Sound Cloud Sunday – April 26, 2020
Sound Cloud Sunday – April 26, 2020
Another Sunday at Laurel Canyon Radio and another great week of indie music including some delicious choice cuts from Canada. If you have an artist you’d like us to feature on the show here at Laurel Canyon Radio, drop us a line at webmaster@laurelcanyonnradio.com and we’ll give it a listen. In the meantime, enjoy this week’s collection of delicious new indie music and remember to STAY SAFE! You can listen to the whole episode below:
Wrong Way At The Roundabout – Cruisin
Hometown: Seattle
Album: Self-released eponymous album came out April 17.
Review Snippet: Hailing from Seattle, WA, Wrong Way at the Roundabout is an indie alt-rock quartet composed of singer-songwriter Richard Laqueur, bassist and producer Tom Wade, lead guitarist Xavier Salinas and drummer Jack Brady. Drawing from many musical styles, Wrong Way creates a sound familiar, yet new and undeniably all their own. Coming out of blues rock and diving into a more melodically driven indie alt-rock, the band’s sound is evolving while gigging around the Seattle club scene. Rich Laqueur writes autobiographically focused lyrics that hang in honest melody over rhythmic acoustic guitar riffs. The band focuses on intriguing harmonic movement,and tight instrumentation that allows the lyrics and stories to shine through. Beauty and order can be found in the most chaotic of places, like when going the Wrong Way, at the Roundabout.
Website: https://wrongwayattheroundabout.com/
Israel Nash – Dividing Lines
Hometown: Dripping Springs, TX
Album: From the EP “Topaz” released April 17 on Desert Folklore Records.
Review Snippet: It is knee deep in sultry blues and rock nuances that are decorated with soulful brass arrangements. The single initially had plans as part of an A-side to a full length, but the song was just too brilliant Nash decided to brighten up everyone’s quarantine by sharing it early as part of a spontaneous EP release.
Website: http://www.israelnash.com/
Rose City Band – Rivers Of Mind
Hometown: Portland, OR
Album: Eponymous debut album released last October on Thrill Jockey Records.
Review Snippet: I mean I ain’t no spinner, twirling my life away to that melodious left-hand boogie, but there’s a point in every Grateful Dead second set where the cut melts right into itself, an ouroboros in aural form, a sonic depiction of the rhythm eating its own tail, slowing to a murmuring fugue on the internal time stop of the brain as you zone in on the sheer trip of the unchained melody. It’s this area of the song that Rose City Band, led by Erik “Ripley” Johnson of Wooden Shjips, excels in reproducing for his own composition, seven wide open easy-going tracks as close to instrumental were it not for the whispering lyrics punctuated by Neil Young harmonica solos or downright ethereal guitar lines- cooing your mind to the waving lengths of ceiling textures and wallpaper patterns.
Website: https://rosecityband.bandcamp.com/
Ozorio Trio – Eguinha Quarto de Milha
Hometown: Brazil
Album: From the album “Big Town” released March 27 on Tratore Records.
Review Snippet: One of the most exciting discoveries to make in music – something like excavating something you never knew existed in archeology – is a new recording by the Ozorio Trio, a Brasilian ensemble like none other – in Brasil, at any rate. The music of the group revolves around the acoustic steel-string guitar of Marcelo Ozorio, a paulista who, you would think, has fallen into a time warp where he happily co-exists with musicians that include folkies such as Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, bluegrass giants such as Jerry Garcia and the Stanley brothers; but also early Milton Nascimento (of Último Trem fame).
Website: https://www.ozoriotrio.com.br/
Lionel Cohen – Backwater
Hometown: New York via LA
Album: From the album “Outlaw 77” released on DNA Productions.
