Birch Street Radio

Saturday, July 20, 2024

New music variety: Dawes, Beachwood Sparks, DBIG, Strand of Oaks, Alyssa Sequoia

Dawes: House Parties

The upcoming album Oh Brother is appropriately titled, given that brothers Taylor (guitar, vocals) and Griffin Goldsmith (drums) are now the only regular members. This song leans into dad-rock in a literal way. Its narrator is a father hitting tourist spots with his family, while wishing he was at a laid-back party with fans of Bowie, Joni, and live music. "A nostalgic song," says older brother Taylor. "A song about how true cultural experiences aren’t in the tourist traps but within human connections among specific communities. It’s a goofy lyric but the sentiment is not."

Beachwood Sparks: Torn In Two

This LA band's first album in a decade, Across the River of Stars, "embrac(es) the psychedelic '70s country-rock of their early work with an added sonic shimmer," writes AllAccess. Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes produced the LP. The group has been labeled alt-country, and we hear echoes of classic Laurel Canyon (e.g. Byrds) and modern AAA (e.g. Lost Leaders) bands.

Don't Believe in Ghosts: Drowning

Here's an upbeat dance track about "the overwhelming sensation of struggling to keep up with daily life amidst constant distractions." Key lyric: "I see you drowning, in and out of it, Climbing higher just to see around it." The New York group is led by singer-songwriter-producer Steven Nathan, with Dan DelVecchio on guitar and Ken Yang on drums.

Strand of Oaks: Communication

Since we last heard from Tim Showalter, he's taken time off from his Strand of Oaks project to focus on painting - and try acting, as a biker in the TV drama "Mayans M.C." His new album, Miracle Focus, sheds the melancholy of his previous records and brings us a "love letter to bliss." He says he wanted to make this track "sound like the type of song I called into a radio station and requested in 1990."

Alyssa Sequoia: And I...

Described as a neo-folk-soul artist, Sequoia grew up in the suburbs just north of New York and has been signing in the city's cafes and clubs since she was 19. "This song goes back in time to when I rode the subways - When I always needed change to use the pay phone - When life and the city had its own rhythm ... [It also] is about being full of strong powerful emotions and the pain of letting someone I love go."

Friday, July 12, 2024

Phish, Rubblebucket, Aurora, Rise Bailey Rise, plus Don McLean in our New Music Bin

Phish: Wave Of Hope

For those of us who have not avidly followed them over the decades, the release of Evolve provides an excellent way to catch up with the veteran jam band. Many of its 12 tracks have been turning up in their live-show playlists in recent years, and a recording of this song previously appeared on Trey Anastasio's 2020 solo release Lonely Trip. Dave Campbell of The Associated Press calls the track "‘70s-style rock with space for Page McConnell to pound on the keys amid racing guitar riffs." The hopeful-ish refrain: "This too shall pass, this too shall pass."

Rubblebucket: Rattlesnake

The Brooklyn art-pop project's new single derives from a poem vocalist Kalmia Traver wrote after a bike ride with her mother: "Just off the path we spotted a massive rattlesnake lounging in the dappled forest sunlight. It was my first time ever seeing one and my instinct was to stop and get a good look. My mom’s instinct was to get the hell out of there, and we laughed later about this dynamic." Relix writes the the track "builds to neo-disco pop perfection with a chorus of horns, prowling congas and the first string arrangement featured on an entry from the band since 2014’s 'Carousel Ride.'"

Aurora: To Be Alright

"The world has grown so accustomed to being apathetic," the Norwegian alt-pop artist told NME about the thought-process behind her fifth album, What Happened To The Heart?’ The mag calls the album a "career high" and "a heavy, rave-y call for humanity." It's filled with imagery of the heart and blood representing love and emotions. "What is life worth living / if you don’t bleed for anything?” she sings here.

Rise Bailey Rise: Never Know

Coming to us from Buckinghamshire, England, is the latest single by singer-songwriter-producer-remixer Rich Patmore. After playing with various bands, he quit that scene to focus on fatherhood - but soon returned to making music, this time in a home studio. He's released several singles and EPs in recent years, drawing on influences from 80's UK pop and 90's grunge as well as edgy alternative artists like Radiohead and NIN.

Don McLean: Thunderstorm Girl

The title track of the new album American Boys celebrates and name-checks rock'n'roll pioneers. He doesn't list himself, but the LP is filled with 60s-style songs, including this ditty that's landed in our New Music bin. Like much of the album, it's relaxed fun, although not terribly original - a bit like recent Ringo Starr songs. As Spill Magazine says, this and some other tracks "are performed and recorded well, but McLean seems to be playing it safe with the content. One should not go looking for McLean’s poetry and poignant observations of albums past. It is largely absent here."

Saturday, July 6, 2024

New indie music by The Rift, Ravenhall, Kasha, Alanna Matty, Washed Out

The Rift: Just Fine

This Southern California indie-rock band says the phrase "'Just Fine' has become a humorous motto for us, reflecting our philosophy of resilience and defiance even when things aren't going our way. Drawing inspiration from Monty Python's iconic 'flesh wound' scene, the song embodies a spirit of gallows humor and unwavering determination."

Ravenhall: A Traveling Story

The Auckland, New Zealand, duo of Joe Ravenhall and Chris Brebner has been releasing singles since 2015, and brought out its debut LP, Brother, earlier this year. This track has now found its way around the globe and landed in our New Music bin. We hear a hint of Bob Seger in the vocal on the refrain 'The road keeps calling / Freedom come to me now."

