Seventy-eight year old Peter Rowan is back with a new single, and this time he's brought in Molly Tuttle and Lindsay Lou in for back up. "From My Mountain (Calling You)" is gorgeous cosmic Americana inspired by Rowan's long term interest in Tibetan culture and music, although it does sound like more classic Americana than that description would hint at. This is cosmic in the way that Gram Parson's music was cosmic. "From My Mountain (Calling You)" is a gorgeous song steeped in the best that folk, bluegrass, and country has to offer. This upcoming album from Rowan is shaping up to be something special, so you're going to want to check this one out.
You can listen to "From My Mountain (Calling You)" below. Calling You From My Mountain is due out June 24 on Rebel Records, and can be pre-ordered here. For more on Peter Rowan, check out the artist's website.
We absolutely loved The Beths's 2018 album Future Me Hates Me. Its blend of pop tinged indie rock is kind of one of our sweet spots here, and no one nailed it quite like they did. 2020's Jump Rope Gazers leaned a little more towards pop, and was still fantastic. Now, the New Zealanders are back with a new song that changes up their sound a bit more. "Silence is Golden" straight up rocks. Indie rock doesn't usually rock out this hard, but we couldn't be more here for it. It's an oddly hypnotic swirl of guitars and includes a guitar solo that sounds like got completely loose and away from them, but they kept it on anyway. And The Beths pull all this off along with staying as poppy and fun as they've always been!
You can watch the video for "Silence is Golden" below. Expert in a Dying Field is due out September 16 on Carpark Records. For more on The Beths, check out the band's website.
One thing I try to avoid saying is "It's their best since [insert classic album here]" when a legacy band releases new music, because it's what every major music outlet says about literally everything, and... let's face it. Weezer are never going to come close to Pinkerton and Metallica will never be as heavy as Master of Puppets ever again. But... when I hear the new song from Jimmy Eat World, I can't help but think that this is the best they've sounded since Bleed American. I'm not saying it's as good as their classics from twenty one years ago (God, I'm old...), but "Something Loud" comes close. While most bands are well into their Adult Contemporary sound once they cross the twenty year mark, Jimmy Eat World are recapturing the spirit of their youth. While most of Jimmy Eat World's music since Bleed American hasn't worked for me, "Something Loud" does.
Turns out nostalgia helped fuel Jimmy Eat World's return to their classic sound. The response to the When We Were Young Festival helped. Jim Adkins explains:
“While I thought I made the most of the early band days, I realize now I missed some stuff,. You’re in such a hurry to grow out of the formidable years. Like shit-togetherness is going to magically arrive when you hit some age you thought ‘grownups’ were. Yeah, it doesn’t work that way. But maybe the thing age and experience do reveal is that pivotal moments are hard to grasp when you are in them."
You can watch the video for "Something Loud" below. The single can be found here. For more on Jimmy Eat World, check out the band's website. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.
August 19 – Denver, CO – KTCL’s Big Gig*
September 8 – Cleveland, OH – Rock Hall Live
September 9 – Columbus, OH – KEMBA Live!
September 10 – Pittsburgh, PA – Four Chord Music Festival*
September 11 – Detroit, MI – Saint Andrew’s Hall
September13 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
September 14 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater
September 16 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
September 18 – Chicago, IL – RiotFest*
September 20 – Richmond, VA – The National
September 21 – Wantagh, NY – Mulcahy's Pub and Concert Hall
September 23 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
September 24 – Providence, RI – The Strand Theatre
Wednesday night I saw Paul McCartney play Fenway Park in front of almost forty thousand people, playing some of the most well known and beloved songs of all time. Despite being almost eighty years old, he played for almost three hours and wowed the crowd with fantastic songs, light shows, videos, fireworks, etc. Anything I went to see immediately after should have been a massive disappointment, but when the person you're seeing next is Ezra Furman, being disappointed is impossible.
Playing in front of a sold out crowd of five hundred, the show was just Ezra Furman solo with a borrowed guitar. As much love as the crowd showed McCartney the night before, Furman was shown just as much on a smaller scale. The crowd hung on every single word she sang and spoke, completely erasing my fears as they had been quite chatty at times during the openers. Words like enigmatic or captivating or mesmerizing don't do Furman's live show justice. She reminded me of artists like Elliott Smith, Kristin Hersh, and Tori Amos that have their own kind of stage presence that transfixes their fans. At one point Furman joked about an argument she was having in her head with an imaginary audience that was demanding hits, and her arguing back that she didn't have any hits. When she played "Love You So Bad" it was obvious she has one massive hit with her fans based on the audience reaction. I was a fairly casual Ezra Furman fan before Thursday night, but now I'm more of a diehard one.
