The Secret Sisters - "Tennessee River Runs Low"

Photo by Abraham Rowe

It feels like it's been forever since the last album from The Secret Sisters. Not too many musicians start off the way Laura and Lydia did. In 2009 they showed up at an audition in Nashville. They had never performed together in public, and three months later they were signed to a major label. They opened for Levon Helm and Ray LaMontagne on their first ever tour. Then, in 2015, they were left without a label and were dealing with a lawsuit and potential bankruptcy. That led them to crowdsource their third album, and luckily for them, Brandi Carlile asked to produce.

"Tennessee River Runs Low" is the first single from that album. Without a major label, The Secret Sisters are finally allowed to develop their own sound. Their first album was pure classic country (and was mostly filled with classic country covers), their second was more of the same with just enough growth, and "Tennessee River Runs Low" moves in a great new direction. Don't get me wrong. It's still a Secret Sisters song. Their harmonizing is unmistakable, and it still has a classic country sound. But it's a but more modern, even jazzy. It's a great direction for a band I adore that could have made a perfectly fine career just working the same sound for decades.

You can watch the video for "Tennessee River Runs Low" below. The new album from The Secret Sisters, You Don't Own Me Anymore, will be out on June 9. The album is available for pre-order now via PledgeMusic. For more on The Secret Sisters, including tour dates, check out their website.

She-Devils - "The World Laughs"

Hailing from Montreal, She-Devils bring this odd and unique sound and feel to their music. Inspired as much by film and animation as they are other music, they bring a visual feel to their sound. Their latest single, "The World Laughs," mixes the world of groovy 60s Hawaiian beach movies with early new wave. They use vintage, early electronic gear to achieve this sound. When their list of influences include Gregg Araki, John Waters, and Quentin Tarantino, their sound and look make perfect sense. While this would have fit perfectly into the lounge revival of the 90s, this doesn't feel like a 90s throwback. Instead, it takes sounds that were big in the 60s, 80s, and 90s and combines them into a brand new sound while still being classic.

You can watch the video for "The World Laughs" below. For more on She-Devils, check out their website, Facebook, and Twitter. The new album from She-Devils will be available May 19 on Secretly Canadian.

Bad Breeding - "Whip Hand"

Earlier this month, I declared that Bad Breeding "... might be the freshest take on heavy music that I've heard in years." With "Whip Hand," the second single off their upcoming album, that becomes even more apparent.

What I didn't say while discussing "The More the Merrier" is that Bad Breeding reminded me of Refused. I didn't say that since sonically they don't remind me of Refused, but the way they mixed together punk and metal in this insanely new, loud, and noisy way reminded me of the first time I heard The Shape of Punk to Come. "Whip Hand" starts off with a snippet of what is best described as muzak, so I'm reminded even more of Refused's classic album. And then the onslaught of loud comes, in what can best be described as Lightning Bolt meets Hatebreed, which is a comparison I never thought I'd ever make. This is all packed into the most intense 3:01 song ever.

You can listen to "Whip Hand" below. Bad Breeding's album, Divide, will be out April 7 via La Vida Es un Mus. For more on Bad Breeding, check them out on their website and Facebook. You can pre-order Divide on Bandcamp.

Screaming Females and Wild Rice Cover Neil Young

Photo via Facebook

Pearl Jam may have popularized the multi-band Neil Young cover with their pretty much constant cover of "Rockin' In the Free World," but they certainly don't have an exclusive over it. Screaming Females have teamed with Wild Rice to cover Neil's not quite as well known "Fuckin' Up." Recorded live at Monty Hall in Jersey City, NJ for WMFU last month, both bands (including both drummers) tear into the classic. It's a pretty faithful cover, which is helped by it being one of Young's more rocking tunes. Plus, it's a Neil Young song, so there's plenty of room for multiple Marissa Paternoster guitar solos, which are always welcome. (I counted at least four, maybe five depending on if that last one can be counted as two.)

You can watch Screaming Females and Wild Rice's version of "Fuckin' Up" below. For more on Screaming Females, check out their website. For Wild Rice, check their Facebook.

First Listen: New Releases for March 24

Lots to get to today...

Album of the Week:

Artist: Desperate Journalist
Album: Grow Up
Quick Description: Poppy post punk.
Why You Should Listen: You still have some Doc Martens in the closet and want to party.
Overall Thoughts: My favorite listen of the week from a band I did not know at all prior to this release, the best way I can describe them is Bully/Wolf Alice merged with Savages to give a fairly unique post-punkish sound that still has some solid poppy elements. A lot of releases this week and few truly grabbed me the way this one did. I sent it to Ken to listen to very early on in my listen, and this might be one of those weird dark horse albums that stays in my rotation for a while. Well done.
Recommendation: Best of the week.

