Several Tucson musicians are releasing new albums this week, and a couple are hosting release gigs to mark the occasion.
But one of the musicians, Brian Lopez, is off to Europe as his third solo album, โPrelude,โ drops Friday, March 23. His European tour, which he kicked off last week, includes stops in France and Germany to promote his first record in more than three years.
Early reviews from Europe have been gushing, including from Germany’s amusio.com, which called “Prelude” Lopez’s “most poignant album to date ... an absolutely pure album, with concentrated thoughtfulness and a gently creeping melancholy.”
In liner notes, Lopez said heโs not sure what โPreludeโ is a prelude to, but the record itself โ 10 all-acoustic songs recorded โvery lo-fi, terribly imperfect and impossibly cohesive sonic threadโ โ was the veteran desert rockerโs attempt at musical purity.
โThe idea behind โPreludeโ was to not overthink. To not overproduce. To always move forward. A sort of sonic stream of consciousness, and a testament to the merits of intuition,โ Lopez said. โI recorded these songs between 6 p.m. and 4 a.m., over the sound of a rattling ceiling fan and the blazing horns of the many freight trains that pass through the dark of night.โ
Lopezโs European tour runs through the end of the month. A Tucson CD release gig date has not been announced.
- Tucson singer-songwriter Belinda Esquer is bringing a full band to help her showcase all the wonderful poppy inflections of her new album โThe Girl,โ being released Saturday, March 24, at a release party/show at The Flycatcher, 340 E. Sixth St. Rival Shapes opens.
โThe Girl,โ the multi-instrumentalist/singer-songwriterโs first full-length album and her third solo release, is pure, unapologetic pop, from the infectious, finger-snapping car-karaoke-perfect title song to โMy Love,โ which revels in subdued rock hooks, and the midtempo ballad โBack To Us,โ which hints at 1990s stripped-down indie pop.
Hook-driven pop-rock (โThe Victim,โ โThe Crash,โ โYoungerโ) might remind you of late-career Go-Gos or the Cranberries, while the ballads, (โSay,โ โI Keep Forgetting to Let Goโ) sung in Spanish, recall the former Yardsale Heart lead singerโs first-ever Spanish-language recording, an EP that Esquer released in March 2017.
Esquerโs album release gig starts at 9 p.m. Saturday; admission is $5 at the door.
- The quirky and always fun Carnivaleros will release their sixth full-length album, โTallsome Tales,โ with a show Thursday, March 22, at downtownโs Tap & Bottle, 403 N. Sixth Ave. The album is pure Carnivaleros โ a wave pool of flexing grooves and emotions driven through a somewhat unhealthy obsession with making music with the self-described liberal use of accordions, banjos, mandolins, guitars and a host of brass instruments including saxophones, trumpets and trombones. Put together, there are deep Southwestern accents.
In addition to the Carnivalerosโ regulars โ Gary Mackender, Karl Hoffmann, Joe Fanning, Bjรถrgvin Benediktsson and Les Merrihew โ โTallsome Talesโ also features guest turns by a veritable whoโs who of Tucson music royalty: Don Armstrong, Mitzi Cowell, Ed DeLucia, Heather Hardy, Catherine Zavala and horn players Carla Brownlee, Mike Coyle and Michael Oliver.
Thursday’s release gig starts at 8:30 p.m.; admission is free. Details: facebook.com/carnivaleros The band plays an encore release gig at 7 p.m. April 6 at Monterey Court, 505 W. Miracle Mile.
