Inspired by the Buddhist sutras, Blitzen Trapper's radiant new album, 100's of 1000's, Millions of Billions, offers a captivating take on rebirth and transcendence, navigating its way through the space beyond dreams and reality, beyond gods and mortals, beyond life and death.

The songs here are as sincere as they are surreal, rooted in rich character studies and deep reflection, and the production is intoxicating to match, blending lo- fi intimacy and trippy psychedelia into a mesmerizing swirl of analog and electronic sounds. Add it all together and you've got a gorgeous collection of stripped-down bedroom folk wrapped in lush layers of synthesizers and washed out electric guitars, a poignant, expansive exploration of perception and purpose that manages to look both forwards and backwards all at once.

Launched roughly two decades ago in Portland, OR, Blitzen Trapper broke out internationally with 2008's Furr, which cemented their status at the forefront of the modern indie folk revival. Rolling Stone hailed the band's "hazy, psychedelic Americana," while NPR praised their "explosive live performances and infectious roots- rock swagger." Dates with Fleet Foxes, Wilco, and Dawes followed, as did festival appearances at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Newport Folk, and Coachella, among others. The band would go on to release six more similarly lauded studio albums, culminating with 2020's Holy Smokes Future Jokes, which Mojo proclaimed "sound[s] like the Beatles at Big Pink."

TRACK LISTING

Ain't Got Time To Fight
Dead God Of The Green Arising
Cosmic Backseat Education
Hesher In The Rain
Cheap Fantastical Takedown
So Divine
Planetarium
Hello Hallelujah
Long Game
View From Jackson Hill
Upon The Chain
Bear's Head
At The Cove

"This record breathes a second life into these songs," says Alejandro Escovedo of Echo Dancing, the Americana pioneer's new album where he reconceptualizes the songs of his storied career - The variety of songs range from his short-lived rock quartet Buick MacKane, rarities from his '80s alt-country outft The True Believers, to the celebrated songs of his solo discography from his debut album all the way to his most recent sprawling masterpiece, The Crossing.

Highlights include a reimagined trip- hop- funk hybrid of Escovedo's "Castanets" (retitled here as "Castanuelas''), a blistering version of "Bury Me" that fnds that songwriter now older than the characters he was singing about, as well as songs co-written with trailblazers such as Chuck Prophet, Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and J. Steven Soles. At age 73, Escovedo continues to reshape his ever- changing sound and experiment with the boundaries of Americana music.

TRACK LISTING

John Conquest
Sacramento & Polk
Bury Me
Everybody Loves Me
Too Many Tears
Castanuelas
Outside Your Door
Sensitive Boys
Thought I'd Let You Know
Swallows Of San Juan
Last To Know
MC Overload
Inside This Dance
Wave

Hiyo is a coming out party in a lot of ways for a band that has been a staple of the American Folk Music scene for over two decades - Co- Produced and engineered by Nashville's Rachael Moore and including performances by Jamie Dick (Drums), John Mailander (fiddle) and Maya de Vitry (vocals), the album Hiyo pushes the sound of CCL past anywhere it has been before - For a band that spent 15 years performing around a single microphone, CCL has found new inspiration in all of the sounds the world has to offer.

"Synthesizers, drum machines, banjo...the world is really open right now to what constitutes folk music and we are grabbing on to that inspiration with both hands and not letting go," says leader Dave Wilson.

Produced by Rachael Moore & Dave Wilson. Recorded & Mixed by Rachael Moore (George & Tammy) at Echo Mountain in Asheville, NC. Mastered by Nathan Dantzler at The Hit Lab in Nashville, TN.

TRACK LISTING

1. Right On Time
2. Magic
3. Way Down Yonder
4. Heaven
5. Lone Ranger
6. B S R
7. Under The Willow Tree
8. She's Got You
9. Stone
10. Summerline

Eli Paperboy Reed's Hits And Misses is a remastered collection of rarities, originals, & covers, featuring Eli's spin on Motorhead's "The Ace of Spades"

Eli takes Motorhead's hard rock classic and reimagines it as a soul revival with Hammond organ, brass horns, electric guitar, Eli's signature vocal wails and a backbeat that creates a new take on the song that is no less powerful than the original.

Hits And Misses also includes Eli's noirish R&B take on Steely Dan's 1972 hit "Do It Again" that brings the original song back in time 30 years and a cover of Latimore's 1974 hit "Let's Straighten It Out," showcasing a vocal intensity that's not quite as present in the nearly spoken word original.