Kasha: Do Me So

It's a hint of Sade that hits our ear as we listen to this single by an artist born in the Congo and raised in Norway. Her music is a blend of neo-soul, R'n'B, pop, and Afropop. "I wrote this song to deal with the sorrow and joy of emerging stronger from psychological abuse. It's painful, frightening, but most of all, it's satisfying to finally understand more."

Alanna Matty: Restless

Originally from Toronto, now living in Halifax, this singer-songwriter-producer (and video-game sound designer) brings am-I-working-hard-enough anxiety to this new single. She explains: "Everyone says ‘you need to take time off’ or ‘you have to recharge’ but how can you? What if that moment you spent sitting on the couch decompressing is the moment where you could have created the thing that was going to catapult you to the next stage of your career?" Such as, perhaps, her upcoming album, Subject to Change.

Washed Out: The Hardest Part

Once dubbed "the godfather of chillwave" by Pitchfork, Ernest Greene just released his fifth album (and first in four years), Notes from a Quiet Life. In 2021, he moved from Atlanta to a 20-acre former horse farm in the Georgia countryside, not far from where he grew up, and where he presumably is living quietly. This track's smooth, shiny sound belies its lyric about pining for an ex: "I hope that you've noticed I've tried to move on / Still can't admit that our time is done."

Saturday, June 29, 2024

Latest from Mavis Staples, Wilco, JD McPherson, Valley, Pete Yorn added to our big mix

Mavis Staples: Worthy

“It’s a pick-me-up song - it’s a celebration, and you can’t help but move,” says the R&B icon of her new single. Written and produced by MNDR (Amanda Lucille Warner), the song has an uplifting message of self-worth. It's a perfect fit for Staples, still sounding ebullient as she's turning 85. Warner says working with Staples - "listening to her soulful voice, spending time in her grace, and watching her artistry in the studio ... was an experience too profound to put into words."

Wilco: Hot Sun

Here's the title track from a new EP that bandleader Jeff Tweedy describes as having a "summertime-after-dark kind of feeling." Pitchfork says the song "practically melts from the heat, guitar notes bending and warping as Tweedy sings about the physical pleasure of sunlight hitting skin. With that sensation comes a nagging doubt, possibly about climate change: 'Shouldn’t I be doing something?' he asks himself." (Photo by Akash-Wadhwani)

J.D. McPherson: Sunshine Getaway

Speaking of sun on the skin, that's what the narrator in this song longs for, as an escape from the "same old same old day after day." The single precedes Nite Owls, McPherson's first (non-Christmas) album since 2017's Undivided Heart and Soul. In the meantime, he's been touring as band leader and opening act for Alison Kraus and Robert Plant. The Oklahoma native is known for a 60s rock-and-roll sound, but this track features a riff reminiscent of "Bang a Gong." McPherson told Variety: "Well, any playlist of mine, you’re gonna see Little Richard right next to T. Rex." (Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins)

Valley: Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden

Founded in 2014, this Toronto-based band has been growing its fan base steadily with what AllMusic calls "their buoyant blend of indie pop uplift and melodic hooks." We would add: with lyrics that describe the ennui of many young adults today. That continues in this title track: "I guess that I'd rather laugh than cry 'bout my problems / When, honestly, I don't know how to solve them." But that refrain alternates with another urging, "Quit wasting the sunlight, it's always the right time / Just open your eyes, 'cause it's always the bright side."

Pete Yorn: Real Good Love

There's word that the California-based New Jersey native has an album coming out later this year. Along with January's single release, "Someday, Someday," it will presumably include this new song. Both are simple, quiet, acoustic tracks, this one musing on how "real good lovin' is so hard to find."

Saturday, June 22, 2024

Coldplay, Lake Street Dive, Rachel Hickey, Vacations, Sarah Kinsley bring the new music

Coldplay: feelslikeimfallinginlove

This is the first track to emerge ahead of the veteran U.K. band's 10th album, Moon Music, due in October. After nearly a quarter century of releasing anthemic hits, Chris Martin and company don't break new ground here, and the lyric about new-love euphoria isn't terribly original - but they're no denying it's catchy, and easy to imagine as a stadium sing-along.

Lake Street Dive: Far Gone

We picked up the title single back in March, and now with the full release of Good Together we're highlighting this track that departs just a bit from the band's typical style. Americana Highways notes that this track features guitarist James Cornelison "providing an excellent riff to counter [Bridget] Kearney’s deep groove" - and adds that "Kearney is seriously undervalued as one of rock’s best bass players." We heartily agree. For his part, Cornelison replaced founding member Mike “McDuck” Olson, who parted on friendly terms in 2021.

Rachel Hickey: Back On Track

Following two EP releases since 2021, this Toronto-based singer-songwriter just released her first full-length, The Eve of St. Agnes - a title the former English lit/psych double- major borrowed from a Keats poem.

Hickey's music is described as "folk-focused with a blend of indie, pop, and rock." We previously featured an early single, "High," and now choose this peppy track for our New Music bin.

Vacations: Midwest

Here's the latest single to break out from this Australian quartet's third album, No Place Like Home. Lead singer Campbell Burns says: "I’d never directly written a break-up song until ‘Midwest.’ ... I enjoy having songs that are universally relatable and open to interpretation ... Lately though, I’ve been writing about my memories and unravelling them in exact detail. Almost like therapy, except you’re all there in the room with me."

Sarah Kinsley: Last Time We Never Meet Again

This classically trained singer-songwriter-musician-producer's first full-length album, Escaper, is set for release in September. This first single "is meant to be celebratory," says the artist, but it is also "a goodbye - the closing of all these worlds that you inhabit with the people you love. A celebratory goodbye."