New Music: Opening Night

           

Arctic Monkeys have released "Opening Night", their first new song since 2022 album "The Car", with proceeds benefiting the charity War Child. Opening Night is taken from HELP(2), a sequel to War Child’s 1995 album Help, which brought together A-list music names to raise £1.2m for children affected by conflict, including Radiohead, Blur, Sinéad O’Connor and the Smokin’ Mojo Filters (a supergroup of Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller). The new compilation, released on 6 March, is similarly star-studded. As well as alumni from the 1995 album – Portishead’s Beth Gibbons and Blur’s Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon – and legends such as Pulp, Beck and Depeche Mode, there are a host of successful younger musicians including Olivia Rodrigo, Fontaines DC, Cameron Winter, Wet Leg and Sampha. The artwoek and visualizer has been done by Jonathan Glazer.

New Music: Away

           

Jo Passed is the songwriting and creative project of Jo Hirabayashi, a musician based in Toronto and Vancouver. The project released two EPs "Up" and "Out" before signing with Sub Pop and Royal Mountain and releasing the album "Their Prime" in 2018. Following a maintenance hiatus, Jo returned in 2025 with the digital single "Weekend" and a sophomore album "Away"  which was released las 23 January, this is the new single "Away". 

In Memoriam: Scorpions Bassist "Francis Buchoholz" Dies At 71

The German rock musician Francis Buchholz, best known as the long-serving bassist of Scorpions, has died at the age of 71. His family announced his death in a Facebook post on Friday, saying Buchholz passed away on Thursday after a private battle with cancer.

“He departed this world peacefully, surrounded by love,” the family said, thanking fans for their continued support throughout his career.

Buchholz began playing bass as a teenager and went on to co-found the band Dawn Road in the early 1970s with Uli Jon Roth, Jürgen Rosenthal and Achim Kirschning. The group later merged with Scorpions, joining vocalist Klaus Meine and guitarist Rudolf Schenker.

His first recording with Scorpions was the 1974 album Fly to the Rainbow, and he remained with the band through Crazy World. During that period, the band produced some of its most recognisable songs, including Rock You Like a Hurricane and Wind of Change.

Buchholz left Scorpions in 1992 but later returned to touring and recording with Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock, performing on the band’s 2012 tour. He also appeared on Temple of Rock’s albums Bridge the Gap and Spirit on a Mission, released in 2013 and 2015 respectively.

 

Rocktrospectiva: The Conceptual "Night Thoughts" Turns 10

Released on 22 January 2016, "Night Thoughts" was the 7th., studio album by English alternative rock band Suede, the album was by a feature film, directed by Roger Sargent. The album spawned three singles "Outsiders", "Like Kids", & "What I'm Trying To Tell You", and was considered by many critics to be the band's finest work since 1994's Dog Man Star.

Again produced by regular collaborator Ed Buller, Night Thoughts was not just an album, but also the soundtrack to a film of the same name directed by Roger Sergeant. And right from the opening strings of  "When You Are Young", it’s appeared that the band are very much shooting Suede through a cinematic filter. "I Can't Give Her What She Wants" had an almost baroque elegance to it, "Tightrope" continued some of the lyrical themes of Bloodsports with its positioning of love as a dark metaphor before culminating in disembodied voices, as does whilst the orchestrally integrated "The Fur & The Feathers" and was regarded the best closing song that the band have given us since ‘Still Life’.

In the album the was enough upbeat music on here to satiated the more pop-inclined fans. With its punchy basslines, "What I’m Trying To Tell You" appeared to be a very successful attempt at filtering Franz Ferdinand through the eyes of Brett Anderson, whilst "No Tomorrow" had the swagger and insistancy of Suede in their prime.

There were very few songs on this album that can be directly compared to their previous tracks. Unlike Bloodsports, where most songs seemed to be like a combination of two or more songs from their back catalogue, the only song that seemed overly indebted to their past is "Like Kids", a song that appeared to crib chord sequences and production from the singles from Coming Up and the outro from "We Are the Pigs". Even more intriguing was "Outsiders", one of the most urgent sounding songs that band had released since "Can't Get Enough".

Night Thoughts allowed the bank to add another string to their metaphorical bow - soundtrack-rock. The band have taken on an ambitious project, and have pulled it off with much aplomb. Even when at their lowest ebb, Suede have always made music that is worth taking notice of, but with Night Thoughts the band have given us their first essential album in 20 years. 

The album  received positive reviews from music critics, praising the album by stating: "With that past behind them, Suede can still dwell on big issues of love and mortality, but now that the past is in perspective, it all means a little bit more and what lies ahead is a little more precious, and that wide view makes Night Thoughts all the more moving. The record found a middleground between the guitar pop of the Coming Up era and the moodier textures of Dog Man Star," and regarded it as a fine entry in their already strong discography.

 

Night Thoughts Track List: 

 

1.  When You Are Young

2. Outsiders

3. No Tomorrow

4. Pale Snow

5. I Don't Know How To Reach You

6. What I'm Trying To Tell You

7. Tightrope

8. Learning To Be

9. Like Kids

10. I Can't Give Her What She Wants

11. When You Were Young

12. The Fur And The Feathers

 

Disc Two: Film

 

1. Film

2. Trailer

3. Teaser

4. Outsiders (music video)

Rocktrospectiva: The Acclaimed "The Waiting Room" Turns 10

Released on 22 January 2016, "The Waiting Room" was the 11th., studio album by the English band Tindersticks. Some editions of the album came packaged with a short film that had been commissioned for each song by various directors. The album spawned "Were We Once Lovers?", "How He Entered" & "We Are Dreamers!" and captures it effortlessly with soulful, jazzy rhythms cast adrift through delicate production. All of this is complemented by the wavy, yet not ambivalent, vocals of Stuart Staples.

The album opened with "Follow Me" which was the final song recorded for the album. When the band needed a piece of music to act as an introduction, Stuart Staples and musical arranger Julian Siegel used the melody from Bronisław Kaper's soundtrack to the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty, which Staples had found himself humming as he walked down the street. Next "Second Chance Man," was wonderfully used to elevate that ambient hum in a vein similar to that of Thom Yorke. The real treat of this vocal compression, though, is how well it compliments the instruments. The majority of the album is driven my an ambiguous existential dread that occasionally snaps into sharp and heartbreaking focus, such as when Stuart Staples sings “how can I care when it’s the caring that’s killing me” on Were We Once Lovers?. One thing you can noticed here was that it's almost as if the lead singer of the band is both the bass and the horn section. This is epitomized with “Help Yourself”

Hey Lucinda sees de Sela and Staples sing about the melancholy of ageing in words that wouldn’t sound out of place in a song by The National – “I only dance to remember how dancing used to feel” – over an uncharacteristically lavish arrangement that spans from flute to steel drums. Staples’ voice was really the main weapon of the album. He has aged into a tender and vulnerable baritone that recalls Antony Hegarty. It can feel like it’s about to break into a scream at any moment, although he never does. The deep richness of his voice really helped to sell sections like the chorus of "Were We Once Lovers?" the stark title track, which would be a capella were it not for the faint organ chords playing gently in the back of the mix. The latter track was truly haunting, and it’s was almost necessary that it’s chased by Planting Holes, a pleasantly reflective instrumental that prepares the listener for the dark power of what followed. We Are Dreamers is propelled by a booming bass part played by a brass instrument, and restrained drumming that builds in intensity throughout. 

