After “Bull Believer” and “Chosen to Deserve,” North Carolina rockers Wednesday are back with another heatseeking missile of a song before the release of their fourth album in as many calendar years, Rat Saw God. “Bath County” claws tooth and nail at your ears, as the track swells like a nasalled indie folk arrangement before crescendoing into a blistering breakdown of grunge and shoegaze. Karly Hartzman’s vocals strain and crackle power, while Jake Lenderman’s guitar work is sludgy and unforgettable. Like most of Wednesday’s songs, this one contains vivid, evocative imagery, like “piss-colored bright yellow Fanta,” courtesy of Hartzman’s sharp eye for the sublime details and poetic grit. Inspired by a true story, “Bath County” ditches Hartzman’s normal M.O. of writing about the past. “This is a song I wrote on a porch in Bath County, Virginia, when me and Jake were visiting Jake’s mom’s hometown.
It includes some imagery I saw on that trip as well as a description of a guy we saw overdosed in a parking lot early one morning on our way to Dollywood,” she explained in a statement. With “Rat Saw God” on the near horizon, few acts are as captivating as Wednesday at this very moment.
“Bath County” by Wednesday from the upcoming album ‘Rat Saw God’, out April 7th on Dead Oceans Records
Natalie Merchant’s 2023 LP has a lot of significance behind it. Not only is it the singer/songwriter’s ninth studio, it is also her first full-length LP since 2014. With a discography full of hits that date back to 1995, Merchant never seems in a rush to release new material so the fact that “Keep Your Courage” will finally be hitting our ears in 2023 is a celebration on its own.
An eclectic album, produced by Merchant, herself it features two duets sung with vocalist Abena Koomson-Davis (Resistance Revival Chorus), contributions from theCeltic folk group Lúnasa and Syrian virtuoso clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, and horn arrangements by jazz trombonist Steve Davis. There are lush orchestrations throughout by seven composers including: Gabriel Kahane, Stephen Barber, Colin Jacobson, and Megan Gould.
Merchant writes in her album’s liner notes, “The songs contained within this album were written and recorded during the global pandemic that began in the winter of 2019 and is in its fifth wave as I write, in the autumn of 2022. It has been, and continues to be, a period of great flux and fear on every level: global, national, communal, familial, personal. But this is not an album about the coronavirus or the chaos it caused. For the most part, this is an album about the human heart.” She continues: “The word ‘courage’ has its root in the Latin word for heart, cor, and we see it over and over in many languages: le coeur, il cuore, o coração, el corazón. This is a song cycle that maps the journey of a courageous heart.”
“Keep Your Courage” comprises nine original songs by Merchant as well as an interpretation of “Hunting the Wren” by Ian Lynch of the Irish band Lankum. The vinyl LP edition of “Keep Your Courage” includes four bonus tracks from earlier albums, previously unreleased on vinyl.
With Merchant producing the album on her own and bringing in collaborators from across the globe like the Celtic folk group Lúnasa, who seems to have contributed a lot according to a post on the artist’s website, the sonics used on this album is equally exciting as they are mysterious. For the real Merchant admirers, the vinyl edition of her upcoming album will feature four bonus tracks from earlier Merchant albums that have not been pressed up on wax yet.
Idaho experimentalist Erin Birgy, aka Mega Bog, is back with one of her best songs ever. “The Clown,” the lead single off of her seventh record “End of Everything“, is a perfect piece of synth rock. The arrangements are mesmerizing, concise and immense.
