I had the great fortune to see Miya Folick in a very small, intimate venue during SXSW (the indoor stage at Cheer Up Charlie’s) and was blown away by her presence, voice and performance. Now, to be completely transparent, her album Premonitions had been on very heavy rotation for me and I see it as one of the top highlights of 2018, so I had high expectations. Which were easily exceeded. If you’ve not heard her, well now’s your chance.
Pinegrove - Rings
Pinegrove’s new album, Skylight, quietly surfaced in my Spotify playlists last week and it’s fantastic, if a bit more alt-country than their previous work. I was curious as to why it was released to such little fanfare, and came across quite a few articles about how their front man, Evan Stephen’s Hall, had come out to admit that he’d been accused of “sexual coercion”. Now, it’s all fairly vague, and while it seems to have been handled in an appropriate manner, I did think twice (more than twice) about posting sharing their new music. To be honest, I’m still not quite sure what I think about it, but, in the end, it came down to the music, and I decided that the music was worth mentioning. If you’re at all interested in what’s been going on with the band, I highly suggest reading Reckoning With Pinegrove by Jenn Pelly.
Upcoming Shows
The Go! Team - Semicircle Song
The Go! Team are such a fun group, they totally earn that exclamation point in their name. A sis-piece band out of Brighten, England that likes to mix genres such as garage rock, Bollywood, old school hip hop, and, in the case of this album, a high school marching band. I'm so happy our cool friend Karin introduced me to their music recently. Spotify compares them to another exclamation point using band: Los Campesinos! as well as the Tune-Yards, Of Montreal, Dream Wife, and Broken Social Scene... I think you have to name a whole lot of other bands, throw them in a bag and shake it up to get this unique mix. Like I said, fun!