San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Summer tunes and something for Christmas
The Chronicle’s guide to notable new music.
NEW ALBUMS
Margo Price, “That’s How Rumors Get Started” (Loma Vista): The countryleaning star’s third album is as much Southern rock as anything, especially on tracks like “Twinkle Twinkle” and “Heartless Mind.” Think of the record as somewhere between Kacey Musgraves and Sheryl Crow.
She also released a live album, “Perfectly Imperfect at the Ryman,” in May, with the profits going toward the MusiCares COVID19 Relief Fund.
Z Berg, “Get Z to a Nunnery”: (Metropolitan Indian) The Los Angeles singersongwriter has jumped from band to band over the course of her career (first the Like, formed in high school, then JJAMZ, then Phases). Now, Z Berg is ready for her first effort as a solo artist, and it is filled with delicate, dark ballads, often set to strings, like the soundtrack to heartbreak. Her duet with Panic! At the Disco founder Ryan Ross, “The Bad List,” should be on sad Christmas playlists everywhere.
Quinn XCII, “A Letter to My Younger Self ” (Columbia): The Michiganraised singersongwriter and rapper may be just the artist for 2020; his entire mood screams “summer, but sad.” As the title — and the titular track, featuring the rapper Logic — may indicate, it’s a backwardfacing record, with tracks about high school quasiromances (“Stacy”) and asking parents for $20 to go out (“Two 10s”).
Rufus Wainwright, “Unfollow the Rules” (BMG): The baroque pop star’s latest is his first full album of originals since 2012’s “Out of the Game,” but he’s been very busy in the meantime: His first opera got a revival, his second opera debuted in Canada, and he released an album halfwritten by Shakespeare (“Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets”).
Song topics on “Unfollow” range from addiction to the music business, but they’re all tied together by the love for his husband, for his daughter, and on “Only the People That Love,” the world.
Mike Shinoda, “Dropped Frames, Vol. 1” (Kenji Kobayashi Productions): The Linkin Park colead vocalist tapped into the creativity of his fan base, collaborating with fans as he created music on the live streaming outlet Twitch. The product is an album of mostly instrumentals, except the lead track “Open Door,” which combines the vocals of seven stream participants on the chorus. “Super Galaxtica,” meanwhile, could be a classic video game soundtrack, while “Channeling Pt. 1” is elevated by the work of guest drummer Dan Mayo.
#ICYMI
GEazy, “Everything’s Strange Here”: (RCA) Released on June 26, the latest from the Oaklandbred rapper focuses mostly on his singing, including on the albumopening cover of the Korgis’ “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime” and a version of David Bowie’s “Lazarus.” Dark ruminations on the pace of society (“Free Porn Cheap Drugs”), a simpler life (“Nostalgia Cycle”) and love lost (“Back to What You Knew”) take the rapper’s music in a more melodic direction.
SONG OF THE MOMENT
Dinner Party featuring Phoelix, “Freeze Tag” (Sounds of Crenshaw/Empire): Dinner Party is the supergroup of saxophonist Kamasi Washington, hiphop producer 9th Wonder, jazz and R&B star Robert Glasper, and musical Swiss Army knife Terrace Martin. The group’s debut album, released on Friday, July 10, includes this stunning single, with vocals from Phoelix and lyrics seemingly written for exactly this moment: “I’ve been looking for a dove, then they told me if I move, they’re gonna shoot me dead,” Phoelix sings, two of the 10 lines he repeats for the length of the song, like the repetitive instances of police overreaction and violence.
YOUR STAYATHOME DANCE BREAK
Ty Dolla $ign featuring Kanye West, FKA twigs and Skrillex, “Ego Death” (Atlantic): The superstar singer/songwriter/rapper/producer put together a festival lineup for this one song, with producer Skrillex’s trunkrattling bass, FKA twigs’ voice dominating the outro and a centerpiece verse from Mr. Kardashian and presidential hopeful Kanye West. Not only is it prime dance material, but also there’s a lot to play with here for eventual remixers.
Robert Spuhler is a Southern California freelance writer.