One of the best/worst things about the whole blogging game is the abundance of great music. Unfortunately there are (still!) only twenty-four hours in a day, most of which are consumed with non-WTD things, so even if we get sent ten great albums then chances are we will only be able to cover three or four. While trying to avoid falling into the listicle trap, we thought the best way to remedy this problem would be a semi-regular round-up, ‘Best of the Rest’, where we include all the songs we think you should hear but don’t quite have the time to tell you why. Inclusion here is no comment on quality – this isn’t a runner-up prize!
Reuben Hollebon – On & On
We first wrote about the music of Reuben Hollebon back in 2012, though his latest single is a departure from the folk tunes he was releasing back then. Complete with a strange, evocative video, ‘On & On’ is an experimental sounds that’s at once tender and ominous, channelling the likes of Siskiyou to push into emotional areas with understated intensity.
Jenny O. – Cheer Up, Free Your Mind
Taken from her latest EP, Work, ‘Cheer Up, Free Your Mind’ is the perfect introduction for those unfamiliar with the Californian songwriter. Blending folk and jangle pop, Jenny O. creates rich songs which belong to a sepia tone world of summer evenings and wide open spaces. Released earlier this month, you can grab the EP now via Bandcamp.
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Holiday Oscar – Nicholas
Holiday Oscar couples a warm folk sound with smart lyrics, kind of like You Won’t crossed with The Head and The Heart. Take ‘Nicholas’ as an example, the song’s basic premise (learning to play guitar!) used to conjure a funny, interesting and almost poignant story about wanting to be an artist. If you’re a fan, his latest EP, Spilt Milk and Teething Powder, is available now.
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True Strength – Lyse Striber
True Strength is the collaboration between Copenhagen’s Ida Duelund-Hansen and Melbourne’s Alexander Garsden. The duo’s debut self-titled album is out in December on Eastmint, and to whet your appetite we have the beautiful ‘Lyse Striber’. The track is darkly elegant and somehow timeless, Duelund-Hansen’s vocals soaring over gentle instrumentation like a heartbroken crooner from a byegone age.
The song comes complete with a video by award-winning filmmaker Hanna Chetwin, which you can check out below.
Golden Suits – Don’t Let Love Go By
Back in 2013, as “autumn suddenly descended [with] summer finally on its knees” we turned to the self-titled album by Daniel Rossen’s Golden Suits. Well, fast forward a few years and we’re back in the same position, wondering whether we need the heating on with new music from Golden Suits in our ears. The third single from his latest album, Kubla Khan, ‘Don’t Let Love Go By’ hits the sweet spot between reflective and raging, like some of The Walkmen’s more rattled moments. Grab the album now via Hit City U.S.A.
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Drowning by Numbers – The Ground Before Him
Featuring on the Netflix sports documentary Last Chance U, ‘The Ground Before Him’ by Adelaide’s Drowning By Numbers is a down-tempo ambient track shrouded in melancholy and loneliness, sounding like the world as half-heard from within the head of someone occupied by their own business.
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Many Voices Speak – Blue Moon
Many Voices Speak is Matilda Mård from Stockholm. An outtake from the recording sessions for her new EP, this cover of ‘Blue Moon’ is the perfect way into her music, classic US folk with a Twin Peaks-y plink. The EP, Away for All Time is out on the 28th October via Hit City U.S.A. and Strangers Candy and you can pre-order it here.
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Silver Liz – Float
Silver Liz is the new bedroom pop project of Carrie Wagner and Matt Wagner from Chicago. Combining harsh, 90s-esque noise with velvety vocals, their new track ‘Float’ packs a double punch of goodness, shaking things up like Sonic Youth fronted by Bethany Cosentino. Grab the two-song EP from their Bandcamp page.
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Ego Death – The Total End
Canada’s Ego Death began as the solo project of Noah York but has since evolved into a duo with Maya Gulin. Their latest release, The Total End, is made up of four soundscapes which pull together neoclassical, ambient and guitar-based experimental to form something vaguely geological, bursts of noise emerging from the constant swirl of primordial drone. The EP is out now via Deep Sea Mining Syndicate and you can snag a cassette from Bandcamp.
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Akira Kosemura – Luna
One Day is a new album of improvisational piano pieces by Japanese artist Akira Kosemura. The entire thing is breathtakingly pretty, though single ‘Luna’, complete with a beautiful video directed by Kimihiko Nitta, is a great place to start. Once convinced, you can grab the record from Schole Inc.
Wild Leaves – Fallen Robin
‘Fallen Robbin’ is a single taken from the new full-length by Brooklyn-based folk-rock outfit, Wild Leaves. With its smooth vocals and easy, near-hypnotic flow, the track exudes a gentle autumnal peace, a serenity disrupted only by a distant nostalgia. Despite the creeping sense of loss, the whole thing is wrapped in a certain kindness, as though the narrator and you both are in this thing together.
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