Review Snippet:
Website: http://lionelcohen.com/
Alec Lytle And Them Rounders – Landslide
Hometown: Northern California
Album: From the album “Remains Of Sunday”
Review Snippet: “Lytle’s innocent, unblemished voice wraps around these melancholy, sometimes dark songs like gauze around a wound. The result is a debut whose immaculate sonics join with a talented cast and show Lytle to be a singer/songwriter worth watching…”
Website: https://www.aleclytle.com/
Paul Burch And The WPA Ballclub – Love Come Back
Hometown: Washington, DC
Album: From the album “Light Sensitive” released April 17 on Plowboy Records.
Review Snippet: Recorded in Nashville with his longtime band the WPA Ballclub along with guests Luther Dickinson, Robyn Hitchcock, Amy Rigby, and Aaron Lee Tasjan, LIGHT SENSITIVE sounds both modern and instantly classic and punctuates Pop Matters declaration that Burch is one of the best damn songwriters operating today.
Website: https://www.paulburch.com/
Skylar Gudasz – Play Nice
Hometown: Durham, NC
Album: From the album “Cinema” released April 17 on Suah Records.
Review Snippet: With her luminous voice and captivating songcraft, Skylar Gudasz has won the admiration of some of the most distinguished artists in music. In the past few years alone, the Durham, North Carolina-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist has shared stages with the likes of Ray Davies, Cat Power and Sharon Van Etten as part of the Big Star’s Third tribute concerts, opened for Television and toured from the US with Teenage Fanclub to Europe with the Mountain Goats, and appeared as a background vocalist on albums by Superchunk and Hiss Golden Messenger, making her TV debut with the latter on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Website: https://www.skylargudasz.com/home
Maybel – Can’t Abandon My Love
Hometown: Montreal
Album: From the album “Gathering” released April 10 on Vain Mina Records.
Review Snippet:Montreal folk four-piece Maybel — a group that financed their debut LP Gathering, in part, by selling homemade knitted hats — have delivered a fittingly cozy collection of 10 vocally-focused, jangly country tracks, recorded over the span of only five days, that reflect an untold softer perspective of their hardened wintry hometown.
Inspired by Trio, the 1987 collaboration between Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, the band’s three-part harmonies and decadent lap steel hearken back to a simpler time — before “gathering”.
Website: https://maybel.bandcamp.com/
Flatland Calvary – With You In My Mind
Hometown: Lubbock, TX
Album: New single from their forthcoming 3rd album.
Review Snippet:
It’s one incredible testament to the vitality of the Texas music scene that a young troupe of musicians from Lubbock playing short-run tours in between college semesters can do so well for themselves that they’re headlining festivals and receiving millions of plays on their songs, and all without a legitimate record label. While many Nashville Americana acts and up-and-comers get showered with praise from the press with little proof of concept, Flatland Cavalry is upgrading to a tour bus before they receive their diplomas due to the reception they’re finding among appreciative fans, and the respect they’ve earned from their and peers and elders in a region where songwriting, honesty, and authenticity come first.
Just as bands like the Turnpike Troubadours certify their dominant status by getting national opportunities, a band like Flatland Cavalry comes along to take their place as the next great thing, feeding the music scene with fresh blood. Similar to Turnpike, Flatland Cavalry carries a more country rock sound compared to the straight-laced honky tonkers, yet the strong presence of fiddle keeps the music firmly grounded in its Texas roots, as does the songwriting that adheres to the elevated standards insisted upon by fans and peers.
Website: https://www.flatlandcavalry.com/
Ocie Elliott – Be Around
Hometown: Victoria, BC
Album: From the album “In That Room” released March 20 on Nettwerk Records.
Review Snippet: Although it’s difficult to concisely articulate, in terms of Vancouver Island indie roots music, there’s a definite sound and loose scene-with-no-name of bands and artists strongly influenced by the Island’s awesome landscapes, as well as its beach and surf culture. Bands such as Current Swell and (named after an Island forest) Carmanah typify this largely acoustic, tie dye-rinsed sound. To assist in understanding this, non-Canadians embraced by fans of these acts would include the ilk of Aussies Kim Churchill and Xavier Rudd, or laidback mainstream American artists like Jack Johnson and Donavon Frankenreiter. However, to my ears, the best of the local bunch is Victoria’s excellent Jon & Roy, who bear a perceptible reggae influence permeating their acoustic West Coast groove. The Jon in question is Jon Middleton, a prolific and richly talented songwriter also blessed with an appealing soft, rust-edged voice. Having released their 8th album, Here, last year, Jon & Roy are still very much a going concern, but since 2017 Middleton has also been involved in another project, the folk duo Ocie Elliott.
