Meg Washington - GEM
GEM is the fifth studio album from Meg Washington. Typical of Meg's genre-defying work and her ever-expanding palette, GEM is a country-tinged record of psychedelic folk songs, and marks a turning point for the platinum-selling artist
Meg on GEM: “GEM is a concept album, set on a treasure island. It’s been a creative oasis, a beautiful and isolated dreamscape crafted with my friend and collaborator, Ben Edgar. These songs formed as notes that I wrote to myself, a journal I kept while considering the question of music in these times. The answer, when it came, was simple. I sing because it’s in my nature. In every sense, this record is about nature. Human nature, animal nature, and my own nature as an artist, parent and person. We took a simple approach to production. We used very few machines.”
The Beths - Straight Line Was A Lie
The path from The Beths’ critically celebrated and year-end-list-topping 2022 album Expert In A Dying Field to Straight Line Was A Lie was anything but straightforward. For the first time, Stokes was struggling to write new songs beyond fragments she’d recorded on her phone. She’d recently started taking an SSRI, which on one hand made her feel like she could “fix” everything broken in her life, from her mental and physical health to fraught family dynamics. At the same time, writing wasn’t coming as easily as it had before.
With Straight Line Was A Lie, Stokes and Pearce broke down the typical Beths writing process, opening themselves up to a wave of creative input, with Stokes’ free-flowing writing routine proving to be therapeutic. Already a celebrated lyricist, Stokes has long impressed fans and critics with catchy, instant-classic turns of phrase that capture the personal and ladder up to the universal. But Stokes’ intentional deconstruction and rebuilding of her relationship to writing, however, has resulted in a complete renewal. Her songwriting has achieved startling new depths of insight and vulnerability, making Straight Line Was A Lie the most sharply observant, truthful, and poetic Beths project to date.
Harold Lopez - Nussa Nueva Timba
On NUEVA TIMBA, the new Blue Note album from Cuban-born pianist Harold López-Nussa, the jazz vanguard meets multiple eras of Cuba’s musical history with results that are at once accessible, life-affirming, and strikingly accomplished. The album, which will be released Sept. 5, features a core of unmatched talent—Harold’s brother, Ruy Adrian López-Nussa, on drums; Luques Curtis on bass; and the harmonica virtuoso Grégoire Maret—and presents a definitive vision for the future of Latin jazz. López-Nussa has also shared the album’s lead single “Bonito y Sabroso,” a vibrant modernization of a Benny Moré classic that adds psychedelic hues with electronics and the beat-making of José Angel Blanco, a.k.a. El Negro WADPRO.
Hog Meets Frog - The Urbanizer
Lyrically dystopian and musically unhinged, “The Urbanizer (You Know Where The Flowers Have Gone)" is a darkly groovy critique of ecological collapse and unchecked urban sprawl—told from the perspective of the “urbanizer” himself, a concrete deity paving over the planet.
Emma Louis & Flume - Dumb
Emma Louise & Flume team up for a 10-track collaborative album, DUMB. Emma Louise finds new edges with this album, wrapping her intimate songwriting in Flume’s glitchy, wide-screen production.
Gwen Lestor’s New Muse 4tet - Keepers Of The Flame
Gwen Laster was contemplating Joseph Campbell’s book “The Hero's Journey" one day, and found herself wondering if there was a ‘Hero's Journey’ for African Americans. It turned out that there was, and Clyde W Ford’s “The Hero With an African Face” became not only a personal inspiration but also a direct influence on Gwen Laster’s New Muse 4tet’s upcoming album Keepers of the Flame (May 10, 2025, self-release). Born in October 2015 and founded by Violinist/Composer Laster, Gwen Laster’s New Muse 4tet’s artistic expression speaks to the people as an improvising 4tet offering 20th and 21st-century new works and original compositions as a vehicle for social activism. Commissioned by Arts Mid Hudson, Gwen’s "Black Lives Matter Suite" premiered shortly after the inception of New Muse 4tet and continues to draw in audiences and critical acclaim. As traditionally trained players who evolved into improvisers and composers, they are rooted in the philosophy that improvisation is the highest form of freedom and create dialogue, self-expression, and original works steeped in music from the African diaspora.
Harvested - Dysthymia
Canadian death metal quartet Harvested is proud to announce their new album “Dysthymia”, set for release on August 1st, 2025. The nine-track record showcases the band's evolution from their 2022 demo debut, delivering a devastating blend of technical death metal, brutal death metal, and old-school stylings.
Recorded over nearly three years, “Dysthymia” features the core lineup of Mitchi Dimitriadis (guitars), Adam Semler (vocals), Eric Forget (bass), and Jacob Collins (drums). The album was produced by Harvested with mixing and mastering by Joe Lyko of Darkmoon Productions, achieving a modern sound while staying rooted in the foundational elements of death metal.
