The Fall Music Preview
Jack White - “Acoustic Recordings 1998-2016”
Release Date: Sept. 9
Say what you will about Jack White, but dude is prolific. This 26-track double LP features remastered alternate versions, mixes and previously unreleased recordings from The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and White’s solo catalog. Fans will appreciate the chronologically ordered song list so they can study White’s evolution as an artist, while music historians will be anxious to hear the Beck produced, “Honey, We Can’t Afford to Look This Cheap” and the T. Bone Burnett produced,“Carolina Drama,” which are the only two songs in this career spanning catalogue that White didn’t write and produce.
Die Antwoord - “Mount Ninji and Da Nice Time Kid”
Release Date: Sept. 16
Neil Blomkamp’s sci-fi shit show, “Chappie” proved that Die Anterwood’s Ninja and Yolandi Visser might look like movie characters, but can’t act. Thankfully, the South African MC’s are back on the mic with a new “dark and ratty” album that returns to their shock rap roots. The dynamic dyed-hair duo have always been great at grabbing headlines, like when they recently accused David Ayer, director of Suicide Squad, for “biting” their look for Harley Quinn and Jared Leto’s Joker (can’t say I disagree with that one), which, ironically, has devalued their actual rap-rave music over the years by critics who view them solely as a novelty act. Regardless, their energy, creativity and just plain weirdness cannot be denied and are always worth paying attention to.
Childish Gambino - “Pharos”
Release Date: TBA
At first Donald Glover’s Childish Gambino rap act seemed like a gimmick by an up-and-coming actor trying to look edgy. Then, Glover dropped 2013’s “Because the Internet” and hip hop heads started to take notice. Glover’s taken some time to follow-up his Grammy-nominated album (he’s got a new show on FX, “Atlanta”), but now he’s back with “Pharos,” which has been kept under wraps, but will finally be revealed in a three-day multimedia concert campout happening in Joshua Tree, California (Sept. 2-4) so we should get a release date sooner than later.
S U R V I V E - “RR7349”
Release Date: Sept. 30
S U R V I V E (the spaces between the ALL CAPS is not a typo) was just another band in Austin, Texas. Then, “Stranger Things” happened and now they’re one of the most buzzed about bands of the year. Technically, the score for Netflix’s nostalgic fan favorite was created by Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon, who’re one half of the experimental synth quartet, but you can expect more of the same cinematic, slow-burning, analog sounds on the group’s sophomore album, “RR7349.”
Bon Iver - “22, A Million”
Release date: September 30
Nonsensical titles aside, when Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon sings, people listen. Vernon is the undisputed people’s champ of music, and unlike artists like Frank Ocean or Drake, who release their new music exclusively on Apple or Tidal, Bon Iver debuted his highly-anticipated album, “22, A Million,” at his own backyard music festival in Wisconsin. Expect this third album and first in five years since his Grammy award winning self-titled release, to be full of powerful poly-fi recordings of deeply personal, harmonious songs that will definitely have you feeling all the feels.
Beck - TBA
Release Date: Oct. 21
There are two sides to this multi-instrumentalist musical genius that all fans love, but one more than the other. On one side you have the brooding, broken-hearted folk hero of “Sea Changes” and the other you have the purple pants wearing, rapping white boy of “Midnight Vultures.” The first two singles “Dreams” and “Wow” off his 13th studio album are fun and beat-driven and, with rumors that he’s been in the studio with disco legend Nile Rogers of “Get Lucky” fame, there’s great hope for the return of the man with “two turntables and a microphone.”