Sonic Reducers. One topic. Two music nerds. Five minutes.
Punch play to watch us critique all this week’s top new albums, including offerings from Spoon, Urge Overkill, Eddie Vedder, Alt-J, Andy Bell, Big Thief and plenty more.
Powerhouse Singer/Songwriter Matt Andersen Announces US Tour Dates, Album HOUSE TO HOUSE out March 4
Acclaimed Canadian musician Matt Andersen is gearing up to tour the US in support of his upcoming release House to House, out March 4th on Sonic Records. The first track off the album is the thunderous “Other Side of Goodbye” which is earning raves across the board. The Boot recently featured the track and shared, “Belting in the style of R&B’s most beloved legends, Andersen stuns with his timeless breakup anthem ‘Other Side of Goodbye.’”
Andersen’s tour will bring together current fans and introduce new audiences to his commanding voice and quiet, confident power. On the album, the inspired singer/songwriter incorporates a stripped-down approach, with only a voice and guitar. His live shows will reflect that magic as well, starting May 4th in Burlington, VT.
House to House displays a new direction for Andersen, who has earned many accolades and a dedicated fanbase in Canada. He has received numerous European Blues Awards, Maple Blues Awards and various other honors. Here he seamlessly takes his distinctive, mighty blues chops and moves into gospel, folk and softer ballads, offering a more intimate side of the performer and writer.
Matt Andersen has earned every fan through decades of touring across the globe, from small dim lit clubs to majestic theaters and major festivals. He has amassed over 18 million streams on Spotify and 18 million views on YouTube. House to House is Andersen’s 9th studio album and follows Halfway Home By Morning from 2019.
MATT ANDERSEN 2022 TOUR DATES
May 4 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
May 5 – Keene, NH – Colonial Theatre
May 6 – Rockland, ME – Strand Theatre
May 7 – Brownfield, ME – Stone Mountain Arts Center
May 8 – Boston, MA – City Winery
May 11 – Fall River, MA – Narrows Center for the Arts
May 12 – Philadelphia, PA – City Winery
May 13 – Vienna, VA – Jammin’ Java
May 15 – New York, NY – City Winery Loft
May 17 – Pittsburgh, PA – Hard Rock Cafe
May 18 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern
May 20 – Grand Rapids, MI – The Listening Room
May 21 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
May 22 – Chicago, IL – Old Town School – Szold Hall
May 24 – Milwaukee, WI – Shank Hall
May 25 – Mineral Point, WI – Mineral Point Opera House
May 26 – Minneapolis, MN – The Dakota
Wet Leg Share Video For “Oh No” In Advance Of Self-Titled Album Out April 8
Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers each wear a small gold necklace made by Hester: one that says Wet, and one that says Leg. Before last summer, those necklaces would have been cryptic to almost everyone else. However, a lot has changed since then. Wet Leg only released their debut single, “Chaise Longue”, in June 2021, but have quickly gone from strength to strength. Collectively the four songs they have shared with the world (“Wet Dream”, “Too Late Now” and “Oh No” followed “Chaise Longue”) have clocked up over 20 million streams and 4.5 million views on YouTube. Their most recent accolade: being ranked #2 in BBC’s Sound Of 2022 list.
Today, the duo are pleased to share the video for their song “Oh No”. Like their videos for “Chaise Longue” and “Wet Dream”, the video for “Oh No” was self-directed. Teasdale says of making it: “It’s been a pretty wild ride for us these past few months, we never really thought much past actually making music and playing gigs. It’s quite an odd thing to suddenly open yourself to so much criticism and praise alike. The comments that complete strangers will leave on our videos are so funny and range wildly in sentiment. Although we know it is bad for us to read them and we try to avoid it, sometimes it’s irresistible when you’re on your own; the 3am doom scroll really gets you. For this video, we have obsessively selected our favourite bits from the comments sections across our socials, the good, the bad, the ugly and have repurposed them to make something new – it has been quite cathartic actually.”
Continuing, Rhian adds: “The video was shot on the Isle of Wight at the bottom of a chairlift that you can take from the top of the cliff. The rope costume – made by costume designer Kate Tabor – weighed an absolute tonne and it took three of us to carry it down the cliff to shoot. We’d each grab onto a limb, and after 20 minutes of heavy lifting managed to get it down the steep steps leading to the beach. We’re thinking of starting it up as a work-out class for alternative types.”
Willie Nelson Set To Release “A Beautiful Time” Album On His Birthday
Willie Nelson will release A Beautiful Time on Friday, April 29, arriving on the artist’s 89th birthday and will be available in on vinyl (black vinyl as well as an exclusive orange vinyl edition for Barnes & Noble), CD and digital formats (including in spatial hi-res audio in Atmos and 360RA formats).
