Category: Artists We Like

Five Cool Ones: Five New Albums Released This Week (April 16, 2021)

Of course, as we all know, everything is just a placeholder until the new Teenage Fanclub record comes out in very short order. In the meantime, there is an ear-load of tasty one-off nuggets to savor.

The Black Keys have one in the hopper ready to see the light of day in a couple of months announcing itself with the single and video “Crawling Kingsnake” filmed at Jimmy “Duck” Holmes’ Blue Front Cafe, the oldest juke joint in America.

Briston Maroney, with his cross of T Rex and Pavement vibes, has released a single called “Bottle Rocket” and continues to show that he is a worthy candidate on our “ones to watch for” list.

And, Sasami an artist that has an actual French Horn degree, is out with her video of “Not The Time.” 

And, if all of the above is not all, here are five really good records released this week.

The Brother Brothers – Calla Lilly

New York-based identical twins Adam and David Moss are one of the closest things your ears will be able to find to Simon and Garfunkel and their particular brand of apple skin-tight harmonies. Their sophomore record, Calla, Lily, mixes smooth Indie-Folk on the opener “On The Road Again,” no, not that one, showing their versatility with the Appalachian-style folk-inspired “The Road Runner Song” and deal from the deck straight-ahead Everly Brothers on “Seein’ Double.”

With a bit of Donovan DNA sprinkled here, and Don Mclean’s spirit there the mood and texture differences from song to song on the record make this one an engaging listen that should have legs on your listening rotation that will please your ears for months to come.

West of Texas – Heartaches, Hangovers & Honky Tonks

Pull on your boots, tighten up your stetson, leave your spurs at home, and head to the Honky Tonk courtesy of the best Western swing record of the year. The Willie by way of Asleep at the Wheel opener “My Whiskey Life” is a perfect introduction to a band that makes no bones about it. They like both kinds of music, Country and Western.

The entire spectrum of country song fare is represented here, Lovin’ with “Fixin’ to Love You,” Leavin’ on “The Cost of Lovin’ You,” and Livin’ representing on “Dead End Jobs Blues.” And, of course, there is plenty of Cheatin’, Drinkin’, and Hurtin’ going on just ask the closer “Cheatin’, Drinkin’ Hurtin’ Song.”

London Grammar – Californian Soil

If you miss The Eurythmic and Florence and the Machine, Californian Soil courtesy of London Trio London Grammar just might be your latest jam. Sparse, Electo-Pop of the highest order, it is the otherworldly vocals of Hanna Reid that carries the day with this band. 

“Lose Your Head” in an epic of a song that will lose you in the groove, “How Does It Feel” is Adele meets Annie and is one of the more straightforward pop songs on the record, and the title track, “Californian Soil” is simply a haunting masterpiece.

Simply put, this is a stunning record.

Jesse Aycock – Steps

A card-carrying member of Todd Snider’s side-piece band The Hard Working Americans, Jesse Aycock combines blissful Laurel Canyon Rock with Tulsa-inspired J.J. Cale Roots rock into a blend that will have you reaching for your old Whiskeytown records.

“Wreck Like You” has a bit of George Harrison sound to it, the opener “Shed The Light” could have been a Chris Robinson Brotherhood single, and the laid-back groove of “Roll South” does J.J. Cale proud. 

“High Hopes” Rocks it up into Tom Petty territory, and the closing “Woodland Park” will most definitely leave you in a feel-good mood. Todd Snider is great, but Jesse Aycock with this new record is right on his heels.

Imelda May – 11 Past The Hour

Full disclosure, while we like this latest incarnation of Scotland’s own Imelda May that she brings out on her latest 11 Past The Hour, we prefer the Eddie Cochran Wanda Jackson version of Imelda versus the Sheryl Crow AOR sound that we get here. Even the presence of Ronnie Wood and Noel Gallagher is good but doesn’t throttle up the coolness meter like her version of “Tainted Love” or the song “Johnny Boom Boom” Does. 

