Blog: Direct Current

Watch: The Lone Bellow - "Bleeding Out"

May 9, 2:33pm Direct Current

Brooklyn trio The Lone Bellow tap into the same fine-spun Americana and acoustic country songwriting that has propelled The Lumineers and The Civil Wars. Zach Williams, Kanine Pipkin and Brian Elmquist, we opined, are "alt-folk, country and roots music aficionados who just can't quit a memorable melody saturated with sweetly and exuberantly rendered three-part harmony" and their self-titled January debut has been one of our favorite re-play releases of the year. Ready to head out on tour this summer as headliners and openers for Brandi Carlile and Robert Plant, The [...]

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Treetop Flyers - The Mountain Moves

May 8, 5:45pm Direct Current

It's been nearly a couple of years since we first tugged on your sleeve about Treetop Flyers , a British "country soul" band whose sunny, strummy folk/rock sounds more late 60's Southern California than the West London club n' pub scene. Since becoming an early signing of the influential Communion Music group (co-founded by Mumford Son Ben Lovett), the band has gigged incessantly and eventually landed in -- where else? -- sun-drenched Malibu to record their debut album The Mountain Moves (June 25, Partisan). Released last month in the U.K., the album has [...]

• Treetop Flyers - Houses Are Burning
• Treetop Flyers - Things Will Change

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Artist:	Treetop Flyers
Title:	Houses Are Burning
File Name:	Treetop Flyers - Houses Are Burning.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Year:	2013

Artist:	Treetop Flyers
Title:	Things Will Change
File Name:	Treetop Flyers - Things Will Change.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Year:	2013

RADAR: Liz Longley

May 7, 6:21pm Direct Current

Philly native Liz Longley ended up in Nashville by way of a stopover in Boston (and The Berklee School of Music) where she joined the thousands of would-be songwriter sensations in a town known for nurturing the craft's best and brightest. In a short time, Longley has gone from outsider to respected and in-demand writer and performer, staking out her own territory in the crowded field of folk, pop and country-tinged tunesmiths and co-writing dozens of songs with some of the Nashville's most respected musical bylines. Things have been falling into place: a new [...]

• Liz Longley - Moondance
• Liz Longley - This Is Not the End

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Artist:	Liz Longley
Title:	Moondance
File Name:	Liz Longley - Moondance.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps

Artist:	Liz Longley
Title:	This Is Not the End
File Name:	Liz Longley - This Is Not the End.mp3
Year:	2013

Patty Griffin - American Kid

May 7, 3:28pm Direct Current

To say that Patty Griffin is exploring her roots on the exquisite new album American Kid (May 7, New West) is to tell only half the story. Recorded in Memphis with North Mississippi Allstars guitarist Luther Dickinson and drummer Cody Dickinson and co-produced by Griffin and Craig Ross, her dozen new songs -- her first album of original recordings since 2007 -- reflect the award-winning songwriter's most roots-driven project. Clearly she's been immersed in the acoustic traditions of Americana recently on her work with husband Robert Plant (who joins her [...]

• Patty Griffin - Go Wherever You Wanna Go

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Artist:	Patty Griffin
Title:	Go Wherever You Wanna Go
File Name:	Patty Griffin - Go Wherever You Wanna Go.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Year:	2013

Jay Leighton - Hours

May 6, 6:27pm Direct Current

On his debut album Hours (May 14), British singer/songwriter Jay Leighton aims for the grand anthems and classic rock melodies gleaned from hours spent with his father's album collection. And if there was any question that Leighton proudly wears his influences directly on his sleeve, the new single "Wish I Was Springsteen" should dispel any doubt immediately. These songs, memorable in their basic structure and simple chord changes, are crafted with the attitude that in songwriting, less is more. "In some ways, I'm constrained by my lack of ability," Leighton admits. "If [...]

