Roots World Recommends The Good Ones
Roots World recommends the new album from Rwanda’s The Good Ones, entitled Rwanda, You Should Be Loved. “To listen to this record,” the site writes, “is to experience the redemption that follows heartbreak. There’s a slight creak in the harmony vocals, a sense of the forlorn in the acoustic guitars. It’s music of endless depth, […]
The Sheffield Hallam Students’ Union Draws Attention To Vetiver’s “Sweet, Tender, and Weathered” Voice
In a post promoting a Vetiver performance in the UK last year, a reviewer at the Sheffield Hallam Students’ Union wrote, “What’s magic about this new Vetiver LP Up On High is the way these tangents colour the ten songs without undermining a distinct move to more elemental, spacious and natural arrangements. At the heart […]
46-30 Podcast Shares Yorkston/Thorne/Khan’s “Westlin Winds”
Alongside Stephan Marshall, the head of the eclectic Triassic Tusk label, who hosts the regular podcast 46-30: Quality music of no fixed abode alongside Scottish folk musician and songwriter James Yorkston. On it, they play and discuss music from around the globe. Yorkston is also a member of the trio Yorkston/Thorne/Khan, and on the latest episode he […]
Flood Shares Devendra Banhart’s Carole King-Inspired “Taking A Page;” Pitchfork Shares His “Song I Wish I Wrote”
FLOOD has the video for “Taking A Page,” a song from Devendra Banhart‘s album Ma that the songwriter says comes from a lyric borrowed from Carole King. Banhart got permission from the legendary artist, who he credits with helping him navigate the emotional fallout after Donald Trump claimed victory in the 2016 presidential election. “I […]
Leif Vollebekk, On Tour, Plays For Paste
Leif Vollebekk, the Montréal-based singer-songwriter whose critically-acclaimed new album New Ways is at radio now, is on tour. For a taste of the Canadian heartthrob’s in-person charm, take a look at this performance from last month at the Paste HQ. Go here to enjoy the sparse, intimate performance. Vollebekk has 2020 shows starting next week. […]
Brooklyn Vegan and Pitchfork Laud Mount Eerie’s Songwriting
Brooklyn Vegan writes that on Lost Wisdom pt. 2, Mount Eerie’s Phil Elverum “again uses the plainspoken delivery that he used on his last two albums, though as with the first Lost Wisdom, the music and melodies often hearken back to ’60s psychedelic folk (except ‘Widows,’ where Phil shows off his love of heavier music). […]
The Good Ones, Hailed By Critics, Land On NPR’s 2019 Wrap Up
The Good Ones were featured on NPR‘s All Songs Considered Year In Review list at the end of 2019. Go here to check out the entire playlist, curated by Bob Boilen and company. Of course, the people at NPR aren’t the only fans of The Good Ones. The band’s new LP, Rwanda, You Should Be […]
LA Times Lists Samantha Sidley’s LP Among The Best Of The Year
The Los Angeles Times has included Samantha Sidley amongst heavy hitters like Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey in its Best Albums list from 2019. The article calls Sidley’s Interior Person “a sweet, funny, tastefully arranged vocal-jazz disc about same-sex romance.” See the list here, and get the album (and Sidley’s take on Ry Cooder‘s […]
Off The Tracks Reviews The Bird And The Bee’s Virtuosic Van Halen Take
New Zealand’s Off The Tracks says that, compared to the The Bird And The Bee’s previous Hall & Oates tribute LP, Interpreting The Masters Volume 2: A Tribute To Van Halen is “more of a stretch and provides some interesting tonal differences.” The site writes that Greg Kurstin and Inara George have “never sounded better […]
Spill Gives Four And A Half Splats To Leif Vollebekk
Spill Magazine praises the “honest, soul-baring” LP New Ways from Montréal’s Leif Vollebekk, who plays tomorrow night at The Bowery Ballroom in New York. “The simple yet moving stories in each track,” the review states, “are rich with relatable musings. The easy–flowing melodies are layered with smooth vocals that are raw with the sincerity of proclamation and […]
