Feel-good pop doesn’t seem to fulfil its promise these days. But Arlo Parks‘s debut album, “Collapsed in Sunbeams”, manages to bring a little bit of sunlight-infused pop into our hearts and ears. Extra points for the poetic-feel and the whimsical but very accurate Portra 400 reference.
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.
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.
We’re back and we’re bringing you a ton of music. Unusually, August was kinda eventful, with plenty of great single and album releases. So we had to exaggerate a bit and make a 33 song playlist (and we had to leave quite a few tracks out to make it reasonable). Our focus this week is The Hold Steady’s new album “Thrashing Thru the Passion”, probably their best since 2008’s “Stay Positive”. There’s no way we’re tagging every single artist this time around, so just scroll down for the track list.
Azniv Korkejian’s first album as Bedouine, drawing in equal parts from 60s folk music and the easygoing vibes of LA’s Echo Park (some sort of 21st century Laurel Canyon?), got us hooked for weeks. We can already tell the same is bound to happen with her second LP, “Bird Songs of a Killjoy”, finally released last week. Plus: new songs by The Hold Steady, Illiterate Light, Frankie Cosmos, Jesca Hoop, Mega Bog, Palehound, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Courtney Hartman, Erin Rae, Slaughter Beach, Dog, Los Retros, Bamboo, Chelsea Wolfe, Leslie Stevens, Honeysuckle, Rickie Lee Jones, Don DiLego, Jacob Faurholt, Paper Beat Scissors, Alan Power, Calexico and Iron & Wine, and Jamestown Revival.