Bill MacKay and Nathan Bowles "Keys (Drag City)"
From Drag City:
Bill MacKay and Nathan Bowles’ debut is well titled: keys are what they play and keys unlock things too. Their trad bonafides are balanced with inquisitive playing that adds surprise as a formal songwriting and arranging tool. Spirited 21st century folk music made of equal parts bluegrass, classical, country, gospel and improv.
The Dirtiest "Sovranista (Slovenly)"
From Slovenly Records:
Slovenly is extra pumped to present this platter from Tuscan punk rock paesanos the DIRTIEST. Label founder Peter Menchetti is Italian (from New York, which has so much Italian blood it may as well be the 21st region of Italy!) and while it’s not the first album we release from the old country, the DIRTIEST are the first to do it in Italiano, and you know the saying — they do it better.
Lyrically, the DIRTIEST bounce from brilliance to bonehead and then back, showing deep disgust for the status quo in Italy, and deep love for punk rock & all their pals in the scene. Musically, they are clearly picking up where the RAMONES left the SPITS & the PIZZAS off, but not without adding some strong Italian flavor. After hearing this for the first time, PERSONAL was torn between heading for Italy with his baseball bat, and sending the band a cease & desist — but then we reminded him that Iggy & Joey never busted any PIZZAS balls…
If you’ve ever wondered what makes Italian punk rock different from punk rock from Italy, this LP will show you — side A is all in Italian, and side B is all in English. The B-side tracks are only being released on the backside of this platter, so statte zitt’ e mangia! — while it’s hot.
Eleventh Dream Day "Since Grazed (Comedy Minus One)"
From Comedy Minus One:
Where the last decade of EDD music has been defined by the work of a band honing their live roar in the studio, Since Grazed contemplates what isn’t there, and builds the songs from the bottom up, relying on long-lived friendships and trust. While Works barreled down the highway, conscious of and trying to outrace the past, Since Grazed takes the long way home, spacing out a bit, and reveling in the journey, celebrating those along for the ride. Not all have made it, but this is not a record about what is lost, it is about what is still there, however grazed it may be.
The Royal Arctic Institute "Sodium Light (Rhyme & Reason Records)"
The Royal Arctic Institute describes Sodium Light as the culmination of their process of hunkering down in their Hoboken rehearsal space over the course of the pandemic, woodshedding as a therapeutic means of reckoning with a world turned upside down.