REVIEW: JEFF GOLDBLUM & THE MILDRED SNITZER ORCHESTRA - STILL BLOOMING

4/5

Grandmaster Jeff

Between Star Wars and Marvel, who this artist in question is the Grandmaster ('Thor: Ragnarok' and more) of, Disney Plus is one of the best streaming services on your smartphone and smart T.V. Yet they dropped the ball when they cost cut a couple of shows a few years back. You already know 'Willow' fans were mad, and basketball ones like me were after another series of 'Big Shot' John Stamos, although Kate Hudson's 'Running Point' on Netflix does just fine. Yet, getting shut of 'The World According To Jeff Goldblum' was a straight crime. This was the most charismatic man on the planet, touring the globe for sneakers, ice cream and so much more, as he marched with bands and even danced with a sea lion (the most joy inspiring thing you'll ever see). Alas, Mickey Mouse's loss is music's gain, as Goldbum enters a whole new world again with The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra for his fourth album with the company after 'The Capitol Studio Sessions', 'I Shouldn't Be Telling You This' and 'Plays Well With Others'. Which he really does. This is no secret.

Spring may be about done like the falling cherry blossom, but Goldblum is 'Still Blooming' with Mildred for nine lucky for us tracks. The forever young seventy-something returns with the kind of blue of an album that is as beautiful as its springtime orchestrated album artwork above the keys he plays. As free as the dove that flies above it all, Jeff gets to show us what his name really is. Only a handful of years after voicing the central character in the amazing animation of 'They Shot The Piano Player' and its search for justice for Tenório Jr., whose mysterious disappearance is still not solved. The gregarious megastar of blockbusters like 'Jurassic Park' ("crazy in the dark") and 'Independence Day', may be better known for his occasional work with Wes Anderson, but this offbeat take on the maestro is one that holds as true as his 'Capitol Sessions' mid-song advice with comedian come singer Sarah Silverman to leave the butter out of the fridge overnight for a better spread.

The most charismatic thing to sit behind the ivory since Liberace, this is a beautiful bloom. And Jeff Goldblum is already reuniting with his 'Wicked' co-stars Cynthia Erivo (truly 'We'll Meet Again') and Ariana Grande ('I Don't Know Why (I Just Do)'), for good. Those two amazing actors already showed us they have the chops for singing (of course when it comes to Ariana, and vice versa on the stage of acting). Whereas the wizard they were off to see, shows he is wonderful. Whether lighting up 'The Grease Patrol', or giving us songs in a kind of 'Blue Minor'. They say actors shouldn't sing and make albums. Tell that to fellow 'Jurassic World' luminary Scarlett Johansson, who has been making Tom Waits cover albums and 'Break Up' records with Pete Yorn ('Killers Of The Flower Moon') for years. Here she shows us 'The Best Is Yet To Come', like the greatest of the set. But even after a collaboration with Maiya Sykes (the 'Stella By Starlight' standard) and 'Bouncing With Bud', as Jeff says 'Bye-Ya', he shows us the best is when he gets on the mic. 'Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye', we are dying for a little more. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'I Don't Know Why (I Just Do) (Feat. Ariana Grande)', 'The Best Is Yet To Come (Feat. Scarlett Johansson)', 'Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye'.

Spin This: 'Wicked: The Soundtrack'

REVIEW: WILLIE NELSON - OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WORLD

4/5

Beautiful Day

It may be bleak as you look out your window, draw your curtains and say, "hello walls", but it's still a world worth fighting for. Word to Morgan Freeman quoting Ernest Hemingway in David Fincher's 'Se7en'. As a matter of fact, like the fresh feeling of the Holy Spirit and the birds singing on a Sunday morning, 'Oh What A Beautiful World' it is, as Willie Nelson harmonizes on his new album, not even six months after his 'Last Leaf On The Tree'. Mark it down now as 77 albums for 91 years on this planet. The math isn't just solid, it adds up to a generational great whose output isn't even matched by those who drop mixtapes or dig through vinyl crates. In the richest veins of forms, this is Willie's best since 'The Border' 0f 2024, his third album in the last almost 365 days.

