I’ve lost count of the amount of times I wrote “Produced by Dan Auerbach” here when describing an album. Yola‘s “Stand For Myself” is another of those. Her debut record, “Walk Through Fire”, was gaining serious traction when the pandemic hit, robbing her of well deserved high profile shows and festival slots – but not for long. Fresh off a Newport Folk Festival slot, this might be the possible songwriter’s dream summer.
You know Spring has arrived whenever there’s a new Damien Jurado album to marvel at. The prolific American singer-songwriter is probably the most featured artist in our playlist since we started five years ago, and he doesn’t seem like he’s slowing down any time soon. We’re not complaining. Plus: new tracks by Lavinia BlackwAll, Alasdair Roberts, Johanna Warren, Talitha Ferri, Big Thief, Andy Jenkins, Courtney Marie Andrews, Christian Lee Hutson, Langhorne Slim, Zachary Cale, Rose City Band, Car Seat Headrest, Man Man, BC Camplight, Chicano Batman, American Aquarium, Grutera, João Pais Filipe, neubauten.org, Protomartyr, Fantastic Explosion, and Diet Cig.
Yes, they did it again. Five months after releasing their third album in four years, Big Thief are back with yet another record that might even surpass its predecessor. Can’t wait to see what the future brings for them. Plus: new tracks by Twain, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Vetiver, Michael Nau, Pat Hull, Illiterate Light, BODEGA, Caribou, Girl Ray, Nilüfer Yanya, Kim Gordon, Girl Band, Lightning Bolt, Angélica Salvi, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Eric Bachmann, The Delines, Jason James, Elijah Ocean, Theo Lawrence, and Sharaya Summers.
Wilco’s eleventh full length is probably their most inspired since insert the name of your favorite Wilco record here. After two less remarkable albums and a small hiatus, they’re back with an album that may sound quieter because we’re really supposed to focus on Jeff Tweedy’s superior songwriting and Glenn Kotche’s exquisite drumming style, the stars of this show. It’s a pleasure to be living in the same timeline as Wilco.
Plus: new tracks by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Angel Olsen, Johanna Warren, Lightning Dust, Big Thief, Kacy & Clayton, Marinho, Carla dal Forno, Kelsey Waldon, Colter Wall, The Avett Brothers, Craig Finn, Mikal Cronin, The Growlers, Altın Gün, Chromatics, Land of kush, The Messthetics, and Penguin Cafe.
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.