Dream-pop music is often judged by the vivid sonic worlds it can create, crystallized sounds that take shape as you listen, by that standard Sleep Still’s new song “The Panoramic” flows with elegance and swells into a wonderful soundscape. Using sharp synth sustains and liquid-like electric guitars buzzing, Sleep Still paints the track as it rides a mighty beat and follows the refined vocals of lead singer Mariam McCarthy towards the song’s whirlwind instrumental finale.
For the last 10 years, brothers Kenny and Hayden Miles have built a devoted following both here and abroad with their thoughtful Appalachian blend of influences as the creative core of the band Wayne Graham. READ MORE…
Warm, organic, authentic, timeless songs curated with love. Tracks released in the last 12 months (always rolling, updated weekly).
Nashville.com has premiered the energetic new song from Stuffy Shmitt’s first record in eight years, “Sweet Krazy.” Why eight years? Because, well, he went crazy.
“I was living in New York and my brain was on fire. I got that bipolar thing. I was bouncing between full-blown depression and a jailbreak manic buzz rush. After nearly a decade of getting 86’d from bars in the West Village, I made it to Nashville six years ago and finally got my head screwed on tight enough to make a new record. When I first moved to Nashville, my New York City depression moved with me, but I’ve bounced back hard now, who knows why—the caliber of players down here maybe, or the East Nashville community that adopted me and my music.”
The new album, Stuff Happens, finds Shmitt not quite exorcising his demons, but exercising them—wrestling with them until they’ve been knocked around enough to be manageable. “I didn’t realize until the record was finished and my wife, Donna, pointed it out,” Stuffy says, “but this album is all about trauma. Disasters big and small. It was an accident, though. It was all subconscious. I guess, eventually, that shit’s gotta come out.”
In 2018, L.A. folk artist James Houlahan found himself on the road playing shows to a deeply divided America. Social and environmental issues had created rifts that stretched nationwide, so he began writing new material to reflect this. The resulting album, Ordinary Eye (out Nov. 20), doesn’t offer quick fixes to encroaching authoritarianism or the climate crisis, but it’s a heartfelt, often gorgeous mediation—the soundtrack to a world in tumult.
The record was produced by Fernando Perdomo (Jakob Dylan, Echo in the Canyon) and features drummer Danny Frankel (Lou Reed, Fiona Apple) as well as violinist Scarlet Rivera, who played the unforgettable fiddle parts on Bob Dylan’s 1976 album Desire, most memorably on “Hurricane.”
Vents had a chance to catch up with Houlahan who took some time to offer insights into the recording of the album, the writing process and the strange experiences that led to its creation.
Enjoy new songs from Rue Snider, Jline, Birdy, Billy Lockett, Running Lights, Big Little Lions, and more!