Garaj Mahal - Rotifier
When you hear your first Garaj Mahal note, leading into an innovative fusion of funky jazz with a tasty world music flare, all other thoughts leave your mind as the music takes you on an unforgettable voyage. Fans return almost compulsively to hear Garaj Mahal because they know they will always hear something new, progressive, and audience-involved from these four first-class musicians. Between Kai Eckhardt (bass), Fareed Haque (guitars), Hassan Hurd (drums), and Oz Ezzeldin (keyboards), Garaj Mahal combines a century of musical experience to create a sound evolution unclassifiable and always smoking hot.
Backstreet Blues Band - Blue
The Backstreet Blues Band is a dynamic blues outfit with a foot-stomping, juke-joint thumping sound that incorporates elements of blues, swing, rockabilly, and country. Hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, the band features veteran musicians like Harpman Brantt Hamilton on harmonica and vocals, Buddy "the Guy" Collura on guitar and vocals, Tony "Sevvy" Severino on bass, and Bubba Ruscin on drums. Their live performances are known for being exciting and engaging, showcasing their hard-driving slide guitar and amplified harmonica. Another notable "Backstreet Blues Band" associated with Chicago blues is that of the late Vance Kelly, known for his unique blend of electric blues, R&B, and funk.
Kokoroko - Just Can't Wait
London-based Jazz collective Kokoroko release “Just Can’t Wait” - the latest taste of their forthcoming second studio album Tuff Times Never Last, conveying a feeling of exuberance, celebration and high spirits. They have a soulful and optimistic meditation on memory, reconciliation and renewed love after a period of hardship. The band pays homage to the Brit-funk sounds of British bands, the 80s jazz-funk stylings, all the while subtly incorporating elements of Ghanaian highlife and Congolese guitars—each brought vividly to life through Tobi Adenaike’s expressive guitar work.
BALTHVS - Flesh and Soul
Colombian psych-funk trio BALTHVS return with “Flesh and Soul,” a four-track collection of introspective grooves and hypnotic rhythms. The title track moves with a melancholic pulse, intimate yet cinematic in scope. Following five years of non-stop touring and standout festival appearances - including Outside Lands, Electric Forest, Lollapalooza Chile & Argentina, and SXSW - BALTHVS are set to expand their live presence across North America this summer.
Joshua Redman - Words Fall Short
The quartet formed as a working band for the world tour behind Redman’s 2023 label debut where are we, performing steadily on the road and developing a vibe that inspired the saxophonist to bring them into the studio to record a set of music he had composed during the pandemic. Cornish, Norris, and Ebo impress on each of the album’s eight originals, which embrace the shifting moods of wistfulness, sadness, and resolve. While the musicians have moments to emerge and take the spotlight, they also provide a distinctive ensemble personality, one in which spontaneity and sensitivity keep the music fluid yet coherent.
Dr. Fairest Hill - Roll With It
Dr. Fairest Hill is an international motivational speaker, an author, and son of the great gospel legend, Tessie Hill. Dr. Fairest Hill was mentored by the late Dr. Myles Munroe, who he traveled with globally for 25 years. Growing up in Detroit, Dr. Fairest Hill was labeled as a Special Education student but went from being functionally illiterate to earning a master’s degree in business administration, and a doctoral degree in Theology. Dr. Hill shares with students around the world that it is, “All about your attitude.” Dr. Fairest Hill has spoken to over one million youth and mentored more than five thousand, and he was given a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from former president Barack Obama. Dr. Fairest Hill is known to have an incredibly unique way of reaching our youth, blending music and motivational spoken words to capture their attention. Dr. Fairest Hill is currently on his international “Roll Wit It” Tour, with a focus on youth empowerment and leadership training. “As I speak around the world, and in schools, I sense that there is such a great amount of calamity, fear and restlessness, with many students suffering from mental illness. This song really addresses the need, and the solution to the challenges that everyone is faced with. Also, our schools are experiencing a tremendous number of cutbacks, with positions of teachers, counselors, and enrichment programs that help to empower students being at risk. It is our hope that the funds we raise on this “Roll Wit It” tour can keep mentorships, empowerment programs and staff development programs going, to encourage the students and school staff to believe that no matter how things are, everything is going to work out, every problem has an expiration date, so just roll with it Roll Wit It!
NYO Jazz with Sean Jones and Alicia Olatuja - Live in Johannesburg
Recorded at South Africa’s historic Market Theatre, the album features artistic director and bandleader/trumpeter Sean Jones and vocalist Alicia Olatuja and includes special appearances by South African artists Romy Brauteseth (bass) and Linda Sikhakhane (saxophone). One of Carnegie Hall’s three critically-acclaimed national youth ensembles, NYO Jazz—comprising 22 outstanding young musicians ages 16–19 from across the United States—showcases the legacy and bright future of American jazz. Created in 2018 by the Hall’s Weill Music Institute, NYO Jazz annually brings together some of the nation’s finest teen jazz musicians to train, perform, and tour with world-class jazz masters while also serving as music ambassadors for their country, sharing America’s greatest artform with audiences around the globe.