“I’ll Love You Till the Day I Die,” the first single and video from A Beautiful Time, premieres Thursday, February 10. The track, Willie’s studio performance of a new Rodney Crowell/Chris Stapleton composition, exemplifies the album’s focus on finely-crafted pop-country songwriting.
Among its many musical delights, A Beautiful Time introduces a variety of newly-written future pop-country classics including five new Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon compositions and contributions from some of Nashville’s finest contemporary songwriters. The collection also premieres Willie’s heartfelt and insightful covers of Leonard Cohen’s “Tower of Song” and The Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends.”
Produced by Willie’s longtime musical collaborator Buddy Cannon (who’s cowritten six of the album’s new songs, including five with Willie), A Beautiful Time is a fully-realized new studio album showcasing Willie and Trigger (his signature guitar) playing with musicians including Jim “Moose” Brown (B-3 organ, Wurlitzer), Fred Elringham (drums), Barry Bales (upright bass), Bob Terry (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, steel guitar), James Mitchell (electric guitar) and the patented harmonic stylings of Mickey Raphael. Melonie Cannon sings backup on five of the album’s tracks.
The album’s core musical ensemble drives eight of the essential tracks on A Beautiful Time: “My Heart was a Dancer,” “Energy Follows Thought,” “Dreamin’ Again,” “Dusty Bottles,” “Me and My Partner,””Don’t Touch Me There” and two of the album’s most emotional performances: “I’ll Love You Till the Day I Die” and “I Don’t Go to Funerals.”
The album’s studio performances of two Shawn Camp songs–“A Beautiful Time” and “We’re Not Happy (Till You’re Not Happy)”–and Willie’s interpretation of the Lennon-McCartney classic (“With a Little Help from My Friends) feature Bobby Terry (acoustic guitar, electric guitar), Catherine Marx (Wurlitzer, piano, B-3 organ), Mike Johnson (steel guitar), Chad Cromwell (drums), Lonnie Wilson (drums, percussion) and Kevin “Swine” Grantt (upright bass).
In 2021, Legacy Recordings released two new Willie Nelson albums–That’s Life and The Willie Nelson Family. That’s Life, Willie’s musical homage to the artistry of Frank Sinatra debuted at #1 on both Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart and the Traditional Jazz Albums chart and is currently in the running for the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammy.
Willie Nelson is slated to play at Chris Stapleton’s Concert For Kentucky on Saturday, April 23.
Willie Nelson – A Beautiful Time track listing
1. I’ll Love You Till The Day I Die (Rodney Crowell and Chris Stapleton)
2. My Heart Was A Dancer (Willie Nelson and Buddy Cannon)
3. Energy Follows Thought (Willie Nelson and Buddy Cannon)
4. Dreamin’ Again (Jack Wesley Routh and Douglas Graham)
5. I Don’t Go To Funerals (Willie Nelson and Buddy Cannon)
6. A Beautiful Time (Shawn Camp)
7. We’re Not Happy (Till You’re Not Happy (Shawn Camp and Charles R. Humphrey III)
8. Dusty Bottles (Jim “Moose” Brown, Scotty Emerick and Don Sampson)
9. Me And My Partner (Ken Lambert)
10. Tower Of Song (Leonard Cohen)
11. Live Every Day (Willie Nelson and Buddy Cannon)
12. Don’t Touch Me There (Willie Nelson and Buddy Cannon)
13. With A Little Help From My Friends (John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
14. Leave You With A Smile (Buddy Cannon, Bobby Terry and Matt Rossi)
OPETH Announce North American Spring Tour With Mastodon
OPETH will return to the stage this Spring on the second leg of their North American co-headlining tour with Mastodon. The journey will commence April 21st in Montreal, Quebec and make its way through sixteen US and Canadian cities, coming to a close on May 11th in Riverside, California. See all confirmed dates below.
Comments OPETH mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt, ”We’re excited to come back to North America for the second leg of shows together with our ‘brothers from other mothers’ in Mastodon. And… hello, Canada! It’s been too long, we know! We’ll soon dust off the ole guitars etc. and get in shape for this run. The last tour was quite splendid; the only downside being the restrictions. We don’t know for sure how it’s going to pan out this time around, but we’re hoping for a bit more freedom to move around. Crossing fingers here. See you semi-soon! Signing off from a rainy, gloomy Stockholm, Mikael (on behalf of OPETH).”
