Dec 30, 2013


Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep is a poem written in 1932 by Mary Elizabeth Frye


Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not here; I did not die.

The Flaming Lips And Friends – The Time Has Come To Shoot You Down… What A Sound - 2013


01. I Wanna Be Adored (HOTT MT And Stardeath And White Dwarfs)
02. She Bangs The Drums (The Flaming Lips, Poliça And New Fumes)
03. Waterfall (Blobs Descending From Heaven, HOTT MT And Stardeath And White Dwarfs)
04. Don’t Stop (Stardeath And White Dwarfs)
05. Bye Bye Badman (New Fumes And Def Rain)
06. Elizabeth My Dear (The Flaming Lips And New Fumes)
07. (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister (HOTT MT)
08. Made Of Stone (Stardeath And White Dwarfs And The Flaming Lips)
09. Shoot You Down (Peaking Lights)
10. This Is The One (Depth And Current, Jonathan Rado And The Flaming Lips)
11. I Am The Resurrection (New Fumes)
12. Fools Gold (Spaceface)

A Stone Roses cover album done by Flaming Lips and Friends! Serious... 
Most covers are off of their simply stellar first album... Very experimental, putting many of the songs through a refreshing treatment. 
Great songs are great songs, just the way it is.

X is Y - 2010 - 2013










X is Y initially slow-burning appeal has gained considerable momentum in recent months. Having begun as solo folk songs written by Guillaume, X is Y’s math-rock material has grown increasingly energetic on stage and the band are now one of the leading acts in the city. ‘I’m more into playing loud and screaming than performing low key folk shows,’ he says of the sound’s evolution.

Dec 28, 2013

Jackson & the Wargonauts - The Summer's Eye - 2013



Seems to me these guys have been influenced by Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco and the likes - very nice release.

Jackson Wargo is the creative engine of the 10-piece folk/rock ensemble affectionately referred to as Jackson & the Wargonauts. The music focuses on intricate lyrics entwined with soaring melodies that are complimented by a four-piece horn section, and 5-piece rhythm section that follows the passion of the song to the ends of the dynamic spectrum. Jackson’s songs range stylistically from Elliott Smith’s subdued and intimate musicality to the most energetic and dynamic musical movement of Spiritualized. Debut album The Summer’s Eye is released November 30th on Doughnut Records.

Dec 26, 2013

Also...




Top 20 Songs 2013: Moby - Almost Home



 All this time
In a moment's time
To turn away
Leave it all behind

So we climb
So we all uphold the line
The crowd is home
The treasure found

(Chorus x2)
So let it go
Wake up, wake up, wake up
We're almost home

Time to scout
When I was a child there
I know at heart
To be at your side

So we climb
So we all uphold the line
I dream it too
The stars remind

All this time
In a moment's time
To turn away
Leave it all behind

So we climb
So we all uphold the line
The crowd is home
The treasure found


Dec 22, 2013




Bitter Canadian winter has us by the balls… This can't be good for the holidays :-(

Top 20 Songs 2013: Yo La Tengo - Ohm


This came out early in the year, but has been on steady rotation in my home; the drive , the harmonies, the magic… Listen again!



Sometimes the bad guys come out on top
Sometimes the good guys lose
We try not to lose our hearts, not to lose our minds

Sometimes the bad days maintain their grip
Sometimes the good days fade
Hurts the brain to think, hurts the hand to drink

But nothing ever stays the same
Nothing's explained
The higher we go, the longer we fly
Cause this is it for all we know
So say good night to me
And lose no more time, no time
Resisting the flow

I heard you calling from far away
I thought I heard you cry
Hadn't the voice to make it right
So I just cry

I felt her slipping, slipping away
Before I could even see
Tried once more, lost my grip, you were gone

But nothing ever stays the same
Nothing's explained
The longer it takes, the looser the ties
'Cause this is it for all we know
So say good night to me
And lose no more time, no time
Resisting the flow

Doo doo doo doo

But nothing ever stays the same
Nothing's explained
The stronger the wind, the faster we'll fly
'Cause this is it for all we know
So say good night to me
And lose no more time
No time
Resisting the flow

Dec 21, 2013


Top 20 Songs 2013: Nightlands - Time & Place




The son of a genetic engineer, Dave Hartley has eschewed his father's profession but decidedly inherited his analytical proclivities and love of "the lab." As Nightlands, Hartley is a scientist trying to create and understand art through analytical process. Here, with sophomore album Oak Island, his follow up to 2010's superb Forget the Mantra, new questions are explored: what happens when the human voice is layered exponentially? Is the sum more man, or more melancholy machine? In seeking these answers, Nightlands takes us on a spirit quest through lush forests down into The Uncanny Valley. Each distorted, silver-voiced melody is wrapped in the sounds of 70s AM gold -- plucked acoustic guitars, trumpets, dulcimers and hand percussion. In using these pop touchstones, the songs become something close to memories, the faded feelings that tide in and out of you when conjuring the past.

