I really should quit this blog, because I haven’t even managed to write about the new Austin Lucas album Between The Moon & The Midwest. I always end up in trouble with the albums that matter the most, because I want to write something better and more meaningful about them than just a quick little news entry. Then months fly by, because I can’t come up with anything that I would be happy about and one day I notice that the album(s) that matter the most to me, didn’t even get a mention. For example new Austin Lucas and Daniel Romano albums fall into this category. I suppose the good thing is that while these people might not be world famous, the readers of this little website are probably all aware of their greatness. So this is like preaching to a choir kind of thing.

Between The Moon & The Midwest came out early in the year on At The Helm Records (UK/Europe) and Last Chance Records (USA) and it’s one of my favourite albums of the year. The whole thing is absolutely gorgeous. Personal favourites are the opener Unbroken Hearts and it’s traditional country vibes, Wrong Side of the Dream that is beautiful duet with Lydia Loveless and the album closer Midnight. Austin Lucas sure knows how to end an album. Splinters was the biggest treasure on his previous album Stay Reckless and Midnight is the one that strikes me the hardest on this new album. So brilliant. The whole album is. You’ll definitely need to hear this one, if you already haven’t. Austin is timeless and Sally is forever.

It proved to be difficult to find album cuts to stream from the usual places, so here’s a great video of Austin performing the album opener Unbroken Hearts (video by Alex Berlin).

Austin Lucas Website

I didn’t see this coming. The Tyde will release a new album Darren 4 in September. It’s definitely great news. I just wasn’t expecting it, because it has been 10 years from the last one. I was very much into The Beachwood Sparks, The Tyde and all associated west coast acts a decade ago. And still am of course, because this stuff is actually still ruling the world. The old ones still sound great and we got new The Beachwoods Sparks album some years ago, GospelbeacH last year, The Skiffle Players early this year and now the new Tyde album this fall. What’s not to love. First outtake from Darren 4 is now out and it’s called The Curse in Reverse. It features certain Bernard Butler (Ex-Suede) in guitar and co-vocals. If we take another 10 years of the clock and go to the mid-nineties, Suede was the band I loved the most in the world. I’m not as passionate about them anymore, but early Suede still holds a special place in my heart. Anyway, here’s the new song from The Tyde album. Whole thing is coming out on Spiritual Pajamas on 9th of September.

The Tyde at Facebook

I’m ashamed to say that I’m only vaguely familiar with Scott Nolan and his songwriting catalog. Even that vaguely familiar is probably an overstatement. I’ve known one of his songs for years though. It’s called Bad Liver and a Broken Heart and Hayes Carll performed it on his Trouble In Mind album. For a really long time I actually thought it was a song by Hayes Carll and probably haven’t been aware of the truth for more than year or so.

It’s definitely about time to get to know this Canadian songwriter and I started by buying his most recent album Silverhill a couple of weeks ago and this is filled with absolutely gorgeous songs. Ok, maybe a filler or two as well, but that’s perfectly ok when most of the songs find the core of my heart. Scott Nolan is a great songwriter and storyteller and these songs are a good place to rest after a hard day at the factory. A lot of depth and value companied with a certain easy-flowing charm that travels through me. Silverhill is out on Transistor 66. Now I need to dig deeper into his song catalog.

Scott Nolan Website