Handsome Jack take classic American music and put their own spin on it. Their sound encompasses blues, soul, country, and rock 'n' roll. Sure, a lot of bands do that, but not quite like this trio. Their latest single, "Roll It," is a (mostly) straight up soul song, but it doesn't quite fit into the current neo soul revival. While "Roll It" might draw inspiration from classic soul, it doesn't sound especially like vintage soul. The guitar is just too fuzzy and dirty throughout, and particularly on the solo. This is more of a dirty soul/blues/rock song. And we're pretty sure you're gonna love it.
You can watch the video for "Roll It" below. Get Humble is due out October 29 on Alive Naturalsound Records. For more on Handsome Jack, check out the band's website.
If you're going to name a hip hop song "Blast Off!!!," it better be a party song. New Jersey's El Da Sensei and Brooklyn producer/MC Jake Palumbo apparently agree since "Blast Off!!!" is a party just waiting to happen. Seeing as El Da Sensei has been around for over twenty five years, this doesn't just sound old school, it is classic hip hop. This is the kind of song that dominated hip hop in the early 90's, just as underground hip hop poked its way into the mainstream. Maybe it's just the piano, but it gives me Digital Underground "Same Song" vibes. If you long for classic hip hop, this one is made for you.
You can watch the video for "Blast Off!!!" below. Solving Cases is due out September 24. For more on El Da Sensei, check out his Facebook and Twitter. For more on Jake Palumbo, check out him on both Facebook and Twitter.
Once you watch the video for Charlotte Cornfield's latest single, her musical sound makes perfect sense. When we heard "Headlines" last month, I described her sounding "... both familiar and unique," and "... a slightly tweaked version of pop rock." For "Partner in Crime," Cornfield has released a video inspired by Wes Anderson's debut film Bottle Rocket. The films of Wes Anderson explains the sound of Charlotte Cornfield perfectly. There is a vintage vibe to it, but it's a completely modern piece of highly stylized art that is entirely unique to the artist. Wes Anderson's films are unmistakably his, and the same can be said about Charlotte Cornfield's music.
Charlotte Cornfield says of her new single/video:
“My brother and I grew up watching Wes Anderson movies. They were a huge part of our childhood and adolescence, and I feel like they've seeped into our DNA at this point — the colours, the outfits, the humour. When I sent Joe this song and he came back with this idea, it was a no-brainer that we'd do it. He made it all happen: the van, the jumpsuits, the whole thing. Tara Kannangara, Steven Foster and Sam Gleason came with us on the journey and fully embraced the concept.”
You can watch the video for "Partner in Crime" below. Highs in the Minuses is due out October 29 on Polyvinyl/Double Double Whammy. For more on Charlotte Cornfield, check out the artist's website. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.
Lira and Caulfield have been making music together for thirteen years, first in Arkansas and then after relocating to Boston, and currently in Austin, TX. Their latest musical project, Sweeping Promises, played one basement show and recorded a debut album before quarantine hit. Hunger for a Way Out is a collection of ten DIY post punk songs with some serious pop hooks. Seriously, this album is both as rough and as polished as it possibly could be. It's filled with these dirty post punk songs cleaned up with a sparkling pop shine. It's an amazingly fun album propelled by the dichotomy of dark, dingy music coupled with shiny vocals.
You can listen to "Hunger for a Way Out" below. Hunger for a Way Out is out now via Feel It Records, and is available for the "name your price" option on Bandcamp. You can also buy physical copies, but if you do choose a free download, please be sure to follow Sweeping Promises on Instagram.
Steve Burns, mostly of Blue's Clues fame (a show, by the way, that Ken and I are both far too old to remember yet too young to have kids who remember Burns on it), pushed all the wholesome nostalgia buttons this week in a viral video directed at his childhood fans that grew up. There have been three humans sitting in the Thinking Chair over the years, and an effort to cash in on streaming subscriptions, all of them hung out together in a special.
Steve Burns is not Blue's Clues for me anymore. Burns is instead an indie rocker who put out an amazing album 20 years ago that not nearly enough people heard, Songs for Dustmites. So the story goes, Burns was in some bands in high school and college, and his demos somehow ended up with members of the Flaming Lips, who helped craft them into the loud, crunchy, poppy songs those of us lucky enough to discover it would come to love. "Mighty Little Man," "Troposphere," "What I Do On a Saturday"... all of these are songs that never leave my brain, and they hold up in the long term.
