Push play and a sturdy drum beat punches out followed by thick, meaty, reverbed guitar on “Dallas,” a dark story of criminals on the run. Two tracks later, “South of the Boulder” explodes with driving, train-time drums and high octane twang guitars cranking out like the Old 97s on steroids as Novak recounts another story about an ex, or maybe current, lover again on the lam.
Lindy Vision is a trio of sisters — Carla, Dorothy, and Natasha Cuylear — making synth-pop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They just released the second part of their two-part Adult Children album in March, and here, the three have a roundtable discussion about how their dynamic as sisters translates to their dynamic as bandmates, and how the book Adult Children of Alcoholics inspired the new project. READ MORE…
Alongside new releases from Whitney Rose and Damien Jurado, there’s a great review of Craig Gerdes’ new record, Tough As Nails, in Lonesome Highway’s latest album roundup: “Turbo-charged rocking’ country music,” Stephen Rapid writes. “A road warrior and hard assed outlaw … however, it should be noted that under that seemingly tough exterior lies a more tender side.” READ MORE…
On the surface, Sara Melson’s latest single “All The Time” is breezy and bright. But underneath Melson’s flowy vocals is a morbid reminder.
“One day who knows when / you’ll be drifting like the wind / you might want to hold somebody’s hand,” she sings in the opening verse over gentle guitar, piano, and violin parts. “Your legs won’t work / like they used to / you’ll have to squint at the menu / trust me someday soon you’ll understand.”
The first song off debut EP, These Days, which will be released on July 10, 2020, “Sin City” makes quite the splash on the surface and behind the mic. Stephie James might be based in Nashville, TN but this soulful rocker holds her heart for Detroit, MI and all the iconic gritty rock, blues, and heart-on-the-sleeve emotional messaging that goes with it. Sonically, “Sin City” itself isn’t all that coarse of a listening experience. This isn’t a track distorted or fuzzed to the nines like music by Jack White or Brittany Howard’s project, Thunderbitch, despite support musicians to both artists – Matt Menold and Dominic Davis – adding their instrumental style to “Sin City” on guitar and bass respectively. Nonetheless, where James’s hometown intensity comes into play is the way she frames a story that she says comes from a place of personal life experience.
Sylvia Rose Novak’s new album is called Bad Luck. But the Alabama singer-songwriter-bassist is actually celebrating some “great luck that I got to make the album I wanted instead of just settling for something.”
The 10-track set, whose pensive “Arkansas” is premiering below, certainly fits the adage of “if at first you don’t succeed…”