Singer-songwriter Stevie Knipe has been making music for close to a decade, since they were a college student in upstate New York recording in a dorm room. But Knipe (who uses they/their pronouns) has really taken a leap forward in terms of both sonics and songcraft with the excellent Driver. While previous Adult Mom albums had a spare, bedroom-recording feel, Driver is more of a band album, with bright production and songs that carefully and vividly map out an early-twenties travelogue full of crisis, memory, hope, and the kind of intense moments that feel almost debilitatingly hard-hitting at that age — even if you’re just starting to become wise enough to know they’re ephemeral.
King Buffalo is a psychedelic trio in the classic format, whose expansive and thunderous music is a powerful concoction of heavy psych, blues, and stoner rock. Texturally rich and oozing with psychedelic goodness, yet honed and driving in the next blink of an eye. Their efforts coupled with their impressive live show, quickly gained them an international audience. King Buffalo is the trio of vocalist/guitarist Sean McVay, bassist Dan Reynolds, and drummer Scott Donaldson. Since forming in 2013, the self-proclaimed “heavy psych” band has made its name via 4 EPs, 2 Full-lengths, and tours with the likes of The Sword, All Them Witches, and Elder.
The widely-hailed progressive heavy rock trio King Buffalo’s third full-length record, The Burden of Restlessness, will be released on June 4th, 2021.
“King Buffalo has always had a penchant for weaving deep grooves and heady atmospheres into tightly composed songs, and these qualities are very much present on TBOR.”
Self-recorded in late 2020 and early 2021 by guitarist/vocalist Sean McVay, bassist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson, “The Burden of Restlessness” continues to push King Buffalo’s progressive aspects forward into new avenues of melody and exploration.
At the same time, it is not mistitled. There are deep undercurrents of frustration and even an aggressive pulse that coincide with the spaciousness for which the band has been so widely lauded since their 2016 debut, Orion. Guitarist/vocalist Sean McVay drops what’s bound to become one of the record’s signature lyrics in opener “Burning” when he declares, “Another year lost in the wasteland,” and more succinct summaries of cancelled plans and rescheduled, lost or damaged lives are hard to come by.
“The Burden of Restlessness” was written over the course of what most would consider a pretty stark and stressful time period. The end result is our darkest, most aggressive, and most intimate work to date. We are extremely proud of what this record became.” – Sean McVay
Releases June 4th, 2021
King Buffalo – The Burden of Restlessness Written and recorded by King Buffalo in Rochester, NY at the Main Street Armory in December of 2020 & January of 2021
Based out of New York, Roan Yellowthorn are an indie-pop duo consisting of vocalist Jackie McLean and drummer Shawn Strack, alongside a host of collaborators including harpist Mary Lattimore and the acclaimed production of John Agnello. Having released their debut LP, “Indigo”, back in 2018, the pair returned with last year’s covers collection, Rediscovered. Now teaming up with Blue Élan Records, the band are working towards the May release of their new album “Another Life“, and this week have shared their latest single, “Acid Trip”.
Their lyrical indie rock has landed them on music festival lineups from SXSW to Mile of Music and has a singer/songwriter heart.
Inspired by a solo car-trip, Jackie has spoken of the philosophical mood that created, as she reflects on, “how intense and overwhelming life can be”, and how that can make life seem almost psychedelic in the way it combines, “the macro and the micro experience of being alive”. The production on Acid Trip is fascinating, as Jackie’s lead vocal is initially mirrored by an echoing repetition, as if she’s singing a call-and-response to herself, and getting only muffled returns. From there the track really comes alive courtesy of the bright-and-breezy piano-line, combined with the country-tinged vocals and prominent strut of the rolling-bass, it brings to mind the likes of Basia Bulat or Natalie Prass. Jackie has spoken openly of how Another Life is an album influenced by some of the struggles life has thrown her way, from emotional abuse to terminated pregnancies, and how all of these things come together to shape the direction our lives take, ultimately though this is music that connects, as she explains, “I’ve realized that I am not alone in the experiences I’ve had. None of us are. Once we start to talk about what we’ve lived through, it’s clear – the only thing that isolates us is silence”.
Written by: Jackie Lee McLean
“Another Life” via Blue Élan Records. released March 19th, 2021
“New York City’s layers of continuous noise have become the backdrop to a rising four-piece that NME already calls “one of New York’s most exciting new bands.” Just like the city, The Muckers’ sound is equal parts vital and timeless, resolute and vibrant.
As The New York Times tells the story, lead guitarist and vocalist “Emir Mohseni, was inspired by the Strokes to pursue a career in music — a passion that brought him to New York all the way from his native Iran.” The move, profiled across acclaimed publications, from Rolling Stone to Billboard, only marked the beginning of the band’s story. Upon landing in this new environment, Mohseni met the three guys that would become his closest friends, and build with him the vitalizing sound and enrapturing live show that The Muckers are garnering early praises for: Anthony Azarmgin at the bass, Chris Cawley on rhythm guitar, and John Zimmerman behind the drums.
