Carl has been featured on Slowcoustic before due to his amazing “Windjammer” album from years back (ummm…it came out 15 years ago!).  Anyway, Carl creates stunning ‘indie-folk’ (for lack of a better description) collections, strung together like chapters of a book you didn’t know you needed, but found.  Maybe from a random Canadian music blogger, who is to say.

Anyway, delicate vocals above acoustics, fleshed out with backing vocals, piano, cello among the many, many contributorions on Death Farm.  There have been a few singles/previews of the album prior to today which include what may be a perfect example of Hauck’s music (and those contributions): “Count the Rings”.

Anyway, Slowcoustic recommends the tracks Count the Rings, Monumented, Last Straw Decoration, House Tour, What You Are Is What You Make, Rootbound and then the little diddy Drug Holiday that closes out the album.  See, told you I liked this album.  Anyway, the entire album is streaming on Bandcamp, YouTube and your favourite massive, multi-national streaming giant.  Please go forth and stream, purchase and enjoy the farming of death.

Find and follow Carl: WEBSITE |  TWITTER/X  | BOOK OF FACES

~Sandy

The post Best New Music – Carl Hauck’s “Death Farm” appeared first on slowcoustic.

So things have been a bit quiet around Slowcoustic HQ lately.  Okay, yeah, understatement.

I have been meaning to post something, anything, here on my (formerly) beloved music blahg.  Finally something, someone, has shaken me awake – a bit humorous to say about a style of music that essentially most people use to slow down with and move slower to.  I get it, welcome back to Slowcoustic.  People, it is Sister Ray and there is a new album coming out called “Believer” and you can watch a live version of the title track above (or the official visualizer here)

Sister Ray is Canadian Ella Coyes, and I have found everything they release is fantastic – the 2023 EP “Teeth” and the stellar 2022 album “Communion” come highly recommended – Communion was what won me over originally and would have been a contender for my favourite album of 2022 if I actually found it in time.  The new album is slated for an April 4th release day and yours truly has done the lord’s work and pre-ordred the coke-bottle clear vinyl from Royal Mountain Records already.  I highly recommend you join me and listening to what is Slowcoustic’s Favourite New Music, Video and Artist!

Recommended if you like Big Thief, a bit of Phoebe Bridgers, old school Sharon Van Etten with a sprinkle of Julien Baker.  I am now just listing musicians I like now I guess.

Visit Sister Ray:
Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Apple Music

I hope you find the music of Sister Ray your new obsession just as I have.

~S

The post Slowcoustic’s Favourite New Music, Video & Artist: Sister Ray appeared first on slowcoustic.

Sometimes a lazy blogger is forced to post something on an essentially defunct website.  I mean, why would they do this…after all this time…like, why?

Best New Music, that is why I am here.  For you, my good friends.  You all need to listen to the new album from CARLENE along with me.  If anything was ‘Canadiana’ or ‘Slowcoustic’, this is it.

This album is a lazy afternoon, an oceanside, a warm, light breeze and a revelation (for me).  I mean, I know who CARLENE is, I have met her (years ago) and when I first listened to a couple of early tracks before the release of the album, I didn’t even realize it was her.  I am kicking myself for not knowing.  As a music lover, I just started keeping an eye out for more of this Carlene person and waiting for the release date so I could listen to the entire album.  That day has come and the entire album is a favourite of the year for me currently and I am sure it will be by year end as well.

I dare you not to like this album.  Here, try again:

Please consider streaming, purchasing and passing on the love for CARLENE: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

~S

The post Best New Music – CARLENE’s “Looking Out My Window” appeared first on slowcoustic.

Then I kept scrolling through their posts and after getting uncomfortably deep in their old posts, there came a few that made me feel like I should know who this profile/avatar/person was. It got to the point where I thought to myself ‘yep, this must be that band’. For those in the cheap seats, this rambling word salad is ultimately saying that I found someone online that I had posted about years prior on Slowcoustic. It is true….

As our musical taste (and vinyl posting photos) intertwined, he reached out to me…I was hesitant…nervous…my scrolling thumb seemed like a thousand pounds all of a sudden. I jumped in the deep end and replied with…’hey’.

The rest is history. I was now talking to Accidental Bird…Stefan as I now know him. Slowcoustically, I originally knew Stefan as “Honig“. Turns out his name is Stefan Honig. Yeah, I got there all by myself.

So Stefan’s new endeavour is Accidental Bird and they have a new album out on April 21st on Grand Hotel van Cleef – “The Old News Shrug”. Take a stream of the YouTube lyric video (actual video?) of “Only Empire“.

You can pick up a copy of the LP or CD on the album page here.

Bonus video time!

Honig’s fantastic “In My Drunken Head” from the album Empty Orchestra (which I posted about a decade ago. Yep, a decade ago…so, yeah).

Cheers all,

~S.

p.s.  Is there a lot of quotation marks in this post?  It has been a while.

The post Upcoming album alert: Accidental Bird’s “The Old News Shrug” appeared first on slowcoustic.

Visit Ruby Gill: Website 

~S

The post Watch (listen) now: Ruby Gill appeared first on slowcoustic.

If I actually am saying something about this year (and I am) then I think it was actually quite good for music. I am sure many/most of these albums were in the works well before this whole “2020” thing/situation/hell-scape kicked off, so that may have saved it. I dunno. The image gallery below represents my favourite releases for the year (the album name in each square will link to purchase/visit). These albums include folk, some country and even some pop but all are Slowcoustic jams.

I think the Keaton Henson album “Monument” would win out as my favourite of the year if I was tied down and politely asked to choose. It is quiet, pensive, intimately personal, ridiculously beautiful and perfect for late night music listening. Did I mention he looks like my nephew? Well, he does. And I find it a bit awkward when he doesn’t pick up an acoustic guitar at family gatherings and attempt to make us all cry….

Favourite Covers Albums

Favourite album or collection or compilation that came out just prior to making this post.
~me in reference to Jeffrey Foucault’s “Uncollected Recordings 2005-2020”

 

Also a favourite album or collection or compilation that came out just prior to making this post.

~me in reference to I Am Oak’s “Odd Seeds (Pt. 1 & 2)”

 

I own almost all of the of these albums in physical format — I think I am only missing a couple due to crazy shipping or no vinyl option or I am simply waiting on it to arrive. I urge you to pick up a copy as well, preferably from your local record shop…you know…not to be too preachy and all that.

I would also embed more streams and such, but this blog has been updated a little too much and I can’t figure out how to make it look okay. Okay?

~S

The post Favourite Music of 2020 appeared first on slowcoustic.

I think this album has been a bit in coming as some tracks fans will be familiar with – like the amazing Ticket To Ride….

Damn, I love that track from this album, and when it is on the Sumner Brothers self-titled album and then his KEXP session…search them out if you want more of the above – highly recommended!

I can’t forget to also recommend the first two singles leading up to the album as both show Sumner really shining in his element – Riverbed and the lovely New York City.

So your Sunday better include the newest from Bob Sumner as he sings his Wasted Love Songs.

Find more: Bandcamp | Website

~S

The post Recommended Listening – Bob Sumner and his Wasted Love Songs appeared first on slowcoustic.

I am still unsure how I came across this album…if it was you (bless you my forever friend), then thank you for doing the work of angels.

The album Old Country contains 8 tracks that I would call folky country…not sure how old it sounds in reality – maybe as it can seem timeless in the boundary of an acoustic, folky, mid-western, AS WELL AS stunning collection of music. Yeah, so regardless of how I interpret “Old Country” as a genre, the album itself has travelled from Lincoln Nebraska to the wee corners of my brain and finds itself hesitant to be coaxed out. That is okay with me as it is a real gem of an album that she has self-released this past February.

Favourite tracks on the album are the above “Teton” (as it mentions Calgary at the very end…and Andrea, if you are reading this, I am sorry you got lost here) and the below track “Portland” which has a stunning pacific-northwest visuals going on.

Find and Purchase AvK: Website | Bandcamp
Visit AvK: Book of Faces | Insta | YouTubes

~S

The post Andrea von Kampen – Old Country appeared first on slowcoustic.

Look who is back talking about music? This guy! I mean, I am a white guy with facial hair and dark rimmed glasses, what else am I going to do….not blog about music?

Well now that 2019 is, for all intents and purposes, almost over – I guess it is that time of year again….Best/Favourite/Top album of the year! Ok, fine, I am just saying the new album from Julia Jacklin is such a great album, I get to enter it into the competition that is yet to begin. Julia Jacklin’s “Crushing” is my first contender for album of the year, I love it.

Crushing is full of “Slowcoustic” jams peppered with some more upbeat indie pop (?) tunes and it falls into place as a full, crazy good collection of songs. Not over-stuffed with too much lamenting relationship slow burners (like that is possible…) to lose some listeners but enough that it still hits you in the feels and really connects to the listener.

I first heard the lead off track “Body” and it’s slow thumping – a surprisingly strong steady (heart)beat…hmmmm… (I see you Julia) – and I was immediately smitten with her voice, the beat…everything. Then after a few listens it really hit me when I truly *heard* the lyrics like “Do you still have that photograph…would you use it to hurt me?” and “…heading to the city to get my body back” and the, no pun intended, crushing and poignant “I guess its just my life…its just my body“. Wow, I live a sheltered life and I can only attempt to connect with scenarios Jacklin sings about…but damn, relationships can suck and partners can betray in and out of a relationship. This song, man.

I do lean towards the slower side of music a lot and there are some really great opportunities to fall inside this album. I even had a moment during the track “When the Family Flies In”…as this recently happened to me over the last Xmas holidays when a family member fell rapidly and incredibly ill and being 3000kms away trying to arrange flights back to my childhood home.

“You know it’s bad when the family flies in. Just to stand by your side“…it really hit home for me. Not always great revisiting the scenario, but with the song it feels…better? I dunno, personal stuff makes for a true connection to music and for me it definitely did.

Overall, this album is on repeat at Slowcoustic HQ for good reason. IT. IS. STELLAR. Recommended as top current contender for album of the year in my books. You should listen and agree with me, damn it!

Purchase/Find/Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Website

~S

The post It is already March…do you have your “Top Album of 2019” yet? appeared first on slowcoustic.

Also, I really like the new She Keeps Bees out on on Bada Bing/Grapefruit Record Club.  The track is called “Coyote” and is from the album “Kinship” out in May (purchase).

So listen up to new music, take it from me…..a blogger from years ago.

~S

The post Listen up(coming): Damien Jurado and She Keeps Bees appeared first on slowcoustic.

Go ahead and listen.  There is a reason I chose this artist after not posting on this blog in over a year.  Grab everything you can at her Bandcamp – all of it is necessary listening.

~Sandy

The post Necessary Listening: Julien Baker – Funeral Pyre appeared first on slowcoustic.

I have been the entity “Slowcoustic” for years now.  I am often acoustic and mainly slow.  I am one franken-word created by forcing together two (apparently related) ideas originally created to brand myself.  Being forced into a world alongside “Brangelina” & “Dubtronica” is not lost on me.  With less and less actual blogging done each year by myself – what, did I have 3 posts in the year prior to this one?? – I wanted to still try and put out this list as music is always a strong force in my life and I assume readers of this website would also agree.  I mean, who goes to a site called Slowcoustic anyway?

None the less, my fevered and manic love of music requires me to try and force my opinions onto others by listing things in pseudo numeric order or just making a list of the music I enjoy.  Music is something that will always be worthy of enjoyment (& quality bias) for myself and the current drifting/shifting medium of music-blogging needs my 2015 listicle, I know it.  I hope you all get a chance to agree, disagree*, roll your eyes at*, dismiss* or even strongly agree with any or all items below!

~~Slowcoustic’s Favourite Albums of 2015~~

Leon Bridges – Coming Home

Leon Bridges isn’t really “Slowcoustic” but my tastes have been (not so) slowly turning to aging white guy – meaning older jazz/blues/folk albums so…

I think this ends up having Coming Home being a combination of an excellent uber-catchy album alongside my overall shift in the indie folk singer-songwriter genre.  I really have started enjoying older torch-style singers like Nina, Billie, Ella F alongside Otis and Sam, etc.  I think the album sits on its own merits despite my listening tastes caveat above and it is my most played album of 2015 with the track River being one of the most played songs.  Visit/Purchase.

Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell

Sufjan Stevens’ newest album is not a return to his old style but just another album from this immense talent that just so happens to be similar in style to a couple others that some folks liked a lot.  I guess I don’t really think this is “his signature sound” but it is freaking good and I will always like it.  Death always seems to make a fun great folk album, no?  Visit/Purchase.

Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear

Father John Misty, Winner: Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical 2015.  Visit/Purchase.

John Moreland – High on Tulsa Heat

John Moreland’s Tulsa Heat – great album that is practically has no throw away tracks…well maybe Sad Baptist Rain…imho as it seems very standard country rock and that is not always my bag, man.  But then you have Cherokee, so it all becomes okay.  Visit/Purchase.

Night Beds – Ivywild

Night Beds – this is included just to make Adam upset.  And I kinda like it as well – it does get away from itself on the back end and could be 4-5 songs shorter but you know, still a interesting synth folk album.  Visit/Purchase.