I still hope Steve Burns puts out some new stuff, or at least gets his old stuff on the streaming services. For now, unless you can find the physical copy anywhere, it's frustratingly out of print and you're ultimately stuck with whatever gets uploaded on YouTube.
With all the excitement from Little Hag releasing her Breakfast EP last month, we had forgotten she also had an album due out this month. Luckily, a new single is out to remind us. "Cherry" sees the New Jersey based Avery Mandeville expanding on her sound a bit. This is a flat out power ballad. Sure, it's an indie pop/rock power ballad, but this is the kind of ballad that every New Jersey artist is legally obligated to make. Mandeville knocks this one straight out of the park. Sure, "Cherry" is a bit cheesy, but all power ballads are. Mandeville's charm keeps this from getting overly cheesy and keeps it utterly compelling.
You can listen to "Cherry" below. Leash is due out September 24. You can pre-order a copy over at Bandcamp. For more on Little Hag, check out the artist's Facebook.
Damien Vincent is a Brisbane based musician recording under the name Juniper Stone. His music is described as a cross between indie pop and neo soul. His latest single, "Patterns," starts off as a very chill version of bedroom pop. It grooves around at its own meandering pace and is a pleasant enough song. And then the horn kicks in, and the song becomes mesmerizing. It's an old timey horn style, and even sounds like it was recorded nearly one hundred years ago. It's a fascinating coupling: New, completely modern music with a more antique sound. "Patterns" is the perfect kind of song to listen to as we say goodbye to summer up here in New England.
In a press release, Damien Vincent says of his new song:
"'Patterns' was meant to emulate the feeling I had on a day last year where I was floating along a lake in a small canoe with a good friend, I found myself being quite mesmerized by how beautiful all the ripples and patterns in the water were; that moment inspired me to create the song. I kind of wanted 'Patterns' to be a calming lullaby that could take the listener to a mysterious dreamlike world."
You can watch the video for "Patterns" below. For more on Juniper Stone, check out the artist's Facebook.
Brooklyn's Gustaf have been blowing us away with their version of absurdly dance friendly post punk. The band's latest single, "The Motions," is a little bit more mellow, but it's still impossibly groovy. The song was inspired in part by Jonathan Richman's vocal delivery, which explains the laid back nature. It still has the bounce and fun of a B-52's song, but at the end it collapses in a cacophony of noise, much like The Dead Milkmen's "Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance to Anything)."
In a press release, vocalist Lydia Gammill discusses the song:
"The song is about snapping between the perspective of your chaotic inner narrative while following the precut path of the world around you. Like when you’re strutting down the sidewalk to a song and your headphones slip off for a second to reveal the natural soundscape you’d been ignoring, realizing the world you had been wrapped up in is not the one shared by everyone else. Then you see that everyone with headphones is jumping between their own personal world and the reality they’re actually living in. I’ve found that if you walk around New York City without headphones, the streets are surprisingly silent. It’s us that add the cacophony of our own personal soundtracks."
You can watch the video for "The Motions" below. Audio Drag for Ego Slobs is due out October 1 on Royal Mountain Records. You can pre-order/pre-save a copy here. For more on Gustaf, check out the band's Facebook and Twitter. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.
