Texas’s favorite alt-country troublemakers returned in 2017 with their finest album in over a decade, anchored by this rip-snorting meditation on sin and redemption. “I got a soul that’s good and flawed,” Rhett Miller sings, but “I’m good with God.” It’s a witty deconstruction of male entitlement, although the greatest touch here is casting Brandi Carlile as a particularly vengeful Yahweh. It’s a role she was born to play.
The Austin-based Molly Burch is a force to be reckoned with, albeit a subtle one. Her debut LP, “Please Be Mine”, was released in February and is not only one of the year’s best albums by a newcomer, but one of the best period. The record is heartfelt, intricate and unconditionally romantic. As a trained jazz singer, Burch’s vintage vocal stylings truly shine throughout the ten songs, particularly on the standout “Fool” and the title track, “Please Be Mine.” Burch’s songwriting and voice is wholly complemented by guitarist Dailey Toliver’s delicate instrumentation, creating a thoroughly-nuanced album perfect for these telling times when all we really need is a bit of love.
As Bruce Springsteen continues his sold-out Springsteen on Broadway run, he has continued to release live concerts from his archives.
Released a couple of weeks ago is Springsteen and the E Street Band live from Stockholm, Sweden on July 3rd, 1988. This concert was part of Tunnel of Love Express tour, which was of course supporting 1987’s album “Tunnel of Love”. What makes this concert significant, however, is that the first 90-minute set was broadcast to radio stations at the time, making it one of most known concerts in the Springsteen canon. “Chimes of Freedom” from the show was released on an EP of the same name. But the broadcast did not contain the full concert, which would continue for another set and three encores. Now, for the first time, the entire concert is being officially released, remixed from the multi-tracks.
Shortly after this tour, Springsteen would disband the E Street Band. Other than recording a couple of tracks for Springsteen’s first Greatest Hits album, the full group would not come back to together until 1999’s Reunion tour. The concert that has just been released is the final one from the tour: July 1st, 2000 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Portions of this concert were included on the Live in New York City album released in March, 2001, but this is the first time you can officially hear the entire show. Unique tracks from this show include the closing number, “Blood Brothers,” which had never been performed on a tour before.
Perhaps to tie in with the concept of Springsteen on Broadway, another recent concert is from March 19th, 1996 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Falling between the other two concerts released, this concert was is support of The Ghost of Tom Joad and features a solo, acoustic set from Springsteen. He had performed in this way before, but this was the first time he embarked on a full tour in the format. Many of his familiar songs were recast with new arrangements to sit alongside newer material.
In addition, Springsteen has also released the concert from December 8th, 1978 in Houston, Texas. This show first appeared in The Promise: Darkness on the Edge of Town boxset in 2010, but this is the first time it has been available separately. All proceeds from the sale of this concert will go to benefit MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund.
All three newly released concerts have been mixed by Jon Altshiller and mastered by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering.
All the shows are offered in a variety of formats: Direct Stream Digital or DSD (with 64 times the sampling rate of CD), MP3, FLAC or Apple Lossless, HD-Audio (24 bit/192 kHz, FLAC-HD or ALAC-HD) and CD-R ($26.00). A CD-R plus MP3 package is also available for each.
All previous ten volumes of The Bruce Springsteen Archive Series are available at Springsteen’s official live store for download and physical purchase.
A special reminder: all titles are on sale today for Cyber Monday (25% off CDs, 50% off downloads)!
Based in Austin, Texas, Hovvdy (pronounced “howdy”) is the writing and recording project of Charlie Martin and Will Taylor. The duo, both primarily drummers, first met in the fall of 2014 and quickly bonded over a love for quiet music. Within a few weeks, they had combined songs and began recording their first EP in bedrooms and family homes across Texas.
By 2016 the two had committed to each others growth in songwriting and recording, resulting in their debut album “Taster”, originally released on Sports Day Records and reissued in 2017 by Double Double Whammy. Hovvdy has found a unique identity in rhythmic, down-tempo pop songs that are hopeful, yet melancholy; relatable, yet distinguishable.
Hovvdy’s sophomore album, “Cranberry”, expands on a familiar texture, building off Taster’s minimal complexity and covering new ground. Hovvdy – “Petal” Off their new album, “Cranberry” Out February 9th, 2018 on Double Double Whammy Records.
Hannah Read mostly writes from the small Texas town she calls her home, but her songs have a universality to them that makes them seem larger-than-life. Her lyrics read like nervous incantations — “It’s not like I want to keep you out or keep it in, just keep it up/ Isn’t that hard enough?” goes one of my favorites — but they’re buoyed by a lilting self-assuredness that feels invigorating and timeless. Thx, her latest album as Lomelda, is a showstopper, the sort of album that will soundtrack many a long drive or transcendent night out among the stars. We’ve heard a few songs from it so far — “Interstate Vision,” “Out There,” and “From Here,” Band To Watch profile on the project.
