Jack Antonoff fronts Bleachers when not producing Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Lorde, Florence and the Machine, Clairo, and others. The group's self-titled fourth studio album is ascending pop-rock influenced by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band (the saxophones that start “Modern Girl” are proof.) Live band music is fantastic for Antonoff fans wanting to hear more.
Sonic Youth frontwoman Kim Gordon is releasing her second solo album, “The Collective,” a no-wave modernist effort. The album features spoken-word vocals (sprechgesang to those with their pinkies extended) over explosive and asymmetrical production, such as the hip-hop beats and glass-shattering sounds of the near-nu metal “Bye Bye” or the album's best track, “I'm A Man,” a gothic attack on late capitalism's masculinity. Gordon's art is no joke, decades later and forever.
Afrofuturist poet-artist Camae Ayewa's musical alias, Moor Mother, has always considered Black history and Black music history, releasing records that explore diasporic realities while delighting audiences with their beauty and pain. She releases her fifth studio album, “The Great Bailout,” on Friday, March 8, an experimental record about British colonialism and displacement and liberation.
There are lovely moments. In the first single, “Guilty” with Lonnie Holley and Raia Was, strings swell beneath beautiful, almost whispered harmonies, interrupted by her rich, deep voice explaining the effects of enslavement.
Honor the queens. The National Geographic docuseries examines female animal leaders. A female-led production crew recorded the seven-episode series in 12 countries over four years and narrated by Oscar-winner Angela Bassett. Filmed are bug, orca, hyena, and lion queendoms. The seventh episode highlights women who spend their careers recording wildlife and conserving it, while natural history is usually male-dominated. National Geographic airs “Queens” Monday, followed by Hulu and Disney+.
Guy Ritchie’s new TV series “The Gentlemen,” based on the 2019 film, starring Theo James. James plays Eddie, whose father left him the title of Duke and a rundown country home he considers a money pit and a burden. Eddie is surprised to learn that he inherited a marijuana-growing company on his property. Netflix releases “The Gentlemen” Thursday.
I think Garth Brooks' best song is “Friends in Low Places” since it always makes people laugh and sing along. Brooks hopes to create that atmosphere when he opens Friends in Low Places Bar and Honky-Tonk in Nashville on Thursday. The same day, Prime Video launches a “Friends in Low Places” docuseries chronicling the bar's construction. Brooks, his wife, Tricia Yearwood (a Food Network star and hospitality expert), and their crew developed this new firm in front of cameras.
The critically acclaimed BBC dramedy “Boarders” is coming to Tubi in the U.S. The drama is about five inner-city Black youths who get scholarships to Britain's oldest and most prestigious boarding school, St. Gilberts. Adjusting to change is challenging, but St. Gilbert's is even harder. Tubi releases all six episodes March 8.
stay turned for development