Sound Cloud Sunday – November 8, 2020
Sound Cloud Sunday November 8, 2020
Thanks for tuning in to a new episode of Sound Cloud Sunday, Laurel Canyon Radio’s paean to new music and independent artists from around the globe. Set your clocks ahead, set your political perspectives ahead even further and enjoy a great new set of music from near and far. Please, please, please support your independent artists, go to their shows virtual as they may be. It gives you a completely different perspective on an artist when you see them in their natural creative habitat. And resist the urge to send someone to clean their homes, they have more important things to do, even if I stared for 30 minutes at a guitar that I was sure was going to tip over at any moment, only to realize by the end of the show that it was affixed to the wall. Enjoy some great new music…this episode is available below:
Sing Leaf – Little Magic
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario Canada
Album: From the album “Not Earth” released September 25 on Tin Angel Records.
Review Snippet: Determining where music comes from can be a tricky business, and for Sing Leaf’s David Como Not Earth emerges from a “Disney, sci-fi, alien landscape vision.” You have to leave your preconceptions at the door and go along for the ride. Which certainly takes this somewhat beyond the idea of traditional folk music
Website: https://singleaf.bandcamp.com/
Katie Pruitt – Ohio
Hometown: Nashville
Album: From the EP “Ohio/After The Gold Rush” released Friday on Rounder Records.
Review Snippet: A soaring vocalist and agile guitarist, Pruitt is a dynamic new presence, blending folk and country with indie rock.
Website: https://katiepruitt.com/
Aaron Lee Tasjan – Up All Night
Hometown: Nashville
Album: From the album “Tasjan Tasjan Tasjan” out February 5
Review Snippet: With his wrecked cool, off-center charm, and restless creative dazzle, he makes music with conviction and arch mystique that has its roots in rock’s murky past, armed with an arsenal of songs that spill over with humor, intelligence, irony, personal vision and at times prophecy; pushing boundaries of taste and imagination to new heights, unrestrained by genre or subject matter. Songs that speak to the tribe.
Website: https://www.aaronleetasjan.com/
Summersets – Fake Flowers
Hometown: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario
Album: From the EP “Small Town Saturday ” self-released. Available on Bandcamp.
Review Snippet: his is soft, mellow, acoustic folk music at its finest, as detected immediately from the opening track (and current single) “Fake Flowers.” Commencing with some light guitar riffs to establish the tone, you soon discover the dual vocal harmonies that effortlessly characterize the dynamic being offered by two good friends and collaborators.
Website: https://summersets.bandcamp.com/album/small-town-saturday
Jack M. Senff – Wildfire
Hometown: Traverse City, Michigan
Album: From the EP “These Northwood Blues” released October 7 on Skeletal Lightning label.
Review Snippet: “Lyrically it’s pretty heavy, pretty raw, but those words are carried by the arrangement in such a… patient, sort of dark and stormy and beautiful way that it all comes together and just works.”
Website: https://jackmsenff.bandcamp.com/
South For Winter – All We Have
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Album: From the album “Luxumbra” self-released back on October 8.
Review Snippet: Laden with delicate harmonies, intricate guitar-work and earthy vocals as their signature, their impeccable sound survived the jump from stage to studio.
Website: https://www.southforwintermusic.com/
Namoli Brenett – Light It Up
Hometown: Decorah, IA
Album: Title track from the album released October 12.
Review Snippet:
Website: https://namolibrennet.com/
Bob Clement – It’s Another Day
Hometown:
Album: From the eponymous debut released October 9 on Mastermind Recordings.
Review Snippet:
Website:
Lot 56 – In The Country
Hometown: Melbourne, Australia
Album: New Single
Review Snippet:
Website: https://lot56band.bandcamp.com/
Kelsey Waldon – They’ll Never Let Us Down
Hometown: Nashville
Album:
Review Snippet:
A fixture in the Nashville musical scene for nearly a decade, these past 12 months saw Waldon making a transition from under-the-radar force to becoming the first artist signed to Prine’s Oh Boy records in 15 years. And while Waldon’s work is often referred to as steeped in the past, it’s actually focused on rewriting perceptions to shape a more vibrant, complete future — once that sees rural people as full and complex, far more than any simplified or fetishized portrayal can capture.
Website: https://www.kelseywaldon.com/
David Quinn – Thunderbird Wine
Hometown: Chicago
Album: From the album “Letting Go” released October 23 on Low Down Records.
