grentperez/ ‘When We Were Younger’ EP/ Fast Friends & AWAL

Australian multi-genre guitar pop artist grentperez announces his new EP When We Were Younger out June 2nd via Fast Friends & AWAL. Conceived as a means to get out of a songwriting rut, When We Were Younger is centered around the concept of nostalgia and motivated by grentperez’s desire to embrace the carefree creativity of childhood. From a production and arrangement standpoint, the EP fuses a wide variety of nostalgic sounds: his beloved bossa nova, yes, but also sprightly Philadelphia soul, the swelling strings of golden-era Hollywood, and even the general vibe of 90s rom-coms. 

Ben Harper/ ‘WIDE OPEN LIGHT’/ Chrysalis Records

Singer-songwriter, musician and producer Ben Harper has announced his new studio album WIDE OPEN LIGHT, the follow up to his GRAMMY-nominated record BLOODLINE MAINTENANCE, to be released on June 2 via Chrysalis Records. 

WIDE OPEN LIGHT is described by Ben as a family of songs he's written where each track is a close relative to the next. It's deliberately minimalist and the songs themselves do as much of the heavy lifting as the production. “There was once a time when albums didn’t need an adjacent story or fable. When the songs were enough,” Ben says. “I’m excited to return to this.”

Generationals/ ‘Heatherhead’/ Polyvinyl

After thirteen years of creating music, Generationals have made the record they have been pursuing from the start. In an age that demands constant content churn from artists, Grant Widmer and Ted Joyner have stubbornly stuck to quietly refining their own signature sound. Their new album, Heatherhead, out June 2nd on Polyvinyl, could be the band’s thesis statement.

Naomi Raine

Naomi Raine/ ‘Cover The Earth’/ TRIBL Records

On Friday, June 2nd, 5x GRAMMY Award-winning artist Naomi Raine will release her stunning debut live record ‘Cover The Earth’ (TRIBL Records), which features a series of choir-filled performances recorded live from New York City and collaborations with 9x GRAMMY-nominee Natalie Grant, Chandler Moore (Justin Bieber, Maverick City Music), Todd Dulaney and Lizzie Morgan (Maverick City Music).

Phillip Phillips/ ‘Drift Back’/

Multi-Platinum singer-songwriter Phillip Phillips announces new album Drift Back, to be released on June 9th. The 10-song album is Phillip’s first in five years, and his first full-length release since becoming a father. This fourth album for the American Idol Season 11 winner is a self-reflective record that boasts an assortment of emotive indie-rock, and ethereally anthemic mid-tempo tracks along with Phillip’s signature stirring ballads. Drift Back is produced by Phillip’s longtime producer, the Nashville-based Todd Clark, a trusted collaborator since Phillip’s debut and the song “Long Time” on the album is produced by Tim Bruns.

Chase Matthew/ ‘Come Get Your Memory’/ Warner Music Nashville

MIlky Chance/ ‘Living In A Haze’

Yusuf / Cat Stevens

Yusuf/Cat Stevens / ‘King of a Land’/ BMG / Dark Horse Records

Yusuf / Cat Stevens has announced King of a Land, his seventeenth studio album, set for release via BMG / Dark Horse Records on June 16, 2023.

King of a Land is an epic body of work. More than a decade in the making, its 12 new songs are full of extraordinary surprises. Unique and transportive, Yusuf’s new music, words and melodies paint a vivid picture of a world which embraces the lost lands of truisms and stainless youth, and brings it into touching distance. His poetic storytelling invites the listener on a journey towards the gates of an alternative universe to that which we presently inhabit - where happy endings can possibly happen. 

