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Satomimagae – Numa : Listen
Tokyo-based musician Satomimagae announces Hanazono, her fourth full-length album and first via RVNG Intl and Guruguru Brain. Today she shares the first single, Numa, and the accompanying video directed by Soh Iedeuchi. Hanazono is dreamy and understated, minimalistic and naturalistic, inspired by private moments of awe experienced in nature. Satomi’s musical history begins in middle school and involves obsessions with the guitar, delta blues tapes, and private experiments with songwriting. As she expanded her instrumental repertoire and began layering in elements of her own vocals, bird calls, electronics, and freed herself from the rigid constraints of genre. I realized that…
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Leslie Mendelson – People’s Parties
Early last year, Leslie Mendelson released an excellent, highly-anticipated solo record that was unfortunately eclipsed in the news by the pandemic. When planned tours were relegated into bedroom live-streams, Leslie had to rethink how to perform her rock and roll songs on her own. The result was a sweet EP of acoustic versions of songs from If You Can’t Say Anything Nice, showcasing Leslie’s songwriting talent and proving that the songs could certainly stand on their own without the embellishment of her fantastic backing band. As a treat, she also included a lovely version of Joni Mitchell’s “People’s Parties” on…
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Deniz Cuylan – Flaneurs In Hakone : Listen
Film composer Deniz Cuylan has taken time away from scoring Netflix productions to compose a gorgeous record of classical instrumental guitar tunes. Hear the immersing, captivating first single here. The memory is distant but distinct: Deniz Cuylan, five years old, early 1980s, at home in Istanbul, Turkey, listening to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on his parents’ turntable. Those regal opening notes arise from nowhere and the music is instantly as real as daylight, refracting his imagination into a spectrum of unfamiliar sensations: grandeur, urgency, beauty, sorrow. Communion. He plays the Fifth over and over and over, perceiving the orchestra as a…
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Jeffrey Silverstein – Rivers Running By
Portland-based musician Jeffrey Silverstein has announced Torii Gates, an EP out 4/16 via Arrohawk Records. Hear the stunning first single, “Rivers Running By” here. Torii Gates by Jeffrey Silverstein The EP is a natural segue from Silverstein’s 2020 album, You Become the Mountain, a continuity that stems from Jeffrey’s previous signature pure and cleansing tones; with a heavy dose of some serious fuzzed out guitar bliss. Once again joined by pedal steel player Barry Walker Jr., whose pedal steel breaks the ground and clears the path ahead for the lyrical river to flow through, and bassist Alex Chapman whose basslines…
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Elkhorn announces “Southern Star”
WarHen has announced a cassette release of Southern Star from cerebral psych duo Elkhorn announces Southern Star. Today you can hear the first track, recorded at the Montauk Salt Cave in the East Village of New York, a magical, intimate spot where attendees can breathe in therapeutic Himalayan salt while reclining in zero-gravity chairs. Let the track transport you: WH050: Southern Star by Elkhorn The collection includes six songs recorded live in early 2020 around the Eastern Seaboard. Mike Gangloff (Pelt), Nate Scheible, Harmonica Dan & Ken Brenninger, and Jordan Perry all contribute to weave a lustrous, intimate tapestry in…
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Fruit Bats – The Balcony : Listen
Eric D. Johnson, aka Fruit Bats, has shared the second single and the absolutely delightful accompanying video from upcoming album The Pet Parade. Johnson says the video, co-directed by wife Annie Beedy, was “inspired by Cabaret (the film version) mixed with the Star Wars cantina scene and a dash of The Mighty Boosh, with a storyline inspired by Dirty Dancing and Steve McQueen’s ‘Lovers Rock.’” “The Balcony” follows the album’s debut single, “Holy Rose“, and proves that Johnson’s albums consecutive albums continue to top one another. The lyrics give hope to those of us waiting out grey, sequestered, winter days. Fruit Bats consistently delivers the kind of feel-good…
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Nashville Ambient Ensemble – Conversion : Listen
This is not your mama’s Nashville sound. The elements are there – unmistakably hypnotic vocals, haunting pedal steel, and the spirit of collaboration and community. But this talented collective has arranged the parts in an experimental, genre-defying manner, and the results are glorious. Cerulean by Nashville Ambient Ensemble Organized and led by electronic composer Michael Hix who plays synth, the group also includes Luke Schneider on pedal steel guitar, Kim Rueger (Belly Full of Stars) on piano, Jack Silverman on baritone electric guitar, Deli Paloma-Sisk (Diatom Deli) on voice, Cynthia Cárdenas on guitar synth, and Timon Kaple on electric guitar.…
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Nico Hedley & Field Guides – Worldly & The City is a Painting : Listen
Brooklyn friends Nico Hedley and Field Guides have announced the release of a split 7″ out February 14th on Whatever’s Clever, featuring Hedley’s song, “Worldly,” and Field Guides’s “The City is a Painting.” Check out the video for the songs here. Hedley and Kupstas have both perfected a wistfulness and a subtle melancholy. The songs complement each other and flow together seamlessly. Like fellow NYC-based musicians Yo La Tengo and labelmate Adeline Hotel, their musicianship is thoughtful, to-the-point, and balanced, with lyric-driven gems of songs that resonant basslines and pedal steel and piano, respectively, serve to emphasize. After nearly a…
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Tyler Rigdon & the Second Arrangement – Everything Changed : Listen
New York’s Tyler Rigdon & The Second Arrangement has announced a new album, My Bakersfield, about a time-traveling cowboy. I “met” Tyler in a Gram Parsons facebook group, and was instantly drawn to his steel-laden, mysto-conceptual work. Everything Changed (Single) by Tyler Rigdon & The Second Arrangement Tyler Rigdon is a songwriter based in New York City by way of Flint, Michigan. His latest recording efforts, including the upcoming “My Bakersfield,” are self-described as art-pop-Americana contraptions. While littered with classic country music motifs, his sound owes so much in concept and approach to 70s album-oriented rock and the production methods of…
