Turn It Up - 7/15/2026

Mildred – “UPS Brown” (from Fenceline, 2026)

Mildred is a four-piece out of Oakland that keeps the volume low, infrequent guitar squawls notwithstanding, and its tempos mid. There’s a bit of alt.country in what they’re up to on Fenceline, their debut: “Fish Sticks,” for instance, has a lick like Uncle Tupelo or early Son Volt, and album opener “UPS Brown” has a vocal that hits like Dave Schramm and a melody that had me flashing to Blue Mountain’s “Soul Sister.” What they lack in volume, they make up in the intense ambivalence of their writerly narratives. That “UPS Brown”—a perfectly dismal emotional descriptor, deployed here as a pathetic fallacy, that I will be stealing from now on—is about traveling to visit an old friend and discovering you maybe don’t fit into the new life she’s made. “Started talking to your friend Rudy / About some foreign movie / He was acting kinda snooty…” – David Cantwell (Thanks to Roy Kasten for the recommendation)

Willow Avalon (feat. Kaitlin Butts) – “Hypothetically Speaking” (from Pink Pocket Pistol, 2026)

A standout from Willow Avalon’s second album, Pink Pocket Pistol, this duet with Kaitlin Butts—about cleaning-and-covering-up the let’s-call-it-accidental death of an asshole who in any event “had it coming”—will be inevitably and repeatedly compared to the Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl.” The offed boyfriend here is named… Carl, so close enough. Willow’s responding to a desperate call from her best friend Leanne about what she should do with the man lying dead on her kitchen floor—and that too seems to lock arms with those earlier best friends, Mary Ann and Wanda. In the choruses, though, Willow offers advice not just to Leanne but to any person in need of her expertise and assistance. “Before you start running, just dial my number,” Avalon instructs, as if she were tacking her business card to the bulletin board at a supermarket or domestic violence shelter. That expansion of concept, from friend in need to the Equalizer, had me flashing to a different revenge classic: AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.” Notably, though, Willow doesn’t seem to be charging her clients even for expenses. What she’s proposing is an extremely cutting-edge sort of mutual-aid society. Hypothetically speaking, I mean. — DC

Jim Stanard with Crystal Gayle – “Waking Up Dead” (from Magical, 2026)

Jim Stanard’s “Waking Up Dead” marks the first time I’ve ever written about a singer-songwriter who was once the former chairman and CEO of a “catastrophe reinsurance” corporation valued at over three billion dollars. I’ll venture it goes down as the last time, too. That noted: Stanard’s song, a duet set the morning after what looks to have been a married couple’s final argument, is smart and moving, and his vocal is invested with a Leonard Cohen-lite weariness-cum-wisdom. What I can’t shake, though, are the vocals from Stanard’s partner here, Crystal Gayle. I am a longtime fan of her Crystalpolitan, yet I don’t believe I’ve ever heard her sound anywhere near as haggard, as raw, as she does here, or backed by an intensely cinematic strings-only arrangement, as spiraling and doomed either. “Don’t seem like I’m at the pearly gates,” Gayle moans, sounding as if that would be a relief next to the bed she’s still sharing, for the moment. Roll credits. – DC

RJD2 and Supastition – “Rent Money” (from According To…, 2026)

In my jam of the year so far, MCs RJD2 and Supastition advocate for danceable beats and retail therapy—those’re their in-the-mean-time coping mechanisms for hard economic times: “I know the rent’s hot, I know the bill’s due, I know we’re strugglin’ but Daddy need new shoes!” They’re spending what they got, or maybe just running up their cards, on vintage vinyl, new sneaks and more. As a long-term strategy, this is unsustainable but synchs nicely with the zeitgeist all the same. Next stop: I Love Boosters—and, indeed, this one has a Boots Riley bounce that would fit perfectly on a Coup album. As I think Emma Goldman once said, “I don’t want your revolution if I can’t have some nice shit.” – DC

Parlor Greens – “Drop Top” (from Emeralds, 2026)

The sophomore effort of this great Ohio organ trio is every bit as groovy and cooly funky as their also-recommended 2024 debut, In Green/We Dream, but with a bit more guitar snarl on “Lion’s Mane” and “Red Dog” and with a delightfully distinctive rhythm bed added to their take on Dolly’s “Jolene.” My favorite new one, though, is “Drop Top,” which takes its sweet time wandering idly, say, through the booths at your favorite thrift shop or, if you’re in a darker spot, sipping a bourbon and ruminating over whatever will become of us. –DC

Rolling Stones – “Mr. Charm” (from Foreign Tongues, 2026)

The Stones have done it again – their new Foreign Tongues is at least as enjoyable as the surprise gem Hackney Diamonds from two years ago. Highlights range from the rushing riffs of “Divine Intervention” to the slurred-and-purred majesty of Keith Richards’s spotlight “Some of Us,” but my favorite at this point is probably the sleazy romp “Mr. Charm.” Jagger’s rarely sounded more connected to a main character, here a smooth-talking scoundrel whose come-ons are capacious enough to include a swipe at “mad mogul Mr. Musk.” The band bangs away, with Steve Jordan again showing that he’s the best possible replacement for the irreplaceable Charlie Watts, and producer Andrew Watt’s production is loud and bright in fine turn-it-up fashion. The song’s smarter than it seems, way more fun that it has any right to be, and just what I needed from the old devils. – Charles Hughes

Cécile McLorin Salvant – “Send In The Clowns” (from With Every Breath I Take, 2026)

