Little Wings – Explains & Hezekiah Jones – In Loving Memory of oosi Lockjaw
The music I love the most tonight. Little Wings and Hezekiah Jones. First we have Little Wings. I’m pretty ashamed to say that I started to listen to Kyle Field aka Little Wings like an hour ago. What the hell have I been doing all these years, because this is already his 11th full-length album. Well better late than never and all the other cliches. Anyway, this latest one called Explains came out on the outstanding Woodsist Records a few months back. I’ve only listened to it once when I write this, but oh man. It was an instant affection and I loved every second of it. Kind of like the poppiest Lambchop or more sing-y Bill Callahan, if you want some awful descriptions of amazing music. I need to buy a copy asap. This is the stunning opening track By Now.
The new Hezekiah Jones album In Loving Memory of oosi Lockjaw isn’t officially out until November, but the pledgers already got the download a week or so ago. I will get back to this in a few months time, but I wanted to give an early shout-out about the greatness of it. This Philly-based folk collective led by Raphael Cutrufello have created their finest album and it’s one of my top 5 2015 releases at the moment. I’ve spent countless amount of hours listening to it during the past week. This one below is Borrowed Heart. It has been been a classic in this household for a few years already and finally it will appear on a record as well.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umpWoujfMZ8]
Joey Ryan & The Inks, The Needy Sons & Cape Snow
It’s been a while. I didn’t really plan on neglecting the blog for several weeks, but my body is still a total wreck and therefore the only goal I had for the last month was to just somehow get through each day. But now I’m finally on a three week holiday and I try to spend it on the thing I love the most, which is listening to new music. I will also have that cervical spine MRI done in a few weeks time and hopefully that will finally tell me what’s causing the continuous numbness on my left hand/leg. I sure would love to know. Anyway, here are some new songs that I really like. More to come very soon.
First we have a great new pop song from Joey Ryan & The Inks. I don’t know how have I managed to miss such a good american pop band for this long. After all, if you want a list of most used tags on my heart, #pop, #catchy, #60s pop, #sunshiny pop, #westcoast, all rank quite close to the top. Anyway, this is their new single Microscope and it’s an outtake from their forthcoming album due out later in 2015.
Joey Ryan and The Inks Website
Next up is The Needy Sons and their debut single The Swimmer / Superficial Kid. I’ve been a big fan of Bill Janovitz since the 90s. Buffalo Tom is a special band, but it’s not just that. For example that Bill Janovitz and Crown Victoria album Fireworks on TV! is a way-too-unknown masterpiece (at least in this corner of the world). Anyway, Bill Janovitz has a new band called The Needy Sons that also features Mike Gent from The Figgs and Ed Valauskas and Eric Anderson. This is The Swimmer by The Needy Sons. I can’t wait to hear more.
The Needy Sons/Bill Janovitz at Bandcamp
And let’s end this little blog post by something truly beautiful. Cape Snow’s debut album just came out on Burst & Bloom Records. I really love this first outtake One More Time. Unfortunately I haven’t heard anything else yet, but if the rest of it is equally good, I will be mesmerized. I probably should just take a leap of faith and buy it just based on this one amazing song. This falls somewhere between Mazzy Star and The Delines and if one has to fall, it would be hard to pick a better place. This is One More Time.
Freschard – Shh.. & Ratboys – Aoid
Uk-based label Wiaiwya will be reissuing Freschard’s Shh.. on yellow vinyl in July. Pre-order is up now.. and well.. you know the deal. It’s Freschard. So it’s absolutely gorgeous. In fact absolutely perfect. It will move you and it will be make you smile. Five hearts any day of the week. Extremely monstrously highly recommended. This is Monsters from this future classic.
Wiaiwya at Bandcamp
Freschard at Facebook
Not entirely sure do like that cover art or the name band of the band, but 100% sure that I love the music and that’s what really counts. Aoid by Ratboys is a wonderful instantly catchy indie rock album and listening to it makes me rethink my current status as a sad bastard, because here I am smiling like an idiot instead of making art out of self-pity. Especially MCMXIV, Postman Song and Tixis are so awesome. Almost like an overdose of entertainment. Aoid is now out on Topshelf Records.
Darrin Bradbury, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Elijah Ocean
A quick post about a few really good new EPs that are worth of your attention.
First there’s Darrin Bradbury’s new Story Of Bob EP that came out last week. I think it was Popa’s Tunes that first introduced this songwriter to me a year or two ago. I’ve been following him ever since and he is getting better all the time. This new EP is a very good release full of gorgeous storytelling. This is Bob from the new EP Story Of Bob.
I’ve posted this song before, but a reminder is in order because Aaron Lee Tasjan has a new EP Telling Stories To The Wall out there in the world and I still love this song. Everyone’s got an opinion, but I’m not sure do I really need one, because I fully agree with Aaron’s opinion in the end of this song. This is Living Proof from the new Aaron Lee Tasjan EP.
This one is not an EP, but definitely worth a mention. Californian country/folk songwriter Elijah Ocean has released a couple of very good albums during the past few years. I’m not sure have I written about them, but it’s a crime if I haven’t. Anyway, he just released a double a-side digital single a while back and I really like both of these. This is I Left My One-Spot (Back at the 5-Spot).