The track is apocalyptic yet beautiful, as Birgy makes sense of perspective in a relationship, examining how roles have shifted. “‘The Clown’ is about the terrible, sensual, and chaotic release of merging one’s own multitudes, showing love to the darkness and insecurities, having curiosity about what is beyond presumed perceptions—surrendering to the uncontrollables, while nourishing the small statues of what we do have control over within ourselves,” Birgy said in a statement. It cannot be understated how funny “The Clown” is, too. Birgy is on another songwriting level here, penning verses that aren’t weighed down by wordiness. “Met a young man who said / ‘You are everything’ / And gave me everything / But I really scared him / Because all I talk about with him is / Beheading young men,” she sings. “The Clown” is playful, sublime and colorful. Turmoil is clearly on Birgy’s mind. Lucky for us, she’s translated it into something wonderfully digestible. We are in Birgy’s shoes, feeling what she feels, dancing cautiously as the world relentlessly curls inward.
Mega Bog (the experimental pop ensemble led by Erin Elizabeth Birgy) is releasing her intrepid seventh album and first for Mexican Summer out May 19th. In conjunction with the announcement, she presents its lead single and self-directed video, “The Clown.”
Mega Bog – “The Clown” From the album ‘End of Everything’ out 19th May 2023
Jason Isbell is back with a new album, “Weathervanes”, his sixth with his Muscle Shoals band the 400 Unit—Sadler Vaden, Jimbo Hart, Derry deBorja and Chad Gamble—and his ninth overall since leaving the Drive-By Truckers. “Did you ever love a woman with a death wish / Something in her eyes like switching off a light switch,” he sings to open the first single, “Death Wish,” a driving Southern rock song with beautiful strings by Morgan O’Shaughnessey. “Everybody dies but you gotta find a reason to carry on.” The song flips the script on Isbell’s own experience reaching rock bottom with alcohol and drugs in 2012 and finding support and intervention from those who loved him. It addresses depression from the standpoint of a person who loves someone that’s struggling. “I don’t want to fight with you baby,” he sings, “but I won’t leave you alone.”
“Weathervanes”is a collection of grown-up songs about love, change, the danger of nostalgia and the interrogation of myths, cruelty, regret and redemption. “There is something about boundaries on this record,” said Isbell. “As you mature, you still attempt to keep the ability to love somebody fully and completely while you’re growing into an adult and learning how to love yourself.”
“Weathervanes”, the new album from Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, will be available everywhere on June 9th, 2023.
Release Date: June 9th, 2023 Southeastern Records.
Many serendipitous moments have led to the creation of the musical project known as Complete Mountain Almanac. The first of these temporal alignments came at a chance meeting between two visionaries — Norwegian-born, Sweden-based singer and composer Rebekka Karijord and American-born, Italy-based poet, dancer, and multimedia artist Jessica Dessner
Jessica and Rebekka began collaborating, with Jessica providing poems and lyrics for Rebekka to compose music to. While Jessica is not a musician per se, as a dancer she naturally has a deep understanding of music as an artform. On top of that, she comes from a musical family: her twin younger brothers, Aaron and Bryce Dessner, are accomplished multi-instrumentalists, most known as part of indie rock stalwarts The National.
The album consists of twelve tracks, each named after a month of the year. Some have a meditative, almost hypnotic quality, using Jessica’s words as healing mantras. Sonically, the album cycles through folk, classical, chamber music and everything in between, creating a cocoon-like atmosphere that draws the listener into a stand-alone universe. It’s a marriage of the inner and outer worlds, illness and rejuvenation, grief and joy.
Therein lies the idea of the almanac: having a guide to see you through each day, some kind of idea of what the future holds in uncertain times. But even as the project came together over the course of years, Rebekka and Jessica were always able to return to the core of their friendship to keep them on course, and the result is what might be one of the most important works of their respective careers.
The album features performances and co-production from Jessica’s twin brothers, Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National. The four artists united in Paris’ St. Germain studios to work on transforming Rebekka’s demos into a fully-fledged album. In order to preserve the urgency and soul of the material, all the tracks were recorded live, just Rebekka’s voice intricately laced through Aaron and Bryce’s expert guitar playing. As co-producer Rebekka then added minimalistic textures including horns and synthesisers, whilst Bryce wrote string arrangements for six songs that were performed by the Malmö Symphony Orchestra.
