This track caught our ears with its wonderful horns, and grand swoon of a sound. It’s the work of Sydney songwriter East Denistone and comes from his 2018 EP While You Still Draw Breath. It’s more on the indie rock tip, in the vein of The National and Grizzly Bear but it incorporate elements of … Continue reading
Here’s a beautifully melodic and melancholic song from Wildie (Sweden). It comes from their album Westbound and finds them dealing in sweet, piano-led Americana. Continue reading
Dave Ernst hails from Louisville, Kentucky and this wonderfully bruised slice of Southern country rock comes from his debut solo album Hickory Switch, produced by Peter Searcy (Squirrel Bait) and mixed by Ken Coomer (Wilco, Uncle Tupelo). You can definitely hear Uncle Tupelo, Drive-By Truckers, Lucero and the like in the sound of this song, ‘Superstar’, … Continue reading
A really nice sound from San Francisco resident Eric Long on this sparse acoustic folk track. The fiddle works beautifully, as does Long’s weathered voice that keeps the song firmly in the soil and hot sun of an American countryside, as he searches for optimism. The song comes from his 2018 LP A Long Way … Continue reading
Hailing from Amarillo TX but now Nashville-based, Jacob McCoy excels at cutting to the emotional core of his songs with concise lyrical elements, lilting guitar phrasing, heavenly pedal steel and piano, and a voice that balances grit and sweetness. ‘Rear View Mirror’ comes from his 2018 LP Questions. Continue reading
ACROSS THE DITCH In musical terms, and to Australia audiences, New Zealand may be best known for its indie exports (based around the Flying Nun label), the various pop shapes of Neil Finn and associates and heavier acts such as Shihad. Yet there is, and always has been, a fertile country & folk scene throughout … Continue reading
TALES FROM TWO CITIES Jo Meares reveals the complicated process of recording his new album and how he learnt to embrace his own voice. By Chris Familton Over a series of albums, Jo Meares has slowly whittled away at his craft of songwriting and the delicate placement of those songs on atmospheric musical canvases. Dark … Continue reading
COWGIRL IN THE SAND, VOL. II (2018) Back in 2014 we put together a mixtape featuring many of our favourite female singers and songwriters. We had great feedback about it and so in this day and age of Spotify playlists we thought it’d be a great idea to put together a second volume, this time … Continue reading
Savannah Conley has been getting a bit of attention of late, with her torch-song country soul sound. She’s got one of those voices that dances on melodies while searching the bottom of a whisky glass. ‘Same Old Eyes’, from her EP Twenty-Twenty, rides on a slow and lonely backbeat and shimmering guitars. Lovely stuff. If … Continue reading
This is a really nice slow-burn of a song. It slowly unfurls and reveals itself on the back of sparse guitar, distant organ and shuffling drums. Mike Powell‘s voice is the clincher though, with just the right amount of grit and grain in his tone to convey the heavy emotion of the song. A plaintive … Continue reading
A DIFFERENT SKYLINE Paul Andrews took a leap of faith and boarded a plane to Nashville with the finest songs he could write. The result of that experience is the new Family Fold album Ashfield Skyline. Rising from the ashes of 00s indie band Lazy Susan, Family Fold released their first album Lustre Glo in … Continue reading
LeBarons hit a Calexico vibe on this opening track from their new LP Summer Of Death. You can hear open desert roads, cacti standing tall in the setting sun and the melting asphalt beneath car tyres. It’s an evocative tune, a desert noir I guess. It reminds me of Sydney group The Morrisons in some … Continue reading
Yesterday we revealed our favourite 2018 local releases from Australia (and NZ). Today we go global with our 40 favourite albums of 2018. We were going to make it a list that excluded the local albums, seeing as we’ve already published those favourites, but as with previous years we decided we don’t want to separate … Continue reading
Kevin Welch has built a career both as a songwriter, respected and covered by his peers, and a solo and collaborative recording and touring artist in his own right. It’s his songs that are his calling cards, that and an open approach to the way he dresses and dances with each of them. On his … Continue reading
This track caught our ear with its noir verses and power pop on codeine chorus. It’s lush and swooning in the way it glides and soars at different times. Rich Webb hails from Melbourne and Stoner’ comes from his album Le Rayon Vert which you can check out on Spotify and purchase via his website. … Continue reading
