Categories
Bolachas Now Playing

#200: Sandro Perri, “Soft Landing”

This is our 200th playlist since we started back in January 16, 2015. 3603 tracks, 244 hours of music, way more than those 244 hours spent reading, keeping track and listening to the hundreds of artists featured in our playlist so far. Sounds like we’re going to ask you for money, right? Of course not. We’re only going to ask you to tell a friend or two about our playlists. We do this mostly to keep ourselves updated on what’s new and avoid falling into the “music these days just isn’t as good as it was back in the day” trap (which roughly translates to “I got older and gave up my interests”). But the best part about it is knowing someone out there actually listens and values what we do. We know algorithms are pretty cool, but nothing beats a playlist that was handpicked by a group of dedicated people.

This week we focus on Sandro Perri’s latest record, “Soft Landing”, his second LP in two years after a long hiatus. 2018’s “In Another Life” was one of our albums of the year, and “Soft Landing” replicates its winning formula of one long song/a few shorter ones while sounding quite distinct, with electronics playing second fiddle to his good old guitar. The result is similar: another ambient-ish pop masterpiece from the Canadian guitarist and songwriter. Plus: new tracks by I am Oak, Lower Dens, Queen of Jeans, Frankie Cosmos, Young Guv, The Comet is Coming, Los Pirañas, Jeffrey Lewis, Jesse Malin, Garrett T. Capps, Peter Bruntnell, Monks Road Social, The Deer, The Highwomen, Lola Kirke, Lady Wray, Adam Green, Birds of Play, The Milk Carton Kids, Mandolin Orange, and Anna Larson.

Categories
Bolachas Now Playing

#195: Purple Mountains, “Purple Mountains”

Eleven years after the Silver Jews’ swan song “Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea”, David Berman finally resurfaces as Purple Mountains. And the new record is everything we ever wanted and more, with members of Woods as their backing band and producers adding extra catchiness to Berman’s superior songwriting. It jumps straight to the top of our list of favorite albums of the year.

Plus: new tracks by Divino Niño, B Boys, Tijuana Panthers, Drab Majesty, Kyle Craft, Lower Dens, Gruff Rhys, Jenny Hval, Carnivorous Plant Society, Sandro Perri, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Bad Heaven Limited, Olympia, Jade Jackson, Michaela Anne, Eilen Jewell, Kelsey Waldon, Emma Russack, Erin Durant, Asia, and Joanna Sternberg.

Categories
Bolachas Now Playing

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

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.

Categories
Bolachas Now Playing

#74: Wilco, “Schmilco”

Yes, it’s another playlist dominated by singer-songwriters. We promise to mix things around next week – there’s still quite a backlog of songs we want to feature! – but with both Wilco and Okkervil River putting out new records you know we had to do this.

Categories
Bolachas Now Playing

#9: Black Yaya, “Black Yaya”

Last week’s playlist. Two tracks from the new Black Yaya record, out now, plus a ton of new tunes. Probably the catchiest bunch yet! Artists that repeat the honor include Susanne Sundfør, Death Cab for Cutie, Mikal Cronin, Lord Huron, Sufjan Stevens and Matthew E. White; there are also new songs by Jenny Hval, Colleen Green, Daughn Gibson, Lower Dens, Colleen, Coelho Radioactivo, Moon Duo, My Morning Jacket and Jacco Gardner