I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post includes blurbs on Fallout, Lorde, Lyn Lapid, Lauren Spencer Smith, Florence Road, Bob Marley, Smokey Robinson, Shaggy and Sting, Robert Randolph, Vince Guaraldi, Steely Dan, and Tennis.
- Lorde returns with “What Was That”, her first major release in almost four years and co-produced by Lorde, Jim-E Stack and Dan Nigro. Listen HERE. The accompanying music video was shot on location in New York, including Washington Square Park, where Lorde surprised fans with a pop-up performance earlier this week.
- Gold-Certified singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Lyn Lapid releases her long-awaited debut album, BUZZKILL, via Mercury Records—listen HERE. The 12-track album features her recently released singles “death wish,” “i’ll be happy when,” “coraline” and “buttons,” as well as the new title track, “buzzkill,” which is unveiled today alongside the official music video—watch HERE. Known for marrying her honest and vulnerable storytelling through both lyrics and visuals, Lyn released mini-trailers for each of the songs on the album leading up to the release, which culminated into the official album trailer—watch HERE. Up next, Lyn is gearing up to kick off the “BUZZKILL World Tour” in a few weeks. Beginning on May 6th in Berlin, the highly anticipated tour will first see Lyn headline shows across Europe and the UK before heading back to North America, where she’ll perform in major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Chicago, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Vancouver, and more through the end of June. See the full list of tour dates below and at www.lynlapidtour.com.
- Breakout vocalist and songwriter Lauren Spencer Smith shares new song, “IF KARMA DOESN’T GET YOU (I WILL)”—Listen/share HERE and watch/share the official lyric video HERE. The track is from her forthcoming sophomore album, THE ART OF BEING A MESS, set for release June 27 on Island Records/Republic Records. Pre-order/pre-save HERE.
- Florence Road today release their second single ‘Caterpillar’. You can listen to ‘Caterpillar’ HERE. In addition, the band have unveiled a lo-fi performance of the track, filmed on VHS on their recent trip to Boston, Massachusetts by Ace Torie. You can watch it HERE. Produced by Dan Nigro (Olivia Rodrigo), ‘Caterpillar’ is a gorgeous acoustic ballad about the delicate emotions surrounding anxiety that breaks and bends against a lush, subtle string arrangement. Frontwoman Lily’s raw, velvet-edged vocals shine throughout, exuding both vulnerability & strength and anchoring the track with an undeniable magnetism.
- 2025 marks Bob Marley’s 80th birthday anniversary, and as a part of the year-long celebration, Ziggy Marley’s Tuff Gong Worldwide will re-release the critically acclaimed MARLEY via video steaming platforms and a special 80th Collector’s Edition DVD including two hours of never-before-seen interview footage with the reggae icon’s friends and family. MARLEY, first released in 2012 and directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, Marley is widely regarded as the definitive documentary on the life, music, and legacy of the global reggae icon. Featuring rare footage, never-before-seen performances, and interviews with Marley’s family, friends, and collaborators, Marley offers an intimate and comprehensive look at the man behind the music. The film explores his journey from humble beginnings in Jamaica to becoming one of the most influential musicians of all time, spreading messages of love, unity, and resistance that continue to resonate worldwide. MARLEY is available via domestic video streaming platforms now; with a global streaming release of July 15, 2025. The 80th Edition Collectors DVD is available at Amazon and independent film and music retailers. FOR COMPLETE MARLEY STREAMING AND DVD AVAILABILITY: https://bmarley.lnk.to/
- There’s only one Smokey Robinson. He embodies soul music, but he has always defied categorization. One constant, however, throughout the two-time Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame inductee and four-time Grammy winner’s career, is his ability to inspire. That’s why Robinson’s music endures. Today, he adds to his legendary canon with his Gaither Music debut, What The World Needs Now, a collection of uplifting classics performed with Robinson’s unmistakable silken touch. “Whenever I’m in the studio, I’m having fun. Recording this time was even more special because we went in with a purpose: to record an uplifting album in a time when the world needs some inspiration,” Robinson says. You can watch the behind-the-scenes mini-documentary about the making of the album here. Smokey Robinson’s album, What the World Needs Now, are available on CD and vinyl at Gaither.com.
