Alice Damon – Treetop Winds

In 2013, revered reissue label Light in the Attic dug up an obscure artist named Alice Damon for their compilation I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age In America 1950-1990. They drew the track “Waterfall Winds” from an album she’d recorded in the early ’80s in northern Vermont and, apparently, never released. She died several years ago, but her album, Windsong, is finally getting its four-decades-delayed release next month. The breathy, wordless vocals sound like Juliana Barwick long before her time.

Bilé – New Kid

Quoting British theologist Alan Watts talking about Carl Jung to open your rap song seems like a flex Drake might make. “New Kid” echoes streaming’s reigning champion musically too. Bilé’s debut album INSULT TO INJURY just came out in April and he seems to have already taken it off streaming services, so better listen to this song now while you still can.

Chris Weisman – The Orange Car

You know that old line about listening to someone sing the phonebook? Bedroom pop musician Chris Weisman practically does sing the phonebook. He puts out god knows how many albums a year – I can’t keep up – and at that pace, I can’t imagine he’s spending that much time fine-tuning the lyrics. But he sounds great, even when he’s singing about a GPS (“The Orange Car”) or Tracy Chapman (“I Need a Broom”).

Coyote Reverie – Piranhagon

“Piranhagon” is what lyric videos are made for. Hip-hop/pop/trip-hop duo Coyote Reverie have a ton of fun playing around with language right from the opening lines (“It’s the lion, the witch, and the warship / The penguin is mightier than the swordfish”). Meadow Eliz sings and Stresselbee raps and the combination is mesmerizing.

Dharma – 90’s Baby / Blue

Thanks to Night Doll’s virtual music festival for cluing me in that Dharma Ramirez, who used to front the great indie rock back The Snaz, has returned with a solo project. She’s released a few singles, all great, and you watch hear her play a couple in this live video.

DonnCherie – For Keeps

Adam Rabin, whose songs I’ve posted a few times, is a wild prog-rock experimenter. But he’s clearly got a light touch as a producer, as the two new songs he produced for DonnCherie McKenzie follow her lead entirely. And what a lead it is, with soulful but restrained vocals that draw on gospel and R&B.

Flypaper Scissors – Modern People

Flypaper Scissors, the rechristened, easier-to-Google moniker from the artist formerly known as Obq, starts new album Life After Tomorrow in epic fashion. In the first moments of “Modern People,” you think you’re in for a sparse synth ballad. Then the backing vocals and handclaps join in. But it’s still not done, with a funk bass riff soon sashaying along. A fiery guitar solo roars in not long after. Did I mention this all happens in well under three minutes?

Francesca Blanchard – Loon Song

Depending on your age and scene, the phrase “loon song” might conjure up visions of Bon Iver or Tom Green. For those unfortunates in the latter camp, any memories of Green putting his bum on things should be wiped (no pun intended) out by Francesca Blanchard’s new synthpop song, which channels the energy of Lorde’s effervescent Solar Power summer.

Freddie Losambe – Mercy

Freddie Losambe’s EP Pray sounds like Kanye West’s new album Donda at – quick napkin math – 1/20th of the run time. Like Kanye, Freddie draws from hip-hop, gospel, and a wide array of unexpected influences (“Mercy” starts off like the Beach Boys). But he’s a keener editor, delivering a wealth of ideas in barely five minutes.

Kin – A Year Old

Easily the corniest rap song about fatherhood since “Just the Two of Us.” Thing is, just like Will Smith’s hit of yesteryear, it is extremely effective. Or maybe it’s just that I have a one-year-old daughter too. Your mileage may vary.

Peg Tassey – Queen of Flowers

The title “Queen of Flowers” sounds like something from Hair – you know, flower-power – but Peg Tassey’s gritty new single is more like a ’60s pop song covered by a ’70s punk band at CBGB.

Phantom Suns – Cordyceps

“Riffy” is the first word of Phantom Suns’ Bandcamp bio, and it’s also the first thing you notice in “Cordyceps.” In the brief interlude when the guitars stop riffing during the intro, a bass riff pops up to take their place. Eventually vocals come in and the riffs subside, but they can’t be kept at bay for long.

