OCTA New Music Weekly – Episode #174

Another week, another new music weekly.

I don’t really know if I should post this right now, but maybe music and art make sense even when the world doesn’t.

A lot of great albums came out this week. No clear cut album of the week so Sophie & The Broken Things, Philippe Bronchtein and Carson McHone can share that honor. Heather Valley’s EP is another big one in my books. That’s not all though I’m really digging the new ones from Kyle Morgan, Black Sea Dahu and Emily Rose & The Rounders. Others I’ve haven’t had the time to listen a whole lot yet, but there’s also most likely excellent albums from Swamp Dogg, Mark Edgar Stuart, Dark Tea, Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters, Superchunk, Spencer Hoffman (EP), String Machine, Lena Minder, The Band of Heathens, Basia Bulat, The HawtThorns, Duquette Johnston and King Hannah. I’m sure there was even more.

A big Finnish release week too led by the new wonderful Amuri album. Other full-length beauties came from Pintandwefall, Knipi, Palor, Kanerva plus there was a lovely EP from Janeveera. A new 22-Pistepirkko song is always something worth celebrating. That’s the obvious Finnish single of the week, but there’s also fabulous new ones from Antti Autio and A.Reikko.

Then on the international side of things, we have a new Twain song that hits pretty hard. Other personal favorites came from Erisy Watt, Erin Enderlin, Izaak Opatz, Joe Purdy, The Burning Hell, Jacob Miller, Christian Lee Hutson, Ryan Necci and the Buffalo Gospel and I’m Kingfisher. Again just to name a few.

That’s it for this week. Like, share, follow and all the usual promotional nonsense. Oh and I’ve made some of the older episodes playable, if you prefer that method instead of that insanely long archive playlist. You’ll find them from my Spotify profile. So if you miss an episode or want to return to one, that is a new option. These are only on Spotify for now. The new music weekly is still on Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music. I maybe drop Apple Music in early March, because it doesn’t make much sense to pay for three services and I don’t have much of a following on Apple. So long term probably Tidal and Spotify, but we’ll see. Peace and love.