Dec 19, 2013

Clara Engel - Ashes & Tangerines - 2013




Clara Engel’s voice comes to me from that deepest of all places, imaginative space, from which she visually retrieves an inner landscape converted by breath into the rock equivalent of poetry. Rarely has a voice sounded so authoritative, so unapologetic in its disclosures, so sure of its direction in going home into song,” - British poet Jeremy Reed

Top 20 Songs 2013: Michael Feuerstack - Trees




TREES
Just ask the Sycamore, or the Juniper
The old Oak, the Redwood and the Fir say the same
You can’t go wrong with the sun and the rain
Even the cactus and the evergreen
Lining your forest or your desert scene
They say you can’t go wrong with the sun and the rain
Mighty up above shining down on us all day
There must be something we can do
Soaking up your beautiful rays and drops from on high
You make the trees so happy they reach for the sky
You feed the animals and you keep them warm
The wise old owl and the calf just born
They say you can’t go wrong with the sun and the rain
On a dusty and arid or a humid and stifling day
There’s always somewhere we can catch some shade
Under the trees, the sweet green glowing leaves
The trees are so happy they reach for the sky
Meet me in the summer and we’ll take a walk
With your generous manners and your beautiful talk
You say you can’t go wrong with the sun and the rain
Mighty up above shining down on us all day
There must be something we can do
Soaking up your beautiful rays and drops from on high
You make the trees so happy they reach for the sky

Dec 17, 2013

Top 20 Songs 2013: Jake Bellows - New Ocean


New Ocean is sentimental in every good way possible. Bellows’ songwriting, while not necessarily highly evolved technically from the output of Neva Dinova, is grounded in an inherent wisdom that can only come from having been writing songs pretty much nonstop for over 15 years. paste


Dec 15, 2013

Top 20 Song 2013: Islands - Becoming the Gunship


Islands, the Canadian art-poppers led by former Unicorn Nick Thorburn, are preparing to unleash their new album Ski Mask upon the world. The first single they shared was the lush but twitchy “Wave Forms,” and now they’ve got another one called “Becoming The Gunship,” a title that Thorburn claims came to him in a dream. The song is a slow, sweeping, assured ballad with a poised and powerful lead vocal from Thorburn, who seems to be getting better as a singer all the time.


When it was dark
I was a question mark,
Becoming the gunship. wooh oh oh ooh
I had a heart, but it was thorn apart
Now, I'm the gunship.

Run away
Runs away
You don't wanna be here
When I hit 'em all.

Unlike the wealth that doesn't know itself
I am a bird that doesn't fly.
I lost desire to whom my file
I am the gunship.

Run away
Runs away
You don't wanna be here
When I hit 'em all.

When it was dark I was question mark,
Becoming the gunship.
I couldn't stop,
Had no control to turn it off.
I was the gunship. I am the gunship.
Will be the gunship, becoming the gunship

No Monster Club - Foie Gras - 2013




“No Monster Club turns Ireland's rather gray songwriter formula Technicolor... like a stripped-down, sugar high ‘Pet Sounds’.” - Jenn Pelly (NYLON Magazine/Pitchfork)

“An impossibly chirpy, deliciously lo-fi guitar pop jam, ‘(I Think You Could Only Get Away With This Carry On When You’re In) The Sun’ is everything a modern-day bathing beauty could hope for in a soundtrack; fun, messy and infinitely singable” - Hotpress

“No Monster Club has blossomed into Ireland’s premiere jangle-thrash trio. Masters of 3-minute exuberant pop nuggets, the band has caught the attention of Ariel Pink, Sic Alps, Jeff The Brotherhood and Wavves” - My Old Kentucky Blog

“Like The Libertines and Dan Deacon, they are a band quite visibly fuelled by a sense of camaraderie with their fans, a back-and forth live experience that feeds off the room and often feels as much house-party as gig.” - Asleep on the Compost Heap

“Wow, that ‘Give It Up’ cover you did is so cool! You are the record guy! The music is so different!” - Jedward

Dec 14, 2013

Top 20 Songs: Tindersticks - I Know That Loving



Absolutely love this track from tindersticks latest release Across Six Leap Years… Sultry, smokey, the sway, the groove hits on all the right notes.


