I’ve been eagerly waiting for this one. I wrote about Joshua Hedley’s EP in late 2016, but I’m not sure was that ever properly released. Sure just following his twitter feed has been somewhat entertaining, but music is still far more thrilling than random ramblings and I’m excited that I’ll finally get to hear more of it. It’s gonna be a year of Joshua and that’s brilliant news for fans of real country music. Joshua Hedley’s debut full-length will be released by Third Man Records on 20th of April. This first outtake and title track of the album Mr. Jukebox surfaced last week and it’s superb.
Nowadays this is a pretty horrible source, if you are looking for new indie pop releases. Today is an exception though, because there’s a new album available from my new favorite and one of my all-time favorites.
I’ll begin with the fairly new favorite. Tasmanian pop band Quivers stormed into my heart last year with their perfect pop song Pigeons. I was almost obsessed with it and it definitely was my pop song of the year. The single Pigeons is an outtake from their album We’ll Go Riding on The Hearses that is finally out and available on Hotel Motel Records. It’s a damn fine album full of excellent pop jangle. So it’s not just Pigeons. Quivers is a marvellous band and hopefully at least the grass root level indie pop circles begin to take notice. I’ll do my small part by shouting their name from the rooftops.
Moving on to the all-time favorite. I’ve been a fan of Math and Physics Club for over a decade and no matter how far I drift away from the indie pop circles, I will always listen and eventually fall in love with a new Math and Physics Club album. This Seattle-based pop group is just able to create charming, catchy and melodic indie pop that always finds a way into my heart. I’m absolutely awful at both math and physics, but I’m good at loving the Math and Physics Club. Their excellent new album Lived Here Before is now out and available on the great indie pop labels Matinee Recordings (USA) and Fika Recordings (UK).
The forthcoming Courtney Marie Andrews album May Your Kindness Remain is one of my most anticipated 2018 releases. She just released a second single Kindness of Strangers from the album and it continues the kindness theme in spectacular fashion. I can’t wait to hear what kind of album she has created. It sure sounds like it might rise to new soulful heights and I’m 100% sure that the album is going to be remarkable. May Your Kindness Remain is out 23rd of March on Loose (Europe) & Fat Possum/Mama Bird Recording Co. (USA). This is the incredible new single Kindness of Strangers.
My biggest music addiction this weekend has been the songwriting of Ian Noe. Even though I like to find new music by reading recommendations from like-minded people, I have to thank the Spotify algorithm for this one. I have that 2018 playlist for onechord.net over there and under it the app gives recommendations based on the list and last night there was a song by Ian Noe. I didn’t know him beforehand, so I put it on and it hit me pretty hard within seconds and within minutes I had bought the download of Off This Mountaintop EP that came out in December 2017. His songwriting is just damn impressive and he delivers dark stories in a convincing manner. Bob Dylan, John Prine and well bunch of especially 70s folk singer-songwriters comes to mind and on this Dead on the River video I also get some early Songs:Ohia vibes. But no, this is guy is definitely not a second rate copy of anyone else. He is a brilliant songwriter who has his own voice. He is currently touring in Europe with another awesome troudadour Colter Wall and I’m a little bit of jealous of all the lovely people who have a chance to see them share the stage. I have tickets to see Colter Wall at STHLM Americana fest next June and sure would be great if Ian would be on that tour as well. Every song on the EP is rather magnificent and it’s too early to pick a definite favorite. Let’s go with the title track this time around. The whole EP is on Spotify and other digital outlets. Limited Edition CD available on his website, if you prefer physical copies.