It’s fitting that “Roll The Dice”, the first single off their debut album is a song about forgetting the past and taking big risks, as The Muckers move on from the novelty of a musician that has taken considerable risks to be free to perform his music to becoming a fully fledged band whose legion of fans grows bigger after each performance.” from supporting Pond on the road in 1000-cap rooms to making the crowds dance and sweat in the divey bars of Brooklyn. One of their performances, at Treefort Festival, had caught KEXP’s Cheryl Waters eye who commended them for “captivating the crowds” on her Music That Matters show.
“There is something altogether fresh in their energy, in Mohseni’s fast-moving guitar licks and his lyrics full of yearning,”
“The Midnight Broadcast” is the most unusual entry in Peter Case’s extensive and eminently admirable career. The sixteen tracks interweave music, sound effects, and spoken word segments to create a simulation of that quasi-mystical sensation that’s inspired so many music lovers and musicians since the invention of radio. It is ultimately an experience that is as thought-provoking as it is dream-like.
The Buffalo, New York native has done a record something like this before, specifically, the 2007 Grammy Award-nominated “Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John” Serving as a link to that deserved homage, it is thus appropriate folk-bluesman to Estes’ “Oh the Morning”/”President Kennedy” appears here. But it’s an illustration of Peter’s aptitude as a musicologist as well, as are numerous selections from the public domain: “Stewball” and “Captain Stormalong,” among others, are juxtaposed with a pair of astute recognitions of influence in the form of Mance Lipscomb’s “Charlie James” and Memphis Minnie’s “Bumble Bee.”
Two Bob Dylan tunes further reinforce Case’s grasp of history, musical and otherwise. Of a piece with their surroundings, the spare acoustic-based performances of both “Early Roman Kings” and “This Wheel’s On Fire” are unfettered by effect in the singing or playing. In addition, these compositions of the Nobel Laureate’s are quite purposefully sequenced: the former, a cull from The Bard of Minnesota’s splendid “Tempest” album of 2012, appears just as the album is gaining momentum, while the latter, climax to the epochal Music From Big Pinkby The Band, also concludes this LP (and on a comparably ominous note).
Written by Bob with that iconic group’s bassist/vocalist Rick Danko during The Basement Tapes era, this secular fire-and-brimstone narrative gains even more foreboding in this context through its subdued rendition (and as it mirrors the dark grey clouds of this cover art). It’s an extension too of an almost subliminal link of continuity with Dylan’s entire oeuvre, a notion unavoidable before Case’s sole original concludes; on its very own terms, “Just Hanging On” is a sage and patient observation on our trying times, but it gains further significance via its circuitous but nonetheless recognizable echoes (intentional or not) of Dylan’s own “I’ll Keep It With Mine” from 1964.
Setting the tone in more ways than one for The Midnight Broadcast, the deceptively lo-fi audio quality there mirrors the authentically rootsy range of songs including “Grey Funnel Live.” But the sonics are in line with Case’s voice, which, even as it’s retained its fundamentally boyish tone over the years, has gained a weathered quality that lends it even more character. As weighty as some of the performances can sound, like “Going Down Slow,” the musicianship itself is uplifting, deriving as it does from what is essentially a very personalized and intimate simplicity.
Other cuts here manifest those virtues too, and, in doing so help illustrate the evolution of modern folk music. “When I Was A Cowboy,” for instance, was often covered by the late great Irish bluesman Rory Gallagher and attributed to Leadbelly under the title of “Out On The Western Plain.”Peter and his various collaborators, including the versatile likes of Lee Fortier and Bert Deivert, clearly evoke the timeless (and durable) quality of such material, while producer and multi-instrumentalist Ron Franklin’s contributions achieve much the same end: brief as are the likes of the 1:07 duration “Jupiter Holler No.4,” they become integrated with their surroundings because they sound complete unto themselves.
As does the austere remainder of “The Midnight Broadcast”, with its skeletal arrangements adorned with harmonica, Vox organ, and maracas. But then Peter Case has never allowed extraneous ornamentation on any of his records, so this latest execution of his ‘less is more’ concept is not only wholly in line with the rest of his solo discography, but a distinctly memorable exercise in ambition on its own terms.
Last month, Ryley Walker announced a new album, “Course In Fable”, his first proper full-length album since 2018’s Deafman Glance, though there have been quite a few excursions from Walker since that. Its lead single “Rang Dizzy” and today Walker has shared a new track from the album called “Axis Bent.” It has squiggly guitars and a roiling rhythm and Walker’s wondering poetry: “When I wrote the song would breathe/ It was the best I’d ever had/ Jammed up on axis bent/ It was the sidestep of relief.”
