Not sure whether me playing actual whalesong in the office the other day was welcomed enthusiastically by all my colleagues, but David Rothenburg's interesting comp sits nicely in this reasonably eclectic selection. NYC Taper's come up trumps again with a killer Steve Gunn & The Black Twig Picke...
Not sure whether me playing actual whalesong in the office the other day was welcomed enthusiastically by all my colleagues, but David Rothenburg’s interesting comp sits nicely in this reasonably eclectic selection. NYC Taper’s come up trumps again with a killer Steve Gunn & The Black Twig Pickers session from the Hopscotch fest in Raleigh last month, plus there’s a new track from the mighty Spacin’ streaming at their website.
Pride of place this week, though, goes to the new Soldiers Of Fortune album; a New York coalition I haven’t come across before (and which has been misleadingly promoted in the UK as an Interpol/Spiritualized supergroup), but which features among others Kid Millions and Pat Sullivan from Oneida, the redoubtable Matt Sweeney, and Jesper Eklow. Eklow and – latterly – Sweeney’s work in Endless Boogie is satisfyingly key here, and I can’t recommend “Early Risers” enough: featured vocalists include Steve Malkmus, Cass McCombs and Comets On Fire/Howlin Rain/Heron Oblivion’s Ethan Miller. A decade ago, a Comets/Endless Boogie supergroup would’ve struck me as the best thing ever. As of today, it pretty much is; two songs below for your delectation. Let me know what you think…
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1 Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas – Autoimaginary (Drag City)
2 Steve Gunn & The Black Twig Pickers – 2015-09-11 Hopscotch Music Festival, Kennedy Theatre, Raleigh, NC (www.nyctaper.com)
3 Various Whales/David Rothenberg – New Songs of the Humpback Whale (Important)
4 Alex Bleeker & The Freaks – Country Agenda (Sinderlyn)
5 Kelley Stoltz – In Triangle Time (Castle Face)
6 Mark McGuire – Beyond Belief (Dead Oceans)
7 Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker – Land Of Plenty (Whistler)
8 2001 – Broke Me In Two (Soundcloud)
https://soundcloud.com/2001band/broke-me-in-two
9 Chris Forsyth & Koen Holtkamp – The Island (Trouble In Mind)
10 Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band – Intensity Ghost (No Quarter)
11 Nadia Reid – Listen To Formation, Look For The Signs (Scissor Tail/Spunk)
12 Floating Points – Elaenia (Pluto)
13 Spacin’ – Titchy (Richie/www.spacin.org)
14 Chris Forsyth & Koen Holtkamp – Early Astral (Blackest Rainbow)
15 The Necks – Vertigo (ReR/Northern Spy)
16 Tinariwen – Live In Paris: Oukis N’Asuf (Wedge)
17 Rod Stewart – Another Country (Capitol)
18 Nots – We Are Nots (Heavenly)
19 Soldiers Of Fortune – Early Risers (Mexican Summer)
20 Nectarine No 9 – Saint Jack (Heavenly)
21 Skyray – Neptune Variations (Ochre)
22 Dave Rawlings Machine – Nashville Obsolete (Acony)
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