That is not to say this is not a good record, in fact, quite the opposite, it is really good. “Made To Love” is a highly polished Pretenders style track, the title song is a fine bit of late-night noir, and “What We Did in the Dark” is a propulsive highly addictive duet with sometimes Arctic Monkey Miles Kane that will be perfect for the festival circuit should festivals ever be a thing again.

Five Cool Ones: Five New Albums Released This Week (March 26, 2021)

There is a lot to love on the musical landscape this week with highly excellent new music from the T-Rex Mojo of the band GospelbeacH and their song “Albatross Baby”

The mellow Steely Dan inspired smoothness from Moon City Masters and their song “Where You Wanna Run To.”

And, Rock is the New Roll favorite rockers Starcrawlers treat the ears with a live song direct from The Roxy in L.A. with “You Dig Yours” 

Along with all of the above goodness here are five albums we are digging this week.

The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs – One More Drink

Non-apologetic no holds barred Rock and Roll for the masses. Their first album in over 20 years after reuniting in 2014, this record is a cocktail of Power Pop, New Wave, Punk, and Heavy Metal served on the rocks with a dose of Cheap Trick thrown in for good measure, most notably on the title song that is a tribute to Dramarama’s “Last Cigarette.” 

 “We Are The Ones (We’ve Been Waiting For)” is as good as a Rock and Roll anthem can get. And, “Rumblin’ Down” is an off the rails don’t drive 55 scorcher.

Dr. Lonnie Smith – Breathe

With sublime vocal assistance from Iggy Pop on the Santana inspired opener “Why Can’t We Live Together” as well as an over the top-notch cover of “Sunshine Superman,” the king of the Hammond B-3 grooves his way through a set of tunes that would fit in quite nicely at Austin Powers’ bachelor party. Released on the Blue Note record label, Here, Smith has recaptured the energy of his early recordings in the capable hands of producer and Blue Note major-domo Don Was. The breezy “Bright Eyes” was recorded live at The Jazz Standard in New York City and with the snappy “Epistrophy” the organ maestro pays tribute to Thelonius Monk.

The Dust Coda – Mojo Skyline

This one might just be the Classic Rock-influenced album of the year, and it’s only March. Channeling Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, and Humble Pie in almost equal measures, “Dream Alright” has a down-home Lynyrd Skynyrd vibe, “Bourbon Pouring” could have easily been a Faces song, and the closer, “It’s A Jam” would have fit perfectly on any of the early Nazareth albums. 

From the opening lick to the last riff if you are a fan of Rock in general and ’70s Rock in particular, Mojo Skyline is most definitely your jam and will be for the rest of the year.

Badfinger – No Matter What (Revisiting The Hits)

Having released the excellent album Be True To Yourself in 2020, Joey Molland, the last living member of Badfinger, is back with an immensely entertaining set of Badfinger songs. Calling in favors from his famous friends, every song sparkles, and even the deeper cuts such as “Love Is Gonna Come at Last” are brought to brilliant life courtesy of the side-men involved, Rick Springfield case in point on this one. Highlights are many, most notably Todd Rundgren’s turn on “Without You” a song that could have been written by the angels for Todd to sing, along with Matthew Sweet, of course, on the Power Pop masterpiece “Baby Blue.” Rick Wakeman lends some piano chords to “Come & Get It” and legendary slide-man Sonny Landreth completely owns “Suitcase.” 

Do your ears a solid and check this record out. Then, go back and go back and listen to the original library from a band that may just be one of the most underrated of all time.

Brigitte DeMeyer – Seeker

Not new to the scene having relocated from Nashville to California after a series of personal travails, Brigitte DeMeer seems to have reinvented herself with her latest record, Seeker. With a vibe that brings to the ear, Rikki Lee Jones and Sheryl Crow, the songs are mostly low-key in all the best of ways with standouts “Wishbone” and the slow burn of “Louisiana” as must-hears. the over-arching thing of keeping the soul moving forward and overcoming obstacles is prevalent throughout most notably on the title track along “Roots and Wings and Bones,” a song that celebrates having the courage to make healthy changes in your life.

