{"id":806673,"date":"2020-04-22T11:00:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T17:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=988203"},"modified":"2020-04-22T11:00:53","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T17:00:53","slug":"x-surprise-release-alphabetland-their-first-new-album-in-27-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/x-surprise-release-alphabetland-their-first-new-album-in-27-years\/","title":{"rendered":"X Surprise-Release \u2018Alphabetland,\u2019 Their First New Album in 27 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Los Angeles\u2019 premier punk band, X<\/a>, are surprise-releasing Alphabetland<\/em>, their first new album in 27 years, today via Bandcamp<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although the group issued their last LP, Hey Zeus!<\/em>, in 1993, the recording marks the first new music by the ensemble\u2019s original members since 1985\u2019s Ain\u2019t Love Grand!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen your heart is broken, you think every song is about that,\u201d vocalist-bassist John Doe<\/a> said in a statement. \u201cThese songs were written in the last 18 months and it blows my mind how timely they are. We all want our family, friends and fans to hear our records as soon as it\u2019s finished. This time we could do that. Thanks to Fat Possum and our audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band began recording the LP in November 2018 for a session that featured five songs produced by Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck). One of the tracks was a redo of \u201cDelta 88 Nightmare,\u201d<\/a> which they put out last year. They reconnected with Schnapf for another session in January 2020, where they captured seven more songs.<\/p>\n

Label Fat Possum is currently exploring ways to give a wider release to the album, which features artwork by Pee-wee\u2019s Playhouse <\/em>set designer Wayne White. The band\u2019s plans to tour in support of the album are on hold while cities deal with stay-at-home restrictions.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

X formed in Los Angeles in 1977 and put out their landmark debut album, Los Angeles<\/em>, three years later. Although the group never broke up, it played live only sporadically throughout most of the Nineties until reuniting with guitarist Billy Zoom in 1998, touring more regularly beginning in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

In interviews, the band members have expressed mixed emotions about making a new album. All of them except for Zoom said they would want to make a new one in a 2017 Rolling Stone <\/em>profile<\/a> of the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamilies are complicated,\u201d Doe said at the time, carefully choosing his words. \u201cThere\u2019s certain \u2026 Yeah, I\u2019m not gonna go there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t work,\u201d Zoom said. \u201cThe chemistry wouldn\u2019t be right. [Some band members] are in different places and stubborn, and I don\u2019t want to go into detail, but it wouldn\u2019t sound like an X record.\u201d The band has yet to explain the change of heart.<\/p>\n

Prior to \u201cDelta 88 Nightmare,\u201d the band\u2019s last record of new recordings came out in 2009, Merry Xmas From X<\/em>, a single that featured their renditions of \u201cSanta Claus Is Coming to Town\u201d and \u201cJingle Bells.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alphabetland <\/em>Tracklist<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. \u201cAlphabetland\u201d
2. \u201cFree\u201d
3. \u201cWater & Wine\u201d
4. \u201cStrange Life\u201d
5. \u201cI Gotta Fever\u201d
6. \u201cDelta 88 Nightmare\u201d
7. \u201cStar Chambered\u201d
8. \u201cAngel on the Road\u201d
9. \u201cCyrano DeBerger\u2019s Back\u201d
10. \u201cGoodbye Year, Goodbye\u201d
11. \u201cAll the Time in the World\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Popular on Rolling Stone <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles\u2019 premier punk band, X, are surprise-releasing Alphabetland, their first new album in 27 years, today via Bandcamp. Although the group issued their last LP, Hey Zeus!, in 1993, the recording marks the first new music by the ensemble\u2019s original members since 1985\u2019s Ain\u2019t Love Grand! \u201cWhen your heart is broken, you think every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-806673","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-13 08:13:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}