Over his thirty year career, Billy Bragg has been a reliable and compelling singer and writer of songs that tend to beat directly from his Woody Guthrie-styled political activist heart. But for his new album Tooth and Nail (March 19, Cooking Vinyl), Bragg explores more personal topics -- he does refer to himself as "the sherpa of love", after all -- with exemplary support from producer Joe Henry and a stellar group of studio musicians who wrapped the dozen songs in less than five days in Henry's basement studio. "Technically I'm not [...]
It's hard to imagine two voices as pure and naturally unaffected as those belonging to Lily & Madeleine , a pair of 16 and 18-year-old sisters from Indianapolis who perform their extraordinary songs with a whisper-close intimacy and wise-beyond-their-years sensibility. Recently signed to Asthmatic Kitty, the Jurkiewicz siblings will get a national roll out of their January debut EP The Weight of the Globe on June 11 as well as some exposure with a track they recorded for the upcoming Ghost Brothers of Darkland County project from fellow Hoosier John Mellencamp, [...]
Black Rebel Motorcyle - Specter of the Feast (March 19, Abstract Dragon/Vagrant) - "We all wanted to cover a Call song for this record" BRMC co-founder and co-frontman Robert Levon Been says of "Let The Day Begin," the newly revived 1989 rock radio hit from the band once led by Been's late father (and BRMC tour engineer) Michael Been. "It means a lot to us to be able to pay respect...for all he's done for us"...New project is the band's first since Michael's passing and 2010's Beat The Devil's Tattoo , an [...]
Black Rebel Motorcyle - Specter at the Feast (March 19, Abstract Dragon/Vagrant) - "We all wanted to cover a Call song for this record" BRMC co-founder and co-frontman Robert Levon Been says of "Let The Day Begin," the newly revived 1989 rock radio hit from the band once led by Been's late father (and BRMC tour engineer) Michael Been. "It means a lot to us to be able to pay respect...for all he's done for us"...New project is the band's first since Michael's passing and 2010's Beat The Devil's Tattoo , an [...]
"Black Box" is the long-awaited new single from Norwegian singer/songwriter Ingrid Olava and the first new music since 2010's The Guest , an album we praised as one of the year's best kept secrets: "a deft, deeply moving and brilliantly creative album of piano-based (sm)art/pop that seemed to offer up new twists and undiscovered layers with each successive listen." No word yet on a title or release date for Olava's new LP but the spirited new "Black Box" with its rolling rhythmic chorus and intricate vocal interplay makes for a promising listen of [...]
Low - The Invisible Way (March 19, Sub Pop) - Celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, the low-keyed Minnesota trio taps Wilco's Jeff Tweedy to produce their tenth album..."We've made many records," says guitarist/singer Alan Sparlock, "and you know our M.O.: slow, quiet, sometimes melancholy, and, we hope, sometimes pretty"...Co-founder and drummer Mimi Parker steps up to the mic to take lead on five of the album's eleven tracks including the beautiful and haunting "If I Could Just Make It Stop" (stream after the jump)...Drawing comparisons to another long-running band -- Cowboy Junkies -- Low [...]
London-based acoustic trio The Staves -- early 20-something sisters Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor -- have been creating something of a serious buzz on both sides of the big pond lately, touring with The Civil Wars, Ben Howard, Mumford & Sons and Michael Kiwanuka along with releasing a pair of exquisitely delicate nu-folk EP's. Produced by the father and son studio dream team of Glyn and Ethan Johns, the siblings' full length Dead & Born & Grown, finally arriving stateside March 19, collects selected songs from those EPs as [...]
This week's rollout of new albums from two rock icons -- David Bowie's"comeback" The Next Day and Eric Clapton 's Old Sock -- serves as an intriguing and stark comparison in strategy. Where Bowie embraced the major label infrastructure and promotion, Clapton went indie for the first time with little fanfare. Bowie chose the dramatic in both sound and style while Clapton opted for the more simple and casual approach, leaving Bowie's cosmopolitan world behind for a mostly warm and sunny musical climate and a collection of songs -- none [...]
The singer/songwriter genes are in plentiful supply when it comes to Zoe Sky Jordan , a Toronto-based musician who also happens to be the daughter of veteran Canadian songwriters (and performers) Amy Sky and DC fave Marc Jordan. Zoe's been particularly busy of late, releasing her own EP of new songs -- Restless, Unfocused -- last December and then partnering with Colleen Dauncy as Petty Victories and dropping the dreamy synth/pop excursion Wait It Out independently a few weeks ago. While there's much to like on each -- particularly the lovely [...]
The fact that "Bloom" is a couple of years old shouldn't dissuade us (or you) from marvelling on the fact that the video had now racked up 2.8 million views on youtube. That -- and another 2.3 million views for their video for "Featherstone" -- probably had something to do with the fact that the band behind the songs, Australia's The Paper Kites , have just been signed for North America by the good folks at Nettwerk. A disarming and unpretentious folk/pop band that originated as the duo of songwriters Sam Bentley and Christina Lacey [...]
