Abby Sherman – The Weight

Take a load off, Abby… Wait, wrong “Weight,” sorry. This “The Weight” is an original song by Vermont singer-songwriter Abby Sherman, a heartfelt acoustic ballad with nary an appearance from Miss Moses or Crazy Chester. Sherman’s been dropping another killer single every few months for a while now, presumably (hopefully!) leading up to another record.

Coyote Reverie – Lotus Leaf

Hip-slash-trip-hop duo Coyote Reverie’s debut album Imah is positively stuffed with quotable lines. But, to pick out one that just jumped out at me, from the song “Lotus Leaf”: “I solved the riddle of the universe once / And I got it done before I served lunch.”

Craig Pallett – Light in the Sky

The album Sugarhouse (very Vermont title) offers a slice of energetic and adventurous jazz from composer and trumpet player Craig Pallett alongside guitarist Mohammed Nazam and saxophonist Michael Morera. The second track, “Light in the Sky,” sees the guitar and sax take center stage in an aggressive duet that veers into hard-rock territory, with keyboards and the occasional synth burble in the background.

Days on End – Carved Away

The title Decade sounds like a greatest hits record (perhaps because, for someone else, it was a greatest hits record). But for pop-punk trio Days on End, it’s a new EP, and an extremely catchy one at that. For fans of so-called “emo revival” bands like Modern Baseball who want something new to make your voice hoarse screaming along to, Days on End will fit right in.

Eric George – Joe Hill

Folkie goes punk…again. Singer-songwriter Eric George usually operates in a Woody Guthrie vein, but, for the second time in recent years, he’s turned to the Bad Religion template. His political passion hasn’t changed, though: He’s still singing about folks like union organizer Joe Hill, who also inspired songs by Phil Ochs and Joan Baez. His take is currently just much louder than theirs.

Jobu & Rico James – $ Vs Earth

On “$ Vs Earth,” rapper Jobu goes hard against climate change obstructionists and capitalism in general. Near the end, he even glancingly echoes the knocked-up-the-earth opening of Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain.” When world leaders meet in Scotland for the climate summit in a couple weeks, it’s probably too much to hope they’d keep some of these messages in mind.

Lightcrusher – Coursing Through Black Veins of Earth

Would you believe me if I told you “Coursing Through Black Veins of Earth” by the band Lightcrusher was a peppy folk-pop song inspired by Taylor Swift? Yeah, it’s not. It’s extremely heavy and tormented metal by the sort of band whose name is so stylized on their logo as to be almost illegible. But the guitar riffs are furious, the drummer plays like he’s outrunning the devil, and the lyrics – well, who knows what exactly he’s shrieking, but it sounds cool.

Lily Seabird – Bug

“I’m just a bug underneath your shoe,” Lily Seabird (real name Lily Seward) sings on “Bug,” off her terrific debut album Beside Myself. The melody jumps around in surprising leaps – I imagine this would be a tough karaoke track – but Lily carries it through all its twist and turns, leading to a wonderful Dinosaur Jr.-esque squalling guitar solo.

Wool See – Hail Ratmaa

The first of a couple Halloween-themed selections, “Back To The Lodge” comes from Wool See’s spooky new beat tape Woolloween Vol. 3. As he writes about his first no-vocals album, “‘Tis the season for mischief and mayhem and beats! Woolloween Vol. 3 is a fully instrumental album to smash squashes and horde gourds to.” Extra kudos on the best cover art of the month.

The Young Love Scene – Psychology

The Young Love Scene’s Gordon Goldsmith channels the great monkey band Lancelot Link and the Evolution Revolution (unintentionally, perhaps) in his new Halloween-themed music video for “Psychology.” The music, though, sounds less like ’60s-rock chimps and more like Jimmy Eat World meets The Ramones, catchy rock with a strong sense of hooks.

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

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

Babehoven – Bad Week

No, indie-pop duo Babehoven “Bad Week” isn’t a play on R.E.M.’s “Bad Day.” “Bad Week” is a moving electro-shoegaze dirge about fighting through depression. As singer Maya Bon sings, “It’s hard to talk about it being a bad week / When it’s been a bad week / For so many weeks now.” She elaborated:

This song is a hand reached inward to the swelling and amorphous cavities of grief. As time keeps moving forward, I have found that it can feel as if the ‘bad days’ keep going, growing into ‘bad weeks,’ ‘bad years,’ into new levels of struggle that are hard to move through. Though this realization can feel staggering, it can also feel like an honest admission to self: these times are very hard and yet I want to move forward, I want to feel, I want to grow. ‘Bad Week’ is my attempt to commit to myself in these feelings.

