Feb 27, 2021

Spilt Milk • A Drinking Song • 2021


We were asked by the Groninger Museum to make a song with a painting from their collection in mind. Giorgio Morandi's still life with his familiar glasses and bottles stood out, because of its subtlety and repetitiveness. Qualities we felt at ease with. We don't know what's inside the bottles. It could be milk, could be wine, could be nothing. Yeat's 'A Drinking Song' turned out to complete the song perfectly. 

A Drinking Song - William Butler Yeats 

Wine comes in at the mouth 
And love comes in at the eye; 
That's all we shall know for truth 
Before we grow old and die. 
I lift the glass to my mouth, 
I look at you, and I sigh. 

blue herons • endless rain • 2021


A hundred days of endless rain 
Compounded by relentless gray 
I can’t distinguish between the day 
A hundred days of endless rain 
Compounded by relentless gray 
I can’t distinguish between the day 

What happens when the rain 
What happens when the rain 
What happens when the rain won’t end 

 

The Umbrella Puzzles • A Slowly Dawning Realization • 2021


Twisting dry, twanging riffs, that jangle despite a definitive sense of dulcet, Marquez has a unique sound that is shrouded in perfect pop melodies and absolute indie chic.

Feb 25, 2021

Waxahatchee, Kevin Morby • Lilacs • 2021

Waxahatchee is the performance name of Alabama native Katie Crutchfield. Singer and musician Kevin Morby is her partner in life — and sometimes when performing as well. The pair recently moved back to Morby's native Kansas City, where they both are creating new music. Morby's new album "Sundowner" came out this fall, and Waxahatchee's album "Saint Cloud" was released last spring. The two join "CBS This Morning: Saturday" to perform the song "Lilacs," from Waxahatchee's album "Saint Cloud."

Junaco • Blue Room • 2021





“Jaffer’s vocals lead with a confident poise while the song’s momentum builds steadily with each passing moment. Recreating an image of a convertible cruising along the Pacific Ocean highway with the top down, no destination set while the cool breeze caresses your face.” - Ears to Feed

“Atmospheric audio wallpaper” - American Songwriter

“Junaco make folk music that feels as if it came from a secluded, shady spot where the mind is uncluttered by the entanglements of modern life. Technology and media, be gone. You too, day job. Let someone sing for you.” - Buzzbands

“Seductive serenity...Dreamy” - Atwood Magazine

“Deep, organic storytelling and atmospheric soundscapes” - Culture Collide

“Achingly gorgeous vocals, which seem to float over the song’s twangy arrangement — and much like its predecessor, and expansive song structure. And at its core, is a bitter heartache that sounds lived-in and familiar” - Joy of Violent Movement

“Stunningly melancholy” - Earmilk

Mojo JNR • You Got It (or something like that) • 2021



'You Got It' is about a feeling. The feeling you have when you lock eyes with someone for the first time, the song is based on an inner monologue while at a house party. I wrote this when I was self-isolating with my long-term girlfriend in a house we rented with out-dated 70s decor, and I wanted to reflect that in my instrumentation with my use of 70's inspired analogue synths.'

Feb 24, 2021

Adult Mom • "Checking Up" • 2021


Left Field Messiah • Young Libertine • 2021





“‘Young Libertine’ was an important moment for us because we landed on a new shade of LFM blue, combining early 90s hip hop tones and soul dance melodies splashed with some nice 80s pop moments. This is a song of firsts—rhyming libertine with figurine and x-ray machine with screen—and while our productions have been referred to as “maximalist”, this is one of our more restrained moments.”

Feb 22, 2021

The Bishop Boys • Dark Days • 2021




Dreamy, driving, wistful, and nostalgic, “Dark Days” is both a gloomy reflection on pandemic life and the civil unrest of the past year, and a hopeful forecast of brighter days ahead. Written during the first lockdown in May of 2020, the song illustrates empty live-streamed shots of Times Square, riots erupting in Minnesota in the days after the murder of George Floyd, and the widespread appreciation for the “superhero medicine man.”

Barbarisms • I Want To Change My Mind • 2021



‘The breezy looseness of Built to Spill’s earliest releases, Herman Dune’s ingeniousness, or the late St. Thomas’ cracked folk… Nicholas Faraone’s delivery suggests we might expect intimate confessionals in the manner of Bill Callaghan.’ UNCUT

The Green Flamingos • Will You Be My Friend ? • 2021



"In a sunny and falsely nonchalant tone with a bit of sarcasm, this song evokes the relationship that some people can have on social networks: a love-hate relationship. It is easy to connect with complete strangers and difficult to keep in touch with friends from one's non-virtual life, to be spied on or harassed as well as to be ignored." The Green Flamingos

Feb 20, 2021

Stef Chura - How to Rent a Room • 2019



Right before Halloween, another great indie-rock artist, Stef Chura, released her version of “How to Rent a Room,” a Silver Jews classic from 1996’s The Natural Bridge.
Mordantly funny and shabbily pretty, it’s a message from the victim of a suicide (or maybe a botched suicide), opening with the indelible line, “Now, I don’t really want to die/I only want to die in your eyes/I’m still here below the chandelier where they always used to read us our rights.” RS

Bill Callahan & Bonnie Prince Billy • "The Wild Kindness • 2021




Bill Callahan and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy shared a cover of the Silver Jews’ song “The Wild Kindness,” which was written by the group’s late frontman David Berman. The recording features the Silver Jews bassist and Berman’s widow, Cassie Berman.

