So, let’s get it out of the way: that buzzing sound in your ears does not mean that a hive of high-pitched bees have moved into your neighborhood. It means that there is a new Justin Bieber album out today. Hard to fathom, but Believe is only his second full-length album of new material. The Biebs has also released an EP, a remix album, and a holiday album. Nevertheless, this one finds him moving out of tweendom and into more adult territory. Fellow Canuck Drake is a guest. Hmm…Justin’s also worked with Chris Brown. Do you think he can play peacemaker to those two warring factions? Justin Bieber…teen idol, pacifist. I like the sound of that.
Those of us who are a little older are probably equally excited that Fiona Apple‘s The Idler Wheel... comes out today. Hard to believe, but when Fiona debuted in 1996, she wasn’t much older than Justin is now. Also hard to believe that this is only her fourth album in sixteen years. Even though the lady makes us wait forever between albums, everything she’s released so far has been worth the wait. I’m not expecting anything different here.
In a couple short days, it will be summer time, and you know what that means…time for a new Kenny Chesney album! The king of cowboy hats and flip flops has a new joint called Welcome To The Fishbowl, and it comes out just as he heads out on his co-headlining tour with fellow country heartthrob Tim McGraw.
Three paragraphs, three big names, and it doesn’t stop. Billy Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins have been confounding fans for the past decade or so, but their faithful followers are their faithful followers. Oceania is the name of the band(?)’s latest effort.
Elsewhere, “Once” cleaned up big at the Tonys recently, and the man who won an Oscar for “Falling Slowly,” the hit from the original film, Glen Hansard, is releasing Rhythm & Repose, an album that finds him minus his bandmates in popular acts The Frames and The Swell Season. He’s joined on this release date by California reggae-jam-rockers Dirty Heads. You might remember them from their hit “Lay It Down” from last year. Their new album is called Cabin By The Sea.
Other albums being released this week come from a variety of genres including jazz (a collaboration between guitarist Norman Brown and saxophonist Gerald Albright,) pop-gospel (BeBe Winans) and singer-songwriterdom (cute Aussie vocalist Kate Miller-Heidke.)
Reissues: Not a whole lot happening on this tip. If you dug Moby‘s 2011 album Destroyed (it’s actually pretty good,) then you might dig the album of remixes coming out today. David Lynch is one of the remixers!
WTFF? Release Of The Week: I couldn’t decide on just one here, so let’s welcome back a host of stars from the ’80s and ’90s, many of whom are releasing their first new albums in eons. On the docket this week: new joints from Neneh Cherry, Lit, Lita Ford, Richard Marx and Sophie B. Hawkins!
Make sure you’re checking out Pause and Play for any further new release needs you may have!!