Tamara Lindeman’s work as The Weather Station is finally getting the critical acclaim it deserves. In “Ignorance”, and following what she started with the already superb self-titled album, the Canadian singer-songwriter goes way beyond her folkish roots and employs a constellation of musicians to dress up her stellar songs in lush instrumentation. We’ll be very surprised if this ends up outside our top three albums of the year.
Toronto experimental jazz outfit Badge Époque Ensemble is back with “Self Help”. Just like in their 2019 debut, the collective has channeled selected vocalists to voice some of the tracks – one of them one of our favorite Canadian singer-songwriters, Jennifer Castle.
YĪN YĪN’s debut album is another gem coming from the same vibrant Dutch scene that brought us the great Altin Gün. But instead of looking at Turkish folk and psychedelia for influence, the lads from Maastricht infuse South East Asian textures in their Moroder-inspired disco – with a nod to the Ghanaian institution that is Kiki Gyan’s “24 Hours in a Disco” in their single “Dis kô dis kô”. Plus: new tracks by 10 000 Russos, Heavy Lungs, Ancient Shapes, Battles, PAUS, Maria Reis, Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek, Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan, Sarah Pagé, Destroyer, Mikal Cronin, Why?, Common Holly, Simone White, Andy Shauf, Frazey Ford, Courtney Barnett, Youbet, Lankum, Leonard Cohen, and Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster.
The first September 2019 playlist brings you the very #bolachascore Esther Rose on the occasion of her second album, “You Made It This Far”. The New Orleans-based songwriter has just released – via Father/Daughter Records – one of our favorite country-tinged folk records of the year, and we can’t wait for you to fall in love with it (and for Rose and her band to cross over the ocean). Plus: new tracks by Vetiver, (Sandy) Alex G, Whitney, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Jay Som, Joan Shelley, Cross Record, Tom Brosseau, Red River Dialect, Patty Griffin, Simone White, Lana Del Rey, Kelsey Waldon, Ainsley Farrell, Paul Cauthen, The Devil Makes Three, Comet Gain, Have a Nice Life, Jason Lytle, Lightning Bolt, Fontaines D.C., and Pinegrove.
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.