Pedestrian at Best - Courtney Barnett

Courtney Barnett has returned with the new single "Pedestrian at Best." The witty stream-of-consciousness vocals that were the standard on The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas remain, but the laid-back and lackadaisical guitar we heard from the bad bong smoker on "Avant Gardener" has been replaced by a louder, heavier, and more aggressive barrage of sound.

"Pedestrian at Best" is the first single from the forthcoming album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit is out March 24th on Mom + Pop. <EC>

Listen Up: Bummer

Leave that frown right where it is. Songs of heartbreak, songs of sadness, songs to be bummed to. <EC>

Dani's Blues (It Was Beyound Our Control) - Bop English

Rolling and rollicking, "Dani's Blues (It Was Beyond Our Control)" doesn't disappoint as the first single from Bop English, the moniker of White Denim's James Petralli. Lighter and more piano-driven than his work with White Denim, the track plays like a wildly fun T. Rex song, and ends in a wash of well-deserved applause.

"Dani's Blues (It Was Beyond Our Control)" is the first single from album Constant Bop, out April 21st on Downtown Records. <EC>

Listen Up: No Words

Introducing the first installment of our playlist series, Listen Up. Getting things started is a collection of tunes sans lyrics, composed of classics, demos, and instrumental covers. The wordless speak for themselves. <PM>

Snatch It Back and Hold It - Junior Wells

Junior Wells was a mighty bluesman of the Chicagoan variety who cut his own path with soulful vocals and desperado harmonica stylings. Celebrated for appearances with The Rolling Stones and Van Morrison, Wells was an equally sought after partner of other blues giants Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, and Earl Hooker. Throughout his career, beginning in the mid-1950s and continuing up to his death in 1997, he recorded regularly producing nearly thirty live and studio works.

"Snatch It Back and Hold It", the first track from his 1965 album Hoodoo Man Blues, is a classic. It's one of those tunes that without any visual aid is easy to imagine the physicality of his performance. The guitar parades in staccato while Wells belts out an overtly sexual missive. We get only a sample of his extraordinary harmonica playing, ebbing and flowing with control and abandon. There's always more to say, but this anecdote from Wells is better than anything to take us away:

"I went to this pawnshop downtown and the man had a harmonica priced at two dollars. So I got a job on a soda truck, played hooky from school, and worked all week. On Saturday, the man gave me a dollar and a half. A dollar and a half! For a whole week of work? I went to the pawnshop and the man said the price was two dollars. I told him I had to have that harp. He walked away from the counter – left the harp there. So I laid my dollar-and-a-half on the counter and picked up the harp. When my trial came up, the judge asked my why I did it. I told him I had to have that harp. The judge asked me to play it and when I did he gave the man the fifty cents and hollered "Case dismissed!"  

Better Man - Leon Bridges

2015 may very well be the year of Leon Bridges. The recent Columbia Records signee's Soundcloud just hit a million plays in only 3 months, he's getting love from Russell Crowe, and his first NYC show sold out in a matter of days - all with only a handful of tracks floating around. His beautiful, soulful jams have evoked comparisons to Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, and those claims are far from hyperbolic. His voice, sound, and aesthetic have provided him with the opportunity to be the king of modern soul.

His subject matter doesn't veer far from what one would expect from a southern soul and gospel musician from Fort Worth. On "Better Man", he seeks to reclaim the heart of a lost lover, begging "What can I do, to get back to your heart? I'd swim the Mississippi River, if you would give me another start, girl," over clean blusey guitar and gorgeous doo-wops.

As of now, there's no confirmed word of a full-length album from Mr. Bridges, but if it takes a marathon swim down the Mississippi for that to happen, I'll be the first volunteer to put on my goggles and trunks. <EC>

Hearts, Repeating - Nic Hessler

"Hearts, Repeating" is the first single from Nic Hessler's LP Soft Connections.  Hessler, who formerly released music as Catwalk, was unable to record music for several years while fighting the rare autoimmune disorder Guillain–Barré Syndrome. While the Catwalk EPs released on Captured Tracks were awash in echoed guitars over hidden vocal, his music as Nic Hessler has shifted to full-fledged power-pop, with features guitar at the forefront and with better crafted and clearer vocals.

