Friday Refrain: Some new releases from the week

Holy cannoli, we're already halfway through January! Hope you all have enjoyed your snow, brief reprieve from the cold, or gorgeous weather which means we're definitely not neighbors. There was a lot of great music that came out this week, so here we go.

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings released Give the People What They Want this week and if you haven't given her a whirl before, it's time you did. Love.

If you're still itching for a little more of that retro sound, try out Nick Waterhouse, This is a Game, and Allah-Las, Had It All/Every Girl. 

Dance your pants off with The Crystal Method, The Crystal Method.

Need your fix for some new California rock? Double down with Cherry Glazerr, Haxel Princess and Golden Youth, Quiet Frame; Wild Light. Golden Youth takes a little different sound than your standard California rock, mashing an almost Pop-py female vocal with Sigur Ros-like sound at times. 

The So So Glos, Low Back Chain Shift makes me dream of the warm sunny days of the music festival season - hear it drift across the lawn while I eat my Ben & Jerry's free sample and lean on the trunk of a tree type of dream. The bio on their site is pretty funny, by the way, as far as band bios go.

I listened to these two singles and find they pair really well next to each other on a playlist. The Belle Brigade released "Ashes," from their upcoming March release, Just Because. Try it before "Sleep" by Tom the Lion.

Like a blast from the 90s, Happy Diving, Happy Diving was a great palate cleanser between the harder releases of the week and the rest, and very much enjoyed.

I am currently mid-listen to this album, but I want to give it kudos: Welcome to Hell Beach from Hell Beach. Distorted guitars and loud drums with female vocals? Yes please.

Which brings me to my metal recommendations for the week. Skull Fist, Chasing the Dream is on my want list now. I especially loved, "Shred's Not Dead." Also a favorite song from the week was "Marching Over Blood," from Suicidal Angels.

In need of some new punk? Cy Barkley and the Way Outsiders, So Bad is short and sweet but might just be what you're craving and especially like "Gotta Go."

Rosanne Cash released The River & The Thead on Tuesday and I didn't have a chance but loved the four tracks she previously released from it and I would be remiss not to mention it.

Well there it is. So many bands and yet so many more, but that's the list for this week. Happy weekend all!

Friday Refrain is a weekly post regarding what new releases have caught my ear for the week. I try to compile a pretty comprehensive list of pop/rock releases of the week and see what is available for me to listen to on the web. This is just my non-scientific, highly-subjective, randomly-listened-to list of stuff I enjoyed from the week. Oh, and I don’t always listen to lyrics, so appropriateness is left up to the listener.