Noah Gundersen – Carry the Ghost

Noah Gundersen is awesome when he is a tortured crooner. His previous album to Carry the Ghost, Ledges, did almost nothing for me but this album is ace. The song Heartbreaker is a potential song of the year for me.  Visit/Purchase.

Andrew Bryant – This is the Life

Andrew Bryant made a solid album here.  If you have been listening since Galilee or even Hurricane Blues you are a good person – if you don’t know of what I speak, then welcome to Magnolia State…it can get a bit gritty and rough but the beauty really shines.  Visit/Purchase.

Daniel Martin Moore – Golden Age

Daniel Martin Moore seems like someone who sang in a choir and you always wanted to talk to him in high school as he seemed talented.  But he was in choir, so…you appreciated him from afar.  Golden Age makes me want to sing.  Visit/Purchase.

and the following will officially combine into two slots in order to have an efficient and non-threatening “top 10”;

• Hayden – Hey Love: Hayden has always been my spirit animal.  Mostly due to his greying facial hair and very mellow tunes.
• Hop Along – Painted Shut: Hop Along also had a song of the year contender in “Well Dressed” – love that track so much.  It is very rough around the edges but proves that the only indie-rock I like must be female fronted.  The rock and roll version of She Keeps Bees.
• John Statz – Tulsa: John Statz had a bunch of tracks on his Tulsa album that really worked for me – Any Town Will Do, Tannenberg and Tennessee are stand outs.  Ummm, second Tulsa reference this year…and I even traveled to Tulsa twice this year…what is the deal here?
• Elephant Micah – Where in Our Woods: Elephant Micah – epitome of my alt-folk balladeer.  When it is not getting too ethereal, Joe can do no wrong.
• Joanna Newsom – Divers:  – because of Leaving the City.
• Samantha Crain – Under Branch & Thorn & Tree: Samantha Crain has been in my orbit for years and this album solidifies that, really enjoyed If I Had a Dollar especially.  I also have a bit of a crush on her.  Oh, and she digs analog audio…a lot.  What’s not to like about her?
• Small Houses – Still Talk; Second City: Small Houses is ace.  Finally met him and saw him play live – I feel like this is what watching Tallest Man on Earth was like in his early days.

There you go.  Go forth and listen/purchase all the above music because I said so.  It is the Christian** thing to do.

~Sandy at Slowcoustic

* = all incorrect selections placed to rebuff those that do not have musical taste/don’t agree with me).
** = HA!  Christians, am I right?***
*** = Religious humour?  Really, in this climate?  ;-)

The post Slowcoustic’s Favourite Albums of 2015 appeared first on slowcoustic.

So I have been following Noah Gundersen, like a forum lurker, on-and-off for the last couple years now.  I don’t always think his albums are 100% Slowcoustic, but god-DAMN, when they are good they transcend any artist around. This came to me after listening to his tour EP “Twenty-Something” – I can’t express how good it is to this day….it is freakin’ good.  I personally was provided with a copy from a friend who attended the tour (you can grab it as part of the deluxe version of ‘Ledges’ on iTunes or other places I guess).  So then I begged this concert goer who attended a show of Noah’s for a copy the EP and they obliged (thanks to my boy Adam at Songsfortheday).  Probably my favourite EP of the year.  Hell, it is my favourite EP of the year AND if it was a full 10 tracks it would be my favourite album of the year.  But once again, I digress…the new stuff is still upcoming…Noah Gundersen has a new album ‘Carry The Ghost’ doesn’t he?

Noah Gundersen is a fantastic example of what you need to listen to – in general.  So far this new album ‘Carry The Ghost’ sounds like it has massive potential (which to be honest, I have not heard in it’s entirety, so I could be full of shit right about now) but maybe I am just projecting on the strength of his tour EP ‘Twenty-Something’ which I have already opined for above.  None the less, I await with baited breath on the newest Gundersen full length, Carry The Ghost.  You can grab the sampler which actually includes most of the ‘Twenty-Something” EP (less the Nirvana cover, which unfortunately is A MUST – but don’t fret folks…it is below in a Soundcloud link) – here: Noisetrade.

So there you go, a promo for the new album via Noisetrade which has the previous tour EP tracks from NG.  This is win/win folks, just go already.  The video for ‘Heartbreaker’ is below – dig it!

[youtube width=”600″ height=”365″ video_id=”wJJfZwE90-g”]

So despite this post not really having songs from the new album, it should give you a push to listen to the new album.  Yeah, sure…just do it already.

So: http://noahgundersenmusic.com

~S

The post When I grow up, I will be Noah Gundersen. appeared first on slowcoustic.

Night Beds has new music and a new vibe – less acoustic crooner and more ethereal mellow club tune (more or less).  I love me some Night Beds and Winston Yellen and crew made the number 1 album for me a couple of years ago with Country Sleep.  This new sound is definitely different but still really really good.  I am a bit partial to a bit of thumping base now and then (as most hard core folk types) and this track hits the spot.  I am assuming the new album will fall in line with this track and I am not fearing it.  Sometimes a change can do a brother good.

Find Night Beds: Website | Facebook | Dead Oceans Label

~Sandy

H/T: Adam at Songs for the Day

The post Night Beds: “Me Liquor And God” appeared first on slowcoustic.

Let’s not kid and pretend like I am still writing about music and just get to what I think was great music in 2014 (of the Slowcoustic variety).  The albums listed below have moved around a bit as favourites over the year as listening ebbs and flows but it has mostly been as listed.  I guess.

Favourite Albums of 2014

1. She Keeps Bees – Eight Houses
   
2. Jesse Marchant – Jesse Marchant
   
3. Field Report – Marigolden
   
4. Hiss Golden Messenger – Lateness of Dancers
   
5. Strand of Oaks – Heal
   
6. Sharon Van Etten – Are We There
   
7. Ryan Boldt – The Broadstreet Ballads
   
8. Lewis & Clarke – Triumvirate
   

Favourite Song that would have made an album move up a spot on my Favourite Albums

1. Hiss Golden Messenger – Brother, Do You Know The Road? (if it was on the Lateness of Dancers album)

Favourite Album to dislike even though I am ‘supposed’ to like it

1. Sturgill Simpson – Let’s get Meta-Physical…or whatever.

Favourite EP of 2014

1. Noah Gundersen – Twenty Something

Favourite Free Album of 2014

1. Oquoa – Oquoa (link)

Favourite collection of songs that would have made an album on my Favourite Albums of 2014

1. David Bazan Monthly Volume 1

Yeah, so that is it I guess – this has been Slowcoustic’s Favourite Music of 2014.  Hope you liked the above as well, see ya in 2015!

~Sandy

The post Slowcoustic’s Favourite Music of 2014 appeared first on slowcoustic.

From the promotional ramble: “Throughout the album, O’Connell deftly transforms the stuff of everyday American life into a series of entrancing meditations on culture, nature, religion, and modernity.”  Right?  Gotta hit the spot for a Slowcoustic fan?

Annnnnd January is not so far away anymore but thank sweet baby jesus that we have a first listen to the opening track already.  Listen to By the Canal below;

I have already pre-ordered as not only is this going to be a great album (as Elephant Micah does very little wrong…ever) you can grab the vinyl LP for peanuts on the pre-order at the WV shop (HERE).  You can always swing by his new artist page at WV, his own Website or his Bandcamp page to once again dive into his back catalog.

~Sandy

The post Pre-order: Elephant Micah’s “Where in Our Woods” appeared first on slowcoustic.

I have known of She Keeps Bees for a couple of years (mostly due to her connection to Sharon Van Etten – search out the song ‘Cuddle Alone‘ they do together) and always enjoyed her work.  Then comes this album Eight Houses and it hits me like the tonne of bricks those houses are made of.  The album is achingly beautiful, a bit groovy, a bit folk, gritty and fragile…it is hard to fully describe – this album has layers.  Think 90s Concrete Blonde mixed with late 2000s Feist.  Maybe.  The first song that caught me was the video release for the closing track on the album, Is What It Is.  While the art-house styled video is good, the song is stunning:

She Keeps Bees – Is What It Is from Future Gods on Vimeo.

The rest of the album falls in line (and a touch outside the lines) from that track.  I mean, you think you have this album pegged and then the track Greasy Grass or maybe even Both Sides drops and you might think you have stumbled into the rock remix version of the album – but it works.  Stand out songs from Eight Houses include Feather Lighter, Owl, Radiance, Is What It Is, Wasichu and hell, it is a full album listen and that really means something these days.

Right?  Right?  This album just may find it’s way to the prestigious “Favourite Albums of 2014” around these parts.

The album is released next week via Future Gods (and the whole thing is streaming via their Soundcloud page!).

Facebook | Twitter | purchase here

~Sandy

The post Recommended upcoming album: Eight Houses from She Keeps Bees appeared first on slowcoustic.

Now that Slowcoustic has been mandated to have a maximum of one post every two weeks (sorry folks, those are the rules, what can I do?) I am posting what I assume is new music on Saturdays.  Seldom will it be brand new, and often it will have been heard on many other blogs that take themselves seriously.  Stop reading the words and start clicking play on the music below.
~~~

This one totally passed me by and I am a bit embarrassed by that.  Regardless, the good folks at Hear Nebraska posted a track from the upcoming Kill County album called Beat Up Iron and it is exactly a Kill County song – so I like it.  Read their post HERE and thank them for the free download.

~

Okay, so Nebraska is where it is at for the first part of this blog post.  Oquoa include our friend Max Holmquist (of The Great American Desert fame) and there is a new album for free download and streaming.  It is not as stark (re: solo) as previous Holmquist efforts but that depth of the singer/songwriter is still very real in this new album.  Listen to Cigarette as it is awesome.

You can find the download and stream via their Website and you can find out a bit more via their Facebook.

~

Normally I would be a bit wary of the numerous tributes and re-issues from recently departed musicians.  Except for Jason Molina as they tend to all be pretty decent and I could always use a venue for grabbing a new vinyl with bonus tracks.  Well, Secretly Canadian is helping me out by re-releasing Didn’t It Rain as a double LP with demos – we all know how much I like me some demos.  Listen to Ring The Bell (or as it was known ‘Depression No. 42‘ at the time).

Read more about the release that is set for November 11th by clicking this link.

~

O’Death have a new album slated for October 7th called Out of Hands We Go over on Northern Spy Records.  They also have a streaming track called ‘Wrong Time’ that brings back their Folky Appalachian gothic vibe to Slowcoustic HQ.  Listen below and pre-order the album HERE.

~

Enjoy your “new” tunes for this Saturday!  Talk to you guys in another 10 days or so….  ;-)

~Sandy

The post New and New(ish) Music Saturday: Kill County, Oquoa, Songs: Ohia and O’Death appeared first on slowcoustic.

In order to not give each artist the full attention they need, I present you with one post with everybody together!  Despite all 4 of today’s entrees being Slowcoustic favourites and return guests, it is all new in the last week (or so).

Our boy Zach Lucky is going on a pretty extensive tour (but that is no real surprise, the guy is a work-horse on touring) and he picked a classic and a fav of mine to cover from Townes Van Zandt – My Proud Mountains. This song just does something to me about one’s love of home.  Find out more on this crazy Canadian tour from Lucky on his Website.

~~~

Another cover on the way folks (hell, I gotta switch to a cover blog soon, right?) – this time by stalwart folkie Sufjan Stevens covering Arthur Russell’s track A Little Lost for the Yep Roc release “Master Mix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell” in conjunction with the Red Hot organization.  A little good work for people who do good work – gotta like that.

Read more on the entire compilation via the Fork of Pitches.

~~~

My boys over at Field Report are posting new music from the album Marigolden (October 7th, Partisan Records) that you want to hear.  The newest song is called Home (Leave The Lights On) and while I am not sure it represents the album as a whole, it is a nice bit of change for the group to almost be kinda-psuedo-in a way-more or less-sort of…upbeat.  Maybe.  Regardless, listen below.

~~~

On of our favourite folkie warblers is Puzzle Muteson and he has a new album coming out on Bedroom Community called Theatrics.  You can listen and download the lead off single River Woman over on Bandcamp right this very second.  I have always loved his unique vocal style pairs with use of delicate strings (although becoming a little less unique in the folk world over the last few years), so head over and bookmark it for the late September release.

~~~~

There ya go, that is enough for a Saturday, enjoy.

~Sandy

The post Saturday Slowcoustic Roundup: Zachary Lucky, Sufjan Stevens, Field Report and Puzzle Muteson appeared first on slowcoustic.

I was listening to cover songs yesterday and thought about a few specifically and it all eventually led to this post.  I was listening to a fantastic Sufjan cover from Donovan Woods and then tweeted and then realized it was no longer at the blog I linked to.  So Woods to the rescue and it is now on his Soundcloud account as of last night.  The track is Romulus from the ‘good old days’ of Sufjan Stevens and it plays to Woods guitar and vocals perfectly. We all love Sufjan, I know, but who wore it better…

~~~

Then I casually browse the book of faces like one does on a Friday night and noticed that Marissa Nadler posted her Father John Misty cover (there is a split 7″ they have done together where they cover each other and it will be released this coming week – info).  It is appropriately gothic while still holding onto that vibe Tillman brought to the original track – more of a late night church rendition, and I like it.

~~~

I thought I would put in a few more covers as we all love covers around here…

Message to Bears with a very ethereal version of Phosphorescent’s Wolves (you might want to check his cover of Bon Iver’s Holocene as well via his Soundcloud).