She sinks inside me 
It's so beautiful
Not hear her calling 
And I would raise myself
To live up to her love 
And not look down on me
Forgiving me again
And I hear her calling
Do you wanna get out of the water
Do you wanna try and carry on 
It gets so low
I get so low 

She sinks inside me
It's so beautiful
Not hear her calling
But it's like a waterfall 
Falling down on me
Forgiving me again
And I know that loving 

Chorus:
Like feet that have never been walked on
I know that
Hands that never held no blame
Can't you see that I guess you're staying
Eyes that have never cried angry tears
It's always the same
A face that never felt that shame
Well that's my heart
It's calling out your name 

She sinks inside me 
There like chemicals
I see the birds fly
And I'd disgust myself 
To be free of that love
Pull myself from under the weight of it all
And I hear her, hear her 

Chorus
I've got to give it up 
I've got to give it up 

It's just that quality of forgiveness 
Forgiveness is what I need
If I could only get out of the water
If I could only get myself clean
I've got to give it up 
I've got to give it up 

Like feet that have never been walked on
I know that
Hands that never held no blame
I'm running on my knees again
Eyes that have never cried angry tears
It's always the same
A face that never felt that shame 

She's standing at the altar
Like feet never walked on
I know that she's waiting there
Like hands never held no blame
If I could only get out of the water
No crying angry
If I could only get out of here
but I've gotta give it up
that felt no shame
I've got to give it up 

Tape Rec Show


Wish I could get to this… But distance and time are not in my corner!


Dec 11, 2013

The Ripples - The First Few - 2013



Georgetown music major Tyler Pierce and english major Will Heuser formed (No) Regard in 2012. After filling out the band, the folk-heavy project went on to change its name and evolve its sound, eventually becoming The Ripples in late 2013. Incorporating poetic lyrics, and complex song structures, the music made by The Ripples aims to be both head-nod-inducing and thought-provoking.

I have really like this submission, great harmonies and folk strummings to accompany. Check it out over at BC. It just feels happy in my books...

Top 20 Songs: Eleanor Friedberger - Stare at the Sun



Rockin number by Eleanor… Great song.

Top 20 Songs: Lily & Madeleine



Sisters with distinct and ethereal harmonies reminiscent of a bygone era of popular music.
Too many excellent songs on this 2013 release… Excellent Album!!!




Dec 8, 2013

Top 20 Songs: Said The Whale - Mother




I try to always be a gentleman
and try to always be a better friend
lately I’ve been feeling half a man
like maybe I should be more who I am
Maybe I should fuck something up good
or maybe I should act like someone bad
I try to live my life like David does
But something always feels just slightly off
I’m young and maybe that’s why days to me
they seem like opportunities to test my reach
adopt some ugly habits that are bad for me
and treat some others not so equally
If I thought I knew me well it’s clear as can be
that things are gonna change like a hundred degrees
If I thought I knew me well it’s plain to see
that things are gonna change like a hundred degrees
Don’t tell my mother
Don’t tell my mother
Don’t tell my mother till I pull myself together
It’s undercover
I hope forever
Don’t tell my mother till I pull myself together
I think it’s me
but I just need to see
if this real or just something that I need
Don’t tell my mother
Don’t tell my mother
Don’t tell my mother till I pull myself together

Try to always do what people like
And try to be a man that someone might
look up to in a minute when they’re feeling down
Like maybe I could be somebody that you love
Or maybe I’ll just keep thinking all about me
Until I get the proper opportunity that I need
Maybe I’ll just keep thinking all of myself
Until I find a way to be in love with somebody else
Maybe I’ll just keep thinking all about me
Until I get the proper opportunity that I need

Don’t tell my mother

Top 20 Songs: Parquet Courts - Time at Death


Parquet Courts are high as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. Stoned, starving, and maybe just a little bit irritable, they're approached by a clipboard-carrying do-gooder seeking donations. "'A minute of YOUR time?'," they ask co-frontman Austin Brown, who quickly sends Mr. Greenpeace off with a snide-beyond-belief "for-GET about it" and a (questionably apropos) reminder that Socrates died in the fucking gutter. Munchie money secure, there are far more important details to attend to: roasted peanuts or Swedish fish?

