Slipped Discs
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Anni Rossi - Rockwell
Anni RossiRockwell
Label: 4AD
Twittering lyrics flutter past brittle riddles and pickled patty-cake pizzicato. Rossi’s enchanting ellipses are modern, quaint, hermetic and open-hearted. Her oblique chamber-folk rocks as her twisted art-pop talks, poems restlessly squirming in well-scored precision. Spiraling violas, cymbal-less rhythms, melodies touched by vocal yodeling – “Rockwell,” covers strange terrain visiting scenic vistas, cozy burrows and paisley meadows.
• Anni Rossi Website • Anni Rossi WikiWolff - The Brass Ceiling
WolffThe Brass Ceiling
Label: Wolff and Tuba
Tribal tuba, soupy loops and plundering drums concoct cosmic gumbo as Wolff’s two-man army churns out chugging, interstellar funk; splicing catacomb vocals to interstellar samples for uniquely alien rhythms and bombastic, monastic panache. Mind-boggling combinations result as, “Brass,” triumphantly crashes past ordinary categories for squishy, trippy robo-soul that grooves to subterranean funk.
• Wolff WebsiteOther Lives - Other Lives
Other LivesOther Lives
Label: TBD
A debut filled with good-byes, the sweet melancholy of Other Lives employ sympathetic strings, poignant piano and spiraling guitars to convey their sad regrets. Sumptuous chamber-pop filled with somber, soaring sentiments, “Other Lives,” waltzes through windswept parables, humble testaments to restless affections, bitter lessons dressed in fond memories, effervescent empathy and hopeful minor chords.
• Other Lives WebsitePaleface - The Show is on the Road
PalefaceThe Show is on the Road
Label: Ramseur Records
Honky tonk honesty fuels train-yard yarns turning contemporary issues into dustbowl hobo narratives; Paleface’s earth-bound wisdom croons rollicking acoustic tunes, weaving a deeper, understated understanding from everyday aggravations. “Road,” rolls with the punches, unfolding stolen moments over bare-boned anecdotes, uplifting skiffle and friendly encouragement; heartache and hindsight blending into folksy hopefulness.
• Paleface WebsiteJosh Mease - Wilderness
Josh MeaseWilderness
Label: Frog Stand Records
Electrified daydreams wrapped around soft-spoken thoughts, “Wilderness,” cozies up and captivates - surreal serenades in snappy packaging, simmering bedroom symphonies floating atop boppy Bacharach ballads. Vaguely hazy porch swing parables, gently whispered waltzes and placid rhapsodies inhabit Mease’s multi-tracking mind, steeped in sleepy choirs and graced with tasteful tangents, basking accents and intelligent design.
• Josh Mease WebsiteLhasa de Sela - Lhasa
Lhasa de SelaLhasa
Label: Nettwerk records
Acoustic tapestries grace a tranquil, confiding voice; mid-tempo meditations, slow-moving harvest songs and phantom shanty waltzes float over fluttering melancholy. Lhasa’s beating dreams, reasonable realism and twilight candor snakes in a long, winding fuse igniting folk-blues blossoms among withering prophecies. In her first all-English album, the globe-trotting artist quietly embellishes clear-eyed feelings into beautifully serious poetry.
• Lhasa de Sela Website • Lhasa de Sela WikiArms and Sleepers - Matador
Arms and SleepersMatador
Label: Fake Chapter Records
Birthing slow explosions alongside quibbling rhythms, A&S’s baroque kaleidoscopes spin tingling kinderpop into oceanic ambience, drawing patient cadence from slippery whisperings. Electro-acoustic druids from New England, A&S concoct eerie folk electronica reveling in liberating minimalism. A fluid fog of quietly classical trip-hop chamber-rock, “Matador,” surpasses the passive to float over edgy, enigmatic elegance.
• Arms and Sleepers WebsiteMittens On Strings - Let’s Go To Baba’s
Mittens On StringsLet’s Go To Baba’s
Label: Soungs Records
A veritable garden of quirky curiosities, existential wit and literate kismet, “Baba’s,” boasts both gray, no wave guitar psychedelia harvesting lofty, alt-Goth waltzes and banjo, cello and mandolin spiking pastoral, prog-rock rodeos. MoS’s smirking, earnest grandeur merges into democratic genre-jumping offering sentimental laments and mocking double-talk, deadpan stanzas and granola-soaked anecdotes.
• Mittens On Strings WebsiteBlunt Mechanic - World Record
Blunt MechanicWorld Record
Label: Barsuk
Pearls wrapped in raucous romps and splintered soliloquies, Kind of Like Spitting’s Ben Barnett’s perceptive meta-conscious songs blast, slash and busk, plucking ragged realizations from personal observations and dressing them in lo-fi riffs and full-blown garage band trips. “World,” swirls; brandishing guile while collapsing from overloaded amps, slacker-crashing gallops and jagged, electric, alt-folk journalism.
• Blunt Mechanic WebsiteThe Innocence Mission - My Room in the Trees
The Innocence MissionMy Room in the Trees
Label: Badman Recordings
Sweetly sleepy poetry acquiesces beautiful folk-jazz acoustics; nuanced and modestly confidence, embroidered tapestries cushion TIM’s passively happy and quietly kind observations. Graceful descriptions waft between quaint restraint and captivating compassion. Tentative and demure, “Room,” provides tranquil relief through wide-eyed wonder languishing within waking piano, whispery strings and dreamy guitars.
• The Innocence Mission Website • The Innocence Mission Facebook • The Innocence Mission WikiFences - Fences
FencesFences
Label: Onto Entertainment (ADA)
Bedroom pop wallpapered in weathered regrets and street-fed wisdom, “Fences,” packages unsorted feelings into restless resolution, nimble pickin’ and waltzing melodies whose casual insight and gifted riffs bolster roller-coaster emotions through stoic brokered perspective. Personable and persuasive, Fences’ jaunty melancholy and placid happiness nestle together befriended by quietly spry lyrics, sly hooks and humble brilliance.
• Fences Website • Fences FacebookThe Young Scamels - Tempest
The Young ScamelsTempest
Label: File 13
Music composed for the Shakespeare play; “Tempest,” dispenses magical moods, funneling modest solace and worldly wonder into eloquent sentiments. Songs, soliloquies and spell-binding post-rock hover over swarming strings, quizzical cymbals and twittering marimbas as wordless pursuits cavort and consort around ectoplasmic incantations. Lending a gentle tenderness, TYS’s spirited instrumentals devise, confide and mesmerize.
• The Young Scamels Website • The Young Scamels FacebookView More
Viewing Page 2 - of 6