Staff Picks for June 2022
June 30, 2022
A lush and enchanting post-Britpop platter, heaped with wistful melodies and engaging arrangements.
June 29, 2022
One of the most underrated artists of her generation, Poe made her very '90s-appropriate debut with this album, which blends trip-hop beats and alt-rock guitars while channeling Chrissie Hynde, Suzanne Vega, and Tori Amos. Before the artistic surge of her Y2K magnum opus Haunted, this is a peek into the artist's early unpolished sonic ideas, which hold up all these decades later. "Hello," "Trigger Happy Jack," "Angry Johnny," and "Dolphin" are all standouts.
June 28, 2022
One of America's first rockabilly revivalists, Gordon tamed with legendary guitarist Link Wray on his debut, resulting in a solid, evocative tribute to early rock and roll.
June 27, 2022
In the summer of 1983, trumpeter John NcNeil toured Europe as an instructor for the Jamey Aebersold jazz camp. Here, he closes out the tour with a live Copenhagen concert also featuring saxophonist David Liebman. This is fiery post-bop jazz punctuated by moments of dusky, noirish balladry.
June 26, 2022
With the benefit of hindsight, this already-excellent album might catch a well-deserved break, considering the divisive catalog low point that came next. And while their latest WE is a decent return-to-form, it doesn't hit as hard as the band's fourth LP, which finds them experimenting with island percussion and dance rhythms. They even got Bowie on the title track.
June 25, 2022
The seventh full-length effort from the outsider indie-pop gospel music institution, Ships is Daniel Smith's Led Zeppelin 1, 2, 3, and 4 all wrapped up into a giant boot stomp of a record, one that will no doubt please longtime followers and convert a few new ones into the fold.
June 24, 2022
This experimental pop album from Belgian-Australian multi-hyphenate Wally De Backer, widely known as Gotye, is a melting pot of retro sounds and genres. While the collection includes 12 tracks, "Somebody That I Used to Know," De Backer's duet with New Zealand singer Kimbra, is arguably the most notable; the hypnotizing ballad became a global phenomenon, topping music charts around the world and listed by Billboard as one of the greatest Hot 100 songs of all time.
June 23, 2022
Live in Japan captures saxophonist Joe Henderson and his quartet at a cramped Tokyo club in 1971. The mood is sweaty and electric as Henderson spits throaty tenor lines into a din of enthusiastic crowd noise.
June 22, 2022
One of Vangelis' earliest solo releases was the soundtrack to a French wildlife documentary first broadcast in 1970. Much less bombastic that some of his more well-known later works, this is Vangelis at his atmospheric best, with the timeless "La Petite Fille de la mer" and the blissed-out "Création du monde" easily among his greatest compositions.
![Firefly [Original Television Soundtrack]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0001275490/front/400/2ZB0bHBplgsDKw4bFTIycSpQg_7iAU1wjqLgK_xGXts=.jpg)
June 21, 2022
Composer Greg Edmonson finds endless ways to work American, Irish, and even Middle Eastern folk music into a show about galactic outlaws. Firefly's fiddles, dobros, and banjos gave outer space the kind of regional familiarity usually reserved for golden mesas and tumbleweed-adorned juke joints.
June 20, 2022
Years before Electric Light Orchestra was a glimmer in his eye, Jeff Lynne and the Idle Race helped craft this stellar example of pop-infused British psychedelia, filled with clever tunes, imaginative use of the Mellotron, and production that took the innovations of the Beatles and used them as a creative launching pad. The Birthday Party would hardly be the only example of Lynne mining the Fab Four for inspiration, but at the age of 21 he was already borrowing brilliantly and making it work.
![Bridgerton: Season Two [Covers from the Netflix Series]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0005626557/front/400/X8LPdU5cBlDuo4RgGtBush_TZlp6n_cq-Emr2zx15tU=.jpg)
June 19, 2022
Various Artists
Round two of Bridgerton's classic pop covers continues to serve, reworking hits like "Material Girl" and "Wrecking Ball" into Regency-era instrumentals. The playlist's ten tracks are spread throughout the second season of the popular show, chronicling the characters' stories through music while providing scenes with atmospheric backdrops. The lush soundtrack is the perfect accompaniment for long study hours and quiet reading sessions, as its simultaneously lively and tranquil compositions keep you motivated while preventing distractions.
![Until the End of the World [Original Soundtrack]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0001458020/front/400/0kk-lVdDUjf1Prm7O5xV-D6KsMttLlyBmmVTZ6_CLs0=.jpg)
June 18, 2022
Various Artists
A dark and moody compilation for an equally atmospheric film, this is a strong underdog contender for one of the best soundtracks of the '90s. Graeme Revell's score bookends the album, and in between are slow-burning gems from Talking Heads, CAN, Elvis Costello covering The Kinks and and a lesser-known R.E.M. b-side. Pull up your collar against the cold damp city streets, put this CD in your discman, and shrug off into the rainy night.
June 17, 2022
Before Henry Rollins and the Damaged album fixed a particular image of Black Flag in the minds of hardcore fans, the band had issued a handful of singles and EPs with vocalists Keith Morris, Ron Reyes, and Dez Cadena bringing their sonic personalities to the band's onslaught. The First Four Years collects the band's pre-Damaged catalog on one LP, and it's ferocious, trailblazing stuff that still sounds dangerous four decades on.
June 16, 2022
Jolene is imbued with tenderness and sincerity, featuring gentle instrumentation and a sentimental collection of songs that includes standout tracks "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You." These records feel stripped-down yet contain a heartfelt, emotional intensity, simultaneously soothing listeners and tugging at their heartstrings.