Home

Dec 6, 2013

Top 20 Songs: Nathaniel Rateliff - When Do You See?




Some of the purest songwriting out there right now… The heart, the passion, the delivery all work to make this song sail on simplicity!


Top 20 Songs: Foxygen - No Destruction


 Bob Dylan's straight-on delivery of crooked, impressionistic lyrics, the warm weariness of the Velvet Underground's self-titled third album, and the lazy anthems of Pavement. In short: big-budget feeling, played with shoestring ambition. What makes it sound fresh isn't that it faithfully imitates the past, but that it somehow fails to-- a product of alluringly broken logic.
Listeners coast-to-coast will no doubt notice the jab "There's no need to be an asshole/ You're not in Brooklyn anymore", but the lyrical heart of the song comes later: "You think it's over, oh you think it's over / To be someone who smokes pot in the subway with me", a semi-desperate diss from an old friend who can't see how things really are in part because they can't let go of how they were. Awkward nostalgia is a good subject for a band whose music sounds like it traveled decades to get here and got roughed up every step of the way.


I'm sending you this photograph
Of me in my new car
But I hate to say I miss you
'Cause you don't need me anymore
You politely say, "I miss you"
But we know you don't mean that anymore
Like when the doctor thought he caught you
Then you weaseled through the door
Through the door of consciousness
San Francisco
Oh you think it's over
Oh you think it's over to need
Someone who smokes pot in the subway
Pot in the subway, to me 
Oh, Destructo, you're so destructive
Oh, you're so destructive to me

No destruction in the waking hour
No destruction in the waking wind
No destruction in the waking hour
There's no corruption in the waking wind

I'm talking to my grandma who lost her arms in the war
The aliens and armory that bombed her cigar store
Now you think that I don't know but I know you to know quite well
That I caught you sipping milkshakes in the parlor of the hotel
There's no need to be an asshole, you're not in Brooklyn anymore
You may take what you are given but you leave it on the floor
And I know they're gonna try to take my big mouse
Take the panels off my greenhouse 
Oh, but the door of consciousness isn't open anymore
Oh you think it's over, oh, you think it's over to me
Someone who smokes pot in the subway
Pot in the subway with me 
Oh Destructo, you're so destructive
Oh, you're so destructive to me

No destruction in the waking hour
No destruction in the waking wind
There's no destruction in the waking hour
There's no corruption on the mountain hour
No destruction in the waking hour
No destruction in the waking wind

Top 20 Songs: Mark Kozalek & Jimmy Lavalle - Gustavo



For the album LaValle chose a more minimalist approach to the music than The Album Leaf's large sonic soundscapes... Kozelek's story-telling narratives playing against LaValle's hypnotic synth sounds and drums beats should come as a pleasant surprise to fans, and should serve as a great introduction to those previously unacquainted with these prolific and acclaimed artists.


I wrote a check and I bought an old house
I got a TV and a worn-out couch
Hired a guy named Gustavo and his friends
To fix it up from the foundation
Oh god, those motherfuckers drove me nuts
With their electrical saws and mariachi music
But they really stepped it up man
And put their backs into it 
But they lived pretty far away
They wanted to stay for a couple of months
'Til the work got done and I said sure
Made em a key and got em a microwave

Gustavo was an illegal immigrant
He took the money that I gave him
And he went and spent it on strippers and casinos
And every once in a while with them I'd go
It gets boring out in the mountains, you know
Chopping wood, falling asleep to the TV snow
Making ground beef tacos
On the top of a potbellied stove 
Eating noodles from a Styrofoam cup
Waiting for a ride that never shows up
Walking into town, browsing the windows
Looking at rifles, looking at ammo
At night when everything's closed
In my wet boots, in my winter clothes

One night they were headed for Tahoe
They asked me along but I said fuck no
'Cause I was tired and my money was tight
And they just laughed and said alright
And on the way back they got stopped
By a redneck sunnyside highway cop
Gustavo was drunk and had an ounce of pot
And spent the night on a jailhouse cot 
They deported him back to Mexico 
He called me collect from a Tijuana pay phone 
Asking man, could you wire me money? 
2500 for a border coyote
He needed work and he missed his family 
But I hung up and I said I'm sorry
But I hung up and I felt uneasy
I hung up and my heart was heavy
I hung up and my back was aching
Picking up the work they'd left in front of me
The demoed walls and the pulled up floors 
The busted up cabinets and the broken drawers
The kitchen sink was laying in the backyard
And I looked down and my hands were trembling 
And I looked up and my roof was leaking

