Mandolin Orange – “Hard Travelin'” (audio) (premiere)
Mandolin Orange's “Hard Travelin’” is a delightful mix of Americana, bluegrass and country.
Will Rivitz
Will Rivitz is a student at Princeton University in New Jersey who plans to major in computer science. He's written for various Internet publications since 2012, and his ramblings can be found on Sputnikmusic (under the last name Robinson), The 405, The Daily Princetonian, and the Nassau Literary Review. He's still shedding the last vestiges of his teenage/post-teenage angst, and asks that those who roll their eyes at any that makes it into his writing kindly hold their tongues.
Dead Horses – “Brothers” (audio) (premiere)
"Brothers" travels in the most melancholy way, a modicum of misery following it wherever it goes.
Changüí Majadero – “Vamos Pal Guaso” (video) (premeire)
Hypnotically repetitive and gloriously syncopated, "Vamos Pal Guaso" is captivating and liberating.
Riley Etheridge Jr. – “Hush” (audio) (premiere)
“Hush” is the sound of reconciliation, an acceptance that things are how they are for a reason.
Tattletale Saints – “Big City Women” (video) (premiere)
“Big City Women” is a tale of woe and disillusionment wrapped up in soft guitar and upright bass, a lament of the anonymizing power of the city in a homey package.
The Dexateens – “Teenage Hallelujah” (audio) (premiere)
"Teenage Hallelujah" is the quintessential Southern rock song, dusty and distorted and frenetic.
Jordan DePaul – “No Good For You” (video) (premiere)
Jordan DePaul’s electric country has rightfully turned heads, and the young singer’s fierceness makes for a captivating listen.
The Conquerors – “Turned Me to Stone” (audio) (premiere)
There’s a reason the Beatles were so popular back in the day, and the Conquerors’ excellent approximation of that success is ample proof why.
Megan Slankard – “Bones Live Forever” (video) (premiere)
Guitars yelp and wail over Slankard’s affected snarl, purely-distilled verve animating their dizzying distortion.
Crushed Out – “Skinny Dippin” (video) (premiere)
We’re past the point of applications for “song of the summer,” but the burst of energy that is “Skinny Dippin” fills in the end-of-summer lull quite nicely.
DJ Shadow: The Mountain Will Fall
The Mountain Will Fall, despite being released nearly 20 years after Shadow's debut masterpiece Endtroducing....., is still less innovative at release than the original is decades after coming out.
Elijah Ford – “The Way We Were” (audio) (premiere)
Mixing Walk the Moon’s full-on peppy onslaught with Southern-fried guitars and darting bass, Elijah Ford’s newest is rock in its most effervescent form.