OPETH w/ Mastodon:
4/21/2022 Place Bell – Montreal, QC
4/22/2022 Queen Elizabeth Theatre – Toronto, ON
4/23/2022 The Agora – Cleveland, OH
4/24/2022 Stage AE – Pittsburgh, PA
4/26/2022 The Met – Philadelphia, PA
4/28/2022 Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL
4/29/2022 The Masonic – Detroit, MI
4/30/2022 Eagles Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI
5/01/2022 The Myth – St Paul, MN
5/03/2022 TCU Place – Saskatoon, SK
5/04/2022 Grey Eagle Events Centre – Calgary, AB
5/05/2022 EDM Expo Centre – Edmonton, AB
5/07/2022 Thunderbird Sports Centre – Vancouver, BC
5/08/2022 Paramount Theater – Seattle, WA
5/09/2022 Keller Auditorium – Portland, OR
5/11/2022 Municipal Auditorium – Riverside, CA
Halestorm Announces Back From The Dead; New Album Set For May 6 Release
Grammy-winning hard rock band Halestorm today announced Back From The Dead, their fifth studio album due out May 6, 2022, and follow-up to 2018’s Vicious.
Produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Mastodon, Alice in Chains) with co-production by Scott Stevens (Shinedown, Daughtry, New Years Day), Back From The Dead quickly evolved from songwriting exercises into a matter of survival for the band. Lead singer Lzzy Hale says, “We started writing this album about three months B.C. (Before COVID). Once we went into lockdown and were unable to perform and tour, I fell into a dark place and something of an identity crisis. This album is the story of me carving myself out of that abyss. It is a journey of navigating mental health, debauchery, survival, redemption, rediscovery, and still maintaining faith in humanity.”
Today Halestorm revealed “The Steeple,” the second single from Back From The Dead. “The Steeple” follows the album’s title track, “Back From The Dead,” released last fall. That track marked Halestorm’s sixth #1 at rock radio, and met rave reviews: Rolling Stone called it “a biting, cathartic howler about overcoming obstacles — even death,” and Consequence praised frontwoman Lzzy Hale’s “powerhouse pipes” and lead guitarist Joe Hottinger’s “blistering solo.” Revolver declared it a “raucous, hard-rock rager about staying strong in the face of crushing adversity.”
Halestorm has grown from a childhood dream of siblings Lzzy and Arejay Hale into one of the most celebrated rock bands of the last two decades. Halestorm’s music has surpassed a billion streams worldwide. Called a “muscular, adventurous, and especially relevant rock record” by Rolling Stone, Vicious earned the band their second Grammy nomination, for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song “Uncomfortable,” the band’s fourth #1 at rock radio, and led Loudwire to name Halestorm “Rock Artist of the Decade” in 2019. Fronted by the incomparable Lzzy Hale with drummer Arejay Hale, guitarist Joe Hottinger, and bass player Josh Smith, Halestorm has earned a reputation as a powerful live music force, headlining sold-out shows and topping festival bills around the world, and sharing the stage with icons including Heaven & Hell, Alice Cooper, and Joan Jett.
HALESTORM – BACK FROM THE DEAD Tracklisting:
Back From The Dead
Wicked Ways
Strange Girl
Brightside
The Steeple
Terrible Things
My Redemption
Bombshell
I Come First
Psycho Crazy
Raise Your Horns
Funk Great Betty Davis Has Died At 77
“There is no other.”
At 4:40 a.m. EST on February 9, 2022, visionary singer, songwriter, producer, and fashion icon Betty Mabry Davis began her eternal rest.
Connie Portis, Davis’ friend of 65 years, says, “It is with great sadness that I share the news of the passing of Betty Davis, a multi-talented music influencer and pioneer rock star, singer, songwriter, and fashion icon. Most of all, Betty was a friend, aunt, niece, and beloved member of her community of Homestead, Pennsylvania, and of the worldwide community of friends and fans. At a time to be announced, we will pay tribute to her beautiful, bold, and brash persona. Today we cherish her memory as the sweet, thoughtful, and reflective person she was…There is no other.”
One can hardly imagine Prince, Erykah Badu, or Outkast without the influence of Betty Davis. Her style of raw and revelatory punk-funk defies any notions that women can’t be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop. In recent years, rappers from Ice Cube to Talib Kweli have rhymed over her intensely strong but sensual music. Davis penned the song “Uptown (to Harlem)” for The Chambers Brothers and wrote the tunes that got The Commodores signed to Motown. The Detroit label soon came calling, pitching a Motown songwriting deal, which Davis turned down. Motown wanted to own everything. Heading to the U.K., Marc Bolan of T. Rex urged the creative dynamo to start writing for herself.
