Fresh off of releasing the excellent In The Marrow for his day job fronting Dead Confederate. T. Hardy Morris is getting ready to release his solo debut, The Audition Tapes on July 30th.

The album has a decidedly different sounds from Dead Confederate, but one that Morris sounds equally as comfortable with. His time spent with John McCauley and crew for Diamond Rugs seems to have really paid dividends. Here is some more info from the PR firm on a cool project that Morris is doing. One of the videos can be found below.

After Morris was finished writing and recording the songs on Audition Tapes, an album steeped in nostalgia, he became inspired by The Georgia Trust’s annual “Places In Peril” list – which seeks to identify and preserve historic sites threatened by demolition and neglect. Morris and filmmaker and photographer Jason Thrasher traveled to 10 historic sites throughout Georgia to film live performance videos of each song found on the Audition Tapes. Over the coming weeks T. Hardy Morris will release additional takeaway videos to draw attention to the Places in Peril list as we approach the July 30th release of his full-length album

We’re big fans of Bailiff and are excited for the release of their upcoming sophomore full length.  They’ll be mixing the album with Beau Sorenson at SHIRK studios here in Chicago very soon.  I’ve been curious to hear what they’ve been up to and was psyched when I saw they released this video earlier today.  They cut this acoustic version of “Love Like Mine” on a rainy night in their kitchen with Ben Handler for his Afterhours Sessions.  I have a feeling a version of this will make the cut for the album.  They’ll be headlining Schubas on July 13, 2013

Alex Bleeker takes a break from his day job as bassist for Real Estate to pen himself a breakup album. While I enjoy Real Estate’s albums when I put them on, I never find myself humming them later or being able to describe a song in great detail to somebody. So I wasn’t expecting Bleeker’s side project to resonate as much as it has with me.

How Far Away is fairly similar to Real Estate in that things never seem to reach a boil. Bleeker’s effort is quite chill like most everything that Real Estate has to offer. But How Far Away is more rootsy and has plenty of Americana overtones. There’s a really nice interview with him on Emusic where he describes his love for The Dead and it is easy to see the influence from American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead coming through on this album.

While this may be a breakup album, it isn’t mopey. Bleeker is just working through some shit and it happens to have given birth to a damn good album. There’s a great quote from that Emusic interview that sums up this album quite nicely, “It’s beyond the point of just grieving and feeling sorry for yourself — it’s not sad, it’s just practical. Like, what comes next? In my case, I’m not debilitated by this thing, it’s just the reality as I wade through other relationships and try to make them work as compared to this weird gold standard.” We’ve all been there to some degree and Bleeker comes across as very human and normal in his compositions.

Don’t Look Back, Who Are You Seeing and Step Right Up (Pour Yourself Some Wine) are the standouts for me. And while Real Estate songs seem to drift away after listening, these songs stick with me to the point that I will find myself singing them without notice.

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Its always nice to have a musician that you have grown to love over the years hit a pinnacle so high that you feel the need to stop and tell strangers about it on the streets. Similar to Patterson Hood’s Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance or Phosphorescent’s Muchacho, Southeastern is the work of one of my favorite musicians hitting a pinnacle so high that you’ll soon finding yourself telling strangers about it as well.

One of the first times I encountered Jason Isbell was back during the Decoration Day tour. During that time, DBT would walk on stage with a Costco sized bottle of Jack and proceed to drain it. There was a point late in the evening where we was teetering with only the wall holding him up. Somehow, he stood up straight and nailed a version of Decoration Day that left the crowd speechless. You knew that at time, you were watching someone with a great future ahead of him; if he could keep his shit together.

Keeping his shit together is the central theme of Southeastern. Isbell has met the love of his life in Amanda Shires, is making the best music of his career and most important to him – is sober. The opening track, Cover Me Up, is an absolute stunning song (and one of 2013′s best). The way he combines themes of redemption and love gives me the chills every time I hear it.

