



As you probably noticed already by our playlists, we’re big fans of the New Orleans country scene and its retro-y sound. One of its rising stars is singer-songwriter Esther Rose, whose third album, “How Many Times”, is out now.

We haven’t heard of AZITA Youssefi for a while, until one day we get the news that the Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist has collaborated with Drag City labelmates Bill Callahan and Bonnie “Prince” Billy on a cover of “Blackness of the Night”. There, she played all the instruments and did all the arrangements, just like on her first album in nine years, “Glen Echo”, which also serves as a great introduction to her world of song. Enjoy it, and make sure you dig deeper into her discography later.

The Hold Steady was the last band (part of) our team saw before the world has changed, in a year that started recreational, but ended kinda medical. Our yearly pilgrimage to London will unfortunately not happen in 2021, but they’re making up for it with their first proper album since 2014 (not counting 2019’s single collection “Thrashing Thru the Passion”). Our favourite rock band is back. Let’s celebrate like it’s early March 2020, minus the getting ourselves crammed inside a room with no masks on. At least for now.

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.