Brandy Zdan "Secretear (Tallest Man Records)"
Well, of course, we know gender is dead, but Brandy Zdan ushers in the new future where musical genres are dead as well! As this is a forum to basically entice you to listen to an album I will just saw Brandy is a mixture of Joan Jett, Courtney Barnett, and Tony Joe White but really, none of that serves Secretear the musical justice it deserves. You want swagger? Boy oh boy, do you have it with the stomp-along “I Want Your Trouble.” You saw it here first (again): Brandy Zdan – the nbt.
Patrick Sweany "Ancient Noise (Nine Mile Records)"
Besides having a title for their music blog that made me laugh, folking.com also described “Country Loving,” a highlight tune from the new Patrick Sweany LP Ancient Noise (Nine Mile Records) as wonderfully as I’ve ever heard a song described before, calling it “a smoochy, country, piano song.” They used “smoochy”!?! That’s awesome. You know what else is awesome? This Patrick Sweany LP. It sure is “smoochy.” It’s a little bit country, a little bit soul, a little bit gospel., a little bit roots rock (and even a little bit funky!). It’s like a relic out of the past, yet it doesn’t sound like its from any specific time. Like if early ZZ Top mixed with Dusty Springfield and Syl Johnson and Nick Cave and late-era Tom Waits. How blissfully all over the place! Check out the aforementioned “Country Living.”
Sarah Louise "Deeper Woods (Thrill Jockey)"
Sarah Louise has been known for some time as a very accomplished 12-string acoustic guitar player, but on Deeper Woods (Thrill Jockey) it’s the first time that she’s chosen to also feature her own vocal stylings. Recorded in her home in North Carolina, the nature thats just outside the window can be felt (and heard) in every note of these gorgeous tunes. A little bit Appalachian, a little bit psychedelic, more than a little experimental, and often delicate and hauntingly gorgeous. Give yourself over to the beauty of Deeper Woods (but don’t go to the actual deep woods by yourself! I’ve seen plenty of episodes of Law and Order: SVU, I know what happens out there!) and check out the haunting “When Winter Turns.”
The Body "I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer (Thrill Jockey)"
Come for the title (taken from Virginia Woolf’s suicide note), but of course stay for the music. The Body’s I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer (Thrill Jockey) is at times the most terrifying thing they’ve ever released and the most beautiful. IHFAIBICAL is like Diamanda Galas–fronting the Swans, with a good measure of Earth, The Exorcist, and every one of your worst nightmares in ten songs. Like a hurricane The Body lull you into thinking the storm is over but then, sure enough, the winds return and you are trapped in a basement and it is starting to flood and it looks like the floor is covered with cockroaches with fangs that can swim (did I mention worst nightmares). Load up on the Xanax and crank “Nothing Stirs.”