New Orleans’ Joystick have spent the last decade honing their craft and emerging as one of the best modern ska-punk bands around, and their fourth record “I Can’t Take It Anymore” is their most mature, refined record yet. “Everybody started getting married and having kids and kind of like settling down — we definitely became less of a party band,” lead vocalist Duck told us in a recent interview. Duck also got sober four years ago and he’s now working as a volunteer to help other alcoholics and addicts, and those experiences informed the personal, honest tone of his lyrics on this record.
The music sounds more “mature” too, but in Joystick’s case, growing up doesn’t mean slowing down. It’s still an urgent, fun, fast-paced record that toes the line between ska-punk and ska-core and sounds as hungry as Joystick did on their debut. It also has a subtle approach to musical diversity; it’s a straight-up, ’90s-style ska-punk record, but it also weaves in aspects of traditional ’60s ska, shouty ’80s hardcore, and plenty of the in-between.
Lafayette, Louisiana musician Renée Reed has released her debut album of lo-fi dream-folk from the Cajun prairies. Gorilla vs. Bear describes it as “an effortless, inspired union of the haunting folk music that Reed was raised on and a lilting, lost ’60s French-pop gem.”
“I Saw A Ghost” by Renée Reed Video created by Emily Curran and Joseph Howard From her self-titled record coming March 26th, 2021 via Keeled Scales. Renée Reed grew up on the accordion-bending knee of her band-leading grandfather Harry Trahan; in the middle of countless jam sessions at the one-stop Cajun shop owned by her parents Lisa Trahan and Mitch Reed.
Soaked in the storytelling of her great uncle, folklorist Revon Reed and his infamous brothers from Mamou; and surrounded by a litany of Cajun and Creole music legends, both backstage at the many festivals of Southwest Louisiana and on the porch of her family home. And while Renée’s music is certainly informed by these deep roots, her dark dreamlike folk has more in common with contemporaries like Cate Le Bon and Jessica Pratt. It’s also not unlike the intangible magic contained in Mazzy Star’s songs.
Renée Reed’s self-titled debut album is out everywhere today!
Hailing from Lafayette, Louisiana, Renée Reed is one of my favourite new voices of 2021. With her blend of Cajun Music, alt-folk and whatever else she could wrap her ears around at the music festivals of Southwest Louisiana, Renée creates a musical style that’s not quite like anyone else I’ve stumbled upon. With her self-titled album just a fortnight away, this week Renée has shared the latest single from it, “Neboj”.
If you needed any further evidence of the eclecticism of Renée’s influences, Neboj, translating roughly as Don’t Worry, lifts its name from a word discovered on a deep-dive into Czech animation. Lyrically, the track touches on the idea of being open to falling in love, of letting go of your worries and trusting your heart to lead the way. The whole thing is set to a musical backing of stunning finger-picked guitar work and Renée’s voice, timeless and compelling,
Although one of the few artists signed to the brilliant Keeled Scales who have not officially announced they’re releasing a record this year, Renée Reed might just be the most intriguing of the lot. Renée is a musician very much in the family tradition, her Grandfather was an Accordion-playing bandleader, her Uncle a renowned folklorist, her family home and her parents businesses, epicentres for Creole and Cajun-music. In many ways Renée continues the family tradition, and yet in others she’s entirely re-inventing it; very much a product of the modern world, Renée’s music takes the deep-set roots of her forebears and crashes them into contemporary sounds from Cate Le Bon to Françoise Hardy.
Although Renée has been drip feeding her music into the world since back in 2016, last year was something of a step-up, with the release of a pair of intriguing singles. The first offering, Out Loud combines a disarmingly rapid flutter of choppy guitars and percussive vocal inflections, while “Until Tomorrow” is a meandering Southern-folk song, Renée’s tremulous vocal accompanied by a slither of guitar, reminiscent of Vera Sola or labelmate Tenci. With the tantalising promise of, “plenty more to come”, Renée Reed is well placed to be one of 2021’s break-out stars.
Renée Reed grew up on the accordion-bending knee of her band-leading grandfather Harry Trahan; in the middle of countless jam sessions at the one-stop Cajun shop owned by her parents Lisa Trahan and Mitch Reed; soaked in the storytelling of her great uncle, folklorist Revon Reed and his infamous brothers from Mamou; and surrounded by a litany of Cajun and Creole music legends, both backstage at the many festivals of Southwest Louisiana and on the porch of her family home.
And while Renée’s music is certainly informed by these deep roots, her dark dreamlike folk has more in common with contemporaries like Cate Le Bon and Jessica Pratt. It’s also not unlike the intangible magic contained in Mazzy Star’s songs. Renee Reedis her stunning debut record.
released July 3rd, 2020 Written and performed by Renée Reed.
