Category: NEWS

To our ears, nothing sounds more like Passover than Passover by the Black Angels. Goes great with a little gefilte fish and chrain. Chag Pesach kasher vesame’ach! And read our Black Angels Q&A from 2011.

Wishing you a good Friday from Against Me! and MAGNET. Read our cover story on Laura Jane Grace by Joan Jett here.

Pete Yorn released debut album musicforthemorningafter 17 years ago today. Read our MAGNET Classics article on the making of this great LP here.

Guided By Voices released the epic Under The Bushes Under The Stars 22 years ago today, and our assholes are still burning, as are our flag birthday suits. Read the cover story we did on GBV when the album was released here. (If you happen to have a copy of issue #80 of MAGNET, you can read the extremely drunken back story about the interview; it’s almost as entertaining as the interview itself.)

Music For Installations is, well, a collection of music recorded by Brian Eno for use in his audio-visual installations from 1986 to the present and beyond. (He’s always been ahead of his time, even his own. To quote MGMT, “We’re always one step behind him/He’s Brian Eno.”) Out May 4 via Astralwerks, the collection (featuring new, rare and previously unreleased tracks) comes in three editions: a six-CD box with a 64-page book (with exhibition photographs and an Eno-penned essay); a limited-edition six-CD box with the 64-page book (complete with a Plexiglass cover) and a download card; and a nine-LP box with the 64-page book and download card … Panic! At The Disco is back on the dance floor June 22 with sixth album Pray For The Wicked (Fueled By Ramen/DCD2) … Lush, the debut LP from Snail Mail (a.k.a. recent high-school grad Lindsey Jordan), is out June 8 via Matador … Life Is Good On The Open Road is the first album from Trampled By Turtles in four years, out May 4 on Thirty Tigers … Daniel Blumberg (Yuck, Oupa, Hebronix) will release his solo debut, Minus, on May 4 via Mute … Stooges guitarist James Williamson has a new group, James Williamson & The Pink Hearts, that features former MAGNET guest editor Petra Haden (That Dog, Decemberists) and Frank Meyer (Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs) on vocals and will release Behind The Shade on June 22 via Leopard Lady … Longtime PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish is back June 15 with Bird Dog Dante (Thrill Jockey), which features guest appearances by Harvey and gothic folkster Aldous Harding … Personne d’autre (translation: Nobody Else) is the 24th album from French icon Françoise Hardy (and her first since 2012), out via Parlophone France/Warner on April 20 (quatre cent vingt, mec) … Xavier Rudd returns April 13 with Storm Boy (Nettwerk) … Rock Ridge Music will issue Ike Reilly‘s seventh LP, Crooked Love, on May 18 … No Joy and Sonic Boom have hooked up for the aptly titled No Joy / Sonic Boom EP (Joyful Noise, March 3), which features four collaborations between Jasamine White-Gluz and Mr. Boom (Spacemen 3, Spectrum, E.A.R.) … The Temptations, still featuring original member Otis Williams (dude’s been tempting the ladies for 58 years now), return May 4 with All The Time (UMe), featuring songs by the likes of Sam Smith, John Mayer, Ed Sheeran, Michael Jackson and the Weeknd … Otis Redding was working on a new record in late 1967 when he died in a plane crash, and on May 19, Rhino will issue Dock Of The Bay Sessions, a dozen-track collection of songs he was recording at the time of his passing, assembled to give fans an idea of what the album might’ve sounded like had Redding been alive to finish it … MAGNET and the NCSA Mosaic (without it, kids, you couldn’t use the internet to look up what it is) aren’t the only things turning 25 this year: Liz Phair’s celebrated Exile In Guyville debut gets the extensive-reissue treatment via Matador on May 4 with Girly-Sound To Guyville: The 25th Anniversary Box Set, available as a three-CD collection and limited-edition seven-LP set with all the trimmings … Like Ol’ Blue Eyes used to sing, spring is here, and with it comes two new Frank Sinatra sets—one for your baby and one more from the road: Frank Sinatra: Baby Blue Eyes… May The First Voice You Hear Be Mine (Capitol/UMe, April 6) contains 20 songs curated by daughter Tina aimed at children as well as children of all ages; Frank Sinatra: Standing Room Only (Capitol/UMe, May 4) is a three-CD set featuring previously unreleased concerts from the ’60s (Vegas; 16 tracks), ’70s (Philly; 17 tracks) and ’80s (Dallas; 24 tracks) … Wire‘s first three, absolutely seminal albums—1977’s Pink Flag, 1978’s Chairs Missing and 1979’s 154—will be reissued on CD and LP on June 22 via the band’s Pink Flag label; a month prior, limited-edition CD-book editions of all three (featuring tons of unreleased and rare material) will also be available … From 1952 to 1954, jazz legend Oscar Peterson released a series of albums on which the pianist led his trio in exploring the songbooks of the likes of Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and Richard Rodgers; all 10 LPs have been remastered and compiled as Oscar Peterson Plays, a five-CD, 113-song boxed set out now on Verve/UMe … If you love you some Doug Sahm (and we know you do), New West has a Texas treat for y’all: On April 13, the label will release two new additions to its Live From Austin, TX series spotlighting the Lone Star legend: Doug Sahm: Live From Austin, TX was recorded Oct. 14, 1975, while Sir Douglas Quintet: Live From Austin, TX is from Jan. 21, 1981 … Coded Smears And More Uncommon Slurs compiles 31 rarities and other exclusive tracks from Napalm Death and is out March 30 via Century Media.