Barbacoa – Staten Eye

Veteran Vermont surf-rock band – yes, you read that right – Barbacoa returns with their first album since 2014. Surf-rock has not been in vogue since The Ventures (who were way bigger in their day than you might expect – 38 separate albums landed on the charts!), but Barbacoa keep the tradition alive with a healthy added dose of spaghetti-western grandeur

Ben Watson – 502

As the Bandcamp description puts it, “Some acoustic guitar I recorded in the past few months. I hope it makes you feel something.” It does! You have to be deeper in the American Primitive world than I to pinpoint the differences among the many John Fahey acolytes, but if you’re looking for some pleasant finger-picked instrumental music that never gets new-agey or boring, Ben Watson’s new EP is a good bet.

Couchsleepers – Creature Comforts

“LOUD-quiet-LOUD” was the Pixies’ mantra for the dynamics of their songs. “Creature Comforts” is more like quiet-quiet-quiet-quiet-LOUD-quiet. Harrison Hsiang holds his punches for when they’ll really count, this gentle ballad suddenly exploding in quick dramatic bursts before burbling back under again.

Eastern Mountain Time – A Little Bit of Rain

Big Dylan-in-the-’60s vibes on the beautifully melancholy “A Little Bit of Rain,” with some imagery that sounds like a “Visions of Johanna” outtake. For example: “June retires to the attic / pulls the moon into her chest / while Miss Q’s speech starts slurring / smoking all my cigarettes.” I assume from there Miss Q went off sniffing drainpipes and reciting the alphabet.

Guthrie Galileo – Ethylene

“It’s such a perfect day out my window,” Guthrie Galileo begins “Ethylene.” Sounds like a real positive song! Then the kicker: “But I wouldn’t know.” The emerging-from-quarantine hesitancy feels strong, even if it’s never explicitly stated. “I’m scared to death that I might suffocate if I leapt out of my fishbowl,” he sings. And after hearing the smooth R&B groove, it will not surprise you to learn that Guthrie Galileo moonlights as an Usher covers singer.

Lissa Schneckenburger – Bedlam Blues

Lissa Schneckenburger’s last single, “Labor On,” was a fiery environmental protest song. Her follow-up “Bedlam Blues,” keeps things far more personal, a pretty folk song that at times almost could pass for an old Child Ballad.

Omega Jade – MommiEbonics

It’s no coincidence that Omega Jade’s new EP Elevate dropped May 9. This year, May 9 was Mother’s Day. It’s a hip-hop, tribute to motherhood and all its the joys and struggles, never more so than on the witty and moving “MommiEbonics.” As the hook goes, “I love my kids, but they get on my nerves.”

Remi Russin – I’m Trying

“I’m Trying” only has a few lyrics, but, for a veteran of great post-rock instrumental band Plastique Mammals, a few lyrics feels like a lot! Remi Russin describes the song’s origins: “Somewhere in that middle ground between young adulthood and vanilla adulthood, you suddenly become cognizant of everything you’ve built for yourself, and the things you have to lose. At the same time, life’s still unstable and feels like it could fall off the rails with a single unforeseen event. It’s only a couple lines long, but when you’re feeling that weight, clawing out of the overwhelm for just a second to ask for help can be a feat in itself.”

Soule Monde – Strut

Soule Monde’s Ray Paczkowski & Russ Lawton play in Trey Anastacio’s solo band, but for the jam band-averse (present company included), don’t worry. Their instrumental drums-and-organ blend percussive jazz with Booker T. funk. Aimless noodling not included.

Trapper Keeper – Half Past Midnight (Motown R&B)

Trapper Keeper blends a lot of genres on their new album. This can be said for many bands, but most aren’t so explicit about it. Trapper Keeper literally includes the genre name in the song title. So you’ve got “In Front of You (Garage Punk)” followed by “Every Moment Matters (Dream Folk)” followed by “Paved with Good Intentions (Hip-Hop).” I like his Motown pastiche best.

Xander Naylor – Export For Screens

Xander claims everyone from soul giant Isaac Hayes to electronic duo Autechre as influences, and sure enough you can hear some of each on “Export For Screens,” with some freeform jazz energy mixed in too.

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

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

Babehoven – Demonstrating Visible Difference of Height

Babehoven weren’t a Vermont band for very long. Singer Maya Bon and partner/bandmate Ryan Albert moved to the tiny town of Arlington, where he’s from, to record this EP, then promptly decamped for Philadelphia. They’ve also logged time in Los Angeles and Portland. But, even if they weren’t in the state for very long, Vermont would do well to embrace the wonderful dream-pop EP they recorded while here.

Bishop Lavey – Bring the Flood

Bishop Lavey’s bio says he has “a style unlike his peers in the Folk scene.” That’s an understatement. A song like “Set Fire to Our Homes” sounds like Motörhead if some roadies swapped out all their instruments for acoustic guitars. Even his quieter songs are only folky in a American-gothic sort of way, like Howlin’ Wolf bellowing a murder ballad.

Dan Johnson – Trucks and Trains, Bad Luck and Blues

Dan Johnson’s songs are as frills-free as they come. Heavily-produced, in a Johnson song, means maybe there’s a second guitar accompanying his acoustic. You have to have rock-solid songs to pull off delivering them in such a simple package. Johnson does. When that second guitar does come in – also quiet, but distorted as hell – it’s just the cherry on top of an already excellent sundae.

