Welcome to The Notebook. Every month explore the new sounds that the Hult Center team (and some special guests) are listening to.
January has come and gone. The new year is officially here and the good tunes are already stacking up so lets get into it!
Daniel Olbrych – Content and Design Coordinator
What has become quite the family favorite in our house, Enter Shikari gives us a glimpse of their new album with ‘(pls) set me on fire.’ It’s an absolute banger. Fall Out Boy released 2 new songs that sound like they could be on Infinity On High. (And that’s a good thing.) It’s got some big symphonic sounds and vocals that are 5 tracks deep. And there’s more! A new Gorillaz album is just around the corner, we got another track off that too! ‘Silent Running’ is super chill. Every song they’ve released from the upcoming album Cracker Island is pretty great.
Enter Shikari, (pls) set me on fire
Fall Out Boy, Love From The Other Side
Gorillaz, Silent Running
Dusty Adair – Talent Buyer
The National will be releasing their new album First Two Pages of Frankenstein, on April 28th. They haven’t released a new album since 2019, and I am very excited to see what it’s all about after listening to their new single ‘Tropic Morning News.’ The track is a bit dark but has a cheerful beat that keeps you listening.
The National, Tropic Morning News
Vicki Infinito – Director of Programing
Oh wow – ok what is there to say about this song, ‘I Can’t Give Everything Away.’ First I love Spoon and I love Bowie. David Bowie’s Blackstar album is both beautiful and heartbreaking to listen to. Anytime an Artist records a cover you never really know what to expect, will it honor the Artist that originally recorded the song or will be completely different or still have pieces of the original Artist attached to it. I think Spoon does it all and in a way makes the song even a bit more heartbreaking and haunting.
Spoon, I Can’t Give Everything Away
Greg – House of Records
This Kenny Beats album is well-produced, nicely sequenced, and very chill instrumental hip-hop LP with a definite nod to J. Dilla’s classic Donuts record. Speeded-up vocal samples, thick beats, lots of atmosphere. Good to listen to actively or as funky wallpaper. Ovlov is indie rock with an incredible guitar player and drummer who conjure up a wall of sound that suits the tight, poppy songs perfectly. The distortion on the guitar is especially notable, as mind-blowing as the Jesus and Mary Chain or My Bloody Valentine in their prime. Each song is different from the rest. Just an EP, but loaded with great moments, and it’s over before you realize what just happened.
Kenny Beats, Louie
Ovlov, Buds
Rich Hobby – Director of Marketing
To this day, I do not understand why we are not all absolutely enamored with Natalie Khan, aka, Bat For Lashes, whose 2019 Album Lost Girls, continues to be a heavy rotator in my house. This new track ‘Near,’ is a collaboration with her and The Album Leaf, and is dreamy, ambient, and has the sonic velcro hooks that make it instantly soothing and deeply intriguing. The Seattle group Tomten just dropped their new single, ‘Caterpillar Hill,’ for their upcoming new album, Artichoke, and I am so in love with it. It just has a sparkle and vibe that is instantly relieving and relatable and one that is going straight to my faves of 2023. Full album drops April 28, 2023 on Plume Records.
Bat For Lashes & The Album Leaf, Near
Tomten, Caterpillar Hill
