Now that Kyle Thomas is entering his fourth decade of existence, he has artistically hung up his younger beer soaked baseball cap, and replaced it with an older more used and vintage eccentric hobbit hat from the shire. This new middle aged Thomas has directed his lyrical focus on the nostalgia of his once simpler younger self.
A stellar collection of nine fuzzy, muscular anthems, Ideal Conditions mines similar ground as their debut – hazy, midtempo slacker rock. Silkworm is an easy reference point; the tracks are driven by a beefy rhythm section with blasts of distorted guitar setting up soaring solos, each song rising to a dramatic crescendo before crashing down.
Robert Pollard, the frenetically brilliant leader / creator of Dayton’s cult heroes Guided By Voices, writes a lot of songs. A lot of songs, a lot of albums, a lot of music, even a countless array of alter egos. La La Land represents a direct follow-up to Tremblers and Goggles By Rank, or as Pollard says, “somewhat of a companion piece.”
Big Blood have been called psychedelic folk, and freak folk, and other things like “avant-folk” and “gothic country.” Driven by Colleen Kinsella’s powerful, keening vocals and amorphous, hazy instrumentals, the Weird Road EP is the newest installment in a 16-year line of wonderfully wonky songcraft.
Leaving is the second full length release from Midwest indie folk band Fran (aka Maria Jacobson), continuing on the path of heartbreaking longing and beautiful melodies powered by her stunning vocals. Jacobson's ability to weave entrancing tales is jaw-dropping, reinforced by the very compelling material throughout the album.
On Into the Couch, the second LP under the Disheveled Cuss moniker, Nick Reinhart continues to stay weird in all the right ways. The album as a whole is flush with moments that bait you into thinking a pop hook or familiar change is on the way, yet he manages to zag at every zig, keeping both his melodies and thematic elements surprising.
For Frankie Cosmos’ fifth studio album, growing pains give way to the shaky legs on which the indie-pop quartet takes its first steps into real life. After over a decade at work, their primordial beginnings as a home-based solo project are gone but not forgotten. Inner World Peace totes the patient deliberateness that comes with maturity.
Despite her prolific output, the PJ Harvey archives still boast plenty of rare and previously unreleased material to spare, enough to fill the 6xLP box set. B-Sides, Demos & Rarities, released last year to the delight of hardcore PJ Harvey fans, is all the evidence one needs to crown Harvey one of the greatest songwriters of her generation.
Che establishes her values around family, the music industry, and people in general; she sets boundaries when she says, "Feed your brothers/When you eat your supper, don't eat with suckers" and means it. The vivid stories of The Last Remnants revolve around stories about family, tragedy, and a talented community ever-growing.
Lee Fields is nothing short of a living legend. Dubbed “Little JB” for his likeness to James Brown, the singer continues to carry the torch of soul and funk on his invigorating 19th studio album Sentimental Fool. Fields’ latest regroups The Dap-Kings, lead by Gabriel Roth aka Bosco Mann, for a pointedly classic occasion.
Some Lentils albums feel stuffed and a bit frantic. Budget Alchemy was packed with brash horns and violins. Comparatively, Ixnay on the Entilslay is sparse and gentle. The majority of its nine songs lull the listener into a peaceful haze with simple and repetitive acoustic guitar ideas with often as little as a shaker to back it up.
Like most years that join the rear-view mirror, 2022 develops its hazy complexion. As it does, brilliant highlights cut through the fog. One of those lights is Squirrel Flower's latest record Planet EP. The self-produced effort, released last January, earmarks a chapter in the artistic career of Ella Williams that is worth exploring for its clarity of emotion.
San Francisco's Galore certainly fall into the category of artists who have picked up on the “New Zealand” sound. Their initial album and particularly their latest five song EP, Blush, are brim-full of both catchy melodies and uncluttered, seemingly simple, guitar-driven arrangements, airy and full of bright melodies that stick to your ears.
Sporting just seven tracks, Is It You? is fashioned after the incessant way that the human life is led. Much like how consecutive days unconsciously turn into weeks, each song exists distinctly separate from one another and still somehow, the tracklist can also be blended together into one mind-melting thirty minute trip.