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 that incorporate the titular guitar here and there, but are not beholden to it. 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.”

Fern Maddie – North Branch River

The fact that Fern Maddie lives in, as her Bandcamp bio puts it, “the wild woods of northern Vermont” will not surprise anyone listening to this. “Wild woods” is certainly the vibe in her brand of old weird Americana. Driven primarily by her angelic voice and secondarily by her expressive banjo phrases, she sings songs of selkies (“Two Women”) and Medieval kingdoms (“The Elf Knight”). Modern these subjects are not, but she makes them timeless.

Good Morning Gils – The View from Here

Though they have a song on their EP called “September Vibe,” The View from Here mostly evokes summer. Echoey guitars and the low level of haze settling over the proceedings recall Surfer Blood and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They can rock out pretty hard when the moment calls for it, but even at its highest-energy, The View From Here sounds like hanging at the beach and bumming around with your friends in what Neon Indian memorably termed a “deadbeat summer.”

Henry Jamison – Tourism

Every song on Henry Jamison’s EP features a different artist, from Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste to Portland sister trio Joseph. Rather than twisting himself to fit their various sonic worlds, though, he invites them into his. They add slightly different textures to his sound, but any of the 8.2 million people who listened to Jamison on Spotify this year will find much that’s familiar.

Jewelry Company – Cheap Drugs

The band’s name is Jewelry Company and the album cover is a bunch of pills. That pairing – living the high life on the outside while being torn-up on the inside – echoes The Weeknd or Drake, and indeed those are two obvious touchstones on this EP. It’s hip-hop in the broadest sense, sung as often as rapped, but over lusher beats than Drake might use.

Jo Bled – The Accumulation and The Radiate

I realize that, to many of us, the phrase “28 minute drum solo” sounds like an absolute nightmare. But Jo Bled, aka jazz drummer JB Ledoux, tells a whole story through his playing on The Accumulation and The Radiate. I don’t know how much of this is improvised and how much is composed, but either way it is a percussive tour de force.

Love and Japan – Tears for Vanishing Ways

Love and Japan’s new EP sounds like the lighter and darker sides of ’80s pop blended together – Men at Work meets Joy Division. Even the song titles point to that influence. I don’t know what “Spider Rain” is, but I’m frankly shocked it’s not already the title of a Cure song. And “Cold War” seems like it popped straight from Stereogum’s “38 Essential ’80s Songs About Nuclear Anxiety.”

Madaila – West

Mark Daly started his career in the successful Americana band Chamberlin, then pivoted a few years later to the dancier project Madaila. On West, he 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.

Michael Chinworth – Songs for Plays

Songs for Plays is the most literally-titled EP on this list. Chinworth originally wrote these songs for several productions by playwright Quincy Long (one of his plays was directed by William H. Macy). Long wrote the lyrics, Chinworth the music. Chinworth re-recorded a few of them for his band, and not knowing their original context doesn’t matter a bit.

Rivan C. – igotthejuice

College-student rapper Rivan C. claims extremely disparate influences from Sam Cooke to Lil Uzi Vert, so no surprise he works in shoutouts to Rolling Stones and Elvis songs his first album Teenage Apollo Vol. 2 (though it at times sounded more like J-Kwonn’s “Tipsy” than any classic rock). He wasted no time releasing a follow-up EP igotthejuice, which draws from an even wider array of influences.

S.T.L.A. – KONA DECOY

The album art looks like Blair Witch Project meets The X-Files, and, if you think that’s creepy, wait until you hear the music. Experimental musician Henry Birdsey works like an electronic producer, but with analog instruments, warping and manipulating lap steel, pedal steel, microtonal organ, fiddle, hammered dulcimer. None of them sound remotely like what you’d expect them to, but it creates a magnetic and unnerving stew.

Shore Rites – Shore Rites

If you’re gonna be a bassist, be a bassist in a post-punk band. Few genres as regularly let their bassists take center stage. The fact that the bassist is also the singer and songwriter will not surprise you. Shore Rites lean as dream-pop as they do post-punk at times though, and their excellent debut EP blends the two genres. I don’t know whether the “live forever” that opens “Tell Me Not” is a deliberate Oasis nod, but, buried beneath the haze, you can hear some Britpop in there too.

Click here to see the Best Vermont Songs of 2020 and click here for the best Vermont Albums!

The post The Best Vermont EPs of 2020 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.

Ben Patton – Just Gotta Be Mine

Anyone who played computer games in the ’80s will recognize the look of Ben Patton’s new music video. For accuracy, he even used the precise (and extremely limited) color palette of the old EGA graphics card. It seems retro, but Ben’s been spending much of quarantine covering old Cole Porter songs, so for him the ’80s is relatively modern!