In addition to covers, Eli Paperboy Reed's original, IDKWYCTD (I Came to Play) is an anthemic party starter. This high- energy track is featured in Disney's Marvel comic series, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. The album also includes covers of Bob Dylan's, "To Be Alone With You," Merle Haggard's "I'm Gonna Break Every Heart I Can," and more.

TRACK LISTING

Ace Of Spades
Do It Again
To Be Alone With You
Anytime You Want Me
IDKWYCTD (I Came To Play)
Let’s Straighten It Out
Bad Girl
I Don’t Know (What The World Is Coming To)
I’m Gonna Break Every Heart I Can
That’s Love
Steal Away

Josh Rouse's fourth record commemorates both the year of his birth and the year his stratocaster was made, which is responsible for the writing of 90% of his songs. Continuing his tradition of crafting understated, happy-sad songs that are melodic, moving and memorable takes on everyday life, Josh's craft as a songwriter, singer and guitarist shines on "1972", a 70s-styled, ten-track mellow gold modern classic.

TRACK LISTING

1972
Love Vibration
Sunshine
James
Slaveship
Come Back
Under Your Charms
Flight Attendant
Sparrows Over Birmingham
Rise

The No Ones are Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen and Frode Stramstad - Consisting of members from REM, The Minus 5, The Young Fresh Fellows, The Baseball Project, and I Was A King, the bi-continental collaborators share their third collection of songs, paying tribute to the artists that inspire them and populate their turntables.

Through their upbeat 60s-style indie sound infused with psychedelic flourishes, The No Ones honor Nick Lowe, Pamela Polland, George Harrison, Jenny Lewis, and Phil Ochs, among others. The group enlisted contributions from friends Debbi Peterson (Bangles), Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie), and Norman Blake (Teenage Fan Club) for backing vocals, Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven) on bass, and strings from Marin Stallemo Bakke

TRACK LISTING

KLIV
Set List
304 Molino Way
Blue Cheer Captain
Phil Ochs Is Dead
One Night At The Fillmore
Throwdown In Whispertown
Time Sent Lewis
Cameo Parkway
J.E.D.
Song For George
All The Stupid Days
Band With No Head
Solo In The End
Kick Out The Dwarf
Slow Down
We Are Your Band
The After Party

Josh Rouse wrote the songs for Going Places, while hunkered down in Spain with his family in 2020 and 2021 - The inspiration was to have a set of new songs to play in a small club run by a couple of his Spanish bandmates Josh recorded and produced the songs in his home studio. The result is a collection of songs that feel a bit looser, lean into the guitar a bit more and will sound great in the live setting. It's also another sonic shift for Josh, who is not afraid of changing things up. What remains consistent is Josh's ability to write hooks and fnd grooves that create a sound that is at once familiar, but wholly new. Fans will likely gravitate toward, "Hollow Moon," which in a just world, would be a massive hit single. It is classic Josh Rouse. But songs like, "Apple of My Eye," and "She's In L.A." defnitely show the Spanish infuence, which Rouse calls, "A Pan-American sound"

TRACK LISTING

Apple Of My Eye
City Dog
Henry Miller’s Flat
Hollow Moon
Waiting On The Blue
She’s In L.A.
There’s Somebody Whose Job It Is
The Lonely Postman
Indian Summer
Stick Around

Critically acclaimed indie rock mainstays Born Ruffians return with their sixth studio album, Juice, which finds the band moving into a more confident and polished direction, bringing to mind 1970s songwriting prowess with layered, and mature production sensibilities. The album was produced by Graham Walsh, known for his work with Alvvays, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), and Holy Fuck.

TRACK LISTING

I Fall In Love Every Night
Breathe
Dedication
The Poet [can’t Jam]
I’m Fine
Hey You (Feat. Maddy Wilde)
Squeaky
Hazy Wave
Wavy Haze

Josh Rouse has recorded an album of original holiday songs, which all feel like a classic 60s jazz-influenced holiday album (think Vince Guaraldi, A Charlie Brown Christmas).

The First Edition release, includes a bonus disk featuring 3 Christmas classics performed acoustically + 3 demo versions of songs from the album.

