Archive for the ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS’ Category

JULIA JACKLIN – ” Don’t Let The Kids Win ” Best Albums Of 2016

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Don't Let the Kids Win - Ltd Blue vinyl LP

The Australian singer-songwriter’s rich vocals lead every track on her debut album “Don’t Let The Kids Win” to uncontested victory, without leaving a shred of evidence that this is her first time on the job. Instead, the album plays like it’s her 70th year on the rodeo circuit. It seems that in Jacklin, we’ve stumbled upon an artist who just gets it. Gets how to write and record a collection of songs that sway together in a perfect union of vintage and contemporary sound, how to creatively direct clever and visually stunning music videos, and today, how to sit down and pen a revealing track-by-track explanation of her brand new album. Anyway, the whole album is fucking incredible, and the fact that it’s the 24-year-old Australian’s debut record blows my mind.

Pool Party

I was still finishing the lyrics the night before we recorded it. I’d never really played it live so I wasn’t sure what I wanted it to sound like. We recorded it once completely differently, with a very different feel. I really liked it for the first couple of days but then was like ah this is a bit nuts. It was super-fast and drum heavy so it felt a little stressful. It’s about wanting someone in your life to get help if not for themselves then for you. Kind of inspired by the Girl Guide pool parties my family hosted when I was a kid.

Leadlight

This is one of my favourite songs and one of the first ones I wrote. Couldn’t really get it in the studio. Ben really helped out. I just remember mentioning something about how I heard a choir at the end and before I could say another word he was in there yelling his heart out into a microphone. It documents the tail end of a great relationship.

Coming of Age

It’s about hearing an artist you really like and then freaking out that you’ll never make anything anywhere near as good and no one will care about you or care about your music, you know the feeling. Then being like ah fuck it, just do it and see what happens. The heaviest the record gets I’d say.

Elizabeth

This song I wrote about a good friend of mine. Just about encouraging your friends to keep pushing with music, letting them know you’re there with them. One of my favourite recordings.

Motherland

This song nearly didn’t make the record. I don’t know why, l love it now and I love performing it. There was something missing in NZ and I didn’t really connect with it. But here it is! It’s about wondering if people I don’t know will ever come to my gigs and not my long suffering and completely amazing supportive family and friends.

LA Dream

I really love this song so of course it was super hard to record. I think I recorded this on the last day. I just had to get it down. Because it’s a live take it’s hard to ever feel super confident with the whole piece. I made Ben leave the studio, so it was just the dogs and me in there.

Small Talk

My dad resembles the actor Zach Braff and that was the springboard for this song. Real deep. I also just wanted to write a song with only 2 chords. Ben had some great visions for this track I think it was the first one we recorded over there. I was a bit nervous because Tom my drummer didn’t realise his passport was out of date so I had to get a session guy in to record it. He was so great though and brought something different to the recording.

Sweet Step

Hey what do you know, another song about not being heard and wondering if I ever will be! Come on Julia.

Same Airport, different man

This is where I get the bluesiest I probably ever will. Just a repetitive song about the issues that arise with mixing a love for travel and a love for loving people. Also how as I get older the less drama I need in relationships. That drama doesn’t mean it’s better.

Hay Plain

It was my first time driving back from Adelaide on my own. I had just gotten on to the Hay Plain and my petrol light went on. It was a scary but really beautiful drive. The sun was setting and I just think the Hay Plain is so spectacular. I wrote this song whilst driving, just singing away trying to distract myself from the looming empty tank situation.

Don’t Let The Kids Win

This was the last song I wrote for the album and it ended up being the title track. I think it sums up the theme of the record nicely and where I was in my life at the time. Doubting everything but a bit too tired to let it get to me too much. Just kind of going well…yeah I’m freaking out about getting older and running out of time but so is everyone! So just sing about it, move on and keep working.

Don’t Let The Kids Win is out now!

CLAIRE CRONIN – ” Came Down A Storm “

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Claire Cronin Athens, GA

Came Down a Storm is an album that creates a world. Through Claire Cronin’s deep, intimate voice come songs of wreckage and redemption. A published poet and English Ph.D. student as well as a musician, Cronin uses images and symbols to craft songs that reach beyond the personal.

Death comes in unexpected ways, and for some it does not come at all when it could. While very much an album about death, ‘Came Down A Storm’ is, thanks mainly to Cronin’s deeply affecting voice, a defiant celebration of life. A collaboration between Cronin and Deerhoof guitarist John Dieterich, it is a collection of dark folkish songs whose simplicity recalls a harsher, yet less complicated time. Dieterich’s atmospheric, turbulent guitar and sampled sounds is matched by Cronin’s poetic tales of ghostly misadventure and redemption, shared with us by crackling twilight campfire, with a voice that was intended for such a purpose. What is remarkable here is that Cronin somehow connects us to something beyond the music itself, to a rhythm that beats in the background our whole lives, but one which we only really hear in the stillness of our most authentic moments, in grief or humility. Like the handed down music of the first pioneers or settlers in a strange new land, the songs are implicitly traditional but describe an altogether different, alien world. Magical and terrifying listen.