The pacing of the album was generally impeccable, as every overtly dreary moment is followed by a more relaxed or open one. The Waiting Room ached with feeling conveyed perfectly, be that through the evocative but simple lyrics, or the perfectly chosen arrangements that leave enough space for the notes to ring out. It’s an album that feels raw and viscerally sad, and is a stunning achievement for a band that’s been around as long as Tindersticks. But amidst all the not-so-quiet quietness, was the instrumental  "Planting Holes" that stole the show. Rarely does an instrumental track stand out as this does. In its simple piano melody, the song evokes the most imagery and emotion, inspiring thoughts of a rainy night. It was the kind of song that can changed the temperature of your skin when you immerse yourself in it.

The real undoing came from “We Are Dreamers!,” which was the only track feeling somewhat uninspired. The blip, though, is not large enough to throw Tindersticks off balance. They recover gently on the record’s final act with "Like Only Lovers Can." The expertise here couldn’t be hidden if they tried. And while it’s clear this sort of fare is an acquired taste, there is something deep and brooding in The Waiting Room that is memorable enough to beg further discovery.

The album received an universal acclaim, called by many critics a rich, warm, and comfortable album marbled with veins of darkness and light 

 

The Waiting Room Track List: 

 

1. Follow Me

2. Second Chance Man

3. Were We Once Lovers?

4. Help Yourself

5. Hey Lucinda

6. This Fear Of Emptiness

7. How He Entered

8. The Waiting Room

9. Plating Holes

10. We Are Dreamers!

11. Like Only Lovers Can 

Rocktrospectiva: The Mystifying "Boys For Pele" Turns 30

Released on 22 January 1996 "Boys For Pele" was the 3rd., studio album by US singer and songwriter Tori Amos, the album spawned the singles "Caught A Little Sneeze", "Talula", "Professional Widow", "Hey Jupiter", & "In The Springtime Of His Voodoo". Despite the album being Amos's least radio friendly material to date. Boys for Pele debuted at number two on both the US Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart, making it her biggest simultaneous transatlantic debut, her first Billboard top 10 debut, and the highest-charting US debut of her career to date.

Boys for Pele was recorded in rural Ireland and Louisiana and features 18 songs that incorporate harpsichord, clavichord, harmonium, gospel choirs, brass bands and full orchestras. Amos wrote all of the tracks, and for the first time, she served as sole producer for her own album. For Amos, the album was a step into a different direction, in terms of singing, songwriting, and recording, and is experimental in comparison to her previous work.

During the recording of her previous album, Under the Pink (1994), Amos's longtime professional and romantic relationship with Eric Rosse, who co-produced a considerable amount of her pre-Pele work, disintegrated. That loss, combined with a few subsequent encounters with men during the Under the Pink promotional tour, forced Amos to re-evaluate her relationship with men and masculinity. Amos explained, "In my relationships with men, I was always musician enough, but not woman enough, I always met men in my life as a musician, and there would be magic, adoration. But then it would wear off. All of us want to be adored, even for five minutes a day, and nothing these men gave me was ever enough."

The songs began appearing in fragments, often while on stage during the Under the Pink tour. After a trip to Hawaii during which Amos learned about legendary volcano goddess Pele, the album began taking shape; Amos conceived of the songs as representing stealing fire from the men in her life as well as a journey to finding her own fire as a woman.  From there, Amos explained, the songs just came. "Sometimes the fury of it would make me step back, I began to live these songs as we separated. The vampire in me came out. You're an emotional vampire, with blood in the corner of your mouth, and you put on matching lipstick so no one knows."

During this time, Amos, who has openly discussed her experiences with psychedelic drugs, particularly in relation to Boys for Pele, did ceremonies with a South American shaman and experienced meeting the devil, leading her to write the track "Father Lucifer."

The album would ultimately consisted of 15 full-length songs and four short "interludes". As Amos was finding "parts and pieces of myself that I had never claimed" on this journey, the 14 primary songs represent the number of body parts of the Egyptian god Osiris that his wife, the goddess Isis, had to find to put his body back together in Egyptian mythology. 

Boys for Pele was Amos' first self-produced album; she would continue producing her own albums ever since. Given that the album deals with the role of women in religion and relationships, and particularly in light of her breakup with Rosse, who had served as producer for her previous two albums, Amos felt that it was appropriate to take complete control over producing Boys for Pele, as a "bid for independence". Of producing the album herself, Amos said, "I was at the point I could not answer to anybody. I'd been answering my whole life to some patriarchal figure."

Two underlying currents run through Boys for Pele: exploring the role of women in both patriarchal religion and relationships, her viewpoint takes a particularly feminist slant on this album. "The feminine part of God has been circumcised out of all religions ... God is a patriarchal force, a very masculine energy, with the feminine having been subservient, either being the mother, the lover, the virgin, but never the equal, never to have the whole." "Muhammad My Friend", the eighth track on the album, best represents this aspect of the album's theme with the line, "It's time to tell the world/We both know it was a girl back in Bethlehem."

Amos derived the album's title from the Hawaiian volcano goddess, Pele, with the "boys" representing the men in her life. "First I wanted to sacrifice all these guys to the volcano goddess and roast them like marshmallows, then I decided they gave me a really wonderful gift," Amos said of the title. Amos herself has described the album as a novel, as a "story of the descent of a woman to gain her passion and gain her compassion," chronicling a woman's self-discovery in a male-dominated world, looking for fragments of herself and being suppressed. Songs such as "Blood Roses", "Caught a Lite Sneeze", "Hey Jupiter", "Doughnut Song" and "Putting the Damage On" deal directly with the aftermath of a break-up and a woman's reflection on the failed relationship.

"Blood Roses", which Amos had initially intended to serve as the opening track to the album, found the singer scorned over a failed relationship, belting out lines such as, "can't forget the things you never said" and "I've shaved every place where you've been boy". Regarding "Caught a Lite Sneeze", Amos says, "the whole current is doing anything so that you don't have to face yourself. Nothing is enough"; her previous relationships with men being the song's backbone with lines like, "boys on my left side, boys on my right side, boys in the middle and you're not here, I need a big loan from the girl zone."

Critics overall praised the album's expanded instrumentation, and the acoustics that recording the album in a church afforded, but otherwise reaction to the album was polarized, particularly with regard to the lyrics. Boys for Pele is more lyrically dense than Amos's two previous albums, taking poetic obscurity to new heights, others praised its ultra-personal lyrics while others panned what they called its overt and excessive self-indulgence. 