Shrimp Mash – Riding on My Bike

Vermont-California duo Shrimp Mash write about their almost-self-titled debut album Shrimping & Mashing, “This album represents the body of the Knee-scraped 10 year old, who dreams of exploring the world.” That is, obviously, a metaphor, though a title like “Riding on My Bike” makes said knee-scraping almost literal. Layers of vocals and synths soar as high as the bluebird they sing about, bringing in touches of neo-soul and indie-pop.

Voronda – Dying Solar Winds

“Dying Solar Winds,” off Voronda aka Etienne Tel’uial of Falgar‘s ambient-synth EP The Pagan Summer, is both majestic and spooky. It moves slow – real slow – changing tones like a glacier melting. I was going to say the haunting wordless vocals brings a touch of humanity, but now I’m wondering if those vocals are just a synth that sounds like a person. If this is the sound of the robots taking over, I say bring it on.

Wool Drive – Soak It Up

Though Anders Magnus’ musical moniker starts with “wool,” I keep wanting to write “woozy.” That’s the feel of “Soak It Up,” an inviting slice of wistful bedroom pop. The haze and far-away sound doesn’t hide the fact that this is a killer song; for people who’ve been reading this blog since the early days, it reminds me of Violet Ultraviolet.

Check out previous best-of-the-month lists here.

The post The Best New Songs of August-September appeared first on County Tracks.

You don’t need me to tell you that 2020 was a crummy year, for musicians especially. That certainly didn’t stop the flow of great songs though. Artists channelled collective fear and frustrations in a variety of ways. One song on this list is literally titled “2020.” Another complains about masks fogging up your glasses. Most, though, are not that literal. Some offer upbeat escapism; others complain about more personal problems than those in the news. They really only have one thing in common: I can’t wait until I can see them performed live.

40. McAsh – Oi (Dang)

A few of these songs have Covid-19 echoes, but this one is less like an echo than someone shouting it directly in your ear. Jokes about bored Googling and supermarkets running out of supplies abound, but one line really sums everything up: “Goddamn you 2020!”

39. Eoin Noonan – Yesterday

This song shares a title with a Beatles song and quotes Meredith Brooks (inadvertently perhaps), but doesn’t sound much like either. Noonan wrote on Bandcamp, “This song came out of thin air. It was beautiful but then it went away. This song came back months later and it was quickly recorded in a spare bedroom. Then the world got really crazy. That uneasiness somehow subconsciously seeped into this song. Real natural like.”

38. Reid Parsons – Alone

“Alone” is a timelier song than Reid Parsons intended. Though the title screams “lockdown,” she first began recording her “bristly, bluesy anthem of self-reliance” in January, and actually completed it just before quarantine began. That’s probably why it has a killer band feel; they, all together, recorded a song about being alone. Sure enough, a couple weeks later, it felt like everyone was.

37. The Young Love Scene – Honey

The dream of the ’90s is alive in The Young Love Scene’s “Honey.” Shoegaze with a side of guitar theatrics – think My Bloody Valentine with a J Mascis guest appearance.

36. Abby Sherman Band – The Road

“The Road” is the first song on Bandcamp that Vermont singer-songwriter Abby Sherman has billed as being by the “Abby Sherman Band.” A minuscule rebranding, but one that feels significant. Whereas her best song last year was a stripped-down dirge, “The Road” features a muscular alt-country backing group giving her melody some heft. Special props to whoever played the country-Mark-Knopfler guitar solo.

35. GOOD WTHR x SkySplitterInk – Tell a Friend

It may be rap on Soundcloud, but GOOD WTHR is far from “Soundcloud rap.” It hits harder, for one, drawing more from the aggressive energy of old-school MC’s than the chemically-laid-back young guns. On their new single “Tell a Friend,” producer SkySplitterInk gives rappers Pro and Kin a lilting beat to rhyme over while otherwise staying out of the way. There’s some definite “if you like it, like and subscribe!” energy as they encourage listeners to spread the word about independent artists.

34. Guthrie Galileo – Repeat

It starts out sounding like music they might play at a massage place, but stay with it! Producer Guthrie Galileo, known around Vermont for falsetto skills so strong he fronts an Usher tribute group, dispenses with vocals entirely for an engaging instrumental that reminds me of Icelandic folk-electronica groups like Múm. Video comes with bonus weaving footage.