TRACK LISTING

Mediterranean X-Mas
Red Suit
New York Holiday
Easy Man 
Sleigh Brother Bill
Lights Of Town
Letters In The Mailbox
Heartbreak Holiday
Christmas Songs
All I Want For Christmas (Mariah Carey Cover)
Red Suit (Demo) 
Up On The Housetop
Easy Man (Demo)
Let It Snow
Heartbreak Holiday (Demo)

Fast Faster Disaster makes it clear that, two decades down the road from the band’s seminal D.I.Y. beginnings, Dressy Bessy’s distinctive songcraft remains as sharp and pithy as ever. The Denver combo’s second Yep Roc release Fast Faster Disaster’s dozen new songs affirm Dressy Bessy’s career- long commitment to barbed lyrical insight and effortlessly catchy melodies. Dressy Bessy is an indie rock band from Denver, Colorado led by songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist, Tammy Ealom The band is associated with the Elephant Six Recording Company and shares guitarist John Hill with The Apples in Stereo. Ealom formed the band with drummer Darren Albert and guitarist turned bassist Rob Greene in 1996. Hill joined the band after helping engineer early recordings in 1997. The name was taken from a popular Playskool doll of the 1970s.

TRACK LISTING

It’s Not That Hard
I’ve Fallen In Love
Fearless
Tiny Lil Robots
Cheer Up Tear Drop
Stay True
Mon Cheri
Sweet Medicine
Freedoms
What It Is
The Real McCoy
What Do I Get?**

**CD Only

Cut live to tape with very little overdubbing, Undress was recorded in the late summer of 2018 in Germantown, New York. Band members Ian Felice, James Felice, Will Lawrence (drums) and Jesske Hume (bass) teamed up with producer Jeremy Backofen to record their most personal and reflective album to date.

Many of the songs on the new album are motivated by a shift from private to public concerns, says songwriter Ian Felice. It isn’t hard to find worthwhile things to write about these days, there are a lot of storms blooming on the horizon and a lot of chaos that permeates our lives. The hard part is finding simple and direct ways to address them.

Undress follows the bands 2016 album Life In The Dark, and finds the group in a very different place three years later. Between personnel changes, families growing and the political landscape, the result is a tighter, more-paired down release. Every song is a story, said James Felice. On this album everything was a bit more thoughtful, including the arrangements, the sonic quality and the harmonies.

TRACK LISTING

Undress
Holy Weight Champ
Special Announcement
Nail It On The First Try
Salvation Army Girl
Poor Blind Birds
TV Mama
The Kid
Hometown Hero
Jack Reminiscing
Days Of The Year
Socrates

North Carolina-based ensemble Chatham County Line return with their eighth studio album titled Sharing The Covers. The album is, at its core, a tribute to those whom Chatham County Line hold dear, and a chance for the group to perform modern and traditional classics in the bluegrass-style they’re known for best. On the 13-track collection, CCL takes the familiar and adds a touch of originality to create a wholly new and inventive roster of covers by Tom Petty, Alton Delmore, John Lennon, The Louvin Brothers, Beck, James Hunter, and more

TRACK LISTING

I Got You (At The End Of The Century)
People Gonna Talk
Walk, Don’t Run
My Baby’s Gone
Bumblebee
Think I’m In Love
You Don’t Know How It Feels
Girl On The Billboard
Think Of What You’ve Done
Watching The Wheels
Tear Down The Grand Ole Opr
The Last Time
Gonna Lay
Down My Old Guitar

3 x 4 is a celebration of L.A.’s Paisley Underground scene of the mid-80s featuring four of the scene’s most notorious bands each covering the songs of the others - four bands covering three songs each - “3 x 4” get it?

TRACK LISTING

Getting Out Of Hand - The Three O’Clock
Real World - Rain Parade
Hero Takes A Fall - The Dream Syndicate
You Are My Friend - The Dream Syndicate
Talking In My Sleep - The Bangles
What She’s Done To Your Mind - The Three O’Clock
Jet Fighter - The Bangles
She Turns To Flowers - The Dream Syndicate
As Real As Real - Rain Parade
Tell Me When It’s Over - The Three O’Clock (Long Version)
That’s What You Always Say - The Bangles
When You Smile - Rain Parade

After spending the better part of a year touring behind his critically acclaimed eleventh album, ‘The Embers Of Time,’ Josh Rouse was ready for a change. Trading in his acoustic guitar for a synthesizer, he began experimenting with a new sonic palette, one inspired by everything from 80’s sophistipop and late-career Leonard Cohen to British indie rock and New York new wave. The resulting record, ‘Love In The Modern Age,’ is an infectious collection that still bears Rouse’s distinct fingerprints, even as it pushes his limits and forges a bold new chapter more than twenty years into his celebrated career.