Taken from the self titled album by “Complete Mountain Almanac”, released 27th January 2023 via Bella Union Records:
Bully and Soccer Mommy are two artists whose music puts refreshing spins on ’90s rock, so it’s very cool that they’ve teamed up for a song together, “Lose You.” It is indeed very ’90s, and each artist’s unique vibe comes through. It’s also the first time Bully (Alicia Bognanno) has ever had a guest singer on a Bully song. She says:
When “Lose You” came about it was the first time I’ve considered having someone else sing on a Bully song. I love Sophie’s voice and have always admired everything she does so to me it was a no brainer. Watching her soar out of the Nashville scene and dominate indie music world wide has been a joy. Writing “Lose You” was a way for me to work through the pain and reality of impermanence. It doesn’t make it any easier but reflection is often followed by growth and to me that’s what life is all about.
Bully has upcoming shows, including Nashville with The Breeders and a tour with the Pixies. Soccer Mommy too has upcoming dates supporting The National. Last year, Soccer Mommy released her new Oneohtrix Point Never-produced album “Sometimes, Forever, The single was recorded in 2022, at MMK Studios and Alicia’s House in Nashville, mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound, and features vocal harmonies from Sophia Allison aka Soccer Mommy.
New York electronic quartet Strange Ranger return with their first new single of 2023, “Rain So Hard.” Clocking in at a hair under five minutes, the track is a beautiful depiction of relationship fallout and loneliness. Written as bandmates Isaac Eiger and Fiona Woodman were breaking up, “Rain So Hard” is a document of two people with immense chemistry falling out of each other’s orbit. “Any day there will be no more stars,” Eiger sings. “How do I get out of this movie now?” Woodman chimes in through a harmony. There are elements of vocal distortion, atmospheric shoegaze and grieving electronica bubbling into a sea of loss. But, most immensely, “Rain So Hard” is a striking, synthy haven.
“Rain So Hard” is the new single from Strange Ranger available digitally on Fire Talk. Previously heralded by NPR, Stereogum, Vice, Uproxx & more, the band’s trajectory “imagines a life after indie rock” (Pitchfork). Downtempo synth eloquently buoys the dual voices of Eiger & Woodman, who together lend a melancholic hymn of both hope and desolation that expands slowly into wistful transcendence.
Chicago indie band Ratboys haven’t put out a new full-length LP since 2020’s “Printer’s Devil”, though it seems that something big is creeping along the horizon. In the band’s first single since 2021, “Black Earth, Wi” is an electric and ambitious eight-minute cut of heartland rock and roll. With an explosive solo, a saucy bassline and vocalist Julia Steiner’s perfect twang, Ratboys couldn’t have picked a cooler way to re-emerge. It’s not a stretch to call it the band’s best song yet; their 2017 breakthrough album GN feels like a lifetime of sounds ago. What Steiner and company have assembled is hypnotizing. When the quartet collapses into a sing-along harmony with the guitars around the six-minute mark, it’s ecstasy. “And if that mockingbird don’t sing / Watch her do the twist again / Does that Black Earth freak you out? / And if she’s twisted up too tight / Let the dawn cut through the night / Taken back, don’t leave me out,” Steiner sings, while the band takes us home.
Written by Ratboys Julia Steiner – guitar, vocals Dave Sagan – guitar, talkbox, backing vocals Sean Neumann – bass, guitar, backing vocals Marcus Nuccio – drums, percussion, piano, backing vocals Chris Walla – piano
“Black Earth, WI” by Ratboys, released March 7th, 2023
RIP David Lindley, fantastic multi-instrumentalist who played on so many albums I love. David Lindley, the multi-instrumentalist who was the featured accompanist for Jackson Browne’s band throughout the ’70s and performed on recordings by Linda Ronstadt, Graham Nash and David Crosby, Rod Stewart, and Warren Zevon, among others, died today (March 3rd, 2023). The news of his passing at age 78 was shared by many acquaintances on social media. The cause of death was not revealed but it’s known that Lindley had faced several serious medical issues. His daughter, Rosanne Lindley, announced in December that had been hospitalized with pneumonia and also had kidney issues.