Circle your New Music Friday calendars on the same day that actor/jazz maestro Jeff Goldblum shows us he's 'Still Blooming' with classic rascal tongue in cheek. Willie is far from wilting in these years where half of us rounding the bases of middle-age can't even get it u...well, I digress. 'Beautiful World' is a Legacy Recording from Nelson and super producer Buddy Cannon, who works with Willie as well as he does Kenny Chesney. These songs performed with power are all penned by songwriter Rodney Crowell. And this country star also features on the lead single and album title-track, reaffirming his talent and how wonderful the world Sam Cooke told us about, is. One week after Julien Baker formed a rhinestone dynamic country duo with TORRES, like her supergroup Boygenius, and asked us to 'Send A Prayer My Way', the legend comes back with another album for the great American country songbook. And the genre has never sounded so fresh and in a perfect place.

Recorded at Nashville's Blackbird and East Iris, the black and white album artwork of 'Oh What A Beautiful World' features a lone rider looking out over the plains like a lord of them. Showing us the America that remains beautiful. Like 'The Border' (his best in decades), these are all Crowell classics. From the 'What Kind Of Love' opener (co-written by Will Jennings and the late, great Roy Orbison), to the 'Open Season On My Heart' best in show and the farewell of 'Stuff That Works' on this delightful dozen that is anything but dirty. Willie first recorded one of Rodney's songs over 40 years ago, back in 1983 with ''Til I Gain Control Again' off of the Waylon Jennings album 'Take It To The Limit'. Although he had previously played and recorded it live for the album 'Willie and the Family Live' in 1978. And he hasn't looked back since. Cashing in on this all like the 'Banks Of The Old Bandera' reservoir.

Beautiful broods evoke a mesmerizing mood on 'Oh What A'. 'The Flyboy & The Kid' rolls like Butch Cassidy and Sundance. All the way to 'Forty Miles From Nowhere', singing, "It rained today, the clouds rolled up at dawn/All hell burst wide open and just like that was gone/Your little lap dog chased a fox tailed squirrel 'cross the main road through the wood/Some ninja on a dirt bike nearly ran him down for good." 'I Wouldn't Be Me Without You' is the dearest devotion, like the Dino-esque 'Making Memories Of Us'. Whilst the sweet sounds of 'Shame On The Moon' stay with us until we're staring at one like the wolf. "And when she's gone, I keep my head/I sleep alone, in that ol' big empty bed/I go to lengths, to savе my strength", Willie adds and advises as he tells us, 'She's Back In Town'. But even after all these decades in the game and albums to his name, Willie Nelson is 'Still Learning How To Fly'. Yet as the country icon and American legend laments,"Life's been good, I guess/My ragged old heart's been blessed/With so much more than meets the eye/I've got a past I won't soon forget/You ain't seen nothing yet", he still spreads his wings like an American eagle. Oh hey, young world. Isn't that beautiful? TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'What Kind Of Love', 'Oh What A Beautiful World (Feat. Rodney Crowell)', 'Open Season On My Heart'.

Spin This: Willie Nelson - 'The Border'.

REVIEW: JULIEN BAKER & TORRES - SEND A PRAYER MY WAY

4/5

Say A Little Prayer

It's only been a fortnight since 'Forever Is A Feeling' by Julien Baker's Boygenius bandmate and girlfriend Lucy Dacus came out. Not to mention, just over a year since 'The Record' of their supergroup was released. Yet Julien Baker already has another album out. Does that mean we're due a follow-up to Phoebe Bridgers' 'The Punisher'? Returning, like Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle in 'Daredevil: Born Again', this week? We sure hope so. Either way, Baker's first LP since the 'Little Oblivions' of 2022 (or the 'genius and their extended play of 'The Rest') is another collaborative affair, like Forrister. As the 'Tokyo' singer (to Bridgers' 'Kyoto') links up with TORRES (Mackenzie Scott) for a classic country album, 'Send A Prayer My Way' and Scott's first since last year's 'What An Enormous Room'.

