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Greg Loiacono : Seed
Wow this song is a MOOD. I love this Greg – that edge, grit, and angst! This is the sound and the vibe that made so many young audiences fall head first for the Mother Hips 30 years ago. Greg relays a sentiment we can all relate to, “We don’t have a choice about being born. But we are expected to live certain ways. Parents who create us, school teachers…
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Dirt Reynolds – The Day David Duke Came to Destrehan
Dirt Reynolds is the alter-ego of Louisiana native and East Nashville resident Chris Watts. As a young man, he was stabbed in a barfight and a judge told him to join the military. So he did. Then during Hurricane Katrina, he was shot in the Superdome while serving in the National Guard, he went back to college, and began educating himself about political science and re-examining the values he was…
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Sounds from the Bardo Vol. I : Experience!
This is not a song – this is a psychedelic experience. Last time we talked to Prana Crafter, he was writing his PhD dissertation on psychic communication in music. Makes perfect sense that he’d partner with the “misfit seekers” that make up Psychedelic Sangha, an NYC-based collective that offers peer-supported psychedelic experimentation, and hosts soundbaths, guided meditation, and spiritual arts programming. “Sounds from the Bardo” is a new album-based series…
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Olivia + Harrison – The Shadow : Listen
I met Harrison Flynn in 2017 standing in line at Amoeba in LA, waiting to get our copies of Barefoot in the Head signed by Chris Robinson and Neal Casal. If I recall correctly, I think we talked a lot about Sweetheart of the Rodeo maybe, the Dead, the usual suspects. I tried to get him to start a band with me actually but luckily, he held out to work…
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Finding Dark Peace with Leslie Mendelson
Leslie Mendelson is one of my favorite singer-songwriters. She writes really powerful songs that can break your heart like a twig in a mere second; she exudes confidence onstage but her lyrics, on her latest album particularly, are oh so vulnerable. She put out a great record, sparse yet heavy, just at the precipice of the pandemic that was all too timely, entitled If You Can’t Say Anything Nice… The…
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Neal Casal – Everything is Moving / Green Moon : Listen
This morning I had a dream about literally getting a message from Neal – I dreamed that I got an Instgram DM and I thought, “hmm this probably isn’t actually him but wouldn’t it be nice if you could DM from beyond the pale?” Before I got to read the message, my eyes shot open. I immediately looked at my phone, and the first thing I saw was this email…
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Maria BC – Adelaide : Listen
Brooklyn-based artist Maria BC releases their first single from upcoming EP Devil’s Rain today. Made in the midst of quarantining, Maria BC had to record quietly so as not to disturb housemates and neighbors, resulting in a collection of songs with an intimate, sparse, lullaby-like quality. Maria explains Adelaide as a song inspired by a friend but addressed to their self, “A friend of mine used to work as a…
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Albums We Loved This Year
Another banner year for music. I have grown to dislike ranking albums, as if art was mere sports. Ugh! I’ll get right the point. Please buy these albums and support the artists! It’s more essential than ever to pay the folks who are likely sustaining you culturally this year. I won’t tell you which I liked most but I will tell you which new releases I listened to most, in…
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Songs of the year – 2020
Here’s a list of 60 of our favorite songs from this year, some of them from our favorite albums, some not, all fantastic. We wrote about fifteen of them, too, because we usually look at albums holistically and don’t get to spend a lot of time normally examining a song at a time. It was fun! Talking about music is fun. Music is great, you should buy it! On a…