~~~

Let’s finish with Paul Jacobsen‘s Six O’Clock News (originally from Kathleen Edwards) – always a great tune in my books.

~~~

Enjoy yourself a nice Saturday folks.

~Sandy

P.S. I wonder when the next Slowcoustic Cover Project will be….and who it will be covering?!

The post Cover Saturday – Donovan Woods, Marissa Nadler, Message to Bears and Paul Jacobsen appeared first on slowcoustic.

This is not a new song at all.  This is a song I found via the BBC TV show called “In The Flesh”.  The series follows a partially deceased sufferer (yeah, zombie is sooo 4 years ago people) and his journey back to the “living”.  Well, living a life he wants at least.  It is pretty darn good (two series so far) and originally had me listening to much more Keaton Henson.  You see Henson is essentially the soundtrack to the whole series with a song in every episode – so then you know that the show is worth a try, amiright?

For this post, I have decided to forgo the Keaton Henson (unfortunately as he is a very worth Slowcoustic style musician but we have had Keaton on this blog prior) and go with Emily and the Woods.  More of a traditional slowed down indie pop song or exactly the type of song that gets featured in TV shows these days.  It is damn catchy and I find myself listening to it quite a bit.  I know, I know, but I just can’t help it.  It is kind of a hard track to find online (not on the band’s Bandcamp, Soundcloud or Youtube, go figure) – so I have had to link to a stream from the Glastonbury Soundcloud account and a Bandcamp embed from the good chaps over at For Folk’s Sake.

Stream via GlastonburyOfficial HERE.

You can purchase the track via iTunes if you prefer as well.

~Sandy

The post TV Song of the Day: Emily and the Woods’ Never Play appeared first on slowcoustic.

There is new Field Report my friends.  Today (or a bit earlier last week) saw the first official listen to the lead off promo track Wings from Marigolden, the new album from Field Report (Oct. 7th on Partisan Records).

Wings starts in true FR fashion with ethereal build up and Chris Porterfield’s vocals guiding the way. But alas my friends, there is a slight difference than most previous FR material…there is more of a band vibe with a truly great keyboard/synth (almost the perfect way to build in a song these days).  This is also evident on other tracks from the new album and I have found my go-to comparison is another Best of 2014 lister…”Heal” from Strand of Oaks.  The two bands have shown themselves not to be pinned down as ‘merely’ singer-songwriter/folk and are branching out and almost fleshing out a bigger sound.  In the case of Wings and the album Marigolden, Porterfield and Co. are doing a fantastic job in growing what the sound “Field Report” can be.  Let’s take a listen, shall we;

The album was birthed up here in the great white north of Canada (in Ontario, but it still counts) and the Canadian in me takes full responsibility in the stunning music that was produced.  Look forward to this one people, it will find a home with you and a place on Slowcoustic’s Favourites of the Year come December.

Find out More: Partisan Records | Field Report Website | Facebook | Twitter

~Sandy

The post Listen to ‘Wings’ from the upcoming Field Report album now! Then pine for the Marigolden LP this October. appeared first on slowcoustic.

This is a quick post to advise you all (whom may still actually swing by this blog) about a very worthy Kickstarter!  Lewis & Clarke (Lou Rogai) have new music on the way – it has been a few years and it is worth the wait friends.

Sweeping, epic, stunning and immensely beautiful are things that can’t quite reach this double LP of sound.  Also, did I mention heavy gram vinyl?  So needless to say I have backed this project.  We have another couple of weeks but let us not be complacent.  Let us donate/back/purchase some Lewis & Clarke with haste.  This needs to be funded as I don’t want to have to hunt down whomever has the pre-production copies shown in the photo at the top of this post.  Because I will hunt. Them. Down. Mercilessly.

You can watch a bit of the Kickstarter promo as well as a “making of” video.

So go, go now and visit Kickstarter HERE.

For a reminder of what L&C can create, listen to the below.

Find and Follow: Label (La Société Expéditionnaire) | Facebook | Twitter

~Sandy

The post Kickstarter of note: Lewis & Clarke: ‘Triumvirate’ appeared first on slowcoustic.

Did somebody say a new track from Hiss Golden Messenger?  Well, damn rights they did.

I have been all super-nerd on HGM lately as I just received my vinyl copy of Bad Debt this past Tuesday…so all is pretty golden at Slowcoustic HQ.  I had been a casual fan of MC Taylor’s HGM recordings for a while now but for some reason I didn’t go ape-shit earlier when first started listening.  I mean I liked the guy and his music but let’s get real here, I listen to a lot of music and don’t always pay the attention that some artists deserve.  So I needed to listen closer and once I did, I became focused on all things messenger.  I am now kicking myself for not ordering all vinyl copies of all possible albums (like the album Haw for an example) from Paradise of Bachelors (see here).  I am not always a smart person folks.

I also know he has a new album out this summer, but as a stop-gap we have a new track from Merge Records in the form of Brother, Do You Know the Road? and you can stream it below.

So where are we?  We are listening this new track over and over while lamenting on the time we were not listening to HGM.  Go figure.

Visit Hiss Golden Messenger via Paradise of Bachelors or the Book of Faces.

~Sandy

The post Song of the Day/Week: “Brother, Do You Know the Road?” from Hiss Golden Messenger appeared first on slowcoustic.

Things have been a bit sparse since the completion of that last cover project for Will Oldham (but how good was that??).  Laying a bit low lately but still spinning music as one does in their twilight years…okay, I’m not that old, but still.  I did get my turntable fixed last month and it is glorious so I have tended to listen and not blog.  I dare say the ‘new’ deck sounds better than it ever did…but let’s not get into the vinyl audio quality debate as it will get ugly.  It is the weekend afterall…

So, what is kinda new and getting some play around Slowcoustic HQ?  Let us take a look (& listen).

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The new album is coming from JBM…or should I say Jesse Marchant.  I wonder if he is changing to his proper name instead of initials…either way this guy is golden.  Check out his website and grab a free download of the above youtube stream for All Your Promise HERE.

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Also the other day, my close friend Donovan Woods slides up to me and says “Hey Sman, how ’bout I drop some new music tonight?”.  I finally painfully decide to agree to him releasing some of the songs we have been sharing exclusively between ourselves over the past few years.  But I digress…  You can saddle up to some It Just Got Weird which features Woods with Robyn Dell’Unto and yes, of course, it is great.

Always feel free to support DW by visiting his Website and following the guy on the Twitters.

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Also our friend Sharon Van Etten has a new album upcoming over on JagJaguwar and she has another song streaming from it.  The song is Every Time The Sun Comes Up and while a bit more produced than some of her earlier stuff, is still dripping with her quietly powerful persona.  Remember when I had a singed copy of her first CD for a giveaway and nobody entered the contest and hence nobody won it?  Well, I guess you are all kicking yourself now.  Bastards.  Just kidding, I love you all.  No really.

You can find a pre-order via the Jags HERE.  Clearly you guys will pick up the bundle package for the new album, right?  Good.

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Lastly we have Ms. Tiny Ruins who just announced a stop here in my town of Calgary for this years Folk Fest.  I just might have to swing by and say hello (from a distance, from behind a tree just out of earshot as to not be seen/heard for fear of embarrassing myself).  Lovely new album called Brightly Painted One is currently in release starting yesterday through this coming week through various countries.

You can always visit her Website for more info (and a listen to Some Were Meant For Sea as well).

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So there you have some suggestions for your Saturday.  Go forth and eat up your ear food.

~Sandy

The post Saturday Listening Round Up: Jesse Marchant, Sharon Van Etten, Tiny Ruins and even Donovan Woods appeared first on slowcoustic.

Small Sur has a new track being released as part of the Singles Club 7″ box set.  The song is Wild Geese and it is classic Bob Keal & crew – so you know it is Slowcoustic approved.  Mellow, gauzy, atmospheric folk for those uninitiated few.  The project is a subscription series, so pay upfront and they send you four 7″ vinyl singles from 4 different artists that you then put in a lovely collectors box (as seen in the photo above).  One interesting feature is the actual single is the A side and an interview with the artist is the B side….so get to know your musicians and appreciate their music.  Win/Win.

Visit The Single Club series Website.

Visit Small Sur’s Website and purchase on Bandcamp (was just listening to my vinyl copy of the amazing Labor album yesterday…hence this post!)

~Sandy

The post Small Sur releases ‘Wild Geese’ 7″ for the Singles Club appeared first on slowcoustic.

JBM (Jesse Marchant) is putting out a new album soon if his social media outlets are not telling me lies.  He does indicate via his Facebook page that this album, his 3rd, is the one he is most proud of.  As the very schooled media maven he is, he would have to say that but what if…what…if…that is actually true?  Well my pretties, we are then in for something special.  His last album Stray Ashes where the above video for Only Now is from is an all time favourite – and also the Stray Ashes at Isokon (the live version of the album) is a must.

If you are in for some more video action – I highly recommend the whole album of Stray Ashes at Isokon via Marchant’s Vimeo page.

Visit and troll the JBM website for any notice of the new album and catch up on all things JBM.

~Sandy

The post Video: “Only Now” from JBM appeared first on slowcoustic.

All good things come to an end.  I lay before you those who will be tribute.  In closing, I present to you The Songs of Will Oldham – A Slowcoustic Cover Project, Day Five.

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Fred Woods came out of nowhere for me late last year – you could say he emerged from the woods, I mean you could if you enjoyed terrible puns.  That last sentence aside, Fred Woods creates music that has such gravitas that it is almost unnerving.  Each song is like atmosphere and emotion mixed together, with his cover of Strange Form of Life it is no different.  The layering sounds amazing in headphones…a must listen in headphones.  Fred had the below to say about the song and Oldham in general:

I really started to get into Bonnie Prince with The Letting Go…
To me almost everything he made before that is not really my cup of tea. I don’t know what happened in 2004-2005, maybe because he met Björk or something, but his voice really improved. It was much deeper and more expressive in a way…
I’ve decided to cover Strange Form Of Life because it’s a masterpiece, as simple as that.
The words are so good that it made me reevalutate every songs I’ve written for my next record. Like Neil Young or Robert Wyatt, Bonnie is a creature of his own and one of my idols.

You could also pick up his last album Documenta as a high recommendation as well by clicking one of the links below.

Visit Fred Woods: Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter

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The Olympic Symphonium is an brings us No More Workhorse Blues direct from the East Coast of Canada all the way West to Calgary to assist in closing out this cover project.  The band actually just released a new album this week (see here) and among the hectic new album release craze, are still able to get us a fantastic cover track.  Described by Forward Music Group as “Crafting delicately arranged folk-pop that drips with bittersweet melodies, soaring harmonies, and an awful lot of passion…” – something I would whole-heartily agree with!

Visit The Olympic Symphonium: Forward Music Group | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter

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Jeremy Squires provides his electro-acoustic, almost alt country-ish cover of I Am Goodbye to assist in the close today.   This a first for the cover projects here at Slowcoustic, as he has another contributor (Doc Feldman) on the track playing some accompaniment.  Two in one here, and it works flawlessly (as with most everything Jeremy & Doc do).  Jeremy almost covered two songs for us this time, but in the end all energies went to I Am Goodbye and it really shows with the delicately picked tunes with what I assume is Doc’s pedal steel peeking through (only a guess on my part).

Visit Jeremy Squires: Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter

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Jack James finds himself with the only track that received double duty in I See A Darkness.  James’ brings a more traditional, possibly darker or even a gritty texture to it.  Jack had a bit on his decision to cover this particular song:

Will Oldham is an honest to god artist. It seems like it’s becoming harder to name musicians for which this still holds true. I continue to admire not only his music, but how he conducts himself, and his attitude of dealing with the industry and his fans. To this day he manages to cultivate a mystique and respect granted perhaps only to the likes of Tom Waits, and few others. I honestly don’t know how he does it, but he sure is one strangely interesting person.

 

It is with the burden of all that that I decided: since covering a Will Oldham song comes with so much weight and pressure anyway, why not just pick what is probably his best known song? A song that has also been covered by Johnny Cash no less. In for a penny, in for a pound…

 

After initially choosing the immense “New Partner”, I instead decided to grab for “I See a Darkness”.

Glad he did select this track, job well done sir.

Visit Jack James: Website/Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter

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This one came out of nowhere from a die hard Will Oldham fan in the form of The Dones.  Ryan reached out after seeing the cover project this week and had to be part of it, and here we are!  I thought he had a great quote to literally finish the cover project.  So with that in mind, I will in fact end with it.

…as far as descriptive words. well, geez, what does one say.
i’ll simply say that “if i don’t like a song Oldham’s released, i’ve simply not listened to it enough times yet.”

Visit The Dones: Website (free album with more Will Oldham cover action) | Soundcloud | MySpace!!

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There you have it.  Tell yer friends, tell nobody, just listen to it and enjoy all that Will Oldham has brought to us through song.  Thanks to all the musicians who have contributed over the past 5 days, 25 songs being the largest cover project yet!

~Sandy

The post The Songs of Will Oldham – A Slowcoustic Cover Project (Day Five) appeared first on slowcoustic.

Here we are on the home stretch, Day Four of the cover project.  I have to say we are easing down this road (see what I did there?), but do not fret, we have more.  Five more tracks today on tap from: Bear Medicine, Psalmships, Quiet Hollers, John Comitale and Shawn William Clarke!  With only being familiar with 4 of these artists prior, I am excited to bring you ‘new to me’ musicians here on the project.

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Bear Medicine open day four with a fantastic cover of the Palace Music track of Old Jerusalem.  This song is incredibly well put together and it almost was never recorded!  With a bit of miscommunication on which song the band was going to submit for this project – they all did not end up working on the same song before showing up to start recording…Josh from the band described it as the below:

…for some reason i accidentally told the band the wrong track number on the album. so for two weeks, unbeknownst to me, the band had been individually working on a new arrangement of we all, us three, will ride. oops. so when we got to the studio and i started playing through old jerusalem everyone looked very confused. but after all the confusion, i think it worked out better this way. now nobody knew what was going on and all previous plans had to be thrown out the window. but i think the blank slate really helped us come together and make something in the moment that we would not have been able to achieve had we come in to the situation with all of our preconceived notions. what happened was a simple live one take recording that had minimal vocal harmony overdubs and a couple flute and cello harmonies added in. after mixing for a while i kept getting the feeling that there was still one texture missing. banjo. so we called up our good friend Joe Harbison (Ford Theater Reunion) who stopped by and laid down a lovely fluid part that really tied everything together. all in all this was an amazing experience for all of us to step outside our normal modes of writing and recording to create something new out of something old. 

The full line up:

Joshua Wright: Guitar, Vocals

Severn Edmonson: Percussion, Vocals

Seth Murphy: Cello

Kim Smith: Flute

Joe Harbison: Banjo

Recorded and Produced by Chris Reeves

Visit Bear Medicine: Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter | Instagram

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Psalmships has been around Slowcoustic’s listening landscape for a couple of years now.  As ‘Psalmships’, Joshua Britton records ‘Music From The Dark’ and I often lament on his Jason Molina vibe.  He does not change my opinion with this cover track of Death To Everyone.  Co-hort and no stranger to Slowcoustic Brad Hinton joins in and makes this a complete Pennsylvanian affair (Philly area, I believe).  So I leave you with this ominous and dark brooding, yet powerful, BPB tune to keep you awake at night.

Visit Psalmships: Website | Bandcamp

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Shadwick of Quiet Hollers reached out to contribute to the cover project once he saw me tweeting about it weeks ago – now here we are.  I admit I am a stranger to Quiet Hollers, but with the cover of You Can’t Hurt Me Now, that might just have to change.  By the look of some of the live show pics via their Facebook page/website, we might all need a bit more Quiet Hollerin’ in our lives.

Visit Quiet Hollers: Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Reverbnation

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The photo above belies the delicate folk song that Comitale performs for our cover project.  John performs a song from the Get on Jolly EP that has Will Oldham joining up with Mick Turner (Marquis de Tren) for a numerical selection of music.  This under-appreciated release finds some love here in the track 81 for the cover project (you might also want to swing over to JC’s Bandcamp page for a listen to ‘Even If Love’ for more Will Oldham cover love).

Visit John Comitale: Bandcamp

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Shawn William Clarke closes out today’s covers with a beautiful version of After I’ve Made Love To You.  The particular verse that clinched it for Clarke to choose this song of the 5 albums he scoured was;