Lindley fronted his own band, El Rayo-X. From his official biography: Lindley performed music that redefined the word “eclectic,” long championing the concept of world music. The David Lindley electro-acoustic performance effortlessly combined American folk, blues and bluegrass traditions with elements from African, Arabic, Asian, Celtic, Malagasy and Turkish musical sources. The man who could play any stringed instrument under the sun including ones you never heard of: violin, acoustic and electric guitar, upright and electric bass, banjo, lap steel guitar, mandolin, hardingfele, bouzouki, cittern, bağlama, gumbus, charango, cümbüş, oud, and zither.
Instead of a long winded tribute, here are few nuggets featuring his fine playing on a variety of instruments.
Between 1967 and 1971, Lindley founded and led the psychedelic rock band Kaleidoscope. In 1971, Lindley joined forces with Browne, serving as his most significant musical co-conspirator until 1981.
Terry Reid said What sad news to hear of the passing of my dear friend and former bandmate David Lindley. How blessed I was to have him in my band in the early 70’s. During that time we played the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival and there’s a live album of our show. We went on to play the first Glastonbury Festival too . David was a really gifted musician on any instrument with strings and was so in-demand that he played with everybody. He made a huge contribution to both my “River” and “Seed of Memory” albums. Sincere condolences to all his loved ones.
“Banjo“, a track written by David Lindley from the 1969 album “Incredible! Kaleidoscope”. Lindley was a member of Kaleidoscope, a unique psychedelic folk band from the late 1960s:
Kaleidoscope, arguably the first “world music” rock band, decades before the term was coined. They played an “Electric Band Session” as part of the Berkeley Folk Music Festival. Practically every member of the group was a multi-instrumentalist, and David had brought his huge Gibson harp guitar (an early-20th Century Style U) on the road. At one point they’d gotten themselves situated with their chosen instruments when, just before the downbeat, some fan hollered, “Louisiana Man!” They paused, looked at each, and then started exchanging instruments while the crowd laughed. They proceeded to peel off a terrific rendition of Doug Kershaw’s Cajun classic.
When it finally came time for a solo album, 1981’s “El Rayo-X” defied and exceeded all expectations. It was mature, fully realized, and original; eclectic but cohesive. Rather than present a Whitman’s sampler of various styles, he said, “I wanted to have a coherent theme to the whole thing.
Consummation, from Claire Hammill’s excellent 1971 album “One House Left Standing”. Guitar arrangement by David Lindley:
Graham Nash, “Prison Song“, 1974. David Lindley on Mandolin:
Linda Ronstadt, Heart Like A Wheel, 1974. David Lindley plays the fiddle. Linda Ronstadt said of Lindley: “I love DavidLindley. He’s my cousin, and there’s no reason he would ever not be in my life personally and professionally”:
And of course, his most celebrated collaboration with Jackson Browne. Browne called Lindley “My longtime collaborator and musical mentor” in his acceptance speech when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Here they are performing “The Load Out” and “Stay” Live at the BBC in 1978. Lindley sings the falsetto part midway through the song:
When remembering his time with Browne, Lindley shared a story of one of there first meetings “Jackson was playing there and I borrowed a fiddle and sat in with him. That was the beginning of it. He liked the way it worked. Then I went to England and played with Terry Reid. Jackson came to London after the first album came out and we did some gigs there. A friend of mine had a club in Cambridge. We played the club and it was fun. Then it was, ‘Let’s do a band thing!’ I thought, ‘That’ll be fun.’”