A jazz singer of unique power and range, Cécile McLorin Salvant has nothing left to prove in her remarkable (and still young) career. But she does it anyway on With Every Breath I Take, her collections of classic ballads and her first album with an orchestra. Salvant’s performances are lush mysteries that unfold with each listen, and the Metropole Orkest (conducted by Jules Buckley) waxes and wanes alongside her as though they’re part of a gravitational binary system. Sondheim’s “Send In The Clowns” is a justifiable standard at this point, but Salvant finds particular poignance in its lyric (from her near-whispered opening line “isn’t it rich?” forward) and that astonishing melody that loses none of its power as Salvant plays with meter and phrasing to restore “Send In The Clowns” to its theatrical roots. Stunning stuff. As Ann Powers noted, “this is not a record for the background, it’s a record for the foreground,” and it just may be a record for the ages. – CH

Allison Russell (feat. Kara Jackson, Denitia, and Explore! Pop Choir) – “Cold April” (from In The Hour of Chaos, 2026)

Allison Russell’s new album is a celebration of the beloved community, featuring collaborators on all tracks (save one) and a unifying, loving theme of shared obligation and purpose. It’s fitting for Russell and it blends well with her rich pop-infused style that remembers its roots but seeks new sonic possibilities. It’s thus no surprise to hear the Prince reference on “Cold April,” but the primary mode of the song’s hold-on-be-strong affirmation is the shared spaces of call and response created in the church and on the playground. The sing-song chants of the Explore! Pop Choir pack power in their simple rhymes – if there’s a more right-now message than “It’s one if you’re scared, two if you’re sad/Three if you know it’s really that bad,” I’ve yet to hear it – and guest artists Kara Jackson and Denitia add their voices to this anthem of perseverance and recovery. Those are two of Russell’s central themes, and one of her best tricks is pairing them – as she does here – with a soundscape somewhere between dreams and the dance floor. “Calling all the birds from across the nation,” declares the Explore! Pop Choir, “Yeah, we got a brand-new murmuration.” Time to fly, together. – CH

Meshell Ndegeocello – “Breaking Up Somebody’s Home” (from Lucille Talks Back: 50^th Anniversary, 2026)

I’m not sure why the new reimagining of B.B. King’s 1975 album Lucille Talks Back has gotten so little attention. (I’m not sure I would’ve heard about it if I didn’t live in Memphis, where it had its world premiere.) But I hope that it catches a wave of interest, because it most certainly deserves it. Executive-produced by Meshell Ndegeocello, this is less tribute than response, with contemporary artists like Ledisi, Eric Gales, Ink, and Doyle Bramhall II offering their takes on the simmering, R&B-infused originals. Ndegeocello steps to the center with “Breaking Up Somebody’s Home,” which King recorded a few years after Ann Peebles had a hit with it and which has since become a favorite in blues repertoires. Ndegeocello takes the song apart, shifting the rhythm and adding aching vocal counterpoints over rolling waves of guitar and drum. This new feel captures the sweaty urgency of horny misbehavior, especially in its furtive will-I-or-won’t-I beginning. In an era when most blues commemorations remain far too stuffy, such reminders of blues-impulse restlessness are always welcome. This is a great album. – CH

The Soul Ingredient – “A Change Is Coming” (from The Cookbook, 2026)

Speaking of Memphis, a group of students from the world-class jazz program at our Central High School, who’ve also participated in the acclaimed Memphis Jazz Workshop, have just released a smoking debut album that blends the legacies of the old heads with a sparkle befitting talented young guns. The Soul Ingredient’s The Cookbook draws from the lessons that these literal pupils know very well, but the players – all of whom either just finished high school or will soon – don’t allow themselves to get bogged down by the weight of expectation. Instead, the album’s nine originals announce the band as distinctive next-gen participants in a local jazz tradition rooted in high schools that stretches back to Jimmie Lunceford, Booker Little, and many others. “A Change Is Coming,” for example, was written by alto saxophonist Jackson Hankins, who also features throughout (often in duet with fellow sax man Elijah Sembler) bopping across the punchy drum track from Corbin Bassler with a lightness and restraint that belies his youth. The title nods to perhaps jazz’s greatest pun tradition, affirms the visionary aspirations of jazz philosophy, and asserts that - despite this group’s rooting in the past - they’re not willing to remain there. Keep an eye and both ears on all these players. – CH

Recommended reading:

-Zandria F. Robinson on the meaning and destruction of Memphis’ Ninth Congressional District, for Oxford American

-David Cantwell on Porter Wagoner’s “My Bonfire,” for “Patsy Your Enthusiasm” at HiLoBrow

-Alfred Soto talks to Barry Walters about his new book Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969-2000, for Pitchfork

-Kandia Crazy Horse talks to Haylie Davis, for The Bluegrass Situation

-Jewly Hight talks to Ashley Monroe, for WPLN

-Elizabeth Nelson on KISS’ “Rock and Roll All Nite,” for Southwest Review

-Andy Greene talks to Noel “Paul” Stookey, for Rolling Stone

-Ambre Dromgoole explains why Alice Coltrane is having a moment, for Hammer and Hope

-Nine artists and writers discuss the legacy of writer Greg Tate, for Hammer and Hoe

-Jesse Jarnow on Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead’s infamous 1986 Minneapolis show, for Flagging Down

-Frances Wilson on Liza Minelli, for The New York Review of Books

-Robin D.G. Kelley on Tricia Rose and Greg Tate, on the occasion of the republications of their classics Black Noise and Flyboy in the Buttermilk, for his newsletter

-Danny Alexander on the PMRC, how we got here, and more, for his Substack

-Yasi Salek talks to Courtney Love about her movie career, for Criterion.com

-Mark Anthony Neal on “Quiet Storm,” WBLS and the Black music archive, for Medium

-Craig Jenkins on the new Rolling Stones album, for Vulture

-Andrew Royce on Rush’s Power Windows, for Pitchfork

-David Marchese talks to Mick Jagger, for New York Times

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