In your arms I’m softly resting
Memories of you undressing
And your lips my final blessing
I never knew
The embrace that I’d been lacking
Has been found with kisses smacking
And two bodies there attacking
I and you

And a little back story and info on the track;

I first heard his music when a friend made me sit down with “I See A Darkness”.  At the time I didn’t see it.  It took a few years, and a bit of patience before I began to recognize his genius as a storyteller.  He says things in a way that I never hear, except from people emulating him.  Anyways, after going through about 5 or 6 albums, I settled on the song “After I Made Love to You” from the album “Ease Down the Road”.  I called my friend Kristian Pedersen to help record and mix the track.  He also provided a little bit of Wurlitzer.  Finally I need a female singer.  After some deliberation, I got a hold of Allie Sunshine who interpreted the song perfectly.

I know I am saying this again, but with today’s post full of folks I was not immediately familiar with, I think I am coming out on top here.  Another great track from SWC to cap it off.

Visit Shawn William Clarke: Website | Twitter | Facebook

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Are you getting tired of all these covers yet?  Didn’t think so.  Tomorrow is unfortunately the last day but it holds another five covers to round out the week.  I look forward to meeting you back here, same place, same time.

~Sandy

 

The post The Songs of Will Oldham – A Slowcoustic Cover Project (Day Four) appeared first on slowcoustic.

Day Three folks.  Day Three.

We offer up a fiver of covers today (again) and not to disappoint, they are keeping pace my friends.  We have seen some pretty darn great covers thus far and who knows, we may be hitting our stride on hump day here.  Today brings Doc Feldman (w/ Tree Jackson), a Singer of Songs, Pickering Pick, Tyler Butler and The River Has Many Voices!

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Doc Feldman opens up today with his cover of The Brute Choir of Will Oldham’s Palace Music days.  Doc indicated that this recording is totally DIY with one acoustic guitar and both vocals into a stereo microphone and digital recorder…all recorded ‘bedroom’ style, of course.  There is lovely accents from Tree Jackson of the band Small Batch included as well.

The main reason why “The Brute Choir” was chosen is because I’ve just always been fascinated by its apparent darkness. I’m always cautious about trying to interpret any song’s meaning too closely, but this one stands out to me as particularly disturbing. The song seems to be sung from the perspective of a rapist. I picture a soldier, a man among other soldiers. The author appears to be wrestling now in some way with what he’s done as he listens to the other men of his troupe rape the same girl. He’s torn. On the one hand he feels like howling with them, while on the other the sounds won’t let his sleep. At the end there appears to be sweet relief when the choir is finally quiet. It’s a horrifying account of perhaps the worst aspects of humanity… power, abuse, indifference. Perhaps just as disturbing is the way the singer appears ALMOST human in his possible feelings of guilt, yet in the end they’re likely merely surface musings.

It’s a song that scares me, and I like art that can do that. There aren’t many songwriters willing to plunge these types of depths, but Will Oldham does it on a number of occasions, and when he does, it can be a mind blowing experience for us as an audience. At least I know it is for me.

Visit Doc Feldman: Bandcamp | Facebook

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Pickering Pick is a long time favourite around Slowcoustic HQ.  I can honestly say that this guy is the real deal, a true talent and all around great guy – I even am lucky enough to call him a friend (if I may be so bold).  New Partner finds the Pickering Pick treatment this time (Sam also recorded for our J. Tillman Cover Project).  The photo above was during his ‘fleshing out’ of the cover song, that turns out to be more of a piano ballad than acoustic guitar affair.  A nice decision, me thinks.

Visit Pickering Pick: Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter

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a Singer of Songs was one of the very first musicians ever posted on this blog years ago.  Lieven Scheerlinck sings of Barcelona for us.  A song that, for him, now makes sense in it’s own way coming from someone who actually lives in Barcelona.  Go figure.  In his own words (as they are much better than mine):

When I moved from the cold North to warm Barcelona almost 16 years ago, one of the things that struck me the most was the way people looked at each other. Unlike Belgians people are not afraid of eye contact here in the South. They look you straight in the eye without fear. Which is pretty confusing at the beginning. I remember being on the subway a couple of months after settling here. I was reading a book when I noticed the weight of eyes on me. So I look up and this beautiful girl is looking straight at me. No fear. No shyness. Just straightforward eye contact. So of course as a good northerner I looked down immediately. My hands started to sweat. I looked back up, and there she was, still staring. Something like a faint smile on her lips. I look back down. Try to read, but the words had become a blur. For about ten stops this game held on. Until at Plaza Cataluña she gets up and goes to the door while the train pulls up at the station. I look up, and there is, still looking. The doors open, I remain seated, she walks away, out of my life.

But I couldn’t forget that gaze, those eyes. What if this was true love? What if she was the one? In that time I was still working the early morning shift cleaning in a perfume shop from 5 to 10 am, so I had nothing much to do for the rest of the day. So I decided to do the same subway route at the same time every day from then on. She looked like a student, so I supposed she had to go back to class. Take the subway. For more than two weeks I drove that same route every day. Pretending to read my book, looking out for her in my sly northern way. I was just about to give up (and run out of money, subway tickets weren’t that cheap and I made a lousy pay check at the shop), when all of a sudden… There she was. She sat down only a few rows from me, so I got up and sat down right in front of her. She was reading the newspaper this time. I pretended to be reading, looking up every few seconds, waiting for to look up for the first time. One station. Two stations. She didn’t look up. The stations went by one by one and she didn’t look up from her paper. When the train rode into the Cataluña station she got up, quickly glanced in my direction and… just walked away without as much a hint of recognition. And thus she walked away, this time for good. I was heart broken over her for weeks.

So when I heard this Will Oldham song some months after that, I fully recognized what he was singing about. The confusion of Barcelona. It’s not even close to being one of his best songs, but it has accompanied me during these past 16 years. And when I played the song live in Italy a few months back this fellow came up to me after the show and told me he had been in Barcelona twice with a girlfriend, and the exact same thing as the story told in the song happened to him (minus the throwing the girlfriend out the window of course). Twice! So yes, I do think I can say it is scientifically proven that Barcelona is a confusing place love-wise.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the music.

Visit a Singer of Songs: Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter 

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Not unlike Sam Pickering Pick above, Tyler Butler is someone that I have worked with in the past and in fact I know IN REAL LIFE.  I know, in this world of internet connections and a wide world of musicians, who actually meets people anymore.  Well TB is a great guy who is always game for some cover song making.  He brings Ohio Riverboat Song, that also like Pickering Pick is a Palace Music track.  This one is a more classic folk style with delicate finger picking and done in a lone troubadour style.

Visit Tyler Butler: Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter

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A new favourite for me is The River Has Many Voices.  This is a good thing as he is closing out today’s post with an amazing version of You Will Miss Me When I Burn.  An all time best of Oldham’s in my opinion, so I was excited when this cover song came into my life.  Expertly done and ever so lightly haunting rendition from Matthew Payne (TRHMV).  In a good way. Kudos

Will Oldham has kept me company for many years. He was there at the beginning, when I was learning about songwriting, and he has remained a mystery to me. This song is one of many of his that I’ve kept close.

Visit The River Has Many Voices: Website | Bandcamp (grab his free EP ‘Division’, it is a must)| Facebook

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Day Three is done, but not without 5 more excellent additions to the cover project.  Did I mention that I am one of the luckiest bloggers out there due to things like this?

~Sandy

The post The Songs of Will Oldham – A Slowcoustic Cover Project (Day Three) appeared first on slowcoustic.

So here we are at the second of five days of Will Oldham covers here on Slowcoustic.  We have another 5 tracks today from 5 great musicians: Kalispell, Allysen Callery, Wilder Adkins, Mike Hotter (of Swamp Baby) and There Is Danger.  So enough of this chit chat, let us get to the music!

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Shane Leonard, or Kalispell, provides a truly folk version of Careless Love – complete with down home banjo!  Shane had this to say about selecting this song;

“Careless Love” is one of my favorite tracks on Ease Down The Road for its minimalism and powerfully emotive lyrics. Oldham’s only accompaniment is a slowly building drone that becomes more harmonically dense as the melody ascends. In that way, it reminded me of John Cohen’s recordings of Roscoe Holcomb singing chorus-less lyrics over a supportive banjo part. I used a similar approach to retain the sense of space while adding textures that compliment the lyrics’ progressing narrative. 

Yes, and yes.  All things Kalispell does tends to work for me, so why not this fantastic cover?  Look for new material from Kalispell in the coming months as well…rumours are he is recording (and touring) currently.

Visit Kalispell: Facebook | Twitter | Website

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Allysen Callery provides an ethereal path through her cover of I Gave You from the all time great of an album Superwolf!  While not a complete Will Oldham creation, she makes it her own.  Why this song was selected has some back story – in her own words;

I was alone in my car when I first heard Bonnie Prince Billy, it was a track from Superwolf . I think I might have even pulled over.

I was going through a divorce and his voice opened my heart a bit,  I cried. The song was Lift Us Up- but I could never recreate that sacred, insulated starlit space.

Bob Kendall helped me with this recording of I Gave You with a light touch of trance, and at the end the backwards part makes me think of looking back on the relationship & again wondering what went wrong.

 

Thanks so much for letting me contribute, we had a lot of fun, Don Julio was involved…

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Wilder swooped in late last week with a winner in the form of his cover of Love Comes to Me.  I mean, if you close your eyes you can feel Will Oldham in this song – Wilder’s vocals are eerily close to Will’s.  Was this an out-take from Will or a new recording, you decide.

Some words from Wilder:

It took me a while to find just the right song. Will Oldham certainly has a lot of material to choose from. I picked this tune, “Love Comes To Me” because I’m a fan of a well written love song. I think the wordplay on this song is fantastic: “hard-hearted, honey-pot, hungry shepherd.” What does that mean even? I have some ideas, but even if I don’t know exactly what the speaker means (and perhaps neither does Oldham) the images evoke a feeling in me, and that I think is their purpose. And I love the last stanza – “In the nighttime when you feel me / and the backs of your knees conceal me” Hmm, backs of knees concealing… to me it sounds like a poetic way of saying they’re spooning. Musically I really like the modulation (key change) of the last verse. It helps to set it apart from the rest of the song and sort of announces the resolution.

I would say that Wilder has an innate skill of performing incredibly great cover songs, but that would be obvious – hope you all saw the cover posted from this past Saturday…

Visit Wilder Adkins: Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud

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Mike Hotter of Swamp Baby sent over a track that also might channel a bit of the vocal stylings of Mr. Will Oldham.  This time we get a bit of electro-acoustic folk straight out of Albany where he is currently located.  All Mike had to say about the recording process was that it was “Just me in the basement with my Martin acoustic and a couple of IPAs, with the baby monitor on.”  I like his style.

Visit Mike and/or Swamp Baby: Mike Hotter on Soundcloud (you might just find another Palace Music cover on this page…) | Swamp Baby Bandcamp

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Lastly today we have There Is Danger with their cover of My Home Is The Sea.  It is an echoey piano affair that finds harmonies in spades.  Self described as “Pretty music with big voices, small voices, guitars, drums, bass, violins, flutes, melodicas, a variety of keyboards and drums.” – seems just about right.  What else would you need anyway?

Visit There Is Danger: Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Twitter | Facebook

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So there you have it, 10 covers total so far this week.  Remember to swing back around tomorrow and all week for even more Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy / Will Oldham / Palace Music covers.

~Sandy

The post The Songs of Will Oldham – A Slowcoustic Cover Project (Day Two) appeared first on slowcoustic.

So here we are with the 3rd instalment of the Slowcoustic Cover Project.  This time we are featuring that guy above, the man of many names, the man of many sounds.

It is hard to peg Will Oldham with a specific sound so he often gets thrown into ‘indie folk’ but he is known to play along the fringes of any genre.  The artists that have decided to join in on the project also show this – the songs range quite a bit and while some may feel like they carry Oldham close, some flex their own sound and interpret Oldham’s music.  The songs range from Oldham, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Palace Music, Palace Brothers and even covers of songs that he himself has covered.  It is all a tangled web – a great sounding web, but I admit I get confused on what is what.  Feel free to correct any assumption in comments or rant at me via various social feeds.

Day one consists of 5 tracks from the artists Kill County, Adeline Hotel, Zedidiah Word, Count This Penny and Thorsten Nesch.  For the most part these will be BPB covers and it starts now!

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Kill County are a favourite band of mine, so I am always partial to these boys.  They open the project with the slow burner Raining in Darling.  It was recorded in Detroit and even survived through technical issues of dead microphones and time restraints (fitting in while recording a new album…yeah, I said it, NEW album…).  This one is a gooder folks.  It will be the best 1:46 you will spend tonight.

Visit Kill County: Bandcamp | Facebook

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Amanda from Count This Penny contacted me about taking part and wanted to send in the Count This Penny version of I See A Darkness (and yes Amanda knows she skips the first ‘verse’, but it totally works!).  The photo is taken of the recording where Amanda played old Italian hollow-body that they bought from a guy who’d had it hiding under a bed for 30 years…while Allen Rigell played bass and Andrew Harrison played electric guitar.  This track was engineered / mixed by Dan Probst (who practically hand-built a lot of the components used in the recording) and Brian Knapp.

Visit Count This Penny:  Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

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Thorsten Nesch is no stranger as he contributed to a track to our Damien Jurado cover project as well – this time he brings Cycles (which was covered by BPB and originally by Gayle Caldwell I believe).  This comes as a fireside number that could find you on your 5th scotch…or so I would imagine.  Thorsten actually was introduced to the music of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy right here in Calgary (he now lives in Germany with his family) when an old band-mate sent him a CD of BPB to check out.  During his time in Calgary he had a weekly 4-hour radio show at CJSW (our University radio station) that he called “PolterZeitGeist”.   Not only could he play him there, he could further dive into their great vault CD archive (due to no internet research possible).  The discovery of BPB fell into a time of musical change and focussing for him, and here we are.  Great stuff.

Visit Thorsten Nesch: Website | Bandcamp | Facebook

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Adeline Hotel is a band from Brooklyn, New York and he is new to my Slowcoustic ears.  What a nice surprise to receive his cover for Cursed Sleep – eerie and haunting in all the right places.  Adeline Hotel is still set to release a new album this fall with a single this coming June – so this is a pseudo coming out party as the web presence is very minimal at this point for Adeline Hotel.  As I type this the Bandcamp page and Soundcloud page are just getting finalized.  This is one to watch folks.

Visit Adeline Hotel: Bandcamp | Twitter |  Soundcloud – if any links do not work, bookmark them as they will come online any minute!

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Zedidiah Word is also not a stranger to our cover projects  as he covered Denton, TX from our Damien Jurado project.  We welcome Zedidiah back once again and he had a little to say about putting this song together for us:

“I first listened to Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy for the same reason I suspect most people do.  They see the name and wonder, what is this?  While the name might have drawn me in, it was the unsteady warble of his voice that hooked me.  Or was it the unrehearsed feel of the recordings that did it?  Now that I think about it, it was probably the Southern Gothic lyrics that made me pay attention.  Or… maybe it was the fact that his physical appearance was odd and non-commercial?  Oh that’s right, it was because Johnny Cash covered his song (I guess that puts me in good company?).

Whatever it was, Will Oldham, aka Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, aka Palace Music, aka whatever else he’s gone by, has fascinated me over the years.  His song ‘Wolf Among Wolves’ is one of my favorites, and like so many of his songs, it has myriad interpretations.  I choose to believe it is about a man who was made lupine and forced into a loveless wolf marriage to satisfy a debt to an evil queen.  But I am almost certainly wrong, and that’s why I love it.”

Visit Zedidiah Word:  Bandcamp | Website | Twitter | iTunes

