Crowded House, Liz Phair, Andy Gill tribute top this week’s new music releases

June begins with a heartfelt salute to a fallen rocker as well as long-awaited returns by Crowded House, Liz Phair and, to the solo ranks, the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris…

Album of the Week: Gang of Four came to a tragic end with singer-guitarist Andy Gill’s death in February of 2020, and lamentation turns into love with “The Problem of Leisure: A Celebration of Andy Gill & Gang of Four” (Gill Music), a tribute album featuring 20 covers by admirers such as Tom Morello and Serj Tankian, Flea and John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gary Numan, Helmet, IDLES and others. It was actually conceived by Gill before his death and executed by his widow, Catherine Mayer.

Album Title of the Week: Brett Young, “Weekends Look a Little Different These Days” (BMLG)

Did Ya Know?: “Laysongs” (Nonesuch) is the first-ever voice and mandolin only solo album by Chris Thile of Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers.

New & Noteworthy:

B.I., “Waterfall” (131/Dreamus)

Mark Collie, “Book of My Blues” (BFD/Adium Nashville/The Orchard)

Crowded House, “Dreamers Are Waiting” (BMG)

Raheem DeVaughn and Apollo Brown, “Lovesick” (Mello Music Group)

Billy Gibbons, “Hardware” (Concord)

James, “All the Colours of You” (Virgin);

Gary Louris, “Jump For Joy” (Sham/Thirty Tigers)

Liz Phair, “Soberish” (Chrysalis)

Rise Against, “Nowhere Generation” (Loma Vista)

Rostam, “Changephobia” (Maatsor Projects/Secretly Distribution)

Also Out:

Atreyu, “Baptize” (Spinefarm)

Lloyd Banks, “The Course of the Inevitable” (Money By Any Means, Inc.)

Nate Barnes, “You Ain’t Pretty” (Quartz Hill)

Butcher Brown, “Encore” (Concord Jazz)

Cabra, “Cabra” (La Casa Del Sombrero)

Chief Ghoul, “These Lycanthropic Blues” (Baeble Music)

Riley Clemons, “Godsend” (Sparrow/Capitol CMG)

cleopatrick, “Bummer” (Nowhere Special/Thirty Tigers)

Turner Cody and the Soldiers of Love, “Boozing and Losing” (Capitane)

Das Beat, “Identitat” (Arbutus)

Easy Life, “Life’s a Beach” (Interscope)

Flotsam & Jetsam, “Blood in the Water” (AFM)

Ghost Twin, “Love Songs For End Times” (Artoffact)

Paul Gilbert, “Werewolves of Poland” (Players Club/Mascot)

Goose, “Shenanigans Nite Club” (No Coincidence)

Greentea Peng, “Man Made” (AMF)

Mary Hott with the Carpenter Ants, “Devil in the Hills: Coal Country Reckoning” (Harmonic Alliance)

Japanese Breakfast, “Jubilee” (Dead Oceans)

Dohny Jep, “Shallow is the Water” (Memphia)

Junaco, “Blue Room” (Side Hustle)

Killy, “Killstreak 2” (Epic)

Latewaves, “Hell To Pay” (Know Hope)

Lavasocks, “…And Out Come the Lawsuits!” (Lavasocks/Sell the Heart)

Lipstick Jodi, “More Like Me” (Quite Scientific)

Molly Miller, “St. George” (GSI)

Mndsgn, “Rare Pleasure” (Stones Throw)

Joy Oladokun, “in defense of my own happiness” (Amigo/Verve Forecast/Republic)

Osmond Chapman Orchestra, “There’s More Where That Came From” (Club44)

“Van Dyke Parks Orchestrates Veronica Valerio” (BMG)

Greentea Peng, “Man Made” (AMF)

Johnathan Pushkar, “Compositions” (JEM)

Red Fang, “Arrows” (Relapse)

Rise Against, “Nowhere Generation” (Loma Vista)

Mark Rubin, “The Triumph of Assimilation” (Rubinchik)

Satsang, “All Right Now” (SideOneDummy)

Mark Shippy and Alex Cunningham, “Ghost Note” (Personal Archives)

Kim Simmonds, “Out of the Blue” (Panache)

Skids, “Songs From a Haunted Ballroom” (Cleopatra)

Sleepy Hallow, “Still Sleep?” (Winners Circle/RCA)

Spirits Burning, “Evolution Ritual” (Noh Poetry)

Talk Show Host, “Mid-Century Modern” (Wiretap/Disconnect Disconnect)

Theo Travis, “Songs From the Apricot Tree” (Ethersounds)

Trees Speak, “PostHuman” (Soul Jazz)

Quinn Sullivan, “Wide Awake” (Provogue/Mascot)

Sunjacket, “More Lifelike” (self-released)

Tashaki Miyaki, “Castaway” (Metropolis)

Tomorrow x Together, “The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE (World Version)” (Big Hit Entertainment)

Tristen, “Aquatic Flowers” (Mama Bird)

Beth Whitney, “Into the Ground” (Tone Tree)

Wolf Alice, “Blue Weekend” (Dirty Hit/RCA)

Wretch 32, “Little BIG Man” (Polydor)

Ina Wroldsen, “Matters of the Mind” (Sony Music Norway)

From The Vaults:

The Alarm, “History Repeating 1981-2021” (Twenty First Century)

The Avalanches, “Since I Left You (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)” (Modular/UMe)

Peter Frampton, “Something’s Happening”/“Frampton” (BGO)

Juice Wrld, “Goodbye & Good Riddance: Anniversary Edition” (Grade A/Interscope)

Madness, “Absolutely” (Union Square)

Mumps, “Rock & Roll This, Rock & Roll That: Best Case Scenario, We’ve Got the Mumps” (Omnivore)

Oscar Peterson, “Exclusively For My Friends” (MPS)

Patrice Rushen, “Straight From the Heart” (Strut)

Rod Stewart, “Rod Stewart 1975-1978” (Rhino/Warner)

Swell Maps, “Mayday Signals” (Easy Action)

Hank Williams, “Pictures From Life’s Other Side, Volume One” (BMG)

Videos:

Harry Nilsson, “Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?” (MVD Visual)

Velvet Underground, “Velvet Underground Three Card Trick” (Collectors Forum)