It’s 3.30 am here in Finland, but there’s still time for one late night video post. Why the hell not, because there’s new music videos available from some of my recent favourite albums.
First up is the latest video from the new Sarah Shook & The Disarmers album Years that is out and available on Bloodshot Records. It’s been a year of Sarah Shook & The Disarmers for me. Years is one hell of a record in my books and I also saw them play live at STHLM Americana and absolutely loved the concert. New Ways To Fail is an outtake from that mighty album and this new video that was directed by Hannah Welever shows that skateboarding and country music work together perfectly (Ok, judging by the fun end to the video, the band members might not master the skateboard quite as well as their music instruments at this moment in time, but I’m sure they get a hang of it).
Will Stewart’s awesome album County Seat came out in April on Cornelius Chapel Records. I shared the lead single Sipsey early in the year, but there’s a good reason for a revisit, because Jason Hamric directed this music video for the song.
Here’s another gorgeous track Rosalee from the new Will Stewart album.
A quick post of two albums that I just bought during a small vacation trip to Stockholm. First up is the new I’m Kingfisher album Transit. I actually just saw him play at STHLM Americana festival on another trip Stockholm a month ago (am I spending too much time in Stockholm?) and even though I only caught the end of his concert, I was really impressed and captivated and instantly knew I had to hear his latest album.
I’ve been somewhat familiar with I’m Kingfisher aka Swedish songwriter Thomas Jonsson for a long time and I remember that I bought The Lake Acts Like an Ocean album when it came out a decade or so ago and really liked it. So I knew he was good, but maybe didn’t fully understand he was this good. Of course, Transit is the most fragile and stripped-down record of his career and that might be a part of the reason why I’m so fond of it. Even in the phenomenal Jason Molina discography, I love the early Songs:Ohia albums the most. Sorry if I drifted away from the subject, but it’s fairly clear that I’m Kingfisher has been influenced by Jason Molina. Anyway, Transit is now out on Fading Trail Records and I’m Kingfisher also has a Finland concert coming up on the 7th of August at Elmun Baari, Helsinki. Don’t miss out on that. I might because going to Helsinki mid-week on a workday gets a little difficult. So culture award for the person who books a Turku show for him for the following day. This is the gorgeous album opener What Good Would Loving Do Me Now?
A long time favourite, Athens, Georgia’s T. Hardy Morris has a new album Dude, The Obscure out on Normaltown Records (an imprint label of New West Records). Dude, The Obscure is his third solo album and after a couple of spins it feels like the best one. I really love that slow-paced, haunting dark beauty of his music. It’s kind of the side of T.Hardy Morris I first fell in love with when I heard his solo debut Audition Tapes and I’m thrilled that this is a return to that captivating sound. Nothing wrong with the second album either, but this is closer to my heart. Here’s the music video for the centerpiece When the Record Skips and my own personal favourite, the album closer Purple House Blues.
Oh and here’s a bit of a blast from the past. The first T.Hardy Morris I ever heard and a song that I still hold dear. It’s the title track of his solo debut Audition Tapes that came out on Dangerbird Records in 2013.
A quick video post for tonight. Pa’lante is an incredibly powerful song and the highlight of Hurray For The Riff Raff’s 2017 album Navigator. Besides being an extremely important and influential song, there’s also another reason to post this song on the blog. Hurray For The Riff Raff is the band to see this summer, because they will play at Pori Jazz Festival on the 21st of July. Alynda Segarra is an inspiration both as a musician / songwriter and as a good socially conscious human being who is willing to fight for what is right. She is the Finland visitor that we should all be talking about this summer. Here’s the music video that Kristian Mercado Figueroa directed for the song Pa’lante.
Continuing with the quick round-up posts as a vacation activity. So much great music out there for one dude with a day job and I badly failed to feature all the cool stuff during the spring. This time I have some excellent pop songs for you, because hey it’s summer and everything and what could be a better way to spend it than go outdoors and listen to the finest kind of melodic pop treasures that 2018 has given so far.
First up is the new David Myhr album Lucky Day that came out 18th of May on Lojinx. Back in the 90s, David Myhr and Anders Hellgren had this band called The Merrymakers that released a couple of classic pop albums. That was the time in history when the Swedes ruled the pop world. Nothing to take away from ABBA, but hey it ain’t no Popsicle, The Merrymakers or The Wannadies. But enough with the blast from the past. David Myhr is super relevant in 2018 and his new sophomore solo album Lucky Day is a treasure for fans of pop melodies, sweet harmonies and catchy arrangements. David Myhr co-wrote songs with other pop maestros like Brad Jones, Linus Of Hollywood and Bleu, so the album has a bit of an “all-stars” cast at least for the ones who spent an early adulthood in the power pop circles like I did. Here’s the latest music video for album outtake My Negative Friend.
One of my all-time favourite bands Canadian Sloan also has a new album out on Yep Roc. It was released in early April and it’s kind of criminal that it took me this long to mention it. I suppose there’s no harm done, because I think it’s fairly obvious that I love the band and everything that they release. 12 is indeed the 12th Sloan album and the band has been continuously magnificent throughout all these years. I have all twelve and I like each and everyone of them. All might not be stone cold classics (and some definitely are), but even the ”worst” ones are pretty damn good. 12 is another gorgeous addition to the Sloan discography. Here’s the opener Spin Our Wheels from the new album.
And finally a song that’s maybe a little more obscure, but still one of my favourite pop songs of the year. I don’t know anything about The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness, but I wouldn’t even be surprised, if the band members turn out to be people that I already know. At least they’ve been listening to the same music as I have, because this song Nervous Man is kind of like the foundation of my music taste in one song. There’s a beautiful pop melody, sweet vocals with harmonies and that lovely Scottish pop jangle. What’s not to love. I think there’s a seven inch single out sometime soon on the Spanish Pretty Olivia Records.
