Me and my folks, and you and your folks: This week at South
Haruomi Hosono returns with Yours Sincerely, his 23rd studio album and first collection of new music in over seven years. The Yellow Magic Orchestra and Happy End founder continues a remarkable late-career resurgence, with his influence now stretching across a new generation of artists including Mac DeMarco, Cameron Winter and Vampire Weekend. At 78, Hosono is still looking forward rather than back, with Yours Sincerely moving between tender psych-folk and bubbling avant-pop while exploring ideas of compassion, unconditional love and our connection to one another.
Also out this week is The Singer in My Band, the new This Is Lorelei album from Water From Your Eyes’ Nate Amos, a collection of road songs written while touring and shaped by classic American songwriting and bluegrass. The Tubs return with Hard Life, pushing their jangly indie-pop into richer, folkier territory, while Funkadelic’s essential Maggot Brain gets a long-overdue all-analog reissue, mastered directly from the original tapes. There are also newly remastered editions of Pixies’ Bossanova and Trompe le Monde, cut from the original analogue tapes. Plus, a couple of recent releases we haven’t managed to squeeze into previous emails: Alabama Shakes return with I Must Be Dreaming, their first album in over a decade, and jazz legend Gary Bartz joins London ensemble Your Brother’s Keeper for Where Rivers Meet, released through Brownswood.
→ Recommended
The Beta Band’s The Three E.P.’s collects their first three releases - Champion Versions, The Patty Patty Sound and Los Amigos del Beta Bandidos. Originally brought together in 1998, I'd say it's still the best introduction to the band, mixing folk, psychedelia, hip-hop, electronics and loose, hypnotic grooves into something that still sounds completely their own, it remains one of the great British records of the late ’90s. 2018 reissue, with a bonus CD, right here.




