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
Category Archives: Cosmic Country
INTERVIEW: Family Fold
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
NEW MUSIC: LeBarons – Long Highway
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
NEW MUSIC: Rich Webb – Stoner
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
NEW MUSIC: Mike Viola – It Does A Number On My Brain
Mike Viola was a member of Ryan Adams band for a while (and has worked with a number of other artists) and you can certainly hear a shared kinship for strummed and sparkly guitars, classic riffs and strong and heady vocal melodies. This one sways along with a melancholic power pop sound, really nice song. … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Phosphorescent – C’est La Vie
It’s been five years since Matthew Houck released his last Phosphorescent album and by all reports he’s gone through a bunch of stuff in that time – falling in love, starting a family, leaving New York for Nashville, building a studio from the ground up and nearly dying from meningitis. As a result, C’est La Vie … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Frog –Don’t Tell Me Where You’re Going
Frog are a band out of Queens, NYC and they mix up a cool blend of wonky, askew Americana. Firmly operating on the cosmic side of the tracks, without sacrificing song-craft and hooks, the duo released their new LP Whatever We Probably Already Had It a couple of weeks ago. You can hear bits of The … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Small Feet – Ice Storm
Small Feet is the moniker of Simon Stålhamre, a Stockholm based artist, producer and songwriter and Ice Storm is a recently released single that finds a wonderful place between the lonesome sound of Neil Young and the avant folk of Chad Van Gaalen and Sparklehorse. Expect a new full length in 2019. I started crying … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Josh Geffin – Glow
Josh Geffin is a songwriter who hails from London, where he’s been part of the folk scene there for the last decade. He’s been involved with experimental guitar music as well as folk music and this new album, Hum & Glow finds him exploring instrumental atmospheric country music in the vein of William Tyler and … Continue reading
NEWS: Mercury Rev reimagine Bobbie Gentry’s ‘The Delta Sweete’ in full
This sounds like a pretty special musical project. Mercury Rev have announced the release of Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Sweete Revisited, on February 8 via Bella Union. The record is a “reimagining” of Bobbie Gentry’s 1968 album The Delta Sweete and features an impressive cast of guest vocalists: 1. Okolona River Bottom Band ft. Norah Jones 2. … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Benjamin Folke Thomas – Tasteless and Complacent
Benjamin Folk Thomas has just released his new album Modern Man on Aveline Records and one of the finest moments on the records is this track, ‘Tasteless and Complacement’. It’s a song that rides along with effortless momentum, wordless melodies cascading around the Swedish songwriter as he sings of dark clouds, acid rain, missing inspiration … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Johnathan Rice – Meet The Mother
Johnathan Rice recently released this new single, ‘Meet The Mother’, that came from a conversation he had with Bill Murray. The song ebbs and flows and slowly build up with elements of Dylan-esque phrasing and power pop melodies. Rice is one half of Jenny and Jonny with Jenny Lewis and has toured with bands such … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Cordovas – This Town’s A Drag
On ‘This Town’s A Drag’, Cordovas sound like Raised By Eagles covering Steely Dan in the basement of Big Pink. It has that backwoods charm with a certain element of studio polish under the eyes and ears of Kenneth Pattengale (Milk Carton Kids). The song comes from their recently released LP That Santa Fe Channel on … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Real Ponchos – Whatever You Do
Real Ponchos hail from Vancouver, British Columbia and a couple of weeks ago they released their album Sunshine, a languid collection of nine songs that sway and shimmer via soul grooves and a light psychedelia that at times shares a similarity with the hypnotic qualities of Kurt Vile, albeit in a slower and more folk … Continue reading
LIVE REVIEW: Margo Price, Courtney Marie Andrews, Sydney
Margo Price, Courtney Marie Andrews Factory Theatre, Marrickville NSW 16th October 2018 Thanks to the good taste of tour promoters Love Police, October is the time of year when Sydney gets a handful of sideshows in the wake of the Out On The Weekend festival in Melbourne. This year the pick of the crop was … Continue reading