And it's only going to get bigger with this delightful dirty dozen tracks on an orange and black and white album with artwork and typography that could ride a crazy horse, like Neil Young. He, of course, also has a new album out this New Music Friday. When doesn't he, and when wouldn't we listen? Yet for your NPR, this is the album of the week and maybe month, as lover to lover Baker and Dacus go head-to-head, or instead, haters looking to pit everything and everyone against each other, side-by-side. Just like the recently released members of BLACKPINK, Jennie, Lisa and Rose celebrating each other's wins at Coachella. It's only maddening masculinity that makes all this a toxic competition. Instead, Julien bakes up another perfect group project. Barrelling through this wild west in black and white like the freight train of Young's 'Coastal' live soundtrack to his wife's Daryl Hannah directed documentary of the same name. With the Stetsons to match.

This Matador alternative album, produced in part by the pair and Sarah Tudzin, comes almost a decade after the pair performed together at the Lincoln Hall in Chicago, Illinois. A couple of years later, texts were sent about possibly making this a country thing, before more tours saw TORRES open for Julien and then rock some songs together. It all became official for everyone to hear at the Big Ears Festival. Then there really was 'Sugar In The Tank', like the lead single, as our prayers were answered. This January, the sweet 'Sylvia' accompanied the album announcement. And now we have singles like my favourite 'Tuesday', the 'Dirt' of this long, open road opener and the 'Bottom Of A Bottle' you might find at a roadside bar. This LP hits, all the way to the 'Goodbye Baby' farewell that has Mackenzie and Julien talking about preservatives the way amazing actor (and the wizard himself) Jeff Goldblum talked about the benefits of buttering your toast (I promise you, it's no innuendo), by leaving it out overnight (I promise) with Sarah Silverman on his own album of jazz styling.

Tune this into your car radio, like 'The Only Marble I've Got Left'. You'll lose yours over all of this. This is your "steady companion" until the 'Tape Runs Out'. No matter if it's all going 'Downhill Both Ways'. On 'No Desert Flower', TORRES yearns "You said, "You wouldn't move so I moved you"/I'm not bruised, but I'm confused/I mistook your fear for rage/You couldn't wait to get away/From me." Whereas on 'Off The Wagon', Baker broods "Drivin' the block to put off getting home/It's a whole lot of work to get a little bit stoned/I'm threading the needle, changing the dose/'Til I'm immune to the cure/When you have not a thing else left to look forward to/Outside of hitting the road/And burning one after your shift at the restaurant/Getting a ride to the show." Not afraid in this day and age of shame to show the vulnerabilities, some may see as weaknesses, but really remain strengths. It all comes together on the 'Showdown' of singing, "Fireworks are goin' off all night around my house/And I can't find a single thing to be happy about/Everything I begged of you comes bouncing off the clouds/Now I just hear my own voice saying "Help me" twice as loud." Courage in the struggle. They said they should make a country album together, and you know what? They did. This is their way. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Sylvia', 'Tuesday', 'Goodbye Baby'.

Spin This: Boygenius - 'The Record'.

Julien Baker - 'Turn Out The Lights'

TORRES - 'Three Futures'

REVIEW: THE MARS VOLTA - LUCRO SUCIO: LOS OJOS DEL VACIO

 

4/5

Hi VOLTAge

Every calendar, we get a song of the year. Whether a Grammy Award, or a Spotify tries to tell us, what it is, or not. But every time another 365 days passes, we take stock on our own playlist picks and what our favourite tracks of the year were. Last year, for me, it belonged to 'If I'm Gonna Go Anywhere' by EELS off the 'Novocaine For The Soul' and 'Susan's House' band's 'Eels Time!' comeback special. Especially when it came to the "love, what else is there but love" refrain from Mark Oliver Everett, recovering from almost losing his life. In 2022, it belonged to the 'Vigil' of The Mars Volta, returning themselves with their self-titled comeback classic that was like a debut of sorts. The moment that snake charmer beat came into black and white play, over a music video swaying to the new style and compelling dancer. Since then, The Mars Volta have attacked the back with more releases. A year later came the silver lining of, 'Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazón', which was an acoustic reworking of their previous year's and aforementioned album. And now, on the same New Music Friday that Justin Vernon and Bon Iver turn their 'Sable EP' from October into a 'SABLE fABLE' LP, Volta give us 'Lucro Sucio: Los Ojos Del Vacio'.