A Box of Stars – Somethinghood

I was playing A Box of Stars’s pleasant new acoustic record Museum of Light – think Iron & Wine meets Nebraska – in the background and this line jumped out: “On this long drive out of Phoenix / I saw Tina pulling an old canoe / Full of tangerines as Hesus / Painted passengers passing through.”

David Howard – Gemini

David writes of this catchy little folk-rock instrumental: “This song was written as a celebration of a new acoustic guitar that I purchased (A Taylor GSmini). I instantly fell completely in love with the guitar and I wrote this song on it the day I got it. While I originally intended there to be vocals, I ultimately decided to let the guitar do all the talking.”

The E. Granby Granby Quartet – Thesis

Ambient free-jazz saxophone seems like it would fall squarely in the category of “not my thing,” but to my surprise I’m really enjoying this odd and meditative album. I’m not sure if there’s actually a quartet or if this is just the titular E. Granby Granby layer four different baritone saxophones on top of each other, but either way I dig it. I have very little reference point for this sort of thing, but if anyone has ever heard sax group Battle Trance, it’s in that vein. Or Moon Hooch minus the funk.

Harpoons – One Happy Island

These days, it’s hard not to view everything through the lens of current events. Though the chorus “I’m too young, don’t let me die” probably has nothing to do with our ongoing pandemic, it certainly seems to echo with the current times. (And if you think that’s a stretch, just be glad I didn’t tie in the title “One Happy Island” with a certain Kim Kardashian tweet this week!).

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.

Madaila – Anybody Out There?

Mark Daly’s pop instincts remain razor-sharp on “Anybody Out There?,” but he indulges in some more esoteric flourishes around the margins. The semi-spoken-word breakdowns in the verses echo musical oddballs like Sparks or Tim Fite. But, as Daly always does, he brings it all back home for a supercatchy chorus.

Moira Smiley – 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.

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.

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.

Tasheff – Cruise

As you might guess from the prominent U-Bahn reference, “Cruise” was written about time in Berlin. Tascheff’s Matthew Carlton explains in an email: “‘Cruise’ was written about post break-up hedonism. It is about both wanting to cruise through life without pain, as well as using sex as a coping mechanism and participating in the ritual-like gay practice of ‘cruising,’ inspired by encounters in bars in Schöneberg, Berlin. Sonically, it takes hints from 90’s R&B, including a dramatic, ballad-like introduction, which then propels into a chugging disco-inspired chorus that carries the listener to the end of the piece, save the left turn and breakdown at the bridge.”

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.

Willoughby J. Morse – together

Maybe it’s just that the passing of Chet “Jr” White has Girls on my mind, but “together” brings to mind White’s Girls partner Christoper Owens. Like Owens, Morse clearly has a taste for old-school pop – girl groups, ’50s schmaltz – filtered through a smeared lens of DIY haze.

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.

Wren Kitz – Shrouds

One hates to crib directly from the promo materials, but to be honest the record label’s Bandcamp description kind of nails it: “Moon-waxin’ full-length of spacial guitar action, molten fuzz-folk, feedback ballads, patient psychedelia, and other adjacent territories.” There’s only one song out so far from Wren Kitz’s upcoming album Early Worm, but it touches on all of that in three and a half minutes.

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

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

We’re back! After a summer away on paternity leave (can a blog take paternity leave? well, we did), County Tracks returns with a supersized roundup of everything that went on while we were away.

This is, as always, “we” in the proverbial sense. It’s really just me, Ray Padgett. And I have my second book out this week! It’s about music, of course. Specifically the history of tribute albums, as told through the fascinating story of one in particular (1991’s I’m Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen – which, even if you don’t realize it, is the reason you know the song “Hallelujah”). It’s in the great 33 1/3 series of small books on specific albums. Hope you’ll check it out! Preorder links and more info over here.

Now, onto the music…

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.

AHKUBA – Rise

The band name and dark-woods album cover make AHKUBA (all caps, of course) seem like a metal band. But their five-years-in-the-works album Be Good to YourSelf – very un-metal title – draws more from free jazz and prog rock. Primarily led by Ryan Berg’s drums and Greg Hesselton’s bass, with sprinklings of guitar almost as a garnish, songs like opener “Rise” do get heavy-metal loud at times, but never at the expense of losing their weird prog-jazz edge.

Bent Muffbanger – Harmony

Fuzz boxes to 11! Bent Muffbanger’s song “Harmony” does indeed feature some of its namesake harmonies, but they’re buried beneath a joyful noise. You expect a J Mascis solo to break out at any moment. Should have been called “Distortion.”

Bishop LaVey – Everything Will Be Fine

You know that viral cartoon of the dog sitting in the middle of a burning room saying “This is fine”? The wildfire on the single cover of doom-folker Kane Sweeney’s “Everything Will Be Fine” evokes a similar contrast. He rages far louder on his death-metal side project OrphanWar, which also released an album this summer, but this is more of a low simmer.