The fact that he bookends that song with Relatively Easy which seems to point to a better future is not lost on me and is a nice touch. In between Southeastern is chock full of gems. Traveling Alone has Mrs. Isbell helping out on vocals and more importantly, playing her amazing fiddle. Flying Over Water has Isbell revisiting his Southern roots in the song that would sound the most natural on a DBT album. While Live Oak paints a dark tale in a murder ballad.

The cover of Southeastern is a simple picture of Isbell. Southeastern is a simple album in that there is no bullshit. It is an artist writing amazing songs and baring it all for us to see. If Muchacho is 2013′s #1 album, then Southeastern is 1A.

I don’t jack about these guys but the tune in the video below is tasty. Plus the lead singer is rocking a sweet stache. Here is what Anti had to say about their latest signing.

Anti- is thrilled to announce the signing of Saintseneca, a young band from Columbus, Ohio led by singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist Zac Little. The group utilizes a wide range of instrumentation (violin, mandolin, dulcimer, Turkish Baglama, floor percussion) with the more contemporary elements such as synthesizers and electric guitars to create a unique merging of rustic and modern. Folk and country motifs converge seamlessly with soaring vocals and a vibrant post-punk energy.

While the group formed in Columbus Ohio, a majority of Saintseneca’s members, including songwriter Little, hail from the rural hills of Appalachia. It is a landscape that has infused the group’s expansive and evocative music with a deep sense of introspection. “I was raised on farms in Appalachia, “Little explains, “And I think that my perspective on music was shaped by where I grew up. Being so isolated played a huge role in my music and in the subjects I write about.”

The band’s poetic lyricism and folk instrumentation is powerfully enhanced by elements of pop, post-punk and psychedelia. It is a memorable and moving sound which originally evolved playing alongside electrified punk bands at DIY house shows. “Playing those shows made us want to draw the most sound and volume from the instruments we were using,” Little explains.

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Saintseneca: Live From Bad Racket – Dec 2012 from Bad Racket on Vimeo.

Coming out of England, the Yorkshire area to be specific, Spectrals is the brainchild of Louis Jones. Sob Story is his second effort after the well-received debut Bad Penny. Earlier on, Jones did it all on his own but he now has his brother Will on drums as well as enlisting a rotating cast of touring members.

Another key addition was that Jones enlisted JR White to handle the knobs and buttons behind the board. White has plenty of influence on the sound as both the arrangements and Jones’ voice share similarities to White’s more well-known band, the Bay area outfit, Girls.

Mixed in with the retro guitar sound, Spectrals introduces some twang elements that don’t sound out of place with Jones’ croon. Sob Story also shows off Jones’ love of Elvis Costello, whom Jones’ refers to as “that’s my guy.” There’s some real gems here in Milky Way, Karaoke and A Heartbeat Behind.

I was never much of a Superchunk fan until their 2010 effort, Majesty Shredding. For whatever reason, i had missed the boat but that album was my springboard into their older catalog and I am a happier person for doing so.

I Hate Music will be out on August 20th and they will be in Chicago for the Hideout Block Party. Here’s what the fine folks at Merge have to say about it.

I Hate Music is an album about love more than anything else: love of life, love of living, love of people, and yeah, love of music. It defies its own title so completely and diligently that it never even seems like a fair fight: There’s no pain this deep or yearning this severe without the type of love earned over a lifetime. “I hate music – what is it worth? / Can’t bring anyone back to this earth” goes the first line in “Me & You & Jackie Mittoo.” That song and its ten companions can’t relive the past or resurrect those lost, but they can keep them close enough to see and hear and celebrate. It’s dark in here, but if we conjure the right words and sounds, maybe we’ll find our way out.

A few years back at a Decemberists show I commented to someone that it would be cool if they would hire actors and do some sort of dinner theatre during their shows to act out their songs. Maybe I was having a flashback or was yearning for the old school Genesis days where Peter Gabriel would dress up in outlandish outfits. Who really know? I am going to assume that someone from PigPen Theatre Co. was standing next to me as they seem to have been pulling it off all around New York for the last few years – combining excellent music with a puppet show to tell the story. Royalty checks from my brilliant idea can be sent to HearYa World HQ.