Kenny Roby - Memories & Birds (4/2) - Founder of the acclaimed 90's roots/rock band 6 String Drag ( High Hat , co-produced by Steve Earle, is an essential listen) returns with his fourth solo album since his 1999 debut Mercury's Blues ..."He's phenomenal" declared Ryan Adams in a Rolling Stone interview...New project is Roby's first since '06's The Mercy Filter and touches the cornerstones that have made him a critical if relatively unheralded component in modern Americana: classic, brilliantly conceived songs along the lines of Townes Van Zandt, Randy [...]
David Bowie - The Next Day (March 12, ISO/Columbia) - "I tell myself / I don't know who I am" muses the former Thin White Duke on "Heat", the final track of his new album. We may think that this kind of retrospection would be a given for someone whose chameleon-like persona has gone through almost as many ch-ch-ch-anges as the twenty-four studio albums he's recorded over the course of nearly five decades. But at 66, an ever-curious and thoughtful Bowie is still exploring. His first new project since 2003's Reality -- and [...]
Still not convinced that Dixie Chick Natalie Maines was going to try something dramatically new and different on her upcoming debut solo album? The powerful version of Eddie Vedder's "Without You is all the evidence you need (not to mention her cover of Pink Floyd's "Mother" that serves as the upcoming May 7 album's title track). Co-produced with Ben Harper (and recorded at Harper's studio), Mother will also feature two Harper-penned songs, a cover of Jeff Buckley's "Lover You Should Have Come Over" and "Free Life" by frequent Chicks collaborator [...]
Nugent & Belle are Audrey Nugent & Amy Belle, two singer/songwriters, Irish and Scottish respectively, who reunited in London a couple of years ago more than a decade after sharing the stage in a band. Audrey has written with the like of Coldplay's Chris Martin and Tim Wheeler of Ash while Amy released a handful of exceptional EP's and signed an ill-fated major label deal. Now a bit older and wiser, the two have crafted a fine debut album Seeing Stars that's being released this week in the U.K. The folk/pop melodies in lead single [...]
After getting caught up in the, shall we say, shenanigans of a major label "deal" a few years back, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Courtney Jaye is ready -- once again -- for her proverbial close up with Love and Forgiveness , her third album arriving independently May 7. Jaye has flirted with a variety of styles over the years including the "Hawaiian tropical" sound of her 2010 longplayer, The Exotic Sounds of Courtney Jaye . But "Say Oh Say", the lead track her new album, sounds more like vintage '70s-era Fleetwood Mac as Jaye embraces [...]
Hailing from Kent (actually the Isle of Sheppey, off the coast) in the U.K., Story Books have been quietly building some low-keyed blogosphere buzz across the pond, thanks to an exceptionally promising 2012 single, "Peregrine" and a string of sold-out shows. Now the good folks at Communion, the label co- founded by Ben Lovett of Mumford and Sons and producer Ian Grimble, are in the picture with the band's forthcoming EP Too Much A Hunter arriving April 28 via the respected imprint. Tony Doogan (Belle & Sebastian, Hey Rosetta!) produced the new [...]
If you can't find something in this week's list of new releases to tickle your fancy, all we can say is you haven't really taken a good look. For starters, we've got the latest from jazz/folk chanteuse Madeleine Peyroux and her tribute (in a way) to Ray Charles' "country" songbook, the fine major label debut from orchestral/Americana outfit The Last Bison and two fine new albums from Nashville singer/songwriters Ashley Monroe and Caitlin Rose -- each is well worth your time . We've also got the exquisite Lines We Trace [...]
Newcastle's Fran O'Hanlon is the creative force behind Ajimal , a self-described "shape shifting collaborative project" exploring the the dark, haunting shadows of what is euphemistically termed dream pop. With a spare, stripped back sound that leans heavily on intricate piano lines and O'Hanlon's expressive tenor -- which easily slips into a Jeff Buckley-ish falsetto -- Ajimal conjures up artful and serious songs that, in lesser hands, might fall into overwrought pathos. Instead, O'Hanlon keeps the emotional drama personal and direct, crafting complex melodic structures that, like the seven-minute opus "Wolf", play out like pieces [...]
There's not much of a history being told of Haerts . We know they're based in New York City while various members -- Nini Fabi, Ben Gebert, Garrett Ienner, Derek McWilliams, and Jonathan Schmidt -- are jotting down the likes of the U.K. and Germany as well as the U.S. in the space marked "country of origin". We also know that the band is managed by Jason and Don Ienner, the latter being the ex-Chairman of Sony Music and Columbia Records (note band member names above). But really all you need to know is that [...]
Destined to forever be referred to as Josh Ritter 's "divorce" album, The Beast In It's Tracks (March 5) finds a way to emotionally deconstruct the songwriter's split with fellow New York tunesmith Dawn Landes while discovering the personal catharsis that comes from surviving such a gut-wrenching shit storm. More often than not, Ritter's heartbreak is rendered with the cool and distant eye of forensic pathologist telling tales of the dissolution as one might describe the features of a lifeless body in an autopsy. But despite the wistful, woeful contemplation, Beast [...]
Direct Current
Kanye West Pushing Will Smith To Record, Release New Music
Death Grips to support Björk this summer
Rolling Stones Finally Let Mick Taylor Loose On Sticky Fingers Classics At Staples Center In Los Angeles