While many of Rouse’s previous albums were recorded with a full band performing live in one room, the tracks on ‘Love In The Modern Age’ were built up a layer at a time, with Rouse playing most of the instruments himself between studios in Spain and Nashville. The songs are cinematic and enveloping, each creating its own entrancing world out of dense synthesizer textures and shimmering electric guitar lines. On the ominous “Salton Sea,” Rouse’s smooth, warm vocals represent a distinctly human element awash in an ocean of manipulated tones, while the Tears For Fears-esque shuffle “Businessman” finds him capturing the loneliness of isolation in an era of constant connectivity, and the winsome title track charts the ups and downs of a relationship that can feel more digital than physical.

”I really wanted something different for this album,” says Rouse. “I wanted to explore new sounds and write with a fresh backdrop. It’s still my singing and my storytelling, but there’s a big shift in the production, and using new instruments definitely brought out something in me that wouldn’t have happened with just an acoustic guitar.”

TRACK LISTING

Salton Sea
Ordinary People, Ordinary Lives
Love In The Modern Age
Businessman
Women And The Wind
Tropic Moon
I’m Your Man
Hugs And Kisses
There Was A Time

Nick The Knife re-established Nick as a solo artist after Rockpiles final album (and the only one issued under the groups name!) Seconds of Pleasure.

The release comes with 3 previously unavailable tracks that featured on both the CD and the bonus 7” single that comes with the LP.

Rockpiles Terry Williams and Billy Bremner made contributions, but Nick also transitioned towards his new band Noise to Go by bringing back old friend Bobby Irwin, introducing bassist James Eller and Paul Carrack.

The album features Nicks version of Heart (Bremner had sung it on the Rockpile album) as well as an eclectic survey of pop music styles from power pop to doo-wop. My Heart Hurts, penned with then-wife Carlene Carter, was the lead single. This reissue includes demo versions of Heart and Raining, Raining as well as the rarity (recorded around the same time) I Got a Job.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Nick's first album after Rockpile split up features the excellent "Too Many Teardrops".

TRACK LISTING

Burning
Heart
Stick It Where The Sun Don't Shine
Queen Of Sheba
My Heart Hurts
Couldn't Love You(any More Than I Do)
Let Me Kiss Ya
Too Many Teardrops
Ba Doom
Raining Raining
One's Too Many (And A Hundred Ain't Enough)
Zulu Kiss
Heart (Demo) (Bonus Track)
Raining Raining (Demo) (Bonus Track)
I Got A Job (Bonus Track)

Nick Lowes Abominable Showman was recorded with his post-Rockpile touring band Noise to Go. Following the blueprint of Rockpile, the band also featured a second lead vocalist in erstwhile Ace frontman Paul Carrack.

The release comes with 2 previously unavailabletracks that are featured both on the CD and the bonus 7” single that comes with the LP.

They had been featured on the Lowe-produced Paul Carrack album Suburban Voodoo (as well as on this albums duet Wish You Were Here). This unit could play hard driving rock & roll and soulful pop music, all in evidence here from the opener (and concert favorite) Raging Eyes to the full on pop-soul of Time Wounds All Heels. And the band barnstormed the USA opening for the likes of The Cars and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers which yields the bonus EP of live tracks from Clevelands Agora.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Heavily in the New Wave zone, Nick's 1983 album features the excellent "Raging Eyes".

TRACK LISTING

We Want Action
Raging Eyes
Cool Reaction
Time Wounds All Heels
Man Of A Fool
Tanque-Rae
Wish You Were Here
Chicken And Feathers
Paid The Price
Mess Around With Love
Saint Beneath The Paint
How Do You Talk To An Angel
(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? (Live) (Bonus Track)
Crackin’ Up (Live) (Bonus Track) 

Chatham County Line have always combined traditional pop song writing with bluegrass arrangements to create a sound that is not traditional bluegrass any more than it is pop.

But it does reflect the spirit of the music for which their home state of North Carolina is known. On their latest album, Autumn, the band adds eleven new tracks to their deep catalogue. "You Are My Light," "Jackie Boy," and "Dark Rider," are stand-outs.

Playing traditional string band instrumentation around a single microphone while clad in suits and ties visually projects a similar sepia-toned timelessness. “We create a product that you’re familiar with and you’ll enjoy going back to because you know what to expect. My dad ran a local hardware store years ago and I always felt like we shared that.” says Dave Wilson.