Bison – What (Live)

Vermont’s greatest post-punk band (there’s more competition than you might think) didn’t last long; just a couple EPs before they went their separate ways. So a new song, debuted posthumously on a live album, is a cause for celebration. Too bad it never got a proper recording.

Eastern Mountain Time – The Arcades

The title line echoes, perhaps unintentionally, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight,” but the sound is far bleaker. Maybe if Richard and Linda Thompson had recorded “Bright Lights” for their divorce album a few years later. “I wonder if my best friend would like me now,” Sean Hood moans at the end. From the way he says it, you already know the answer.

Fever Dolls – From Dusk to Dawn

After dribbling out killer singles for over a year, art-pop collective Fever Dolls finally release a long project, the EP The Phantasm at Lake Wallenpaupack. “From Dusk to Dawn” leans a little folkier than their earlier singles, but retains the band’s typically astute sense for an earwormy hook. One other thing remains the same: A fantastic video.

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.

Good Morning Gils – Stay Afloat

Though the following song on their EP is called “September Vibe,” “Stay Afloat” evokes summer. Echoey guitars and the low level of haze settling over the track recall Surfer Blood and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. It’s the sound of hanging at the beach and bumming around with your friends. So hang onto it until next summer when those are hopefully things again.

Holly Brewer – On a Mission

If Trent Reznor ever collaborates with Ani DiFranco, it might sound like “On a Mission.”

Jewelry Company – West 71st

The band’s name is Jewelry Company and the album cover is a bunch of pills. That pairing of living the high life on the outside while being pretty torn-up on the inside echoes The Weeknd or Drake, and indeed those are two obvious touchstones on this EP. It’s hip-hop in the broadest sense, sung as often as rapped, but over lusher beats than Drake might use to the same ends.

The Lounge Wizards – No Strings Attached

“No Strings Attached” is simply a statement of fact. The instruments in question – saxophone and various forms of synth and drum programming – indeed don’t have strings. Part free-jazz exploration, part dark-’80s video game, “No Strings Attached” starts far out and only gets farther over its extended runtime.

Maple Run Band – Keep On Truckin’

In an email, Trevor Crist of Maple Run Band told me one of the 12 songs on their album was a classic country cover. “Keep On Truckin'” sounds so much like an old Waylon tune or something, I wondered if this was it. It isn’t (the answer turns out to be Roger Miller’s “Engine Engine #9”). “Keep On Truckin'” is an original, but some classic-country artist would do well to cover this.

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!”

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).

Pons – Subliminal Messages

I remember when, as a kid, I discovered the great Camper Van Beethoven song “Take the Skinheads Bowling” had lyrics that didn’t actually rhyme. It sounded like a catchy alt-rock song, only slightly off kilter, and the fact that none of the words rhymed didn’t scan as odd. This wasn’t Gil Scott-Heron, after all. Pons’ “Subliminal Messages” pulls of a similar feat, though drawing from Devo and Kraftwerk more than college rock.

Reid Parsons – Alone

“Alone” is a timelier song that 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.

Pro – DanBonics

Last year, the Dubois’ came out with an album about infants called Boobs and Poops. It’s provided several songs that have soundtracked my new fatherhood this summer (sample lyric about diaper changing: “Please hurry up ’cause my butt is shitty / And I just want to get back to that titty”). Rapper Pro’s offers a hip-hop soundtrack for parent life a few years further along.

Rough Francis – Panthers in the Night

“Panthers, in the night / Exchanging glances…” Wait, sorry. Wrong song. “Panthers in the Night” is a raging protest by Vermont’s preeminent punk band for the Black Lives Matter era. The instrumentation is credited as “Axe,” “Thunder,” and “Smash.” Sounds about right.

Ian Steinberg – Three Wishes

“Three Wishes” is a more literal title than you might expect. The song has exactly three lines of lyric, each repeated a few times. Each is a wish of a sort: “Carry on without me, it’s okay.” “I’d love to see you on a brighter day.” “Can’t these dreams be memories, and these memories dissipate.” Like that famous Hemingway six-word story (which I just learned was probably not in fact Hemingway), it says a lot with very little. The ambient guitar and electronic textures gently carry Ian Steinberg’s words along.

Rob Voland – Hush Hush

Woozy and weird, Rob Voland’s distorted debut sounds like a War on Drugs cassette that’s been copied a few too many times. Lyrics? Good luck making them out. But a song like “Hush Hush” is all about vibe, perfect for the lazy, hazy days of summer.

Western Terrestrials – Space Cowboy’s Got the Blues

Western Terrestrials has some real old-school country bonafides. On new album Back in the Saddle Again, they duet with Dean Miller (Roger’s son) and Georgette Jones (you-can-guess-who’s daughter, with Tammy Wynette). They even recorded it down in Nashville. But there’s a side story running through too: outer space. No surprise from their band name, I guess. Songs like opener “Space Cowboy’s Got the Blues” and “Ethan Alien,” which posits that every famous person in their native Vermont is an alien, make the connection clear. And, nodding to the history of the space-obsessed-country-star, they cover Billy Lee Riley’s Sun Records classic “Flying Saucers Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

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

The post The Best Vermont Songs of Summer 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.

