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”.
Hiss Golden Messenger’s eleventh record in eleven years, “Terms of Surrender”, is our album of the week. Another gem, as usual from one of our favourite songwriters of the 2010s. Plus: new tracks by Andrew Combs, Longriver, Vetiver, Wilco, Jonathan Wilson, Kacy & Clayton, Caitlin Jemma, Leonard Cohen, Simon Joyner, Itasca, Brittany Howard, Leslie Stevens, Anna Ash, Soccer Mommy, Karl Blau, Jim Lauderdale, Jason James, Giant Sand, LIFE, Mikal Cronin, The New Pornographers, Nico LaOnda, YĪN YĪN, and Les Big Byrd.
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.
‘what we say in private’ is the debut album by Canadian singer-songwriter/painter/visual artist Alexandra Levy, or Ada Lea. It’s been out for less than a handful of days but it’s already one of our indie rock albums of the year. Is it because its opening song sounds like a lost track off Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’s recording sessions that eventually morphs into a more layered Big Thief song, while never sounding like a tribute to either bands? Or maybe it’s because of the stellar songwriting in it. We don’t know. Let’s just listen.
Plus: new tracks by Wilco (the new kind of Wilco, not the old YHF one), Andrew Combs, Strange Ranger, Long Beard, Aviva le Fey, Shannon Lay, Joan Shelley, Holy Golden (now known as Dolly Valentine), Summer Salt, Grace Lightman, Bleached, Roselit Bone, Trash Kit, Fly Pan Am, Adam Green, Tony Molina, Leon Bridges, Whitney, RF Shannon, Hiss Golden Messenger, Joe Pug, Jim Lauderdale, and Twain + The Deslondes.
Time for our return after the usual early June festival break. Bill Callahan is back with his first long play in six years, an unusually twenty songs long record called Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest. It sounds like, well, exactly what you would expect from Callahan.
Go have a listen after you’re done with our ridiculously long playlist – 31 songs by 30 different artists over almost two hours: House and Land, Jambinai, Shellac, Kate Tempest, RF Shannon, Whitney, Bruce Springsteen, Richard Hawley, Lower Dens, Julia Shapiro, Stef Chura, The Divine Comedy, Adam Green, Tim Heidecker, David Berman’s Purple Mountains, Will Johnson, Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real, Hiss Golden Messenger, Chris Stapleton, Willie Nelson, Sturgill Simpson, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Michael Fracasso, Fruit Bats, Eilen Jewell, Bedouine, Joan Shelley, Julien Baker, and Shannon Lay.