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FOREIGN FIELDS – ” Take Cover ” Best Albums Of 2016

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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We’ve had to wait a long time for anything new Foreign Fields, with the album ‘Take Cover’ arriving a full four years after the duo’s mesmerising debut album ‘Anywhere But Where I Am’. Shackled, somewhat, by varying personal problems, which included starting the whole process over again after initially completing the project, the resulting album is a decadent, emotive, and often stunning piece of pop music. The soft vocals that so pertinently shaped their back-catalogue remain a key component and, coupled with their new-found exploration of subtle electronica,combining Brian Holl’s gentle vocals and dappled guitar with Eric Hillman’s cinematic compositional instincts, they created the perfect score for the hours of dusk and dawn helped to craft a record that didn’t just feel like a natural growth, but one that raised the bar completely. From the restrained delicacy of “Dry”  to the expansive, astonishing sprawl of “Weeping Red Devil”, the album is a striking document of fighting the fears that consume so many of us and shaping it in to something lasting, inspiring, and completely meaningful.

Upon first listen the magic of Foreign Fields is still immediately present, but you will find your mind drifting back to the perfectly orchestrated musical moments that are carefully hidden for you throughout the course of the record.

JOHN K SAMSON – ” Winter Wheat ” Best Albums Of 2016

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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If ever a lyric summed up an entire album then these  words, taken from the title-track from John K Samson’s new solo album, is it. First there’s the brooding, philosophising of time and place and our role within it:

“And no one knows we’re anywhere we’re not supposed to be, so stay awhile and watch the wind throw patterns on a field. ”

such a staple of Samson’s work with The Weakerthans – then there’s the nod to his surrounding environment, and the wheat crop that so inspired this new album; one that hides throughout the winter only to thrive again when the warmer weather arrives.

Also diverting from these two somewhat vague arms to take in tales of drug treatment centres, technologies advancement on our daily lives, psychotic episodes at local quiz nights, and even the return of his feline character, Virtute, who dropped in and out of The Weakerthans back-catalogue, ‘Winter Wheat’ is a poignant, beautiful, and wonderfully compelling album, resonant and warm magnification of what’s often overlooked, so rich in detail it feels like entering the world of some great novel; vivid, detailed, and one that stays with you for far longer than the running time.

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All lyrics and songs C 2016 by John K. Samson,
except 17th Street Treatment Centre and VPW 13 Blues,
C 2016 by Christine Fellows and John K. Samson

HOVVDY – ” Taster ” Best Albums Of 2016

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Launched in April of this year Hovvdy’s ‘Taster’ album with the premiere of its stand-out track, “Problem”, way back in early 2016, little did we know then that this small, bruised, lo-fi gem would go on to rack-up over 75,000 plays on Soundcloud alone.

The album that followed was just as affecting; the languid approach to it all, the scratchy, dim-lit tone of the voice and the music, creeping out of the speakers with a dulled charm that takes a few listens to truly appreciate. A duo from Austin, Texas, Hovvdy’s skill lies in the ability to sneak utterly captivating hooks in to songs that seem too weather and unadorned to do so. Like the sudden jolt of a treasured memory on the most listless of days, ‘Taster’ is a truly beautiful collection of songs dressed up as something dull and indifferent. Seek and you will find alittle gem of an album that you will keep coming back to play .

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The best crunchy lofi drum and synth sounds, bedroom acoustics and honest vocal deliveries. This really follows up my LVL UP and Mitski obsessions well. It’s got melodies and vibes that feel like a nice morning/afternoon/evening on the couch. Hovvdy is Charlie Martin and Will Taylor.
‘Taster’ recorded and mixed by Hovvdy,
bass on 2, 8, and 10 by Sam Jacobson,

LOMELDA – ” Forever ” Best Albums Of 2016

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Image may contain: 1 person, night, close-up and outdoor

There are records that you end up writing about in varying different places, so much so that you feel, that everything you wanted to say has now already been said. Lomelda’s 4E* An acoustic take on her band’s wonderful 2015 LP, Hannah Read recorded this stripped-back counterpart late one night in a recital hall in Waco, Texas, and from the outset it positively burns with that aching, tender, world-weary heart .

Shaped by a sense of summer-tinged nostalgic longing the record unwinds beautifully across its nine-tracks, feeling like a true story, rich, vibrant, fully-realised, as Read’s incredible voice sings songs of travelling, of growing old before you’re ready to do so, of a land shaped by endless roads and endless nights, of the stars and the sun and the quiet lives that punctuate the stillness. “I’m not sure many of you will like it much. It requires more patience than I’d like. Forgiveness, even. It is static and small, privileged and careless, indulgent, digital, bare and a lil embarrassing,” Read said, when introducing her work and, aside from the embarrassment, is it every one of those things and more. A timeless, graceful dusting of magic .

