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Quiet Cowboy – Ambient
AMBIENT by Quiet Cowboy Today, Boise/NYC duo Ron Raymond and Michael Chacon, known together as Quiet Cowboy, release Ambient, a four-track EP that “joins the gritty street of New York City to the pristine wilderness of the Boise Mountains in Idaho. It’s very much of the genre, it checks all the boxes – it’s achingly gorgeous, it’s acoustic guitar, it’s pedal steel, we’re never getting sick of it, we can’t get enough of it, pour it all over me. This is ambient country. But then again, it isn’t. There’s something meta, something that feels intentional in the bending of the…
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Heat Manager – “Palm Springs”
Heat Manager, the new project from members of High Times, Tiger High, and the Echo Friendly, blends California folk with east coast wit with “Palm Springs,” the debut single from the upcoming Relaxed American LP, out 3/14 on their American Grapefruit imprint. The song about feeling disillusioned at Coachella back when indie rock still made some money is all too relatable on several levels, with unpretentious vocals and even more plain-speaking lyrics reminiscent of Silver Jews. The rest of the three-piece’s album is just as clever and far out, with surfy licks landing the band somewhere between New Riders of…
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Joe Wilkinson – “Where the Wait Isn’t Long”
A few years ago, we talked with Joe Wilkinson about Basement Dreams as part of our serial retrospective of Neal Casal’s solo albums. Recently, Relix premiered a song Joe wrote about Neal, featuring the keys magician John Ginty, the angelic harmonies of Angie McKenna, and Chuck Wood on bass, Fredo Ortiz on drums, George Kapitanelis on electric upright bass and Ed Rainey on dobro. The multi-talented Deren Ney created the video animating many of Neal’s own photographs. The song is beautiful and reflective, and shows the weight of the loss Neal’s friends still feel years later, as we know grief isn’t…
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Bobby Lee Live
Last year, Bobby Lee’s Endless Skyways was on constant rotation at my house. It’s the kind of music I’m always in the mood for – atmospheric and animated, shimmering and intricate, transcendent and timeless. Today, Bobby shares a live video, recorded last June at Tesla Studios in his hometown of Sheffield. He is a true master of his craft – fully immersed and immersive, he’s joined by friends Mark Armstrong, Guy Whittaker, and Dimitri to weave the listener into a prismatic trance. You can buy Endless Skyways, via Tompkins Square, on Bandcamp. And don’t miss Bobby Lee on tour with…
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Beachwood Sparks – Across the River of Stars
My favorite band released a new album, after an 11 year hiatus. Not that its members haven’t all been busy – I’ve been sketching a family tree, Peter Frame-style, and its many branches have me rethinking its structure, more like a mycelium system, all interwoven and interconnected and to me, one living organism hosting many fruiting bodies. The latest fruit, Across the River of Stars, out now on founding band member Brent Rademaker’s Curation Records, is bursting forth with color and vibrancy. Filled with classic Beachwood Sparks sounds, it’s rollicking, sparkling, yet brings freshness and modernism. Lyrics nod to both…
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Riggings – The High and Lonesome Racket
Egg by Riggings Riggings’ latest single, “The High and Lonesome Racket,” out today, examines what songwriter Alex Riggs calls “the massive Queer Pain Industrial Complex that takes all queer suffering, sands it down, and repackages it for profit at the expense of art and personal expression.” Riggings’ latest album, Egg, thwarts this complex by exploring several complicated human truths this album, with Riggs’s signature laid-bare honesty mixed with winking humor, exposing her vulnerability, her clever linguistic prowess, and her skill on a plethora of instruments. “The High and Lonesome Racket” is three chords and the truth, with intricately embroidered piano…
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Trummors – “Hey Babe”
I am thrilled to announce the debut single from Trummors’ upcoming album, 5, out April 12th via Ernest Jenning Record Co. Trummors are my very favorite duo, and this song hits especially close to home, reflecting on the rare nature of lifetime love. I haven’t yet had the pleasure of meeting Annie and Dave but parasocially, their bond is so beautiful and I’ve always admired their adventurous spirit and how they are surrounded and embracing of a loving community (evident by repeated session musicians across their incredible discography) but are such a simultaneously powerful self-sustaining unit- for years I’ve enjoyed…
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Nora Nygard – I Wish I Could See You
I Wish I Could See You by Nora Nygard A stunning portrait of grief, loss, and isolation, Nora Nygard’s I Wish I Could See You is a finale to her epic body of work in this genre, after spending the last five years releasing over 300 ambient and drone pieces. The 40-minute piece piece begins tense and anxious, looming heavily, and gives way to something lighter, something emergent. Nora’s hushed vocals speak of her longing, her sadness, the weight of her grief, invoking her brother’s spirit, willing him to return, which ultimately, on some plane he does. In her own…
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Andy Aquarius – “Waters Above, Waters Below”
We are delighted to kick off the new year with mystical new sounds from Andy Aquarius. His EP Holy Rude was one of our top listens last year, and his upcoming album Golla Gorroppu (out March 2024 via Hush Hush Records) promises more enchantment. The first single “Waters Above, Waters Below” is enigmatic, haunting, and ethereal, like all his music. Golla Gorroppu features his astounding harpistry, and angelic vocals, both Andy’s own and a heavenly guest, sounding somehow both ancient and otherworldly at the same time. Golla Gorroppu by Andy Aquarius A follow-up to his acclaimed 2021 debut album Chapel,…