• Jay Leighton - Sentimental Things
• Jay Leighton - Too Late To Turn Your Back On Me

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Artist:	Jay Leighton
Title:	Sentimental Things
File Name:	Jay Leighton - Sentimental Things.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Year:	2013

Artist:	Jay Leighton
Title:	Too Late To Turn Your Back On Me
File Name:	Jay Leighton - Too Late to Turn Your Back On Me.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Year:	2013

Emma Louise - Vs Head Vs Heart

May 6, 4:48pm Direct Current

The title Emma Louise 's new album Vs Head Vs Heart (May 21, French Kiss) could, on first pass, indicate the conflicts at play in the emotional life of any 21-year-old singer and songwriter. But this particular tug of war is rooted in the young Australian's early success when "Jungle", a track from her debut EP Full Hearts and Empty Rooms , became a radio and download favorite Down Under and also got her foot in the door across Europe and the U.S. The ruminations in her head and the lure of [...]

• Emma Louise - Atlas Eyes
• Emma Louise - Mirrors

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Artist:	Emma Louise
Title:	Atlas Eyes
File Name:	Emma Louise - Atlas Eyes.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Year:	2013

Artist:	Emma Louise
Title:	Mirrors
File Name:	Emma Louise - Mirrors.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Year:	2013

Ann Pragg - Bitter Fruit

May 6, 1:31pm Direct Current

"We wanted to maintain a level of rawness and warmth with these songs," says Matt Radick -- aka Ann Pragg -- a singer and songwriter who also just happens to be a member of the Florida indie band Holopaw. Over the past few years Radick has recorded his own songs pretty much on the sly, laying down tracks on a four-track cassette recorder and, he says, "never too concerned about their destination, just happy to share them with friends." Those songs, described by his label Wonderland Archives as "lo fi, homemade recordings [...]

• Ann Pragg - Demolition Dust
• Ann Pragg - Janurarium

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Artist:	Ann Pragg
Title:	Demolition Dust
File Name:	Ann Pragg - Demolition Dust 192.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps

Artist:	Ann Pragg
Title:	Janurarium
File Name:	Ann Pragg - Januarium.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Year:	2013

Watch: KT Tunstall - "Feel It All"

May 3, 2:53pm Direct Current

KT Tunstall is a long way from her native Scotland in her new video for "Feel It All" but the desert setting is also accurately reflective of her new, more back-to-basics style of the song and her forthcoming album Invisible Empire/Crescent Moon due August 6 in the states (June 10 in the UK). Tunstall recorded her new tracks in Tucson, AZ, with producer Howe Gelb (Giant Sand) and there's a low-keyed, country folksiness to "Feel It All." "I followed my path of truth and ended up in a different place," say Tunstall of the [...]

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Listen: Gregory Alan Isakov - "Saint Valentine"

May 3, 2:22pm Direct Current

"Saint Valentine" give us a peak at the forecast from The Weatherman , the third album from Boulder, Colorado singer/songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov and the follow up to his critically adored 2009 album This Empty Northern Hemisphere . There's a bit of mid-career Paul Simon-ish jaunt to "Saint Valentine"'s effortlessly beautiful melody, right down to the sweet backing harmonies and interesting chord changes. This one's so immediately easy to like it's almost scary. Look for The Weatherman July 9. [...]

• Gregory Alan Isakov - Saint Valentine

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Artist:	Gregory Alan Isakov
Title:	Saint Valentine
File Name:	Gregory Alan Isakov - Saint Valentine.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Year:	2013

RADAR: Sons of the East

May 2, 11:00pm Direct Current

Jack Rollins, Nic Johnston and Dan Wallage are Sons of the East : three friends from the beaches of Sydney, Australia who a couple years back began writing and playing their own loose-limbed folk/pop songs as, they note, "just a few fellas having some fun." That strumfest mood along with an unassuming Jack Johnson-ish style that sounds crafted from a few beers around an oceanside bonfire wafts through the Sons' jangly melodies and rough-hewn vocals. Hardly the navel-gazing introspective types, the trio may be found playing any number of clubs along the New South Wales [...]

