So, the new release lull from the holidays? It is officially over! Just two weeks in to 2022 and the music machine is already testing our ability to keep up. New singles. New albums. New artists – we’ve got a little bit of everything on the show this week.
We start with a song fitting for our patience-testing times from British poet, playwright, novelist and rapper Kae Tempest. Their new record The Line is a Curve is coming in April and features contributions from Fontaines DC (who you hear later in the show) and Lianne La Havas. The first single “More Pressure” features Brockhampton co-founder Kevin Abstract on a song they say is about letting go of “shame, anxiety, isolation and falling into surrender.”
Jack White shows off his softer side on surprise drop “Love is Selfish.” It’s from one of two albums the Nashville-based rock legend will release this year. That song will be on the more stripped-down of the two called Entering Heaven Alive in July. The “rock” album, Fear of the Dawn, is coming in April and Jack will be celebrating the release with two big shows at Ascend Amphitheater.
Grammy winning artist, composer and producer Robert Glasper pulled together a hip hop dream team – Killer Mike from Run The Jewels, Big K.R.I.T. and BJ the Chicago Kid – for his new single “Black Superhero” from the newly anounced Black Radio 3. Glasper will be performing it with The Roots on Jimmy Fallon in honor of MLK day.
A personal favorite this week is Guerilla Toss’ first song as a Sub Pop signing “Cannibal Capital.” The upsate New York art rock trio announced their new album this week Famously Alive and will be at Third Man Records new venue the Blue Room in April.
A band that have yet to announce a Nashville date but have included a Nashville voice on their latest single is psych-rock royalty Spiritualized. Their new record Everything was Beautiful is coming next month on Fat Possum Records and features Nashville’s Nikki Lane on “Crazy.”
We close out this week with “It’s Easy” another standout track from Nashville-based indie project Yot Club aka Ryan Kaiser. They exploded in the social world with a track from their 2019 debut EP and are following up with a new EP this week called Santolina. We love what this Mississippi native has been up to and we’re not the only ones – Yot Club were on the “cover” of the influential All New Indie playlist on Spotify this week.
- NME Playlist 011422
Kae Tempest with Kevin Abstract “More Pressure”
Cautious Clay “Rapture In Blue”
Metronomy “Things Will Be Fine”
Methy Ethel feat. Stella Donnelly “Proof”
Jack White “Love Is Selfish”
Robert Glasper feat. Killer Mike, Big K.R.I.T., BJ the Chicago Kid “Black Superhero”
Guerilla Toss “Cannibal Capital”
Spiritualized feat. Nikki Lane “Crazy” - Nas feat. A$AP Rocky, DJ Premier “Wave Gods”
Fontaines D.C. “Jackie Down the Line”
Merry Choppins feat. Tim Gent “IB2UP”
Mitski “Love Me More”
Spoon “Wild”
Yot Club “It’s Easy”
Parquet Courts “Watching Strangers Smile”