Put this is the "news that made my day" category. Jeff Bridges, one of my all-time favorite actors and a great musician, is releasing a major label debut album. Jeff Bridges will be released September 5th from Parlophone Records and the music sounds like it will echo the tone of Crazy Heart, which is a great thing. It also features guest vocals from the likes of Rosanne Cash, Ryan Bingham, and Benji Hughes.
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Boston-based band You Won't brought me two revelations recently. First, they are quite possibly the least Google-able band ever. Second, their album Skeptic Goodbye is quickly becoming one of my favorite releases of the year.
You Won't – Three Car Garage
You Won't – Who Knew
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The Well-Informed – New York (We Love Her)
I'm going to go ahead and use The Well-Informed's own words to describe their music, because it's basically more clever than anything I can come up with: "Cuban Missile make-out music". Alright, maybe it doesn't exactly conjure up a specific sound in your mind but it's a hell of a line isn't it?
The Well-Informed are a three-piece from NYC that make a theatrical brand of Prohibition-era, dixieland tinged pop. Their single "New York (We Love Her)" makes me picture all those scenes in a fancy bar in Boardwalk Empire where there booze is flowing, the ladies are dancing, and the band is playing. It's a modern ode to the women of the city, but it transports you to a period and a time.
I also really like that fact that The Well-Informed embraced the streets of New York with a busking tour. In a time where many small bands are rethinking the classic touring tradition, taking your music to the streets and connecting to people intimately is a great idea. I'm sure it didn't make them millionares, but they got to travel around the city, doing what they love, and meeting people, so fuck it right?
All The Well-Informed's songs are currently available for free on their Bandcamp page, so head on over and get your download on.
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Tom Waits with a big, funny horn. No man has ever projected as much "cool" in every photograph of themselves as Thomas Alan Waits. Well, maybe Miles Davis, but it's a toss-up.
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Gorilla Warfare Tactics – RewindRhyme
One of the most promising hip hop acts emerging today, Gorilla Warfare Tactics, just released their first song since they dropped their Premier EP back in February. That EP has become one of my most listened to albums this year, so I've been waiting anxiously to see what the boys would do next.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: piano-led hip hop tracks get me everytime. Add in live (at least live sounding) drums and you've got the recipe for a Kyle guarantee. "RewindRhyme" is as solid, catchy, and rooted in nostalgia as we've come to expect from the young trio. GWT continue to carve out a unique, soulful sound in the oversaturated world of backpack blog rap. I wouldn't be surprised if these guys become a household name after releasing a proper album.
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It's time for my first post from New York, in which we turn our ears to a band from…Canada. Of course, right? There will definitely be lots of NYC-centric posts in the future, but today, it's all about the latest in the Label Year series – a 7" double A-side from Zeus
Mr. Lewis and the Funeral 5 is the self-proclaimed offspring of "...New Orleans jazz funerals, [and] jubilant melodies with discordant no-wave dirges about love, sex, death, and whiskey." Their recording debut was in 2007 with the release of Murder and the Art of the Dance, and their second album, Delirium Tremendous is set to drop July 26th of this year. Their cover of the Kinks tune Alcohol is featured on this project and is tasty enough to stop the room.
Mr. Lewis and the Funeral 5: Alcohol
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Peter Wolf Crier – Right Away
Peter Wolf Crier are releasing their new album Garden of Arms September 6th and have a released the first single in anticipation. This is good news indeed. I still spin their debut album regularly and they are a current favorite band of mine.
"Right Away" sees Peter Wolf Crier going in a bit of a different direction. The track is less rooted in the folk and Americana of Inter-Be and features increased production techniques, vocal alterations, and a seriously kick ass percussion section. If the whole album is this full of feeling and detail, I'll be a happy boy. Also, catch them live in support of their new album.
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J. Irvin Dally – Teething
J. Irvin Dally – Sun Room
I love growers. You know what I mean. Those songs that so lightly tap you on the shoulder on the first listen that you almost don't even notice. But you can't shake that feeling that someone's trying to get your attention so you listen again and hear someone calling your name. Then on the third or fourth listen you're being beat over the head with a baseball bat while someone screams in your ear.
J. Irving Dally is kind of like that.
Dally's brand of wispy indie folk features a beautiful mix of various instruments (is that a theremin?) and pulls just enough influence from other genres to sound wholly original yet somehow familiar. He also has a voice like honey that flows sweetly over the tempo-changing tunes.
Dally's 7" featuring "Sun Room" and "Teething" is available tomorrow via his Bandcamp page. It's highly recommended.
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Those Who Dig favorites Dawes played a show recently in LA as the backing band for the legendary Jackson Browne. It seems inevitable that this would happen, since Browne is such a huge influence on the band. In this fan-captured video, the boys kill a version of the trucker anthem "Shaky Town" from Browne's Running On Empty.
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