• » Sons of the East - Hold On.mp3
• Sons of the East - Dust and Sand

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File Name:	Sons of the East - Hold On.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps

Artist:	Sons of the East
Title:	Dust and Sand
File Name:	Sons of the East - Dust and Sand.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps

RADAR: Alice and the Glass Lake

May 2, 5:25pm Direct Current

Alice and the Glass Lake is the musical stage name of Wisconsin-born, Brooklyn-based singer and songwriter Alice Lake. It is also that space between real and imagined, she reflects, "the lens through which I live my dreams. It's an escapist place of possibility and heartbreak. And it's a sonic space to become lost and find truth." Big concepts, big ideas. So it's only fitting that Evolution , the May 28 debut EP from Alice and the Glass Lake, be an equally expansive musical canvas for Lake's imaginative and dramatic art/popping electronics. Evolution [...]

• » Alice and the Glass Lake - Luminous 256.....mp3
• Alice and the Glass Lake - Higher 256

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File Name:	Alice and the Glass Lake - Luminous 256.mp3
Bitrate:	256 kbps

Artist:	Alice and the Glass Lake
Title:	Higher 256
File Name:	Alice and the Glass Lake - Higher 256.mp3
Bitrate:	256 kbps
Year:	2013

DC Weekly New Release Recap

May 2, 2:49pm Direct Current

Plenty of new albums to sort through this week as new music from !!! ( chk chk chk , you know), Fleetwood Mac , Iggy and The Stooges and the Eagles (DVD) soaks up most of the digital ink. But, as always, we' ve got a few more lesser knowns that you may want to consid er . Like the fine debut albums from Elena Tonra's Daught er [...]

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Watch: Parlours - "Slowly From The Earth"

May 1, 7:49pm Direct Current

"One of the nicest surprises of the year" is how we summed up All Is Here , the 2012 long-player debut from the Des Moines band Parlours . "The come on is subtle and sweet, the mood warm and sultry, recalling a style reminiscent of 10,000 Maniacs, Mazzy Star and the latest crop of Ingrid-Michaelson-schooled introspective female folk/poppers glimpsed through the rosy haze of 4AD lenses." While the band's founder and frontwoman Dana Halferty wrote most of the songs on All Is Here , the album's powerful five-minute closer "Slowly [...]

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RADAR: Nick Mulvey

May 1, 5:46pm Direct Current

Londoner Nick Mulvey found his first taste of success as a founding member of Portico Quartet, the Mercury Prize-nominated band known for their adventurous electro-acoustic sonic explorations. In 2009, Mulvey opted to head off on a solo trek to write and perform his own songs, tapping into his affinity for neo-folk songwriting, the rhythmic tunes of Paul Simon and a playing style that draws heavily on his guitar studies during an extended stay in Havana, Cuba. Now signed to the tastemaker Brit label Communion, Mulvey is readying his second EP Fever to the [...]

• Nick Mulvey - April
• Nick Mulvey - The Trellis

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Artist:	Nick Mulvey
Title:	April
File Name:	Nick Mulvey - April.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Year:	2013

Artist:	Nick Mulvey
Title:	The Trellis
File Name:	Nick Mulvey - The Trellis 192.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Year:	2013

Daughter - If You Leave

Apr 30, 3:19pm Direct Current

Daughter originally began as the somber acoustic musings of British songwriter Elena Tonra, stripped-down songs that exhibited an intense, even brutal intimacy. "I got a bit bored of just me and my guitar," says Tonra so she expanded her Daughter to a trio with the inclusion of collaborator and electric guitarist Igor Haefeli and drummer Remi Aguilella while fleshing out her haunting folk hymns into a darkly atmospheric style of alternative pop. Excellent new full length If You Leave (April 30, Glassnote) displays Tonra's brooding lovelorn melancholy and airy, icy and reverbed vocals meshing [...]