 

Boys For Pele Track List: 

 

1. Beauty Queen/Horses

2. Blood Roses

3. Father Lucifer

4. Professional Widow

5. Mr. Zebra

6. Marianne

7. Caught A Little Sneeze

8. Muhammad My Friend

9. Hey Jupiter

10. Way Down

11. Little Amsterdam

12. Talula

13. Not The Red Baron

14. Agent Orange

15. Doughnut Song

16. In The Springtime Of His Voodoo

17. Putting The Damage On

18. Twinkle

Rocktrospectiva: The Innovative "Doubt" Turns 35

Released on 21 January 1991 "Doubt" was the 2nd., studio album by British rock band Jesus Jones. The label witnessed the success of their debut album Liquidizer (1989) and wanted more hit-sounding music from the band. Frontman Mike Edwards wrote new material on their tour bus and in hotel rooms; they recorded some of it in early 1990, before touring resumed. After the conclusion of a tour of the United Kingdom, the band spent a week in May 1990 recording the bulk of their next album at Matrix Studios in London. Edwards produced the majority of the tracks, with Food Records co-founder Andy Ross and Martyn Phillips producing one song each.The album spawned four singles "Real Real Real", "Right Here, Right Now", "International Bright Young Thing" & "Who?, Where?, Why?". The band promoted the album with tours of the UK and US; MTV would help to give the band a boost in popularity in the latter territory.

Doubt was a techno-rock album that refines the sample-heavy approach of Liquidizer. During the making of it, they listened to music from the likes of the KLF, Janet Jackson and Mel and Kim. Edwards, who had been consuming a large amount of popular music wanted it be a reaction to Liquidizer, exploring the influence of dance music had over rock. His lyrics had been compared to that of the Kinks frontmant Ray Davies, while the album's psychedelia overtones evoked the Beatles' late 1960s period and contemporary baggy acts the Charlatans and Happy Mondays.

Spurred on by this initial success, Food Records wanted to make Jesus Jones even more popular, urging them to make hit-sounding music. Edwards had started writing material for the next album while the label was busy with releasing Liquidizer, which had been issued in the United States by SBK Records. In that territory, three of the album's songs received significant airplay from alternative radio stations. They did not have much time to work on songs as they toured incessantly, forcing them to write while travelling. Edwards brought along a Roland sampler and keyboard to craft tracks on their tour bus. Off-days were spent in hotel rooms, where they were able to have a writing set-up.

Food Records gave the band unlimited funds, with them opting to recorded in a cheaper studio, using only a portion of the time they took on the first album. More money was spent on the mixing process and making remixes than recording itself. Keyboardist Iain Baker said Edwards was in a stressful environment, having to deliver on expectations placed on him. As such, practically every demo they had was "pressed into service, every idea had to be used" for the album.

Sessions were held at Matrix Studios in London, and due to the short time they had, they ended up completing three tracks per day. Edwards produced the majority of the songs with Clive Goddard acting as the engineer. Food Records co-founder Andy Ross produced "I'm Burning", while Martyn Phillips engineered and produced "Right Here, Right Now". The latter collaboration came about as the band enjoyed his work with the Beloved. Edwards showed Phillips a version of the track, which had samples taken from "Sign o' the Times" (1987) by Prince. As Phillips had previously got into trouble for using a sample without authorization with the Beloved, he went about altering "Right Here, Right Now". John Fryer mixed the songs, while Phil Harding and Ian Curnow remixed and did additional production on " International Bright Young Thing" and "Real, Real, Real". Baker said the latter two individuals offered "some pop gloss" to the two tracks. He remarked that the rest of the band were more enthusiastic about the production since it provided "some bass as well as treble", compared to the "tinny blast" of Liquidizer.

Doubt continued the sample-heavy direction of Liquidizer, but refined it; where the latter had found sounds and other miscellaneous audio clips, the band wanted the tracks on Doubt to be anchored around samples. The advancement of technology allowed gave them more ways of toying with samples, ranging from reversing to pitch shifting and altering the structure. The members of Jesus Jones had slowly become aware of what Baker dubbed "the sample wars", exemplified by the Turtles suing De La Soul. He said that they wanted to showcase that sample was not about stealing someone else's music, but instead making new sounds from it.

Musically, the sound of Doubt has been described as techno-rock where melodies are stronger, and the mixes are more radio-friendly – with vocals right up front", giving the album "stronger pop leanings" than what was heard on Liquidizer. Edwards said the band intentionally made Doubt to serve as a reaction to its predecessor: "making a strong statement about what rock music should be about in the '90s, which I think has less to do with the dance-rock sound than the influence of dance music on rock music, the techniques of dance music". Edwards had been consuming a substantial amount of popular music, from Mel and Kim to Janet Jackson, which he tried to emulate with the album. Alongside this, Baker said they would often be listening to Chill Out (1990) by the KLF while on tour.

The album opened with "Trust Me", the shortest song on the album, recalling the sound of Liquidizer and Time's Up (1990) by Living Colour with its acid house groove and wall of sound guitarwork. The song was influenced by samples of Formula One racing cars driving on a race track. "Who? Where? Why" uses an Eastern melody, extrapolated from an African-esque chant that Edwards found on a tape of African music that he learned from the Willesden Library in London. Baker said that a portion of that sample is played normally before it loops itself repeatedly. They had written it shorted after getting signed, as they became aware of the expectations from press outlets. The dance-rock track "International Bright Young Thing" mixes the tape loop experimentation of "Tomorrow Never Knows" (1966) by the Beatles with the contemporary beats from dance music. The song remained lyric-less until the band were on a flight from Tokyo, Japan, serving as a summarization of fans they encountered while traveling around the world. Edwards described "I'm Burning" as a "re-occurrence of the B-side that was too good syndrome", where he tried to sound like the Icicle Works.

The massive "Right Here, Right Now" was an attempt by Edwards to create a mature track, adding that audiences considered them as a flash-in-the-pan act. The song refers to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Edwards said he came across a cover of "Sign o' the Times" that Simple Minds had done, liking their "enthusiasm for the song but not necessarily their version, but also thinking that Sign O’ The Times is a very down song, it has a very bleak view of the times". Scott Rowley of Louder said Edwards then went out to remake the song for "the, like, actual times" with "Right Here, Right Now", crafting a demo that used loops from "Sign O' the Times". "Nothing to Hold Me" features a sample of the TARDIS sound from Doctor Who, and had Edwards and Baker "speaking [from] our hearts", with Edwards saying Baker was a "man for whom tuning is only a concert for others. Like me". "Real, Real, Real" was reminiscent of the work of Happy Mondays, and has a note of a female voice edited to sound akin to an organ. The initial demo of it was influenced by Sly and the Family Stone and Jackson's Rhythm Nation (1989), as they tried to make a swingbeat track in the style of Teddy Riley. 

