According to the press release, Texas' Why Bonnie's latest single was inspired by artists like Sheryl Crow and Sparklehorse. As soon as you listen to "Galveston," you'll those inspirations become quite apparent. The song has that pop and kinda country inflected pop sound that Sheryl Crow mastered in the 90's, but also that dreamy alt-rock fuzz we loved from Sparklehorse. These are two artists I would never think could inspire the same song, but that I'm hearing the outcome I wish we had more. Despite having an original sound, Why Bonnie are hitting an oddly nostalgic spot for me on this one.
Singer/songwriter Blair Howerton says of the new single:
“An ode to Galveston, Texas — the capital of ghosts and good memories. One of the most literal recollections of growing up in Southeast Texas, ‘Galveston’ is a snapshot of an old childhood haunt."
You can watch the video for "Galveston" below. The song is available as a single via Fat Possum Records here. For more on Why Bonnie, check out the band's Twitter and Facebook.
Bashford are set to release their fifth album this month but are just now landing on our radar. They play a very specific brand of punk that's going to make people who remember the early 90's grunge explosion very happy. "Bitter Masses" has that unhinged and bordering on going completely out of control sound. This is going to draw some comparisons to Nirvana, but it somehow sounds like Nirvana at their most abrasive and mainstream at the exact same time. This is the kind of music we're too old enough to listen to aside from nostalgically, but how can we possibly not be sucked in by Bashford?
You can watch the video for "Bitter Masses" below. Greener Grasses is due out December 10 on Big Neck Records. You can pre-order the album via Bandcamp. For more on Bashford, check out the band's Facebook.
Hailing from Manchester, "post-punk swamp-goth rockers" Inca Babies have been kicking around since 1983 and have their first album in seven years coming out this month. "Crawling Garage Gasoline" can be heard now, and it's this buzzsaw of noisy garage rock. It starts off with a bass line and drums reminiscent of "Lust for Life" and then the guitars kick in. The guitars will drive their way straight into your skull while the drums pound them in. But it's also mysteriously funky. If it's possible to have a pleasurable headache, "Crawling Garage Gasoline" is the sonic equivalent of it. Inca Babies are showing off a huge sound here, and if you're also unfamiliar with the band's classic work, you're going to be inspired to take a deep dive into it.
You can watch the video for "Crawling Garage Gasoline" below. Swamp Street Soul is due out November 23 on Black Lagoon Records. You can pre-order a copy over at Bandcamp. For more on Inca Babies, check out the band's Facebook.
When I saw that an artist had a song called "Bootlickers of the Patriarchy" that included a B-side of a Ministry cover, I had a pretty good idea what it would sound like. Most likely industrial, maybe punk or metal, but obviously loud and heavy. Shilpa Ray surprised me with this song. Ray has spent time in bands like Beat The Devil and Her Happy Hookers, as well as touring as a back up singer for Nick Cave. "Bootlickers of the Patriarchy" is about Senator Susan Collins and her press conference after Christine Blasey Ford's testimony at the Kavanaugh hearings. For the first half, it's a quiet torch song. It's not quite straight out of the 50's, but it sounds like a haunting cover of a classic 50's song. The second half is more industrial, but the 80's dance friendly version of industrial. It's angry without being as aggressive as industrial got in the 90's.
In a press release Shilpa Ray says of the new song:
“It’s about women who succeed from undermining the success of other women or choose to gain success from exploiting the oppression of other women. This is a character who has taken many forms throughout history, the kind of woman who seems perfectly content playing Gamma to the Alpha male. ‘Bootlicker’ is my direct challenge to the notion of ‘women supporting other women,’ as well as the falsehoods and unrealistic expectations that come with a statement like that.”
You can listen to "Bootlickers of the Patriarchy" below. The song is available as a single with a B-side of a cover of Ministry's "I'm Not an Effigy." You can get a copy here. For more on Shilpa Ray, check out the artist's website.
I discovered both Aaron Lee Tasjan and Tristen opening up for other artists. Tasjan was opening for Margo Price back in 2018 and Tristen opened for Justin Townes Earle way back in 2012. I hadn't been able to see either since, and considering both released albums this year that will most likely be in my top ten of the year, I simply couldn't miss this double bill.