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such a good album!I love everything about this. her voice is unique and captivating. the melodies are wonderful.

Performed by Hannah Read, Andrew Hulett, and Zach Daniel
with guest performances from Diana Rudd and Josh Stone

JEFF ROSENSTOCK – ” Worry “

Posted: December 17, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Jeff Rosenstock. In 2007 started a free/donation-based digital label called Quote Unquote Records. I also used to be in the band Bomb the Music Industry! and then that band stopped.

A punk-rock lifer who looks like an IT guy gone to seed, Jeff Rosenstock channeled everyman angst in an age of political apocalypse better than just about anyone this year on Worry, a 17-song epic in which getting right with yourself is the first step toward changing the world.

Even when Rosenstock is preoccupied with the inside-baseball worries of a touring musician like in the industry-skewering “Festival Song”  he takes a refreshing stand against the greed, self-interest, and overall awfulness of modern American life. Musically, Rosenstock practices the ecumenical sermon he preaches, leavening his relentless basement-punk pummeling with Beatlesque power-pop and slinky ska grooves. Yes, this is a record so open-hearted that even ska is welcome, so check your prejudices at the door.

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Rosenstock is a lot more than that as he explores the insecurities, anxieties, and general mind fuckery of life. At times he’s celebratory, sometimes defiant, and sometimes reflective. Always enigmatic. Always brilliant.

MODERN BASEBALL – ” Holy Ghost “

Posted: December 17, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The first album recorded by someone other than the band themselves, Modern Baseball enlisted Joe Reinhart (Hop Along, Joyce Manor) at Headroom Studios in Philadelphia to help refine their sound on Holy Ghost. In a tight 28 minutes, Holy Ghost covers an impressive emotional range, with co-songwriters Jacob Ewald and Brendan Lukens literally splitting the record in half. The record kicks off with six songs from Ewald and ends with five from Lukens. What they ended up with was a complete record of the past two years– the highs alongside the lows, tales from the road and glorious days at home alongside songs of heartbreak and personal struggle.

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This band is so honest and down-to-earth, it’s amazing. Love the vibe of the whole album.

CARTER TANTON – ” Jettison The Valley ” feat. Marissa Nadler

Posted: December 17, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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By the time he was 15, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Carter Tanton was already playing bar shows in his hometown of Baltimore. Two years later, he caught the attention of Gary E. Smith, best known for discovering and producing The Pixies. After working together for a year, they parted ways, but Tanton never slowed down. In the mid-2000’s he released a couple of EPs with his band Tulsa, prompting Rolling Stone’s David Fricke to claim “…his indie-seraphim voice is not of this world…”, and after a particularly impressive live set KEXP’s John Richards said “…he’s among one of the best singer-songwriters in the country today.”

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Over the years, Tanton has toured and recorded with numerous artists including Marissa Nadler, Strand of Oaks, Lower Dens, and The War on Drugs. In 2012, he assembled Freeclouds, his first collection of songs for Western Vinyl. A couple of years later, Tanton moved to England where he wrote all of the songs on his new album Jettison the Valley. His old friend and collaborator Marisa Nadler contributes lead vocals to “Jettison the Valley”, and Sharon Van Etten sings on “Twenty-Nine Palms” and “Through the Garden Gates”.

From the album ‘Jettison the Valley’ out March 4th, 2016 on

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The CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD – ” Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel “

Posted: December 17, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Perhaps it’s unfair to compare the Chris Robinson Brotherhood to the work of Rich Robinson, the estranged brother of the band’s leader, but listening to their 2016 albums side by side illustrates the divide between the co-leaders of the Black Crowes. Flux, the fourth album by Rich, doubles down on the earthy Southern sounds that always rooted the Crowes, but Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel, the fourth LP by the CRB, is so light it floats away on its own haze. Apart from the knowing “Leave My Guitar Alone,” the rhythms aren’t blues-boogie, they’re more nimble funk-rock colored by a psychedelic sensibility that isn’t about chops but rather endless expansion. It’s jam music where the playing isn’t the point: it’s the vibe and, sometimes, the song. Robinson certainly luxuriates in his winding words, lyrics that conjure fleeting indelible moments, but what impresses is the structure  he doesn’t write hooks, he writes melodies, where the verses slide into the chorus then glide into a bridge – and how the band underpins these tunes with interplay that feels loose yet tight: the performances often stretch for longer than six minutes but the CRB aren’t aimless, they’re simply riding their groove. Such accents as early-’70s analog synths and a couple of pastoral acoustic numbers may give Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel a throwback feel but the Chris Robinson Brotherhood aren’t living in the past, they’re pushing jam band tradition forward by keeping their expansion focused on funk.

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