Blues & Roots

GIMME 5! || Scott Davis (Virginia Trance) Shares 5 Records To Listen To in 2021

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Psych, Uncategorized / 1 Comment

With Gimme 5! we take a peek into the collections of artists we admire. The premise is simple: artists WE like, share 5 records THEY love.

We are absolutely thrilled to present this week’s curator of Gimme 5!: Scott Davis. Scott is the main man behind Virginia Trance, who released Vincent’s Playlist last year – Niek’s favorite indiepop record of 2020. Scott also played in the psychelic rock band Psychic Ill’s. In his list, Scott challenges us to wander off the beaten path, and discusses the importance of an eclectic listening experience – which we love, and probably should do more often.

Click below to read and listen. Scott added short explanations for each pick. He even throws in his top 5 Lou Reed albums for good measure. We added YT video’s and Discogs links so you can add these records to your wantlist. Thanks a lot Scott!

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New single: The 40 Acre Mule || Dear Jen

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Times like these, you need a drinkin’ song. That thought of the guys from The 40 Acre Mule led to the new (digital) track Dear Jen – out now through State Fair Records. It’s all there: a first line like ‘She was drunk when she said it’, the mighty voice of J. Isaiah Evans, the howling baritone sax of Chris Evetts, and the concentrated looks of the other band members, filmed in the appropriate environment from Bar & Grill Lakewood Landing. Unfortunately without an audience, while you should actually see this roots rock & roll 5-piece from Dallas, Texas live, which is not possible at the moment. Times like these, you need a drinkin’ song.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Bingo Trappers || Giddy Wishes

By / / Blues & Roots, Psych / Leave a Comment

In 1995 Waldemar Noë visited Wim Elzinga to record a few songs at his home, the start of Bingo Trappers. Now, 25 years later, the Dutch lo-fi band still works that way. They make 60’s/70’s-influenced psychedelic garage pop with a twang. Old-fashioned craftsmanship. Their new album Giddy Wishes, follow up to Elizabethan (2018), offers ten new melancholic tunes that bring a little light to these dark days. Most of the songs are a bit more subdued than before, but the singer’s ‘Whoo!’ exclamation halfway through the stand-out track What’s the score (listen below) shows the enthusiasm that the band still has. The album title refers to an old-fashioned postcard: ‘Some giddy wishes from a confined place – mind and heart are free to travel from A to B.’ Just what we need right now.

Add to wantlist: Almost Halloween Time || Grapefruit || Morc Records  (Bandcamp) || Morc Records (website) || Unread

New song: Daniel Young || The World Ain’t Gonna Wait

By / / Blues & Roots / 1 Comment

American singer-songwriter / guitarist / drummer / sound engineer / producer Daniel Young knows how to capture the Zeitgeist in this new song. ‘We’re all locked up in our homes, trying to figure out just where to start’, he sings with a country sob in his powerful voice, assisted by Tyler Lambourne (bass), Ryan Tanner (piano), Marcus Bently (backup vocals), Andy Joy Chase (hand claps, yeah!), Sadler Vaden (guitar) and Trevor Nealon (B3 organ). A beautiful song, but also an important one, because ‘The world ain’t gonna wait for us, wondering what we did with our lives’.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Music Year-End List || Dennis’ Favorite Albums of 2020

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych, Punk / 8 Comments

OK, let’s start with the obligatory cliché intro text. The only good thing about 2020 was that by being at home more often you could listen to even more music and for those who want to hear it, enough good music has been made. Since January I have checked out 1,100+ new albums. Sometimes after half a minute I knew it wasn’t for me, sometimes I just couldn’t get enough. No doubt I missed a few things that I should not have missed, but right now this is what it is. And it doesn’t really matter either. Music lists are by definition debatable, because they say something about taste and taste is personal. What follows does not really say anything about quality, but simply reflects what I have played and enjoyed the most. In my list guitars and distinctive voices predominate, it’s mostly rock orientated (alternative, garage, jangle, roots, post-punk, …) plus a little bit of soul, with both debuting bands and old rockers with renewed energy who could have been their grandfather. It turns out that 2020 was not that bad at all!

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New album: The Dirty Knobs || Wreckless Abandon

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The Dirty Knobs has long been a side project of guitarist / songwriter / producer Mike Campbell (The Heartbreakers), fellow guitar player Jason Sinay, bassist Lance Morrison and drummer Matt Laug. Every now and then they played together, and finally there is an album now: Wreckless Abandon. The title track below gives an idea of what to expect: American, old-fashioned, familiar-sounding, quality rock and roll. How great that such music is still being made. 

‘Throwing caution to the wind // Going over the edge again // With wreckless abandon’

Add to wantlist: Discogs 

New album: The Parson Red Heads || Lifetime of Comedy

By / / Blues & Roots, Jangle Pop / Leave a Comment

It was worth the wait, The Parson Red Heads are back with a new LP. As they put it themselves: ‘An album full of dreams, self-reflection, and weary yearning (…) beautiful vocal melodies and harmonies, sparkling pedal steel-driven cosmic Americana and folk rock, coupled with (…) layered synths, organs and mellotrons, songs that build and drive to chaotically beautiful peaks.’ I couldn’t have said it better. Listen to stand-out track All I Wanted below.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

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