1. Sophie & The Broken Things – Dashboard (Delusions of Grandeur, Petaluma Records, 2022)
2. Philippe Bronchtein – Leaving Side of Philadelphia (Catch By Breath, 2022)
3. Carson McHone – Spoil on the Vine (Still Life, Loose Music, 2022)
4. Heather Valley – Jim Hanlon (Eternal Rest EP, 2022)
5. Emily Rose & The Rounders – December (Emily Rose & The Rounders, Mock Records, 2022)
6. Kyle Morgan – Know No More (Younger at Most Everything, Team Love, 2022)
7. Black Sea Dahu – Human Kind (I Am My Mother, 2022)
8. Dark Tea – Shadow Self (Dark Tea, Don Piano Enterprises, 2022)
9. Mark Edgar Stuart – Be Good (Until We Meet Again, Madjack Records, 2022)
10. Twain – King of Fools (single, Keeled Scales, 2022)
11. Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters – The Devil (The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Organic Records, 2022)
12. Erin Enderlin – Give My Love to Rose (single, Black Crow Productions, 2022)
13. Swamp Dogg feat Willie Clayton – Cheating in the Daylight (I Need a Job So I Can Buy More Auto-Tune, Don Giovanni Records, 2022)
14. The Burning Hell – Birdwatching (single, BB*Island, 2022)
15. Izaak Opatz – Wild-Eyed George Bailey Heebie Jeebiez (single, Mama Bird Recording Co, 2022)
16. Joe Purdy – Heartbreak in the Key of Roger Miller (single, Mudtown Crier Records, 2022)
17. Superchunk – Highly Suspect (Wild Loneliness, Merge Records, 2022)
18. 22-Pistepirkko – Snakecharmer (single, Bare Bone Business / Universal, 2022)
19. Pintandwefall – Tuesday, No Brain (Seventh Baby, Soliti, 2022)
20. Amuri – Tää tunne on tärkeä (Ettei kukaan tuntisi enää pimeää, Helmi Levyt, 2022)
21. Knipi – Huomasin vain sinut (Valoilmiöitä, Capitol Finland, 2022)
22. Antti Autio – Kaikki hyvin (single, Soit Se Silti, 2022)
23. A. Reikko – Halleluja (single, Karhuvaltio Records, 2022)
24. Palor – Syvenee (Unet jotka uivat usvassa, 2022)
25. Kanerva – Pimeä talo (Perijät, Texicalli, 2022)
26. Janeveera – Vettä virranut (Vettä virranut EP, 2022)
27. Erisy Watt – Big Sky (single, American Standard Time Records, 2022)
28. Christian Lee Hutson – Age Difference (single, ANTI, 2022)
29. Jacob Miller – Lonely Nights (single, 2022)
30. Spencer Hoffman – Baby Blue (A Flower From Behind, Park the Van, 2022)
31. Lena Minder – Together Alone (Together Alone, 2022)
32. String Machine – Gales of Worry (Hallelujah Hell Yeah, Know Hope Records, 2022)
33. David Quinn – I Just Want to Feel Alright (single, Soundly Music, 2022)
34. Ryan Necci and the Buffalo Gospel – Buzzard’s Roost (single, BMG, 2022)
35. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway – Dooley’s Farm (single, Nonesuch Records, 2022)
36. Beau Jennings & The Tigers – I’m Reaching, Lord (single, Black Mesa Records, 2022)
37. Freakons – Chestnut Blight (single, Fluff & Gravy Records, 2022)
38. The Band of Heathens – El Paso City (Remote Transmissions Vol 1, BOH Records, 2022)
39. The Dead Tongues – Dust (single, Psychic Hotline, 2022)
40. The Hanging Stars – Black Light Night (single, Loose Music, 2022)
41. I’m Kingfisher – The Pain of Happiness (single, 2022)
42. Andrew Gabbard – Everydaze (single, Karma Chief Records, 2022)
43. Bastards of Soul – Come Around (single, Eastwood Music Group, 2022)
44. Thee Illusions – Thunderstorms and Earthquakes (single, Blackbird Record Label, 2022)
45. Yvonne Hercules – Nene (single, Trapped Animal, 2022)
46. Jake Blount – The Man Was Burning (single, Free Dirt Records, 2022)
47. Liz Jones & Broken Windows – On the Ride (single, 2022)
48. Duquette Johnston – Whiskey and the Wine (The Social Animals, Single Lock Records, 2022)
49. Blue Wilson – The Wringer (single, Acrophase Records, 2022)
50. Daniel Norgren – Going to the City (single, Superpuma Records, 2022)
51. The Courettes – Misfits & Freaks (single, Damaged Good Records, 2022)
52. Arre! Arre! – Lovers Town (single, PNKSLM Recordings, 2022)
53. Crystal Eyes – Don’t Turn Around (single, Bobo Integral, 2022)
54. King Hannah – It’s Me and You, Kid (I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me, City Slang, 2022)
55. Ailsa Tully – Salt Glaze (single, Dalliance Recs, 2022)
56. Magnolia – Orchard (single, 2022)
57. Robin Bacior – Stargazer (single, 2022)
58. Basia Bulat – Are You In Love? (The Garden, Secret City Records, 2022)
59. The HawtThorns – Lotta Love (Tarot Cards and Shooting Stars, Muke Kick Records, 2022)
60. Jeff Hulett – Spin Your Wheels (single, 2022)
61. Ezra Cohen – I Saw the Country (single, Dead Broke Rekerds, 2022)
62. Steph Jenkins – Heart’s On the Line (Sun Recordings single/ep, 2022)
63. George Barton – I’m Leavin’ You (single, Horton Records, 2022)
64. Rosita Luu – Astroboy (Maaginen elävä, Playground, 2022)
65. MAITA – Wild For You (I Just Want to Be Wild For You, Kill Rock Stars, 2022)

Spotify Playlist

Apple Music Playlist

Tidal Playlist

Playlist Archive on Spotify

Playlist Archive on Tidal

Oh and do buy the vinyl/cd/download. Spotify and other streaming services are perfect for these introductory purposes, but try to buy at least the music that matter the most to you

If you are looking this after a week has gone, the embedded Spotify will show the latest playlist. I’ll just update the same playlist because a) if someone wants to follow it, they can just follow that one list and will get a new set of songs each Sunday b) so that I don’t have a trillion of different playlists on my Spotify account. If you want to find the older ones I’ve moved them to the weekly playlist archive. So hit that link above and I’m sure you’ll find this playlist too.

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OCTA New Music Weekly – Episode #173

Another week, another new music weekly.

The trouble with this new music weekly thing is that the longer I do this, the more artists I know. Therefore keeping the length of this even somewhat reasonable becomes more and more difficult as time goes by. I know I probably should start cutting this weekly monster back to 40-50 songs, because it has become longer than anyone will listen. But I guess lenght is not that big of a deal, because anybody can listen as much or as little they want.