Now I still sleep on my beat-up old couch 
In the living room of my unfinished house
I got a licensed contractor
But he quit cause his wife was dying of cancer 
But what the hell, I'm just here trying to find answers
To find peace of mind, to get a piece of the rock 
A place to put my mental clock
And my old guitars and gently rock
Back and forth in my front porch chair
Without a worry, without a care 
I'm doing alright but I'm still not there

My house ain't done, but it's alright 
Floors ain't level, but I ain't some suburban
Who cares about bathroom tiles
Straight lines and building codes and Chinese wind chimes
My house ain't done, but it's fine
Come out here from time to time
In December for the snow
And in July to watch the roses
My gardener asks had I seen Gustavo? 
I just laughed and I said fuck no
Not since that night he left
His hair combed back, headed for Tahoe 
My girlfriend asked had I heard from that guy from Mexico?
I said you mean Gustavo?
And I just laughed and I said no
Not since he called from the Tijuana pay phone
Really I don't give much thought to Gustavo
I love to go out to the mountains, though
And in the fall, feel the breeze blow
And in the winter, watch the falling snow
And in the spring, love the rainbows 
And in the summer smell the roses
White and red and yellow

Dec 5, 2013

Top 20 Songs: Vampire Weekend - Ya Hey

Such a mature song for VW - incredible lyrics and production on this song. Top Song!



Top 20 Songs: Phosphorescent - Song For Zula


 The persistent catch in his voice, meanwhile gives him an unstable, baby chick fragility, magnifying the pathos of a line like, "See honey I am not some broken thing/ I do not lay here in the dark waiting for thee" from "Song For Zula". Pf

Dec 3, 2013

Camera Obscura - 4AD Session - 2013


The five-track session was filmed in the band's hometown of Glasgow, at the Tron Theatre, whose 16th century clock tower is one of the city's most recognisable landmarks.

Directed by seasoned 4AD Session collaborators Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, the pair knew exactly how best to present cuts from the act's most recent album, 'Desire Lines', released earlier this year -

"The idea behind the session was pure and simple - Camera Obscura are a perfect band, they record their songs all playing live together and there's a beautiful, unblemished chemistry in that unity."

Shot as the band were about to head off on a US tour, Tracey-Anne was heavily pregnant at the time, with her bump growing over the shoot as the baby re-positioned. For the session Iain and Jane made a large backdrop of the silvery tree-scape from the album cover and then set the band in front.

Tracklisting:
Break It To You Gently
Desire Lines
Every Weekday
New Year's Resolution
Fifth In Line To The Throne

Top 20 Songs: Low - Just Make it Stop



2013 marks Low's 20th anniversary; although the song suggests something more stylistically in line with 2011's fine, formalistic C'mon than 2007's incendiary, astounding wheel-reinvention Drums and Guns, "Just Make It Stop" is more ample proof that Low are excellent at turning out a song with a simple architecture and deceptively complex emotions.

Here I am just make it stop 
I can tell the whole world 
to get out of the way 
if I could just make it stop. 
If I could just make it stop, 
breaking my heart, 
get out of the way, 
if I could just make it stop. 

You see them close to the edge, 
I'm at the end of my rope 
the rope is starting to thread, 
I'm trying to keep my hold.

You say I'm something I'm not 
but I'm not what I seem, 
get my back off the wall 
If I could just make it stop

Chorus:
If I could just make it stop
I can tell the whole world 
to get out of the way 
if I could just make it stop. 
If I could just make it stop, 
breaking my heart, 
get out of the way, 
if I could just make it stop. 
If I could just make it stop. 

Now I'm looking up from a ten-foot hole 
see nothing but blue sky, shining on my soul, 
as I untie the cord and untwist the knot
we could get where we're going, 
if I could just make it stop.

Dec 2, 2013

Tape Rec - Death Friends - 2013


bandcamp

This is wicked cool indie lofi tunes from our Southern friends in Rio De Janeiro. Definitely some garage craziness mixed with serious baseline goodness. Well done!


Fakakta - 2013



Electro-sythn/piano based Baltimore jamboree - very nice release. Thanks for the submission Nate.

