Browsing Category Tracks

Trummors – “Late Arriver”

by on ·Bits & Pieces, Tracks

If, after the last slip out of the Trummors camp, you still needed some inspiration to get this on your watchlist, the band cinches the necessity with “Late Arriver.” The second single off of the album is combed back further in a honeyed twang, playing up the country comfort of the duo’s latest album. Harmonies entwine from Anne and David, giving this a nod to Richard and Linda Thompson if they’d been collaborating heavily with New Riders at any point in their career. The strums are wide and winding on this one and the pedal steel is tinged with sunset colors that paint the desert surroundings in which they find themselves ensconced. The record is out August 21st from Ernest Jenning Record Co.


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Naked Roommate – “Mad Love”

by on ·Bits & Pieces, Tracks

The exciting news of the new single from Naked Roommate is balanced by the equally sad news that it’s officially over for The World. The beloved Oakland post-punk outfit only had a handful of records, but they lit a disjointed fire on each one. The band’s Amber Sermeńo & Andy Jordan carry on the torch, but strip things back further than the sax-scratched sounds of The World. Alongside mems of Bad Bad, Preening, and Blues Lawyer, the pair embrace a skeletal beat that recalls ESG, C.O.C.O., or the disjointed funk of Lizzy Mercier Descloux. “Mad Love” bubbles in on beats inflated with recycled air, a loping bass and rubberized ripples of guitar. Ringlets of synth dart across the room with laser-guided glee and the whole song is held fast by the icy delivery of Sermeńo, who’s giving this a delightfully more lived-in approach than on The World’s output. The record’s a joint venture between Trouble in Mind in the US and Upset The Rhythm in the UK. The record is out September 4th and notably, the band & the labels will be donating any proceeds from the sale of the digital single for “Mad Love” thru the end of July to the Anti-Police Terror Project.




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rootless – “Lost At Sea”

by on ·Bits & Pieces, Tracks

While the Flower Room family largely encompasses the output of Matt Lajoie and Ash Brooks, it’s great to see that a recent tour with Jeremy Hurewitz’s rootless has lead him to enter into the ranks of the label. While he’s released some lovely tapes on Aural Canyon, Hypnic Tapes, and Null Zone, this LP opens up a new chapter for rootless. Hurewitz’ meditative, patient guitar lines still grace the headspace, but this time the set is augmented by the haunting, yet perfect touches of instrumentation provided by Mexican musician and folklorist Luís Pérez Ixoneztli. Luís Pérez’s prowess comes in subtle waves, adding all manner of pre-Columbian ocarinas, whistles and shakers to the record and they carry with them an earthen ache that sets this track and album apart from the rootless catalog. Docile Cobras arrives 8/21 and promises to be a necessary addition to 2020.





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Sally Anne Morgan – “Thread Song”

by on ·Bits & Pieces, Tracks

Sweet serenity is given flight on the first peek into Sally Anne Morgan’s upcoming LP for Thrill Jockey. The House and Land member is solo, but not quite alone on this LP, assembling a backing band that includes Andrew Zinn, Nathan Bowles, and Joseph Dejarnette. As with her collaborative work in H&L, there’s a traditional folk focus, though “Thread Song” nips at more modern fare, feeling every bit at home with Daniel Bachman, Mountain Man, Black Twig Pickers, or Jake Xerxes Fussell. Morgan’s fiddle gives the track a bittersweet soul and it lilts on the breeze with a fragrant flutter. The rest of the album’s sure to be as winsome and affecting as this. It arrives August 21st on Thrill Jockey.




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Vintage Crop – “Gridlock”

by on ·Bits & Pieces, Tracks

Brand new ripper today from Aussies Vintage Crop. The band’s been issuing records up to this point on Aussie Indies Weather Vane and Anti-Fade, but while they remain on the latter at home, they make a jump internationally to Upset The Rhythm for their latest, Serve To Serve Again. ‘Gridlock’ is indicative of the band’s tightly coiled punk — muscular, slightly paranoid, and pulsing with an energy that’s hard to ignore. The song’s full of frustration, and its grit-teethed delivery is a bit cathartic in weary weather. Jack from VC provides a bit of backstory, including the note that the song was inspired by actual traffic, though the feeling pours over into areas of stagnation in life elsewhere for sure.

“The title for the song came first;” he notes, “stuck in traffic and running late to a gig a few years ago. We laughed at the name and threw it onto a few different songs before it stuck, after Tyson finally penned the lyrics. Thematically, ‘Gridlock’ is frustrated, pushy & stressed, which are emotions that we felt that day when we were stuck in traffic. It’s one of the first songs we finished for Serve to Serve Again and is a perfect example of the band’s songwriting. It’s got everything that we do – unbalanced riff-work, tight drumming & sharp lyrics.” The LP is out August 7th on Upset The Rhythm / Anti-Fade.




