New Music Roundup

At the beginning of the year, I quietly committed myself to trying to do a quarterly rundown of my favorite new music releases. In characteristic fashion, I screwed this up from the jump, and didn’t get to the first installment until last night because of writing deadlines and travel. Because of that, I’m including early-April releases here, too. I’m only offering the briefest of notes on each; I’ll have more to say about those that end up among my year-end favorites at, well, the end of the year. Consider comments an open forum on these or any other new releases that have caught your ear so far.

Full disclosure: A few of the artists listed here are friends of mine. I have tried not to let that twist my judgment.

I begin outside the formal list, with something I missed in 2017 – Joan Shelley’s incredible self-titled record. This album didn’t make it into my ears last year, but if it had it easily would’ve been a top-10 record. Stunning vocals and writing. Here’s her doing the lead track:

On to my favorites from January to early April — at least from what I’ve heard so far. These are not in any particular order.

H.C. McEntire — Lionheart. McEntire fronts the great North Carolina-based band Mount Moriah, and her debut solo record sounds a lot like a Mount Moriah record. And that’s just great by me.

Courtney Marie Andrews — May Your Kindness Remain. Andrews is one of the young Americana scene’s true shining stars. Incredible voice and fantastic songcraft. The titular track of this record is my favorite song of the year so far.

Cardi B — Invasion of Privacy. Cardi B’s debut record arrived with so much hype that it was almost impossible to imagine it would live up to it. It does. A banger of a rap record that finds Cardi hosting established hip-hop stars like Migos and Chance the Rapper and upstaging them all. This one’s going to be all over year-end best-ofs.

Field Report — Summertime Songs. Chris Porterfield, who fronts the Milwaukee-based alt-folk four-piece Field Report, has, for years, been one of my favorite constructors of lyrical landscapes. The new record reinforces that impression while also pushing the band in new sonic directions. It is fantastic.

Dead Horses — My Mother, the Moon.  The core of Dead Horses, another Milwaukee-based band, is singer-guitarist Sarah Vos and bassist Dan Wolff. Their new record is their second produced by Ken Coomer, formerly of Wilco, and is an excellent snapshot of their thoughtful, delicate breed of Americana.

Count This Penny — A Losing Match. Knoxville wife-husband duo Amanda and Allen Rigell, who record as Count This Penny, often get called “throwbacks,” mostly because their gorgeous writing and harmonies draw from the deep well of classic folk/Americana duos of the past. But there is also something that feels very of-this-moment in their new record, which draws hard from dark places as it churns toward a light.

Meshell Ndegeocello – Ventriloquism. Ndegeocello has long defied categorization, but has consistently been an extraordinarily compelling artist. Ventriloquism is a covers record of sorts that finds her taking on and reinterpreting some true icons of the 80’s and 90’s music scene, from TLC to Prince. Great stuff. Her read of Prince’s “Sometimes It Snows in April” is my favorite from the record.

Lucy Dacus — Historian.  This one is a critical darling, and rightly so. Dacus, a 22-year-old indie rocker, has created what’s probably the standard-bearer so far this year within the genre. Smart, incisive songwriting set against a great sonic backdrop that vacillates between the lush, the grunge, and the churning. Absolutely one of my favorites of the year so far.

S. Carey — Hundred Acres. Eau Claire, WI’s Sean Carey got his first major exposure as the drummer in Bon Iver (he still plays in the band), but he’s carved out a really unique place for himself under his own moniker. When you get into an S. Carey record, the things that almost invariably stand out the most are the lushness of the compositions, the lyrics’ deep roots in the natural world and its wonders, and the delicacy of Carey’s voice. This one doesn’t venture far from those expectations, but the formula works so well that there’s no reason it should.

Andrew Bryant — Ain’t It Like the Cosmos. Bryant is half of the band Water Liars, an Oxford/Water Valley, Mississippi-based rock duo. (Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster is the other half.) I love Water Liars (“Tolling Bells” is one of my favorite songs of the decade), and both Bryant and Kinkel-Schuster make compelling records on their own, too. This one contains a great set of songs that ruminate on fatherhood, work, and, for lack of a better term, Southernness. Water Liars, and Bryant’s and Kinkel-Schuster’s solo stuff, never gets as hard-driving as some Drive-By-Truckers does, but I think there’s stuff here that would appeal to that crowd.

Marie/Lepanto — Tenkiller. Speaking of Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster, this year the other half of Water Liars teamed up with Will Johnson (from Centro-Matic and Monsters of Folk) to form the duo Marie/Lepanto, which takes its name from the two towns of the same name in eastern Arkansas that share an I-55 road sign. (I drove past it last week and can confirm.) The record is heavily rooted in alt-folk traditions, and songwriting duties are split roughly evenly between the two. This is a great driving record.

Mary Gauthier — Rifles and Rosary Beads. The folk stalwart Gauthier gives us gut punch after gut punch here, drawing from the stories of military veterans to build an emotionally nuanced and poignant record about war, coming home, and what comes next.

Kacey Musgraves — Golden Hour. I’m not interested in dumb debates about what constitutes “real” or “authentic” country. All that I know is that Kacey Musgraves is one of many people doing country music really well right now. She is a tremendously smart writer and a great vocalist. This new record is just as good as her first two major-label releases — and that’s saying something.

Frank Lee and Allie Burbrink — Roll On, Clouds. Fans of clawhammer banjo and old-time bluegrass will probably be familiar with Frank Lee — whether the things he’s done under his own name or with his band, The Freight Hoppers. On this new record, he and Allie Burbrink collaborate for some lovely duets that will make for some great front porch listening come summertime.

A few others that I’ve liked but not totally fallen for (yet): Wye Oak — The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs; Superchuck — What a Time to Be Alive; Yo La Tengo — There’s a Riot Going On; I’m With Her — See You Around.

Finally, here are four records that aren’t out yet but that I’m really looking forward to.

1. Erin Rae, Putting On Airs. I’ve heard the whole record (Erin’s manager is a friend), and it’s absolutely fantastic. Going to be high — very high — on my year-end list, I expect. Out June 1.

2. John Prine‘s new album, The Tree of Forgiveness, comes out this Friday. I’ll be in New York for the release show at Radio City. Can’t wait. NPR is previewing the album in full here.

3. Kamasi Washington‘s sprawling jazz masterpiece The Epic was my favorite record of 2015. He released an EP last year and is back this year with a new double-LP. You can preview two tracks here via The Fader. Out June 22.

4. Buffalo Gospel‘s On the First Bell comes out next month. We Can Be Horses, the Milwaukee alt-country outfit’s last record, is one of my favorite Midwestern albums of the past decade. Looking forward to this one, too. Keep an eye on their social media for further album info. Meanwhile, they put out a little EP late in 2015 that features this song that I adore. Out May 4.