Let’s get right into the great new music, because there’s plenty of it. MAITA, Sarah Shook & The Disarmers and Hurray for the Riff Raff were the big three for me this week when it comes to international album releases. They can share the imaginary album of the week title. Always cool to see new music from Dylan Rodrigue too. This week also got new ones from Kendra Morris, Khruangbin & Leon Bridges (EP), Big Nothing, Cinder Well & Jim Ghedi, (two song single/EP), Dean Owens, Eric Bolander, Lavender Country, The Jazz Butcher (well this was a week ago), Straight White Teeth, Ryan Dugre (EP), TW Walsh (EP), Modern Studies, Shovels & Rope, Steve Poltz, Kate Ellis, Jon Danforth, The Infamous Stringdusters, The Howard Hughes Suite and Sarah Borges.

The big ones from Finland are albums from Rosita Luu and Sumuhai and an EP from V.Härkönen. Then there’s also a run of singles from Lone Deer Laredo, Muuan Mies, Tapani Rinne & Juha Mäki-Patola, Wasted and Hot Heros.

The list of international (should be) hits is almost never ending. Brennen Leigh’s album announcement and wonderful lead single is a big deal. That can share the single of the week with the latest Darren Hanlon tune. Of course there’s a whole lot more. BMX Bandits released a lovely Valentine’s Day single and Leche Malo & Jeremy Ferrara released a great split single. Long time faves Steven Lambke, Katie Spencer, Sylvia Rose Novak and Frontperson all made album announcements accompanied with a mighty good first single. We also got further single gold from the forthcoming albums by MJ Lenderman, VanWyck, Jerry Leger, Georgia Harmer, Renata Zeiguer, Carla Geneve and so forth. Some new to me artists also impressed me. For example Mitch Davis, Kitty Perrin, Erika Lewis and Evan Barber. Just to name a few.

That’s it for this week. Like, share, follow and all the usual promotional nonsense. It all matters in the lonely blogosphere. Love from a distance.

