A little late with this, the second part of the top singles from albums dropped in the past week. Check out Volume One. Straight out of Nashville, the popular 30-year-old Americana folk songwriter/singer and musician, Justin Townes Earle, released his fifth album, Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now, this past week, and also appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman.
The title track is a terrific example of why Earle, in recent years, has achieved the amount of critical acclaim and recognition he has as a songwriter, and clearly accomplished such in his own right, and not on the coat tails of his father Steve Earle, a famous, Grammy-award winning country singer, activist and actor. In 2008, the younger Earle received an Americana Music Award for Emerging Artist of the Year, as well as a 2009 nomination for Album of the Year (Midnight at the Movies), as well as a nomination for Artist of the Year. In 2011, Earle received the Song of the Year from the Americana Music Award for his superb track, “Harlem River Blues.”
“Nothing’s” heart-breaking lyrics about the complexities and pain of love fit perfectly with subtle infusions of slide steel guitar and fiddle, and even a horn section, set against a 1, 2 thumping of a stand-up bass and a light drum beat that give the song its catchy rhythm . Earle’s soothing, melodic vocals emit a sense of comfort despite the discomforting lyrics (“but I never loved you…”) – it’s a marvelous track that’s one of the best folk/country rock songs we’ve heard so far this year.
Don’t be surprised if you find yourself playing this track again and again. The same can be said for other gems on Earle’s newest album, including “Am I That Lonely Tonight?”, “Look the Other Way” and the more uptempo track, “Memphis in The Rain.”
The online reviews of NGCTWYFAMN, from blogs like Pitchfork, and magazines, like Rolling Stone, are unanimously thumbs up – way up, and we could not agree more. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised to see some more awards and nominations. Although he was born in Nashville, and still considers it his home base, Earle lives in New York‘s East Village.
“Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now” – Justin Townes Earle from Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now on Bloodshot Records
Bands on the Radar: Tyburn Saints and Way Yes
The new track, “Broken Bottles,” was our first introduction to the indie rock DIY band, Tyburn Saints, and we immediately sought to hear more from their self-released EP, You and I in Heaven.
The band, creates cinematic soundscapes of surf rock and post punk with a haunting, early 80’s-style detached sound simliar to The Cure, U2, Psychedelic Furs and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
Stay tuned; we’ll be doing a more extensive profile of the band in the coming weeks with more songs to present as well.
The first track available from their EP is the rocking track, “Broken Bottles.” Other folks say the band’s sound is closer to “indie death rock.” The band have shared the stage The Duke and the King, D Generation, The Chameleons Vox, and also played the NXNE Festival in Toronto.
Listen to more of this awesome new band’s songs via the Tyburn Saints Bandcamp and via their MySpace page. In addition to the newer “Broken Bottles,” we’ve included one of the top tracks – “Gone Astray” – from the band’s 2011 debut album.
“Broken Bottles” – Tyburn Saints from You and I in Heaven (self-released)
Back Track: “You’ve Gone Stray” – Tyburn Saints from For The Benefit of Strangers (2011)
Another cool ‘discovery’ in the past week is the Columbus, Ohio band Way Yes, that we probably would have never been turned on to if it wasn’t for the single below, “Important.” Their debut album, Walkability, features five tracks as well as a remix of each original track. Amazon incorrectly has the release date as June 19th, which must be a typo. We also included their first official single.
“Important” – Way Yes from Walkability EP on Lefse Records
Back Track: “Automail” – Way Yes from the double single, Oranjudio, released October 18, 2012.
Los Angeles Band, RACES, Drop Frenchkiss Debut
In the age of Google, when you need to add “the band” to a search query in a quest for enlightenment, it’s not usually the best scenario for the so-called branding of a band. But we also like that Races doesn’t seem to care about conforming to the mainstream marketing ploys of commercial rock industry. Or do they? Early in 2011, the Los Angeles band suddenly changed their name from Black Jesus to Races, and then were signed by Frenchkiss Records in July of 2011. Of course there are questions about the name change, the origin of the original name, the actual reason for the change, and so on. Their sound is excited indie pop with textures of jam-laden psych and indie rock.
“All For You” – Races from Year of the Witch
track via ThisWheelisStillinSpin.com
Next up, is the electro dance outfit, and Sub Pop recording artist, Thee Satisfaction (what we’re going with instead of the technically correct format of THEESatisfaction), that released the debut, Awe Naturale, album this week – and which has been getting a good deal of blog and media attention as well.
“QueenS” – THEESatisfaction from awE NaturalE on Sub Pop
Double-shot: “Enchantruss” – THEESatisfaction from awE NaturalE on Sub Pop
Jangle Pop Revivalists from Finland, Cats on Fire
Another fine collective of indie pop purveyors is the Finnish band Cats on Fire. As revivalists of the jangle pop sound of the 1980s, Cats on Fire embrace the Brit pop and C-86 sound even more so in their third album out now, All Blackshirts to Me, than ever before. This is especially evident on the first single, “A Few Empty Waves,” a track oozing with sweet melodies, rhythm and The Smiths-like crooning of vocalist and guitarist Wade Ryff. The band is especially recommended for fans of The Wedding Present, The Go Betweens and Echo and the Bunnymen. With a band name like Cats on Fire, you kind of expect to get a punk or other hardcore sound, but their music is much more warm and fuzzy.
“A Few Empty Waves” – Cats on Fire from All Blackshirts to Me
Other Singles Officially Out This Week: Adam and the Amethysts, The Toure-Raichel Collective, The Tele Aviv Session & Others
This section of the Best New Releases is intended to separate the following tracks from our favorite singles from nnew releases.
Although we had never heard of Adam and the Amethysts until this week, we must admit that the band’s melodic single, “Prophecy,” from the new album, Flickering Flashlight. However, the last minute of the song, where it lifts melodies and notes from “Auld Lang Syne” and changes the words around is out of place and tacky. This could have been a great song if that part was taken out and in it’s place they just built on what they already had going. Odd. The following song from Wave Sleep Wave speaks for itself. We’ve listened to it about seven times over the past few days.
The other singles from last week’s new releases worth a listen are tracks from The Toure-Raichel Collective, The Tele Aviv Session, Sandy Bull, Lindsay Fuller, Cains & Abels, Mirel Wagner, Mairi Morrison and Alasdair Roberts.
“Prophecy” – Adam and The Amethysts from Flickering Flashlight on Kelp Records
“Hey…What?” – Wave Sleep Wave from Wave Sleep Wave
“Bamba” – The Touré-Raichel Collective from The Tel Aviv Session on Cumbancha
“Oud” – Sandy Bull from Sandy Bull and the Rhythm Ace: Live 1976 on Drag City
“Everything I Ever Had” – Lindsay Fuller from You, Anniversary on ATO Records
“Stay Home Tonight” – Cains & Abels from My Life Is Easy on Whistler Records
“The Road” – Mirel Wagner from Mirel Wagner on Friendly Fire
“Mìle Marbhphaisg air a’ Ghaol”– Mari Morrison and Alasdair Roberts from Urstan