When I saw Vermont-based guitar wizard Tom Pearo deliver a masterful album-release show recently, he made a comment about how I Am A Mountain soundtracked a movie playing in his head. Something in the way he said it made me think he had more in mind than a band’s standard promo line about how cinematic their new album is. Sure enough, Pearo has a very specific story in mind. Think a coming-of-age road journey as told by J.R.R. Tolkien (which I realize basically describes Lord of the Rings, but most of the battles in Pearo’s movie are internal).

Pearo’s minute-by-minute guide to the imagined film offers a way into the 39-minute instrumental guitar piece that comprises the bulk of the album – which, to be clear, is plenty inviting on its own, but one must acknowledge that the phrase “39-minute instrumental guitar piece” will send many running for the exits without a little hand-holding.

If this were a real script, it might start with a quick synopsis, so here’s Tom’s:

The film starts with the protagonist at home, in a comfortable setting but feeling depressed, bored and defeated. Fed up with feeling so low, they decide to take the difficult first steps to do something positive. Suddenly, they have a vision of a mountain, a mountain filled with light, and decide to leave right away and go in search of this. They start out their front door on a year-long journey that takes patience, determination, and perseverance. This journey to a mountain really represents an inner journey away from depression, anxiety and addiction toward a life full of meaning, joy, compassion and love.

Like in any movie, there’s a cast, in this case made up of the instruments (very Peter and the Wolf). The Earth is portrayed by the bass (Luke Awtry), The Wind by the strings (Shay Gestal, Danielle Hill, Eli Goldman), and The Rock by Dwayne Johnson – sorry, I mean by the drums (Dave DeCristo). Finally, the album’s Gandalf figure, The Path, is portrayed by Pearo’s guitar. The protagonist, The Traveler, is portrayed by you, the listener.

Hit play and follow the journey below with notes I’ve adapted from a lengthy email Pearo sent me. This album works wonderfully to just sit back and let wash over you, but reveals even more with engaged listening.

• 0:55 – The start of the journey, the big push to take that first step out of darkness, is represented by the major hook in the song, heard right in the first few minutes of the tune. It’s a heavy feeling and has a lot of emotion wrapped up in it. This melody really dominates the first 8-9 minutes of the song and really represents how difficult it can be at the beginning to choose to better yourself, the struggle that you go through with depression and addiction.

• 9:00 – The guitar gets very heavy where the protagonist almost turns back, bloodied by bramble bushes in the dense springtime forest, but then doubles down on their commitment and pushes forward with new determination. You can hear the dynamics of the tune drop after this point, and it’s almost as if the song starts to draw you in a little bit, and stops pushing so much. Now feelings of despair and depression are turning into feelings of determination and power.

• 11:50 – The strings take over and, instead of pushing against the listener, start to reveal their true secrets and mystery, and start to actually tell the listener where to go. At every drum break the traveler is placed at a fork in the road, unsure of which direction to take. The guitar and strings always tell him where to go.

• 13:00 – There’s a shift in tone for a moment. Musically, I start to dive into another modality that is more loving, less bluesy and aggressive. As if to say, there’s hope, keep going, you’re on the right path. This kind of climaxes at around…

• 17:00 – This beautiful slide part that just lifts you up, toward the light. This leads the listener out of the forest, through beautiful summer fields of flowers, into a desert, where they experience a powerful mirage.

• 18:00 – You can hear this mirage, everything gets washy, psychedelic and magical. Can you see it?

• Shortly thereafter – The traveler finds himself staring at the mountain for the first time physically, in the distance he can finally see it. He is lead by the wind toward a stone staircase, and start to climb. He enters the mountain thru a small cave, and it starts out dark but one by one, candles in the walls start to be seen. Looking at the candles reveals hundreds of years of wax, so much so that it almost creates the walls of the cave. By now, the music is fully sucking you into the mountain, deeper and deeper, and is promising secrets so grand that your entire body is vibrating with energy and light.

• 22:00 – The cave into the mountain gets brighter and brighter as more candles start to emerge and you can almost hear the gently vibration light rays in the music. I apply tremolo to the loop layer to give the music this feeling, this little bit of wobble that makes it sound like shimmering light. Notice here also the guitar is very faint and in the textural background, the physical path being now less important as now the traveler is fully being drawn into the heart of the mountain.

• 25:40 – Eventually, the traveler is brought to a grand opening, where the narrow, rocky, candle filled tunnel opens up into a huge, grand cavern. Inside the cavern are thousands of people, dressed in white, holding candles. They are hooded, and the traveler is drawn to them, with a feeling of “here it is, I’ve reached the end.” As he gets closer to them they start to reach for him, and he notices their hands are almost skeletal, and their eyes are sunken in and glossed over. He starts to push through the crowd but they all close in and all are grabbing at him from every direction.

