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Split Peas remain, but the laid-back and lackadaisical guitar we heard from the bad bong smoker on "Avant Gardener" has been replaced by a louder, heavier, and more aggressive barrage of sound.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.