Artist: Luke Reed
Album: Won't Be There
Quick Description: Indie poppish singer-songwriter stuff.
Why You Should Listen: You need that album to usher in the spring/summer months.
Overall Thoughts: A member of Bent Shapes, this is a more summery indie-pop album than you might expect. Lots of jangly guitars and soft vocals pepper this album, and it results in a pretty solid side project album even though it lacks the sort of immediacy you might be anticipating, especially given what Bent Shapes often tosses out there.
Recommendation: A solid listen.

Artist: Pontiak
Album: Dialetik of Ignorance
Quick Description: Genre-mashing rock music.
Why You Should Listen: You're looking for something later.
Overall Thoughts: I heard about this later in the weekend as a sort of hard-psych hybrid act. I can’t speak so much to their sound, as it’s something that’s unique in its own way, but I can’t 100% guarantee that it’s something that would grab most listeners. I’ll need to spend more time with it to see the results, but in a busy week…
Recommendation: Good, but might not be for everyone.

Artist: Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors
Album: Souvenir
Quick Description: Latest from the folk rock favorites.
Why You Should Listen: Drew Holcomb is consistently great.
Overall Thoughts: Drew Holcomb had one of my favorite songs of 2015 in “Here We Go,” so to say that this album was highly anticipated for me would be an understatement. This new album is a continued progression in the sort of soft country/folk thing this group is so good at, and it’s got its share of catchy songs as well. Holcomb is really creating a solid niche for himself that I hope translates into broader success, especially in the wake of the mainstream success that bands such as The Avett Brothers and Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats are enjoying.
Recommendation: Definitely find time for this one.

Artist: The Jesus and Mary Chain
Album: Damage and Joy
Quick Description: Comeback album from the legendary act.
Why You Should Listen: They're too important to the canon not to.
Overall Thoughts: I admit that I don’t know this band at all. This is a comeback album of theirs after a many year layoff, and I think it was midway through that I said “wow, they sound a lot like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club” before quickly remembering that everyone called them a J&MC ripoff. I asked Ken what he thought, and he essentially said it was a J&MC album, but slower. So there you have it.
Recommendation: Might be a fans-only thing.

Artist: Spiral Stairs
Album: Doris and the Daggers
Quick Description: New album from the Pavement side project.
Why You Should Listen: Spiral Stairs has often been more interesting than Pavement.
Overall Thoughts: The moniker of one of Pavement’s founding members, Spiral Stairs hasn’t released new material in a while. This new album reminds me again why I’ve enjoyed this/Preston School of Industry more than Pavement/Malkmus on a whole, as there’s just the right mix of weird and wonderful on this album to bridge the divide. It’s been a long time since I listened to Spiral Stairs, so I can’t say that I can truly compare this to previous efforts, but I can say that my first listen was a surprisingly welcome one.
Recommendation: A solid listen this week.

Artist: Samantha Crain
Album: You Had Me At Goodbye
Quick Description: Latest from the folk singer-songwriter.
Why You Should Listen: Samantha Crain is typically consistent.
Overall Thoughts: I’ve really, really enjoyed Samantha Crain for close to a decade now. She’s always done that country-tinged folk thing amazingly well, which is why this new album feels like such a strange and unnecessary departure. While her traditionalist sound still resonates, there’s a lot of extra production and instrumentation on this one that shines through on the initial listen and kind of took me out of the listen a bit. Plus, it ends up feeling more than a little uneven at the end of the day, so the whole thing feels like a rare miss. I’ll need to give it more time, but if you don’t have the capacity to fit this in…
Recommendation: Feels like a miss.

Artist: Craig Finn
Album: We All Want the Same Thing
Quick Description: Solo album #2 from the Hold Steady lead.
Why You Should Listen: Craig Finn is sort of an indie institution.
Overall Thoughts: Craig Finn is best known as the singer-songwriter behind The Hold Steady. This is his second solo album, and I’ll just say it – his solo work has never impressed me the way a lot of the output from The Hold Steady does. This new solo album is more of the same in that regard – a little meandery, a little unconventional, has some moments but never feels like a cohesive whole. I think I gave his last solo album only a few listens, and I don’t see myself spending a lot more time with this one, either.
Recommendation: I didn't like this, but you might if you're really into The Hold Steady.

Artist: Kelly Lee Owens
Album: Kelly Lee Owens
Quick Description: Debut full-length from an electronic artist.
Why You Should Listen: You enjoy stilted electronic music.
Overall Thoughts: Kelly Lee Owens gets the prize for the one mid-to-high profile electronic release this week, and it’s pretty great (and was nearly my album of the week). Definitely leans on trance elements and is certainly outside of the typical/norm, but that’s also what makes it pretty great. This is the first album I really went back to after going through the releases and I’m really impressed by what we have here. If you like electronic music with some challenges to it, this is 100% worth your time this week.
Recommendation: A must-listen.