Evan Greer played the last show I saw before lockdown, and hers was the last I was able to fully enjoy since the world seemed to fall apart just after her set. I really appreciated seeing her with things a bit more stable (maybe?). Focusing more on songs from 2021's Spotify is Surveillance, Greer played a short thirty minute set of her politically charged anti-capitalist folk punk, and led the crowd in a chant of "Fuck big tech!" at one point. "Back Row" is one of those songs that devastated me during the pandemic because I related to its theme of missing live music so desperately. Greer said that at one point she would have paid $500 to see the worst punk show ever, and I think we all related to that desire.
I discovered Tory Silver around when this show was first scheduled back in February. According to her electronic press kit, her big influences are The Beatles, Nirvana, and Feist. That truly summed up her set on Thursday night. It was a solo alt-rock set with electric guitar. Her songs were wonderfully moody and mushy, with the hard edge of Nirvana and the catchy beauty of The Beatles. Plus, they would meander around seemingly of their own free will. It's rare that a solo set can come across as unexpectedly fun as Silver's did, and I'm hoping to see a full band set sometime sooner than later.
The latest from Elf Power is exactly what we'd expect from Elf Power in 2022. "Soft Trash" might be a little less weird than their earlier music. In fact, it's a great little oddball song with some killer pop hooks, but that seems pretty standard from most bands after they've been around for almost three decades. But, this is still Elf Power so as mainstream as this might sound in comparison, this is hardly a mainstream song. This might help mark Elf Power as entering their dad rock phase, and that's going to make us very happy.
You can watch the video for "Soft Trash" below. Artificial Countrysides is out July 15 on Yep Roc Records, and can be pre-ordered here. For more on Elf Power, check out the band's website.
New Brunswick's Motherhood have their own take on the whole indie rock thing. Their newest single, "Tabletop," has a certain classic indie rock vibe while not really sounding like most classic indie rock. It's upbeat while still sounding sorta aggressive. If anything, most things about the song seem a little off. The vocals don't quite match the drumming, which doesn't match the guitars... everything seems to be going at it's own time, but somehow it all works together. Plus, "Tabletop" is oddly groovy. The whole vibe is like a Pavement meets The Dandy Warhols thing, which you know we'll be all about here.
You can watch the video for "Tabletop" below. Winded is due out June 24 on Forward Music Group, and can be pre-ordered via Bandcamp. For more on Motherhood, check out the band's website.
I thought I knew what to expect from a band called Burn the Louvre. They're obviously some form of punk/metal/hardcore based on their name. Instead, the Hamilton, Ontario band make this impossibly charming blend of indie pop and rock with plenty of folky sounds thrown in. Their latest, "Lost With You," is almost too upbeat and charming. It's an upbeat love song that is very proudly wearing its heart on its sleeve. It comes dangerously close to being twee but never quite crosses that line. It's the kind of love song that can even melt the most curmudgeonly indie rock fan's heart.
Jordan Speare says of his band's new song:
"'Lost With You' recaptures a fun day I had with my ex-girlfriend. It resulted in this upbeat indie pop/rock song about love at the height of its arc; that period of time during a relationship where everything is perfect. 'Lost With You' celebrates love at its most carefree, where getting lost in the woods doesn't sound so bad as long as you're lost together."
You can listen to "Lost With You" below. For more on Burn the Louvre, check out the band's website.
The folk supergroup of Bonny Light Horseman completely won me over when I saw them last year at the Green River Festival, and I finally have a new song to play incessantly. Anais Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson, and Josh Kaufman have released "California," and it fits right in with what we love about Bonny Light Horseman. This is modern folk done at its finest. It's all gorgeous vocal harmonies with hynpotic guitar. Bonny Light Horseman are simply mesmerizing in their music, and this one of their more magnificent ones.
Eric D. Johnson says of the new song:
“This one started off as a little crooked minor-key old timey tune. Then the three of us took it through the ringer together and it became what you’re hearing now. We sat in a room in the woods of New York and clawed and pawed at it until it turned into a little bittersweet shuffler. Our first record was largely centered on the old world, whether it was some sort of mythical sweeping landscape on some British Isle, or maybe the old cities of the American East. This is probably our first West Coast song. It’s a sad one, a story about pulling up roots, new beginnings, goodbyes, early morning long drives, riding into the sunrise instead of the sunset. They usually don’t end movies riding into the sunrise but this movie has that scene.”
