December/January Program Titles Released This Week:
Bask – III CD/LP (Season Of Mist)
Hailing from the mountains of North Carolina, Bask was conceived in the fall of 2013 by guitarist Ray Worth, drummer Scott Middleton, bassist Jesse Van Note, and guitarist/vocalist Zeb Camp. The band’s new record, aptly titled III, showcases a soulful juxtaposition of Americana rock ‘n’ roll with progressive and psychedelic elements, separating Bask from your average Southern rock outfit. Conceptually, each song on III is inspired by a piece of legend, folklore, or mythology, reexamining characters and situations that are often misunderstood or overlooked. Its overlying themes also including the natural world, the cyclical nature of human experience, revenge and subverting social norms. Bask’s sound has been described as progressive and cinematic, containing glimpses of Appalachian tonality and heartfelt heaviness, something they unequivocally prove with III. While songs like “New Dominion” and “Stone Eyed” present a heavier dynamic from the band, tracks like “Maiden Mother Crone” and “Rid Of You” serve up a melancholy elegance that showcases the band’s roots, adding to the record’s vast yet cohesive dimensions.
Andrea Bocelli – Sì Forever: The Diamond Edition CD (Decca)
Bocelli’s million-selling 2018 Sì has been expanded to include six brand new tracks including duets with Ellie Goulding, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Matteo Bocelli, Jennifer Garner and more. Andrea Bocelli, one of the most beloved tenors in the world, returned with his first album of new material in fourteen years in 2018 with Sì. A return to his roots, Sì is an intimate collection of powerful, emotional songs, some featuring interpolations of classical themes (Bach and Massenet), and an all-encompassing celebration of love, family, faith, and hope. The album was recorded at his home in Italy and was produced by Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Lou Reed). It includes duets with globally renowned artists and was introduced by the lead single “If Only”, co-written by Francesco Sartori and the late Lucio Quarantotto – who helped pen one of Bocelli’s biggest hits, “Con Te Partirò”. “I wanted to go back to my memories of being a young man, playing at a piano bar,” Bocelli explains. “Obviously since then, I’ve produced lots of albums, sung lots of covers, performed many other things. But at a certain point I said to myself: ‘Maybe the time has come to put my effort into finding new songs.’ Like starting all over again, as it were, in my career.”
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen 2xCD/2xLP+MP3 (Ghosteen/AWAL)
Ghosteen, the new two-part album from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, serves as the band’s 17th studio effort overall following 2016’s Skeleton Tree. “The songs on the first album are the children. The songs on the second album are their parents. Ghosteen is a migrating spirit,” notes Cave. “On the the first album Nick Cave has written and recorded entirely since the death of his teenage son, Arthur, in 2015—he sorts through his grief and all the requisite stages, occasionally as though in real time. His mood drifts between domesticity and depravity. He empathizes with the true believers who wept beneath Jesus’ feet at the crucifixion. He latches onto friendship and love in any shape they take. He loses his faith, then fights desperately for any belief that can replace it. Scored by synthesizers, pianos, and electronics, the process is alternately harrowing and comforting for the first hour of the album, Cave’s waking nightmare on full display. [Here he] emerges with one of his most powerful albums yet, an endlessly giving and complex meditation on mortality and our collective grief.” – Pitchfork, Best New Music
