Country, Americana, Folk, Power Pop, Indie Pop
Volter are back in this ball game with a new single The One. I think this one might be one of my favourite Volter songs. A pretty great slice of 60’s influenced pop music. They have already started working on their next full-length album and I really look forward to that. You can buy/listen to the single on their bandcamp. Here’s the a-side The One.
The Place I Left Behind by The Deep Dark Woods is probably my favourite album of this decade. It won the album of the year award 2011 and I still listen to it rather frequently. Therefore it’s kind of a big deal that there’s a new The Deep Dark Woods album Jubilee. However, I was rather worried when the first outtake Miles and Miles came out few weeks ago. At first listen I pretty much hated it, but I’m not sure where my ears were at the time. It just wasn’t what I expected at all, even though listening to it now, it’s rather hard to find that shock factor. Quite close to 70s Neil Young actually with some psychedelia. And I suppose that shouldn’t be that unheard from a folk rock band.
Anyway, I learned to like Miles and Miles and the second outtake 18th of December was the familiar kind of The Deep Dark Woods. So the excitement levels were back on an extremely high level. Right now I’m listening to this thing on Spotify for the first few times (until I get a physical copy) and I’m absolutely loving this. It’s a bit more challenging than The Place I Left Behind and I might struggle with a few of the songs. But I look forward to the challenge and I know I’m going to spend a huge amount of time listening to Jubilee. There was really no point in re-writing The Place I Left Behind and the quality is still on an equally high level. It’s just unreal how great this band is and Jubilee is one amazing album.
Jubilee was produced by Jonathan Wilson and it just came out on Six Shooter Records (Canada) and Sugar Hill Records (USA, Europe). This is 18th of December.
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The Deep Dark Woods Website
Huge news! New Penniless album Rows Of Houses came out last week on A West Side Fabrication. It’s fantastic, brilliant and the best Finnish album of the year.. Well to be honest, I haven’t heard it yet. I went to the local record shop yesterday, but unfortunately the package that had the new Penniless in it was late and therefore I wasn’t able to buy a copy. The band is one of my all-time favourites and I’m extremely confident that the new album is once again going to be amazing. But maybe I should do the highest of praises on a later date. When I’ve actually listened to the album.
Soliti is one of the finest indie labels in the country and they’ve been busy lately. Their new signing is wittily named Gim Kordon and it’s impossible not to like them. Finnish DIY punk rock meets 90s US indie rock. Where You Been at the back, punk vocals on the front. Sounds so good to me and takes me back to the days when things like Dinosaur Jr, Smudge and Sebadoh reshaped my heart. Debut album due out in 2014, but as a taste Soliti offers an early demo version of a song called Ei oo helppoo.
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Gim Kordon Website
The second The New Tigers album The Badger came out last week and it’s another good one. I think Valtteri’s pop sensibility and the wall of sound are in good balance this time around. If you can write a great pop song with the loveliest melody, why destroy it with useless crap. Sometimes in the past they’ve been guilty of that. This time pretty much everything works. For example Secondary City is such a magnificent song where The New Tigers get closer to Teenage Fanclub-ish moods in the chorus. Well done.. and worth all the hype. This one is Quicksilver from the new album.
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The New Tigers Website