A common thread throughout Davis’ career was her unbending DIY ethic, which made her quickly turn down anyone who didn’t fit with the vision. She would eventually say no to Eric Clapton as her album producer, seeing him as too banal. In 1968, she married Miles Davis and quickly influenced him on the magic of psychedelic rock along with introducing him to Jimi Hendrix—personally inspiring the classic album, Bitches Brew. She left the marriage, determined to carve her own path in the music industry. A pioneer as a music producer, songwriter and vocalist, Davis’ album credits include Betty Davis, They Say I’m Different, Nasty Gal, Is This Love or Desire and Crashin’ From Passion.
Davis died in Homestead, Pennsylvania, where she had lived since the age of ten. Davis participated in talent shows at the Homestead Community Center, attended Park Place AME Church, and graduated from Homestead High School before embarking on dual careers in modeling and the music business. After graduating from New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, Davis worked as a model for Wilhelmina. She was one of the first Black models to be featured in Glamour and Seventeen, and she worked for designers Halston, Betsey Johnson, Norma Kamali, and Stephen Burrows. Off the runway, Davis defied genre and gender by pushing her voice to extremes and embracing the erotic. She articulated a kind of pre-punk, funk-blues fusion that had yet to be normalized in mainstream music – a style that few musicians have come close to replicating. As one of the first Black women to write, arrange, and produce her own albums, Davis was raw, unapologetic, and in full control, a visionary who disregarded industry boundaries and constraints.
In the 2000s, Davis was rediscovered by a new generation of fans, including John Ballon, who was instrumental in reviving her catalog of music via reissues on Light in the Attic Records, a project that received Davis’ full support. She also inspired a new generation of artists. Afrofuturist singer/actor Janelle Monae credits Davis as “one of the godmothers of redefining how Black women in music can be viewed,” noting that “she’s opened up a lot of doors for artists like myself.” Peaches describes Davis as “the original – in control, a sexual powerhouse and a vocal inspiration.” Erykah Badu adds, “We just grains of sand in her Bettyness.”
More recently, Davis’ music was featured in television series such as Orange Is the New Black, Girlboss, Mixed-ish, and High Fidelity. Davis herself was the subject of a 2017 documentary film, Betty: They Say I’m Different. “Uptown (to Harlem),” her initial songwriting coup, was featured in Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s 2021 Academy Award-nominated documentary Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). In late 2022, Light in the Attic will reissue Davis’ final, and personal favorite, studio album Crashin’ From Passion.
Light in the Attic’s Matt Sullivan says, “Our hearts are incredibly heavy today. Betty has been the guiding light in everything we do at Light in the Attic. Her unbending DIY ethic and groundbreaking spirit will live on forever. We are going to miss her so much.”
Veld Music Festival Is Back With A Stellar 2022 Lineup: Alesso, Armin Van Buuren, The Chainsmokers
After a two-year pause Canada’s largest dance music festival, VELD Music Festival, will be returning to Downsview Park in Toronto between July 29-31, 2022.
To celebrate its highly anticipated return, VELD 2022 will be bigger than ever, extending from two to three days to offer fans even more EDM and hip-hop music from some of the most notable artists in the world.
World-renowned artists performing at VELD 2022 include the electronic music duo behind the 12-time platinum, record-breaking hit ‘Closer’, The Chainsmokers, multi-award winning and multi-platinum song producer Marshmello, one of the youngest and most successful DJ/producers in both electronic and pop music, Martin Garrix, and hip-hop icon Gunna who will be making his VELD debut, fresh off the back of his second number one album on the Billboard 200 chart with ‘DS4Ever’.
Sonic Reducers: 2022 Oscar Nominations For Best Original Song
Sonic Reducers. 1 topic. 2 music nerds. 5 minutes.
We discuss the Oscar nominees for Best Song, talk about some of the best film songs of all time, and plant the seed for that long-awaited Questlove / Bradley Cooper collaboration you know you want.
ANN WILSON Announces New Album, ‘Fierce Bliss,’ Set For Release April 29
There is a calm, serene spirituality about Ann Wilson in 2022 which instantly draws you to her. She feels like a warm, wise someone who has seen enough bullshit to know how to avoid it calmly, and someone who is at peace with whatever she needs to be at peace with. Perhaps that is why the soul (and, indeed title) of her latest album, Fierce Bliss (set for release April 29 via Silver Lining Music) offers such universally entertaining, engaging, honest and safe harbor from these unpredictable times.
