New Mix: Weezer, The Jayhawks, Colin Stetson, More
Clockwise from upper left: Weezer, Margaret Glaspy, Oh Pep!, The Jayhawks Courtesy of the artists hide caption
On this week's All Songs Considered, hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton share a mix of new songs by veteran artists and shiny premieres from up-and-coming bands. Robin leads off the show with a cut from the country-folk flavored alternative rock group The Jayhawks, while Bob wheels out a premiere by the Australian band Oh Pep!. Robin follows with new music from one of his most beloved bands, Weezer, a group that put out his favorite album of 2014, Everything Will Be Alright In The End, and returns with another solid collection of new songs, including the Beach Boy-inspired "Endless Bummer," which you'll hear alongside more new music from singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy, a heavily cathartic rock song from the Toronto four-piece Greys and an excerpt from saxophonist Colin Stetson's re-imagining of Górecki's Third Symphony.
Songs Featured On This Episode
The Jayhawks
- Song: Ace
- from Paging Mr. Proust
After putting out records for 30 years, The Jayhawks' leader Gary Louris gave himself a simple challenge: Write a two-chord song about love and sex. He does that and more on "Ace" with the help of train sounds and a 1970s-era drum machine called the Rhythm Ace.
Paging Mr. Proust is out April 29 on Thirty Tigers.
Margaret Glaspy
- Song: Emotions And Math
- from Emotions And Math
Margaret Glaspy is a great young singer-songwriter that Bob desperately tried to see at SXSW. Her new song "Emotions and Math," the title track of her debut album, deals with the idea that emotions and math both swirl inside humans to make for life as we know it.
Emotions and Math is out June 17 on ATO. You can pre-order the album from Amazon here and iTunes here.
Weezer
- Song: Endless Bummer
- from Weezer (White Album)
Even hardcore, early Weezer fans who fell out with the band at some point in the last 20 years agree that the band has been in a period of amazing creative output, with the 2014 album Everything Will Be Alright In The End and, now, its fourth self-titled record. On Weezer (White Album), the band channels mid-1960s Beach Boys and other great beach-ready rock and pop to make summer songs like this one, "Endless Bummer."
Weezer (White Album) is out now.
Oh Pep!
- Song: Doctor Doctor
- from Stadium Cake
Bob could not stop raving about this Australian band after seeing it play at Americana Music Fest and CMJ in 2015. Written quickly, "Doctor Doctor" deals with the idea of knowing what you want even if it isn't what you need.
Oh Pep!'s debut album, Stadium Cake, is out June 24 on Dualtone.
Greys
- Song: Blown Out
- from Outer Heaven
Greys is a four-piece from Toronto that makes intense, loud, thrashy rock that is totally cathartic. The drum break midway through the song puts it over the top for Robin.
Outer Heaven is out April 22 on Carpark Records.
Colin Stetson
- Song: III
- from Sorrow: A Reimagining Of Górecki's Third Symphony
Saxophonist Colin Stetson has made plenty of mind-blowing music, but he takes it to another level on his new record, an interpretation of Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3, one of the most popular pieces of classical music of the twentieth century. Stetson is joined by a stellar cast of musicians including violinist Sarah Neufeld, his sister Megan Stetson on vocals and Liturgy's Greg Fox on drums.
Sorrow: A Reimagining Of Górecki's 3rd Symphony is out April 8 on 52hz.