Sure enough, like a small town store, there’s no dramatic tale or sexy hook to fuel the hype machine for Autumn, the seventh studio album since the Raleigh, NC-based Chatham County Line—Wilson, John Teer (mandolin/fiddle), Chandler Holt (banjo), and Greg Readling (bass, pedal steel, piano)—coalesced in the late 1990’s.

Instead, the story behind the workmanlike group’s newest release is simple: A veteran ensemble at the top of its game sticking to its considerable strengths—poignant songwriting and inventive acoustic arrangements that draw upon a broad array of American roots influences, highlighted by trademark three- and four-part harmonies that shine throughout. But like the flat-screen televisions that now dot those bowling lanes, the quartet respects its history—from bluegrass inventor Bill Monroe to innovators like John Hartford—while remaining mindful of more modern influences, including its members’ backgrounds in rock bands.

The Felice Brothers return with nine songs in their unique blend of folk, country, rock and soul. Uncut magazine has described the band as, "just glorious". Life in the Dark was recorded in the garage on a farm in upstate New York, with no distractions and no outside influences.

So, it's not surprising the band produced the album themselves. Highlights include, "Aerosol Ball," and "Plunder." The Felice Brothers will be playing select shows and festivals throughout the spring and summer, with a US Tour scheduled for the fall and UK/EU dates in the winter.

The Felice Brothers got their start as a band playing in the New York City subway. They stayed in a little apartment in Brooklyn and would play in the subway stations at 42nd Street and Union Square and in Greenwich Village. The three brothers originally hail from Palenville, New York in the Catskill Mountains.

The band has five main members: Ian and James Felice, their friend Josh "Christmas Clapton" Rawson, previously a traveling dice player, fiddle player Greg Farley and drummer David Estabrook. Ian is the main vocalist and plays the guitar and piano. James contributes vocals and plays the accordion, organ, and piano. Christmas plays the bass guitar.

Clover Lane marks the Yep Roc debut for Americana singer-songwriter, Jonah Tolchin. The album was recorded quickly and spontaneously in Nashville, Tennessee with an impressive cast of characters that include Chris Scruggs, Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), John McCauley (Deer Tick), and Mickey Raphael (Willie Nelson). As a songwriter, Jonah bridges the gap between classic folk self-sufficiency and punk's DIY defiance; he plays everything from roots and Americana music to old time folk and acoustic blues.

Everyone has a different way to relax after a hard day of work, and for Pat Sansone and John Stirratt from WILCO, the best way to clear their heads after playing to thousands of people for weeks on end was to find time to craft Fifth, the latest immaculately rendered pop opus from their long-running duo The Autumn Defense. Recorded on the fly between Wilco tours, multi-instrumentalists andm producers Sansone and Stirratt recruited members of their touring band for the first time in the making of an Autumn Defense record. Confident grooves underly the duo's masses of harmonies and carefully layered guitar chimes for what the pair consider one of their most varied efforts to date. From their native Chicago, the pair talked about finding time to make the album, balancing production and songwriting, and working with their live band in the studio.

Fifth is the first album that utilizes The Autumn Defense's core live band. "I think there is a core sound that connects all the tracks," Sansone said. "Maybe I just say that because I was there and I know how it was made, but my instinct is that it sounds like a particular group of people playing together."

Consisting of brothers Dallas and Travis Good, drummer Mike Belitsky and upright bassist Sean Dean, The Sadies' inspired culmination of psychedelia, country and western and instrumental rock has made them the preeminent torchbearers of cosmic Canadiana music.

Internal Sounds was recorded in Toronto. Though Gary Louris was an integral part in making the album, it was produced by Dallas Good. "There was a conscious effort to deliver a finished product that wouldn't suffer from a deadline or budget. We recorded this record over a span of a year, in session for twenty plus days. By the end, we'd spent every dime we had and used up every favour. There is usually a sense of immediacy to our records, maybe because we make a lot of them. I didn't want that this time" says Good. This time, Peter J. Moore was enlisted to mix with The Sadies, a first for them. Internal Sounds also welcomes Canadian legend Buffy Sainte-Marie who contributes her haunting voice to the closing track "We Are Circling". The Sadies continue working to make a greater live show and better albums, integrity intact. Internal Sounds is The Sadies continuing to grow, and getting better with each step

There are lots of singers coming out of America at present whose style is broadly known as Americana or New Acoustic Music. Claire Holley has a little of each on this her debut album. All the songs are self penned and have names like "Abilene", "Mississippi" and "Pennsylvania Town" but all with a personal set of lyrics and a fragile sense of place.