"Welcome Back Victoria" evoked the sound of XTC and "Sunny Afternoon" (1966) by the Kinks. It features acoustic guitar parts over synthesizers and the ticking of a programmed snare drum, and talks about the double standards of the Victorian era. With "Are You Satisfied?", Edwards wanted to make a track he considered "metal house". "Two and Two" is a punk rock and pop metal song, where the band tried to evoke the sound of Sonic Youth. "Stripped" is influenced by a message that a Romanian journalist was adamant that Edwards returned home with: "Everybody is hungry / Everyone needs to know". The album concluded with "Blissed", a mellow track anchored by a synthesizer part and bird sounds, influenced by Chill Out. Inspired by a John Lennon quote about wanting to have thousands of voices on a recording.

Several critics praised the songwriting of Doubt pointing Mike Edwards' improved songwriting, as well as a better idea of how to effectively fuse guitar-rock with samples and dance-club beats". Others called the album close to a perfect fusion of rock and house" music, others were less impressed especially with Edwards songwriting and called the album something like a techno-rock synthesis has aged disastrously.  Even thought Doubt was considered one of the best releases from the year. Jesus Jones had two Grammy Awards nominations: Doubt for Best Alternative Music Album and "Right Here, Right Now" for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. "Right Here, Right Now" earned a BMI and PRS award for the most played track at college radio. The band won the Best New Artist in a Video award for appearing in "Right Here, Right Now" at the MTV Awards.

Doubt Track List: 

 

1. Trust Me

2. Who?, Where?, Why?

3. International Bright Young Thing

4. I'm Burning

5. Right Here, Right Now

6. Nothing To Hold Me

7. Real Real Real

8. Welcome Back Victoria

9. Are You Satisfied?

10. Two And Two

11. Stripped

12. Blissed  

Rocktrospectiva: Sting's Mourn Album "The Soul Cages" Turns 35

Released on 21 January 1991 "The Soul Cages" was the third studio album by  English musician Sting.  It became Sting's second No. 1 album in the United Kingdom. The album spawned four singles "All This Time", "Mad About You", "The Soul Cages" & "Why Should I Cry For You". The title track won the first Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 1992. 

Sting seemed nearly invincible in the late 80s. His acclaimed debut album, 1985's The Dream Of The Blue Turtles, proved he could thrive outside of The Police, while 1987’s diverse, hit-packed … Nothing Like The Sun yielded a Brit Award, Grammy nominations, and multi-platinum sales. As the decade drew to a close, however, a personal tragedy suddenly befell the artist, and would inform the content of his third solo release, The Soul Cages. Sting commented: My father died in 1987. We'd had a difficult relationship and his death hit me harder than I'd imagined possible.

The Soul Cages was a concept album focused on the death of Sting's father. Sting had developed a writer's block shortly after his father's death in 1987; the episode lasted several years, until he was able to overcome his affliction by dealing with the death of his father through music. Most of the songs have motifs related to sailing or the seas; Sting wrote in his autobiography, Broken Music, that his father had always regretted not becoming a sailor. There are also references to Newcastle, the part of England where Sting grew up.

Given his experience of writer's block, Sting did not have any finished songs or arrangements upon entering the studio, unlike previous albums. After two weeks of rehearsing his existing song ideas with his line-up of musicians – Dominic Miller on guitar, Kenny Kirkland on keyboards and Manu Katché on drums – together they moulded these ideas into proper songs in the studio, either through arranging them or recording jams that could be edited into a song. They spent six weeks doing the basic tracks at Studio Guillaume Tell in Paris, before hiring the Le Voyageur II mobile studio for overdubs and vocals in Villa Salviati in Migliarino, Italy.

The Soul Cages grew out of the death of Sting's father, who had always wanted to be a sailor. His son became a jet-setting Rock star, and the father had to watch the shipping industry in his town slowly die around him, robbing him of even vicarious pleasures.  On "Soul Cages" Sting shaped ship and sailing motifs into a concept album about loss. 

The album opened with "Island of Souls" about a boy named Billy whose shipbuilder father gets injured in a workplace accident and has three weeks to live. Then the hit and most-well known tune of the record "All This Time" Billy takes the father out to sea, so that he may finish his life and be buried in the ocean. The son mourned his father in the album's most beautiful song, "Why Should I Cry for You." Then, after being lost at sea in "The Wild, Wild Sea" Billy ends up intercepted by some kind of demon sea king who traps the father's spirit in "The Soul Cages". Sting was a high school English teacher before he became a Rock star, which may be why he can't quite just come out and say he misses his Dad. 

The whole nautical motif of "The Soul Cages" doesn't really have much impact at the time for many people, unless you too had a father who always wanted to be a sailor. The meaning of getting your soul trapped in a cage and needing your son to release it so you can be at peace, gets lost unless you study the lyric sheet. Half the tracks advance a story, if you're paying attention, but feel more like well decorated waiting rooms than songs. This is very controlled, refined music with hints of Rock, contemporary Jazz, and Spanish guitar.   If that sounds like a wine description, that’s about right. It’s definitely not for kids or anyone who needs things to rock for an album to be legitimate.  

Yet, while The Soul Cages was certainly an immersive listen, intensely personal songs such as “Why Should I Cry For You?,” the haunting “The Wild, Wild Sea” and the elegiac “When The Angels Fall” were leavened by the presence of tracks with a notably keener rock and pop edge. Taken as a whole, The Soul Cages was an immensely satisfying listen, as reflected in the overwhelmingly positive reviews that greeted its UK release, A critic on the Boston Globe declared the essence of the record, "Sting has fashioned a well-balanced, highly insightful record that functions as a musical diary of the heart."

Sting said: "The Soul Cages" was an album of mourning. When you lose both your parents, you realize you're an orphan. But sadness is a good thing, too, to feel a loss so deeply. You mustn't let people insist on cheering you up. I'm very proud of that album.

 

The Soul Cages Track List: 

 

1. Island Of Souls 

2. All This Time

3. Mad About You

4. Jeremiah Blues (Part 1)

5. Why Should I Cry For You

6. Saint Agnes And The Burning Train

7. The Wild Wild Sea

8. The Soul Cages

9. When The Angels Fall 

Rocktrospectiva: Cat Power's Masterpiece "The Greatest" Turns 20

Released on 20 January 2006, "The Greatest" was the 7th., studio album by US musician and singer Chan Marshall aka Cat Power. All tracks on the album were written by Marshall, making it her first album not to include any cover songs. The album spawned two singles "Lived In Bars" & "Could We".

The Greatest was recorded in Memphis, with several of that city's veteran studio musicians serving as her backing band, including Mabon "Teenie" Hodges on guitar, his brother Leroy "Flick" Hodges on bass, and Steve Potts on drums. These soul legends have played with Al Green, Booker T. and the MG's, Aretha Franklin, Neil Young, and more. These are first-rate professionals, and their contributions a far cry from those of Steve Shelley and Dirty Three, or even Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl.