Also contributing to the track were guitarist David Pajo, Lambchop keyboardist Tony Crow and Silver Jews drummer Brian Kotzur. Several others were part of a choir of backing vocalists “swimming in a river of voices” including Pajo, Meg Baird, Bill MacKay, Cory Hanson, Cassie, David Grubbs, Matt Kinsey, Haley Fohr, Emmett Kelly, Todd Rittmann, Alasdair Roberts, Matt Sweeney, George Xylouris, Azita Youssefi, Sean O’Hagan, Ben Chasny and Elisa Ambrogio. jambase

Feb 16, 2021

The Brummies • Call Me • 2021



"Expansive...they're from nashville but you're going to get a vintage version of Brit pop." – NPR World Cafe

“Certainly a welcome slice of escapism.” – American Songwriter

“Gripping indie rock radiance” – EARMILK

“The Brummies possess a rare combination of instrumental mastery, vocal proficiency, and a boldness and confidence to make work that’s untethered to anyone else, while still paying homage to those that came before them.” – Atwood Magazine

“Deep and powerful” – PopWrapped

“An irresistible listen, effortlessly riding a wave between shiny pop and rock 'n' roll.” – Variance
 
“Polished, rhythmic rock” – AL.com (Alabama)

“A fluffy hug of indie rock touched with soulful harmonies, funk rockish guitar licks and blessed by a synth wave softness. The production feels like the all inclusive hybrid funk rock jams of the 70's with a twist of big pop making it timeless.” – American Pancake

Specific Coast • Home • 2021



“Home” is the latest single from Los Angeles based singer-songwriter, Specific Coast. Originally a voice memo sent to his long distance girlfriend, ”Home” is featured twice in the penultimate episode of the Netflix Original series Ginny and Georgia, premiering February 24th.

Baneful Town • Change your mind • 2021

Interview

Feb 6, 2021

Miss Grit • Impostor • 2021





mpostor addresses Miss Grit's life-long navigation through the racial impostor syndrome she experienced as a half-Korean girl "trying to fit into the white space" of the Michigan suburbs where she grew up. 

Phantom Handshakes • No Better Plan • 2021


Phantom Handshakes is a lo-fi, dream pop collaboration between Federica Tassano and Matt Sklar.


 

Tyler Burkhart • Only Yesterday • 2021


Only yesterday 
I was just a kid 
Never thought I’d grow at all 
but then one day I did 

Who can help but turn 
into someone else? 
I don’t wanna spend my life 
tryin to figure out myself 

Who would wanna be 
a celebrity? 
people follow you around 
but there’s nothing much to see 

See your name in lights 
in flourescent bulbs 
I don't wanna get so high 
that I’d be afraid to fall 

Called you up to say 
I had that dream again 
can’t remember how it starts 
but this is how it ends

 

Feb 5, 2021

Soft Kill • "Sky" • 2021



"Much like a dealer will place themselves on the fringes of social graces, Soft Kill operates outside of the industry laws with no care for opinions of genre cops. They run their business like rappers, tour with hardcore bands, and sound like a rock bottom Morrissey. If you are unfamiliar or curious about the seedy underbelly of post-punk, [Soft Kill] is your gateway drug." - Clint Gee, Outburn Online


Feb 4, 2021

Fleece • Do U Mind? (Leave the Light On) • 2021




“Do U Mind? (Leave the Light On)” is about temporary love. A commentary on Grindr and hookup culture, presented on a beautiful bed of reverb and indie pop goodness. Discussing, songwriter/vocalist Matt Rogers stated, "It's about meeting up with someone and pretending like you're in love for the night, even though you both know you're not. It's a little wink to all the people out there who feel the same way, and want to feel that sense of belonging for just a moment. I feel like hookup culture has made it really hard to be vulnerable with each-other. This song is my attempt at explaining the intersection of love, isolation, and frustration that apps like Grindr make me feel."

William The Conqueror • Move On • 2021




William The Conqueror first began teasing new music last year with the lead single "Wake Up," a gorgeous slice of laissez-faire college rock that sits somewhere in a disorganized melee between Pavement, Speedy Ortiz, and Built to Spill. The Times named it an Essential Track and called it an "agreeably low-slung piece of alt-rock." It was followed by "Jesus Died A Young Man," a song the band described as "far from being a dig at religion or Christianity, is more about bad teachers and good faith." Clash Music called it "guitar pop of real depth and nuance." Their previous single "Quiet Life" is also out now, a charming, slow-building lament that broadens out like a rolling landscape. The accompanying video shows the band wandering around a deserted Venice Beach boardwalk right before fleeing the US ahead of the pandemic lockdown last March.