indie-folk

Heather Woods Broderick | Labyrinth (2023)

indie-folk
April 6, 2023April 6, 2023

The word labyrinth is often used interchangeably with the word maze. But unlike a maze – which has multiple branching paths – historians argue that the traditional labyrinth consists of a single path, one that’s been elaborately constructed to unfurl with all of the mystery and incomprehensible beauty of life. Using this definition, completing a labyrinth isn’t about choosing the right path, it’s about choosing to persist at all.
Across her new album Labyrinth, Heather Woods Broderick serves as our reflective host, subverting expectations of conventional songcraft with impressionistic language and quietly relentless explorations of the human experience that’s at once light and dark, more circular and less linear. “Many of us yearn for stillness and peace, as an escape from the movement all around us,” she explains when asked about the themes of the album. Western Vinyl

indie-folk, singer-songwriter
April 1, 2023April 1, 2023

Sometimes You Hurt The Ones You Hate by Damien Jurado is a richly diverse, compact album and his third full length on his label Maraqopa Records. The eight tracks are heavy with emotion and feature a wide spectrum of Jurado’s continuously developing talents as a songwriter.
After two decades of working with producers and prestige indie labels such as Sub Pop and Secretly Canadian, and, significantly, following the death of his good friend and frequent collaborator Richard Swift, Damien Jurado set up shop as an independently operating entity with the self-produced The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania… All Music

reissue, indie-folk, indie-pop
March 23, 2023March 23, 2023

Sharon Van Etten has announced an anniversary edition of her 2012 album, Tramp. It’s due out March 24 via Jagjaguwar. The updated version is set to include a previously unreleased song called “This Is Too Right,” and will be available on crimson vinyl. With the announcement, Sharon Van Etten has shared a video for “Serpents” directed by Naomi Yang (of Galaxie 500 and Damon & Naomi). Yang made the video in 2012, but Sharon Van Etten shelved it due to insecurities about her appearance. “At the time, I didn’t have much experience with music videos,” Van Etten said in a statement. “I was very insecure about being the focus of a video. Maybe I wasn’t ready to face my demons. I know it sounds funny. I could write and perform them, but facing them and baring my soul on camera felt like an entirely different thing, and when I looked at myself, I felt uncomfortable. I chose not to release the video.” Pitchfork

Runnner – Like Dying Stars, We’re Reaching Out

indie-folk
February 21, 2023March 5, 2023

For the last five years, Los Angeles-based musician Noah Weinman has been Runnner, and for much of those five years, Runnner has been working. Working on his 2021 collection album, Always Repeating; working as a producer on the Skullcrusher records; and, of course, working towards his debut full-length, Like Dying Stars, We’re Reaching Out. From LA to Ohio and the Northeast and back, he’s been deep in the craft of sound. This is music made at home, using anything and everything: cell phones and handheld tape recorders… Run for Covers
Noah Weinman, the singer-songwriter behind the melancholy bedroom-folk project Runnner, lands in all of these positions across his new album, Like Dying Stars, We’re Reaching Out. Like Dying Stars, We’re Reaching Out is no less moody, but here, Weinman’s sound is notably developed, prioritizing texture and nuance over the simpler, acoustic-forward approach of his earlier work. Through exhausted introspection and anxious inner questioning, his songs explore… Pitchfork

@ – Mind Palace Music

acoustic, indie-folk, indie-pop
February 21, 2023March 5, 2023

It’s fitting that Philadelphia guitarist Victoria Rose and Baltimore producer/musician Stone Filipczak named their band @ (pronounced “At”) — a symbol that calls to mind the detachment of an email exchange or a Twitter mention. The folk-pop duo created their debut album Mind Palace Music almost entirely remotely from, sending each other recordings over iMessage from their respective cities throughout fall/winter 2020. But although its creators were 100 miles away, the 11-track album gleams with a sense of closeness, tied together with @’s penchant for deeply personal and candid lyrics. Originally released in April 2021, the album is getting a reissue from Carpark on February 17, 2023… Carpark Records
On their debut album, Mind Palace Music, @ present a winsome hybrid of melodic acoustic songwriting, ambitious arrangements, and the type of smart, lo-fi chamber pop that harkens back to the Elephant 6 Collective’s more ornate side.

Kerala Dust | Violet Drive

electronic, indie-folk
February 16, 2023March 10, 2023

Kerala Dust’s new album ‘Violet Drive’ is a record deeply affected and influenced by its surroundings. The band, formed in London in 2016, are now based between Berlin and Zurich, and the three Brits – Edmund Kenny on vocals and electronics, keys player Harvey Grant and guitarist Lawrence Howarth – have created a deeply European album torn between the past and future.
Formed out of a growing love of electronic music mixed with a history in indie bands, Edmund started the band at a time when making electronic music on a laptop “seemed like the most sensible thing to do”. He adds: “I got really into club music and used to go to Fabric and Corsica Studios loads. I got deep into the endless repetition of all of that music, and the way that, as it repeats incessantly, things unfold on you and it almost becomes a weird sort of mantra, leaving you in a clear headspace.” These hypnotic elements are a defining force behind Kerala Dust, whose music incorporates blues and americana mixed thrillingly with untraditional electronic beats.

Shakey Graves | Deadstock: A Shakey Graves Day Anthology

alt-country, indie-folk, lo-fi
February 13, 2023March 10, 2023

Twelve thousand years ago, the mayor of Austin bequeathed February 9th as Shakey Graves Day, and since then I have used it each year as an unofficial alter ego birthday. This year, we have two shows to mark the occasion: February 9th at Tulipsin Fort Worth, TX (low tickets available) and February 10th at Scoot Inn in Austin, TX (sold out). Additionally, for SGDXII, I have curated an SG Day anthology album including unreleased tunes and hand-picked favorites from previous albums called DEADSTOCK, available digitally and permanently on all platforms.
All of the previous Shakey Graves Day releases will also be up on Bandcamp for pay-what-you-want for 72 hours (starting Thursday, February 9 at 12:01am (CT) and ends at 11:59pm (CT) on Saturday, February 11th.).

Simon Rowe | Everybody’s Thinking (2023)

dream-pop, indie-folk
February 7, 2023March 14, 2023

If the name Simon Rowe isn’t immediately familiar to you, the names Chapterhouse and Mojave 3 may be more so. He played guitar in both acts – the former one of the original shoegaze acts and the latter a more Americana-type proposition – and while you may hear echoes of the latter in this album, this third act for the artist is a rather different proposition… God is in the TV
Gently starting with an instrumental called ‘Croxted Crows’, this album slowly unfolds as a sweetly pastoral, gentle, psychedelic delight. There are minor chords and delicate harmonies, phased effects and carefully arranged instrumentation all combining to create a hazy, heady, summery sound. Supported by fellow Mojave 3 troubadours Neil Halstead… AmericanaUK