Weekly Music News: Jack White, DeVotchKa, Nathaniel Rateliff, and more

By Daniel Mescher
April 4, 2014

photo: Jack White new albumNew releases: Jack White, The Antlers, Parquet Courts, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

  • After a brief respite, Jack White is once again a very busy man. In addition to his upcoming contributions to the new Neil Young album out this spring via his Third Man Records label, White will release his second full-length solo record "Lazaretto" on June 10. The album follows 2012's "Blunderbuss," the #2 album on our OpenAir Top 134 albums. But that's not all: on Record Store Day (April 19), White plans to record a live-to-tape version of the new album's title track in his Third Man studio in Nashville, then immediately press and sell the recording in 45 form in order to break the world record for "The World's Fastest Release Record."
  • The Antlers will release their fourth album "Familiars," the follow-up to 2011's "Burst Apart" and moody masterpiece "Hospice," on June 17 via Anti-.
  • Parquet Courts have announced their next album "Sunbathing Animal," which follows the excellent lo-fi rock of 2013's "Light Up Gold." It's out on June 3: check out the title track now.
  • Clap Your Hands Say Yeah announced new self-released album "Only Run," which hits the shelves on June 3. Lead single "Coming Down" features guest vocals from Matt Berninger of The National.

photo: Devotchka press photoDeVotchKa debuts score for Brazilian television program

DeVotchKa, the multi-instrumental Colorado indie music staple, are lending their musical talents for an international television score. This week the band heads to Sao Paulo, Brazil to perform on the program "VEM Ai," where they will debut 15 songs written specifically for the program "Meu Pedacinho de Chão" (“My Own Ground.”) The broadcast is expected to have nearly 18 million Brazilian viewers.

Frankie Knuckles, dance music innovator, dies at 59

Acclaimed dance music DJ and "Godfather of house music" Frankie Knuckles passed away this week at the age of 59. Knuckles, whose birth name was Francis Nicholls, was an inseparable component of the highly influential 1980s dance music scene in Chicago, where he garnered fame for his highly energetic and thoughtful DJ sets and original tracks such as "Your Love." In 1997, he won a Grammy for "Remixer of the Year - Non-Classical." [via NPR Music]

Nathaniel Rateliff shows up in the New York Times

Nathaniel Rateliff's latest album "Falling Faster Than You Can Run" was reviewed in The New York Times this week. The Colorado music staple was praised for "finding strength on the far side of his longtime folky melancholy," as well as adroitly combining themes of "despair, striving, stubbornness, longing and brief glimmers of hope." 

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