BY: JOEY REAMS
On Fridays, the world is blessed with new music from a handful of artists. To help you find your next favorite album, we’ve discovered what new alternative and indie albums have been released. This week’s notable artists include Garbage and Sleater-Kinney. Check out the list below:
AFI – Bodies
AFI, the alternative rock band that brought you “Miss Murder,” is back with their 11th studio album, Bodies. This album has been finished for some time now, but the band had to postpone the release due to COVI-19. Interestingly enough, the band has released seven of the eleven songs from the album already, including “Dulceria,” which was co-written by Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins. The songs were released together, such as “Looking Tragic / Begging for Trouble.”
“Anyone who knows our catalog knows that no two records really sit together,” said guitarist Jade Puget. “Some sit a little closer, maybe. We do certain things, just by virtue of who we are, that are consistent, but those things come about organically. Every time we do something, I have to judge it on its own merits. Some fans are going to judge a new album, or a new song, based on what’s come before. But as artists, we can’t do that, because it would only hinder our creativity.”
Azure Ray – Remedy
Azure Ray has released their fifth studio album, Remedy, via Flower Moon Records. This is the band’s first studio album since 2010’s Drawing Down the Moon. This is just the second album from the duo since their split in 2008. Thankfully, Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor decided to get back together for a couple of more albums. If you haven’t heard of this band before, you may recognize their music from several tv shows, including Grey’s Anatomy and The Devil Wears Prada.
“We chose ‘Remedy’ as the title track for our new record because we felt like it spoke to our collective experience of the last year (when this record was written and recorded),” the duo said in a statement. “Many of us experienced grief, anger, isolation, and fear, and in those times when you can’t find solace in your usual places, you have to look for it on the inside. In the end, you are your own source of power, your own source of hope. ‘You’re a remedy, or there’s none.’”
Garbage – No Gods No Masters
Alternative veterans Garbage is back with their seventh studio album, No Gods No Masters via Stunvolume, the band’s own label. This is the band’s first studio album in five years, following 2016′ Strange Little Birds. The band has released three singles from this album already, including “Wolves.” Garbage will head on tour in late 2021 to support this album, along with Alanis Morissette and Blondie.
“This is our seventh record, the significant numerology of which affected the DNA of its content: the seven virtues, the seven sorrows, and the seven deadly sins,” said singer Shirley Manson, describing No Gods No Masters as “a critique of the rise of capitalist short-sightedness, racism, sexism and misogyny across the world.”
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Back the Way We Came: Vol 1 (2011 – 2021)
Noel Gallagher, the other half of what was once Oasis, has taken his own band into the spotlight following the band’s conclusion. The English rocker and his High Flying Birds have released their first greatest hits album spanning the first decade of their existence. Of course, it isn’t very often you get a band with little exposure releasing a greatest hits album. Still, with Gallagher’s notoriety, along with the many hits the band has already, this comes as an exception. This double-sided album features 16 previously released songs and two new songs, “We’re On Our Way Now” and “Flying On the Ground.”
“‘Flying On The Ground’ is literally the best thing I’ve released since the last thing I released,” said Noel Gallagher. “If Burt Bacharach wrote for Motown this is what it would sound like … only not as good … obviously.”
Sleater-Kinney – Path of Wellness
Sleater-Kinney, the Washington state duo consisting of Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein, has released their 10th studio album, Path of Wellness. This is the duo’s first album in 2 years, following 2019’s The Center Won’t Hold. On top of that, the mom and pop-rock duo has announced a co-headlining tour with Wilco and NNAMDÏ opening for two shows. The tour starts on August 5th in Spokane and will continue for only that month.
“I think we were just writing with a sense of seeking out our own truth of the moment,” said Tucker. “Writing has always been a coping mechanism for me to make sense of when I feel really, really overwhelmed. That’s when I’m usually trying to write a song. I think those themes were more about living in that moment than a conscious decision.