25 year ago today, Depeche Mode released Songs Of Faith And Devotion. Read our interview with Martin Gore here.

Call it Neko Case And Her Boyfriends & Girlfriends. The Divine Miss C returns June 1 with Hell-On (Anti-), her new 12-track, self-produced (with assistance from Bjorn Yttling on half the songs) album, featuring guest appearances from the likes of AC Newman (New Pornographers), k.d. Lang, Joey Burns (Calexico), Beth Ditto, Mark Lanegan, Kelly Hogan, Eric Bachmann, Laura Veirs and Doug Gillard (GBV, Nada Surf) … 7 is the seventh album from Beach House—a collaboration of sorts with Peter “Sonic Boom” Kember (Spacemen 3)—and it’s out May 11 on Sub Pop … On May 4, Secretly Canadian will issue The Horizon Just Laughed, the 13th album by Damien Jurado … A companion to last year’s Temple Of I & I, Thievery Corporation‘s Treasures From The Temple (ESL, April 27) features new material, remixes and guest vocals courtesy of Mr. Lif, Sitali, Racquel Jones and others … The Nels Cline 4 is the latest project from Wilco guitar god Cline, and its debut, Currents, Constellations, is out April 13 on Blue Note … PARADOX (Original Music From The Film) is the latest from Neil Young + Promise Of The Real (Reprise, April 20; 420, dude), and it’s the soundtrack to the movie of the same name, which was written and directed by Daryl Hannah and features Young and the Nelson brothers … Also on April 20, Pennywise returns with 12th LP Never Gonna Die, the first album of new songs from the band’s almost original lineup in a decade … The North Mississippi Allstars just issued Blue Dances Music (Legacy), an EP featuring live recordings of songs off Prayer For Peace with loops and other digital programming added to them … Cary Brothers‘ third album, Bruises, is out April 27 via Procrastination Music … Fan is the solo project of the Dodos’ Meric Long, and on May 4, Polyvinyl will issue his self-produced debut, Barton’s Den … Jon Hopkins‘ Singularity is his first LP since 2013’s Immunity, (Domino), and it’s also out May 4 … You’re Driving Me Crazy is the 39th album from Van Morrison; it’s a collaboration with organ/trumpet player Joey DeFrancesco that’s out via Legacy on April 27 … Wildness is Snow Patrol‘s first LP in seven years, out May 25 on Republic … Spacehog frontman Royston Langdon returns May 4 with the solo Everthing’s Dandy, credited to Leeds … Del McCoury Band‘s Del McCoury Still Sings Bluegrass is out May 25 … YOB is back June 8 with eighth album Our Raw Heart (Relapse) … On May 18, BMG will issue Not Too Far Away by Joan Armatrading … Influential early-’60s folkie Tom Rush will release the all-original, 10-track Voices on April 27 via Appleseed … The soundtrack to Wes Anderson’s Isle Of The Dogs—featuring Alexandre Desplat’s score, music from Japanese films Seven Samurai and Drunken Angel, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra—is out March 30 on ABKCO … Omnivore will reissue the first two solo albums from Dream Syndicate frontman and MAGNET fave Steve Wynn—1990’s Kerosene Man and 1992’s Dazzling Display—in expanded editions on April 27 … Steppenwolf and frontman John Kay just got the retrospective treatment with Steppenwolf At 50 (Rainman), a three-CD, 41-track collection celebrating a half-century of music making … The four-CD/five-LP Before The Dead set compiles 84 songs Jerry Garcia recorded from 1961 to 1964, before he formed the Warlocks, who, of course, morphed into the Grateful Dead … The Very Best Of Andy Gibb is 15-track package compiling all of Andy Gibb‘s hits, out April 13 on Capitol/UMe.