The title song opened the album with the same halting, thick-fingered piano style Marshall has relied on since 2000's The Covers Record, but here it's swathed in Henry Mancini strings, teary delay effects, gently nudging drums, and Marshall's own multi-tracked voice echoing her lead vocals like Mary and Flo on the Supremes' loveliest ballads. The following track "Living Proof", was Cat Power's most conventionally sexy song yet. As it swaggers on lazy horns and careening organ. The brilliant "Lived in Bars" retained that Southern-fried sensuality in its back half: After beginning as a late-night smoky bar lament, the song lifts off on shoo-ba-doo harmonies and a bouncy beat; all of a sudden, it's getting hot and heavy in a pickup truck.

The marriage of Marshall's offbeat musical sensibility to her new backing band's in-the-pocket playing bears its most successful fruit on those three songs. At heart, they're smooth, accessible lite-R&B; tracks as close to Chan in Memphis as the album gets. Things got changed in the middle part of The Greatest just feels old. It's beyond "adult": These songs seemed musty and outdated, "Could We", "Empty Shell", "Islands", and "After It All" are all finger snaps and jazz hands, It felt like Marshall twirling her umbrella in the park as Fred Astaire woos her with clicked heels and a top hat.  "After It All" even features whistling and the kind of cabaret melody Nellie McKay drops into a song right before she threatens to kill you.

The final part of the album "Where Is My Love", was the album's rock-bottom low. Marshall moans the title ad infinitum in some sort of high school musical approximation of Nina Simone. She's accompanied only by Cheez Whiz piano scales and those same heart-tugging strings from "The Greatest", only this time they sound creepily manipulative, not heartbreaking or beautiful. 

The Greatest regained its composure as it neared the finish line, ending with a pair of songs that wouldn't have seemed out of place on any Cat Power album since What Would the Community Think. "Hate", the only track that at the time might scared off newcomers while delighting her original fanbase, "Love and Communication" was the album's first three tracks as viewed through a fun-house mirror: Instead of the Memphis crew welcoming Marshall into their world, the closing track sees Marshall luring the studio vets down her dark, claustrophobic alley. 

The Greatest debut at 34 on the Billboard 200 and it was her highest-charting album at the time. It also won the 2006 Shortlist Music Prize, making Marshall the first woman to win the honor. Critics were fairly good, praising Marshall for returned to her Southern roots and recorded this blissful album in Memphis. The Greatest glows with a new ease, and the music itself which features many of the greatest soul musicians in history.

 

The Greatest Track List:

 

1. The Greatest

2. Living Proof

3. Lived In Bars

4. Could We

5. Empty Shell

6. Willie

7. Where Is My Love

8. The Moon

9. Islands

10. After It All

11. Hate

12. Love & Communication

New Music: Hit My Head All Day

           

Dry Cleaning just released their new album "Secret Love", and here's the lead single "Hit My Head All Day" originally released last September but due some strange reason we are playing it for you now. Shaw explains: "The song is about manipulation of the body and mind. The lyrics were initially inspired by the use of misinformation on social media by the far right. There are powerful people that seek to influence our behavior for their own gain; to buy certain things, to vote a certain way. I find it hard to read people’s intentions and decide who to trust, even in everyday life. It’s easy to fall under the influence of a sinister stranger who seems like a friend. We took a playful approach to the song. At one point it had harmonica on it instead of a vocal. At the demo stage we were inspired by There’s a Riot Goin’ On by Sly and the Family Stone." The video was shot by Cuan Roche and the dancer is Courtney Deyn.

New Music: Where's My Phone

           

The lead single from Nothing’s About to Happen to Me arrives with a short horror video for "Where's My Phone?". Mitski's announced her eighth album, Nothing’s About to Happen to Me, on a note of anxious claustrophobia. Its insistent guitar chug harks back to the indie rock of Bury Me at Makeout Creek, but the song doesn't stay there for long, melting into a foreboding orchestral swell and chorus of wordless voices. The video for "Where’s My Phone?" cranks up the tone of paranoia and psychic unease. Inspired by Shirley Jackson's novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, it shows our protagonist prowling around a gothic house, her mental state slowly unraveling until she entirely loses her cool on an outsider who dares to breach her sanctuary. 

New Music: 2005

           

The Academy Is…, are back has recorded their first new album in eighteen years, titled "Almost There," and will be putting it out this March. In the meantime, here is the first single from the album, "2005," which is a paean both to that year and still being around more than 20 years later. The video has been edited and directed by Tyler Common. 

New Music: Not Today

           

Legendary Kim Gordon announces new album "Play Me" and shares its first single "Not Today", a more focused and confident album, the third in her solo career, also accompanied of a fantastic video Directed by Kate & Laura Mulleavy. Gordon's third album will be out on March 13. 

News: Kim Gordon Announces New Album

Legendary Kim Gordon has announced details of her third solo album, "Play Me", according to the former Sonic Youth icon, her third studio album will be out on March 13 via Matador. Produced by Justin Raisen. 

About the album, Kim explained: "We wanted the songs to be short. We wanted to do it really fast. It's more focused, and maybe more confident. I always kind of work off of rhythms, and I knew I wanted it to be even more beat-oriented than the last one. Justin really gets my voice and my lyrics and he understands how I work – that came forth even more on this record."

Kim is also releasing a new single "Not Today" and said about: I started singing in a way I hadn't sung in a long time. This other voice came out." Below tracklisting. 

Play Me Tracklist: 

1. Play Me

2. Girl With A Look

3. No Hands

4. Black Out

5. Dirty Tech

6. Not Today

7. Busy Bee

8. Square Jaw

9. Subcon

10. Post Empire

11. Nail Biter

12. ByeBye25! 

New Music: Slumber Party

           

Brigitte Calls Me Baby shares their new single "Slumber Party" a beautiful indie rock banger with lead singer Wes Leavins' signature, soon-worthy vocals. The song is the lead single off the band's forthcoming album Irreversible, due arrive on March 13 via ATO Records. Another song hitting for nostalgia of the good days of yore, with steady drums and jangly guitar as a reminder of their indie influences, The track explores the human psyche, Leavins shared that he "wrote that song thinking about the type of people who isolate and ruminate, to the point where it becomes a chore to leave the home.". The video direction credits belongs to Alec Basse.

Rocktrospectiva: The Slicker And Succesful "Different Light" Turns 40

Released on 13 January 1986, "Different Light" was the 2nd., studio album by the US pop rock band The Bangles. The band recorded the album in 1985 with producer David Kahne. Its Top 40 sound was a departure from the Bangles' earlier 1960s-style rock and roll sound. It was the band most successful album, reaching number two on the Billboard 200 and producing five charting singles, including the Billboard Hot 100 top two hits "Manic Monday" and "Walk Like an Egyptian", other singles released were "If She Knew What She Wants", "Walking Down Your Street" & "Following". 