Soft Connections, his first full-length album under any moniker, will also feature an earlier Catwalk standout track "(Please) Don't Break Me".  You can find a stream of "Hearts, Repeating" below. <EC>

Soft Connections is out 3/17 on Captured Tracks.

You're Gonna Miss Me - The 13th Floor Elevators

It's hard to talk about about the history of psychedelic rock without mentioning The 13th Floor Elevators. Considered perhaps one of its earliest movers, they pioneered the practice of saturating guitar riffs with reverb and echo. Another unique element of the The Elevators' sound came from the use of Tommy Hall's electric jug; his instrument helped provide that characteristic distorted quality we now associate with psych rock. It wasn't just the technique setting the them apart: they were also well-known for both performing and recording under the influence of LSD. While the band emerged on the local Austin music scene in the mid-1960s, they disbanded a short four years later. However short a run that may be, The Elevators' influenced a number of other artists of the day, like Janis Joplin and Billy Gibbons, as well as generations of 90's alternative rockers including R.E.M and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Early success of the single "You're Gonna Miss Me" in 1966 helped the Elevators push their popularity beyond the borders of Texas. The song shows the band at its best. We hear the low fidelity effects of those signature sounds, punctuated by lead vocalist Roky Erickson's yelping cries. After chugging along on guitar and drum, the harmonica delivers a bluesy solo to finish. How can you say you miss my lovin, when you never needed it? <TM>

Something on Your Mind - Karen Dalton

Though having hardly any recorded work to her name, Karen Dalton still shines as one of the most gifted and widely respect singers to come out of the Greenwich Village folk scene. Born in Oklahoma, she made her way to New York City in the early 1960's and began to play with a cast of young musicians that included the likes of Bob Dylan and Fred Neil. Eclipsed by the success of other contemporaries, and perhaps embittered by her own unsuccessful commercial career, Dalton drifted out of view for many years. The 1970 album In My Own Time remains her only fully planned and realized studio album, a heart aching piece that is both sultry and somber. On the track, "Something on Your Mind", her voice is weary and strained and Dalton handles it like a razor, engraving deeply stirring lyrics and melodies. While there's precious little we have of her music, there's plenty in it to enjoy. <TM>

I Don't Mind - Twerps

The Melbourne, Australian indie outfit Twerps enter the new year with “I Don’t Mind”, the second single from their forthcoming album Range Anxiety. The track begins as carefree as its title suggests, with a thumbing bass that meanders around until the guitar shows up. For its first few minutes, “I Don’t Mind” lingers between upbeat and downtrodden; Guitarist Julia McFarlane’s riff evokes the pleasant stylings of Real Estate’s Matt Mondanile, and coupled with the foot dragging bass gives the feeling of watching someone skip in slow motion. Gradually enough to go undetected, the pace picks up and the sound crescendos. McFarlane joins Marty Frawley’s vocals with a call and response encouraging him to put his shoes on and get his act together. Before long the mood shifts from meander to one of rushing into a decision, not so much concerned with the outcome as with ending the deciding. <PM>

Range Anxiety is out January 27^th on Merge Records.

Primrose Green - Ryley Walker

With gorgeous, lush, late 60's folk sounds and cover art channeling Van Morrison's Astral Weeks and His Band And The Street Choir, Ryley Walker's new album Primrose Green is one you're going to want to be listening to as the flowers start to bloom this spring. Below is the title track and first single off the forthcoming LP, out March 31st on Dead Oceans. <EC>

Shebeen Queen - Rikki Ililonga

Near the end of the 1970's, ripples of the psychedelic sounds that originated with British and American artists in the late 60's had reached the landlocked African nation of Zambia. Characterized by its fusion of Velvet Underground drugged reverb and funk inspired bass lines, the Zambian blend quietly developed into its own distinct sound. Despite drawing its roots from across the globe, Zamrock artists maintained a local sound, draping their music with traditional African rhythms and familiar subject matter.

The godfather of Zamrock, Rikki Ililonga, along with his backing band Musi-o-tunya, is often credited as the first to epitomize the unique sound. "Shebeen Queen" off of 1977's Soweto, features all the influences of the genre in one ballad for a barmaid of the local shebeen, seller of illicit, home-brewed alcohol. A real rude looker, no mother she will be, but he loves her just the same. <PM>