Country & Folk

Dusted || The 10 Best Cover Songs Of January 2023

By / / Alternative Rock, Country & Folk, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

Not all new music is really new, as many artists cover songs. Sometimes these are songs by their favorite artists, eg as a tribute to such a musical hero for a special reason, or they simply feel that a song deserves to be dusted and polished to reacquaint fans with great songs from the past. Other times, bands cover songs as a parody. Regardless of intent, some of those cover versions are so good or so much fun, we’d like to put a spotlight on them. Chosen from a wide range, here are – in random order – ten of our favorite covers from last month – links to the pages where you can add them to your wantlist included.

In January we heard new cover albums from Ryan Adams (Springsteen’s Nebraska), Kepi Ghoulie (new wave on Full Moon Fever), Teresa James & The Rhythm Tramps (Beatles classics with soul: With a Little Help from Her Friends), but also many more successful reinterpretations. The next ones enchanted us the most.

Baby Please Don’t Go || Cover: Lola Lola || Original: Traditional
The theme is probably several hundred years old, but Big Joe Williams (1935), Muddy Waters (1953) and Them (1964) popularized it, and still Baby, Please Don’t Go is widely covered in all possible genres. This month a nice cowpunk version of Dash Rip Rock came out, but this exotic popcorn banger from Portuguese R&B outfit Lola Lola is even more exciting – they ensure that the classic remains a hit on the dance floor in 2023. Out now digitally and on vinyl 7″ through Chaputa! Records.

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New album: Turn Turn Turn || New Rays From An Old Sun

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The Byrds already knew it in 1965: “To everything (turn, turn, turn) // There is a season (turn, turn, turn) // And a time to every purpose, under heaven.” It was inevitable that a band would derive its moniker from that, especially if its members bonded over a mutual love of close harmony 60s and 70s country, folk and pop. That goes for Adam Levy (guitar, vocals), Savannah Smith (guitar, vocals) and Barb Brynstad (bass, vocals), veterans of the Minnesota music scene. The influences of Turn Turn Turn are clear, but the eleven new songs on their sophomore album are original, fresh and contemporary – this interpretation cannot be put into words more beautiful than its title New Rays From An Old Sun. This is swinging and uplifting Americana that embraces you with warmth. Perhaps musicians in the future will find inspiration on this LP: “Don’t run for cover everyone has got to learn // You’re lost and you misread the signs // You’re a stranger in a strange land // At the strangest time” (from opening track Stranger in a Strange Land).



New Rays From An Old Sun is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP via Simon Recordings.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Glyders || Maria’s Hunt

By / / Alternative Rock, Country & Folk, Psych / Leave a Comment

The cover art doesn’t give much away what to expect, but Glyders are a Chicago-based trio that turn up the heat with their neo-psychedelic Americana peppered with T. Rex influences. Their full-length debut LP Maria’s Hunt contains ten atmospheric songs, dreamy and mysterious – recorded analogue at home, classic quality. Josh Condon (vocals, guitar), Eliza Weber (bass) Joe Seger (drums) have created a wonderful album full of colorful music that could be the soundtrack of a road movie through the desert.

Maria’s Hunt is out now digitally, on cassette and vinyl LP through Country Thyme/Drag City Records. You can listen to the full album via Soundcloud and the streaming services. RILY The Stands’ All Years Leaving and The Wheels’ The Year Of The Monkey.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Drag City

New album: Half Deaf Clatch || Feels Like Home

By / / Blues & Roots, Country & Folk / 1 Comment

Half Deaf Clatch aka Andrew McLatchie is a UK-based musician with an acoustic guitar and a voice of coarse sandpaper, which he knows how to use for optimal impact. On his latest album Feels Like Home – we’ve lost count of how much music he has released up to now – you’ll hear eight intimate country blues tracks in which the gritty vocals cut through the marrow and bone. This is beautiful music that captivates you – you can’t help but listen very quietly for 46 minutes and only then take a breath again.

Feels Like Home is out now digitally and on CD through Speak Up Recordings.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Dusted || The 10 Best Cover Songs Of December 2022

By / / Country & Folk, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

Not all new music is really new, as many artists cover songs. Sometimes these are songs by their favorite artists, eg as a tribute to such a musical hero for a special reason, or they simply feel that a song deserves to be dusted and polished to reacquaint fans with great songs from the past. Other times, bands cover songs as a parody. Regardless of intent, some of those cover versions are so good or so much fun, we’d like to put a spotlight on them. Chosen from a wide range, here are – in random order – ten of our favorite covers from last month – links to the pages where you can add them to your wantlist included.

One last look back at 2022 before we move on to all the new stuff 2023 has to offer. December saw the release of Wicked Opossum Records’ Starstruck compilation (a tribute to The Kinks), Lee Baggett made his Lagniappe Sessions from last September officially available (Def Leppard, English Beat, Van Halen), and Dave Grohl & Greg Kurstin held their third annual Hanukkah Sessions (Randy Newman, Rush, Janis Ian and more) but apart from countless Christmas songs it was fairly quiet in the cover area. Still, we effortlessly found a dozen great ones.

