Eilen Jewell – Lethal Love

Eilen has for a couple of decades now been one of the essential artists on the country scene who remains frustratingly outside of the mainstream. That might have something to do with the uncompromising purity in her rockabilly sound, she never sounds anything other than wholly true to who she is musically and that is expressed to the full on newly released album ‘Get Behind the Wheel’ on Signature Sounds Recordings…

The Coral – Wild Bird

This band of scouse psychedelic warriors show no sign of letting up even as they enter a third decade of music making. This is taken from the band’s forthcoming album ‘Sea Of Mirrors’ released on 8th September 2023 which is a speedy follow up to the former Fruit Tree Records album of 2021 ‘Coral Island’ covered by us here: https://fruit-tree-records.com/2022/01/03/the-coral-coral-island/

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway – Next Rodeo

Here is another artist responsible for a previous Fruit Tree Records album of the year, this time as recently as 2022 with the ‘Crooked Tree’ record which was written about here: https://fruit-tree-records.com/2022/12/22/molly-tuttle-the-golden-highway-crooked-tree/ This new tune is from their upcoming album, ‘City of Gold,’ due July 21 on Nonesuch Records…

Picture Parlour – Norwegian Wood

First of all this is related in no way to the Beatles classic, but if a title is designed to catch your attention this certainly works. When casting your net, as I do every week, for new music to excite and stimulate you will inevitably encounter some names repeatedly getting mentioned and you suspect, because more often than not it turns out to be true, that this is hype generated by an act well connected within the industry. I had read the name Picture Parlour a few times lately and gave this clip a try out for that reason primarily (although the title had me curious too). Whilst I wouldn’t want to go overboard in my praise, the buzz around Picture Parlour is clearly based on musical merit and va-va-voom far more than it is knowing the right PR people, which is always something to celebrate, watch this four piece…

Blur – The Narcissist

This is the by now probably quite familiar lead single from the reformed Blur’s forthcoming new album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’. As great as it is to have them back and playing both large and small gigs again this summer, that they remain inspired to turn a reformation into a creative process highlights the musical seed within their DNA that always elevated Blur above their closest Britpop peers in my opinion. That Damon and Graham have maintained a relevant presence in the mainstream music scene over thirty years since their bands debut album is further evidence of their justifiable stature. I am reserving critical appraisal of the new album until I get to experience it as a whole, but this song does promise a firm hold in the bands catalogue with absolutely no suggestion of covering terrains already well walked…

Melissa Aldana – Los Ojos de Chile

This is a captivating live recording from earlier this year courtesy of The Soraya at Cal State Northridge. Sometimes the visual spectacle of seeing an artist connect with their music both physically and instinctively can open up doors and I believe that to be the case here with Melissa. The moment she locks into this piece at the outset she is no longer on stage before an audience, she is sailing in another dimension. The album ’12 Stars’ was released in 2022 on the Blue Note label…