1. MAITA – Where Do You Go? (I Just Want to Be Wild For You, Kill Rock Stars, 2022)
2. Sarah Shook & The Disarmers – Been Lovin’ You Too Long (Nightroamer, Abeyance Records / Thirty Tigers, 2022)
3. Hurray for the Riff Raff – Saga (Life on Earth, Nonesuch Records, 2022)
4. Brennen Leigh & Asleep at the Wheel – If Tommy Duncan’s Voice Was Booze, Signature Sounds Recordings, 2022)
5. Dylan Rodrigue – (Hall) [The] (The Birds Are Still Singing, Kid Vommit, 2022)
6. BMX Bandits – Hello Young Lovers (single, Shambotic, 2022)
7. Darren Hanlon – The Spin (single, Flippin’ Yeah Records, 2022)
8. Leche Malo & Jeremy Ferrara – T2U (single, Ur Mom Records / American Standard Time Records, 2022)
9. Kendra Morris – Dry (Nine Lives, Colemine Records, 2022)
10. Khruangbin & Leon Bridges – Mariella (Texas Moon EP, Dead Oceans, 2022)
11. MJ Lenderman – You Have Bough Yourself a Boat (single, Dear Life Records, 2022)
12. Steven Lambke – Every Lover Knows (single, You’ve Changed Records, 2022)
13. Jerry Leger – Underground Blues (single, Latent Recordings, 2022)
14. Katie Spencer – The Edge of the Land (single, Lightship Records, 2022)
15. VanWyck – Maybe, Maybe Not (single, Excelsior Recordigns, 2022)
16. Renata Zeiguer – Evergreen (single, Northern Spy Records, 2022)
17. Georgia Harmer – All In My Mind (single, Arts & Crafts, 2022)
18. Sylvia Rose Novak – Man I Used to Be (single, World Lies Waiting, 2022)
19. Carla Geneve – Brighter Than Blue (single, Dot Dash Recordings, 2022)
20. Big Nothing – Accents (Dog Hours, Lame-O Records, 2022)
21. V. Härkönen – Hyvää seuraa (Tarralappuja EP, Soit Se Silti, 2022)
22. Rosita Luu – Klaudia (Maaginen elävä, Playground, 2022)
23. Muuan Mies – Timppa (single, Helmi Levyt, 2022)
24. Sumuhai – Sinetti (Sae, 2022)
24. Lone Deer Laredo – Somewhere Down the Last Road (single, 2022)
25. Ryan Dugre – Ten Ten Win (Look See EP, Ruination Record Co, 2022)
26. Abigail Lapell – Ships (single, Outside Music, 2022)
27. Megg Farrell – Midnight Train (single, 2022)
28. Taco Tapes – Westwind (single, American Standard Time Records, 2022)
29. Dean Owens – New Mexico (Sinner’s Shrine, CRS, 2022)
30. Eric Bolander feat Abby Hamilton – Smooth Finish (Can’t Get There From Here, 2022)
31. Lavender Country – Don’t Buy Her No More Roses (Blackberry Rose, Don Giovanni Records, 2022)
32. The Jazz Butcher – The Highest in the Land (The Highest in the Land, Tapete Records, 2022)
33. Cinder Well & Jim Ghedi – I Am a Youth That’s Inclided to Ramble (I Am a Youth That’s Inclided to Ramble EP/single, Free Dirt Records, 2022)
34. Jacksonport feat Rachael Price – What I’m Doing (Trying To Be Me) (single, Tularosa Records, 2022)
35. Straigth White Teeth – Intimacy Coordinator (Intimacy Coordinator, Hunny Hawk Records, 2022)
36. Michael Feuerstack – Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood (single, Forward Music Group, 2022)
37. Mitch Davis – Let It Die (single, Arbutus Records, 2022)
38. TW Walsh – Postmodern Science (Daylight EP, Tower of Song, 2022)
39. Frontperson – Parade (single, Oscar Street Records, 2022)
40. Tristen – Dance Me To the End of Love (single, Mama Bird Recording Co, 2022)
41. Stars – Pretenders (single, Last Gang Records, 2022)
42. Modern Studies – Comfort Me (We Are There, Fire Records, 2022)
43. nudista – inasmuch (single, Sad Club Records, 2022)
44. Kitty Perrin – The Escapist (single, 2022)
45. Bailey Bigger – You, Somehow (single, Madjack Records, 2022)
46. Mike Clark & The Sugar Sounds – Warm Me Up (single, 2022)
47. Jackie Mendez & Joey Quinones – Tell It To Me (single, Blackbird Records, 2022)
48. M Ross Perkins – Mr Marble Eyes (single, Karma Chief Records, 2022)
49. Margaret Glasby – Love Is Real (single, ATO Records, 2022)
50. Michaela Anne – Who You Are (single, Yep Roc, 2022)
51. Erika Lewis – Loser (single, 2022)
52. Evan Barber – Tape (single, Commit Records, 2022)
53. Shovels & Rope – Bleed Me (Manticore, Dualtone, 2022)
54. Steve Poltz – Let’s Stay Together (Stardust and Satellites, Compass Records, 2022)
55. Jon Danforth – End of the Line (Pinkman’s Song) (Beginning and End, 2022)
56. Kate Ellis – Scars (Spirals, River Rose Records, 2022)
57. Sarah Borges – Lucky Day (Together Alone, Blue Corn Music, 2022)
58. Rhyan Sinclair – Where I’ll Be Found (single, 2022)
59. The Infamous Stringdusters – Hard Line (Toward the Fray, Americana Vibes, 2022)
60. 49 Winchester – Annabel (single, New West Records, 2022)
61. Have Gun, Will Travel – Buyer’s Remorse (single, 2022)
62. The Lowest Pair – Holy Ground (single, Delicata Records, 2022)
63. Dan Reeder – One Of You (single, Oh Boy Records, 2022)
64. Ross Jenkins – Free All Day (single, 2022)
65. Good Looks – Vision Boards (single, Keeled Scales, 2022)
66. Mountain Party – Hell, I Don’t Know (single, 2022)
67. Wasted – Break You (single, Combat Rock Industry, 2022)
68. Pretty Matty – Silver (single, 2022)
69. Oceanator – Bad Brain Daze (single, Big Scary Monsters, 2022)
70. Tomberlin – Happy Accidents (single, Saddle Creek, 2022)
71. Madi Diaz feat Courtney Marie Andrews – New Person, Old Place (single, Anti, 2022)
72. The Howard Hughes Suite – Flow State (High & Lonesome, The Slow Music Movement, 2022)
73. Tapani Rinne & Juha Mäki-Patola – Brevity (single, Hush Hush Records, 2022)
74. Hot Heros – Karjalan poikia (single, Karkia Mistika Records, 2022)
75. The Delines – Hold Me Slow (The Sea Drift, Decor Record, 2022)

Spotify Playlist

Apple Music Playlist

Tidal Playlist

Playlist Archive on Spotify

Playlist Archive on Tidal

Oh and do buy the vinyl/cd/download. Spotify and other streaming services are perfect for these introductory purposes, but try to buy at least the music that matter the most to you

If you are looking this after a week has gone, the embedded Spotify will show the latest playlist. I’ll just update the same playlist because a) if someone wants to follow it, they can just follow that one list and will get a new set of songs each Sunday b) so that I don’t have a trillion of different playlists on my Spotify account. If you want to find the older ones I’ve moved them to the weekly playlist archive. So hit that link above and I’m sure you’ll find this playlist too.