Releases April 2nd, 2021
Ryley Walker- Guitar/Vocals Andrew Scott Young – Bass/Piano Bill MacKay – Guitar/Piano Ryan Jewell – Drums/Percussion John McEntire – Engineer/Mixing/Synth/Keys/Vibraphone Douglas Jenkins – String Arrangements/Cello Nancy Ives – Cello
“sincerely, e” was conceived of and recorded in singer-songwriter Elizabeth Ziman’s living room as a way to try and reach beyond the isolated bubble of her home to connect with others, during quarantine. It was also a personal reckoning with solitude, helping her explore new layers of herself. This juxtaposition — the anxiety of loneliness coupled with over stimulation, chaos and the urgency of numerous global crises converging — is present in so much of her writing as she grappled with connection and existence.
sincerely, e showcases two sides of the same Elizabeth and the Catapult coin: thoughtfully peppered through the album are intimate, live, solo-piano songs that tremble, raw, with the intimacy of their making; the other half, songs that required a larger sound, fully display Ziman’s film scoring and composition background. Producing tracks from her home provided new opportunities to work remotely with a few talented friends and the decision to explore rhythm without percussion, proved to be a constraint that enabled her lyrics to properly breathe. With the desire to connect at the core of this collection of songs, lush background vocals prominently express sincerely, e’s “together, alone” sound – a symptom and product of the time in which she, and we, find ourselves.
Worriers are a band from Brooklyn, New York, centered around the songwriting of Lauren Denitzio, with the help of friends Mikey Erg, Nick Psillas, and more. They released their 2nd LP Survival Pop w/ SideOneDummy Records and have toured with John K Samson, Against Me!, Julien Baker, Anti Flag, and more. Worriers‘ debut album “Imaginary Life” was produced by LauraJane Grace of Against Me! .
The Bones of J.R. Jones—the project of New York singer-songwriter and guitarist Jonathan Robert Linaberry—will release a new EP called “A Celebration”, which was largely inspired by the sprawling deserts of the Southwest. Today he shares the EP’s second single, premiering below, and it’s a wistful, weathered folk number about yearning to “Stay Wild.”
I don’t mind the night / and the dark it brings / to my skies, Linaberry croaks in the opening verse, his voice more ember than flame. Later, Linaberry sings like he’s praying, or like he’s trying to submit to something larger than himself: I want the tinny taste of love / across my teeth / I want to feast / I want to be / a storm raging / I want to believe / in the American Dream.
“It’s the perfect distillation of what I wanted the EP to feel like,” the Catskills musician tells American Songwriter of “Stay Wild.” “It set the precedent and tone for the rest of the songs. I really wanted to tap into the vastness of the desert, which can make you feel so small, but there’s a certain strange freedom that comes with that smallness, with that insignificance—you feel exposed and in a way that makes you more open to the unknown wildness all around you.”
“Stay Wild” also arrives with a video—directed by Joshua Zimmerman and choreographed by Jacqui DeFranca—that shows a scruffy, stick-wielding Linaberry dancing in the headlights of his pickup truck. The flick, featured below, is a visceral complement to the song.
“I wanted ‘Stay Wild’ to toe the line of realism and the fantastical,” says Linaberry. “It was important to me that it reflects on how the mundane parts of life can overflow and the only outlet would be an ungraceful somewhat ugly response. In the case of the video, it was a dance performed by someone who does not dance… Hopefully once you lose yourself in that moment something spectacular could happen.”
“The EP and the art that comes along with it really does reflect every aspect of this song for me,” he explains. “The prints, the designs, the songs, the melodies, the words… all of it was designed to reflect a restrained explosion or an appreciation of that explosion. I wanted to feel it in my chest, but not have it be so otherworldly that it was unrelatable. Everyone can fall into the monotony of their days and then at some point, there is a subtle pop, a change, something that makes you want to get lost, to live, to lose yourself to a whim. That’s what I was after with A Celebration.”
You can hear that profound, lose-yourself quality in every fibre of “Stay Wild.”
As The New York Times tells the story, lead guitarist and vocalist “Emir Mohseni, was inspired by the Strokes to pursue a career in music — a passion that brought him to New York all the way from his native Iran.” The move, profiled across acclaimed publications, from Rolling Stone to Billboard, only marked the beginning of the band’s story. Upon landing in this new environment, Mohseni met the three guys that would become his closest friends, and build with him the vitalizing sound and enrapturing live show that The Muckers are garnering early praises for: Anthony Azarmgin at the bass, Chris Cawley on rhythm guitar, and John Zimmerman behind the drums. These guys show a lot of promise, and have the potential to blow up in popularity in a couple more years! Can’t wait to see them live!
“New York City’s layers of continuous noise have become the backdrop to a rising four-piece that NME already calls “one of New York’s most exciting new bands.” Just like the city, The Muckers’ sound is equal parts vital and timeless, resolute and vibrant.
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The Fat Angel Sings 