. This is our thirtieth year, so we have an awful lot of it, past I mean. Tons of it. We have a profound love and respect for all who have been on this journey with us those many years. But while we honour the past we also want to cherish the present and look to the future.” Click here to read the 13th Floor album review.  

4. Willie Watson –Willie Watson (Little Operation/Thirty Tigers) Over 20 years into his career, the former Old Crow Medicine Crow member releases his first-ever solo album of original material. “This record is me beating the devil, or the story of what finally did it anyway. I didn’t make any specific pact or anything but I know we’ve been tangled up most of my life. Now that he’s gone I can love myself again,” says Watson of the album. The collection of songs is honest and potent, an unadorned reflection of Watson’s life, his mistakes, his traumas, and his gratitude to still be here, to still be alive, and to still be loved. It’s the type of record that can’t come early in one’s career, and was won after a life of hard battles and difficult lessons.

5. TOI – Waves (Tunes Of I) The Wellington collective has released an honest and soulful collection of songs, which takes the listener on a journey. “We deliberately set out with the intention of simply writing music that we truly love. We allowed ourselves creative freedom to experiment further with some styles and approaches that we would’ve perhaps avoided, or not been brave enough to dive into, in the past,” says the band’s co-founder and guitarist Jules Blewman. “The album was written and produced as a concept album, where all the tracks – when listened to in order – relate to each other and tell a bigger story. So we’re really excited to present the record on vinyl.”

      Also worthy of your attention:

Robyn Hitchcock – 1967: Vacations In The Past (Tiny Ghost

Tony Levin – Bringing It Down To The Bass (Flatiron)

Frank Zappa & The Mothers – Apostrophe (50th Anniversary Edition) (Zappa/Ume)