Tastes Like New Music Friday: January 21, 2022

A spotty January continues. A week after the latest Elvis Costello dropped to rave reviews (you can also check out our rave review of it), a decidedly weaker week sees some solid releases from a few mid-level bands, but there’s no Weeknd or Costello to be found here.

Ben Bridwell and company are back for their fifth album as Band of Horses. Things Are Great is their first release in nearly six years. Just kidding. This one got delayed until March. Apparently this news was announced a month ago but no one noticed. The life of a mid-level indie band.

Norwegian pop artists AURORA–yes that’s supposed to be all caps–drops her third album, The Gods We Can Touch. So far so good reviews.

Canadian rock band Billy Talent is releasing their first album in six years, and their sixth overall. The band, whose claim to fame has to be that they’re the most nominated band in Much Music Video Award history’s Crisis of Faith is out today.

Aofie (pronounced eee-fa) O’Donovan has a nice write up on her creative process, and new album in the New York Times. Age of Apathy is her first studio LP since 2016’s excellent In the Magic Hour.

More albums coming out today include a remix of Butterfly 3000 from King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard called… Butterfly 3001. Actor Kiefer Sutherland is releasing his THIRD album. Apparently he’s a musician. It’s called Bloor Street and it’s basically a slightly more country Wallflowers. Listen for yourself below.

More releases:

Nightcall – Years and Years
Heavy Steps – Comeback Kid
W – Boris
Havasu – Pedro the Lion
Change the Show – Miles Kane
The Overload – Yard Act
Ghost Stories – The Whitmore Sisters
Good and Green Again – Jake Xerxes Fussell
Dodging Dues – Garcia Peoples

Finally, there’s also a John “Cougar” Mellencamp album dropping. It’s amazing that even in today’s environment where every classic rock artist is still a star that we could get a Mellencamp album with absolutely zero press or attention. It’s not even listed on Metacritic. Strictly a One-Eyed Jack features a couple of songs co-written by Bruce Springsteen.

Oh, and a new Ghost single.