Take “Greed,” the powerful first single… “‘Greed’ is that thing in our animal nature that makes us want MORE,” Wilson declares. “Whether it be money, sex, power or ecstasy, it fires our craving! It happens with all of us. When you turn around and catch yourself making decisions because you want the money, or because you’re caught in the headlights of glory, well, those are greedy moments.”
Wilson continues “I think people who claim to have made every decision from a root of pure idealism, and never done anything dark or greedy, is lying. I think everybody who ventures into especially the music industry hoping for a career with big success, ends up making these Faustian bargains at some point even if only briefly. It’s an aggressive song and I think I write best when I’m angry.”
One of the premier hard rock vocalists of all-time, Wilson smashed boundaries smashed boundaries with her band Heart, the 8-times Platinum, 35 million-plus selling Rock and Roll Hall of Fame trailblazers who formed in 1973. During a decades-long career, Wilson rode the roller coaster of fame, fortune and madness, learning both joyous and hard, hard lessons along the way. Fast forward to Summer 2020, and a meeting with legendary veteran ‘artist’s lawyer’ Brian Rohan provided the catalyst for Fierce Bliss’s creation.
“Brian recommended people to me that knew people in Nashville, so I met these guys like [famed Nashville session guitarist] Tom Bukovac and Tony Lucido at those Muscle Shoals Sound Studio sessions. I’d never met them before, and they really inspired me. It was like a big door opening.”
With the musical chemistry organically established, Fierce Bliss came together quickly. “I had originally intended to go in, record a few songs and see what I had, but it just took on this life,” remarks Wilson. “At Sound Stage in Nashville, Kenny Wayne Shepherd came in and played on a couple songs. He was a whole other influence coming in. He just played his butt off, and with the gospel singers and everything else coming together, the whole project just started to grow.”
Wilson continues, “I’d known Warren Haynes from Gov’t Mule for a while. We’d written a couple songs together with Gov’t Mule playing, and those rounded out the record. So all of a sudden, where there was no record before, suddenly I had eleven cool songs that I really liked.”
Fierce Bliss is classic rock comfort food of the finest ingredients, carrying a richness and light that allows you to escape into timeless nostalgia. 11 perfectly weighted and selected songs ranging from Wilson’s own co-penned originals to breathtaking covers and collaborations. “A Moment in Heaven” could easily apply to anyone who has seen their career suddenly bathed in a bright beam of glory before the spotlight is abruptly moved elsewhere. There is a deeply spiritual air about Ann Wilson 2022, and both “Black Wing” and “Angel’s Blues” show different facets of that soul and ethos. Furthermore, Wilson brings new life and verve to classic songs, such as Queen’s “Love of My Life” and Robin Trower’s “Bridge of Sighs,” and has helped fashion definitive versions of each which stand toe-to-toe with the originals.
To cap it all, the album artwork comes from the mind and hands of celebrated fantasy artist Roger Dean, who aside from his work in fantasy art is also renowned for his Yes sleeve artwork.
Wilson will soon be hitting the road with her new band, and make no mistake, she’s a performer at heart thus her excitement is palpable. Ann Wilson seems to be more comfortable with herself (and her art) than ever before with both Fierce Bliss and the band she’ll be touring with. “I think that for someone who’s been through as much as I have, and has lived to tell the tales, it’s okay to share my experiences,” says Wilson sagely. “I’ve heard from a lot of younger musicians and listeners too who have thanked me for staying around and for just keeping upright, just making it through, making the concessions once but not twice, and being able to live through it all with dignity.”
‘AN EVENING WITH ANN WILSON OF HEART & THE AMAZING DAWGS’ Tour will kick off on February 19 at Family Gras in Metairie, LA, with more dates to be announced soon.
FEB 19 – Metairie, LA – Family Gras
MAY 4 – San Francisco, CA – Great American
MAY 5 – Napa, CA – The Uptown Theatre
MAY 7 – Pala, CA – Pala Casino
MAY 9 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
MAY 10 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
MAY 13 – Los Cabos, MEX – Hard Rock
JUNE 11 – Peachtree City, GA – Fred Amphitheater
JUNE 13 – Nashville, TN – Basement East
JUNE 14 – Nashville, TN – Basement East
JUNE 16 – Tampa, FL – Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa
JUNE 17 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – The Parker
Tickets can be purchased at this location.
Fierce Bliss is available to pre-order now on CD Casebound Book (deluxe package), Vinyl and Digital formats here.
Fierce Bliss Track Listing:
1. Greed
2. Black Wing
3. Bridge of Sighs
4. Fighten for Life
5. Love of My Life (feat. Vince Gill)
6. Missionary Man
7. Gladiator
8. Forget Her
9. A Moment in Heaven
10. Angel’s Blues
11. As the World Turns