33. George Nostrand – A Million and One

This song’s been kicking around for over twenty years. Nostrand says he first recorded it in 1996, shortly after a summer working on Martha’s Vineyard: “I had just gotten off the boat and was planning on staying the summer and working there. I said something about playing the guitar and this guy quipped, ‘You and a million other people on this island.’ Being a brash 19 year-old at the time I responded, ‘I guess now it’s a million and one.’”

32. Kingfisher – Blue Skies

No, it’s not a cover of the Irving Berlin song. Rock quartet Kingfisher deliver an original both memorable and meditative, jazz-piano flourishes laid atop dream-country (that’s like dream-pop, but, you know). Their self-titled EP has tracks with more energy and tempo, but they do this sort of mellow reverie extremely well, and, right now, I’m in the mood for something soothing.

31. Miku Daza – Dolls

Miku Daza calls herself “the queen of nightmare pop.” You get a taste of that in the single cover for “Dolls,” which sounds at times like a punk band covering the Go-Go’s. You get the full dose in a Lynchian live version.

30. Justin LaPoint – Wide Open Spaces

No, this isn’t a Dixie Chicks cover. Sonically, though, it’s close enough that I could imagine that trio doing a nice job with Justin LaPoint’s quiet folk-country. Particularly on that infectious chorus, where it already boasts a Chicks-ready backing arrangement.

29. Moira Smiley ft. Sam Amidon – Days Of War

Former folkie Sam Amidon has gone over to the avant-garde jazz world on recent releases, but he dips back into his banjo-pluckin’ past on Moira Smiley’s new protest song, written with recent Vermont transplant Seamus Egan.

28. Lily Wade – I Don’t Wanna Be 5teen

“I don’t wanna be fifteen” goes the chorus and Lily Wade is in luck: She turned 16 a few days after it came out. Her influences, from Liz Phair to Babes in Toyland, speak to someone older. So does her talent.

27. Emily Dumas – It’s a Wealth

Writing all these blurbs at year-end time is a daunting prospect, so, as regular readers might have noticed, I crib lines from my monthly song roundups when possible. All I wrote for this song back in May was “More folk songs should include jaunty trumpet solos.” But I stand by it. More folk songs should include jaunty trumpet solos.

26. Willverine ft. Francesca Blanchard – Hope It All

“Synth-pop plus trumpet” used to be the extremely idiosyncratic sound of Will Andrews aka Willverine (it worked better than you’d think). He’s broadened beyond that recently, and on his latest single teams up with Francesca Blanchard, another musician whose made a genre transition in recent years. When the trumpet does finally make its appearance in the last thirty seconds, it sounds more like a National-esque horn flourish than any sort of gimmick.

25. Levi Barrett – Thoughtless Word

Poetry buffs might recognize the lyrics; Barrett borrowed them from poet Olivia Ward Bush-Banks’s poem “Regret.” Barrett wrote, “when I read it, I felt that it was begging to be sung and accompanied with a solemn guitar part.” His arrangement is very Simon and Garfunkel, except his voice is about an octave lower than Simon’s (and about a dozen octaves lower than Artie’s).

24. James and the Giant Sleep – My Friend the Apostate

Lotta Roald Dahl fans in Vermont, apparently – the aforementioned Couchsleepers recently changed their name from The Giant Peach. Christian James apparently doesn’t fear the Dahl estate’s litigious wrath, and more power to him (James and the Giant Sleep is a solid band name). This twisty rocker recalls any number of emo-adjacent bands on the Tooth & Nail roster in the ’90s – plus they might be drop a word like “apostate” too. If Bandcamp is to be believed, it’s only his second single. Off to one hell of a start.

23. Eastern Mountain Time – Dolores Park

On a recent Instagram live stream, Sean Hood’s mom popped up in the comments requesting “the song about crying trains.” That’s as apt a description of “Dolores Park” as any (though it’s also a song about crying moms). Inspired by a cross-country train ride he took only a few years ago, “Dolores Park” brings dose of gritty country-rock to the old genre of the train song. Singing Brakeman not included.

22. Lissa Schneckenburger – Labor On

The title and lyrics to “Labor On” sound like a Woody Guthrie song – maybe one of those hundreds of unrecorded lyrics people keep setting to music. But it’s an original, and inspired by a more recent struggle: The 2019 protests at Merrimack Generating Station, the last large coal plant in New England. Though Schneckenburger’s sound is nothing like Guthrie, the fight remains the same.