I've been desperately wanting to see Tristen again for the past nine years, but she rarely makes it up to the Boston area, and the couple of times she has it just hasn't worked out for me. This was a stripped down show with just Tristen and her husband Buddy Hughen on vocals and guitar. Considering how much her sound has expanded in the nine years I've been listening to her, it was great to hear her songs stripped down to just guitar and vocals. Despite having a fantastic brand new album to promote, Tristen played a career spanning set that opened with "Matchstick Murder" from 2014's Charlatans at the Garden Gate. Along with her songs, Tristen joked between songs, thanking the audience for coming out after the pandemic but also during the pandemic, and about how musicians are travelling salespeople and the performance is a live demonstration of their product. She even "tried" to get the audience to engage in a singalong of the chorus of "Psychic Vampire," which is "Psychic Vampire / Dreaming of an empire / Is the only beholder / You will only annoy her / And you'll never get to know a lonely destroyer." If musicians are selling themselves, Tristen succeeded quite well.
Aaron Lee Tasjan was billed as playing solo, but this was hardly a solo show. He played the first three songs of his set by himself, but for the rest of the show was joined by a rotating cast of friends. First up was former bandmate Rich Hinneman on pedal steel guitar. Hinneman often plays with artists like Sara Bareilles, Roseanne Cash, K.D. Lang, and more, so it was kind of a quiet big deal for him to be there. Boston based artist Jessye DeSilva joined Tasjan for a John Prine cover, and Erica Blinn joined on guitar and sang one of her songs. The guests were one of the highlights of the set as they were each given their own time to shine instead of just being there to play along. Some highlights came towards the end of the set and included a slightly changed up "12 Bar Blues" and a trio of songs from the recently released Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan! ("Up All Night," "Feminine Walk," and "Dada Bois"). The night ended with a version of The Travelling Wilburys' "Handle With Care" that included Hinneman, Blinn, Tristen, and Buddy Hughen all taking the stage and handling a verse.
This was the kind of tour that you wish would never end. Maybe we should start a Change.org petition to get Aaron Lee Tasjan and Tristen to tour together permanently.
Boston's Baabes are back with a new single, and it may just be their most palatable yet! "Bad Boy Worse Drugs" is a straightforward rock song with more than a little punk edge. It almost seems like it's fairly mainstream, by Baabes standards of course. There is no danger of "Bad Boy Worse Drugs" crossing over into adult contemporary or whatever rock radio is out there these days, but it does show a band poking their heads out of the basement to see if maybe the rock clubs with functional bathrooms are ready for them.
You can watch the video for "Bad Boy Worse Drugs" below. The song is available now via Riot Records and Golden Robot Records. You can find the single here. For more on Baabes, check out the band's Facebook and Instagram.
We first discovered Cloudbelly at the Green River Festival. Their unique take on modern folk works perfectly for us. Cloudbelly are a collaboration between two western Massachusetts based artists, Corey Laitman and Anand Nayak, and have released a pair of singles to celebrate their recent signing to Signature Sounds. "Up In Smoke" is this gorgeous folk song that comes so close to being modern mainstream Americana but takes a glorious turn towards the unique in the interplay between the duo's vocals that keeps it interesting. Even though it's early November, it makes us love a chorus of "All that snow falling on the river." "Soft As The Mouths" goes in an unexpected direction after hearing "Up In Smoke." The second single is still folk, but goes in a jazzy direction that edges into pop territory every so often. The pair of singles show Cloudbelly's range within their genre, and has us even more excited to see where they go next!
You can listen to "Up In Smoke" below. Both singles are available now via Signature Sounds, and can be downloaded over at Bandcamp. For more on Cloudbelly, check out the artist's website.
We've been huge fans of Lucy Dacus here (as we all should be), and her Home Video from earlier this year is sure to be a strong contender for our album of the year. "Thumbs" is an incredibly strong song from that album with its ultra-bare bones sound and almost non-existent instrumentation. Dacus has just released a new version of the song, "Thumbs Again." This reworking is a full band version, but if this was the version we heard on the album we'd still be describing it as bare bones. The song is a little more fleshed out here, and is most likely closer to the current live version her Dacus' full band. Despite the added instrumentation, "Thumbs Again" doesn't lose any of the intimacy from the original "Thumbs."
You can watch the video for "Thumbs Again" below. You can get your copy of Home Video here. For more on Lucy Dacus, check out the artist's website. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.
