Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday. This week we highlight new albums by Post Malone, Joni Mitchell, The Budos Band and SUSTO. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.
Post Malone – Austin
Post Malone, the singer-songwriter/rapper born Austin Richard Post, released his fifth album today, Austin, through Mercury Records/Republic Records. The follow-up to 2022’s Twelve Carat Toothache is the first of Malone’s full length releases to not feature any special guests. Malone produced the album with additional production from Louis Bell, Max Martin, Andrew Watt and Rami Yacoub. Malone played guitar across all 17 of the tracks making up Austin. Malone described making Austin, stating:
“It’s been some of the funnest music. Some of the most challenging and rewarding music, for me at least. Trying to really push myself and really do some cool stuff. I played guitar on every song on the record. It was a really really fun experience. And I’m super super excited to share it with you.”
Joni Mitchell – Joni Mitchell At Newport
A live album featuring Joni Mitchell’s surprise comeback performance during the 2022 Newport Folk Festival was released today. Joni Mitchell At Newport captures Mitchell’s appearance at Newport which was her first public performance in 20 years. Mitchell produced At Newport with close friend and collaborator Brandi Carlile, who performed alongside the legendary singer-songwriter at the storied festival. Additional performers and guests included Wynonna Judd, Marcus Mumford, Celisse, Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius, Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith and Carlile’s bandmates Phil and Tim Hanseroth. Mitchell led the group through a number of favorites from her extensive catalog including album opener “Big Yellow Taxi,” “A Case Of You,” “The Circle Game” and more. Joni also showed off her guitar skills on an instrumental version of “Just Like This Train.” Renowned rock writer and filmmaker Cameron Crowe composed the liner notes for At Newport. Read an excerpt below:
“Mitchell emerged from the side of the stage, swaying smoothly, in fine summer-style with beret and sunglasses. Her good-natured mood instantly set the tone. This performance would be an intimate gathering of friends, not unlike the Joni Jams she’d been hosting in her own living room over the last few years of recovery. Smiling broadly, Mitchell made her surprise appearance, taking her on-stage seat alongside Carlile. Within minutes, the news had rocketed around the globe. Mitchell was back, sparkling with enthusiasm, delivering a tender and passionate set of 13 songs, ending with a joyful sing-along of ‘The Circle Game.’”
The Budos Band – Frontier’s Edge
Longtime Daptone Records group The Budos Band released a new EP, Frontier’s Edge, today via a new label, Diamond West Records. Budos Band guitarist Tom Brenneck and saxophonist Jared Tankel run Diamond West Records. The group split amicably with Daptone, as Brenneck attested to.
“It’s just a natural growth,” he said. “We’re going further away from the sound of Daptone and into territory they probably wanted to stay away from.”
The aptly named Frontier’s Edge sees Budos Band flexing their production skills. “We’re a powerhouse in the studio; we can produce ourselves,” Brenneck stated. “I take the helm, but the band, they know what they want.”
“Somehow, we wrote six songs in two days,” drummer Brian Profilio added. “Tom was able to take what we were doing and put it together in a cohesive manner.”
SUSTO – My Entire Life
SUSTO released a new album, My Entire Life, today through New West Records. My Entire Life is the follow-up to SUSTO’s 2021 LP, Time in the Sun. The band’s Justin Osborne and Johnny Delaware co-produced the album with Wolfgang Zimmerman (Band of Horses) mostly at The Space in the band’s native Charleston, South Carolina. Additional tracking was done at Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville, North Carolina; Chase Park Transduction in Athens, Georgia; and a remote studio in Tepoztlan, Mexico. Osborne detailed the new album.
“SUSTO’s narrative has always been confessional, and songwriting is my way of trying to make sense of the chaos — good and bad — around me. This record is my story of navigating a bunch of chaos, but finding ways to carry on and manifest my own happiness … the last few years were a challenge, but I look back and see that I made it through a better, truer, and more realized version of myself.
“It tells a story of one of the most intense transformations in my entire life. It feels like closing one chapter and turning the page on the next. There are repercussions and ripples from change that will affect me forever. It’s essentially about my life and the pain and beauty in it.”