Artist: PINS
Album: Bad Thing
Quick Description: Solid punkish EP.
Why You Should Listen: You're looking for a quick hit of something different.
Overall Thoughts: A short EP that features Iggy Pop providing this punk-style band with some added credibility. This was a great taste of a band that I had no previous knowledge of, and in terms of doing the trick of wanting to get me to dive into the back catalog, it succeeds. Absolutely worth some time.
Recommendation: A solid, fast listen.

Artist: Sera Cahoone
Album: From Where I Started
Quick Description: Underrated folk music.
Why You Should Listen: You're looking for something that's just great from beginning to end.
Overall Thoughts: Sera Cahoone, perhaps better known as part of Band of Horses, is another one of those folk acts that gets caught in the overall glut of folky female singer-songwriters who do something special and get lost in the shuffle. I have really, really, really liked everything I’ve heard from her, but at no point have I ever heard her spoken about beyond the side project or in the same breath as some other up-and-comers. It’s a shame, because this album is as gorgeous as any other she’s put out to this point, and even this week, it’s lined up behind Samantha Crain and Drew Holcomb, never mind anything else coming out soon or recently. But don’t sleep on this. She might be someone who quickly becomes a favorite of yours.
Recommendation: Another must-listen this week.

Artist: Steel Panther
Album: Lower the Bar
Quick Description: Latest from the faux-metal favorites.
Why You Should Listen: You know exactly what you're getting.
Overall Thoughts: Steel Panther does dirty metal again. The joke is still stale, the musicality still spot-on. You’ll know if you want to listen to this before you fire it up, but if you’re not sure, just go pull up Powerslut instead.
Recommendation: Meh.

Artist: Rabbit!
Album: The Golden Carrot EP
Quick Description: Indie pop band is back after an extended hiatus.
Why You Should Listen: You want to be happier in life.
Overall Thoughts: Rabbit! is one of my favorite indie pop bands from almost a decade ago at this point. They had an amazing debut, a solid follow-up, their lead singer looked like Richard Alpert from Lost, and then the band fell off the face of the planet. I don’t know what happened, but recently their Twitter account started stirring and a new EP hit the landscape. I’m not going to say that this EP carries the same weight or magic that their prior efforts have up to this point, but considering the layoff? Considering that they’re seemingly repositioning themselves as even more family-friendly than they had prior? I’m not going to complain about a band that might end up being a gateway drug to indie music for my four year old, not at all. Overall?
Recommendation: A welcome return for this band.

Also out this week

* Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - The French Press
* Trementina - 810

Mountain Man Covers The Everly Brothers

Mountain Man (the Vermont folk trio, not the Worcester, MA metal band) have joined in on the Our First 100 Days project with a cover of The Everly Brothers' "Love Hurts." "Love Hurts" is one of the most perfect songs to cover, as versions from Gram Parsons and Nazareth can attest to. Mountain Man's version is virtually perfect and keeps in line with the folk/country origins of the song. Solo versions always seem to miss the harmony, but Mountain Man's specialty is harmonizing, and "Love Hurts" is made for their style perfectly.

You can listen to Mountain Man's version of "Love Hurts" below. The Our First 100 Days project is releasing a song for each of Trump's first 100 days in office. It features a new, exclusive song every day, and all proceeds will benefit organizations that work on climate change, immigration, women's rights, etc. It features a diverse and growing group of musicians including Hurray for the Riff Raff, Speedy Ortiz, Surfer Blood, Tim Heidecker, Jessica Lea Mayfield, and more. You can find more information about the project on Bandcamp. For more on Mountain Man, check out their website.

Thurston Moore - "Smoke of Dreams"

Photo via Facebook

For the first single off of his upcoming album, Rock n Roll Consciousness, Thurston Moore is going back to right where he left off from Sonic Youth. Up until now, Moore's post Sonic Youth work has been indulging in his more folky or metal sides, "Smoke of Dreams" is pure late Sonic Youth era Moore. It's a chilled out jam, much more along the lines of a jam band than the punk or post-punk that defined much of Sonic Youth's sound. In the late 90s and beyond, Sonic Youth, especially Thurston, started getting less aggressive and showing off their hippie and beat poetry inspired sound. "Smoke of Dreams" is super trippy and is perfect for anyone missing the 2000s Sonic Youth sound.

You can watch the video for "Smoke of Dreams" below. Rock n Roll Consciousness will be out on April 28 on Caroline International. It's a five song album, so I'm pretty sure this is going to be Moore's hippiest album yet. For more on Thurston Moore, check out his website.