Translated as just your "dirty luck", "the eyes of emptiness" have it. This album is a trip. Especially when you listen to it whilst burning the reverie of the midnite oil. Long-leaked like that sink you should fix, 'Lucro Sucio' confirms that the red planet band is well and truly back. Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala revisit their roots once again on an atmospheric album that surely sets the mood off right. The innovative pair continues to rip out of envelopes with their elemental electronic mixes with classic jazz standards. The fall calls for a North American tour to support this set too, but after performing this amazing album in its entirety whilst supporting Deftones on their own US gig, you might wonder to why it has already been shared so much. It may have something to do with the fact that Cedric graciously gifted an early press of this album to a delivery driver who brought food to their hotel, by burning a CD-R like the good old days. But seriously, we're not insinuating this driver Uber ate this album, door-to-door around town, but what a special delivery.

From the 'Fin' beginning, to the self-titled close of this eighteen track day, this is a powerful psychedelic prog rock progression. The grey concrete of this CD lined jewel case gifts us with the earth grow of 'The Iron Rose' and the new day of 'Cue The Sun' and its lovely reprise. There are dedications for better or worse ('Morgana', 'Reina Tormenta'), deep cuts ('Voice In My Knives') and epics like 'Enlazan las Tineblas' and 'Possedora de Mi Sombra'. On 'Mictlán' Bixler-Zavala sings "Tell me when I'm gone/Tell me all the things you thought you could not say/From now until doomsday/I'll be the albatross that hangs/So let it hang/Ten thousand phantoms underneath/Can you feel my hands?/They're keepin' me safe when I can't see/Through a dead parliament of watchful eyes." Whereas on 'Alba Del Orate' he harmonizes, "A lake of love can wash it all/Unread notes in floatin' bottles/I fix the breaks, but blame myself/These numbing pools have lost their touch." 

This week, if Bon Iver give us the most beautiful and deepest lyrics, The Mars Volta give us the most outstanding and otherworldly. 'Celaje' ("Sipping, fading, hating that the sun would shine/It's cold/Will sell my weight in gold/Like an unsuspecting death/Shifting, hoarding, holding pattern stains of glass") and 'Vociferó' take us higher. 'Mito de lios Trece Cielos' is the myth of the thirteen heavens and the Spanish of 'Un Disparo al Vacío'  translates to "A Vacuum Shot" and you can feel God through this gunned filter. The instrumental 'Detrás de la Puerta Dorada' produced perfectly, like this LP, by Omar Rodríguez-López inspires further. Yet it's the 'Maullidos' that bears the most fruit. Such a cry from these cats, "Can you hear her? Not plagiarizing symptoms/Tell her the angels that you needed never gave up on you/Exposin' all the wires cut, she sinks it in the current's trap/Teardrops in the voltage turn to me/Turn to me and sing", as The Volta turn up the voltage on this track. Nothing is empty about this lucky day that hits pay dirt. All eyes can see that. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Reina Tormenta', 'The Iron Rose', 'Cue The Sun'.

Spin This: The Mars Volta - 'The Mars Volta'

REVIEW: BON IVER - SABLE, fABLE

4/5

Vernon's Fables

October's very own, 'Sable EP' from Justin Vernon and his Eau Claire, Wisconsin, U.S. folk project Bon Iver has evolved into this New Music Friday's 'Sable, Fable' LP, like a black/pink square. The biggest album of the week, in the same seven days we see The Mars Volta finally release their long-leaked 'Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos del Vacío', after the incredible comeback run they've been on ('Vigil' off their self-titled return to form is still one of the best songs I've heard in years). Bon Iver, the best group in the world, are no stranger to a rich vein of form and classic tracks. 'Things Behind Things behind Things' has been playing over and over and over again, since its fall release with the Autumn leaves. Alongside the continuing '...' intro, 'Speyside' single and 'Awards Season' Grammy ready hit, last year's 'Sable' extended play leads the start of this album, before the 'Fable' takes over.

