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New Music Friday – February 9, 2024

Ben Pagani

Buckle up. We’re going to space with Brittany Howard and highlighting her highly anticipated second solo LP What Now, an album that fans have been waiting five years to hear. There’s some other great stuff out today. Scroll on to hear it all. Let’s get started with the top release this week.

The Best of New Music Friday:

Brittany Howard – What Now

Brittany Howard What Now

If this record were a thesis, the statement would be: “Brittany Howard is from the future and, also, Mars.” That’s not a theory. It’s a fact that What Now, Howard’s second solo album, begins with the mind-melting song “Earth Sign” and everyone can see Howard swimming through space headed to another galaxy to share her music.

Howard is defiant getting from place to place. Look back at her wildlife, transforming her sound through a Grammy-winning debut record, several hitmaking mixes with Alabama Shakes and buying good weed on the cheap as a member of Thunderbitch. “I ran right through them red flags” a pointy and robotic voice announces on “Red Flags,” which was also a single. “Don’t let it die, Don’t say that it’s only love,” she follows in a bellow.

The song that shows Howard’s out-of-this-world songwriting ability shifts from her acclaimed lyrical laser focus and gives more attention to its beats. “Prove It To You” sounds like the energy of a live rave beat was compressed into a studio and made for a great pair of headphones. Howard has long realized the power of saying “I don’t have to prove anything else, let’s party” in the face of near-assured annihilation, a gesture that foments an effervescent, uncontrollable glee. (Which, here, is depicted by mashed-on synths and a joyously wailed rhythm capable of ejecting anyone who might be in a less-than-celebratory mood.) Just check out how in the zone Howard is mixing this one on her Pioneer DJ:

Another reason to believe Howard is from Mars could be her unending talent. She assumed roles playing guitar, bass, piano and keys in addition to singing each track. Howard mixed every track, sat in the engineer’s chair and produced What Now alongside a contemporary, Shawn Everett.

On her 2019 solo debut Jaime (which got Howard 7 Grammy nominations and a win), she opened with a track called “History Repeats,” a psych-type tune that doubles down on the line “History repeats and we defeat ourselves. C’mon everybody. One more time! History repeats and we defeat ourselves. C’mon everybody. One more time!” Howard does not repeat a thing on What Now, pushing the envelope on each track. It’d be tough to believe the same singer who reigned in a blues rocky track like “Futute People” with Alabama Shakes could also pen and perform on her new LP’s closer “Every Color in Blue.” But that isn’t so hard to believe when remembering the musician in question is an alien from Mars and the future.

New Music Friday Top Picks:

Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She

Declan McKenna – What Happened to the Beach?

Faye Webster – “Feeling Good Today”

Laetitia Sadier – “Who + What”

Which of these tracks from New Music Friday will you be adding to your favorite playlists today? Any we missed? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!

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Ben Pagani
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Ben Pagani

Ben is a music journalist living and working in Chicago. They joined Beyond The Stage as an intern and have stayed on the staff for several years. Now serving on the editorial board, Ben is proud to be BTS' Music Projects Manager, coordinating coverage between international record labels and our staff. Ben has interviewed, photographed and written about bands from across the world. Ben has lived all over the United States working in television and media. They are an Emmy Award-winning writer. Ben can be found spinning records as 'DJ Wearing Sunglasses' in clubs and basements across the US.