Given our previous adoration both of Emma Ruth Rundle’s immaculate On Dark Horses it seemed inevitable that this record would rate with us . Each artist has a hybrid tendency, the capacity to remain in the realm of hyperemotive dreamstates, a space induced by both heavy atmospherics and a keen post-psychedelic sense of melody. On paper, this pairing makes tremendous sense; each seems to sit on either side of a divide, one slightly heavier than the other while one sits more in dreamy shoegaze than the other, but each containing traces of the other. What you would hope, on seeing this dual-headline pairing on a record sleeve, is that each of them would pull those hidden elements out of the other, not just gifting Emma a greater weight but revealing in retrospect that weight as it existed in her earlier material, just as Thou has their evocative colours and dreamy post-psychedelia laid bare in their earlier works. And, thank god, that’s precisely what they did.
There’s something soothing, of course, with the highest rated record among us being a collaborative record in a period where human connection feels desperately, painfully needed. COVID has worn on all of us; it can be hard to convince yourself of the necessity of writing about music when people are getting sick and dying, easy to let deadlines for columns careen off the rails as you worry about aging family and distant friends. That sense of communalism at work, the implicit hope of the title, certainly struck a chord. But the most potent aspect of the record was, inevitably, its fullness. This is the trait, ultimately, that is most richly satisfying about each of these artists on their own. Emma Ruth Rundle nearly won a Best Song nod a few years back precisely for this reason, her songs billowing out into clouds of drama and history that feels so often more like stepping into another psyche, the voice inside of your head composing a new universe.
Thou, especially over the past three or so years, have been much the same, radically expanding their scope and sonic vision such that they feel like a limitless group no longer purely defined by heavy metal. These two in unison not only drew out hidden or obscured elements of each other; they intensified those obvious and shared elements as well, producing a record that is both at once the best record of the year and among the best of either artist’s bodies of work.
May Our Chambers Be Full straddles a similar, very fine line both musically and thematically. While Emma Ruth Rundle’s standard fare is a blend of post-rock-infused folk music, and Thou is typically known for its down-tuned, doomy sludge, the conjoining of the two artists has created a record more in the vein of the early ’90s Seattle sound and later ’90s episodes of Alternative Nation, while still retaining much of the artists’ core identities. Likewise, the lyrical content of the album is a marriage of mental trauma, existential crises, and the ecstatic tradition of the expressionist dance movement. “Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.” Melodic, melancholic, heavy, visceral.
The Olivia Tremor Control is an American rock band that was prominent in the mid-to-late 1990s. It was, along with The Apples in Stereo and Neutral Milk Hotel , one of the three original projects of The Elephant 6 Recording Company.1997 was a big year for The Olivia Tremor Control. They were riding high on the release of their debut double album “Dusk At Cubist Castle,” and touring the world relentlessly. During a visit to the UK in March, illustrious tastemaker DJ John Peel requested the band to visit his studios to record for his radio show. Seventeen
years later, “John Peel Session” is now released.
The band was founded by the remnants of the group Synthetic Flying Machine (Jeff Mangum, Bill Doss, and Will Cullen Hart) in 1994. The band later went on to become known as the Olivia Tremor Control, with Hart and Doss remaining members while Mangum eventually left to focus on Neutral Milk Hotel. The band had only one official release to their name, “Heaven Is for Kids”,
“John Peel Session” features a couple never-before-released songs amidst the three tracks. A radio session that has been officially licensed from the BBC, this is continued evidence of a
band that is in further need of celebration.
Will Cullen Hart,
Eric Harris,
John Fernandes,
Peter Erchick,
Derek Almstead,
Bill Doss,
Jeff Mangum,
Released August 5th, 2014
Recorded for the John Peel Show on BBC Radio 1 on 18 March 1997
Original broadcast date: 9 April 1997
You can think of Esther Rose’s warm, hopeful country songs like points on a map. The New Orleans singer-songwriter takes pleasure in guiding you through colourful landmarks—especially those throughout her hometown—but she also makes time for smaller, quieter spots: say, the bar where a relationship turned sour, or the dreary high school where she and her sister begrudgingly drove each morning. Recorded direct-to-tape and accentuated with lap steel and fiddle, her songs pull you in like this; she wants you to see the scenery, learn the history, and feel at home before she sends you on your way.