~~~

This is only Day one folks, there is much more to discover – great covers by Slowcoustic regulars and new-to-me artists.  Tomorrow is Day two…

~Sandy

The post The Songs of Will Oldham – A Slowcoustic Cover Project (Day One) appeared first on slowcoustic.

I am thinking of making this blog a cover blog.  Not really…it just seems that way lately.

So then I thought I would post this great Pedro the Lion cover of the track Magazine from our friend Wilder Adkins.  You may not know but we are starting up our next cover song project next week (Will Oldham) and Wilder is taking part in it as well.  So this could be a segue of sorts…and a nice Saturday song for you all in general.  I am kicking myself as he had posted it on his Soundcloud page a year ago.  Bad cover-song blogger, bad bad bad.

You can find more Wilder via Bandcamp HERE.

~Sandy

The post Cover-song of the Day: ‘Magazine (original – Pedro the Lion) from Wilder Adkins appeared first on slowcoustic.

This cover of Jason Molina’s Alone With The Owl has been playing non-stop since it started streaming from the Rock The Cause Soundcloud page.  It appears as part of the tribute album for the late Molina that is set for release on April 22nd (pre-order via iTunes) – Farewell Transmission, The Music of Jason Molina.  The album is a double disc with this song definitely being one of the standouts – there are 27 tracks so this thing is HUGE – and loaded with some of my favourite artists and some serious talent.  I am glad Jaffe did this particular track because it is from Molina’s solo album Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go which is a personal all time favourite of mine and she does justice on her track from start to end.

The project has been coming for a little bit now and started with our good friend April over at Common Folk Music who got together with Chris Mateer of Uprooted Music Revue to plan a tribute to Molina.  As you can see from the below tracklisting, they found some great acts to be part of it all.  Seriously, these guys assisted in getting some great acts!!  Rock the Cause is playing quarterback on the project and are releasing it via their non-profit label this coming April.   Portions of the net proceeds will be sent to MusisCares and the Molina family respectively.

Tracklisting

Disc  1

1. Get Out Get Out Get Out – Squares
2. Arm In Arm – Memorial Electric Co
3. Farewell Transmission – My Morning Jacket
4. Lioness – Enemy Planes
5. 7th Street Wonderland – Murder By Death
6. Alone With The Owl – Sarah Jaffe
7. Old Black Hen – Jonah Tolchin
8. Leave This City – Ben Lubeck of Farewell Milwaukee
9. Two Blue Lights – The Black Swans
10. Almost Was Good Enough – Bro Stephen ft. Jim James
11. Didn’t It Rain – Box Of Baby Birds
12. Memphis Moon – Cory Branan
13. The Dark Don’t Hide It – Gabriel Douglas ft. Drew Preiner
14. I’ve Been Riding With The Ghost – Fathom Lane

Disc 2

1. Trouble In Mind (Fade To Blue) – Memorial Electric Co
2. I Can Not Have Seen The Light – Matt Bauer and Heather McEntire
3. 34 Blues – Will Johnson and Briton Biesenherz
4. Hammer Down – Jim and Jennie & The Pinetops
5. Just Be Simple – Water Liars
6. Steve Albini’s Blues – Catherine Irwin
7. White Sulfur – Nathan Salsburg & Joan Shelley
8. Don’t This Look Like The Dark – Wooden Wand
9. Heart My Heart  – Luke Redfield
10. Lioness – Viking Moses
11. The Big Game Is Every Night – Bottomless Pit
12. Hold On Magnolia – Communist Daughter
13. John Henry Split My Heart – Jonny James and The Hall of Fames

Again, Sarah Jaffe’s tribute is standout – the clearly defined essence of Molina’s sound is felt immediately.  The piano, sombre and haunting lead you down a path to the track, Jaffe comes in and beautifully translates those lyrics.  Those lyrics that easily show a glimpse into what Molina must have been living with – while stunningly beautiful, they can be terrifyingly real.  This is a great collection of songs for a great cause for an amazing musician.

I am sure you will find more updates on this tribute here on Slowcoustic by the time this comes out, so stick around and keep an ear out.

~Sandy

The post Song of the Week: ‘Alone With The Owl’ from Sarah Jaffe appeared first on slowcoustic.

The aptly title EP, Black Oak, finds itself streaming at Slowcoustic HQ as I type this.  I am literally on song 4 but as I am very familiar with both, I know I am recommending it to you already.  This is sounding pretty damn great so far – I Am Oak covers The Black Atlantic, The Black Atlantic covers I Am Oak, original tunes – the EP has it all.  Snowstar Records always puts out good stuff, so this EP is a slam dunk.

Listen to a couple of covers from each of them, of each of them (confused yet) below.

Come on, who is going to think the below musical combination would not find itself on the pages of Slowcoustic?  Seriously, this photo;

Find the album for purchase from Snowstar: http://snowstar.bandcamp.com/album/black-oak

~Sandy

The post I Am Oak & The Black Atlantic release new EP – Black Oak appeared first on slowcoustic.

Yesterday was Valentines Day and the International release day for the latest album from I Am Oak un-nervingly titled Ols Songd album.  Thijs Kuijken has collected some rarer live songs and previously unreleased tracks to create this, his 4th, release of his haunting brand of melodic folk music.  Maybe this being a collection of songs previously performed makes it seem like familiar territory for I Am Oak.  Almost like a gift to existing fans and an opportunity for those new to I Am Oak to get a true feeling for what Thijs creates as a musician.  Deep, sparse, beautifully sombre (sounding at least) songs that carry his signature delivery.

The album has what are apparently live favourites like Birches – this also tends to be my current favourite on the album – that closes out the album.  Even though it carries with it an echoing farewell atmosphere with the chant like chorus that provides the path from the experience of the album, it can be a song on it’s own and immediately caught my ear.

Now that I have ‘played you out of the album’, I think you might need to be provided with another song that provides the harmonies that lead to the previously descriptor of melodic.  The gravitas provided in the chorus of this next track, Firm Hands, hit the spot for me.  To me I hear a distinctly European/Dutch vibe – I don’t even know what that means but I think it, so let me have it.  Maybe being Canadian, I hear what North American’s call traditional music and this finds me deep in thick forests of foreign lands and I believe I like it. A lot.

Enjoy the full album streaming on Bandcamp – you can also purchase it on CD and Vinyl – right here: http://snowstar.bandcamp.com/album/ols-songd

You can also visit I Am Oak’s Website and revisit the amazing video and track Palpable from his previous album Nowhere or Tammensaari (which I loved as well).

~Sandy

p.s.  Did you hear I Am Oak and The Black Atlantic are putting out a “split” EP on Snowstar as well??  Well they are.
p.p.s.  Photo in banner on front page by Nick Helderman

The post Recommended Listening: ‘Ols Songd’ from I Am Oak appeared first on slowcoustic.

As I have been away from the blog lately, I have decided to have a small collection type post.  The collection is from various artists and songs I have had for a while but came up the other night while looking through playlists.  As often happens with me, I shun searching for new music and visit songs that are tried and true.  Sometimes I just need to know when I press play that the song will be a favourite and will hit the proverbial spot.  I already know I will have connected to the song but I will still immediately re-experience the warmth of a familiar strum of guitar strings and knowing I could join in on a few harmonies as needed (but you don’t want to hear me doing this, it is actually quite embarrassing…for everyone involved).

