Americanaåret 2019 öppnar starkt. Vi har redan hört Hayes Carll, Strand of Oaks och annat som smattrar. Här presenterar vi fyra nysläpp som svänger bra i den röda myllan. Boot up!
Quaker City Night Hawks – QCNH
The Vegabonds – V
Boo Ray – Tennessee Alabama Fireworks
Ryan Bingham – American Love Song
Quaker City Night Hawks (från Texas) öser på frenetiskt och smakar både bluesrock och southern comfort. Vegabonds (från Tennessee) är välkammad/välspelad nycountry med radiofeeling. Boo Ray (från North Carolina) är skön trucker-troubadour. Ryan Bingham (från New Mexico) har raspet i rösten och låtar som berättar stories.
Så gör som vanligt. Köp först de fyra plattorna på cd. Köp sedan en cd-växlare. Köp sedan en bil. Montera in cd-växlaren i bilen. Stoppa in cd-skivorna. Tryck på repeat. Kör sedan vägarna fram, till solen går ner. Enjoy!
••• PS: Vill ni lyssna på Jonas & Magnus när vi går igenom bandens hemstater i Kentuckysevens Podcast? Checka in detta:
Vi hade en dröm om att få med vår idol FREDRIK WIKINGSSON i podden. Mannen, myten, journalisten, författaren, filmregissören och programledaren. Han som äger den svenska podd-världen med ”Filip & Fredrik”, de två snillena som ständigt förnyar forumet och är bäst varje vecka. Well, drömmar slår in.
Fredrik tog en paus i klippandet av Tårtgeneralen, långfilmsdebuten med Mikael Persbrandt i huvudrollen, för att hänga en timme med Jonas & Magnus i Kentuckyseven Podcast. Vi som traskar igenom Amerikas 50 delstater i 50 avsnitt, från Alabama till Wyoming, och äntligen nått fantastiska NEW YORK.
I avsnittet snackar vi så klart THE CITY med alla minnen och skevheter, men tar oss även upstate till Buffalo (NHL-spelarnas mardröm), Yonkers (Steven Tyler, Jon Voight, Mary J Blige & Linda Lovelace kommer från trav-hålan), snömeckat Syracuse och mycket mer. Vi höjer även tempot och åker trätunna ner för Niagarafallen.
Kort sagt är vi stolta över avsnittet och evigt tacksamma till Mr Wikingsson som ställde upp med glädje. I botten finns hans äkta kärlek till USA och den delar vi som vänner över en kopp kaffe. Så, häng med på ett amerikanskt äventyr! Vårt avsnitt NEW YORK är det 32:a i KENTUCKYSEVEN PODCAST och finns där poddar finns.
• Justin Sawicki from Hamilton, Ontario have made a totally independent record. The kind we love.
The LP was made entirely in his home studio, the only finger prints on it are his and those of his close friends. This is what it is all about! The music is very rooty and down to the bone. You feel the songs, hollow and honest.
The self titled album, the second from Sawicki, is released Dec 11 – til then enjoy great song The Upsala Trees.
Amanda Werne, a super talented musician residing in Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden, is really something else.
Her Project Slowgold is pure gold. Dreamy Prairie Rock with Nerves from out of this World. The lyrics are like dancing poetry, that takes your mind to places you thought you’d never see again. Painting Pictures so vivid you can almost smell them.
The Music has references in 70’s rock, but feels so fresh and new that you’d Think that she has created her own genre. Her voice is in perfect tune with the poetry of her Music. The fact that she sings in Swedish only makes it even more personal and more intimate.
Having released ”Stjärnfall” in may this year, she now released her second album this year ”Glömska” . Sounds like a lot? I want more! I just can’t get enough of this.
• Londoner John Joseph Brill left the capital and his heavy-rock-band past and moved to Liverpool in 2013 where he holed up with a pile of Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and David Bowie records. He found his true voice, a brandy-warm baritone that breaks us down. JJ got the soul-gripping ability to capture eternity with a lonely tune. Strong, emotional, beautiful.
Ahead of a new EP release due 2016, check out song The Grape and The Grain. Speaking about it he explains ”It’s a very personal song about loss. The loss of a lover, the loss of a future but at the same time its tinged with hope. That naïve, yet charming hope that maybe, just maybe if I don’t think about it for long enough then the fucked up thing might not happen.”
• 32 year old Swede Sofia Assarson is part of our local favorite band Castlewoods – together with Maja Fredriksson and Johanna Lannerö. A folk-indie kind of vibe, from Joni Mitchell via Kate Bush to Beach House.
The debut album was recorded at Studio Oodion, in classic Music A Matic’s headquarters in Gothenburg. Where both Håkan Hellström and Joakim Thåström been before. It was intense, nine days recording with Swedish snuff and late night whiskey along with studio owner Henryk Lypps homemade fish soup and technician Thomas Andréns endless patience.
– It was magic! Now we just wanna hit the road and play live. An album today is an expensive business card, a chance to introduce ourself to the world, says Sofia. Right now she lives in Berlin. Doing her thing.
– I write new material and network. Berlin is beautiful, to meet and jam together, sleeping on someone’s couch. I wanna make a living in music and there are no shortcuts. It’s about working hard.
Next thing for Castlewoods?
– We just got a tour booked in northern Europe through a booking agency and concept called Meta Projects. They chose us among a number of different bands and have a true love for Swedish folk-indie. It´ll be six dates in Germany and Amsterdam for starters, says Sofia.
3 short Sofiafacts
• Lives: Gothenburg & Berlin.
• Reads: Right now the latest books of Haruki Murakami and Patti Smith.
• Listens to: Gillian Welch, Katzenjammer, José Gonzales, Jessica Pratt, I Wish I Was A Fish.
Until the album arrives, check out this vid; beach-India-style.
Patrik Jakubowski, who is normally found behind the bass in punkgrungerockers Riddarna, releases his first solo EP Ocean. Kentuckyseven is very proud to exclusively give you a first taste of the EP that’ll be out tomorrow November 18.
Ocean is a thing of nature. We join Jakubowski in his green mode. Forest and moss, river and sky. The smell of pine needles and resin thru the air. The acoustic guitar is there to guide us, a Fleet Foxes kind of vibe. Mezmerizing, hypnotizing.
The theme that pervades Ocean is a desire to be wild and totally unrestrained surrender to nature’s wild grip. The EP, which is co-produced by Bob Hund’s Christian Gabel, give promise of more shimmering songs around the corner. We, for sure, are spellbound.
• Watch this guy Jack Conman do his debut single Misty Central (via Warren Records) in his own, massive way. The young Englishman – 18 year old! – is a phenomenally talented singer-songwriter who hammer out the songs on his guitar.
This track is the first taken from the upcoming debut EP Euphoria Springs. Enjoy!
Debut albums are always interesting. The sense of something that has been evolved for years… Erased and restarted. Anxiety and joy. Letting go of a dear friend. Showing the rest of the World what you are.
Horse Dance from Swedish Josefin Öhrn + The Liberations is no exception. This is an album that will keep you at your feet. The soundscape with all its darkness and electronic emotions is purely magnetic. I was hooked from the first note in ”Dunes” down til it fades away in ”Talk”.
This is an album that has this genuine feel of depth, integrity and overwhelming emotions. Josefin Öhrns voice must have been meant to do this, for ever.
‘Horse Dance’ was released on Ltd colour vinyl, CD and DL on 6th November 2015 (Rocket Recordings).