- Grammy-winning collaborators Shaggy and Sting will release a new remix of their single, “Til A Mawnin,” on April 25 via a partnership between Shaggy’s Ranch Entertainment and VP Records. Originally released in February, their track - built on a rework of Junjo Lawes’ “I’m Not Crazy” riddim - pays tribute to Jamaican sound system culture and debuted at #1 on the iTunes Reggae songs chart. The original version of “Til A Mawnin” garnered media coverage in Rolling Stone, Billboard, Entertainment Tonight, The Associated Press, among others, with live performances on Live with Kelly and Mark (March 10) and The Tonight Show (March 11), followed by a co-headlining performance at the Reggae Rise Up Festival in St. Petersburg, FL.
- After lighting a fire with the thunderous first single “Sinner,” six-time GRAMMY nominee and blues/rock pedal steel firebrand Robert Randolph returns with “Big Women”—a bold and joyful celebration of confidence and power. The second single from Randolph’s forthcoming album Preacher Kids (out June 27 on Sun Records) arrives alongside a black-and-white performance video brimming with swagger and soul. Rooted in an irresistible guitar riff and driven by an instantly memorable chorus—“Big women got me riding high! Big women make me feel alright!”—the track began as a lap steel jam and a vocal scat idea before evolving into a full-throttle ode to self-possessed women everywhere. Singer-songwriter Judith Hill brought the song home, writing the verses and chorus. Watch the “Big Women” video here.
- Omnivore Recordings has announced Vince Guaraldi’s Oh, Good Grief! will be getting a reissued released on CD and yellow vinyl on May 30. Many people got to know Vince Guaraldi through his 1963 Grammy®-winning song, “Cast Your Fate To The Wind,” or via Sounds Orchestral’s Top-10 cover of it two years later. Lee Mendelson heard Guaraldi’s version when working on a Peanuts documentary, and contacted Guaraldi asking him to score it. Although the documentary never aired, that’s when Guaraldi composed “Linus and Lucy” and all the other songs included on his 1964 album, Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown. A year later in 1965, Mendelson once again tapped Guaraldi to score the upcoming Peanuts Christmas special. Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/qSNHkGznSIQ. Pre-order: www.omnivorerecordings.com/shop/oh-good-grief
- Steely Dan’s darkly cynical and musically intricate fifth album, 1976’s The Royal Scam, with such fan favorites as “Kid Charlemagne,” “The Fez,” “The Caves of Altamira,” and the biting title track, will return to vinyl for the first time in more than forty years on June 6 via Geffen/UMe, concluding the extensive reissue program of the band’s classic ABC and MCA Records catalog that began in November 2022 with the Dan’s legendary debut LP, Can’t Buy A Thrill. The series, which is personally overseen by founding member Donald Fagen, returns the group’s first seven records to vinyl, most of which haven’t been available since their original release. Pre-order The Royal Scam now: https://steelydan.lnk.to/
- Acclaimed indie-pop duo Tennis today releases their seventh studio album, Face Down In The Garden, arriving via their own Mutually Detrimental label. Produced and recorded by the husband and wife duo of Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore in their Denver, CO home studio, the album marks the final recordings from this incarnation of Tennis. Offsetting intuitive melodies with unusual arrangements, the new album sees the duo returning to their roots; making music that both feels familiar but also resists convention. Tennis has fully blossomed and leaves listeners with an LP that is unquestionably their most fully realized effort and a natural ending point“Face Down In The Garden is our seventh studio album,” says Moore. “The inspiration for new work came while we were still on the road touring Pollen. We felt a clear pull to write new music, but ran up against a series of bizarre setbacks. We blew tires and lost an engine. I developed a chronic illness. We took a doomed voyage that culminated in an attempted robbery at sea. Fragments of songs that first arrived like gifts from the universe later refused to be completed. Our days were awash in major and minor crises that dragged the album out endlessly.
