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New Music Friday – March 8, 2024

We’re taking the sadness out of New Music Friday. Let’s cut straight to the chase.

The Best of New Music Friday:

Bleachers – Bleachers

Ten years and four albums on, Bleachers are still putting out well-mixed alt-pop songs. They move through subtle string arrangements and the sax solos still fly. Bleachers continue answering the rhetorical ask, “What would the E Street Band sound like in 2024?” There are plenty of “Sha-la-la-la’s” and “Woos!” The big switch-up that makes Bleachers’ self-titled album a unique listen comes through its lyrical material.

Frontman and three-time Grammy-award-winning producer Jack Antonoff’s major lyrical themes have largely zoomed in on his life’s greatest tragedy: His little sister died from brain cancer at 13 years old. It’s a sad reality, one that has shaped Antonoff’s solo discography for a decade. That isn’t the case here. Now married, wiser and longing for an East Coast that only exists in the past, Bleachers are late 30-somethings on the cusp of their new major life shakeups.

Antonoff is now spending time reminiscing about DFA Records. He still expects the modern girls will shake their asses tonight (or something). The A-side of Bleachers is filled with single-type tracks broaching all these topics.

Another evolution on Bleachers is shown through who lends helping hands to Antonoff and company. Kevin Abstract sits down in the producer chair, and so does Bartees Strange, Florence Welch, Lana Del Rey and Kendrick Lamar’s longtime beatmaker, Sounwave. Previously, Antonoff only orchestrated Bleachers records by himself or with the help of some lifelong ‘behind-the-scenes-and-in-the-studio’-types. The only other major charting songwriter who contributed to producing a Bleachers album previously was Antonoff’s longtime collaborator Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent.

It feels like many of Antonoff’s contemporaries are past the most commercially triumphant parts of their careers, not to say they’re past their primes. They certainly aren’t. Bleachers are leading the pack just by name, if not for Billboard appearances.

Now Bleachers are directing a celebratory fanfare and waltzing across the New York of now to a New Jersey of yesteryear. It wouldn’t be surprising if the fifth Bleachers album explores new musical themes instead of mostly lyrical ones. That album will come. For now, fans should enjoy this changing of the guard: Bleachers has the best of the group’s musical sound with glimpses of new material direction.

New Music Friday Top Picks:

Ariana Grande – Eternal Sunshine

Bolis Pupul – Letter to You

C Turtle – Expensive Thrills

The Jesus and Mary Chain – Glasgow Eyes

La Luz – “Strange World”

Maxband – “Lines”

O. – “Green Shirt”

Wand – “Help Desk”

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 Instagram!

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Ben Pagani

Music Projects Manager at Beyond The Stage Magazine

Joining BTS as an intern in summer 2021, Ben stayed with the team as a writer and has been an editor for several years. Ben’s journalistic background includes 4 Emmy award wins for news producing. They grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and lived in Cleveland, OH for several years before finding a new home in Minneapolis, MN. They’ve found new and exciting ways to tap into the local music scene no matter where they’ve lived. Working at BTS has now opened the gates to chatting with top global artists. When they aren’t writing for BTS, they can be found riding a bicycle or spinning records while DJ’ing across the midwest.