Quick Picks
Album | EP | Single
The Sound Cafe Rating
5 star = essential, 4 star = excellent, 3 star = good, 2 = fans/collectors, 1 = for completionists only
Christone "Kingfish" Ingram
On Friday, July 23, Alligator Records recording artist Christone "Kingfish" Ingram will release his highly anticipated second album, 662. It's the next chapter in the still-unfolding story of the 22-year-old guitarist, vocalist and songwriter from Clarksdale, Mississippi. Ingram describes 662 (the number is northern Mississippi's telephone area code) as "a presentation of my life in and away from the Delta." The album overflows with hard-hitting original songs, jaw-dropping guitar work and deep, soul-possessed vocals. Rolling Stone declared, “Kingfish is one of the most exciting young guitarists in years, with a sound that encompasses B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix and Prince.”
https://www.christonekingfishingram.com
Elgin: Weightless/Still
Elgin have released a brand new album Weightless/Still via Pixie Pace Records (ARC Music Productions International).
The Dublin duo came together having travelled the breadth of the globe as the acclaimed collective The Young Folk and now with Weightless / Still they continue their musical journey under the name Elgin.
Weightless / Still is a stunning atmospheric indie-folk record, which incorporates a wide range of instrumentation with lush guitars, synths, keys, brass and more, all enveloped in decadent vocal harmonies creating a vast, expansive sound.
The Weber Brothers: Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure is The Weber Brothers's 13th full-length release, and is a reunion of sorts with Baltimore MD-based musician/producer extraordinaire Timothy Bracken, who just so happens to have ridden the same bus to elementary school as the Webers in their hometown of Westminster, MD. The trio of Ryan, Sam, and Tim has been making music together for 30 years, and with Bracken’s masterfully adept hand wielding the mixing, mastering, and production duties, Choose Your Own Adventure fires on all cylinders and leaps from the speakers, offering the listener an exciting and compelling hour-long thrill ride.
Grace Pettis: Working Woman
Award-winning singer/songwriter Grace Pettis has released her highly-anticipated debut full album on MPress Records titled Working Woman.
The record features an all-female/non-binary band, and was produced by singer-songwriter Mary Bragg and mixed by 2x Grammy® award winner Shani Gandhi. The rest of the credits on the album include an all-female/non-binary team as well, including co-writers, the photographer, and the graphic designer. Featured artists include Indigo Girls ("Landon"), Ruthie Foster ("Pick Me Up"), Dar Williams ("Any Kind of Girl"), The Watson Twins ("Never Get It Back"), Gina Chavez ("Mean Something"), and Mary Bragg ("Paper Boat").
Allison Russell: Outside Child
Allison Russell has released her first ever solo project, the highly anticipated Outside Child (produced by Dan Knobler) on Fantasy Records.
The poet, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, activist and co-founder of Our Native Daughters and Birds of Chicago, unpacks her youth in searing detail throughout Outside Child. She had released four songs from the record prior to today’s release including, “The Runner”, “Persephone,” “Nightflyer” and “Montreal".
Born and raised in Montreal, Russell imbues her music with the colors of her city – the light, the landscape, the language – but also the trauma that she suffered there. It is a heartbreaking reflection on a childhood no one should have to endure, and at the same time a powerful and warm statement of hope – asserted from a place of healing, of motherhood, of partnership – and from a new home made in Nashville. The record features contributions from many of the artistic family members she has found there including producer Dan Knobler, Erin Rae, Jamie Dick, Joe Pisapia, The McCrary Sisters, Ruth Moody, Yola, and her partner JT Nero.
https://allisonrussellmusic.com/
Deep Dark Woods: Changing Faces
On Changing Faces, you will be surprised by how gradual yet complete a turn The Deep Dark Woods have made from cabin cozy jam band to pan-Atlantic folk revivalist collective. Ryan Boldt’s delicate melodies and metallic-stringed bite rattle centuries-old folkloric ghosts and personal demons alike. The Deep Dark Woods, a band with few fixed members, is a vessel for Boldt, keyboard wonder Geoff Hilhorst and frequent collaborators, Kacy & Clayton and Evan Cheadle, among others, to find their own vocabulary for translating traditional folk forms – Irish waltzes, Broadside Ballads, ominous lullabies – to contemporary electric terms.