Obituaries lump him in with soft rock, which was true of much of his ’70s work. But the highlights of countless Jackson Browne concerts were Lindley’s incandescent lap-steel solos on “Doctor My Eyes” and “Running on Empty.” And his performances were also an indelible part of hits by Linda Ronstadt, Rod Stewart, Zevon, Dolly Parton, and many more.
Browne stated, “I can’t even call it ‘my music’ when I think about David, because he’s such an integral part of it.”
In 1979, Lindley began working with old friend Ry Cooder on the latter’s “Bop Till You Drop” and “The Long Riders” soundtrack. Their musical collaboration continued for decades with recording projects and world tours as an acoustic duo.
His associates were eager to sing his praises, and I was able to interview several. Booker T. Jones said, “He’s the one who makes the band go,” while Ry Cooder declared, “He has the sensitivity that allows him to grasp what the hell is going on.”
Leland Sklar was among the many musicians who posted a tribute. “I will forever think off David and Jackson as one of the best teams I have ever played with. Both so gifted and so connected ….. so glad for all the years to have enjoyed with you both.”
“The loss of David Lindley is a huge one,” singer Jason Isbell wrote on Twitter. “Without his influence my music would sound completely different. I was genuinely obsessed with his playing from the first time I heard it. The man was a giant.”
Graham Nash also took to social media to pay tribute to Lindley on Friday. “One of the most talented musicians there has ever been,” Nash wrote. “David could play pretty much any instrument you put in front of him with incredible versatility and expression.”
Lindley stood out among the other session musicians, not only because of his impish demeanor, but also because of his raw talent. Known as one of the legendary rock and roll sidemen of his era,
Warren Haynes wrote, “David Lindley was a true stylist and a unique voice on whatever instrument he picked up. His lap steel playing in particular was a big influence on me. I’ve always put David on a short list of major influences on my slide playing- especially on the melodic side. Often times when I’m approaching a song or solo in a major key Lindley’s influence will appear automatically. His style was so vocalesque and his sense of melody was a deep well. I think of some of those Jackson Browne songs with David that we all heard on the radio in the seventies where his solos became part of the song to the point where even non-musicians could hum along. David leaves behind a beautiful trove of music for music lovers to enjoy for centuries to come.”
his ‘Win This Record’ album with El Rayo-X from 1982:
Lindley performed on over 50 records, including his own solo releases and appearances on albums from Leonard Cohen, BruceSpringsteen & the E Street Band, Warren Zevon, Jimmy Barnes, and more.
It starts with fear, because that’s present even in pleasure. As a phantom synth melody swirls between channels in the mix, KarinDreijer’s lyrics return to the same uneasy question: “Did you hear what they call us?” “What They Call Us” hangs a pall over the rest of Radical Romantics, the third album from Dreijer’s solo project Fever Ray. Though Dreijer’s slippery experimental synthpop record never explicitly returns to the social peril of this opener, it looms like a latent hitch to queer desire, a subconscious state that must be confronted to achieve unguarded connection. It’s a thread made all the clearer in a stray aside on second track “Shiver,” with Dreijer interrupting their lustful lyrics with a simple question: “Can I trust you?” It’s a question of unclear directness—is it asked in actual conversation, or to themselves in thought?—but one that places all its impact in unambiguous baggage, holding the tacit hesitancy that comes after past hurt. Dreijer penetrates these themes with pop songwriting that cuts to the chase like a forthright come-on.
For all their uncertain trust on “Shiver,” Dreijer and their brother/former bandmate Olof infuse the song with a deep, bubbly bounce, as if to prove that the track’s unquenchable thirst remains even through anxiety. What makes Radical Romantics, like the best of Dreijer’s work, a cut above merely great pop is its subversive streak. Their lyricism is unapologetically queer while sidestepping empty platitudes, more often nodding to the knotted complexities of queer and trans people’s existence against marginalization and endangerment. Even in the face of apprehension, Fever Ray has never surveyed their own future with this much conviction.
the new Fever Ray album, “Radical Romantics”, out March 10th on Rabid Records
