JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD – Sorry Is Gone (ATO, 2017) La fragile ragazza che fa la dura imbracciando la chitarra elettrica è tornata. Al quarto album, Jessica Lea Mayfield non si nasconde più sotto le vesti della riot girl, ma in “Sorry Is Gone” si mette a nudo, costruendo undici canzoni intorno a temi autobiografici, esplicitati anche…

[video of the week] Matthew Kenneally – Would You Do It Again?

Matthew Kenneally is the frontman of Canary and “Would You Do It Again?” is his first solo release. “Would You Do It Again?” transcends storytelling. Kenneally paints an intricate picture that journeys love through the humble beginnings of picked guitars, through waves of romantic strings to choral lines. You can hear the influences of Elliot…

ANGÈLE DAVID-GUILLOU – En Mouvement (Village Green, 2017)* Se aveva destato una certa sorpresa ritrovare Angèle David-Guillou (Klima, nonché in precedenza voce di Ginger Ale e Piano Magic) nelle scarne vesti di pianista minimale in “Kourouma” (2013), quattro anni più tardi “En Mouvement” conferma come la scelta di pubblicare musica strumentale sotto il proprio nome…

THE WEATHER STATION – The Weather Station (Paradise Of Bachelors, 2017)* È sufficiente un confronto a colpo d’occhio tra le copertine dei due ultimi dischi di Tamara Lindeman per cogliere la differenza nel suo approccio alla musica concretizzatasi nei due anni tra essi intercorsi: la sua figura di spalle ritratta in “Loyalty” rispecchiava la timidezza…

[streaming] Immigrant – Two Years

Taken from “Wounded Healer”, out October 28th via Oscarson label. Immigrant’s self-titled debut album was released in 2002 on Fence Records. Two further Fence albums, Mother Tongue and A Nowhere Place appeared in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Son Of Immigrant, part of Fence Records’ Picket Fence series, originally appeared in 2004, and was later expanded…

[streaming] Shannon Lay – Recording 15

Taken from “Living Water”, debut release on Kevin Morby’s new imprint with Woodsist Records. Shannon Lay’s “Living Water” is an instant classic. Recorded by Emmet Kelly (Cairo Gang, Bonnie Prince Billy, Ty Segall) in his Los Angeles home studio, this is an album where you can hear the room reacting to the music taking shape…

WILL SAMSON – Welcome Oxygen (Talitres, 2017) “Welcome Oxygen” è uno di quei diari sonori che sempre più spesso capita di veder realizzare da parte di artisti che intendono contingentare i tempi dell’ispirazione e della creazione, tanto più difficile se si tratta di vere e proprie canzoni. Per il giramondo Will Samson, provvisoriamente assestatosi a Bruxelles…

MAX GARCÍA CONOVER – Motorhome (Son Canciones, 2017) Se il suo secondo album “Ellery” (2014) era già un diario di viaggio, per realizzarne il seguito Max García Conover si è messo, letteralmente, “on the road”, animato dall’ambizioso obiettivo di scrivere una canzone a settimana per tutto un anno, vagando per gli Stati Uniti con la…

[streaming] Lean Year – Watch Me

Taken from the self-titled debut by Lean Year. Available October 20th, 2017 on Western Vinyl. Lean Year is the debut, self-titled record by Richmond, Virginia based singer Emilie Rex and filmmaker/musician Rick Alverson. What for Rex was a departure from the structured life of academia toward the uncertain contours of a creative field, for Alverson…

[streaming] Flower Face – Honey And Milk

New digital single by Flower Face. Flower Face is the solo music project of 19 year old Canadian, Ruby Mckinnon. For years she has been writing and recording songs in her bedroom, and has released 3 LPs and 1 EP of original material. Her latest release “Fever Dreams” is the first to feature some outside…

[streaming] The Saxophones – Aloha

Alexi Erenkov’s duo, The Saxophones, create beautiful and personal music. Accompanied by his wife, Alison Alderdice, on percussion and samplers, they blend the darkness and melancholy of 1950s balladry with minimalistic woodwind arrangements, creating a hypnotic sound that hearkens to the past while affirming its place in the present. https://www.facebook.com/thesaxophones/

SIV JAKOBSEN – The Nordic Mellow (The Nordic Mellow, 2017) La suadente pacatezza nordica è qualcosa di più di un biglietto da visita per Siv Jakobsen, artista norvegese le cui doti di interpretazione e arrangiamento si erano dapprima rivelate due anni fa nell’Ep “The Lingering”. Oltre a essere fin da quell’uscita la sua sigla produttiva,…

TOMO NAKAYAMA – Pieces Of Sky (Ricebelly, 2017) Tre anni dopo lo splendido “Fog On The Lens” è ancora la dimensione spaziale a plasmare le canzoni di Tomo Nakayama, il cui intimismo continua a essere proiettato in luoghi ampi, inusuali e senz’altro ben diversi dalla proverbiale “cameretta”. Mentre nel caso dell’album precedente si trattava delle…

[video of the week] Oliver Cherer – Delicate Blooms

Taken from “The Myth Of Violet Meek” by Oliver Cherer, out end of September 2017 on Wayside & Woodland Recordings. “There is a true story, about the hounding of some travelling entertainers and their dancing bears and how the bears were killed by a mob in revenge for an invented attack on a local girl…

[streaming] Warm Morning Brothers – Wandering Mind

Taken from “(don’t) ASKMETODANCE #2″, out on September 15 on Lost Without Your Love Records, 7” only. Two brothers, one guitar, one ukulele, a million dreams. Warm Morning Brothers‘ music is a shelter from the chaos of a noisy world. If their name conjures images of a lazy warm summer day, you’ll know they hit…