New Song by Band of Horses, "Casual Party" (New Album Out in June)

Tyler Ramsey, Bill Reynolds, Ben Bridell, Creighton Barrett & Tyler Ramsey of BoH

Indie rock band with a Southern twang Band of Horses (BoH) is ready with its fifth studio album, Why Are You OK, to be released in June via Interscope Records and American Recordings. The new collection was announced in a scripted love note in video form on the BoH website, declaring "It's awesome and so are you."  This is the follow up to 2012's Mirage Rock, with producer powerhouse Rick Rubin in charge. I caught the group live at The Capitol Theatre during the summer of 2014 and the concert easily made it on my list of Top 25 Concerts of all time.

BoH songs have been a constant presence on my new music playlists here - hearing the single "Casual Party" was easy to i.d. with the grand scale of layered good vibes in the music. It's almost cathartic really, despite singer Ben Bridell's lament about the "awful conversation at the casual party." He recently told EW.com about writing the songs at home with his family of four daughters, "I work all night and take them to school in the morning. I'm the fucking scariest dad in the school, I'm sure." The twelve songs were then recorded in Stinson Beach, California and Woodstock, New York, with the usual collaboration between this tight group of guys. Check out the tune in this Korean karoke-style video and look for the hashtag ready album #YRUOK, sure to be worth a listen.

New Song by Emile Haynie featuring Rufus Wainwright "Little Ballerina" (Debut Album Out)

Emile Haynie (Photo via GQ)

L.A. music producer Emile Haynie released a debut album this week that follows the long tradition of heartfelt creative output spurred on by a failed relationship. He enlisted quite a collection of collabos to bring his songs on We Fall (Interscope Records) to life: Brian Wilson, Andrew Wyatt of Miike Snow, Lykke Li, J. Spaceman of Spiritualized, Father John Misty, Nate Ruess of fun. and Lana Del Rey (Haynie produced her album Born to Die, along with others by Kanye West and Eninem, just to name a few). 

But it was "Little Ballerina" featuring Rufus Wainwright that caught my ear, instantly recognizing his warm vocals and wondering if I had missed something about a new collection from this favorite artist of mine. Haynie told GQ in a song-by-song breakdown that it was actually fellow super producer Mark Ronson who suggested Wainwright for the track, bringing a "loving, playful delivery." It's definitely found a place on my next playlist -- take a listen at the widget here.