Stuff to listen to when your mind is warped enough (and your ear is muscled enough) to find neo-freakfolk with sweet guitar licks hugely enjoyable. Get a cold one, lay down, close your eyes, and enter the beehive’s spirit. You won’t get stung, we promise. Spirit of the Beehive’s record is pleasure percolated through aural honey, mind the cliché. And, just like honey (pun intended), it will age well.
After a small break to record some music in the folky “superband” (we’re guilty, but can we all please forget this concept?) Bonny Light Horseman, Eric D. Johnson celebrates 20 years of Fruit Bats with a brand new record. “The Pet Parade” shows Johnson, one of the best melody crafters of the game, at his most dreamy and contemplative so far.
Feel-good pop doesn’t seem to fulfil its promise these days. But Arlo Parks‘s debut album, “Collapsed in Sunbeams”, manages to bring a little bit of sunlight-infused pop into our hearts and ears. Extra points for the poetic-feel and the whimsical but very accurate Portra 400 reference.
Bolachas Now Playing, a new music Spotify playlist, updated every Wednesday.
John Darnielle is Getting Into Knives! And it’s probably his best album in almost a decade, when ‘All Eternals Deck’ brought us some of the most memorable the Mountain Goats songs. Closing the album, the title track is the standout here – a repeat affair right after the first listen.
Plus: new tracks by Bill Callahan & Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Helena Deland, Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Woods, Okey Dokey, The Shilohs, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Matt Berninger (The National), The Besnard Lakes, Plastic War, Strange Ranger, Son Little, Nilüfer Yanya, Ariana Grande, Hot Chip (with Jarvis Cocker), Harolddd (with Faye Webster), Skyway Man, Julien Baker, Skullcrusher, Adrianne Lenker, Sierra Ferrell, Oliver Wood, Mandolin Orange, Grace Gillespie, and Valley Maker.
No matter your mood today, make sure you adopt a heartbreak album. Look no further. Courtney Marie Andrews can’t write a bad song. And the ones on her new collection of 10 not bad songs, “Old Flowers”, are so good that we just noticed we’ve featured one of them twice. Plus: new tracks by Fenne Lily, Native Harrow, Lori McKenna, H.C. McEntire, Skullcrusher, Taylor Swift, Lydia Loveless, Aubrie Sellers, Daniel Donato, The Nude Party, Hoops, Old 97’s, Dawes, Jarvis Cocker, Sylvan Esso, Walter Martin, Lala Lala, trayer tryon, Andy Shauf, Durand Jones & The Indications, Grace Sings Sludge, Ora Cogan, Isobel Campbell, Tom Brosseau, Colter Wall, Brent Cobb, and the Tweedy family.