• 26:00 – The intensity builds until a crack in the rock that makes up the ceiling of the cave shines a powerful ray of light down, illuminating the traveler and giving him the power to cast out the crowd of robed wearing “zombies” in an epic battle. My guitar solo plays this part and I imagined it as with every note I am playing a giant ball of light gets bigger that just disintegrates everything in it’s path. This part really is a commentary on various religions of the world with their promises of salvation and eternal life…and the idea of reaching an “end”, where the journey of a full life is really one that is endless, as our traveler will come to see.

• 28:10 – After the traveler defeats this crowd, the light from the heart of the mountain now starts to take over. The path in front of him is now becoming lost in the sheer amount of golden, glowing light that is coming from all around. As he moves forward, forward becomes harder and harder to establish, until it seems as if he is merely floating in a sea of light.

• 36:30 – The traveler realizes that there is no longer a need for a path, and the mountain is but an illusion, and at that moment, ceases to move forward, and starts to move upward, to ascend, and to really move outward, expanding beyond the earth and stretching out into the solar system and beyond.

Check out more of the best independent music from Vermont here.

The post A Guided Guitar Tour Through a Nonexistent Fantasy Film appeared first on County Tracks.

When I first heard Ben Patton and Michelle Sudarsono’s new album Our Follies, I assumed it was covers of old showtunes. I don’t follow the musical-theater world closely, so the fact that I didn’t recognize any of the titles didn’t strike me as odd. Titles like “Take Her to Hear Some Jazz” and “If They’d Had Flappers (Back in Shakespeare’s Day)” don’t exactly leap out as modern. I figured these peppy and polished songs were just slightly deeper cuts by Cole Porter or whoever  – he does have another song about Shakespeare, after all.

By this point, you’ve probably guessed that the songs on Our Follies are not by Cole Porter, or anyone else from yesteryear. 36 year-old Patton wrote them all himself. The composer showed some theatrical flair here and there on last year’s Meaning What (my favorite album of the year), but he also swam around the entire history of rock and roll there, touching on The Beatles and Beach Boys more than he did Broadway. Our Follies looks back past even those bands, sounding like songs from some 1940s musical due for its latest New York City revival.

“These songs and arrangements borrow reverently from the sounds of Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley in the first half of the last century,” he wrote on Facebook announcing the album, adding in an email that it “aspire[s] to have the flavor of a musical theater revue.” Against all odds, his compositions hold up to those lofty influences. If you haven’t seen Kiss Me Kate or Anything Goes recently, it’s no stretch to imagine these songs slotting right in.

The performances, too, hold up to a classic-showtunes-soundtrack standard. Like an unknown actress getting her star-making turn, Sudarsono steals the show with winsome and sprightly vocals that spar with Ben’s – or with her own, as on the vocal-looped “Three Little Sisters.” The album doesn’t skimp on production either, boasting full sections of strings, brass, and woodwinds. Even most actual Broadway musicals don’t have that many instruments anymore.

Patton’s fellow Vermonter Anaïs Mitchell recently became the toast of Broadway with Hadestown. If he were to string these songs together with some plot  – he does say he has an entirely separate unstaged musical sitting around –  he could be next.

Click here to hear the best recent jazz music from the state of Vermont.

The post This Vermont Composer Writes The Songs Cole Porter Might Have If He’d Been Around in 2019 appeared first on County Tracks.

Adam Rabin – The Other Room

You’re going to want to sing along to “The Other Room” after a listen or two – but I wouldn’t. The sketches of plot offered sound like a sci-fi family dystopia, a Black Mirror episode for children.

The Cheyenne Brando – Samsonite

So thoroughly does Endtime Hymns evoke certain bands that one begins looking for echoes everywhere. Is the title “My Jean Sebring” a nod to David Bowie’s “Jean Genie”? Does “Poisonhead” reference ABC’s “Poison Arrow”? Was “Privacy of Lucy” inspired by The Cure’s “Pictures of You”? Each connection a greater stretch than the last, and likely none intentional. Christian Hahn does explicitly cite the heyday of post-punk and new-wave in his bio though, and, sonically, the comparisons are everywhere. His next song might as well be titled “Bizarre Love Triangle Will Tear Us Apart.”

Eric George – Where I Start

Eric George’s Bandcamp bio describes him as “one of the most prolific folk musicians of the Northeast music scene,” which seems an understatement. Where I Start will be his fourth full-length album in the last 18 months. And this isn’t some vaporwave synth stuff that can be cranked out in an afternoon; George is a singer-songwriter of the old school, channelling Woody Guthrie (when he’s not detouring into channeling Black Flag). While you wait for the full album to drop next month – and probably his next album a few months later – check out a new EP he curated with five killer New England songwriters collaborating, Singles Weekend Vol. 1.

