Tommy & The Commies "Hurtin’ 4 Certain (Slovenly)"
From Slovenly Records:
Finally our most beloved Sudburians,
Under the extreme duress of these most turbulent times
Careen forth with a new four track 7inch EP
Knuckleheadedly entitled “Hurtin’ 4 Certain.”
Tommy and the Commies, lone purveyors of “Hooligan Pop”
Rock this one out with breakneck precision and attitude
Unheard since their 2018 masterpiece “Here Come…”
Meaty odes to their “One Arch Town” appear this time,
Perfectly executed and gritty, but never served raw.
Tilly & The Wall "Woo! (Team Love Records)"
From Team Love Records:
Many labels start because a record needs to be released. No one is stepping up to the plate, everyone’s too busy chasing trend and getting boringly drunk at SXSW. This was certainly the case when it came to Omaha’s Tilly & The Wall and the label Team Love. It was viewed by Team Love as a crime against pop-art and all that is good in the world for the album Wild Like Children not to be given a shot: three singers, a tap-dancer, three songwriters and songs meant to be thrust into the sky with joyous punches. Recorded in a basement by Conor Oberst, the album’s danceability and “f*ck it up” chants, it’s sorrow and punk, dress up brawling and bottled call to friendship and grab-it-off-the-shelf folk was like nothing that had ever come before. It took indie pop and kissed it on the forehead leaving a glitter smear. It stomped on hate and refused to be part of any scene that wouldn’t let every single kid in the door.
A decade flew by. Everyone, it seemed, moved to Brooklyn and grew beards. The band toured the world, made three more albums, had a hit, and then called it a day. People don’t talk about Tilly & The Wall now the way they should. This Best Of hopes, very simply, to help correct that error.
Woo! is the preamble to all of that. It’s the pre-album, the not-demos packaged in a zip-lock and sold after the show. These songs show a band in its infancy, and to every Tilly fan, this is the final sequence in the mapping of the Tilly genome.
Tangents "Risk Reap Reward (Temporary Residence)"
From Temporary Residence:
On the back of an Australian tour for their universally acclaimed New Bodies album, and following studio sessions for their forthcoming new album (due September 2020), Tangents dropped into Melbourne’s RRR radio station on a sunny Saturday afternoon for a live on-air session.
With the radio live room unavailable that day, the quintet jammed themselves into the studio room and sprawled their kit across the limited desk space: Peter Hollo’s cello bow poking Adrian Lim-Klumpes in the eye, who in turn bashed at a MIDI piano while pinned against Sia Ahmad and her guitar. A mono mic was loosely poised over Evan Dorrian’s cut-down tabletop kit, cymbals and a snare strewn over available desk space, as Ollie Bown lurked in the only remaining corner of the room, hunched over a laptop with lid half open, trying his best to control the headphone mix whilst triggering clips. Presenter John Bailey cued the band and ducked for cover.
Over 20-some minutes a spontaneous new concoction emerged, its unexpected clashes of timbre and rhythm tangential enough to warrant an official release into the Tangents discography, one that also marks founding member Sia Ahmad’s last recorded session with the group.
Chris Stamey "A Brand New Shade Of Blue (Omnivore)"
From Omnivore Records:
This set follows Stamey’s 2019 release New Songs For The 20th Century, Vols. 1 & 2. Of that album, Downbeat noted: “Musicians from Rod Stewart to Bob Dylan have turned to the Great American Songbook to revive their creative juices. But Chris Stamey has taken a different approach. Instead of singing other people’s compositions, he’s… written a raft of new ones that are akin to material for a 1958 recording session by Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald.” Americana Highways opined: “This is a prodigious project that asks for real attention. Fortunately, the gift of this music pays off in timeless beauty and unlimited inspiration. It’s like the past has been reinvigorated by the present, with nothing lost and everything gained.”