21. Madaila – 2020

“2020” is, admittedly, a slightly on-the-nose title for a song trying to sum up this garbage year. Surprisingly, a note of optimism shines through this charming heavily-harmonized folk-pop song. It makes you feel that a song called “2021” could, just maybe, be even more positive.

20. Rough Francis – Teen Zombies

Bandcamp says “Teen Zombies” was released in 1991. That’s an error; it was 1981… I’m kidding about that last bit. It’s new, like everything here. But the verses sound straight out of the post-punk playbook, bass-led with just a shimmer of guitar. Joy Division wouldn’t have gotten so righteously loud on the chorus though.

19. Falgar – Ritos en la cueva

At first listen, you might think this was Gregorian chant music. But the songs are in Spanish, not Latin. And Falgar aka. Etienne Tel’uial brings in instruments and sounds you might hear in his native Puerto Rico, which contrast beautifully with the soaring cathedral melodies.

18. Guest Policy – IDontKnow

Elsewhere on their album Four Year Bend, Guest Policy delivers healthy doses of ’90s-inflected alt-rock, but they veer into glitchy piano-tronica on “IDontKnow.” Portishead and the xx both poke their way into this mesmerizingly strange little pop song. In fact, after writing that sentence a minute ago, I discovered the latter band’s Jamie XX released a song with the exact same name – no spaces and all – the same wee. It’s not the same song, but maybe there’s some spiritual overlap.

17. Kris Gruen – Nothing In The World

Kris Gruen comes from rock and roll royalty; his dad is legendary photographer Bob Greun. That famous photo of Lennon, arms folded, with the New York City t-shirt? The one of Zeppelin standing in front of their plane? Both Bob Gruen. Kris’s own music doesn’t share much in common with his dad’s ’70s-rock compatriots too. The catchy “Nothing In The World” leans alt-country with a healthy dose of blues grit. He does nod to he heritage on a new cover though – of Johnny Thunders.

16. Dead Man from Mars – daBadBoy

Have you heard 100 gecs? If you have, you probably have a strong opinion about them. This buzzy duo’s spastic 2019 debut often got tagged as the sound of the internet, all sorts of unrelated genres violently smashed together (they cite the “Hamster Dance” as a formative influence, which says it all). Dead Man From Mars’ new EP Fruity has that same unhinged energy, at times sounding like a half dozen radio stations playing at the same time. I mean that as a good thing. Your mileage may vary.

15. Oldboys – Die to Defy

I don’t know what “moon music” is – it appears to involve a lot of cello – but Oldboys’ debut album stands just to the side of traditional bluegrass. Aforementioned cello adds a twist to the typical formula of fiddlin’ and mandolinin’ (of which there is still plenty).

14. Henry Jamison ft. Lady Lamb – Orchardist

The lyrics of “Orchardist” jump from Tennessee to Switzerland, but what Jamison does everywhere remains the same: walk around, mostly killing time before shows. “The walking is memorable (in that it’s always somewhere new) but also fairly pointless (I’m not really going anywhere, just away from the van or the venue into some neighborhood or other),” he wrote for Consequence of Sound. “The aimlessness of it, coupled with the novelty, feels like a good symbol for my experience in tour-heavy years.” So he wrote a song about it.

13. Phil Henry – Saturday Night At The Hot Sara

Phil Henry’s new album Chasing Echoes leans Americana, but for “Saturday Night At The Hot Sara” he takes a swerve towards ragtime jazz. I even Googled to see whether “Hot Sara” was a venue in New Orleans. It’s actually a hotel in Upstate New York apparently. Nevertheless, I expect to see a busker playing this in the French Quarter before long.

12. Ben Patton – What a Shame About Benjamin

The most meta song on this list, “What a Shame About Benjamin” finds a bunch of friends and gossips talking trash about the prolific singer-songwriter. Complaints range from the plausible (not accepting Facebook friend requests) to the far-fetched (going in and out of the looney bin). In the midst of all the hilarious self-deprecation, he gets in one nugget of promo: “I haven’t heard his latest LP yet, but it’s supposed to be great.”

11. A2VT – You Ma Numba 1

This infectious love song doesn’t hit as hard as some of the higher-energy songs on their great new album Twenty Infinity – early singles from which appeared on our last couple year-end lists too – but the joyous and insanely catchy chorus will burrow its way into your brain for days.

