Another Canadian singer-songwriter on the spotlight this week! This time we focus on Le Ren’s debut LP, “Leftovers”. Sure, the name might sound like we’re dealing a b-sides collection here, but this is prime folk material.
Mega Bog’s new record is our album of the week. If you know her work – we were all over her previous album, “Dolphine”, back in 2019 – you know exactly what to expect; if not, well, if you’re into exquisite songwriting (think Cate Le Bon or Helena Deland), this might just be your jam.
“Excelsior!” is the first LP by NYC-based singer-songwriter Johanna Samuels. Produced by Sam Evian, the album features contributions by the likes of Courtney Marie Andrews, Hannah Cohen, A.O. Gerber or Lomelda’s Hannah Read. If you’ve followed us long enough, you know this means we’ve already sticked our seal of approval five times. Come for the copious namedropping, stay for some of the best lyrics of the first half of 2021.
Our first playlist of the year looks back into December, picking some of the best singles released last month and focusing on Duster’s self-titled record, their first album in 19 years. The lo-fi indie rock trio’s first two albums were largely forgotten by the general public after they were released in the twilight of last century, but an online cult following surged in the last few years. This has culminated on the release of a Numero Group issued boxset earlier in 2019, and a new studio album followed later in the year.
Plus: new singles and songs from forthcoming albums by Khruangbin & Leon Bridges, Son Little, Caroline Rose, Los Coast, Whiskey Wolves of the West, The Yearlings, Jonathan Wilson, Spider Bags, Jung Shackleton & Buck Meek, LEYA, Pop. 1280, BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE/ official, Bill Fay, John Moreland, Terry Allen Art/Music, Holly Macve, Nadia Reid, Squirrel flower, Shannon Lay, Soccer Mommy, Marem Ladson, Branko / Ana Moura / Conan Osiris, and Natalia Lafourcade Oficial.
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.