It’s hard to talk about Buck Meek without referring to him as “Big Thief’s Buck Meek”. But his solo work – with a little help from some of our favorite handymen of indie music such as Mat Davidson (Twain) and Adam Brisbin – is its own thing, with Meek’s characteristic voice paving the way to beautifully arranged songs. Songs that we’re definitely going to use as an argument when, come November, you’ll say, as always, that “this wasn’t a very good year for music”.
Aaron Frazer is best known as the drummer (and singer) for soul outfit Durand Jones & the Indications. Like so many songwriters in the past few years, he teamed up with the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and got his debut solo album, “Introducing…”, ready in no time. We’re not even halfway through January and we already have our first highlight of 2021. Feels good to be back.
We’re almost done with 2020, but December still had a couple of tricks on its sleeve, including a surprise new Taylor Swift release. But our album of the week has to be the unexpected collaboration between Canadian duo Kacy & Clayton and NZ songwriter Marlon Williams – one that makes all the sense in the world. “Plastic Bouquet” essentially feels like another essential Kacy & Clayton record, but the Williams-enhanced harmonies take the songs to another level.
Pop punk will never die, but you will. The Moore Family Band‘s debut album “Missy” is only 22 minutes long but has more hooks than a fancy React application (sorry, no more front-end jokes in this space). That would be easy to explain with Jeff Rosenstock’s presence in a couple of tracks, but the Californian trio consistently delivers the goods elsewhere in the record.
Toronto experimental jazz outfit Badge Époque Ensemble is back with “Self Help”. Just like in their 2019 debut, the collective has channeled selected vocalists to voice some of the tracks – one of them one of our favorite Canadian singer-songwriters, Jennifer Castle.