It's from there that the 'Short Story' like Aesop continues on Disc 2 of this Jagjaguwar label gem from the April Base of Fall Creek. The single, 'Everything Is Peaceful Love' is absolutely beyond beautiful, my dear. Ditto for the long and grand 'Walk Home'. These indie folk take you on a trip for forty formidable minutes on the stylized 'SABLE fABLE'...and they bring along some friends too. The first Iver album since 2019's 'I, I', and the band's fifth, also offers a warm welcome to Dijon and Flock Of Dimes from 'Day One' and Danielle Haim on 'If Only I Could Wait'. Echoing a Bon Justin's own 'Folklore', 'Exile' with Danielle's friend Taylor Swift, this sweet song and home studio, music video, lost and quarantined out in the woods, is a calendar highlight for both parties. Even with Danielle and her sisterhood of Haim back to the party with their own 'Relationships' record and their real 'Everybody's Trying To Figure Me Out', taking it to press photos. "If only you could wait/I ain't up at your pace yet/I take the steps to stage/And they hit me with the rays now/But if I could only pray/In the blaze of a northern bar/I'd bend another straight/We'll decay in other ways now", Haim harmonizes.

Jim-E Stack digs and stacks more vinyl crates with Vernon after producing prolific non-album singles for Bon Iver like 'PDLIF' and 'AUATC' for your AUX, during the COVID-19 quarantined 2020. The already acclaimed album that debuted at the Terasaki Budokan in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles is one to take great inspiration 'From', like "When I called you from the hotel/You said you were doing well/But I could tell/Just last May there was confetti in the car/And now, it seems we're far apart/But I'm ready/Don't you feel me?/Don't you feel compelled?/Oh, you how can't just be yourself?/From now on." Legendary lines from a songwriting genius, with plenty more in his back pocket ('I'll Be There') before the final 'Au Revoir'. 'There's A Rhythm' to this that plays, "I've had one home that I've known/And maybe it's the time to go/I could leave behind the snow/For a land of palm and gold." 'Sable, Fable' is a new chapter and journey into the unknown of vulnerability and solitude. But never fear, togetherness and love usually comes from this. And as you open yourself up to this, that fable and life lesson is the truth. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Things Behind Things Behind Things', 'Everything Is Peaceful Love', 'If Only I Could Wait (Feat. Danielle Haim)'.

Spin This: Bon Iver - 'Sable EP'

REVIEW: ELTON JOHN & BRANDI CARLILE - WHO BELIEVES IN ANGELS?

4/5

Angels In Americana

Reginald, we thought you were retired?! Think again. After saying farewell to the yellow brick road, like Dorothy, with a movie, documentary, autobiography and one final victory lap of a wicked world tour, Elton John always vowed to continue making music. You only have to hear the masked up 'Lockdown Sessions' to see that the b#### is back...and never really left. Those sessions yielded the 'Simple Things' single with top American heartland singer Brandi Carlile, who also had her own post-COVID album out that year, 'In These Silent Days'. Now, four years later, they've given us even more. 'Who Believes In Angels'? Well, maybe those who also have faith in the best of both worlds (not Jay-Z and R. Kelly...sheesh!) of classic collaborative LP's. Just a fortnight after young lovers Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco did it for 'I Said I Love You First'.

Now it's time for Sir Elton and Brandi Carlile (not Belinda Carlisle, fellow 90s kids!), to get their 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart', KiKi Dee on. And they're really trying as they 'Swing For The Fences' with big-hitting singles like that and the title track. Not to mention the 'Never Too Late' theme to the Disney documentary of the same name, for the life of John. After his 'Duets' and 'The Lockdown Sessions' collaborative compilations, this is another group project for Elton, following work with Leon Russell ('The Union') and Pnau ('Good Morning To The Night'). It's also his first album since 'Lockdown' or the release of 'Regimental Sgt. Zippo' (which was originally meant to be his debut album back in the 70s) in 2021. Before that, his most recent original, solo studio album was the 'Wonderful Crazy Night' of 2016. Brandi's first album since those 'Silent Days' is also another great, like 'By The Way, I Forgive You'. Forget this not.

