New Music From Tav Falco
Musician, filmmaker, performer, and cultural conjurer Tav Falco moves with ease between Memphis juke joints and Weimar cabarets while blending tango, vocal jazz, rockabilly, and noir Americana into a personal mythology with a wink and a streak of cultivated danger. He has been fronting Panther Burns – a loose vehicle for outcasts, hipsters, and other beautiful misfits […]
At The Barrier Compares Patrick Watson to Art-Folk Royalty
In a recent review, At The Barrier tells the story of Patrick Watson‘s Uh Oh, an album inspired by a period during which the much-awarded songwriter had lost his voice and reached out to a set of gifted collaborators to bring his new songs to life. According to the site, “For an album that must have felt a life […]
Stereogum Enjoys The “Detailed Quilt” of Geckøs’ Sound
“There’s a new folk supertrio in town,” according to Stereogum. The site explains that “Geckøs is the latest project from Americana musician M. Ward (known for his solo work and the She & Him project with Zooey Deschanel), Tucson-based songwriter Howe Gelb, and Irish multi-instrumentalist Mark McCausland aka McKowski.” The site recently premiered the trio’s track “El Techno,” describing the sound as “a detailed quilt of […]
Magnet Goes Track-By-Track With Fruit Bats
New Fruit Bats LP Baby Man, writes Magnet, “is an unadulterated portrait of an artist at the top of his game, alone with his thoughts, a few instruments and heaps of knee-jerk inspiration. Johnson’s singing has never sounded more vulnerable and alive, and the music—stripped back, disarmingly real and achingly beautiful—matches the revelatory mood.” The magazine breaks the album […]
Ink19 Reviews The Silver Snails’ “Lovingly Constructed” Sophomore LP
In a review, Ink19 says “the songs on The Silver Snails‘ Speed of Light are lovingly constructed pop songs that remind me of later period XTC. The band has a fine command of song structure… it sounds good on headphones… Overall, Speed of Light reminds me of pop/prog projects like Asia.” The site pegs “A Flagrant Display of Magic,” which “comes on with a […]
Folk Alley Recommends The Relentlessly Spare New Fruit Bats LP
“Unrelenting in its spareness,” writes Folk Alley, “Fruit Bats’ new album, Baby Man, strips away any pretense that the struggles of life can be addressed in glib cliches. Minimalist arrangements and introspective lyrics reveal the contours of Eric D. Johnson’s journeys in self-reflection. Every song features his searing vocals alone with a guitar or a piano.” Check out […]
The Mosh Network Shares Venera’s Chelsea Wolfe Collab
The Mosh Network has coverage of Exinfinite, the new album from Venera, which is a collaboration between composers Chris Hunt and James “Munky” Shaffer (best known as a founding member of Korn). The album features several guests, including FKA twigs, DJ Dis Fig, and Chelsea Wolfe, who is called a “goth rock icon” by the site. According to the Mosh Network, Wolfe lends her “signature dark, […]
Arts Fuse Plugs In With Mary Halvorson
Arts Fuse has a review of a recent performance by Mary Halvorson and her Amaryllis sextet in support of About Ghosts, “Over the course of her previous albums Amaryllis, Belladonna, and Cloudward, Halvorson’s writing has sharpened for small band,” the site writes. “Always beguiling — as rhythmically and harmonically knotty and form-bending as her guitar playing — the band’s music on About Ghosts seems to […]
New Music From Patrick Watson
Patrick Watson composes, performs, and records his albums with his long-time bandmates, collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Mishka Stein, and Olivier Fairfield. The Canadian artist reached gold and platinum status in over multiple countries, and his shows sell out around the world. Over the course of his career, Watson has retained the uncanny ability to coexist in mainstream pop-culture spaces […]
Ghettoblaster Gets Going With Geckøs
In its premiere of the new song “El Techno,” Ghettoblaster writes, “Can we consider Geckøs a supergroup of sorts? Possibly. Through the years, all three artists – M. Ward, Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), and Mark McCausland (a.k.a. McKowski) – have collaborated individually and appeared on each other’s records on several occasions. But it wasn’t until they were all recently in Tucson […]
End Sessions Likes Letters Under Glass