The Bangles transformed from a critically acclaimed but little-known group to one of the biggest bands on the planet. It took place on the album Different Light, which took the quartet to the stratospherehe of pop music, but before that, at least originally, the band featured more of a raw, rocking sound. Their 1984 debut album All Over The Place contained nine originals out of 11 songs on the record, including five songs that were written solely by bassist Vicki Peterson. Peterson shared vocals pretty evenly with Susannah Hoffs. Sound-wise, they hearkened back to 60s garage rock and power pop on the album.

A confluence of events helped change their sound and commercial prospects. First, Prince took a shine to them, and he offered them a song called "Manic Monday" that was pretty much ready to heat and serve. That song featured a softer, more pop-friendly tone than the first record. In addition to that, the band's writers just didn't have as many original songs in the hopper that seemed single-worthy. Producer David Kahne saw the opportunity to take advantage of the anticipated burst of popularity. He commissioned some other songs that seemed perfect for mid-80s pop radio. Kahne also took the playing out of the band's hands on these tracks, heavily relying on session instrumentalists to fill out the sound

The Bangles also struck gold on MTV with a series of increasingly popular videos.  It's understandable that The Bangles might not have loved the cover songs being chosen as the key singles. But they deserve credit for putting their stamp on them in undeniable fashion. Susannah Hoffs, who became the unofficial voice of the group because of her prominence on the big hits, deserved a lot of credit for that. Indeed this was the beginning of the end for the band, cause the media's focus on her would cause problems for the band down the line.

Hoffs injected sultriness into the narrator's harried tale in "Manic Monday". She captures the pathos in Jules Shear's lovely character sketch "If She Knew What She Wants". And she runs wild with the final verse of the novelty "Walk Like An Egyptian". But Hoffs' leads wouldn't have proven quite so effective without the gorgeous harmony vocals provided by the other members of the band Vicki Peterson, her drummer sister Debbi Peterson, and bassist Michael Steele. The album tracks might not pop like the singles, but they’ve got heart and style. Steele's solo lead on the downcast "Following" stands out from that pack. Their hearts might have belonged to a different musical era. But Different Light proved that The Bangles were right on time.

The Californian quartet's spare '60s-influenced pop/rock  got a facelift from producer Kahne, who shepherded the band's shift toward a more emphatic pop sensibility by focusing on a lusher, more layered vocal sound. The album less hook-happy song structure and more modernized production than the Bangles' 1984 debut All Over the Place,  covering their roots without burying them ten feet under.  Different Light was perceived as a slicker, more commercial move for the Bangles at the time of its release, it sounded surprisingly fresh in hindsight, added that the band's "'60s-style pop melodies and classic rock references ... were deftly matched with the then-current new wave and rock rhythms of the early '80s.

 

Different Light Track List: 

 

1. Manic Monday

2. In A Different Light

3. Walking Down Your Street

4. Walk Like An Egyptian

5. Standing In The Hallway

6. Return Post

7. If She Knew What She Wants 

8. Let It Go

9. September Gurls

10. Angels Don't Fall In Love

11. Following

12. Not Like You

New Music: Blue Monday

           

Matt Berninger releases his cover of New Order's 1983 classic "Blue Monday" to all streaming platforms after an exclusive Amazon Music run last September. The National frontman has been including the song in his live sets during his 2025 tour supporting his second solo album, "Get Sunk", and New Order has long been one of his favourite bands. Berninger's version strips away the driving electronic beats of the original, replacing them with live instrumentation that centres his distinctive baritone voice. Recorded at Knobworld in Los Angeles with the same musicians from "Get Sunk": Sean O'Brien on electric guitar and production, Garret Lang on bass, Julia Laws on synthesizers and backing vocals, and Sterling Laws on drums and percussion. Jannick Frampton assisted with recording.

Rocktrospectiva: The Satisfying "Valhalla Dancehall" Turns 15

Originally released on 10 January in the UK/Europe and 11 January 2011in the United States, "Valhalla Dancehall" was the 4th., studio album from the Brighton-based indie rock band Sea Power, then known as "British Sea Power". The album spawned three singles "Living Is So Easy", "Who's In Control" & "Georgie Ray". 

 

The album was recorded in South East England and on the Isle of Skye, and produced by British Sea Power and Graham Sutton. Regarding the album's title, the band have merely stated that "Valhalla Dancehall" is possibly "just a glorified farmhouse that sometimes runs out of oil.

Possible the greatest achievement of Brighton's British Sea Power is to have something approximating a stable, modest, and a normal career. Viewed fondly by the music press but never hyped to the heavens, making accessible music but clearly unburdened by the desire to write a hit, eccentric but never preposterous, their three previous albums proper have each scored strong reviews and incrementally higher chart positions and fourth set Valhalla Dancehall seemed profoundly unlikely to buck that trend.

Mixing the sort of luminescently sinister ballads that have stood the band in good stead throughout their career with chaotic, colourful smears of guitar rock, this was an album that neither treaded water nor reinvented the wheel. Instead, it saw the band continued their stately, unruffled progress. On tracks like "Who's in Control?", "Georgie Ray" and "Living is So Easy" the band warped the music to match the words; stormy, elastic squalls of incandescent sound that lack the hooky polish of the band's early material, yet seethe and churn with greater force. 

Valhalla Dancehall’s opening track, "Who's in Control," retained most of the previous record’s intensity and landed somewhere between the Clash and Arcade Fire. But the song, as it turns out, was something of a red herring: it’s not so much that this record was a radical change in sound from the last one, more that it's kind of stylistically all over the place. There were some tracks that wouldn't have sounded at all out of place on Rock Music, but there were also nods to the revved-up punk of their 2003 debut and more hushed balladeering than any of their previous work. 

Even when British Sea Power blowed their sound up to stadium proportions, this album did not feel forced. The way the hazy production blends softens the overdriven guitars on some of the louder tracks on Valhalla can make a lot of these songs run together, but there’s no denying that  "Georgie Bay" and "Observe the Skies" there were fine pieces of songwriting. It was the ballads, however, that truly shone here. The gorgeous "Luna" showcases Yan's airy, breathy voice, which, as it turns out, is more well-suited to the ballads than the rockers. The standout track is  "Living is So Easy," a likeable pastiche of mid-'80s Cure and mid-'90s U2.

The early part of the record succeeded largely because it doesn't stick with one sound for too long, but too many mid-tempo tracks towards the end—including the unnecessarily 11-minutes-long "Once More Now"—made the record feel longer than it is, which was a shame, because an album with this many winners shouldn't feel like a chore to listen to.

For many, the diversity in sound worked to British Sea Power's advantage, but it also left the album feeling weirdly unsatisfying. It’s not that any of this is bad—quite the opposite, actually—but this record doesn't feel as complete as their others. 

Unfortunately this was a band with big ambitions but not too much hype, which often makes them come across as unpretentious and unassuming, but what’s missing here that made their last few records great is a sense of purpose. Valhalla Dancehall was a solid album, but for so many that didn't matter.