Through the release of three LPs and endless touring, the Austin, Texas band Quiet Company has been making a name for themselves nationally with their energetic live shows and their anthemic, dynamic, indie rock which critics have called a mix of The Beatles, Death Cab for Cutie, Arcade Fire and Weezer. They’ve gained a huge fanbase while gathering praise .
Quiet Company won Rock Band of the Year during SXSW 2014, adding to their
previous 10 Austin Music Awards including Band of the Year, Album of the Year, Rock Band of the Year, Indie Band of the Year and Song of the Year, all won on the strength of their 2011 release We Are All Where We Belong.
After an amazing year on the road, Quiet Company kicked off 2014 in the studio to write and record their highly anticipated 4th full length Transgressor, their most explosive and exposed collection of songs to date. Recorded in 14 intense days of live tracking at Orb Recording Studios in Austin, the band captured a guitar-driven larger-than-life sound with Matt Noveskey (Blue October) producing and the legendary Tim Palmer (U2, Pearl Jam, The Cure) mixing. Frontman Taylor Muse’s characteristically introspective writing style is in full force as he tells tales of love, despair, pain, and redemption, reflecting on his marriage, from burgeoning young love to a relationship tested through time. With its soaring guitars and throbbing bass lines.
Recently discovered this resurgence of Surf Rock, 60’s inspired, nostalgia inducing genre and I love it!! As soon as I heard Summer Salt I was hooked! . These tracks have got some serious groove! Favorite track:
Summer Salt is a rock’n’roll threesome of best pals. With influences of bossa nova and oldies, we create the perfect soundtrack for chillaxin’ by the pool or the beach. Matt has the voice of an angel, Eugene has that in-the-pocket drummin’, and Phil’s bass is funny.
Summer Salt is a rock’n’roll three-o of best pals. With influences of bossa nova and oldies, we create the perfect soundtrack for chillaxin’ by the pool. Matt has the voice of an angel, Eugene has that in-the-pocket drummin’, and Phil’s bass is funny.
beautiful vocals, ridiculously catchy riffs and overwhelming waves of nostalgia. Summer Salt can do no wrong
So Polite is out July 28th via ATH (Austin Town Hall) Records.
Lomelda is the pseudonym of the songwriter Hannah Read, based out of Silsbee in Texas. This week as well as sharing tour dates with Pinegrove and Florist, Lomelda has detailed the release of her upcoming album, Thx, as well as sharing the first single from it, Interstate Vision.
Backed by prominent tumbling bass lines and bright, easy guitar strums, Hannah’s voice is left to carry much of the melodic lifting, a trick she achieves with an effortless aplomb. Lyrically, it seems to touch on one of those relationships, be it love or otherwise, where you keep stumbling back despite knowing it’s doing you nothing but harm, as she sings, “we were young, oh I was so young, still I sit with you in parking lots, acting like I’m not falling for it”. Lomelda’s music is a place of juxtapositions; sparse yet powerful, beautiful yet bruising, timeless but none the less very 2017 – her upcoming record could be very special indeed.
“Music connects me with people who I wouldn’t have an easy way to talk to otherwise,” Read says. Her hometown of Silsbee — the small Texas town where she grew up and currently resides with her family — but Read likes the open road. You sort of have to when you’re from a place where long drives are usually the only way to get around, especially if you’re interested in pursuing music as passionately as Read is. There were a few other bands around growing up — “Everybody needs some rock ‘n’ roll in their lives, even small town Texas folks,” she jokes — but the four-hour trek to Austin has become a regular facet in Read’s life,
“Interstate Vision” by Lomelda off the LP/CD/Cassette/Digital album ‘Thx’ out on Double Double Whammy Records September 8th, 2017.
According to their press release, this Texan quartet’s live shows “serve as a parallel universe for the members to act out alternate identities and face the terror of vulnerability with their audiences”. Which frankly sounds like a fucking nightmare. However, after listening to The Mesmerist,
While they describe themselves as glam rock (and have the dramatic make-up and puffy sleeves to prove it), Siamese are less silver-booted stomp, more artfully wispy pirouette. ‘Hounds At Sunset’ is what Connan Mockasin might stick on the stereo while flicking through an old copy of Les Enfants Terribles, all warped grandeur and opiated lilt. In contrast (and despite the title), ‘Chromatose’ is more driven and direct, tightening the writing without losing any of the atmosphere. If they can deliver more tracks of this quality then you will, indeed, be mesmerised.
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