Album of the Day: Foxy Shazam – Burn

When Foxy Shazam came out with The Church of Rock and Roll in 2012 it was almost as if our Rock and Roll Dreams had been answered. Bringing over-the-topness back to Rock and Roll and pushing the envelope to the extreme with the bombast of “Holy Touch” and the otherworldly wail of the title track, throwing down Glam, Pomp, and a whole lot of audacity, it looked for one flicker of a moment that the devil spawn of Freddie Mercury had finally been born, and the race with the devil was headed to the Sunset Strip circa 1987. Until that is, Eric Nally and the band crashed and burned in ways that would have made The New York Dolls blush.

That’s why their latest record Burn is such a treat to the ears. The high camp is still front and center, albeit turned down to levels normal humans can endure, and from the lead-off title track it is clear that this rebooted version of the band that channels Mick Jagger, James Brown, and Justin Hawkins from The Darkness is pressing forward with fairly straightforward Pop anthems with a swashbuckling style that is more Three Musketeers than Pirates of the Caribbean. And that is a very good thing.

The Song “Dreamer” is early Queen by way of Supertramp, “In My Mind” has a bit of Bruno Mars Mojo to it, “Doomed” somehow rhymes china and vagina without and it actually works, and the auto-tuned close “Into The Wild” does take a wide left turn but ends up to be trippy instead of entirely offense to the years.

In short, from what these band of renegades delivered with this album, they might be one record away from creating their opus.

Five Cool Ones: Just Five Cool Ones for This Week (January 8, 2021)

As musicians are dusting themselves off and getting ready to make their plans for the new year, the new record releases for this week have been a bit tepid, to say the least. But, fear not musical buckaroos, we will be back in full glory in the next couple of weeks as there are some really cool tunes primed and ready to hit our ear-waves very soon. In the meantime, here five cool ones that have hit our radar recently.

Grace Potter – Release

Somewhere along the line, Grace Potter has started to morph into a slightly more hip Beth Hart. But, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Here, on her fresh as a daisy new video for some inexplicable reason, we see her pulling a boat down the beach in a bikini, slow walking seductively in a field of flowers, and sitting down at the piano singing like a bird. But ours is not to question why ours is only to enjoy the ride provided by this song from her highly excellent 2019 record, Daylight.

Lukas Nelson – Set Me Down On A Cloud

Son of Willie proves once again that the apple falls right next to the tree. His series of quarantine songs, Special Soundcheck Songs, has been a beautiful respite of calmness during these trying days. Here, he performs an acoustically lovely version of “Set Me Down On A Cloud” from his debut self-titled record.

Peanuts Gang – Roundabout

This is a tough song to cover, but here the entire Peanuts gang joins in on one of the best versions of the song you will ever hear. Spoiler alert, Snoopy plays a mean upright bass.

Brothers in Exile – Last Orders

The former member of the Welsh band Sonny Jim, Lloyd Jenkins partners with Stu Calder for a new project, Brothers in Exile. With this, their latest single, the boys deliver a bouncy hook-laden gem in the Wildhearts mold.  Classic Rock magazine describes the tune as more fun than a clown car driven at speed into a bouncy castle. And, heck they may have something there.

The Quins – Wild Ones

Put a pin in this one and save it in your musical memory banks because you are going to bearing a lot more great music emanating from this band in the coming months, you can bet on it. Solid riffs, Power Pop textures with a dynamically voiced singer that can carry the day. For practice dive into their back catalog that includes their 2019 epic of an album, The Woods Look Good.

And, for extra credit check the band out live performing “The Devil’s Abode.”

 

Video of the Day: Coach Party – Can’t Talk, Won’t

It is pretty amazing that such a great band would come from such a small island, Isle of Wight. But naturally, the limited square miles available for wandering about means it is fairly inevitable that like-minded musicians will find each other and form a band. Newly signed by Chess Club Records, the folks who brought you, Wolf Alice, the band provides razor-sharp melodies and killer Indie-Pop hooks that should put them on the map in relatively short order.