 

Valhalla Dancehall Track List: 

 

1. Who's In Control

2. We Are Sound

3. Georgie Ray

4. Stunde Null

5. Mongk II

6. Luna

7. Baby

8. Living Is So Easy

9. Observe The Skies

10. Cleaning Out The Rooms

11. Thin Black Sail

12. Once More Now

13. Heavy Water

New Music: Always The Same

          

Cate Le Bon teams up with St. Vincent on new single "Always The Same" The collaboration arrives following Cate Le Bon's 2025 album Michelangelo Dying and ahead of her North American tour. The release follows Le Bon's 2025 album Michelangelo Dying, and lands just days before she begins a North American tour next week. While the song was written during the same creative period as the album, Le Bon describes it as a piece that ultimately sat just outside its final shape. Speaking about the track, Le Bon explained that Always The Same needed a little more elbow room than the album would allow, describing it as a close relative to Michelangelo Dying rather than a direct extension of it. She added that the collaboration holds particular significance due to St. Vincent’s presence on the song, praising her composure and gravitas as a counterpoint to the emotional terrain Le Bon explores. The track captures two artists with a shared experimental instinct, each bringing their own perspective without overpowering the other. It marks a rare recorded collaboration between the pair and offers a glimpse into the wider creative world surrounding Michelangelo Dying. The Visualiser was filmed by H. Hawkline

New Music: Designed To Lose

           

The Twilight Sad have been a frequent opener for The Cure in recent years, and there's definitely something very Cure-ish about their brand new single "Designed to Lose", The band's upcoming album, It's the Long Goodbye, is their first in seven years, and emerges from a heavy place. Graham lost his mother to dementia during that time period, while also becoming a father and wrestling with mental health issues. Their forthcoming album comprises ten tracks, the artwork has a similar feel to the previous album around seven years ago, presumably it will be out at the end of March.

New Music: Make-Up Is A Lie

           

Finally the so-called Morrissey comeback has finally arrived. A single, "Make-Up Is A Lie," arrived today. The song, co-written with keyboardist Camila Grey, leads an album of the same name that marks Morrissey's return to the Warner label Sire and his reunion with producer Joe Chiccarelli. That will be out on March 6. 

News: Morrissey Announces New Album And Title Track

Finally, Morrissey returns with a new track, "Make-up Is A Lie", ahead of his first album in over five years, The new album, which is released on March 6 by Sire. About this latest single, it was a song, co-written with keyboardist Camila Grey and includes a Roxy Music cover. 

The rest of the album was recorded at Studio La Fabrique in the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence region of Southern France by producer Joe Chiccarelli

The album – available to pre-order here– will be available on vinyl, CD and digitally. Vinyl album variants include Blue vinyl and a unique Zoetrope picture disc. A Red vinyl pressing will be available exclusively through all Indie retail stores.

The tracklisting for the album is:

"You're Right, It's Time"

"Make-up is a Lie"
"Notre-Dame"
"Amazona" (Roxy Music cover)

"Headache"

"Boulevard"
"Zoom Zoom the Little Boy"

"The Night Pop Dropped"
"Kerching Kerching"

"Lester Bangs"

"Many Icebergs Ago"
"The Monsters of Pig Alley"

Rocktrospectiva: "Blackstar" The Final Masterpiece By David Bowie Turns 10

Released on 8 January 2019, "Blackstar" was the 26th., and final studio album by English musician David Bowie, on his 69th., birthday. The album was recorded in secret in New York City with his longtime co-producer Tony Visconti and a group of local jazz musicians: Donny McCaslin (saxophone), Jason Lindner (piano), Tim Lefebvre (bass) and Mark Guiliana (drums). Ben Monder and James Murphy contributed additional guitar and percussion, respectively. The album contained the singles "Lazarus", "Blackstar" & "I Can't Give Everything Away".

More experimental than its predecessor The Next Day (2013), Blackstar combines atmospheric art rock with various styles of jazz. Bowie took inspiration from artists including Kendrick Lamar and Death Grips, listening to them during the album's production. The album's lyrics feature themes of death, with many songs being told from the perspective of the dead or dying. The cover art, designed by Jonathan Barnbrook, features a large black star with five star segments at the bottom that spell out the word Bowie.

The album was preceded by the singles "Blackstar" and "Lazarus", both of which were supported by music videos. Two days after its release, Bowie died following a private 18-month battle with liver cancer; Visconti described the album as a parting gift for his fans after his death. Upon release, the album was met with commercial success, topping charts in many countries, including the United Kingdom, following Bowie's death, and became his only album to top the Billboard 200 in the United States. It was the fifth-best-selling album of the year worldwide.

David Bowie released his twenty-fifth studio album The Next Day in March 2013. It was his first studio release in ten years after retreating from the public view in 2004. A critical and commercial success, it topped the album charts in twenty countries, including the United Kingdom, and gave Bowie his highest chart placement ever in the United States at number two. The successes of The Next Day and the David Bowie Is exhibition, which opened in London the same year, prompted Bowie to be more active in the studio throughout 2014. Between May and July 2014, Bowie collaborated with the bandleader and composer Maria Schneider on the experimental jazz song "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)". It features Schneider's orchestra and an ensemble including the saxophonist Donny McCaslin and the drummer Mark Guiliana.

In June 2014, Bowie demoed new songs with his longtime producer Tony Visconti, the drummer Zachary Alford and the pianist Jack Spann at the Magic Shop in New York City, where The Next Day was recorded. Throughout the summer, Bowie worked on the demos alone for several months. During this time, he recorded "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" as a home demo, which appeared as the B-side of "Sue" in November. The same year, Bowie began writing a musical, Lazarus, with the Irish playwright Enda Walsh, composing new songs for it such as "No Plan", "When I Met You", "Killing a Little Time" and "The Hunger" (later titled "Lazarus").

Apart from Visconti, Blackstar was the first time since Tin Machine (1989) that Bowie used a completely new set of musicians from the previous album. Visconti told Mojo: "If we'd used Bowie's former musicians they would be rock people playing jazz ... Having jazz guys play rock music turns it upside down." In December, the musicians received demos from Bowie in preparation for the recording sessions at the start of the new year.

Recording began at the Magic Shop in the first week of 2015. Tracks for both Blackstar and the Lazarus musical were recorded: "Lazarus", "No Plan", a re-recording of "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" and "When I Met You". Most of the rhythm tracks were recorded in one or two takes. During the week, Bowie celebrated his 68th birthday. Following the January sessions, further recording commenced in blocks; according to the biographer Nicholas Pegg, they lasted four to six days each, taking place in the first week of February and the third week of March. Bowie emailed the musicians demos before each session.

