the everybodyfields – Nothing Is Ok
Hailing from Johnson City, TN The Everybodyfields are rapidly gaining a reputation as the front-runners of the newest generation of the alt-country movement. the everybodyfields offer melancholic interpretations of universal human stories set to achingly beautiful melodies. They put these interpretations to life with such instrumentation as lap steel, lead guitar, electric bass, piano and acoustic guitar. The members cite their influences as country, rock and roll, and folk. Fronted by Sam Quinn and Jill Andrews, the two share instruments and seamlessly merge their wildly different voices. Quinn's echoing twang reverberates like a long-lost radio broadcast and provides a hard edge to Andrews pure, soothing tones. Straightforward and sure, the everybodyfields are more accessible to listeners than many modern musicians. Their sets' gentle humor combined with songs about real-life sorrows demonstrate an appreciation for tradition, while at the same time conjuring up something that is not, in fact, traditional at all.
Chuck Prophet – Soap and Water
Much like his work with seminal L.A. band Green on Red, Chuck Prophet's first new album in three years, Soap and Water, defies categorization. Soap and Water moves deftly from Americana and rock to R&B, molding styles at will. A true renaissance rocker, Prophet is a writer, producer and musician who helped define Los Angeles' Paisley Underground scene and open the door for alt.country's rise to prominence in the 1990s. Prophet's dark undercurrents and mythic persona have coupled with his seat-of-the-pants creative philosophy to make him one of the most sought-after songwriters in music today. He's laid down sessions with Warren Zevon, had his songs recorded by Solomon Burke and produced/written for Kelly Willis, yet Prophet is at his most potently distilled when writing and recording for his solo projects. "When I get some kind of inspirational virus, I follow it through to its conclusion." In the case of Chuck Prophet, it's the Soap and Water that's contagious.
Pugwash – 11 Modern Antiquities
For nearly eight years now Dublin songwriter Thomas Walsh of has been conjuring up perfect pop gems that have seen the band garner many plaudits and some all too brief stints in the charts. If you love lush power pop like XTC and Jason Falkner you’ll love Pugwash.
Mark Mallman – The Red Bedroom
Full of brazen piano buildups and full-vibrato confessionals, The Red Bedroom is like a great lost breakup album of David Bowie and Elton John, where the two tortured souls channel frustrations into the third person. As a concept album, then, it works. Ten tracks celebrate backroom lovin' in the hot Milwaukee sun with a patina of mid-'70s dust and grease on every sound surface. Mark is a true mad genius that will end one of this songs live with a lyric from Kate Bush.
Thanks Phillip!!
