Australian The Blackeyed Susans is a band that I love wholeheartedly. They actually have a lot of Finnish fans and listeners thanks to Miettinen and the finest radio show ever, Räkärodeo. “Big in Finland” might be pushing it, because probably only Räkärodeo listeners really know them at all. Nevertheless, there are plenty of people in here who adore The Blackeyed Susans. I’m definitely one of them and therefore Rob Snarski’s voice is like a dear friend to me. After all, this man has sang me to sleep countless amount of times. Yeah, I’m kind of a softie and therefore the beautiful ones were always the dearest ones for me. I do love things like Curse On You as well, but my all-time favourite The Blackeyed Susans song is actually Be My Medicine. It might be a bit weird choice, but for me that has always been one of the most beautiful songs ever.

Anyway, let’s forget the past for a second and move on to 2014. The lead vocalist Rob Snarski has just released his solo debut in Australia and damn it feels great to hear that voice singing new songs. Even though it’s a solo album, fellow Blackeyed Susan Dan Luscombe seem to be play a big part by co-producing the album with Rob and co-writing some of the songs. I can’t wait to spend more time with this beautiful thing. So far I’ve only previewed it a few times over at Bandcamp, but I will hit the buy button once I decide do I settle for the digital or order a CD from the webstore. This is the awesome first single and opening track Tender Like a Bruise from Rob Snarski’s new album Wounded Bird.

Rob Snarski Website

Canadian roots rockers NQ Arbuckle are another band that has always meant a lot to me. Therefore it’s really criminal that the release of their latest album The Future Happens Anyway kind of flew by without a mention. Ok, I did write a few words way before it actually came out, but nothing during the late spring when it was released by Six Shooter Recordings. This surely could have been the album of the month in June, if I had chosen one. Neville Quinlan has again written a bunch of fantastic songs. Here are two perfect examples. The songs are Red Wine and Art O’Leary from NQ Arbuckle’s album.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoLFSwBzmzo]

NQ Arbuckle Website

Greg who runs the blog called Captains Dead is one of the few bloggers whose taste I trust almost as much as my own. Of course I don’t like everything he recommends, but you can be 100% sure that if he is recommending something that I don’t already know, I’m definitely going to check it out and see if I like it myself. What does this all have to do with Hallelujah The Hills? Well obviously Greg is the man who turned me into them. This first happened when the previous album No One Knows What Happens Next came out and have continued when the new album Have You Ever Done Something Evil? was released a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to Greg and his enthusiasm I’ve eventually ended up buying both of them.

The Hallelujah The Hills is a Boston-area indie rock band and this new album Have You Ever Done Something Evil? was released on 13th of May, 2014. Even though I really liked the previous one, I was never that passionate about it. These first few days with this new one seem to be indicate that I’ve certainly found that passion now. For example that combo of Try This Instead and Destroy This Poem in the early parts of the album is just awesome and one of my favourite moments on any record this year. I’m kind of a down-to-earth guy and I often hate when songs grow into something bigger in the end, but oh how I love how songs by Hallelujah The Hills can so effortlessly grow into catchy-as-hell singalong choruses. Some of the longer ones aren’t as instantly catchy, but they are equally rewarding when you get into them. This is a damn fine record and you can easily buy it/listen to it on their bandcamp. This one is Destroy This Poem followed by a music video of Do You Have Romantic Courage?. You can find both from the new Hallelujah The Hills album.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeMhvXc5W-I]

Hallelujah The Hills Website

My soundtrack for today has been Last of The Big Time Spenders by Turner Cody. I have a couple of his older records, so I was well aware that Turner Cody is a pretty great New York-based singer-songwriter. This 2013 album had managed to fly under my radar until I somehow stumbled on it at Bandcamp today. After a couple spins, the mouse I was holding found that buy now button and I haven’t regretted that decision. This is I Know How I Feel About You from this little masterpiece.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHxDN0XKR18]

Turner Cody Website

If that Turner Cody album was today’s favourite, last night my favourite was the new album World Of Strangers by country singer-songwriter Zoe Muth. I’m kind of ashamed that I haven’t really listened to Zoe that much until now. Only a few songs here and there over the years. Why the hell wasn’t I paying attention? This is excellent and totally the kind of music that I love. World Of Strangers just came out on Signature Sounds. This is Zoe’s drinking song for moms, Mama Needs a Margarita from the new album.

Zoe Muth Website

And let’s end this little blog post with some classic country music. Sturgill Simpson’s High Top Mountain got a great reception last year and took a top 10 place on pretty much every country blog I follow. I joined the party a bit later when Loose Music released that album in the UK/Europe earlier in 2014. Now there’s more reasons to party, because the brand new Sturgill Simpson album Metamodern Sounds In Country Music came out a few weeks ago and I picked up a copy from the local record store last weekend. This is so damn brilliant country music. Here’s Life Of Sin from the new album.

Sturgill Simpson Website