You can listen to "California" below. Rolling Golden Holy is due out October 7 via 37d03d, and can be pre-ordered here. For more on Bonny Light Horseman, check out the artist's website. Upcoming tour dates are below the song.
6/09 - Portsmouth, NH - The Music Hall
6/10 - Portland, ME - Thompson’s Point**
6/11 - East Providence, RI - Bold Point Park**
6/12 - Richmond, VA - Virginia Credit Union LIVE!**
6/15 - Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre**
6/17 - Maryland Heights, MO - Saint Louis Music Park**
6/18 - Lincoln, NE - Pinewood Bowl Amphitheater**
6/19 - Fayetteville, AR - Roots HQ on the Avenue
6/21 - Newport, KY - PromoWest Pavilion at OVATION**
6/22 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall
6/23 - Indianapolis, IN - Rock the Ruins
6/24 - Nashville, TN - Ascend Amphitheater**
6/25 - Asheville, NC - Rabbit Rabbit**
6/26 - Asheville, NC - Rabbit Rabbit**
7/23 - Newport, RI - Newport Folk Festival
8/04-07 - Edmonton, Canada - Edmonton Folk Festival
8/11-13 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West
9/07-10 - Park City, UT - Park City Song Summit
9/17 - Easthampton, VA - Arcadia Folk Festival
9/30 - Sonoma, CA - Sonoma Winery Barn at Gundlach Bundschu
Laura Veirs has been edging away from her typical folk/alt-country sound to something into a more rock or punk sound, but her latest single defies all of those genres. "Eucalyptus" drops most instrumentation in favor of electronic sounding beats with occasional guitar and what sounds like synths. Veirs's vocals are the main focus, with the beats far in the back of her singing. It's an oddly hypnotic sound that shows Veirs branching way out of her typical comfort zone. It may be an odd choice for a single, but it's going to have you even more intrigued in her upcoming album.
Laura Veirs says about her new song:
“This is a song about the community love I felt when I went through my divorce. It’s also about new love and rediscovering myself as a solo person post-divorce. I reminisce here about ‘finding the old girl I was’ back when I visited my brother in California when he was in college, where they have lovely eucalyptus trees. Some eucalyptus trees will drop their branches suddenly on you, though, so those are the varieties you don’t want to plant in your backyard.”
You can listen to "Eucalyptus" below. Found Light is due out July 8 on Raven Marching Band Records, and can be pre-ordered here. For more on Laura Veirs, check out the artist's website. Upcoming tour dates can be found below the song.
6/09 - Norwich, UK @ Norwich Arts Centre
6/10 - Nottingham, UK @ Bodega
6/11 - Cambridge, UK @ Storey’s Field Centre
6/12 - Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds
6/14 - Gosforth, UK @ Civic Theatre
6/15 - Edinburgh, UK @ Artiscience Library
6/16 - Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
6/18 - Leeds, UK @ Belgrave Music Hall
6/19 - Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute
6/21 - Cardiff, UK @ Pentyrch
6/22 - Bristol, UK @ Thekla
6/23 - Exeter, UK @ Exeter Phoenix
6/25 - Glastonbury, UK - Glastonbury Festival
6/27 - Southsea, UK @ Wedgewood Rooms
6/28 - Guildford, UK @ Boileroom
6/29 - Brighton, UK @ Komedia
6/30 - London, UK @ Union Chapel
7/16 - Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Music / Szold Hall
Although Tomato Flower just released an EP back in February, the Baltimore band are set to release a new one in August. "Construction" is the first single off of that release, and it's the kind of slightly off-kilter indie rock/pop that we enjoyed on Gold Arc. "Construction" is so close to being a fairly standard modern indie rock song that's edging into the world of pop. We love that sound here, and can't get enough of it, so that's hardly a knock. But Tomato Flower specialize in taking that sound and just switching it ever so slightly. Sometimes it's odd little tunings, or vocal harmonies just not quite harmonizing at the same time, but the band are masters of this just slightly off sound that is mesmerizing.
You can listen to "Construction" below. Construction, the EP, is due out August 5 on Ramp Local and can be pre-ordered through Bandcamp. For more on Tomato Flower, check out the band's Facebook and Twitter.
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