End Sessions likes “Shimmer (Firefly)” by Letters Under Glass and recommends repeated listens of the track, which features a “slow, pulsating, and vibrant rhythm… Although at first listen it may sound like a simple song, it is not, and in each repetition you will come across something that will fascinate you.” Read the full review in its original […]
Americana UK Says The New Fruit Bats LP Is Brave And Intimate
Americana UK says the new Fruit Bats album Baby Man “reshapes Eric D. Johnson’s place in the indie folk constellation, offering a brave and intimate sonic journey. It’s one that pulses with vulnerability and sets itself apart like Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.” The album’s stripped-down production, the site writes, “draw out a profound emotional resonance in each […]
New Music From GECKØS (M. Ward, Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb, & McKowski)
GECKØS is the collective spirit of acclaimed songwriter M. Ward, Giant Sand visionary Howe Gelb, and Irish multi-instrumentalist Mark McCausland (aka McKowski). Born out of an impromptu recording session that was sparked by an encounter at the wedding of a mutual friend, the project blends the rich flavors of the Southwest with indie folk, Spanish influences, and a touch of Irish mysticism. […]
Venera Earns “Album Of The Day” From Bandcamp
Venera‘s new LP Exinfinite received Album of the Day honors at Bandcamp Daily on September 16. The site explains that “Venera is a duo of Chris Hunt and James Shaffer. Where Hunt’s background as a filmmaker and composer sensibly yields itself to degraded experimentation, Shaffer’s nu metal roots as the founding guitarist of Korn, make him a much more surprising candidate for an avant-garde pivot. Here, his […]
Baby Man Displays The Purity of Fruit Bats’ Artistry, Writes Glide
Fruit Bats, the ever-evolving project of Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Eric D. Johnson, is no stranger to gentle, swaying balladry,” observes Glide in its review of new Fruit Bats LP Baby Man. The site continues, “After decades of crafting a pop-tinted, folksy discography brimming with sonic shifts and emotional volatility, the artist emerges with his most raw and personal album yet […]
Lucas Ward Tells Retrofuturista About The Making of Silver Snails’ New Opus
Lucas Ward of The Silver Snails recently spoke with Retrofuturista about the band and the influences, marketing strategies, and processes behind new LP Speed of Light. In the interview, Ward explains how location has shaped their experiences as a band. “Our home in Romagna is nestled in idyllic vineyards, with sunflower fields and rolling hills, 20 miles inland from the […]
Rolling Stone Talks To Fruit Bats About Baby Man
Rolling Stone has a feature on Eric D. Johnson and his new album under the Fruit Bats moniker, Baby Man, which the venerable magazine calls “devastatingly minimal… with Baby Man, he’s further celebrating the simple beauty of folk. The album is a stripped-down 10-song effort that was knocked out over a week in February. Unlike full-band Fruit Bats albums, Johnson leaned hard […]
Revolver Shares Venera’s “Prismatically Slapping” Track “Tear”
Revolver has coverage of the new album from Venera, the project of Chris Hunt and Korn’s Munky that features guest vocalists including FKA twigs and Chelsea Wolfe. The site premiered the visualizer of album opener “Tear,” which demonstrates the duo’s penchant for “slow-clapped sensory overload.” The site calls the song “prismatically slapping… beginning with ambient seven-string drones and symphonic ambiance before squelching itself towards electronic […]
Lucas Ward of Silver Snails Keeps It 100
100 Percent Rock Magazine has an interview with Lucas Ward of The Silver Snails, who tells the site who he’d love to collaborate with musically: “The Flaming Lips. They are the ones that I admire the most as recording and live artists and who have inspired The Silver Snails the most. They are also highly collaborative.” There’s […]
Group Project’s Jacob Brown Tells The Rockman About Osheaga
Montréal’s Group Project recently played the Osheaga Festival, where they got bumped up to the main stage after being booked for a short set on a smaller stage. The band’s Jacob Brown spoke to The Rockman Power Hour about the experience, which he said was “a dream come true,” and also let fans know that the group has a “buttload” of new music to […]