Website: https://www.ocieelliott.com/
Esther Rose – My Favorite Mistake
Hometown: New Orleans, LA
Album: From the forthcoming EP “My Favorite Mistakes”
Review Snippet: As a writer, Rose draws inspiration from the classic country songbook, artists like Hank Williams and Patsy Cline. Her preferred delivery is a sing-songy cadence that can package punchlines and hard truths with a cozy, cosmic wink. She’s also noted the influence of traditional blues music—as much the songwriting as the recordings themselves, with their crackle and sonic imperfections. In subtler ways than her 2017 debut This Time Last Night—a stark, stirring album recorded directly to two-track tape—this music incorporates the atmosphere around her. Peaceful, with ample room to breathe, these are songs that could change with each performance, on any night, in different weather.
Website: https://www.estherrose.net/
Life Like Water – How Long
Hometown: Asheville, NC
Album: From the album “I Am Listening” self-released on January 3.
Review Snippet: “Life Like Water has harvested a sound from the mountains of North Carolina that is uniquely suited to satisfy the needs of a world that is waking up. Some of their songs are a still lake, others thunderstorms, but the depth of their message is without a floor. From a dance with the devil to unnamed celestial sounds, this group of compassionate musicians offers fresh richness from the soul of Appalachia.”
Website: https://www.creativeawakeningnow.com/lifelikewater
Pike And Sutton – Bright As The Sun
Hometown: Austin
Album: From the album “Heart Is A Compass” released April 3 on ZainWayne Records.
Review Snippet: Pike & Sutton is a partnership, a creative evolution and a promise fulfilled. Equally anchored by the powerhouse vocals of Patrice Pike and the electrifying guitars of Wayne Sutton – best known as co-founders of ‘90s seminal jam band/modern rock favorites Sister Seven – their debut album Heart Is A Compass is both a transformative celebration of the pair’s R&B, soul and roots influences and an exhilarating call-to-arms for the faithful.
Website: https://www.pikeandsutton.com/
Mehro – Perfume
Hometown: Los Angeles
Album: Debut Single.
Review Snippet:
Los Angeles native mehro shows that the City of Angels isn’t only renowned for producing Hollywood blockbusters and budding actors, but has a burgeoning music scene as well, as he makes his debut with perfume. Recalling Neil Young, perfume strikes a careful balance between the whimsical and the real with its ethereal sonics that provides no hints as to the sober lyricism. Solely written and produced, mehro introduces himself as a master of his craft, and also as a more well-rounded artist by co-directing the accompanying video as well.
Guiding you in with a strumming guitar layered upon a muted piano, his airy vocals seamlessly interweave with the gentle accompaniment to create a glittering tone that the track proceeds upon. A magical atmosphere hangs over the whole track, as it slowly builds through the addition of tinkling glockenspiels and a hazy bass line. Casting a spell over you throughout the track, you’ll find yourself clinging on to every note in perfume and find yourself with a blooming warmth in your chest as the last note fades. The video is kept simple as it showcases mehro performing the track, allowing your focus to be directed on the music without detracting your attention. Bringing an otherworldly and ethereal feeling with perfume, it marks an exciting start for mehro and the future is certainly looking promising.
Website:
Whitney Rose – Believe Me Angela
Hometown: Prince Edward Island, Canada
Album: From the album “We Still Go To Rodeos” out April 24 on MCG Records.
Review Snippet:There are echoes of the first Lone Justice album in the overall approach of We Still Go to Rodeos, especially with the emphasis on the twangy crackling Petty styled rock that Rose and her backing studio band deliver.
Website: https://whitneyrosemusic.com/