10. Clever Girls – Spark

Singer Miriam Bernardo’s debut album has been a long time coming. In her many years performing around Vermont, she’s connected with many of the local folk musicians, most notably recent Tony-winner Anaïs Mitchell. Mitchell even contributed a song to open Bernardo’s album, the beautiful “I Got a Well.” When they one day stage the Hadestown revival, this could fit right in.

9. Eben Ritchie – The Architects

Eben Ritchie says he aims to make music with an inherent optimism – a tough assignment in 2020. But you can hear that from the extremely infectious guitar hook that opens “The Architects.” Every bit of it is catchy, from the vocals to the mid-song synth solo, but it’s the guitar line I can’t get out of my head.

8. BABEHOVEN – Asshole

Babehoven’s dream-pop song sounds so pretty it takes you a few listens to notice the lyrics. “In the morning I want to see your asshole”? Weird. Great song though.

7. Teece Luvv – SHEESH

Teece rocks the Lonely Island’s “Turtleneck & Chain” look on the cover of his new single “SHEESH.” It’s not comedy rap, exactly, but he does ride a plastic dinosaur on the cover (and, again, the title is “SHEESH”). Silly or not, he’s a capable rapper – I hear echoes of J-Kwon’s “Tipsy” in the verses – riding a super catchy beat.

6. Couchsleepers – On Your Mind

At 6:25, “On Your Mind” is the longest song by far on Couchsleepers’ debut album Only When It’s Dark. It doesn’t feel that way. Buoyed by lush electronics and gentle guitar plucks, “On Your Mind” coasts along for the first chunk of its runtime before exploding (in a gentle sort of way) into a supercatchy synthpop song.

5. The Bubs – Planet

Off the 22 songs on Mark Daly’s sprawling double album I’m Gonna Do It (Anyway), probably half were in contention for this list. He divided the set into electropop and Americana halves, and proves equally adept at both genres. From the former half, “Wish I Knew” doesn’t bounce as much as some of its competitors, but the catchy ballad (is “catchy ballad” a contradiction? Not in Mark Daly’s hands) showcases the inventive production touches and beautifully layered vocals.

4. Troy Millette – Runaway (Live at Higher Ground)

I liked country singer Troy Millette’s 2019 debut EP fine, but his live version of “Runaway” takes the song to another level. More muscular than the quieter studio version, Millette’s gruff voice and a knockout country-rock band turns the song into a beers-up southern-rock anthem. There’s polished Nashville country in his songwriting, but there’s Allman Brothers rawness in this delivery. Can’t wait until he’s able to get back on the road again.

3. Francesca Blanchard – Like a Hurricane

No, “Like a Hurricane” is not a Neil Young cover. But then again, the lead single on Francesca Blanchard’s new album Make It Better was titled “Baby,” and that wasn’t a Justin Bieber cover either. (Though I’d like to hear the covers album that tackles both Bieber and Young – after a few minutes looking, the closest I found was Florence and the Machine, who has covered them both live). Blanchard’s “Like a Hurricane” sounds nothing like Neil’s, but, in it’s quieter way, it’s just as turbulent.

2. Jer Coons x PREECE x Learic – Sleeping On My Own

Few genres get as ridiculed as rap-rock, and for good reason (two words: Limp. Bizkit.). But, in their new single “Sleeping On My Own,” these three recombine rock and rap in a much more palatable way. “Sleeping On My Own” is mostly a punk song – and an incredibly catchy one at that. Singer/bassist Jer Coons and drummer/guitarist Sean Preece channel their inner Bad Religion on one of those I’m-so-much-better-since-you-left breakup songs where you suspect the narrator might be protesting too much. Then rapper Learic takes a guest verse. And not one of those “I had some unrelated bars sitting around” rap features, but an appearance with every bit as much punk-rock angst as the actual punk parts.

1. Sarah King – Nightstand

“Nightstand” is Sarah King’s Revenge of the Murder Ballad Victim anthem; a new murder ballad where the woman does the murdering for once. As King put it to me, when she started digging into the folk tradition of the murder ballad, “I started paying more attention to the lyrics and how people kept saying ‘oh, I’ve never heard a woman sing that song’ because they’re all about men killing women. I’m still here, so nobody’s killed me yet, and I got to feeling the men in these songs may have sorely underestimated some of the women they encountered.”

