• We head on with cruel, beautiful, nervy, wonderful, Swedish, Americana music. The Tarantula Waltz is fronted by Stockholmbased singer-songwriter Markus Svensson who played with badass greatness´ as The War on Drugs and First Aid Kit.
Later this year Tarantula will announce their second album, produced by The Tallest Man On Earth aka Kristian Matsson himself. Check out song 17 – ”I wish I was wiser when I was seventeeeeen…” – from the album Tinder Stick Neck.
• From the capital city of Sweden we find the garage punk rock act of Lucern Raze. The single Someone Like You from the upcoming debut album Stockholm One (release Feb 25) is plain awesome. A slow moving roller coaster of hidden emotions, drugs to our muddy ears.
Lucern Raze is a new project from Luke, ex-frontman of London-band Sex Beet. Talented geezer, no doubt.
• Mary Caroline from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories got us hooked immediately on her folky vibe and gritty northern imagery. The Canadian singer-songwriter lives just below the Arctic Circle and works on a Animal Planet/Discovery show called Ice Lake Rebels. It gives her the opportunity to live ”off the grid” and focus on her songwriting. We salute her for every tune down that rocky road.
Check out MC´s debut album Life On Earth, released January 27th, and the great title track below.
• T’day we got The Deep Dark Woods spinning their magic web over our dull office space. All the way from Saskatoon, and with an alt-country sound others only pray for.
This tight unit of friends have been playing together forever and you can tell by the perfect swing. We found a real treasure – deep within the dark forests of Canada.
Give sweet song Sugar Mama from album The Place I Left Behind a go!
• Swedish psych-rockers Slowgold is heavily on our mind. The Gothenburg dream catchers is foremost the beautiful voice and essence of Amanda Werne – a poetic heroine if there ever was one.
Check out new single Det Osynliga (The Invisible) from their upcoming EP. It’s music slowly turning to gold, alchemists of wicked vibes.
• Nashville man Ethan Luck made a great EP in 2014 – Hard Seas – and got a Wild West Rock N Roll vibe we adore. His voice is the attention type, and if your into Social Distortion or Gaslight Anthem this is a def-must.
Like an early Christmas gift, we receive a fresh new single from Gothenburg band Wea.
Wea is an explosive, alt-blues-pop band with influences, from bands such as Feist, Beck, The Black Keys and Wilco. But the sounds is more unique and self made than anything else.
Having released two EP’s starting in 2011, this third album will hit the streets spring 2015.
Today they release the first single ”My Spell” from the upcoming album. This was love at first listen. This is new music for 2015. I can’t wait for the rest of the songs to hit me.
Wea are:
Vocals/guitar/lyrics: Alexandra Wennersten
Guitar/producer: Thomas Andrén
Bass: Karl Jonsson
Drums/Percussion: Johan Östling
• Joe Purdy made the best album of 2014, no doubt in our mind. His talking blues wanders the tender streets of Townes van Zandt, Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson. The LA-mans 12th album over 8 years shows he’s on top of his game. Listening to this record, we remember what music is all about; why Kentuckyseven is still around. A humbling experience – thanks Joe.
2. Broken Twin – May
• Sometimes music gets deep under your skin, into your gut. Broken Twin, the wonderful Danish 25 year-old songwriter Majke Voss Romme, does exactly that. It’s a lo-fi wholeness, an important piece of haunting art, back to basics. A divine debut record to really care about.
3. Gary Clark JR – Live
• This blues rocking Texas guitar man got the balls to release a double disc live album. And man, he delivers. 15 songs that create a six-string thunder, a raw edged monster of a record. Gary Clark Jr is building his house brick by brick as a modern day travelling blues man. We’re forever in his yard.
4. Eli Rhodes – Running Out Of Jesus
• Nashville-singer/songwriter Eli Rhodes debut EP had us from the get-go. Five songs that are easy-going yet troublesome, tales that sum up the emotions of a young man. He got the swift air of greatness about him, a clean-cut record that made our everyday life a bit more wonderful.
5. Horse Thief – Fear in Bliss
The Oklahoma band that totally swept us of our feet this year. The album Fear in Bliss was released in April and has been spinning ever since. This is the sound that will keep us listening to music. There is hope for the future. For all lovers of Band of Horses, The Magic Numbers or My Morning Jacket… This is for you. This is the next generation.
6. I’m Kingfisher – Avian
Thomas Johnsson, the Swedish genius that released one of 2010’s absolute greatest album came back with nothing less than a masterpiece, once again. The Swedish melancholy mixed with tunes that are so in tune with the now that it is almost frightening. And mr Johnsson’s voice is probably the only one that can accompany that. An album that only needs a larger audience.
7. Strand of Oaks – Heal
Just when you thought that you found the cure. This album came back with an itch. I love the way it keeps changing and growing. Synthezisers join classic guitars, and everything just blends in a magical harmony. Timothy Showalter has created something that leaves no one unaffected. This year we really felt the love. And we will go on loving.
#CloseCalls – 7 Great Albums We Also Absolutely Adored 2014
• Noah Gundersen – Ledges
• Jamestown Revival – Utah
• Josh Nolan – Fair City Lights
• The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream
• Hurray for the Riff Raff – Small Town Heroes
• Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
