17th of February will be a good day, because it’s the release date for the fifth Frontier Ruckus LP Enter The Kingdom. Another new song premiered over at Paste today, but I’m still behind and haven’t posted their latest video Our Flowers Are Still Burning. This is due to reasons that a) I’m lazy b) I’m not entirely sure what’s netiquette when someone has a premiere and therefore I rather wait a while before post it on my little blog. Anyway, I love the song and the video too. Bonus points to Matthew Milia for his T-shirt selection. Big Star rules the world. As does Frontier Ruckus and the new album will come out on Loose Music in just a few weeks. Here’s Our Flowers Are Still Burning.

Frontier Ruckus Website

Mark Eitzel released his tenth solo album Hey Mr Ferryman on the 27th of January and I’m really loving it. I can’t say that I’ve been the most dedicated follower during the past 10-15 years. Criminally bad to be honest. I have the American Music Club stuff sure, but I only have three of those earlier solo albums and the last one is Caught in a Trap and I Can’t Back Out ‘Cause I Love You Too Much, Baby all the way from 1998. I can’t exactly say why I lost track, because there sure was time in my life when I listened to a whole lot of American Music Club and Mark Eitzel. I have some work to do to catch up, because I’m sure this one was on me and the quality of Mark’s songwriting has remained strong through all these years. However, last night I listened to his new song An Answer and I felt like my heart and his music had never been apart.

Hey Mr Ferryman is now out and available on Merge Records / Decor Records. It’s early days and I’ve been listening to it less than 24 hours, but I’m already loving this album. Mark Eitzel is a great songwriter and Hey Mr Ferryman is filled with meaningful and powerful songs. Bernard Butler produced the album and together with Mark Eitzel he kept the quiet beauty and dramatic moments in good balance. The songs that I loved the most on first listening were Just Because and this one below called An Answer. It’s all great though. I would like to call it a masterpiece, but maybe that’s a bit too hasty after just a few spins.

Mark Eitzel Website

A huge favourite during the past month has been Ryan Oxford’s forthcoming album Fa Fa Fa Fired that is due out on the 27th of January on Mama Bird Recording Co. Ryan Oxford is a songwriter from Portland, Oregon who has previously composed film scores and soundtracks, but this is his debut album. It was a long time in the making, but it was worth all the love and time he put into it.

I mostly feature the folk and country stuff these days and the pop site subtitle isn’t completely accurate anymore, but I don’t feel like changing it after 15 years of doing this. This one though is definitely for the pop kids as well. It’s got a lot of 60s pop and The Beach Boys influences and some Harry Nilsson and even AM pop too. It’s playful and enchanting and filled with beautiful melodies and lovely and lush sound. I’m not entirely sure how something so melancholic can be this much fun, but somehow this keeps me smiling most of the time. I think it works best as a whole complete piece of pop magic, but sure these individual tracks rule my world as well. Here’s the awesome title track Fa Fa Fa Fired.

Ryan Oxford Website