Cory Graves
Eisley Leads A Long List of Locals Prepping New Albums.
Though we won't know for sure until the numbers are officially released tomorrow, it appears as if Justin Timberlake is set to bring platinum back this week with his 20/20 Experience, which looks like it's going to become just the 19th album to sell a million copies in a week since SoundScan began tracking music sales in 1991.
We should note, of course, that David Bowie, Bon Jovi and Eric Clapton all released monster-selling discs last week, too. None of this should come as a tremendous shock, though. The biggest albums are almost always released in the springtime.
And because, on some levels, what happens in North Texas is a microcosm of what's going in the country at large, this a trend that's true of the local music scene as well. To wit: There are plenty of new and upcoming releases from North Texas artists worth highlighting this week.
First and foremost, Eisley announced this week that their fourth full-length album, Currents, will be released on May 28. The album was recorded and produced entirely by the band themselves — a first for the band — in their Tyler home. But there are some other firsts of note on this record, as well. For one, it will feature the first-ever full-song solo lead vocal performance from lead guitarist Chauntelle DuPree-D'Agostino. Not completely surprisingly, the record also boasts a guest appearance from Say Anything frontman Max Bemis, who is married to Eisley vocalist/guitarist Sherri DuPree-Bemis.
Also this week, former Baruch the Scribe frontman Judson Valdez released the first single from his latest project, Chambers. The free-to-download “Lost Coin” was produced by Seryn's Trenton Wheeler, and is up for grabs over at the group's BandCamp page.
As long as you're already browsing BandCamp, you might as well surf over to Vacations' page, too. Though Fungi Girls frontman Jacob Bruce digitally released his Purple Slumber seven-inch solo back in December, the Dreamy Soundz-produced effort became available physically this week as well via the Denton/Austin-based Play Pinball! Records. Even better? A hundred copies of the pressing will be on glow-in-the-dark vinyl.
These artists, of course, join Ishi, The O's, The Birds of Night, Dead Flowers, Daniel Markham, Whiskey Folk Ramblers, Polyphonic Spree, Selena Gomez, Telegraph Canyon, Sealion, and Caleb Ian Campbell in the list of notable local names set to release new albums in the next few months.
And though they didn't release any new material recently, a few other North Texas musicians also made some new revelations this week.
When released anonymously back in November, Denim Wonder's first two singles came off as quite the solid bit indie-folk — a little too solid to be a newcomer. At least, that's what we always suspected. And, this week, our suspicions were confirmed when Radiant drummer Daniel Hopkins outed himself as the entity behind the project via his Facebook page.
“I just didn't have the time to keep sending the anonymous tweets and bugging the various members of the press,” Hopkins told us. “I thought, if I'm ever really going to do anything with this project, I have to let people know who I am. And, besides, I think the bit kinda got old.”
Lastly, singer-songwriter Clint Niosi will debut his new Unaccountable backing band at next week's Deep Ellum Arts Festival. His impressive assemblage of talent includes bassist Aaron Bartz (previously Deep Snapper's guitarist), drummer Tommy Garcia (best known for his time playing with Fishboy), violinist Claire Hecko (a founding member of Warren Jackson Hearne's Merrie Murde of Gloomadeers) and Niosi's longtime touring pianist Matt Hanson.
Eisley cover photo by Chris Phelps. Got a tip for White Noise? Email us!