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Hans Chew – “I Don’t Know Maybe”

by on ·Bits & Pieces, Tracks

I haven’t given any official space to the great comp from Aquarium Drunkard, The Drop Bear’s Song. The come benefits Australian Wildfire Relief — which almost seem like a distant dream only 5 months into 2020. The site has assembled a huge collection of great songs including this heavy number from Hans Chew. His last set for Black Dirt Studios alongside Garcia Peoples was an essential pickup and this one seems like an extension of the same vibe. Heavy piano blues that beg to be blasted, “I Don’t Know Maybe” is prime Chew and a reason that the man is a secret weapon among psych and folk players (see: Arboruetum, Chuck Johnson, Steve Gunn, Hiss Golden Messenger). Chew’s been holding down time on the piano in RSTB faves One Eleven Heavy and notably two of his bandmates, Nick Mitchell Maito and James Toth both contribute a track (two in Toth’s case). The comp nabs a whole host of other faves from Dire Wolves, MV & EE, Elkhorn, Mary Lattimore, and Prana Crafter, to Starbirithed, The Reds Pinks and Purples and Trummors. If you’ve let it linger in the want list for now, Friday’s a Bandcamp bonus day so more love to the cause here.

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Trummors – “Silver City Blues”

by on ·Bits & Pieces, Tracks

A sun-streaked new track slips out today in advance of the new Trummors LP, Dropout City on Ernest Jenning Record Co. The song is a faded-denim dose of cosmic country that ambles in on auburn strums and swooning harmonies. David Lerner and Ann Cunningham left the city steel for New Mexico’s grand expanses a few years back and the desert dust makes its presence felt on the low-light simmer of “Silver City Blues.” The song slides in on buttery leads, breezy harmonies, and a sense of ease that’s hard to resist. The band’s been building up to a release that sounds this effortless and lived-in over the past few years, but it’s hard to deny that this is a high-water mark for their brand of alt-country saunter. Keep an ear out for more from Dropout City as this is only a taste of what the band’s put together for 2020. Move it to the top of the watchlist.




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Mike Polizze – “Revelation”

by on ·Bits & Pieces, Tracks

I love it when a track comes in that I didn’t know I needed, but once its in the headphones the resolve is instant. It should come as no surprise if you’ve been crawling through the Raven feed over the last few years that Purling Hiss is always on the turntable, but now Mike Polizze turns the hiss down to a hum and lets his soft side shine through. With fellow Philly luminary Kurt Vile in tow, he shapes this track into an azure swoon lit on clear skies, yet burdened with a slightly heavy heart. While some similarities might arise with his recording partner, Pollizze finds his own faded grace in his new digs, shaking off the yolk of fuzz for a surprisegly clear view of pop that’s littered with strums, horns, and sing-along choruses. The album finds him on indie-folk outpost Paradise of Bachelors and heads this way in July. Gonna want to mark the calendars and get this one prepped to pop on repeat pretty soon.



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Ezra Feinberg – “Acquainted With The Night”

by on ·Bits & Pieces, Tracks

Just in time to cool off the angst of the year, the new album from Ezra Feinberg (Citay) comes to quench the thirst for something serene. Built on a circular guitar line, and bathed in the cool blue waters of synths that ripple like a requiem for an unworried life, opener “Acquainted With the Night” sinks below the soul’s horizon on the last amber hues of sunset. After the final folding of Citay, Feinberg has spent time traversing the ethereal with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Arp. His close collaboration with Jonas Reinhardt from Arp is paid back on Recumbent Speech with synth contributions and he taps quite a few longtime compatriots with input from John McEntire (Tortoise), Chuck Johnson, Diego Gonzalez (Citay, The Dry Spells), April Hayley (The Dry Spells) making its way onto the album. I’ve long been a fan of Feinberg’s work with Citay and this feels like both a continuation of tone and exploration of new directions from the artist. Some days we all need a balm, and this is just what the mid-year stretch called for. The album is out June 26th. Mark your calendars.




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Paint – “Ta Fardah”

by on ·Bits & Pieces, Tracks, Videos

Good to see the announcement that Pedrum Siadatian (Allah-Las) has a new solo LP on the way under his Paint moniker. He struck out solo under the name briefly in 2010, but really kicked it into motion with an eponymous 2018 LP that perfectly fitted the sandblasted psych that the Las trade upon into an Ayers, Barrett bag with a bit of Rundgren thrown in as well. The record was produced by fellow L.A. scene-haunter and studio wizard Frank Maston, who’s no stranger to crafting a very specific ‘60s sound. He crops up again to produce Paint’s sophomore LP and that sound is still threaded through the excellent first single “Ta Faradah,” a soft-psych spinner that nods to Siadatian’s Iranian upbringing with nods to Middle Eastern psych and funk winding its way out on Finders Keepers and Soundways these days. In addition to Maston behind the boards band also features members of White Fence and Sheer Agony, giving the record a nice sheen that spills way beyond just the sounds here. Its a bump up from the last one, and I loved that, so keep this on your radar for July.



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