Wild Up

Wild Up/ ‘Julius Eastman Vol. 3: If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich’/ New Amsterdam Records

On June 16, 2023, GRAMMY-nominated musical collective Wild Up releasesJulius Eastman Vol. 3: If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich, the follow-up to 2021’s Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine, “a masterpiece” (The New York Times), and Julius Eastman Vol. 2: Joy Boy, which contains the GRAMMY-nominated closing track, “Stay On It.” Arriving once more on New Amsterdam Records, Julius Eastman Vol. 3: If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich is the third entry in Wild Up’s multi-volume anthology celebrating Eastman, the late composer whose musical vision was repeatedly dismissed during its day, but is now being unearthed to critical acclaim. 

On Eastman Vol. 3, Wild Up are joined by two luminaries of modern music: Devonté Hynes (known both for their work as Blood Orange, collaborations with the likes of Solange, Harry Styles, and Philip Glass, and for soundtrack work on films like Gia Coppola’s Palo Alto and 2019’s acclaimed Queen & Slim) & Adam Tendler (whose music has been deemed “emotionally involving and musically rewarding” by The New York Times). 

MAN ON MAN

MAN ON MAN/ ‘Provincetown’/ Polyvinyl Record Co.

MAN ON MAN (the powerhouse creative convergence of Imperial Teen and Faith No More co-founder Roddy Bottum & his guitar-annihilating partner Joey Holman) have kicked down the door and reentered the modern music zeitgeist with the announcement of their forthcoming sophomore album Provincetown, set to drop June 16th via Polyvinyl Record Co.

Django Django

Django Django/ ‘Off Planet’/ Because Music

Django Django announces the release of Off Planet, an album in four parts, set for a full release on 16th June 2023 via Because Music. The fifth full-length studio album from the UK quartet was conceptualized by Django Django co founder and powerhouse Dave Maclean, buzzing on ufology as “a way to go beyond” — to bring new voices, new rhythms, new experimentation into play, and effectively to deconstruct the band’s identity, while still upholding the band’s acute ability to “make music that sounds close to perfection” (The Guardian).

Terri Lyne Carrington

Terri Lyne Carrington/ ‘TLC & Friends’/ Candid Records

Four-time Grammy-winner, NEA Jazz Master, composer, activist, and educator Terri Lyne Carrington is set to unveil a remarkable musical treasure to the world. TLC & Friends, Carrington's debut album recorded in October 1981 when she was just 16 years old, will finally see a wide release via Candid Records on June 16, providing a rare glimpse into the early talents of this extraordinary multi-faceted artist.

Nat Myers/ ‘Yellow Peril’/ Easy Eye Sound

On his debut album, Yellow Peril, Nat Myers carries on the traditions of the blues while simultaneously shattering every stereotype that comes with them. A Korean-American poet raised on hardcore and hip-hop, Myers found his calling early in the hundred-year-old sounds of artists like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charley Patton. Drawing from his heroes, he uses the blues to shine a light on the injustice he sees around him, and specifically the dark wave of Asian hate that accompanied the global pandemic. Produced by Dan Auerbach, who oversaw sessions for the first time in his own Nashville home (which acts as another instrument on the record), Yellow Peril arrives June 23rd via Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound. 

Stewart Copeland/ ‘Police Deranged for Orchestra ‘/ Shelter/BMG

Stewart Copeland, influential drummer/founder of seminal 80s band The Police and acclaimed film, opera, and orchestral composer, continues his musical journey with Police Deranged for Orchestra, a new album set for release on June 23 (Shelter/BMG). With his latest album, Copeland explores the band’s best-known tracks through a new lens, inspired by his recent forays into expansive musical forms and instrumentation.

ROSIE/ ‘5 Songs for Healing’ EP/ Arista Records

Acantha Lang/ ‘Beautiful Dreams’

Hataałii/ ‘Singing Into Darkness’/ Dangerbird Records

20-year-old singer-songwriter — as well as poet, painter, and all-around artist — Hataałii announces the June 30 release of Singing Into Darkness, his debut album for Dangerbird Records. The album is a collection of gothic and jangly garage rock that Hataałii says reflects on “the shit that fucks with people in a bad way: an observer’s take on the vices and foibles that obstruct people’s lives.”