Click here for the Best Vermont Albums of 2020 and here for the Best Vermont EPs of 2020!

The post The Best Vermont Songs of 2020 appeared first on County Tracks.

Elder Orange – Stella

Matt Scott, aka Elder Orange, wrote his new EP Stella inspired by his ’71 Stella parlor acoustic guitar. But despite the acoustic guitar-influence, singer-songwriter music this isn’t. Scott’s a producer and composer who builds immersive instrumental soundscapes incorporating that guitar here and there, but not beholden to it. In this case, he says, “Stella is a blend of a lot of my favorite sounds; dusty 60’s funk rock laced with boom-bap alt-latin vibes and gritty electro-fusion.”

Emily Dumas – It’s a Wealth

More folk songs should include jaunty trumpet solos.

Eoin Noonan – Yesterday

This song shares a title with a Beatles song and quotes Meredith Brooks (inadvertently perhaps), but doesn’t sound much like either. Noonan wrote on Bandcamp, “This song came out of thin air. It was beautiful but then it went away. This song came back months later and it was quickly recorded in a spare bedroom. Then the world got really crazy. That uneasiness somehow subconsciously seeped into this song. Real natural like.”

Es-K – In Due Time

Es-K calls himself a beat-maker. That’s true technically, but somehow seems to undersell it. None of the “beats” on his album Only So Much Time feel like they’re only half-complete, waiting for a rapper to rhyme over them. In fact, some of them, like the flute-flourished “In Due Time,” it’s hard to picture anyone rapping over at all. They feel like finished work as is. No words necessary.

Falgar – Ritos en la cueva

At first listen, you might think this was Gregorian chant music. But the songs are in Spanish, not Latin. And Falgar aka. Etienne Tel’uial brings in instruments and sounds you might hear in his native Puerto Rico, which contrast beautifully with the soaring cathedral melodies.

George Nostrand – A Million and One

This song’s been kicking around for over twenty years. Nostrand says he first recorded it in 1996, shortly after a summer working on Martha’s Vineyard: “I had just gotten off the boat and was planning on staying the summer and working there. I said something about playing the guitar and this guy quipped, ‘You and a million other people on this island.’ Being a brash 19 year-old at the time I responded, ‘I guess now it’s a million and one.’”

Guest Policy – My Side, Your Side

A smooth-as-silk heartbreak ballad that blends indie-rock and R&B. It could almost be a Drake cover. Killer rhythm guitar too.

Guthrie Galileo – Repeat

It starts out sounding like music they might play at a massage place, but stay with it! Producer Guthrie Galileo, known around Vermont for falsetto skills so strong he fronts an Usher tribute group, dispenses with vocals entirely for an engaging instrumental that reminds me of Icelandic folk-electronica groups like Múm. Video comes with bonus weaving footage.

Ivamae & Dan Bishop – Interwoven

The 28-track charity compilation MUSIC to feed the SOUL offers a pretty good sample platter of the singer-songwriters and bands coming out of Vermont right now. I’ve written about a number of the tracks on it already, but it comes with some new stuff too, including a jazz-soul collaboration between singer Ivamae and bassist Dan Bishop that sounds like Sade meeting Esperanza Spalding. Buy the album and support the Vermont Foodbank!

Madaila – You Won’t Be Alone

Mark Daly started his career in the successful Americana band Chamberlin, then pivoted a few years later to the dancier project Madaila. Now he’s kept the name of the latter but returned to the more folk-rock sound of the former. One thing hasn’t changed: His ear for a catchy pop hook. Or his falsetto.

Matt Valentine Preserves – Been There for You

“Trippy” hardly begins to describe Matt Valentine’s music. It sounds like there might be a pretty pop ballad luring somewhere within “Been There for You.” But the many strange sounds he lays on top make it far weirder. More interesting too.

The Pilgrims – Nantucket

Fair warning: The opening of this video might trigger your videoconferencing PTSD. But it’s a great song from a band that always makes funny videos – even under quarantine. Half the screens are the band members themselves; half are more like blink-and-you-miss it comedy bits (I didn’t even notice the thumb with a face the first play through). Bonus points for the subtle change to the Zoom tag in the upper-left corner.

