Dig These Discs: Shawn Mendes, Lady Wray, My Chemical Romance, Against Me!, Goldroom

Following her critically acclaimed album "Transgender Dysphoria Blues," Against Me! frontwoman Laura Jane Grace is back with another album. Virginia-born singer/songwriter Nicole Wray, aka Lady Wray, releases her first solo album in a long time, "Queen Alone." Singer/songwriter/producer Josh Legg, aka Goldroom, releases his debut album this month, "West of the West." Multi-platinum singer/songwriter Shawn Mendes releases his second studio album, and announces his first-ever headlining arena world tour for 2017. And My Chemical Romance may have split up, but they still managed the re-release of their 10-year anniversary version of their iconic album, featuring 11 demos and outtakes from the original recording sessions.

"Shape Shift With Me" (Against Me!)

Following her critically acclaimed album "Transgender Dysphoria Blues," Against Me! frontwoman Laura Jane Grace is back with her seventh studio album. The title is a lyric from the track "Norse Truth." Bandmates guitarist James Bowman, bassist Inge Johansson and drummer Atom Willard return to help Grace release her first album written truly from the heart, with no metaphors. This punk rock masterpiece is all about love, with Grace saying, "Tons of people have written about love. But while love is clich�, it's infinitely relevant. For me, having always been in a punk band that was expected to be political, I never felt like I had that option to write about feelings in that way. That's what I ended up being drawn to this time. It's writing in a way I thought I could never write before, and not giving a shit about expectations." They gallop out of the gate with the abrasive "ProVision L-3" a short, sweet stunner named for the ubiquitous airport scanner. In "12:03" it's Sunday morning, and she's waiting for a call. She worked with songwriter Cody Votolato for lyrics on "Boyfriend" singing candidly, "I don't wanna hang around the graveyard, waiting for something dead to come back." The excellent band keeps the jamming cut "Crash" moving along. But it's all about Grace in the spare track, "Delicate, Petite & Other Things I'll Never Be," with its sinister, growling bass underlying the confessional lyrics, "I want to be more real than all of the others, I want to be more real than all of the rest." The band has created an excellent video to accompany their single, "333" directed by Ione Skye and starring Natasha Lyonne and Andrew Howard. They're galloping toward darkness in "Haunting, Haunted, Haunts"; drumsticks clacking together move the resolutely punk song "Dead Rats" forward. They speed through "Rebecca" at breakneck speed. Grace works with Votolato again on "Norse Truth," dishing up those confessions once again of being, "more real than all the others, more real than all the rest." "You're gigantic to me in the way you bring me closer to death," sings Grace in the surprisingly upbeat "Suicide Bomber," closing the album with "All Of This And More," remembering "how you first endeared yourself to me," while they're still 160 miles to Cincinnati. After battling gender dysphoria, Grace seems to have unified her body and spirit. And with this album -- their first real full-length effort in a long time -- you can truly see the beautiful effect of this unity.
(Total Treble Music)

"Illuminate" (Shawn Mendes)

Multi-platinum singer/songwriter Shawn Mendes releases his second studio album, and announces his first-ever headlining arena world tour for 2017. It follows his 2015 debut "Handwritten," which spun off four platinum singles. The new album features his lead single "Treat You Better," following the success of last year's hit single "Stitches." He teamed up with Ed Sheeran's producer Jake Gosling, saying, "This time, I knew I would be standing next to the producer the whole time and making sure it was exactly what I wanted, and we captured this new, inner voice that I had no idea I even had." He kicks the album off with deep drums and moody guitar in the bluesy cut "Ruin," singing "I'm not trying to ruin your happiness, but darling don't you know that I'm the only one for you?" You don't even know your own power, he sings in "Mercy." He sings of being a gentleman to her in "Treat You Better," but later is "Honest," when he admits she deserves more than he can promise. The tricky guitar pick-work keeps "Three Empty Words" moving along, as Mendes sings, "we're going through the motions, cause we can't fix what's broken." He shows the top points of his range in the bluesy "Don't Be a Fool," and tries to keep his life together in the ballad "Like This." Mendes said he listened a lot to John Mayer while writing this album, and the influence shows. There's a Spanish guitar feel in his track "Promises," and he promises to take it slowly in the flirty "Lights On." The slow strummer "Patience" about a late-night booty call is followed, fittingly, by "Bad Reputation." Mendes wraps up a solid sophomore effort with the piano cut "Understand," a funky tune with a spoken word outro. Catch him if you can on his sold-out world tour.
(Island Records)

"Queen Alone" (Lady Wray)