Review Snippet: David Quinn is back, and modernizing his sound a bit—at least, modernizing it to the 60’s and 70’s. With the new record Letting Go, he’s saying, “Okay, I mastered some of the earliest versions of country with my first record, now let me tackle the Outlaw era” as he righteously tattoos songs to the wall with seductive half time grooves, towering steel guitar and Telecaster takes, and everything else that made Vietnam-era country music cool both then and now.
Website: https://www.davidquinnmusic.net/
Colin Macleod – The Long Road
Hometown: Stomoway, UK
Album: From the album “Hold Fast” released September 18 on So Recordings.
Review Snippet: From the plangent, spacious Americana of the string laden opener ‘Queen of the Highland’ to his heartfelt love letter to home ‘This Old Place’, ‘Hold Fast’ tells the tale of a man returning to the island where he was born after trying to make it in the world. Contrasting parts — Springsteen-style widescreen rock on ‘The Long Road’ and ‘Sleep’, introspective acoustic folk on ‘Made of Stone’ and ‘33’ — contribute to a poignant whole. And although it may sound like a story culled from Macleod’s own experience, being a singer-songwriter who indeed left his tight-knit island community in search of glory, it is a work of fiction. It just happens to be fiction embedded in truth.
Website: https://www.facebook.com/colinmacleodofficial/
James Tillman – Things To Say
Hometown: New York, NY
Album: From the album “Modern Desires” released October 9 on Musella Creative.
Review Snippet: Garnering comparisons to Marvin Gaye and Nick Drake, singer-songwriter/producer James Tillman first gained acclaim with his notable Shangri La EP in 2014. Tillman continued to grow his fan base touring as an opener for Tune-Yards before dropping his debut album Silk Noise Reflex in 2016. The album saw a sold-out special-edition physical release and headline shows in Tokyo, Japan. Tillman’s song “Casual Encounters” expanded his reach and fan base after appearing in the Netflix series Dear White People.
Website: https://jmtill.bandcamp.com/
Chris Trapper – Under Blue Stars
Hometown: Buffalo, NY
Album: From the album “Cold Water Waltz” released October 16 on Starlit Records.
Review Snippet: Chris Trapper’s latest CD, feature his smooth, soft, plaintive voice reaching across the soundscape with an ethereal quality. There is a dreamy quality to many of the easeful, mellow tracks here. His voice is a thing of beauty that seems to be coming to us from another, loftier, plain of existence. On his hookier tracks Trapper sings with that larger than quality that we associate with the larger names in the music. It certainly doesn’t hurt that producer Jason Meeker keeps the sound flowing smoothly throughout this musical journey.
Website: https://www.christrapper.com/
Jefferson Berry & The UAC – Ghosts of California
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Album: From the album “Double Deadbolt Logic” self-released available on CD Baby.
Review Snippet: Jefferson Berry and The Urban Acoustic Coalition (UAC) present their third album Double Deadbolt Logic, an 11 song epic album filled with the grit of slide guitar, the whimsicality of mandolin, the catharsis of flute, and the strength of an overarching storyline conveyed by a convincing lead vocal, Jefferson himself. The six-piece Philadelphia, PA based musical endeavor released Double Deadbolt Logic to public ears just last month (May 22nd, 2020). The cover features an abstract composite of an offset dark red door with (what you might expect from the album name itself) a pair of deadlocks against a grassy field with a stark horizon line. From the viewer’s perspective, the door would open into the scene (or perhaps through it?) providing an interesting metaphor for one’s ability to enter the world of acoustic jamming and emotional epic that is Double Deadbolt Logic, which, as an aside, just sounds so good rolling off the tongue – try it!
Website: https://www.jeffersonberry.com/
Lydia Luce – Occasionally
Hometown: Nashville via Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Album: New single released October 22 on Tone Tree.
Review Snippet: Combining her classical training with Americana and folk influences for a collection that feels organic and comfortable in a way that only lifelong talent can create.
Website: https://www.lydialuce.com/
Racoon Racoon – The Sound Of Silence
Hometown: France
Album: From the EP “A Bird’s Story” released October 2.
Review Snippet: A Birds Story is eight tracks of gentle, graceful songs and lush vocals. Racoon Racoon has a beautiful male and female vocal sound, and the instrumental interludes are dreamy. This is a lovely set for the moments when easygoing wistful music is needed to set the mood.
Website: https://www.racoonracoon.com/?fbclid=IwAR2CtLEvrtdyZ8zLR0sTbBkuzFiHYuVT2JDI5zVp7OgnlbiPkIpMxX2Tnww