June 15, 2022
Guitarist Pat Martino tempered his serpentine, machine-gun improvisational style over the years into a soft-focus, graph paper stencil. His playing, at once mathematically dense and puritanical in its economy, could impress with long bursts of harmonic complexity and stylistic flourishes that cross rockabilly-esque chicken scratch with ECM-style repetition. All of this is on display on his cerebral, blues-tinged 2003 album Think Tank.
June 14, 2022
Dickie Goodman was a genre unto himself as the inventor of the "break-in" record, in which an announcer would set up a joke and a clip from a then-popular tune would deliver the punchline. (Announcer: "What would you do if the flying saucer were to land?" Little Richard: "JUMP BACK IN THE ALLEY!") Goodman spent decades making funny singles that reflected the happenings of the day, and Long Live the King is the definitive look at the man who unwittingly invented the mash-up.
June 13, 2022
Despite the fact that this album contains the overplayed and divergently upbeat hit "Friday I'm in Love," the majority of the songs on Wish are atmospheric washy soundscapes, evoking dark and beautiful moods through droning synths and meandering guitars. The album culminates in a seven-minute opus of crashing cymbals and echoing vocals, pleading "Please stop loving me/I am none of these things."
June 12, 2022
The second full length from ambient artist Keith Kenniff's Helios project expanded on the downtempo electronica of the debut, making for an album of slow-moving, cinematic statements. First released on the Type label in 2006, the understated beats, cloudy production, and tinges of romanticism and nostalgia that made up Eingya fit perfectly alongside Boards of Canada, Fennesz, Eluvium, and other distantly beautiful electronic artists of the time.
June 11, 2022
Wildly tuneful and bouncy, Lee Morgan's The Rumproller is a showcase for the trumpeter's sense of melody and clean soloing. The title track is a boogaloo stomp, but the real highlight is the upbeat and cosmopolitan "Edda."
June 10, 2022
When Michael Brown parted ways with the Left Banke, he soon found himself working with a little-known band called Montage. While Brown wasn't an official member he essentially took over their first and only album, first issued in 1969, producing the sessions, writing the songs, playing keyboards, and singing lead on many cuts. An overlooked gem, Montage takes the dark and spare undercurrents of the Left Banke's work and pushes them to the forefront.
June 9, 2022
Before "Motownphilly," there was London-Philly. This trio had cut a few promising singles when they met with Philadelphian Nick Martinelli for their debut LP. A key link between the Brit funk and street soul movements, A Little Spice contains three glowing A-sides: "Tell Me What You Want" (with great chemistry and tension between singers Carl McIntosh and Jane Eugene), "Dial 999" (nearly a Top 40 U.K. pop hit), and "Choose Me." It set them up to top the U.S. R&B chart the next year with "Hangin' On a String (Contemplating)," included on Stateside pressings of this album.
June 8, 2022
Steve Young’s most undiluted, country album offers some of the Alabama songwriter’s most enduring tunes. The redone title track is a pedal steel-driven Americana prototype that’s been covered by many including the Eagles. "Lonesome, On'ry & Mean,” a smash for Waylon Jennings, helped kick off the outlaw movement; and the melodic homecoming jeremiad "Montgomery in the Rain," proves Southern author Thomas Wolf’s dictum that “you can’t go home again.”
June 7, 2022
Following her departure from Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, Lani Hall embarked on a collaborative solo career with husband Herb Alpert. Her debut, 1974's folky Sun Down Lady, is about as perfect an introduction as you could imagine. Together, Hall and Alpert frame her crystalline vocals with warm bass, acoustic guitar, and shimmering organ arrangements, as on their intoxicating rendition of Lesley Duncan's "Love Song;" conjuring a relaxed and transcendent late-Summer atmosphere.
June 6, 2022
If the Jayhawks had taken less influence from the Byrds and more influence from the Beach Boys, they'd probably sound a lot like Convoy. The anthemic "Weekends" launches off the runway like a pop 747, while the earthy "Is He in Your Heart Tonight" evokes the intimate spirit of Gram Parsons.
June 5, 2022
Judy Henske, who died on April 27, 2022, was a major talent whose big, expressive voice and diverse tastes made her difficult to categorize. Even by her standards, 1969's Farewell Aldebaran (a collaboration with her then-husband Jerry Yester) was packed with enough ideas to puzzle many listeners. But the album's beautifully orchestrated blend of folk, psychedelia, and arty pop made it a cult favorite for the best reason – it's a superb, one-of-a-kind musical experience.
June 4, 2022
While her debut Tidal contained her biggest hit, "Criminal," her second album began to showcase her fractured genius in full. Not only does the songwriting feel stronger and more mature on this album, but the touch of Jon Brion seems to be backing up her every note with his own brand of inventive and clean production.
![Weezer [Green Album]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0003693677/front/400/zY3IWqbx44khor2MdJJbxA4Q1ghY8VaPylnm7PwcKNY=.jpg)
June 3, 2022
Released after a long hiatus following Pinkerton, The Green Album is one of the more controversial releases in the Weezer catalog. Regardless of where you stand on this record, The Green Album is packed with 28 and a half minutes of pure uncut power punk that stands with any Weezer release past or present.
June 2, 2022
Released in 1982, Raitt's eighth album is a satisfying set of bluesy roots-rockers with a comfortable, relaxed feel and undertones of new wave and pub rock.
June 1, 2022
If the sound of flutes in jazz brings to mind Ron Burgundy's flamethrowing freakout jam session in Anchorman, you may want to listen in on Matt Eakle's understated debut. Eakle spent nine years with the rootsy David Grisman Quintet,and his warm, folky take on jazz makes the perfect soundtrack for a sunny spring day.