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The first one is actually because the new album for Doug Paisley is now out and one of the songs is one I heard a year or so back called “To and Fro”.  I heard it due to Canadian Videographer Mitch Fillion and his Southern Souls project – Paisley filmed the song in an art gallery surrounded by porcelin rabbits.  Yes, you read that correctly.  With the echoes mixed with electric reverb from the space, it was (and is) beautiful.  The newer version from his album Strong Feelings is a bit more upbeat and full, so this could be the Slowcoustic version if there ever was one.

[vimeo width=”600″ height=”365″ video_id=”36945380″]

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I also came across a cover of Neil Young’s Albuquerque from Jeffrey Foucault.  Mr. Young has been on a bit of a tour rant lately and did recently come through Calgary (this is where I am, fyi) and ruffled our conservative oil & gas fuelled feathers.  I admit my job depends on a connection to the movement of natural gas product and while I tend to not care about such things, it was an interesting conundrum.  That could be a story for another time tho, me thinks.  Oh yeah, the song.  Jeffrey Foucault OWNS this song.  OWNS it.  I have always loved Foucault’s gritty and poignant vocals – that voice is hand in glove for this style of music.  This version of the song truly makes me want to sing and I do, every time.  Again, it is still a bit embarrassing but it can’t be helped.

Jeffrey Foucault – ‘Albuquerque (Neil Young Cover)’ – Download
http://slowcoustic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Albuquerque-Neil-Young-Cover.mp3

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Postdata are the brothers Murphy (Michael and Paul) of which Paul is from the band Wintersleep.  These brothers apparently got drunk and sang about family.  These things tend to either go well or go poorly depending on your family.  I am still on the fence on this family, but the album that was birthed (the self titled Postdata album) is fantastic.  Actually caught them play here in Calgary a couple years back and they did not disappoint, especially on their track Tobias Grey.

Postdata – ‘Tobias Grey’ – Download

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3 songs, that is enough for today – sheesh…all this blogging!

~Sandy

The post Saturday Revisiting – Doug Paisley, Jeffrey Foucault, and Postdata appeared first on slowcoustic.

Alabama boys Fire Mountain are currently finalizing and mixing and mastering and doing album stuff, and now they are getting their ducks in a row for the release of the upcoming album “All Dies Down”.  They have taken to the streets of crowd-funding to assist in making the album a reality and in the quality it deserves to be heard and released in.  I have been a fan of FM for a while and nobody deserves a helping hand like Perry and the crew.

If you are unfamiliar with Fire Mountain, they definitely have a Southern texture to what could be a mixture of alt-country and folk-rock.  As I can comfortably say I covered multiple genres in the previous sentence to ensure to intrigue as many of you as possible, maybe some actual examples will loosen the purse strings here…

How about a video of the recording of their song Doing Fine which will be on the upcoming album?  Okay then.

You might also remember Fire Mountain from their inclusion in BOTH our Slowcoustic Cover Projects for J. Tillman and Damien Jurado!  I enjoy me some Fire Mountain and so should you.  You should help everyone else in enjoying them as well by visiting them and even possibly donating to their Pledge Music project.  Links below my friends.

Visit Fire Mountain: PLEDGE MUSIC | Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter

~Sandy

The post Fire Mountain starts Pledge Music Campaign for new album, “All Dies Down” appeared first on slowcoustic.

I was thinking about all the “death of blogging” discussions (overblown), alongside the actual bloggers handing in their WordPress passwords (RIP Bryan at Herohill and Frank at Chromewaves specifically) and it made me want to do a blog post.  I mean, it has really turned into a zoo out there in the last couple of years with fewer actual blogs and more of these music magazine sites (for lack of a better description).  Let us not get started on this whole Tumblr situation either.  It is like I try to describe the style of some sites now and I have a hard time doing it because they are half news, half hottest new indie band, half links to other sites and half are a collection of 27 different ‘editors’.  I also know that there was four halves in the last sentence but I couldn’t change the sentence from all the way up here on this soapbox.

So, I thought I would remain true to my somewhat niche marketplace and what is left of my readers and post an older track that didn’t necessarily garner much attention originally.  I guess I am also not that up to date on a lot of music, so I find myself masquerading my lack of listening under the guise of indie credibility.  But once again, I digress…

This brings me to Elephant Micah (or Joe O’Connell) because for some reason I consider this guy under appreciated. He may not actually be under appreciated as maybe I just don’t run in circles that promote the awesome library of music from the genius that is EM.  I mean, I do have some internet buds that love the guy (and some that really really love him) so I may be way off here…but then that would throw off the vague purpose of this post, so I can’t have that.  Elephant Micah is sooo underrated and that is that, I guess.

Where does this rambling leave us?  Well, here we are with a song that appeared as the closer to his January 2012 release Louder Than Thou which was an album that was both accessible but in some ways had songs that might have been on another album all together.  There are some more straight forward indie-folk tracks like the the songs If I Were A Surfer, Tin Foil Continent and even the practically upbeat My Cousin’s King, but there were also more atmospheric performance pieces like Won These Wings and Rooster on the Loose.  Overall I give it a solid 8-8.5/10 and a must have because come on, that is a solid rating these days and after 2 years of listening this means it is a damn keeper!  The song I am playing here is Airline Living and it was one that I immediately loved and was drawn to. I actually have a hard time holding down the beast that is my musical taste in order to be able to describe why I like it so much.  The bass line, definitely…the 70s influenced keyboards, yup…O’Connell’s perfect vocals, it has gotta be…so I end up with an easy out and state that it must be the combination of all three.  Listen for yourself below and tell me this isn’t the best thing you are going to hear all day.

You can listen and purchase the prolific musician via Bandcamp here: Product of Palmyra (click on one of the albums and then you can see much more albums along the right hand discography).

Visit him already.

~Sandy

The post Song of the (previous) Day: Airline Living from Elephant Micah appeared first on slowcoustic.

I am writing this on Christmas night when I most certainly should be sleeping. I’m in my parents house in Sarnia at the kitchen table, everyone else is asleep. I had a weird year. It was great, the best year of my life certainly. Huge swings up and down for me this year, and these are some of the songs I listened to while I was swinging. I do find that my taste is changing with age. I need songs to make sense now. I mean, not really, but, you know. I’m 33 so I need some proof that someone put some thought into something, or what am I even doing? I could just listen to silence instead, I’m 33. I can just sit and look at a wall and I’m totally happy, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m 33.

So here’s 10 songs I got into this year, I think there might be 11:

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Lori McKenna – My Love Follows You Where You Go

This song is a groove and a rut, you know? Lori is just one of the best writers presently writing if you’re gonna ask me. The whole album is good, it’s called Massachusetts, which is where she lives. Her songs are actually “rough” and “real” and “gritty” – all things that one million male singer-songwriters, myself included, claim to be and NEVER actually are. These songs are about folks’ lives. She also co-wrote a Hunter Hayes #1 hit this year called “I Want Crazy” which is a song that has 42 hooks and still could not be more clear and good. She’s also a married mother of 5 kids, so don’t you ever say “I’m so busy” ever.

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Lorde – Royals

Yeah, who didn’t like this shit, eh? I remember the first time I heard it, in July in Nashville. I had just picked up a rental car was flipping through the satellite radio trying to find CBC Radio 2 because, I’ll be honest, I like hearing myself on the radio in other countries. I wasn’t on, so I switched to Lightning 100, Nashville’s hippest fedora-scarf-type station. They played this song and I was all, sweet God in heaven, that is moody. Has a song ever hooked you quicker? I was all-in on the first line. It sounded like 2013 to me. It wasn’t a throw-back or re-hash of anything and that’s about as hard as sudoku to do (I can’t do sudoku).

~~~

Kanye West – Blood On The Leaves

What the hell is this even? Late one night I recorded a cover of this which no one will ever hear. If you’re going to sample “Strange Fruit” you better have something to say about some shit, and he does. Look up that song, if you’re not familiar with it. His screaming “We coulda been somebody!” is exactly what I like about songwriting. Slightly off, and exactly right because of the wrongness. Oh god, what a stupid thing to write. I’m an insufferable artist, I see that, but I won’t delete it because I’m 33 and getting ready to die.

~~~

Charlie Worsham – Trouble Is

I did a whole whack of co-writing in the Warner Chappell building in Nashville this year, and up and down the hallway of songwriting studios people were talking about Charlie Worsham. A lovely guy, they all said, and just wait until you hear his record. This is what country can be, when folks pay attention. (Three tips for getting inspired: 1. Pay Attention 2. Pay Attention 3. Pay Attention) It’s an album full of great, well-crafted, smart songs that hit you in the heart and feel good. This is just one that I think is representative of the greatness of the whole album. The record is called “Rubberband” and you should try it out and see for yourself.

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Drake – Come Thru

This is on the deluxe version of Drake’s new record so my friend Matt hadn’t heard it and I was all, “what bud?”  I love this song for so many Drakey reasons. I wish Drake had been making heart-break anthems when I was having my heart broke. There’s one song on this record where he just raps directions to a girl’s house in Toronto. That some sad-sack shit, and I LOVE it. Drake satisfies me completely as an artist. Every time he releases something, I’m into it huge. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I cannot get enough.

~~~

Frightened Rabbit – The Woodpile

This song is badass and it has distorted guitars. Ever heard of those?  “A lit torch to the woodpile, aye” is the chorus line and isn’t that quite the thing to sing in a song? It’s a grindy, angsty jam that I would’ve loved when I was 25. I still love it now, but I don’t play it real loud in my car like I would have then; I don’t record a cover of it on my voicemail and send it to some sweet-faced girl I’ve been bothering like I would have then. Thank God.

~~~

Leif Vollebekk – Southern United States

I kept seeing this guy’s record on the iTunes chart while I checked to make sure people were buying my record. I don’t actively seek out singer/songwriter records because if they’re good they depress me, and if they’re bad they depress me. What’s the point? Eventually I sampled this song and loved it. It’s clear he really likes Dylan, but what’s wrong with that? I do too. Leif does that “Blood on the Tracks” rambling-guitar-with-only-loose-bass-and-harmonica-accompaniment thing real well. I’ve tried and failed, it’s hard. The whole record is great. Great lyrics, interesting melodies. This song in particular was right about where I was at when I heard it. He’s being questioned at the border: “I don’t know what it is they thought I had, but by the end I had had it.”

~~~

Tim McGraw – One Of Those Nights

I love this song. I yelled out loud, drunk in the summer, to my sister, “This is my favourite song of all time”! I didn’t mean that, and it’s not, but man, did I like it this summer. The verse melody just rolls out of your mouth when you sing along. The harmonies are always just right there asking you to sing them. The chorus rolls in like a calming little wave and warms up your feet. It’s fun to sing loud. The value of fun, cool words phrased well cannot be over-stated. This song picks you up and doesn’t drop the ball, it just rolls you along in your car. It may not be your thing, but you can’t deny that it doesn’t let you down one inch. It delivers the feeling of what it describes. Music is just selling you a feeling, and, to me, it’s no wonder people bought this one.

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The 1975 – Chocolate

Yeah, this is great. A hook machine. I don’t know what the hell dude is talking about. I think he says, “…and your hair smelled like chocolate” and then a bunch of stuff about petticoats. I don’t know. I heard it in a bar in London (London, UK) [which is something you have to say in Ontario or people think you’re talking about London, Ontario which is a town that I don’t love deeply, I’m sorry] a long while back and thought, THIS IS A HIT SONG. I think it was to a certain extent. It’s a song for dancing maybe? I can’t think of a song like it. It’s good.

~~~

Kacey Musgraves – Merry Go Round

When this song came out, writers in Nashville said things like, “If that’s a hit, we’re in good shape”. It wasn’t really a hit, but it’s getting enough attention that folks are excited. This song is doing what country music is supposed to do – display plain truths in plain language – and it’s so nice to hear. Kacey writes songs real well and sings them real well – she’s a compelling artist to me. (Shane McAnally co-wrote this one with her and a guy named Josh Osbourne. Look Shane up if you like, dude is massively talented and compelling as well.) She’s nominated for Grammys and stuff now, so soon everyone will know. Maybe everyone does already? Bless her heart.

~~~

Shark Tank – Out For A Rip

This song so perfectly captures how I talk it’s frightening. It is a complete work of art. His swearing is poetry. He never sounds like he’s trying to rhyme or speak rhythmically, it just sounds as if he’s speaking. It’ll make everything else you hear today sound pretentious and ridiculous. I love it very much.