Skating Polly - "Hail Mary"

Photo by Angel Ceballos

I always wonder why more established artists don't collaborate with their up and coming counterparts. It seems like it would help both artists reach a new base of like-minded fans. Plus, it's just cool. You get it sometimes with Trent Reznor and David Bowie, Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staples, or Jack White and Loretta Lynn. It always seems to be the younger, hipper artist writing and/or producing for the veteran artist.

That's not the case with the new Skating Polly EP. The duo, comprised of step-sisters Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse, joined up with Louise Post and Nina Gordon of the recently reunited Veruca Salt, who co-wrote the EP with them. "Hail Mary" really shows the influence. The song is just heavy and dark, and seems to combine the earlier, more indie rock leanings of Veruca Salt with the heavier, more rockin' side the leaned towards later on. Plus, Gordon and Post really showed Skating Polly how to harmonize. The result is a dark, heavy, but still accessible song perfect for 90s nostalgia nerds, both the ones who lived it and the ones who came after.

You can watch the video for "Hail Mary" below. The new EP from Skating Polly, New Trick, will be released on April 28 on El Camino Media. For more on Skating Polly, check out their website.

Flasher - "Winnie"

Photo by Michael Andrade

The latest single from Washington DC's Flasher seems pretty straightforward, but the song has a few odd elements all mixed together. It includes the band's old school DC emo sound like they had back on "Destroy." "Winnie" pulls in this new funkiness, in an almost glammed out T-Rex style groove. And then the song pulls out this great almost Mascis-esque guitar solo to close. And then there are the lyrics. Sung in a melodic, post punk meets Malkmus fashion, the lyrics are taken mostly from pundits on CNN or pharmaceutical commercials. The chorus of "These feet want to keep the beat moving" is straight out of a diabetes commercial.

You can listen to "Winnie" below. It will be released on Sister Polygon on May 5. You can pre-order your copy of the single here. For more on Flasher, check out their Bandcamp. Current tour dates are below the song.



Wed. Mar. 22 - Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn 
Fri. Mar. 24 - Durham, NC @ Duke Coffeehouse w/ NE-HI
Fri. Apr. 14 - Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR Pub w/ Leggy
Sat. Apr. 15 - Bloomington, IN @ Dunn Meadow (Culture Shock Festival)
Sun. Apr. 16 - Chicago, IL @ Township
Mon. Apr. 17 - Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory
Wed. Apr. 19 - Toronto, ON @ The Baby G (Canadian Music Week)
Thu. Apr. 20 - Montreal, QC @ Matahari Art Loft
Fri. Apr. 21 - Winooski, VT @ The Monkey House
Fri. Apr. 28 - Washington, DC @ Comet Ping Pong w/ Split Single, R. Ring
Thu. June 22 - Washington, DC @ Luce Foundation Center ("Luce Unplugged" Series)

Charming Disaster - "Sympathetic Magic"

Charming Disaster are a band, but there is this odd almost theatrical element to their music that gives them a touch of art project to their sound. Their songs are ..." stories about love, death, crime, ancient mythology, and the paranormal." Comprised of Jeff Morris and Ellia Bisker, the duo is about to release their new album, Cautionary Tales, next month.

The album opener, "Sympathetic Magic," starts as a pretty standard folkish, Americana song, with Morris and Bisker trading off vocals, and then intertwining separate verses over each other. And then the orchestration and theatrics come in, much more than the usual Charming Disaster song. Lyrically, the song seems to be about falling in love at a seance, sung from both sides of the meeting.

You can listen to "Sympathetic Magic" below. Cautionary Tales will be released April 21. The album "... ." You can get your copy via Bandcamp in both standard and deluxe digital formats. There is also a second song from the album, "What Remains," available to listen to on Bandcamp. Charming Disaster are also about to go out on tour. Dates are below the song. For more on Charming Disaster, check out their website.

• Mar 23
  Lizard Lounge
  Cambridge, MA
• Mar 24
  Radio Bean
  Burlington, VT
• Mar 25
  Magnolia Loft
  Boston, MA
• Mar 26
  The Stomping Ground
  Putnam, CT
• Mar 30
  Pete's Candy Store
  Brooklyn, NY
• Apr 15
  The Anchor
  Kingston, NY
• Apr 16
  Dream Away Lodge
  Becket, MA
• Apr 18
  Blue Moon Diner
  Charlottesville, VA
• Apr 19
  Common Grounds
  Greensboro, NC
• Apr 21
  Mystery Brewing Public House
  Hillsborough, NC
• Apr 29
  Hell Phone speakeasy
  Brooklyn, NY