New Music Weekend: A$AP Ferg, Fruition, Guided by Voices, Rufus Wainwright, and More!!!

Hey there music lover! You like new stuff? Great! You’ve stumbled into the perfect corner of the internet.  Each week all sorts of audiolicious goodies are unleashed onto the masses and this is where they come to be judged. I’ll tell ya what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s a waste of your precious time. So strap on your headphones and let’s take a ride!

The Big News

Eh, “big news” might not be the best way to describe this week. There just ain’t a lot goin’ down  right now. Some big releases coming up in the next few weeks, but for the moment it’s a little quiet. But there are a few noizemakers making a racket this week – here’s a quick rundown.

A$AP Fergws sophomore effort, Always Strive and Prosper, drops this week.  It features collaborations with the likes of Missy Elliot and ScHoolboy Q.

Festi-Faves

Hippy-dippy’s Fruition unveil their latest, Labor of Love, an album which provides a “rich and fulfilling listen” to fans, according to Live For Live Music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8vpJyXxk3g

Shakespeare in Love

Rufus Wainwright’s latest effort, Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets, is a tribute record to The Bard himself with Wainwright being accompanied by artists as varied as Florence Welch, William Shatner, and Helena Bonham Carter, in adaptations of Shakespeare’s works.

Underground Legends

Robert Pollard and Guided by Voices add to their voluminous discography with Please Be Honest. The Louisville Courier Journal calls the album “a fairly somber record, with an approach more like early GvB records, with a raw, homemade quality.” It’s out there available to stream on Noisey, but the only preview I can find on the ol’ ‘tube is this cryptic thing.

Fuck that, let’s listen to some GvB!!

According to NPR the new Wire record, Nocturnal Koreans, has “a different attitude –  an anything goes attitude – that shows the band using the studio in any way it can imagine to create a sound”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NaPDtrTgFg

The Legendary Pink Dots, which was my favorite band for like five minutes in 1998 (I even bought a t-shirt!) return with Pages of Aquarius. Find it on their Bandcamp. And enjoy this classic cut.

Multi-instrumentalist Pete Zorn, who played with Richard Thompson.

RIP
This is the part where we say goodbye to those who’ve played their last solo. Rock on and rest in peace, brothers and sisters.

Multi-instrumentalist Pete Zorn, who played with Richard Thompson.

Chilean singer Peter Rock.

Irish drummer Robbie Brennan.

Opera guy Brian Asawa.

…then came the onslaught…

Richard Lyons of Negativeland.

Guitarist Lonnie Mack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExRdQtqHyac

And, of course, Prince. But the Great One hated his music being shared online for free so I’ll respect his wishes and refrain from posting a video. But damn, this one hurts.

My Recommendation

Greys Outer Heaven. Love what I’ve heard so far.

Next Week

Tune in next week, same new music time, same new music channel, for new stuff from: Rob Zombie!!!