~~~

Timber Timbre w/ Feist – Homage

This is just sad and beautiful. I heard it first in a rental car pulled over to the shoulder because it was raining so hard in Mississippi that I couldn’t see. I was driving to see William Faulkner’s grave in Oxford, MS. I got there at about 2AM, I had to climb a small fence. I saw the grave and I felt nothing. Here’s what I tweeted, to prove it to you: https://twitter.com/DonovanWoods/status/355161056416505856. Feist and this other guy’s voices together harmonizing were perfect for me though. I downloaded this song and listened to it on repeat, holding my phone up to my ear the whole way driving back to Tennessee. That is not illegal in Tennessee or Mississippi

~~~

[info]Top image from These Roving Eyes post from last year that includes an interview of sorts (& a cover by Woods of Sufjan Stevens….) – the post is HERE, so swing by for some more Donovan Woods love.[/info]

The post Guest Post: Top Songs of 2013 according to Mr. Donovan Woods appeared first on slowcoustic.

Back in the day when Slowcoustic was in it’s infancy and I was searching for music that really found a home with me, Canadian musician Barzin was a huge find.  Barzin created moody slowcore tunes and I was in heaven.  Songs like Past All Concerns and Just More Drugs created beautiful hazy moments in time. Back in the day, there was a bunch of free downloads recorded in Toronto called ‘Songs for Hinah’ (a fantastic old school indie site from France) – I don’t even know when it was, but I can see from the Hinah site it was around 2004 (see here), this was my introduction to the man.  You can find a recording of that EP via archive.org here if you are interested.

This leads me to an email a little while ago with the word that Barzin is releasing another album – an email I almost deleted in a hurried rush to clear the notification on my phone!?!?  This email contained the news of a late February release of the album To Live Alone In That Long Summer – which in my opinion is a perfect title for an album from Barzin.  The album is 9 tracks and includes assistance from friends like Tony Dekker (Great Lake Swimmers), Daniela Gesendheit (Snowblink) and Tamara Lindeman (Weather Station) and even some strings from Hayden contributor Karen Graves.  Don’t get me started on the Hayden vibe you are getting from that photo above as well.  This album will be out via Monotreme Records (see here) and includes a limited vinyl run, so take note.

I will leave you with the first track from the album – All The While – which premiered over on Rolling Stone a few weeks back (seriously, is RS coming back to cool?).  The entire album follows suit to this track and is highly recommended by yours truly.  I will be reminding you again closer to the February 24th, 2014 date, but until then…

Barzin – ‘All The While’

(from the 2014 album, To Live Alone In That Long Summer)
(click here for a 320 kbps free download via Soundcloud)

Official links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Monotreme Records

~Sandy

The post Upcoming Album Alert: Barzin’s “To Live Alone In That Long Summer” appeared first on slowcoustic.

Let us not keep you waiting or have you click through a dozen or so “click for next album” links and yes I know I am a bit early as 2013 has not quite reached it’s end.  None the less, I have a gathered list of albums that I think are great, that are actually great, and are all worth your time should you so choose.

My favourite album of the year is probably no secret, but presented in all the glory it deserves….

The album, Country Sleep, from Winsten Yellen (& crew) released last year over on Dead Oceans was a more than pleasant surprise after hearing them by chance earlier in the year.  Apparently the album or most/some of the songs have been in the works for quite a while but releasing a full album was finally achieved in 2013…thank Christ.  This one checks all the boxes for me; sufficiently ‘indie’, more or less a singer/songwriter, has some killer slow burners, Yellen’s vocals are not your average vocalist and his delivery between upper and lower registers just does something for me.  The album also straddles some sort of live band vibe and solo tortured musician territory – good to get both in order to ensure a rounded album of range with cohesiveness.  I guess they teach that at ‘tracking albums, 101’ though…hey, I’m just a blogger here guys.

My favourite track is Cherry Blossoms because it kills me. I attempt to sing along and it still kills. It is that good.

BONUS: A cover song?  Yes, it is true, thought it wasn’t bad – of course she is dealing with great material here…I said it is my fav track, right?

There you have it, my favourite album of 2013 – Night Beds with their album Country Sleep!

Purchase | Support: HERE

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 Now the rest of this list.  It sounds bad but believe me it is not, these albums are all incredible – I am just listing them as such without real numbering as they do flex a bit as I listen or get in moods.  I only separated Night Beds as I picked it as my favourite because, well…it was.  The remainder of these albums all came close and hold a special place for me this year.  Dig in folks!

Always been a GAI fan and his latest album The Weatherman is another gem in his catalog.  The album has crushingly beautiful songs and is meant to only be listened to in headphones while watching epic vistas in slow motion.  It is that good.  While the only song officially steaming for the album is Saint Valentine (below), please dig into the entire album as there is much much better like ‘She Always Takes it Black’ or ‘Honey, It’s Alright’ among them.  A must have in your collection.

Purchase | Support: HERE

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This one is a bit of a coup around Slowcoustic HQ.  Introduced fairly late in the year and with no previous knowledge of this “Valley Maker” band, I dug into it on a recommendation for the album Yes I Know I’ve Loved This World, from my pal Terry and I haven’t stopped listening.  I have had this album more or less as number 3 on this page and that should show you how much it shot up my favourite list (I only started listening end of October).  The album is solid back to front, it is my version of ‘catchy’ because it carries both gravitas and indie hooks with wild abandon and interchanges both…and it works.  I compared Austin Crane’s vocals to Colin Meloy and I don’t know if that is doing him justice, other than the fact that Meloy is indie royalty.  I immediately went back to Meloy and The Decemberists from the Castaways and Cutouts days – not specifically for any other reason than that is my favourite Decemberists album.  So again, that must mean something, right?  Overall, there is just something about the album for me, it is fresh, timeless, catchy, rolled up into 10 tracks.  I love when an artist and album come out of nowhere for me – best new find of 2013, easily.  Get this album now.

Purchase | Support: HERE

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Now we are getting into my Country leanings here on the favourites list.  Kill County are what ‘Country Music’ should be on the album Dust In Wire – a bunch of people, friends, musicians, dedicated to just making real music…for the fun of it.  Hell, if great music comes of it, that so be it.  A great music comes from Kill County on a regular basis.  This one has been around all year for me, it has dug in it’s heels and found a home with slide guitar/pedal steel, acoustic guitar and Southern twang that hits the spot.  It is like trying to explain to somebody what ‘cool’ is and how it ends up being explained as “well, you just know…you know” – and that is how I feel about Kill County, they are just plain great Country, you know?

Purchase | Support: HERE

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Continuing on the Country vibe – we run into Doc Feldman (who is no stranger to Kill County) and his debut album Sundowning at the Station.  Doc Feldman (or Derek as I know him) has been on this album for a while and found a nice release via This Is American Music.  This album was originally a solo album called The Slow Knife Cuts Our Fair Share but Doc felt it needed a little something extra and the LD50 came into play and the great album Sundowning at the Station was formed.  It echoes of whisky nights and rough mornings.  Just like a good rootsy Country album should – with Feldman at the helm those nights seem timeless and those mornings aren’t half bad either.

Purchase | Support: HERE & HERE (iTunes)

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Huck Notari out of Portland had a Kickstarter for his new album Huck Notari and the River that was successfully funded and hence we have another album on this list.  Huck creates a more folky Country vibe than the above two albums and is more for a lazy day by the river (see what I did there) instead of drinkin’ till dawn.  His songs reach into you and tug at good sensibilities and good music.  Possibly an easier time where music wasn’t squeezed into lists. So there is that.

Purchase | Support: HERE

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Yup, token non-folk-country, rap(ish) album. ‘Nuff said.

You know where to purchase.

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He is prolific I must say.  Not all BPB/Will Oldham stuff is on this level though.  Here, the self titled album effortlessly pulls a sparse album into not feeling like a collection of demos or extra tracks from a more full release.  This is the style that Oldham excels in my books, just him and a guitar – easy, at times dark and not out of his range.  Just a solid album all around and not so oddly self released by the man himself.  That Bad Man track is just fantastic and is the feature song on the album for me.

Purchase | Support: HERE

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It seems weirdly comforting that Donovan Woods has an album nestled up next to Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Kanye West.  I think he would appreciate the company at the very least.  One of the most talented “everymen” you could ever find, I think.  He has a disarmingly warm delivery that belies some of his tongue in cheek (or not so tongue in cheek) stories set to exclusively stunning folk backdrops.  I have always had a soft spot for Donovan and maybe I assume him to always do well at these sort of lists for me, but god damn it, I like it.  And we all know you do to.

Purchase | Support: HERE

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Am I getting soft in my old days?  I mean there are at least two ‘mainstream’ albums on this list – and you would argue neither are “Slowcoustic”.  Well, I am not shying away from something that got a fair share of hype because I like The National.  The album is not exactly folky but it is a fantastic listen.  Songs like Graceless, Hard to Find, Fireproof, Pink Rabbits…come on, those are damn fine tunes.  The songs from The National just seem bigger than they would from anybody else.  Nothing splashy or out of line and that is great – not broken, no need to fix.

Purchase | Support: HERE

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So that is a list of music that I truly enjoyed this year.  Sure there are more, some I missed, some I am simply forgetting to add in and some that just need more time to fill my ears.  Maybe if I continued to blog for the last part of 2013 I might have found something additional…and for this I apologize for my slacker blogging regimen over the last few months.  I promise to really sit down and think about what I am doing with Slowcoustic while on vacation next week.  That or getting a sunburn…

Thank you for taking the time to visit and hopefully you can agree/disagree/offer suggestions in the comments or twitter/facebook and such.

~Sandy

The post Slowcoustic Favourite Albums of 2013 appeared first on slowcoustic.

Fort Frances are no strangers around here and they have a new EP called Breathing Room that includes something that I can really appreciate…an acoustic/stripped down version alongside the originals.  With this blog being this blog – I will clearly tend to lean towards this ‘unplugged’ side of things. The new EP is up on the iTunes exclusively and includes both the below tracks below along with the originals for a measly $1.99. So then, what are you waiting for?

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Find more Fort Frances: Website | Facebook | Twitter

P.S. Did you know there is also a great cover of Sufjan Stevens’ track Chicago (below) by FF for a free download? Well then, consider yourself in the know, now.

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Valley Maker is Austin Crane from Seattle (via South Carolina) and he paints a picture of my musical history when I used to listen to The Decemberists with wild abandon. While I am not quite as staunch a listener of Decemberists anymore, Crane provides waves of classic Decemberists (if not quite as nautical and only fresher sounding as it is 2013 afterall).  Definitely falling on the lyricist side of the “singer-songwriter” scene, you can immerse in the music while having your path laid out before you by Crane’s words.  Highly recommended.

~

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Find more Valley Maker: Website | Facebook

*thanks to Twitter friend Terry (@gintherterry) for the heads up on Valley Maker!

The post Two suggestions for your weekend: Fort Frances and Valley Maker appeared first on slowcoustic.

It’s here?  Still deciding.

The post satellites and the roving drones appeared first on slowcoustic.

So I have been a bit out of action lately and so, as per usual with me, I tend to have my first post after a hiatus being a playlist post. This is usually because even if I am missing from this blog, my music listening habits cannot stop…it never stops. That is the way I like it though. So enough of the overly wordy and cerebral introduction, what’s been spinning/streaming/downloading over at Slowcoustic HQ?

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Just recently caught up with that Jeffrey Foucault “Cold Satellite” project and there is a song that slays me in true Foucault style. It is called Bomblet. It is below.

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I have also been listening to the new album from one of our friends Matt Arbogast who records as The Gunshy. He has a new album out near the end of September but you can stream it (and purchase a digital download it looks like) over on his Bandcamp. Matt is a fantastic guy and always brings a mix of gritty slow burners and grittier barn burners. So with that, you should check it out below.

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Still loving the Doc Feldman & the LD50 album. Here is another perfect Americana track from the album Sundowning at the Station (a best of 2013 album for sure).

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The latest album from Jim Guthrie had a slow start for me as I listened and quickly moved on. I feel embarrassed now. His delivery of great indie pop is astounding. Hooks that not even the most cynical blogger can ignore, despite how hard I tried. The new album has the official release plus a bonus ‘demos and instrumentals’ and should not be overlooked. Listen to Wish I Were You (demo) below.

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Haruko (German for stunningly beautiful music) has a new album out and thanks to Vesa over at One Chord To Another’s post (here) I was reminded that it was available. The opening track to the Feathers & Driftwood album is called Come Home and it has seeped into my brain and indeed does feel like coming home. Do not miss out on this album.

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Jeremy Squires recently contributed to our Damien Jurado cover project and it was pretty darn perfect. So what is new with this guy? He has a new single out in preparation for a new album in a month or two (October I think).  After a couple of listens to the upcoming album When Will You Go… this song fits in beautifully – so if you like it, you are in for a treat in the near future.

Enjoy!

~Sandy

The post Shhhh…we’re listening to Slowcoustic’s Sunday Playlist. appeared first on slowcoustic.

Doc Feldman & the LD50 have a new album and I am pumped. This album has been in the making for a bit and I am excited that it has been released as of yesterday via This Is American Music (here) and it comes as a ‘Best New Music’, ‘Best of 2013’ and my recommendation of the month, etc, etc.