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Sad Daddy, Lost Dog Street Band, Freakons and Sophie & The Broken Things

Tonight’s small round up of releases that I love starts from Arkansas with the new Sad Daddy album Way Up in the Hills. Members Brian Martin, Joe Sundell, Rebecca Patek and Melissa Carper all write songs and sing lead and the end result is a refreshing and truly enjoyable roots album. Here’s a couple of personal favorites from the album. However, it’s impossible to explore all the various rootsy shades of the album with just a few examples so please do listen/buy the whole thing on Bandcamp.

Sad Daddy Website

Lost Dog Street Band doesn’t really need an introduction at least in this bubble that I live in and therefore this is mostly preaching to the choir type of post. Nevertheless, The band led by songwriter Benjamin Tod and fiddle player Ashley Mae have made an exceptional album full of hard-hitting dark country songs. This is gold from first note to last and naming a favorite track is almost an impossible task. Therefore I used different ones here than on the earlier new music playlists. Listen / buy the whole great album on Bandcamp. The music video is from Western AF whose youtube channel is probably still the best place on this internet thing-y.

Lost Dog Street Band Website

And wrapping this little blog post with a couple of new singles. Freakwater and Mekons recently joined forces and the end result is a band called Freakons and most likely a wonderful album of songs about coal mining. Most likely only because so far I’ve only heard this awesome lead single Blackleg Miner. Not that I have any doubts that the rest of it will sound equally impressive. The self-titled album will be released by one of my favorite record labels Fluff & Gravy Records on the 25th of March.

Freakons at Facebook

And last but not least a couple of singles from the forthcoming Sophie & The Broken Things album Delusions of Grandeur that will be released by Petaluma Records on the 25th of February. I’ve really enjoyed all the advance singles from this Nashville-based alt.country band and look forward to hearing the whole thing later this month. Here’s the music video for Trouble that also features another excellent Nashville country artist Logan Ledger and the latest single Heavy Metal.

Sophie & The Broken Things at Facebook

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The Delines, Josienne Clarke, John Calvin Abney and Evan J Cartwright

Continuing with these quick late night round ups of releases that I love. Kicking off this in Portland, Oregon with the brand new album The Sea Drift from country soul masters The Delines. The band led by Amy Boone and Willy Vlautin have again created a truly captivating album. Willy Vlautin is a first class storyteller and Amy Boone’s mesmerizing voice sends his words into my heart. It’s kinda early, but this one has a guaranteed place on my eoty list if the blog/world still exists at the end of 2022. Here are a couple of the singles from the album. Check out that Bandcamp link or your favorite record store to buy/hear the whole beautiful thing.

The Delines Website

Moving over to Scotland for the new Josienne Clarke EP I Promised You Light that came out on the 4th of February on Corduroy Punk Records. If I still wrote actual reviews this is one of those that might get full five hearts. The promised light might not be flashy or flamboyant, but it has the power to sparkle through every barrier I’ve foolishly set for myself and I love everything about this. Here’s the music video for the lead single Driving at Night with another fabulous EP cut, but make sure you buy / listen the whole thing on her Bandcamp.

Josienne Clarke Website

Let’s wrap this small blog entry with a couple of album announcements with a lead single. First a long time blog favorite John Calvin Abney from Oklahoma. Well actually it looks like he is currently living Austin, Texas. However, the place that he calls home right now is somewhat irrelevant. Far more important is that his new song Holy Golden West is ready to find a home in your heart and the full album Tourist will knock the same door in August. Check out the new music video by filmmaker Rahul Chakraborty and pre-order the album from Black Mesa Records.

John Calvin Abney Website

And last stop on this tour is Toronto, Canada and the lead single from the forthcoming Evan J Cartwright album. The drummer extraordinaire (The Weather Station, U.S. Girls etc) is getting ready to release his debut album and it will come out on the always great Idee Fixe Records. I’m very fond of this first outtake and you’ve got nobuddy and there’s something strangely captivating in this simple music video as well. There may not be a whole lot going on, but somehow I ended up watching it several times in a row. I look forward to hearing the full album when it arrives on the 15th of April.

Evan J Cartwright at Bandcamp

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