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Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah – Highway 10 : Video Premiere
Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah released their second full-length record L.A. Yesterday earlier this summer. Recorded at engineer and guitarist Jason Soda’s Palomino Sound studio (Trummors, Miranda Lee Richards), Gallagher’s heady, ageless cosmic rock and roll will hit the listener like a bolt of lightning. Soda’s searing guitar solos, Gallagher’s unique and impassioned voice, Kirby Hammel’s opulent keys, and the hard-hitting, visceral lyrics make this album an instant classic. I’ve…
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Field Recordings
To use Neal Casal’s own words to describe his 1997 release, it “…really isn’t a record at all… it’s a sadly broken but strangely contented family of demos, dirges, out-takes, take-outs, songs proper and song fragments.” Containing outtakes from Fade Away Diamond Time, electrified versions of songs from Basement Dreams, and preliminary singles, each song was recorded and mixed in studios from coast to coast between 1994-1996. Only 1000 copies…
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Bandcamp Friday : Autumn Shopping List
It’s September, so basically fall. This list includes a lot of pre-orders, which I suppose is sort of a way of storing away sustenance for worse weather. And luckily, there’s a lot coming that’ll keep you warm and maybe less sad about shorter days and no longer being able to drink in the bike lane. I love ordering a record hella in advance, totally forgetting about it, ordering it again,…
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Rain, Wind and Speed
UPDATE 8.18.22 – The Neal Casal Music Foundation is reissuing special edition vinyls of Rain, Wind and Speed- get yours here. This is part two of Petal Motel’s series where we go through each Neal Casal solo album one by one and chat with friends and fellow musicians who participated in their making. Neal Casal’s second release, the tender, raw Rain, Wind and Speed, was recorded in just five days…
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Jeffrey Silverstein – Petal Steel : Playlist
Jeffrey Silverstein’s album You Become the Mountain was released in early April. It’s become my go-to album when I’m in need of some soothing, quietly affirming, binaural tones. It’s ambient, affirmative, extremely pretty, and a little weird. Which makes sense considering that the record’s inspired by the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, meditation, long-distance running and Silverstein’s experience as a special education teacher. The album is difficult to classify –…
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Fade Away Diamond Time
This is part one of Petal Motel’s series where we go through each Neal Casal solo album one by one and chat with friends and fellow musicians who participated in their making. In 1994, Neal Casal and several other musicians set up shop in a mansion in Santa Ynez, California, and spent a few weeks living there, recording the younger singer-songwriter’s debut album. Fade Away Diamond Time was an instant…
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Trummors – Dropout City
Dropout City is the fourth album by Trummors. The band consists of Anne Cunningham and David Lerner, who share songwriting duties, and call on an assortment of musical friends that vary from album to album to make the true desert music they’ve become known for. Blending the best sounds from psychedelic music, country-rock, and folk rock, Trummors’ Dropout City is a tour of all the best parts of Americana, with…
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Zephaniah OHora
The thing about Zephaniah OHora that’s been discussed to death is some sense of astonishment that such a real deal country sound could come from New York City. Well, why not? As a newcomer to NYC, I’m personally grateful to Zeph for cultivating NYC’s country scene. He’s the guy in control of the live music schedule at Skinny Dennis, the best of the very few honky tonks in the five…
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AC Sapphire – Desert Stars : Listen
“Ethereal folk rocker” AC Sapphire’s album Omni-Present was released in February 2020. Her dreamy vocals carry ruminative lyrics and accompany her unique instruments of choice. Produced by Matt Adams of the Blank Tapes, this is some good desert music! Check it out. Buy Omni Present on Bandcamp.