On a Spring day in early April, Tarriona “Tank” Ball of the New Orleans funk-soul group, Tank and the Bangas, is driving to get some lunch. The night before, Ball was joined by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for a rendition of the National Anthem at the NCAA Men’s Basketball final between Kansas and North Carolina. “Right after the game, we went straight to the bowling alley to celebrate the birthday of one of the Bangas, Norman [Spence II],” says Ball. “And now we gotta go home and pack for California.”
Eric D. Johnson is a worldbuilder. Over the course of eight LPs and 20 years, the creative force behind Fruit Bats has populated a dreamy landscape filled with characters all grappling with what it means to be alive.
Back in early 2020, Caroline Rose (who uses they/them pronouns) was gearing up to release their fourth album, Superstar. The concept album featured Rose as a larger-than-life pop singer, and Rose the real singer had spent months and months constructing every moment of the record. But then the pandemic struck, and Superstar’s release was stifled.
Squid want you to know that they’re nice people, really. Despite the shouting lyrics, the sharp guitars, and the take-down of the flawed facets of our modern lives, the English five-piece are genuinely lovely people. And they have something to say. On their debut album, Bright Green Field, the group take aim at city life and dive deeper into their Krautrock and jazz affinities, with an influence from sci-fi books.
2022 was an odd year for Black Country, New Road. The British rock band released their second studio album, Ants from Up There, in February, to immediate critical acclaim.