No Depression Tells The Good Ones’ Story
No Depression describes Rwanda, You Should Be Loved – the third album from The Good Ones – as “a stirring collection of authentic, original folk songs that is somehow emotive, educational, and entertaining.” The venerable, roots-focused magazine praises the record for the “rawness” of its sound, captured live in Rwanda by producer Ian Brennan. The album features collaborations with […]
Northern Transmissions Applauds Lost Wisdom, pt. 2
Lost Wisdom pt. 2, the new collaborative LP from Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron, is “lovely and sparse.” This is according to Northern Transmissions, which notes the grief that inspired the album and writes that “it is never easy to listen to anyone pour their heart out so openly transparent but Elverum does so in […]
Glide Compares Vetiver To The Dead
“After the poppy sounds of 2015’s Complete Strangers,” Glide Magazine writes about the new Vetiver LP, “the folky, airy sounds of Up On High feels like a return to form.” The album is “one of the best albums of Vetiver’s career,” the site contends, as it “finds Vetiver doing what they do best: folk-rock. Most […]
Come Here Floyd Shares Natalie Walker’s “Last Day”
Natalie Walker‘s “Last Day,” writes Come Here Floyd, is a “sultry walk down a boardwalk of memories, strewn with piano chords and a new-wave vision for what love could have felt.” About Walker, whose Evenfall EP is currently at radio, Come Here Floyd says, she “keeps her music simple. And the way Natalie presents her […]
For Folk’s Sake Premieres Gregory Ackerman Video
Gregory Ackerman told For Folk’s Sake that his song “‘Dawg’ is a more sarcastic interpretation where I end up literally telling someone not to call me ‘dear’. It’s a lot like the line from Space Jam where Lola Bunny tells Bugs not to call her ‘doll’ while blowing her ears out of her face. Same […]
Brooklyn Vegan Debuts Leif Vollebekk’s “Blood Brother” Video
Brooklyn Vegan has debuted a new music video for Canadian artist Leif Vollebekk’s New Ways track “Blood Brother.” According to the site, it’s “one of the poppiest, most upbeat tracks on the album…that takes clear inspiration from Thin Lizzy and also The Strokes.” Director Joe Connor (Coldplay, Sam Smith, Paul Weller, Mumford & Sons, Kylie Minogue) explains, “Leif […]
WNYC Hosts The Good Ones
The Good Ones have been making an impact on the NACC charts, and their album Rwanda, You Should Be Loved debuted at #18 this month on the Transglobal Music Chart. The Rwandan group, made up of genocide survivors who sing in Kinyarwanda and perform often on hand-crafted instruments, also recently made a trip to perform in […]
Paste Is Positive About Mount Eerie’s New LP With Julie Doiron
Paste is positive about the new Mount Eerie record, proclaiming that Lost Wisdom pt. 2 is perhaps “the easiest point of entry to the Mount Eerie discography in a decade.” The LP, which is a collaboration between Phil Elverum and Julie Doiron of Eric’s Trip, follows an album the two made together in 2007. “Though […]
Spill Gives Vetiver Four And a Half Splats
Spill has given Vetiver‘s new LP a glowing review. Up On High is “a groovy, chilled-out acoustic-driven collection of songs that feature poetic, imagistic lyrics and a hopeful tone from song-to-song that reflects a certain kind of weathered contentedness with life that is refreshing and… relatable.” The reviewer compares the band to “the early Brushfire Records […]
Sax & Violins Posts Samantha Sidley’s “Drive Like I Never Been Hurt”
Sax&Violins has shared Samantha Sidley’s new cover of Ry Cooder’s “Drive Like I Never Been Hurt.” “I felt I needed to sing it,” explains the Los Angeles born-and-bred jazz vocalist in an accompanying feature. “It was something I needed to talk about. This song to me is about saying ‘f**k you’ to all and any oppressive obstacles life […]