Expected Guest – Here To Stay, Pt. 1

I first stumbled upon Logan Patnaude’s music a couple years ago with a beautiful EP released under the name Dawnlander. It alternated vocal sections with long stretches of ambient guitar noise. With his new project Expected Guest, Patnaude ditches the vocal parts and goes all in on the ambient guitar. It’s also entirely improvised – but don’t confuse that for boring or uninspired. Upon Arrival meanders in the best way, layered with drones and field recordings to create a small sonic world. As with a lot of this sort of music, it’s difficult to say “this one is the best song.” So I just embedded the opening track, the first step in a walk meant to be taken in its entirety.

Francesca Blanchard – Baby

Like Justin Vernon before her, folk singer Francesca Blanchard puts down the acoustic guitar for a more ethereal pop sound on new single “Baby.” Though, as a live video from last year shows, the song works pretty well on acoustic guitar too.

Learic & Es-K – B.P.

Thought Instruments is rapper Learic’s second album of the year, and something tells us it won’t be the last. Vermont alt-weekly Seven Days called him one of the most prolific musicians in the state…way back in 2014! He hasn’t slowed down since, teaming up with producer Es-K for his latest. As he puts it on the lead single “B.P.,” “I was made to take in all the words I’ve observed so I could write the dopest verse you’ve ever heard.”

Marcie Hernandez – Light a Torch

Singer-songwriter Marcie Hernandez has been quietly putting demoes on Soundcloud the past couple years, and from the sound of her latest, it’s past time to put out a proper record. This music-therapist-by-day channels her Puerto Rican heritage for a beautiful bi-lingual ballad with violin and box drum. She quotes the inscription on the Statue of Liberty for a pointed political message.

Matthew Saraca & John Townsend – Don’t Listen to Your Heart

Is “Don’t Listen to Your Heart” an answer song to Tom Petty? Presumably not, though I do like the idea of someone trying to start beef 41 years later. At any rate, Petty-wise the sound here leans more Wallflowers than You’re Gonna Get It!: lovely Americana, with harmonies by Mary Patterson and the best use of a wood block I’ve heard in some time.

Moxie Shotgun – Fresh Shave

One of Weezer’s greatest songs is their ode to baby bands “In the Garage.” Thing is, though, their recording doesn’t sound remotely like it was done in a garage. It was produced by Ric Ocasek, for god’s sake! If Weezer had been an actual garage band, they would have sounded like Moxie Shotgun.

Peter Neri – The Sad, Sad Demise of the Underwood 5

I don’t think I’ve ever heard a typewriter used as a song’s percussion before, but it works perfectly on this number from Peter Neri’s instrumental guitar album. A finger-picker in the John Fahey vein, Neri crafts short snatches of melody – no multi-part suites or extended excursions for him, a rarity in the solo-guitar world – into songs that rarely top three minutes.

The Red Newts – This Ain’t No Love Song

Gotta love a band that shouts out Michael Hurley in their bio. The Red Newts do have a bit of that old-weird-Americana in their DNA, though packaged in a more accessible package of country-rock.

Ruth Garbus – Strash

Ruth Garbus’ songs are hard to pin down. Her bio describes them as “folk-rock” which is as good as anything I guess, but “Strash” sounds like Paul Simon as produced by Aphex Twin. Björk flickers in and out, as does some of the freak-world-music sonics of her sister Merrill (of Tune-Yards). Hell, one of the synth sounds reminds me of a Blue Man Group CD I had as a kit. A lot to fit into one song, and it offers a lot to unpack and a new surprise on each listen.

Sad Turtle – He Is Risen and Appears on Toast

The song titles on Sad Turtle’s 2016 debut were all Seinfeld references (“The Marble Rye,” “Feats Of Strength,” etc). But unlike rapper Wale’s viral The Mixtape About Nothing the year prior, the songs weren’t explicitly about Seinfeld. They weren’t explicitly about anything, in fact – that’s what happens when you’re an entirely instrumental band. But don’t think ambient or background music when I say “instrumental”; even without words, Sad Turtle demands attention. Their freewheeling but intricate constructions pull from those hyphenated rock genres like math- to post-. Though if they existed before the electrical guitar, one can easily imagine them slotting in as classical composers pushing the limits of the orchestra. Luckily, rock makes more accommodations for titles like “He Is Risen and Appears on Toast.”

Viu ft. Fauna – Glow

When I stumbled upon Viu’s first single in February, I couldn’t figure out who the hell it was. Thankfully, by single number two, there’s a bit more info. Viu is Aidan Warren, a longtime producer who in addition to releasing music is making beats for other singers and rappers. Now to figure out who Fauna is…

99 Neighbors – Fake Pods

On Monday, Warner Records and Chance the Rapper’s manager announced they’d signed hop-hop collective 99 Neighbors. A day later, they released their first song on the new label. Zane Lowe premiered it on his Beats 1 radio show yesterday morning – one day on the label and they’re already hitting the big time!

Check out the Best Vermont Songs of 2018 here.

The post The Best New Songs of July 2019 appeared first on County Tracks.