Season of the Witch || Cover: The William Loveday Intention || Original: Donovan
Wild Billy Childish is unstoppable, and here’s the next single, out today on Spinout Nuggets. Side B In Full Eclipse is a father/son co-write where the former had some crazy words to which the latter linked a crazy tune. The A-side is an intense new version of a song from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan’s 3rd studio album Sunshine Superman (1966), with Dave Tattersall on lead guitar.

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Music Year-End List || Dennis’ Favorite Singles and EPs of 2022

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Country & Folk, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych, Punk / 3 Comments

We previously shared our lists of favorite albums – here‘s Niek’s and there‘s mine – but there were also some shorter format releases that I noted as wantlist worthy. Below you can listen to the Top 50 singles and EPs that I enjoyed the most last year – quite an eclectic selection, but imho all pretty cool. I’ve excluded releases with songs that also appear on my AOTY overview, and also left out individual songs. Links point to Discogs or Bandcamp (the headings), and to previously posted reviews (in the body text) – add to your wantlist (or collection) what you like!

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Music Year-End List || Dennis’ Favorite Albums of 2022

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Country & Folk, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych, Punk, Surf Music / 3 Comments

What to say about 2022? It was a year when the world emerged from a pandemic, only to be quickly knocked down again by other crises. Inevitably, it also affected music: an explosive cocktail of hope and fear, of light and dark, of anger and newfound party spirit. Either way, there were plenty of comforting and entertaining tunes to discover (I mainly searched the crates with indie rock, power pop, garage rock, jangle pop, country, and soul).

I checked out 2,400+ new albums – sometimes moving on to the next one after a few minutes, sometimes all songs on repeat – adding 135 of them to my longlist of wantlist-worthy releases. The Top 50 that emerged after long deliberation, is independent of sales figures, number of streams, expert reviews, or snobbish pretensions. It is simply a matter of what I liked and played the most – records that made 2022 more than worthwhile despite everything. Looking at the result, my choices are more folky and mature and less garagy and raucous than I expected beforehand – getting older daddy? – but with a relatively large number of debuting artists and only a handful of veterans.

So here’s my year-end list (you can also find most of it in a playlist on Spotify). Links point to Discogs or Bandcamp (the headings), and to previously posted reviews (in the body text) – add to your wantlist (or better: your collection) what you like!

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New album: Sean Keel || A Dry Scary Blue

By / / Country & Folk / 1 Comment

“It doesn’t get much more beautiful than this. The poetic, tear-jerking lyrics in combination with the distinctive, emotion-charged vocals and the spare folky arrangements hit me hard. Fragile and powerful at the same time.” That’s what I wrote a few months ago after hearing Corn Palace, a single by Austin-based math professor and singer-songwriter Sean Keel. It was the prelude to his official debut album A Dry Scary Blue, which is out now and for which the same words apply. The LP contains ten raw but intimate songs that demand and deserve your attention. This is a truly magnificent, unique and timeless record.

A Dry Scary Blue, produced by Gabriel Rhodes, is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through Icons Creating Evil Art. Highly recommended, especially for fans of Townes van Zandt, Tom Waits, Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Icons Creating Evil Art

Dusted || The 10 Best Cover Songs Of November 2022

By / / Alternative Rock, Country & Folk, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Power Pop, Punk / Leave a Comment

Not all new music is really new, as many artists cover songs. Sometimes these are songs by their favorite artists, eg as a tribute to such a musical hero for a special reason, or they simply feel that a song deserves to be dusted and polished to reacquaint fans with great songs from the past. Other times, bands cover songs as a parody. Regardless of intent, some of those cover versions are so good or so much fun, we’d like to put a spotlight on them. Chosen from a wide range, here are – in random order – ten of our favorite covers from last month – links to the pages where you can add them to your wantlist included.

In November, a bizarre number of new cover releases saw the light of day, including tributes to Billy Joe Shaver, Pavement and Jack Terricloth by various artists, Seth Avett singing Greg Brown, also William Fitzsimmons doing his whisper rock thing, Phil Wolff honoring Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen interpreting soul music. We listed about 40 covers that would be worth sharing (apart from the countless alternative versions of Christmas classics; if you had to listen to one, choose Drummer Boy by Titus Andronicus adapted from Billy Joel’s Piano Man, or Vista Blue’s We Practiced All Year Long including a cover of a Kmart ad from 1979). Here are the 10 covers – X-mas free – we liked the most.

Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again || Cover: Dune Rats & Friends || Original: The Angels
Now this is fun in every way. For triple j’s Like A Version feature, Australian garage punk trio Dune Rats cover Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again, from the self-titled debut LP (1977) by their compatriots The Angels. To add to the party, they are joined by their friends Ruby Fields, Jackson Van Issue (Beddy Rays), Anna Ryan (Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers) and Kelly Jansch (TOTTY), as well as The Angels’ Brewster brothers themselves. Nice to see how they are all enjoying themselves, and so are we. If you want to hear more from this band: their most recent album Real Rare Whale is just as entertaining.

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