With her two solo records—2017’s This Time Last Night (Mashed Potato) and 2019’s You Made It This Far (Father/Daughter)—Esther Rose is at the beginning of her own journey. Her vibrant, homespun music has earned comparisons to Hank Williams and Rilo Kiley, and, over the past year, she has toured with acts such as Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets, The Cactus Blossoms, and Charley Crockett. Carving new ground while drawing on the tradition of classic folk music, she uses tender stories to depict deeper cosmic truths. As she sings, she invites you to a world that feels familiar, magical, and entirely her own.
On her new EP, “My Favorite Mistakes”, Rose and her band cover a selection of downer anthems close to her heart. Recorded live over three days, it includes songs written by Sheryl Crow, Nick Lowe, Roy Orbison, and, of course, Hank Williams. “When I was starting out on my guitar playing/songwriting path,” Rose says, “I would listen to Hank Williams on my headphones and walk for miles and miles across town and back. Hank is one of the best teachers I’ve had when it comes to writing simply and directly, with humour and sincerity.” Through these performances, Rose sings not only in tribute to her heroes but also in deep, intimate conversation with them, traveling their lonesome highways to find her own new destinations.
New Orleans–based singer-songwriter Esther Rose has released a cover of Sheryl Crow’s 1998 track “My Favorite Mistake.” The track was recorded live to live at New Orleans’ Tigermen Den.
“When people ask what kind of music I play I generally tell them ‘country & folk,’ but the truth is my band has a secret genre for my songwriting style which they call ‘’60s/’90s’; this weird blend of late-’60s folk and early-’90s alternative rock,” Rose said in a statement. “‘My Favorite Mistake’ somehow slides right into that comfort zone. My band and I had a lot of fun coming up with our own arrangement; Dan Cutler is playing that iconic guitar riff on upright bass, we slowed down the tempo, and I changed a couple words to make it a little more hopeful.”
Last year, Rose released her sophomore record, You Made It This Far, via Father/Daughter Records.
Written by Sheryl Crow (BMI) and Jeff Trott (ASCAP)
Vocals: Esther Rose
Fiddle: Lyle Werner
Bass: Dan Cutler
Lap Steel: Matt Bell
Guitar & Vox: Max Bien-Kahn
Drums & Vox: Cameron Snyder
Special Interest is a four piece Industrial punk band emerging from New Orleans, Louisiana. Combining elements of No-Wave, Glam, and Industrial Special Interest create a frenetic and urgent revisioning of punk and electronic music for a modern world gone mad. Propulsive analogue drum machines, a swirling layer of detuned samples, and a driving bass line create the foundation across which angular guitar work and dissonant synth lines glide. Front and center are Alli Logout’s commanding vocals and razor sharp lyrics moving from high camp satire to insightful political imperatives often within the course of one song.
Debut LP from NOLA’s Special Interest. Brooding, political no wave madness from members of Mystic Inane, Patsy, and Psychic Hotline. Great mix of all things punk and industrial, with plenty of catchiness to boot. Favorite track is definitely “Disco II”, a perfect dance tune for the inevitable techno-apocalypse ahead.
For the past two years Saddle Creek Records have been doing their part to support the DIY community beyond their Omaha scene with the Document Series, an ongoing collection that shines a light on the radiant pockets of indie rock throughout the country. They’ve previously featured Posse, Palehound, Hand Habits, Hovvdy, etc. and now New Orleans’ Treadles are the next in line. One of our favorite new bands from the Crescent City, the quartet released “Bees Are ThievesToo” back in 2017, their first release as a full band. The years since have found KC Stafford (guitar, vocals) busy as a member of experimental doom metal favorites, Thou, but some point they found enough time to record a few new Treadles songs. Their return is triumphant on “Cold b/w Iron”, the new 7” single handpicked by Saddle Creek, is due out May 24th.
“Cold,” the single’s A-Side is a procession of textures both gentle and raw, from the warm picked intro into the deep plodding bass line. Stafford and Emily Hafner offer a gorgeous harmony, their voices a perfect pairing to sink into hazy emotional atmosphere, punctuating the pull of gravity as they sing “morning comes with the sun but I can’t pick me up from off this dirty ground.” Ian Paine-Jesam casually works an entrancing floor tom and snare rhythm as the band break toward ethereal clarity in the song’s bridge, shifting toward a knotted progression, one that weaves itself tighter as it evolves. The intensity eventually boils over with the structure erupting yet remaining impeccably tight. Treadles work themselves into the oncoming chaos with grace, becoming ever so unglued as they “try not to think about it.”
Treadles – Cold from the Saddle Creek Records Document 7″ vinyl Cold b/w Iron Out May 24th 2019!
The Fat Angel Sings 