bolachas.org – Leaving a trail of crumbs since 2006

#192: Bedouine, “Bird Songs of a Killjoy”

Post author By bolachas
Post date June 25, 2019

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.

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#191: Bill Callahan, “Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest”

Post author By bolachas
Post date June 19, 2019

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.

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NOS Primavera Sound 2019

Post author By bolachas
Post date June 13, 2019

Hugo Lima / NOS Primavera Sound

It’s starting to be too common: no matter how warm and sunny it is in the week leading up to the festival, NOS Primavera Sound (NPS) is doomed to be ruined by at least one day of rain. The first day did not look promising after the announcement of the passage of depression Miguel (no, not the rnb star who performed there a couple of years ago) through the north of Portugal. Flights were cancelled, Ama Lou and Peggy Gou could not reach Porto in time to perform, strong winds and rain showers threatened to turn Parque da Cidade into a muddy mess, the gates were opened almost an hour later than it was scheduled.

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NOS Primavera Sound 2019: printable timetables, our preview and playlist

Post author By bolachas
Post date May 31, 2019

It doesn’t matter how conservative or liberal you are: people are naturally resistant to change, especially if the previous form of what’s changing was so dear to them. We get it: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Judging by the tone and content of most comments we can find online about this year’s Primavera lineup, both in Porto and Barcelona, folks ain’t happy about “the new normal”. Yes, some of the biggest pop artists in the planet have claimed most of the spots with the big font in it. Yes, there’s a shortage of loud, extreme music we often found at the long gone ATP stage, and every year there are less and less historical, cult indie rock bands reforming for a Primavera performance. But, other than that – tiny specks on a lineup of over 120 bands in Barcelona and over 60 in Porto – has it really changed that much? Is the Primavera DNA gone? (Was there really a “Primavera DNA” to begin with?)

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#190: Cate Le Bon, “Reward”

Post author By bolachas
Post date May 28, 2019

Time for the yearly meeting of the Cate Le Bon Appreciation Society, on the occasion of the release date of the Welsh songwriter’s fifth album, “Reward”. The goddaughter of the 90s Welsh indie pop of Gruff Rhys et al has long outgrown her own scene, and her exquisite avant-pop reached a level of uniqueness that makes it impossible to lump her together with anyone at all. It’s yet another magnificent record from Le Bon and we’re thrilled to live in the same era as she’s making music.

In this week’s playlist: new tracks by Alex Lahey, Lydia Ainsworth, Carly Rae Jepsen, SAMIA, Stef Chura, Los Retros, Faye Webster, Okey Dokey, Night Beats, Amyl and The Sniffers, Institute, Black Mountain, Earth, Bill Callahan (smog), Mavis Staples, Dylan LeBlanc, Frankie Lee, Justin Townes Earle, TK & The Holy Know-Nothings, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Doug Tuttle, and Los Coast.