Fakakta features an eclectic, and often incongruous, collective of Baltimore and NYC musicians struggling to put up with the absurd requests of Nathaniel Safren. Does it work, or is all just fakakta?


Top 20 Songs: Bloodroot by Elisabeth Pixley-Fink




Extraordinary simple piano over a train of lyrics that make me so excited about the spring.

Top 20 Songs: The Uncluded - Organs - 2013


Organs is an outstanding example of folk sentiments caked in artful quirkiness.


It's important to give away your pieces
In the detail surrounding your death
There will always be a need for the pieces you are made of
You may one day need a few pieces yourself

Jen stood at the finish line
And waited for Dylan to cross
Then she rested her head on the young boy's chest
That held the heart of the little girl she'd lost

Outside of the influential arms of your idolatries
The object will be turning goodbyes into good biology
There will be a DOA who has some parts that seem okay
Coinciding with someone you know that needs a piece replaced
And we will stand around the corpse, fishing in a well of ribs
Treasure hunting just before they show you where the devil is
Nobody is judging you to vilify the guilty
I will cut and dry, be leaving with your kidney

Turtle gave its shell to the
Crab who gave its eyes to the
Bird who gave its wings to the bat
The bat gave its sonar to the
Dolphin who gave its blowhole to the
Whale who gave its tail to the cat

Outside any biases or post mortem reliances
A moment of silence that needs a poster-boy for science
There will be a system which allows them to unzip your skin
Cherry-picking innards from the synthesis they pickle in
And someone that you never meet will wake on a convenient day
Marvel in the lucky news, plug into your DNA
And know the love inside a dying human's final gesture
I will cut and dry, be leaving with your liver

Nov 30, 2013

Top 20 Songs: Low - Stay - 2013


After performing Rihanna's "Stay" at the Pitchfork Music Festival this past July, Low was inspired to record a proper studio version to help raise funds for Pitchfork Festival charity partner Rock for Kids. Rock For Kids (http://www.rockforkids.org/) provides music education to underserved children in Chicago.


All along it was a fever
A cold sweat hot-headed believer
I threw my hands in the air, said show me something
He said, if you dare come a little closer

Round and around and around and around we go
Oohhh now tell me now tell me now tell me now you know

Not really sure how to feel about it
Something in the way you move
Makes me feel like I can't live without you
It takes me all the way
I want you to stay

It's not much of a life you're living
It's not just something you take, it's given

Round and around and around and around we go
Oohhh now tell me now tell me now tell me now you know

Not really sure how to feel about it
Something in the way you move
Makes me feel like I can't live without you
It takes me all the way
I want you to stay

Oohh the reason I hold on
Oohh cause I need this hole gone
Funny you're the broken one but I'm the only one who needed saving
Cause when you never see the light it's hard to know which one of us is caving

Not really sure how to feel about it
Something in the way you move
Makes me feel like I can't live without you
It takes me all the way
I want you to stay... Stay...
I want you to stay, oooooooooooh

Nov 29, 2013

the thermals - never listen to me




I'll give you all that I have
I'll tell you everything
Love me all of my life
Never listen to me ~ the thermals

Maria Taylor - Something About Knowing - 2013


“This record has the spirit of ‘This is how I feel now, and these are all the elements that brought me here,’” Maria explains. “I listened to my previous records and went in the studio wanting to take the best elements of each of them…I feel like I really conquered something on this one.” Something About Knowing’s spirit of “coming home with confidence” extends from Maria’s personal and artistic peacefulness to the team she picked to surround herself with while making this album. She enlisted producer Mike Mogis, an essential creative foil on her first two records. Her brother Macey Taylor played bass on every song as well as keyboards and piano. And her old high school music pal Brad Armstrong co-wrote, played on, and recorded two tracks in his garage. “There we were back in his garage, only now we both had kids running around, it was really special,” Maria says. Longtime friend and collaborator Andy LeMaster mixed these two songs. One of the most profound influences on “Something About Knowing” is the life-changing joy and newfound responsibility of being a first-time parent. “I worked on the album in bursts, when my son was napping,” Maria recalls. “Instead of taking a shower during those times, I’d run downstairs with the baby monitor and write and demo up songs.” The album beckons with the opening track “Folk Song Melody,” a mesmerizing acoustic-with-celestial-atmospherics track crafted around a wordless singsong passage that’s instantly familiar. “That section says everything without words and the rest of the record fills in the emotions,” she says. And the emotions brimming on “Something About Knowing” are bliss and contentment.