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Sunday, October 1, 2017

From Crosby to Cayetana, more new music from classic and emerging artists

As our listeners know, we're always blending classic and modern sounds. And when "classic" rock and folk artists release new music - and show that they've still got it - we're happy to add it to our big mix.

David Crosby is back with a strong new album, Sky Trails, produced by his son, James Raymond. We're featuring the opening track, "She's Got To Be Somewhere," written by Raymond and featuring a jazz/rock groove reminiscent of Steely Dan. AllMusic writes that the album "splits the difference between its predecessor's [2016's Lighthouse] spare acoustic ruminations and the singer/songwriter's fascination with jazz." Other tracks that will pop up in our mix include the title song, a duet with singer-songwriter Becca Stevens. Co-written by Crosby and Stevens, the dreamy song has echos of CS&N's "Lady Of The Island."

Speaking of duets, we have a new single from First Aid Kit, the Swedish duo of sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg. It's been three years since their breakthrough album, Stay Gold, and "It's A Shame" is the first sign that they have a new collection in the works. NPR calls it "a slick and billowy confection which ... applies layers of winsome charm to potent, melancholy insights about searching for an identity amid fleeting romance."

Let's jump to another female band - with a very, very different sound. Coming from the same Philadelphia indie-rock scene as Waxahatchee and Hemming, Cayetana combines a low-fi, punkish sound with highly personal lyrics of young-American angst and struggles with inner demons. Augusta Koch supplies the lead vocal and guitar power, with Allegra Anka's bass and Kelly Olsen's drums adding much more than rhythm support. From their new release New Kind Of Normal, we're featuring "Too Old For This."

After counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike between Philadelphia and northern New Jersey, we catch up with The Defending Champions, a rock/ska/soul/etc outfit that our regular listeners are familiar with - and that deserves a much wider audience. We're glad to hear that they have a new album coming out in December, and we're jumping on the first single to spin out, "Listen In." It's a good showcase of the band's tight arrangements of guitars, horns and percussion.

Josh Ritter's latest, Gathering, features a number of quietly poetic songs as well as upbeat folk-rockers. We previously featured one of those, "Showboat," and this week we're picking the even more rapid-fire "Friendamine."

We welcome your feedback and suggestions for new music to add -- as well as older tracks to fill in gaps in our mix. Comment here or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook.

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