Record-release roundup

Jazzy hip-hoppers Lyrical Groove will perform their debut full-length Spoken Soul on August 31 at Block 16 Union and Spirits on Seventh Avenue downtown, with other acts to include Geminelle, Presto, and Sound Collage Musik.

Pepper will drop their self-titled sixth studio album September 3 via Law/Island Records, showcasing a newer, harder sound from the formerly mellow reggae rockers. “We’ve been pigeonholed in the past, so this is an opportunity to transcend all that,” says drummer Yesod Williams. The first single “Fk Around (All Night)” is available online, with an accompanying video streaming on YouTube. The same day will see a new smooth jazz/blues rock CD from Patrick Yandall called Soul Grind, on the Innervisions label.

Black Market III’s Black Roses CD (due September 5 and recorded at Scottie Blinn’s Grease Punk Studio in Lakeside) includes covers of “Old Man” by Neil Young, “I’ve Just Seen the Rock of Ages” by John Preston, and “Keep on Loving Me Baby” by Otis Rush. Its release will be followed by a European tour.

Gayle Skidmore’s full-length Sleeping Bear includes a coloring book she created. “This is my second [album jacket] coloring book,” she says. “I felt incredibly inspired by this album and spent a lot more time on the artwork, most of which I worked on while we were recording.” For the September 15 release party at the Casbah, “I’ll have a batch of my homemade cookies.”

Nathan Fox recorded his I’m All Done EP in Nashville with several noted country session players, but for the September 17 release party at downtown’s House of Blues, “I’ll be performing the show solo and debuting a couple of new songs. One is a western-style story about a badass female gunslinger avenging the death of her family called ‘The Gunfighters Fate,’ and the other is a rock-and-roll song called ‘Get Gone.’”

Andy Gassaway’s Sacrificial Dollar EP release at Tin Can Ale House on September 17 will find the country-style roots-rocker backed by former Gone Baby Gone drummer Nobuko Kemmatsu, on a bill that also includes Austin, Texas country duo Loves It!