As gaudy and as great as the candy-coated album artwork that accompanies this record, and it's self-titled lead single's music video, coming to life, 'Who Believes In Angels?' restores your faith in the pop album. From the epic, cinematic opening of 'The Rose Of Laura Nyro' (for a man who has scored movies from 'The Lion King' to 'Gnomeo and Juliet'), to the Lord have mercy bluster of 'Little Richard's Bible', passing a plate around the congregation whilst the keys heat up like great balls of fire for this maverick top gun and his American woman. Recorded in Hollywood's Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles with prolific producer Andrew Watt. He, and of course, the legendary Bernie Taupin help pen the new hits. Starting from scratch and recording a brand-new album in just twenty days, the perfect pair "pushed each other out of their comfort zones" and the result is not only "one of the toughest" albums Elton John has made, but also "one of the greatest musical experiences" of his life.

English man. American woman. The across the pond collaboration is also joined by Red Hot Chili Pepper drummer Will Fer... Chad Smith, and former Pepper Josh Klinghoffer. Making it a band, almost like when Norah Jones and Jack White joined Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi in 'Rome'. 'A Little Light' really shines on this neon, vibrant LP. Even when the new dynamic duo go it alone, it still works cohesively. Whether it be Carlile's best take on the album (the beautiful ballad 'You Without Me'), or John's own 'My Way' in the curtain's 'When This Old World Is Done With Me'. On 'The River Man', which would make Springsteen proud, they sing together "All the weekend warriors touching down/Leaving a black stain on the sacred ground/Ready and willing to feel wild/Even the traffic sings in tune and perfect time", in sync and harmony. But it's when they harmonize the words of "Your voice is ringing in my mind/You are tattooed on my soul/From the never-ending highway/To the strings of my piano", that you really realize there is 'Someone To Belong To'. Each other. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Swing For The Fences', 'You Without Me', 'When This Old World Is Done With Me'.

Spin This: Elton John - 'The Lockdown Sessions' / Brandi Carlile - 'In These Silent Days' 

REVIEW: MELANIE FIONA: SAY YES EP

4/5

Say Less 

Yes, Queen. These days, real R&B might be dominated by the likes of SZA and Solange, making their legend like the aforementioned's sister, or Rihanna, but let's not forget about Melanie Fiona and what 'The Bridge' of her debut did back in 2009. 'It Kills Me' and 'Teach Him'...my God, what a way to end an album for the record. It may have been a long time since 'The MF Life', 2012 to be exact, but Melanie Fiona is still the apple of music's ear, motherf#####s! Even if we haven't had an album, like The Renaissance of the Canadian's group project with fellow Toronto star Drake, which has yet to yield an album, but can probably wait.

Even now, in here return, it's not album grand, but it really is something as the 'Say Yes' EP is the extended play that will have you affirming her talent once more. From the very second she sets the incense alight to the sexy as hell red room video of the titular track, you just know it's back on, like f#####g after a fight with the one you love through thick and thin. "No more fighting/I want love without the war/I'm inviting/You to even up the score/If l lay my cards out on the table/Showing hearts like never before/Tell me, will you be ready, willing and able/When I come knocking at your door?", Melanie muses over a beautiful Andre Harris beat. As sexy and as sultry as the dance hall video of fellow single 'I Choose You' that you will make your selection.

This is the remix, an extended jam of 'Say Yes' featuring Harris, Charlie Bereal, Chris Dave, SiR and the great, instrumental Thundercat. An inspired, classic collaboration like the LaRussell feature on 'Make Me Feel' that will have you yearning for more on what feels like an album that's just getting started. Perhaps it is, as the 'Bang, Bang' dramatic soprano singer gives us more on 'Do That'. But it's the formidable Fiona's perfect portrait (like the song's or album artwork) on the cinematic 'Mona Lisa Smile' singer that really resonates. Singing, "Perfect picture in a broken frame and/No one ever sees the broken pieces of the painting/I know you're lying, I'm lying, it's crazy/I don't really know why in the hell I'm tryna save this/If I didn't love you, I'd walk out that door/If a man can have his pride, well, a girl could have more/I'd rather go to war, before I let a teardrop hit this floor", feeling like a precursor to an actual album. If this is a litmus test for that, you know what we say? Yes! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Say Yes', 'Make Me Feel (Feat. LaRussell)', 'Mona Lisa Smile'.