CHVRCHES is back May 25 with the 13-track Love Is Dead (Glassnote), featuring nine songs produced by Greg Kurstin (Grammy winner the past two years for his work with Adele, Foo Fighters, Beck, Sia, Liam Gallagher and more). The National’s Matt Berninger provides vocals on second single “My Enemy” … Speaking of guest vocalists, Sky Ferreira joins on Iceage on a track from the Copenhagen quartet’s fourth album, Beyondless, due May 4 on Matador … MAGNET fave Wussy returns May 18 with What Heaven Is Like (Shake It!) … Kill Rock Stars will issue Appreciation by Horse Feathers on May 4 … Also on May 4, Lake Street Dive is back with Free Yourself Up (Nonesuch) … Tracyanne Campbell (Camera Obscura) and Danny Coughlan (Crybaby) are Tracyanne & Danny, and their self-titled debut is out May 25 on Merge … The Prodigal Son (Fantasy) is Ry Cooder‘s first album in six years, and it’s out May 11 … On May 18, RCA wil issues Ray LaMontagne‘s seventh album, Part Of The Light … Rhino and Warner Bros. are kicking off a Flaming Lips reissues campaign this year, starting April 20 (420, dude) with Scratching The Door: The First Recordings Of The Flaming Lips (featuring 19 tracks cut by the band’s original lineup) and followed by Seeing The Unseeable: The Complete Studio Recordings Of The Flaming Lips 1986-1990 (a six-CD boxed set of Wayne Coyne and Co’s four Restless albums and two discs of rarities) … Gomez’s Mercury Music Prize-winning debut Bring It On gets the 20th-anniversary treatment May 18 from UMe with a four-CD set featuring a remastered version of the album along with 35 unreleased tracks … Fire will reissue ///Codename: Dustsucker, the second and last LP from Bark Psychosis, on May 25 … Purveyor Of Balladry: The Best Of Nino Tempo (Omnivore) compiles Nino Tempo‘s ’90s recordings for Atlantic, and it’s out April 13 … You’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more vinyl reissues: U2‘s Wide Awake In America (1985), Pop (1997) and All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000), out April 13 on UMC/Island/Interscope; George Thorogood & The Destroyers’ Bad To The Bone (1982), Born To Be Bad (1988) and Greatest Hits: 30 Years Of Rock (2004), out March 30 on Capitol/UMe; and last but certainly not least, Rob Zombie‘s Rob Zombie, a limited-edition 15-LP boxed set featuring his 11 solo albums (four are double LPs), a hand-painted mask, five lithographs (one autographed), a turntable mat and more, out March 30 via UMe; all the albums are available separately as well, and the new Astro-Creep: 2000 Live also comes on CD.