The seven piece outfit came together during their freshman year at Carnegie Mellon. That was followed up with a move to NYC in 2011. Since then they’ve been making headlines and winning awards for bringing their music to life. Lately, they have been putting their attention to their music.

While their concept was a great one, at the end of the day, would their music be good enough to stand up on its own. I can answer that with an emphatic yes. The music displayed is a catchy brand of folk with banjos, ukes and strings. The songs are airy and you could see how they would make great accompaniement to a stage show. But Bremen is a great listen on its own and being that I’ve yet to see them perform, you’ll have to believe in me when I say that, Bremen is a great album that stands on it own without the puppet strings.

The boys are going to be doing some touring this summer as well as releasing a 5 song EP somewhere along the line. We’ll be sure to let you know when that is out. In the meantime, track down Bremen and go see them live if you have the chance.

June 26 /// MilkBoy /// Philadelphia, PA
June 27 /// Living Social Emerging Artists Concert Series /// Washington, DC
June 28 /// Smiling Moose /// Pittsburgh, PA
June 29 & 30 /// CityFolk Festival /// Dayton, OH
July 1 /// The Grog Shop /// Cleveland Heights, OH
July 5 /// Summerfest /// Milwaukee, WI
July 8-20 /// Williamstown Theatre Festival /// Williamstown, MA
August 2 /// Bowery Ballroom /// New York, NY

Follow me on Twitter at @WoodyHearYa

Hailing from Burlington, VT; Caroline Rose is set to release her debut America Religious on July 2nd. Based on the video below, I am going to go out on a limb and say I am going to be a big fan of it. Here is what Caroline had to say about it.

“I just want to write honest music,” says the songwriter, whose debut album is set for release July of this year. “I don’t feel, nor have I ever felt, any desire to write something that I don’t need to say. I started out writing just for myself, as some sort of outlet, and most of the things that would flow out of my mind were things that were much bigger than me, things that people might want to hear.” From current political issues to vignettes of personal struggles, America Religious depicts stories of a contemporary American society that is far from perfect, yet full of life. “If I can use music to bring to light real things, the hypocrisies and problems in society, as well as the beauty in things people take for granted, then I think that would make me feel pretty good.”

Here is a link to a video on Paste that is damn good as well. Prepare to hear a bunch about her in the coming months.

At the time of writing this, it’s May 25^th and it’s like 53 degrees in Chicago under a mixture of grey and gray skies. It basically sucks here so bad.

Enter the latest gem of an artist from the Secretly Canadian label, Cayucas. Cayucas is the latest project for Zach Yudin, who some of you may know formerly as Oregon Bike Trails, and shot a much-needed ray of sunshine straight down my pie hole today. Their debut effort, Bigfoot, is breezy, dreamy, and will almost make you want to consider drinking a Bud Light Lime-a-Rita before you realize that Lime-a-Ritas are horrible and this is the same brand that brought us Budweiser Black Crown and Bud Light Platinum and has Justin Timberlake (who used to have cornrows and frosted tips) as their creative director. But I could totally see myself stirring a mojito while shaking my ass and listening to Cayucas. Can you stir mojitos or do you have to muddle them?

What I’m trying to say is Cayucas’ Bigfoot is really good. It’s great summer party music – the kind of music that makes your friends who don’t read HearYa ask you, “Who is this band?” And, if you weren’t already sold, it was produced by genius Richard Swift (who also produced the latest Damien Jurado and Foxygen albums – 2 of the best in recent memory). He’s worked his magic here again.

Download “East Coast Girl” below for a flavor, and then plunge headlong into the rest of the album. Other standouts include “High School Lover”, “Cayucos”, “Summer Thing”, and “Will ‘The Thrill’”.

Cayucas – East Coast Girl