The February sessions yielded "Dollar Days", "Girl Loves Me", "Someday" and a re-recording of "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)", "Dollar Days" was created without a preliminary demo, instead being devised on the spot in the studio based on a guitar idea from Bowie. Visconti said Bowie wanted to remake "Sue" to "make a different version of it, with a completely different flavour". For the March sessions, the band were joined by the jazz guitarist Ben Monder, who played on the original recording of "Sue". Monder found the environment to be positive, saying that Bowie respected their ideas and contributions. Songs recorded included "Blackstar", "I Can't Give Everything Away", "Killing a Little Time" and a remake of "Someday" (now titled "Blaze"). Bowie performed his vocals live while the band played during the Magic Shop sessions, but moved to Human Worldwide Studios in April for proper recording. The majority of his vocals were recorded from scratch between April and May, although some vocals from the Magic Shop sessions were kept, including part of "I Can't Give Everything Away" and the full vocal for "No Plan". Visconti's assistant at Human Worldwide, Erin Tonkon, contributed backing vocals to "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore". The album was finished by June, after which Bowie continued preparations for the Lazarus musical.

Bowie recorded Blackstar while suffering from liver cancer. He had been diagnosed in the summer of 2014 and was undergoing chemotherapy treatments by the time the sessions began in January 2015. He kept the illness private, only discussing it when it affected his work; Visconti did not learn of it until Bowie arrived at the studio immediately following a chemo session. Visconti recalled that despite his illness, Bowie was in high spirits throughout the sessions: "He was so brave and courageous ... and his energy was still incredible for a man who had cancer. He never showed any fear. He was just all business about making the album." Visconti reportedly told the backing band that Bowie was unwell, although Lefebvre said that he never appeared sick. According to Pegg, Bowie's illness showed signs of remission as the sessions continued. By March, his hair had grown back, and he looked well. Monder, during his time in the studio, recalled that Bowie looked healthy and showed no signs of illness. He recalled Bowie being "really enthusiastic" and "very excited" to be making an album again. Throughout 2015, Bowie was optimistic as he continued chemotherapy and, by that summer, was in remission. By November, however, shortly after completing the "Lazarus" music video, Bowie told Visconti the cancer had returned, and his condition was terminal.

The music on Blackstar has been characterised as incorporating art rock, experimental jazz, free jazz, progressive rock and experimental rock, with elements of industrial rock, folk-pop and hip-hop.Several critics acknowledged the album as Bowie's most experimental in years. Blackstar was not the first time Bowie experimented with jazz. He was an avid jazz listener in his youth, having been exposed to the genre by his older half-brother Terry Burns, and had occasionally worked with jazz musicians in the past. Monder said that there were many musical references to Bowie's past on Blackstar, albeit "presented in a fresh context".

According to Visconti, he and Bowie deliberately attempted "to avoid rock'n'roll" while making the album. They listened to the rapper Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly, released midway through the Blackstar recording sessions, and cited it as an influence. Visconti said, "We wound up with nothing like that, but we loved the fact that Kendrick was so open-minded and he didn't do a straight-up hip-hop record. He threw everything on there, and that's exactly what we wanted to do." Another record that influenced Bowie was D'Angelo's Black Messiah (2014). According to Pegg, it featured a fusion of soul, jazz and funk that was reminiscent of Bowie's work on "Sue". The electronic duo Boards of Canada and experimental hip hop trio Death Grips have also been cited as influences.

Blackstar featured themes of death throughout. The songs contain narrators and characters who offer different perspectives, and many of the songs are told from the perspective of the dead or dying. The album's title track incorporates nu jazz and free jazz, while progressing through a drum and bass-style rhythm, an acid house-inspired portion of the instrumental, a saxophone solo and a lower-tempo blues-like section. At ten minutes in length, it originally began as two separate melodies before being merged to one single piece. The re-recording of "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" features a hip hop beat and free-form sax, unlike the original recording, Bowie's vocals are also less subdued and more sociable.

"Lazarus" was described by Pegg as "an intense, brooding threnody", with a groove compared to latter-day Massive Attack. Sung from the perspective of Thomas Jerome Newton, the alien played by Bowie in the 1976 film The Man Who Fell to Earth, the narrator is living in solitude in New York City reflecting on a lifetime of lavish living. Compared to the original version of "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)", which featured brass-heavy instrumentation and a bebop-jazz arrangement, the remake has a heavier, denser and "edgier groove", with added funk rock guitar lines and "percussive shudders". The lyrics are ambiguous as to whether it is a farewell or a murder confession.

"Girl Loves Me" featured synthesisers, "acrobatic" drumming, strings and "bouncing" bass. The song includes Nadsat, a fictional language created by Anthony Burgess for his novel A Clockwork Orange (1962), and Polari, a type of slang used commonly by British gay men during the mid-20th century. The refrain, "Where the fuck did Monday go?", was interpreted by Pegg as the kind of desperation from a man who knows his time is running out. Bonner compared the fragmented lyrics to the cut-up techniques Bowie utilised on the albums Diamond Dogs (1974) and Outside (1995).

"Dollar Days" was a ballad that contained a sax solo and a lush arrangement; The lyrics suggested a desire to challenge expectations and possibly deceive ("I'm dying to / Push their backs against the grain / And fool them all again and again"). Pareles noted the deceptive way Bowie challenges his listeners by either adopting a new persona or being genuine. The final track, "I Can't Give Everything Away", is built on "pulsing synthesisers" and "tightly-wound percussion". Bowie plays a harmonica solo similar to the one from Low's "A New Career in a New Town" (1977). he scholar Leah Kardos believed that the harmonica motif signified "transition and frontiersmanship". Another scholar, Alice Masterson, noted that both "I Can't Give Everything Away" and "A New Career in a New Town" contain themes of "moving from one state of being to another".

The artwork for Blackstar was designed by Jonathan Barnbrook, who filled the same role on Heathen (2002), Reality (2003) and The Next Day. The cover depicts a five-pointed star: black on white for the CD edition and all-black with a cut-out star on the vinyl release, which revealed the grooves of the record beneath. The cover's star image is credited to NASA in the CD booklet. The sleeve was the only Bowie sleeve not to feature an image of the artist himself.

Originally intended for release on 30 October 2015, Blackstar was released on 8 January 2016, coinciding with Bowie's 69th birthday, through his ISO label, Columbia Records and Sony Music. Two days later on 10 January, Bowie died of liver cancer; his illness had not been revealed to the public until then. Promotion and marketing continued following his death. Blackstar received widespread acclaim as Bowie's most musically challenging album in decades, with critics praising the music, themes and performances of the backing band. It received three Grammy Awards and the Brit Award for British Album of the Year in 2017. It was listed as one of the best albums of 2016 and later of the 2010s decade by numerous publications. The work was re-analysed following Bowie's death, with critics and fans reinterpreting its lyrics, title and artwork as hinting at the artist's demise. Blackstar has since been described by publications and commentators as one of Bowie's best albums, a perfect farewell to his fans and one of the best final albums ever. 

 

Blackstar Track List: 

 

1. Blackstar

2. 'Tis A Pity She Was A Whore

3. Lazarus

4. Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)

5. Girl Loves Me

6. Dollar Days

7. I Can't Give Everything Away