Parquet Courts‘ fifth album, Wide Awake!, is out May 18 on Rough Trade. The 13-track LP was produced by Brian Burton (his parents call him Danger Mouse) … The dynamic duo of Matt And Kim are back, and this time they brought some friends—including Santigold, Kevin Morby, Dave Monks (Tokyo Police Club), King Tuff and Mark Hoppus—for sixth album Almost Everyday, out in May via the Fader label … It’s only taken 23 years, but Belly is feeding the tree once again with the self-released Dove, out May 4 … Murmurations is the fifth LP from Simian Mobile Disco, and it’s out May 11 via Wichita … The multi-facaded, Grammy-nominated Janelle Monáe returns April 27 with Dirty Computer (Atlantic) … Speaking of Grammy nominees: On April 20, Warner Music Nashville will issue Ashley Monroe‘s Sparrow, produced by the ubiquitous Dave Cobb … Cloud Corner is the latest from guitar heroine Marisa Anderson, and it’s out June 15 on Thrill Jockey … Robyn Hitchcock often dreams of trains, but to that, ex-Auteur Luke Haines says I Sometimes Dream Of Glue, his new 14-track LP out May 11 on Cherry Red … Beautiful Thing, the latest solo album from Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, is out April 20 via Domino … Rachael Sage is back May 4 with Myopia (MPress) … April 27 brings with it Caer, Twin Shadow‘s fourth album, courtesy of Reprise/Warner Bros. … Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog‘s YRU Still Here?—featuring members of Xiu Xiu and Secret Chiefs 3—comes off the leash April 27 thanks to Northern Spy … Twerp Verse is the third album from Speedy Ortiz, out April 27 on Carpark … On April 13, Omnivore will reissue 1996’s Steel Tears, the final album by master of all things strings-related Sandy Bull, complete with bonus material and three “tribute” tracks by a band of Nashville hotshots including Jeff Hanna (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), Mickey Raphael (Willie Nelson), Glenn Worf (Mark Knopfler) and Harry Stinson (Marty Stuart) … Hummingbirds & Helicopters Vol 1: A Benefit For South Texas is a Jolie Holland-curated digital compilation (out April 6) to help assist in post-Harvey recovery, featuring Holland (Randy Newman’s “Louisiana 1927”), Dean Ween Group (Jimmy Webb’s “Galveston”), Big Thief (Twain’s “High Tide”), Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Joan Shelley, Elsa Hansen Oldham And Nathan Salsburg (Mickey Newbury’s “If You Ever Get To Houston”) and more … Memphis Rent Party—a compilation celebrating the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll featuring Alex Chilton, Junior Kimbrough, Jim Dickinson, Charlie Feathers, the Panther Burns, Jerry Lee Lewis and more—is out March 9 via Fat Possum … The Essential Eric Andersen is a two-CD, 33-track set showcasing ’60s Greenwich Village folkie Eric Andersen‘s first 45 years of recordings, out March 30 via Real Gone/Sony Legacy … On March 23, Omnivore will issue Reverend Gary Davis‘ The Avant Garde Recordings: Recorded Live—October 1966, a two-CD, 22-track set by the blues/gospel legend recorded on a single microphone in a Milwaukee coffeehouse … Robert Glasper Experiment fans rejoice: On March 16, Eagle Rock will issue Robert Glasper Experiment—Live, which captures the Grammy-winning outfit on stages all over the world, complete with covers of songs by both Radiohead and Bill Withers … The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring: The Complete Recordings (Rhino, April 6) is a five-LP and three-CD/Blu-ray boxed set compiling all the music from the movie trilogy … Battleground Korea: Songs And Sounds Of America’s Forgotten War (Bear Family, March 23) is an ambitious four-CD anthology of songs inspired by the Korean War featuring the likes of B.B. King, Ernest Tubb, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Louvin Brothers, Fats Domino, Gene Autry and Sister Rosetta Tharp … Memories In Rock II is a two-CD/DVD set capturing three 2017 U.K. concerts by (plus interviews with) Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, out April 6 via Minstrel Hall … Ello kiddies: NOW That’s What I Call Disney Junior Music is the latest from the folks at NOW That’s What I Call Music! and Walt Disney Records, featuring 20 tracks from the Disney Junior channel like “Doc McStuffins,” “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” and “Puppy Dog Pals” … Leaving you on a high note: Cheech And Chong‘s Up In Smoke turns 40 with a new Blu-ray and DVD release on April 10 and a special deluxe collector’s edition with the Blu-ray and the film’s soundtrack on CD and vinyl on April 20 (yeah, 420—wink wink, toke toke); man, the folks at Rhino must love their weed as much as our MAGNET writers—the deluxe edition even comes with rolling papers.

As we mentioned before, MAGNET just lost longtime friend Tom Rapp, frontman/songwriter of legendary psych/folk band Pearls Before Swine. On Saturday, March 10, at 2 p.m., there’ll be a tribute to Tom featuring both musicians and speakers. The event will be hosted by MAGNET faves Damon & Naomi, close friends of—and sometimes collaborators with—Tom. It’s open to the public and will be held at the First Unitarian Church Of Philadelphia (2125 Chestnut St.). We hope to see you there celebrating the life and music of not only a brilliant songwriter but also a passionate lawyer and an amazing human being.