Thu. Feb. 10 - Detroit, MI @ Majestic * Fri. Feb. 11 - Newport, KY @ Ovation * Sat. Feb. 12 - Indy, IN @ Egyptian Room * Mon. Feb. 14 - Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Ballroom Valentine’s Day * Tue. Feb. 15 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall (Rescheduled Date) * - SOLD OUT Thu. Feb. 17 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave (Rescheduled Date) * - SOLD OUT Fri. Feb. 18 - Iowa City, IA @ Englert Theatre (Rescheduled Date) * - SOLD OUT Sat. Feb. 19 - Lawrence, KS @ Liberty * Sun. Feb. 20 - OK City, OK @ Tower Theatre * Wed. Feb. 23 - Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre * Thu. Feb. 24 - Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel * Fri. Feb. 25 - C-Ville, VA @ Jefferson * Sat. Feb. 26 - Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony * Tue. Mar. 01 - Toronto, ONT @ Danforth Music Hall (Rescheduled Date) * Wed. Mar. 02 - Montreal, QUE @ Corona Theatre (Rescheduled Date) * Thu. Mar. 03 - Providence, RI @ The Strand Sat. Mar. 05 - Baltimore, MD @ Ram’s Head Fri. Mar. 18, 2022 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club - SOLD OUT Sat. Mar. 19, 2022 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club Sun. Mar. 20, 2022 - Glasgow, UK @ St. Lukes - SOLD OUT Mon. Mar. 21, 2022 - Dublin, IE @ The Button Factory ** Wed. Mar. 23, 2022 - Manchester, UK @ Gorilla Thu. Mar. 24, 2022 - Bristol, UK @ Trinity Fri. Mar. 25, 2022 - London, UK @ Kentish Town Forum Tue. Mar. 29, 2022 - Brussels, BL @ Rotonde ** Wed. Mar. 30, 2022 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Noord ** Thu. Mar. 31, 2022 - Cologne, DE @ Artheater ** Sat. Apr. 02, 2022 - Hamburg, DE @ Molotow ** Sun. Apr. 03, 2022 - Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen ** Mon. April 04, 2022 - Aarhus, DK @ Atlas ** Wed. Apr. 06, 2022 - Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret ** Thu. Apr. 07, 2022 - Stockholm, SE @ Nalen Klubb ** Sat. Apr. 09, 2022 - Berlin, DE @ Lido ** Sun. Apr. 10, 2022 - Jena, DE @ Trafo ** Mon. Apr. 11, 2022 - Vienna, AT @ Chelsea ** Wed. Apr. 13, 2022 - Munich, DE @ Milla ** Thu. Apr. 14, 2022 - Zürich, SU @ Bogen F ** Fri. Apr. 15 - Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie ** * = Indigo De Souza supporting **= Fenne Lily supporting
Alyssa Gengos' latest single may be considered bedroom pop, but it's on the more rocking side of that spectrum. "Gothenburg English" has some breathtaking melodies along with the catchiness of pure pop, but it also has some of the fuzziest guitars possible in the genre. While it does have that ultra-intimate and personal vibe with bedroom pop, it's produced wonderfully smoothly. This might be what the last couple of Taylor Swift albums could have sounded like if she had discovered Pavement instead of The National and Bleachers. It has a great dichotomy of the mainstream and the underground playing together happily that makes "Gothenburg English" familiar and unique.
Alyssa Gengos says of her new song:
"I began writing 'Gothenburg English' in my head while walking around the titular city near the end of my Scandinavian sojourn. Six months prior, I’d left a long term partner behind in New York City, hoping the relationship would survive. It did not. I finally accepted the end of it while wandering around Gothenburg and the Delsjö wilderness on the outskirts of the city. A friend told me the local accent is one of the most sing-songy in the Swedish language, and it’s audible when speaking English, too, creating a kind of 'Gothenburg English.' I think of this song as a road song in the sense of American road novels and movies. I sing about my travels during this time, and admit the realization that I came to once I returned home: I was ready to move on from the relationship that had brought me so much stress and misery."
You can watch the video for "Gothenburg English" below. Mechanical Sweetness is due out February 25 on Egghunt Records. For more on Alyssa Gengos, check out the artist's Facebook and Twitter.
The latest single from Wu-Tang affiliated rapper Remedy is going to sound especially like Wu-Tang Clan since it features both Ghostface Killah and Cappadonna. "The Pulpit" sounds like it could have been taken straight off 1997's Wu-Tang Forever. It doesn't quite have the grit of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Instead it's that huge cinematic sound that later albums had. It's a gritty beat over a moody string section that sets an edgy atmosphere for the four MCs. If you're a fan of classic 90's hip hop or Wu-Tang (and, really, who loves 90's hip hop without being a huge Wu-Tang fan?), you're going to love this latest song from Remedy.
You can listen to "The Pulpit" below. Remedy Meets Wu-Tang is due out November 26. You can pre-order/pre-save the album here. For more on Remedy, check out the artist on Facebook and Twitter.
