Our inbox must be working out, because it’s straight swole with good tunes. Today we have new music from Ryan Innes, MYLO BYBEE, Pop Cautious, Jahi Sundance, Stephen G. Clayton, Chris Portka, Mystic Seers, Bird Concerns and Art d’Ecco.
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February 20, 2021
We Never Asked For This
February 13, 2021
We Never Asked For This
Winter is all about layering up, and our inbox is stylish layer after stylish layer of great new music. Check out new tunes by Emma Elisabeth, S:Bahn, TOLEDO, Yoji, TEKE::TEKE, Teen Mortgage, Vakoum, Juliana Zafa and Mort City
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February 4, 2021
Fasman’s Finds – Arlo Parks
I have a weird thing with lullabies. There are some singer-songwriters whose songs feel like lullabies to me, they feel like they are part of my lexicon already. More about that later.
Arlo Parks just released her album Collapsed in Sunbeams last week. She is 20 years old and just made a deceptively good record. I can see it being played in coffee shops, and sure, if you aren’t listening to the lyrics or paying attention to the production, it can be pleasant background music. But if you do give a closer listen, Arlo rewards you with some pretty incredible lyrics about grief, belief, pain, boundaries, and strength and love you can get from going through all of it. At 20 years old!
Certain songs on this album feel like lullabies to me, and like lullabies, the surface might be easy, but the deeper you dig, the darker and more complex the story becomes (fuck with Hush Little Baby and You Are My Sunshine and get back to me). I don’t make this comparison to in any way simplify or patronize this album. Some of my most favorite singer-songwriters’ work resonates in this way with me. This album is ridiculously easy to listen to, but don’t let that keep you from exploring the lyrics and letting them sit with you. I haven’t been able to stop listening.
February 4, 2021
The B-Side: DeWolff
Retro soul influenced rock. So easy to get wrong, so sweet when it’s done correctly. DeWolff brings it correct on “Half Of Your Love,” a simmering groove with tight drums, funky guitar / bass and a Hammond B3 bringing it all together. The production leans toward the overly pristine commercial radio approach of later period The Black Keys or Fitz and the Tantrums, but there’s an understated earnestness to the vocals and melodies that harken back to Hall and Oates and other classic pop leaning blue eyed soul artists.
January 25, 2021
Mike’s ‘Mericana Monday –
The late great Etta James was born on January 25, 1938. Randy Newman wrote and Lowell George plays the slide guitar on this gem from her 1974 Chess Records release, Come A Little Closer.
January 22, 2021
The B-Side: Love Crumbs
There are great singers and then there are great voices. Voices that grab you from the jump and make you go “WHO IS THIS?” Ali from Love Crumbs falls into the latter category. Yes, there’s a twang and a rasp not unlike Janis Joplin there, but whereas most of the time you hear that in a singer it’s a forced affect – her voice sounds as natural as breathing. The roots soul waltz of “Cavalcades” is a perfect showcase for it, as well as for the tasteful musicality of the group. Quiet when it needs to be, a big shambling climax when the time is right. The lyric “we are bathed in an unstoppable light” isn’t just a positive affirmation within the song, but an apt description of the band’s sound as well.