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Nap Eyes & The Rollstons

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napeyes

The new Nap Eyes album Whine Of The Mystic has been a bit of a surprise favourite during the last few weeks. Surprise for me because I was a bit blind (well deaf I guess) and didn’t notice the greatness of this Canadian group earlier in the year even though they are on labels that I love (Paradise Of Bachelors and You’ve Changed). Just hearing bits and pieces didn’t hook me. Thankfully things changed when I got the whole album. I completely saw the light after spinning it a couple of times in its entirety. It’s that kind of blissfully twisted and literate indie rock / guitar pop that is rather unique and inspiring. If you want some reference points it occasionally reminds me of The Modern Lovers and the great Finnish band The Rollstons. Extremely highly recommended stuff. There’s also a new one ready to hit your heart in early 2016, but let’s get into that one after the new year. This is Dreaming Solo from Whine Of The Mystic.

Nap Eyes at Facebook

rollstonsswiss

I also have to use this opportunity to post a song or two from The latest The Rollstons album Swiss Time. It’s definitely on my top 10 when it’s time to make that Finnish albums of the year list. Here are Hospital Property and I Am Asparagus from the latest album.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=fjEDk6MBxGw]

And here’s an all-time classic So Real.

The Rollstons at Facebook

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Julie Rhodes & Jeffrey Foucault

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julierhodes

I’ve been enjoying this a whole lot lately. In Your Garden is the first outtake from Julie Rhodes’ forthcoming album Bound To Meet The Devil that’s due out in Feb’16. She is a new americana/soul/blues artist that has a damn fine and impressive voice. Obviously nothing wrong with the song either. Sort of reminds me of Brown Bird in a few places and I count that as a mighty good thing. I’m really looking forward to the debut album.

Julie Rhodes at Facebook

foucault

Julie Rhodes is someone that I didn’t know a week ago. Jeffrey Foucault on the other hand is a long time hero of mine. He has written and released several gorgeous albums during the past ten years or so. Besides that he has also produced some amazing albums (like the latest ones by John Statz and Hayward Williams). His new one carries a title Salt As Wolves and it has been on heavy rotation during the past few months. This is a live version of Rico from the new album.

[youtube=http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CAoaxbDsT84]

Jeffrey Foucault Website

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Todd Beene, John Calvin Abney & Friendship

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image

Todd Beene is working on a solo album called I Can’t Be Serious and will write, record and release a song every ten days or so until the album is finished. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, he is the pedal steel wizard that you have seen or heard on Glossary, Lucero, Chuck Ragan albums/concerts. All great ones and Glossary obviously among the very best there has been during the past ten years or so. Based on this first outtake We Miss You, Todd Beene is capable of doing his own thing in an equally amazing fashion.

Todd Beene at Bandcamp

calvin

John Calvin Abney is a prolific tunesmith. After releasing a really good album Better Luck early in the year, he is returning on December 5th with a new EP Vice Versa Suite. The first outtake Daisy and Clover is a stunning song. A lot like Elliot Smith, but that’s never a bad thing in my world.

John Calvin Abney at Facebook

friendship

Burst & Bloom Records is a small-ish label from Portsmouth, New Hampshire whose taste I’ve grown to trust. They release pretty much only great albums. Guy Capecelatro III, Hello Shark and Cape Snow are some of my earlier favourites. The latest to grab my attention is You’re Going To Have To Trust Me by Friendship. I haven’t really focused on the whole thing yet, because I always get stuck on this gorgeous opener Responsible for an hour or two. Such a great song. This is Responsible.

Friendship at Facebook

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The Provincial Archive – Bad Connection

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provincial4

Canadian group The Provincial Archive returns with a new EP that will come out on the 20th of November on their own Consonant Records. They first won my heart over a couple of years ago when I found their 2010 album Maybe We Could Be Holy. Their sort of folk songs meet Death Cab For Cutie thing instantly appealed to me and that album was filled with great songs.

Fast forward to November 2015. They have become three-piece since keyboardist Nathan Burge left to follow his other goals in art. The remaining trio have also changed the path a little and have went from beautiful folk to beautiful distortion. The new set of influences come from 90s alt.rock and guitar driven power pop like early Weezer. Apparently they’ve always had this side as well, but now they let it shine more brightly on their music. So it looks like they are totally my kind of guys. That’s the music that I will always love the most and no matter how deep I sunk into this country thing, the foundation of my music taste will always be that 90s guitar pop and 90s indie rock.

The new six-song EP drops on your lap next Friday, but you can already listen to the whole thing. Exclaim! has a premiere going on, if you want to get head start. This one below is the excellent opener Bad Connection from the forthcoming EP.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99zwnHDblxw]

The Provincial Archive Website

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