I first heard this album in a more raw sense (pre-LD50) late last year and have been looking forward to seeing it’s full album release. Well now that we have had some fine tuning along with the addition of a full band backing from the aforementioned LD50, the release is here and you need it. This album is one of my favourite albums of the year…easily. I pretty much don’t even know how to describe this album sometimes because it is synonymous with the style of gothic southern country that I absolutely love. I want to ask people what they think an album of real Country/Alt-Country/Americana sounds like and then tell them they are wrong when they don’t mention Sundowning at the Station. The release falls on the gritty, dark and brooding side of country but that is the way I like it. If you are smart, you do as well. I should have expected nothing less after hearing Doc with his previous band Good Saints and the fact that he partnered with Kill County on a split 7″ – how god damn good is that?

I have a video of Derek “Doc” Feldman walking through the streets of St. Louis while playing the opening track ‘Ready’ (I believe Jarred from Show Me Shows was involved). This opening track from the album is one the best songs on Sundowning at the Station and the inclusion of some fantastic banjo heard on the album version (below the video) helps provide a step by step on what a great song is all about.

Stream the full album over at Captains Dead and pick up your very own copy of the album via TIAM or Bandcamp.

~Sandy

The post Doc Feldman & the LD50 release ‘Sundowning at the Station’ appeared first on slowcoustic.

Today marks the actual end of our Cover Project for Damien Jurado – last Friday was the ‘official’ end but today marks the actual end. Or something like that. We always knew both The Black Atlantic and Hezekiah Jones were submitting a song but with The Black Atlantic flying all over the globe and Raphael of Hezekiah Jones getting married, they were given a grace period for their submissions. And hot damn, I am glad because the few extra days wait was more than worth it.

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The Black Atlantic came across my ears years ago with their ‘out of nowhere’ album Reverence For Fallen Trees (which is still an all time favourite of mine) and while they are slowly growing their sound, they have always provided quality product. Originally more traditional folk, they have been moving to be a bit more electronic, experimental and essentially growing on their very solid folk roots. With the cover of Damien Jurado’s Arkansas, they have really out done themselves as well. I say this as someone who doesn’t always do well with change and/or songs that might actually NOT be for the sad bastard set. So when I hear one that might be a bit more ‘fun’ and ‘upbeat’ and I actually really like it, it is something in my books.

Geert, Kim, Simon and Brian really brought out an entirely new song here and recorded it during their recent stay in Los Angeles. Kudos boys.

Visit The Black Atlantic on their Website | Facebook Page

p.s. You can hear the solo cover by Kim Janssen of The Black Atlantic on Part II of this series HERE.

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Now we have Philadelphia’s Hezekiah Jones with their incredible tribute to the Jurado song Shannon Rhodes.  I am personally a bit biased when it comes to Hezekiah Jones as we work with them over at Yer Bird Records but I am consistently amazed by the beauty that Raphael Cutrufello creates (who is officially ‘Hezekiah Jones’ of the entire Jones troupe that record under the moniker of HJ).  Then, there is the layers brought in by the many players of the Philly folk scene that don’t always get mentioned – read the members section on their Facebook page to get an idea of all the contributors to what effectively is ‘Hezekiah Jones’.  Kevin Killen who helped with the Small Houses cover song (here) both mixed and played on this track as well – cheers Kevin!  Listen to Shannon Rhodes as performed by the Joneses below;

Visit Hezekiah Jones on their Facebook Page | Yer Bird Records

p.s. If you are a real fan of the song, you may notice some personalization in the lyrics…just sayin’.

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I hope you enjoyed the covers today as well as the four days last week!

Swing by and visit these musicians that have provided us with the covers, tell people about them and remember – visit Damien Jurado whenever possible.

~Sandy

The post DAMIEN JURADO: A SLOWCOUSTIC COVER PROJECT — PART V appeared first on slowcoustic.

So here we are at the last official day of the Damien Jurado Cover Project. Don’t fret though as it is only bittersweet because we have even more great songs for you on our biggest post of the week!

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David McMillin of Fort Frances provided us with a stunning J. Tillman cover on our last project, so why buck that trend and have him record what could one of the all time great songs from Jurado, Ohio. There may be a fine line between some songs being covers and some being tributes, there may be more latter than former in this song from McMillin.  He had this to say about it;

“I’ve always loved geographical songwriting – – songs that are grounded on specific corners in specific cities – – and “Ohio” has all the qualities of the best place-based writing. It’s real and relatable. Even if you’ve never been to Ohio, you know a place just like it. It’s somewhere from your past with the people you miss, the memories you haven’t quite forgotten and the ability to make you want to return.

 The lyrical balance between the verses and chorus is what grabbed me when I first heard this song playing from a pair of computer speakers in a college dorm room nine years ago. Each verse feels like a complete story. The choruses, however, are simple and desperate. When paired with the the images and characters from the verses, though, the line “it’s been a long time” speaks volumes.

This is a song I’ve returned to time and again to give myself a gut-check about my own lyrics, and I’m happy to try to do it justice here.“

Visit Fort Frances via their Website and Facebook

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Fire Mountain have performed a couple fantastic Damien Jurado covers lately. Today we have Everything Trying and we previously featured their version of Denton, TX on a separate post a few weeks back (here). The boys from Alabama provide a great laid back Seattle vibe from down South including some nice guy/girl harmonies.  I always find myself singing the line “I’ll be sailing on your deep blue eyes” over and over again, I just don’t provide justice to the song that Perry and crew at Fire Mountain have here.

Find more Fire Mountain on their Website and Facebook

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Psalmships out of Philadelphia has always intrigued me with his gothic style of folk music – maybe that descriptor is only mine in regards to his music but I have always found a beautifully haunting texture to the music of Joshua Britton.  He doesn’t disappoint with a song that provides the listener with that minimal performance makes for a larger atmosphere impression. Maybe it feels like Britton is alone in an abandoned warehouse in the early morning, alone recording this song…and if he wasn’t, please don’t try to convince me of it.

Visit Psalmships via his Website and Facebook

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Doc Feldman has been a long time in coming. The former lead in the band Good Saints is looking to release new music under Doc Feldman very soon (should be this month – don’t worry, we will update you when it is available) and as a stop-gap to that, we have a cover of Jurado’s Throwing Your Voice.  This is an almost reverb-electro soaked slow burner that hits all the right marks, as expected.

Find more Doc Feldman on his Facebook and Website (and look for that new album mid July I believe)

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Thorsten Nesch is a singer songwriter (and author) who indicated he had his introduction to Damien Jurado from Slowcoustic – so clearly this guy is a shoe in right? Nench provides a back seat car trip ode to Jurado’s Cloudy Shoes – if you ask me why I say that it is because his newest novel is about a car stealing/joy riding teens in Canada…I could see the playing in the montage in my head already.

Visit Thorsten Nench on his Website or on Facebook

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Wilder Adkins closes out todays post with a fitting song, Tragedy. I say fitting as while being called ‘Tragedy’ the song has a light vibe, mostly due to the bluegrass (?) feel of the song with Adkins’ flair.  It is that type of acoustic blues (he is from Alabama after all) that is not about wallowing in the unfortunate but celebrating it – I feel he has brought that to this Jurado song, kudos.

Visit Wilder Adkins on Facebook and Bandcamp

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While this is the official end to the cover project on Mr. Jurado, you never know what might show up over the next bit, so you know…keep an ear out over the next week…

I would like to thank all the artists who have contributed this fantastic music over today and the previous 3 – well done and thank you from me and all our readers! Also special thanks to Adrian Bishoff once again for use of that fantastic picture of Damien Jurado that I have used all week for the front page banners (see more info on our Day 1 post)!

Remember to visit Damien Jurado whenever possible.  You might even purchase some originals by visiting Secretly Canadian.

~Sandy

The post DAMIEN JURADO: A SLOWCOUSTIC COVER PROJECT — PART IV appeared first on slowcoustic.

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Lotte Kestner is always a favourite to my ears and to the pages of this website. Her covers are very well known and range many artists and one artist she truly admires is a local artist (to her) in Damien Jurado – so I specifically thought of her when starting this up and once again floored by the submission she sent over. The airy delivery and signature pensive and ethereal atmosphere created in the music of Lotte Kestner translates to Last Rights perfectly. She had a bit to say about the song;

“I think this may have been the first song i ever heard Damien Jurado sing, in a theater, and i fell in love with the way his melodies trill downward. he is so good at sounding lonely and wise.” 

Visit Lotte Kestner on Facebook

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Sean Nilsson who records as Sheltered In Sound  has been quiet lately and told me that this Damien Jurado cover is one of the only things he has recorded in almost 4 years! Well we are honoured to have his cover of Rachel & Cali from Jurado’s Saint Bartlett album for you to listen to today. Nilsson played all the instruments on the track and indicated he played around with the arrangement a bit (now that he is back to making music!) and I think it worked out great. Listen for yourself below;

Visit Sheltered In Sound on Facebook or at his Website

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Next we have Glasgow, Scotland’s Jack James version of Reel to Reel. A track from Jurado’s most recent album Maroqopa that comes off as very Richard Swift produced on the album (I don’t really know what that means, but I will say it) finds a new home with the slight gravel voiced James on this track. The song is almost turned from a spooky carnival ride to a late night whisky lament…so then, I approve.  James had the below to say about Jurado and the cover song he recorded;

Damien Jurado is the artist I most identify with in regards to the writing, style and production of songs, his influence is probably very noticeable on all my albums so far. The first album I heard from him was passed to me by a friend, “And Now That I’m In Your Shadow”, it sounded like nothing I’d ever heard before, I had no idea you could communicate such depth from such sparse arrangements. I began changing my writing style at that time after hearing that, and I was trying to listen to any other similar artists that I could find. It was like discovering a hidden world of music, and everything in it was new to me.

 

It wasn’t until I heard “Caught In The Trees” that I decided that I was going to record my first album. I remember very clearly hearing a song from that record for the first time, and realising that the chord progression was the same as a song I had written a couple of months previously. A simple thing, and coincidental, but it made me think “hey, maybe I can do this”.

 

I’ve not a missed a chance to see him perform live when he travels to Scotland, even having the pleasure of shaking his hand and getting records signed a couple of times. The cover of “Reel to Reel” that I’m doing is based off my memory of his solo performances from those shows, I remembered that track being particularly great when broken down and stripped back.

Visit Jack James on Facebook, Twitter and his Bandcamp

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Lastly today we have Jeremy Squires and his beauty of a song, Sheets. This one is also one of my favourite songs from Jurado (but again, I have more than a few ‘favourites’) – the tale of the love triangle.  Knowing you are ‘trapped’ and unable to let go of a lover, even when sleeping in the “…still I sleep in the very sheets he’s been in”. Squires makes it his own with the fully acoustic cover that includes just enough of a Southern drawl peeking out of his voice – a song perfect for a bit of drawl if I ever heard one.

Visit Jeremy Squires on Facebook, Twitter and his Website

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Day three down! Pretty damn good so far, right?  Remember to visit Damien Jurado whenever possible.  You might even purchase some originals by visiting Secretly Canadian.

~Sandy

The post Damien Jurado: A Slowcoustic Cover Project — Part III appeared first on slowcoustic.

Today is a pseudo theme day with the only duplicate cover performed for this project, Beacon Hill. The song is from the 2010 Jurado album Saint Bartlett, as seen above. For all three songs being the same track, the covers couldn’t be more different from each other.  You have a solo, electro-acoustic ballad version from Spiraloff countered by a guitar/piano duet from Small Houses (featuring Kevin Killen) with a delicate beauty from Kim Janssen.

The song is a natural winner and was not surprising when multiple artists ended up selecting it but it was a bit odd that it was the only one that ended up being a performed more than once by the group (not a rule of this series to not have multiple covers, but you know).

It is always a killer with the “..If you return to me…” lyrics falling as both a plea and an apology at the same time.

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Kim Janssen provides the first of the three Beacon Hill covers below and it is in line with the sounds you will find on his recent releases, The Lonely Mountains and Ancient Crime – stunningly delicate and beautiful folk music. His touch on this track is stunning:

Find more from Kim Janssen: Facebook | Snowstar Records

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Small Houses is no stranger to Slowcoustic as we have had the pleasure of working with Jeremy Quentin on his most recent album Exactly Where You Wanted To Be over at Yer Bird Records earlier this year. His recent move to Philadelphia connected him with Kevin Killen and they worked together on mixing Small Houses’ style of acoustic folk with melodies from Killen. It has turned out fantastic:

Find more from Small Houses: Facebook | Website | Bandcamp

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Lastly we have a new comer to Slowcoustic with Spiraloff’s version of today’s Beacon Hill cover feature. From a guy who describes himself as “indie electro folk” and has a release called ‘Born to Write Sad Songs‘ – this guy was bound to be on the pages of this website sooner or later!  Stéphane (Spiraloff) told us how his choice for this cover was made: “Sometimes you lose track of what really matters and you let that special someone slip away from you. Eventually you find yourself left behind, wondering if and when you will get her back. Life brought me to that place too within the past year, and therefore it became obvious I had to cover this song.“

I am starting to think the Netherlands is the place to be to make my kind of music (both Stéphane P. Péricat and Kim Janssen from above find themselves to be in the land of the Dutch).

Find more from Spiraloff: Bandcamp | Website

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Remember to visit Damien Jurado whenever possible.  You can find the original Beacon Hill on the Saint Bartlett album via Secretly Canadian.

~Sandy

The post Damien Jurado: A Slowcoustic Cover Project – Part II appeared first on slowcoustic.