10/1 - Charlotte, NC - Snug Harbor 10/2 - Knoxville, TN - Mill and Mine 10/3 - Cincinatti, OH - MOTR Pub 10/4 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern 10/6 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club 10/7 - Saint Paul, MN - Palace Theatre # 10/8 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre # 10/9 - Detroit, MI - Saint Andrew's Hall # 10/10 - Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall # 10/12 - Boston, MA - House of Blues # 10/13 - Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore # 10/15 - New York, NY - Terminal 5 # 10/16 - New York, NY - Terminal 5 # 10/17 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club # 10/18 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club # 10/20 - Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel # 10/21 - Nashville, TN - Cannery Ballroom # 10/22 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade - Heaven Stage # 10/25 - Austin, TX - Stubb's # 10/26 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater # 10/27 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger # 11/2 - Birmingham, UK - The Sunflower Lounge $ 11/3 - Bristol, UK - Rough Trade Bristol $ 11/4 - London, UK - The Dome $ 11/6 - Brighton, UK - Mutations Festival @ The Green Door Store 11/8 - Leeds, UK - Hyde Park Book Club $ 11/9 - Manchester, UK - YES (Pink Room) $ 11/10 - Liverpool, UK - Arts Club Loft $ 11/11 - London, UK - The Windmill, Brixton 11/13 - Utrecht, NL - Le Guess Who Festival 11/14 - Kortrijk, BE - Sonic City Festival 11/14 - Brussels, BE - Witloof Bar 11/16 - Berlin, DE - Cassiopeia 11/17 - Haldern, DE - Haldern Pop Bar 11/18 - Paris, FR - Les Femmes S'en Melent @ Petit Bain 11/19 - Lille, FR - The Black Lab 11/20 - Luxembourg City, LU - Rotondes Klub 12/18 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour * 12/19 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour *
Artist: Kirty Album: We Are All On Fire Quick Thoughts: Kirty is one we missed, and I honestly don't know how. I don't know her band, Fast Romantics, but this album was a pandemic creation that's a little bit synthy and a little bit folky and gives some familiar vibes even though it feels new and different. If you like the sort of folky stuff that's a little off the beaten path, check this one out. Songs of Note: "Turn You On," "You Ripped My Heart Out," "I Want Your Love."
Artist: Liz Cooper Album: Hot Sass Quick Thoughts: I admit that the name of this album made me roll my eyes a bit, but wow does this deliver. I don't know her work as Liz Cooper and the Stampede off-hand, but this is more rock than folk and it doesn't waste any time. I was singing the title track through much of the weekend, "Motorcycle" is also impressive, and, really, the whole package would be a highlight in a busy week. Don't miss out on this one. Songs of Note: "Motorcycle," "My Oh My," "Hot Sass."
Artist: Calicoco Album: Underneath Quick Thoughts: We're big fans of Calicoco here. Their previous album really registered for us in a lot of ways, and this new album is such a crazy leap forward it's almost shocking. There is an urgency throughout that was unexpected, and it's truly dynamic in its approach - noise in all the right places, yet the feelings still come out loud and clear. This is a truly great album, and it's one I'm looking forward to hearing again. Songs of Note: "Strangers," "Heal Me."
Artist: Little Simz Album: Sometimes I Might Be Introvert Quick Thoughts: I am a huge Little Simz fan, and this album? It's got layers. It didn't grab me the way I expected on first listen, but a few songs hit other playlists and I went back to find a really insightful, really fascinating listen. Little Simz offers a grime-adjacent listen here that just demands your attention, and there's so much here to love that I think I'll be going back to it quite a bit more in the coming weeks. Songs of Note: "Speed," "Point and Kill," "Rollin' Stone."
Artist: Dana Dentata Album: pantychrist Quick Thoughts: The oddball love child of Poppy and Peaches, this is such a fun spectacle that it's impossible not to fall for it. From the name, which made me chuckle, to many of the songs that will just get trapped in your head and never leave, pantychrist wears its influences and favorites firmly on its sleeve. You need to give this album a shot, as it's really one of the more interesting listens as of late. Songs of Note: "Spit," "Apology," "Dstock '99," "I Know What You Did Last Summer."
Recorded as a tribute to the late Charlie Watts, New Hampshire's Brad Marino has recorded a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Monkey Man." The original song off 1969's Let It Bleed is pure vintage late 60's Stones from the period where they could do no wrong. It's just psychedelic blues rock in the way that only they can do. Brad Marino's version of the song keeps the original intact, but adds an almost 80's sheen to it. It's a fun cover of a relatively obscure song. I always love when bands choose covers that aren't the complete obvious choice (Let It Bleed also includes the beyond iconic songs "Gimme Shelter" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want"), so hearing a cover of "Monkey Man" is very welcome.
You can listen to Brad Marino's version of "Monkey Man" below. The song is currently available at the artist's Bandcamp. For more on Brad Marino, check out the artist's Facebook.