Rivan C – Rewind

College-student rapper Rivan C. claims influences from Lil Uzi Vert to Sam Cooke, so no surprise he works in shoutouts to Rolling Stones and Elvis songs in the infectiously catchy opening song from his new EP Teenage Apollo Vol. 2.

Rough Francis – Teen Zombie

Bandcamp says “Teen Zombies” was released in 1991. That’s an error; it was 1981… I’m kidding about that last bit. It’s new, like everything here. But the verses sound straight out of the post-punk playbook, bass-led with just a shimmer of guitar. Joy Division wouldn’t have gotten so righteously loud on the chorus though.

Strawberry 3000 – Program A

I’ve tried Shazam-ing Strawberry 3000’s sound collages. It never works. I assume these are all samples, from ’80s soundtracks it sounds like. But they’re so thoroughly manipulated that they morph into their own weird little universes, like a cheesy ’80s movie melting before your eyes.

Ulrike Mod – la cave rouge

Christian Puffer calls these “embellished piano improvisations,” but don’t think classical or jazz. It’s more like ambient music that occasionally veers into ominous soundscapes soundtracking the part of a horror movie leading up to the big scare.

Western Terrestrials – King’s Highway

Western Terrestrial’s upcoming album has country music in its DNA. That’s not just a metaphor; Roger Miller’s son produced it and George Jones’ daughter sings on it. It’s country music through a classic-rock filter though.  I hear as much Warren Zevon as Waylon Jennings.

Zodiac Sutra – Sick of Living

A fuzzy garage-rock ripper, “Sick of Living” kicks off the excellently-named album Bored Under a Bad Sign. A second single, “Oklahoma,” consists of an acoustic guitar ballad – but even fingerpicking can be fuzzy, like folk music as played in your dingy basement.

Check out the out previous best-of-the-month lists here.

The post The Best New Songs of May 2020 appeared first on County Tracks.

Ever since Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath first read Lord of the Rings, the road to Mordor has been paved with metal. The latest Tolkien-loving metal band comes from a Puerto Rican musician now based in Vermont, Etienne Tel’uial. His new droning symphonic metal project Skalnâ takes its name from a primitive form of Elvish that appears in Tolkien’s twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth. Safe to say, Tel’uial is not some Peter Jackson-come-lately Tolkien fan.

“The name ‘Skalnâ’ comes from primitive Elvish (Quendian), which means ‘veiled, hidden, shadowed, etc,'” Tel’uial tells us. “I chose a Tolkien name simply because they sound beautiful. I grew up with the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so bringing up Tolkien is always like returning back in time. I wanted an ‘elvish’ tone to the name, because I am obsessed with the notion of Elves. They were the first conscious creations of the Valar (the forces of nature) under Eru (the one). While the whole idea of Elves may be seen as just a mythological notion, I still think they are symbols for something real in this earth. They are the good within us. They are remnants of a time when we lived free and within nature, and not separate from it.”

Like we said, Tel’uial knows his Tolkien. But you can enjoy Skalnâ’s debut album Returning to the Flame even if you’ve never cracked The Hobbit. A heavy and beautiful combination of black metal, post-rock, and symphonic chant, it recalls avant-garde artists like Scott Walker or Xiu Xiu. Tel’uial himself calls it “romantic raw post-metal” – as good a label as any for these shifting sounds.

He initially wrote the album for his main band Falgar before deciding that the songs didn’t fit their neofolk sound. “The change in direction to change the neofolk into a metal sound came about spontaneously,” he says. “I have always listened to black metal and other types of metal, and so I guess I felt nostalgic for it, and I picked up the electric guitar again after not having done so for a long time. Falgar is very tied to my Latin roots (being from Puerto Rico, and having come to Vermont when I was 20 years old back in 2011), I did not want to anglicize Falgar with an English metal sound. So after having these Skalnâ songs on my computer for half a year, I finally decided to release them as something totally new.”

At just 28 minutes, Returning to the Flame hardly boasts the length of even one Lord of the Rings chapter, but its scope feels epic nonetheless. Listen below, then download it at Bandcamp.

Click here to discover more of the best new metal music in Vermont.

The post J.R.R. Tolkien’s Elves Inspire New Post-Metal Epic appeared first on County Tracks.