• Daughter - Lifeforms
• Daughter - Smother

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Artist:	Daughter
Title:	Lifeforms
File Name:	Daughter - Lifeforms.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Genre:	Indie
Year:	2013

Artist:	Daughter
Title:	Smother
File Name:	Daughter - Smother.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps

Fleetwood Mac - Extended Play

Apr 30, 1:33pm Direct Current

Well, they told us it was coming and now here it is. A new Extended Play of four new songs -- their first official recordings in a decade -- from Fleetwood Mac : three written by Lindsey Buckingham and co-produced by Buckingham and Mitchell Froom ("Sad Angel," "It Takes Time" and "Miss Fantasy") and one written by Stevie Nicks and produced by Buckingham ("Without You"). The latter track is said to be a song originally written for the now 40-year-old Buckingham/Nicks album (sadly, still out of print) but never released [...]

• Fleetwood Mac - Extended Play Sampler

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Artist:	Fleetwood Mac
Title:	Extended Play Sampler
File Name:	Fleetwood Mac - EP Sampler.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Year:	2013

Watch: Woodkid - "Run Boy Run"

Apr 29, 7:12pm Direct Current

Yoann Lemoin is best known as the Grammy-winning director of some of the most visually stunning music videos or recent memory including Lana Del Rey's "Born to Die" and Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream." But Lemoin also goes by the musical alias Woodkid , a songwriter who brings the same larger-than-life cinematic style to his own orchestral art/pop. Woodkid's debut album The Golden Age , released independently in March, will be rereleased May 21 as a special deluxe edition housed in an embossed hardcover book and will include the CD and a 132-page booklet including [...]

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RADAR: Kate Tucker & The Sons of Sweden

Apr 29, 12:42pm Direct Current

Since the release of her 2007 critically-praised album Long View with her original Seattle band The Sons fo Sweden, Kate Tucker has recorded a fine solo album White Horse and a follow up EP Ghost of Something New . For her new project The Shape, The Color, the Feel -- due this fall -- Tucker, now relocated in Nashville, has enlisted a new crop of musician friends for her reincarnated Sons of Sweden. The dream pop of Long View and the [...]

• Kate Tucker & The Sons of Sweden - Hangover
• Kate Tucker and the Sons of Sweden - Wide Open Plain

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Artist:	Kate Tucker & The Sons of Sweden
Title:	Hangover
File Name:	Kate Tucker The Sons of Sweden - Hangover 192.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Year:	2013

Artist:	Kate Tucker and the Sons of Sweden
Title:	Wide Open Plain
File Name:	Kate Tucker The Sons of Sweden - Wide Open Plain.mp3

Listen: Travis - "Another Guy"

Apr 25, 7:00pm Direct Current

Sure we've got it streaming on the DC Music News Feed , but "Another Guy", a new track from the fine Scottish band Travis , is not only their first new music in five years it's also simply one great song. Can't wait to hear what the new album Where You Stand sounds like. The band drops the title track next Tuesday with the full length due August 19. Oh boy. Visit the News Feed story for more details and download "Another Guy" at the band's site. Catch the video [...]

• Travis - Another Guy

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Artist:	Travis
Title:	Another Guy
File Name:	Travis -- Another Guy.mp3
Bitrate:	192 kbps
Genre:	Alternative

DC April 23 New Release Recap

Apr 25, 4:10pm Direct Current

Phoenix' eagerly anticipated new album Bankrupt leads the hefty list of releases big and small this week but we've got a few names, some known, some not so much, to add to your list of albums to explore: Paula Cole 's self-released Raven , Alexander Fairchild 's retro-pop/rock splendor Where Do You Go (EP), Brit folk songwriters Bella Hardy and Rae Morris , London bluesy folk/rock duo Smoke Fairies , Denver's alt-folking outfit Churchill and Aussie roots-rocker Mia Dyson 's excellent new album The Moment [...]

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