Virginia-born singer/songwriter Nicole Wray, aka Lady Wray, releases her first solo album in a long time, "Queen Alone." After working alongside Missy Elliot, Aaliyah, Ginuwine, Playa and Timbaland, Wray is back on her own with an album that she says is "a reflection of my soul. It's who I am today." And the soulful sounds rush out of her from the get-go, as she sings "It's Been A Long Time," sounding for all the world like a young Diana Ross. "If you wanna pack your bags, go on ahead," sings Wray in the classic break-up tune, "Do It Again." Her vibe is such sweet classic R&B, and the piano and horns give such a old-school vibe, you'll be reminiscing like your moms and pops. She's swinging in the "young and free" cut "Smiling," and even uses that classic Shirelles line, "Mama said there'd be days like this." The harmony is excellent in "Guilty" as Wray asks, "you're not with me/ when will you be coming home?" Her voice is Jackson 5-high in the flirty tune, "In Love (Don't Mess Things Up)," but gets sultry in the next track, "Make Me Over." He's knocking and begging, saying he wants more in the choppy "Cut Me Loose," but she's a sly voodoo women putting a spell on him, in the swinging track "Underneath My Feet." Wray tells how it will be without money or friends in "They Won't Hang Around." She drinks a little, swears a lot; she used to be good, but now wants to be a "Bad Girl" in a sweet R&B cut peppered with horns. Wray wraps a truly excellent solo effort with "Let It Go," a fast-moving cacophony of drums and guitar that mellows out into a smooth plea.
(Big Crown Records)

"West of the West" (Goldroom)

Singer/songwriter/producer Josh Legg, aka Goldroom, releases his debut album this month, "West of the West," taking the title from a Theodore Roosevelt bon mot, "When I am in California, I am not in the West, I am west of the West." The album is an amazing blend of guitar, bass and percussion to create soaring dancefloor soundscapes. The album features the new singles "Retrograde," "Lying to You" and "Silhouette." And this moody electro track "Silhouette" is a dance floor stunner, as Goldroom sings, "Without you I'm a silhouette," over snaps and funky electric guitar. Irish singer Rooty add zest to the feel-good track "Back to You" and the darker song, "Teenage Waste." Goldroom is walking home through streets turned strange in "Lying To You" saying, "I'd be lying if I said you're not always in my head... lying if I said I wish you never found my bed." He shows how high his vocal register goes in "Breaks" and employs some cool percussive effects in "Underwater": everything from the clack of claves to an old-time telephone ring, with Donna Summer-esque vocal stylings from Rooty. Goldroom is impassioned in "Tough," singing, "You were around me when times got rough... and now you want a piece of me, but I don't break that easily." You'll groove through "Retrograde," and reminisce over the good old days kissing under those "Freeway Lights." "West of the West" wraps up with the dancefloor ballad "Missing You Lately," with Rooty singing, "I've been racing way too long to find another, I've been chasing memories about that summer over and over." Goldroom hits the road with Autograf this fall, performing in Nashville on Sept. 30, followed by gigs up and down the East Coast and into Canada before heading west in mid-October.
(Downtown/Interscope Records)

"The Black Parade/Living With Ghosts" (My Chemical Romance)

A decade after they released their iconic album, the alt-rock band My Chemical Romance re-releases a 10-year anniversary version, featuring 11 demos and outtakes from the original recording sessions. The band, comprised of lead singer Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, bassist Mikey Way and drummer Bob brayer, broke up in 2013. The two-CD, three-album set contains a reissue of My Chemical Romance's double-platinum, genre-defining album�"The Black Parade," originally released by Reprise in October 2006. It kicks off with the short and sweet cut "The End," and then moves quickly to the gleefully upbeat guitar track "Dead," in which Way sings, "Have you heard the news that you're dead? No one ever had much nice to say. I think they never liked you anyway." They shred on "This Is How I Disappear." "You're the one that I need/ I'm the one that you loathe," they sing in "The Sharpest Lives," and add marching band percussion to the multiplatinum hit, "Welcome to the Black Parade." There aren't too many slow songs, but they hit pay dirt with the slow, regret-laden "I Don't Love You," and the sad "Cancer." And the opening of "Disenchanted" reveals Way's singing talents. They rip it out in "House of Wolves," singing, "you better run like the devil cause they're never gonna leave you alone." "Mama" sounds like gypsy music, and "Teenagers" has the guitar line of an '80s-era Queen song. They shred right 'til the end, with "Famous Last Words." The new edition also includes "Living With Ghosts," a second disc with 11 previously unreleased demos and outtakes from the original recording session with producer Rob Cavallo. Among them are the excellent rough mix of "Emily," "The Five of Us Are Dying,"�with its excellent piano intro, an early version of "Welcome To The Black Parade," and demos of the album tracks�"Mama," "Disenchanted,"�and two excellent versions of�"House of Wolves."�Five tracks,�"Party At The End Of The World," "My Way Home Is Through You," "Not That Kind of Girl," "Emily,"�and�"All The Angels,"�have never been released in any form. After a cryptic teaser clip, fans speculated that the band might reunite and go on tour again. Unfortunately, that's not in the cards, as they wrote on Twitter, "We are not touring, and there is no reunion planned."
(Warner Bros. Records)