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This top ten list includes recent releases I’ve been digging lately. Each one can be streamed in full using the links in the text below. Enjoy!
A Balladeer – I Can’t Keep Track of Each Fallen Robin (A Balladeer)
This is a Dutch duo of singer/keyboardist/guitarist Marinus de Goederen and percussionist Tijs Stehmann, and counting 2010’s Sorry, Kid (a de Goederen solo record confusingly released as Mr. A Balladeer, but reissued in 2012 as a double LP sans the “Mr.”), this is their fourth LP. A few harder-rocking songs like “Sleepover” and “Good Year for the Papers” might make you pine for the louder days of 2009’s Where Are You, Bambi Woods? But Robin’s soft acoustic folk and pretty piano ballads, especially the majestic standout “Tarot, Tequila,” more than make up for it.
Joseph Barjack – Electric Fire (Velvet Cookie)
Massachusetts resident, history/politics student, poet/essayist Barjack also sings for Methadone Kitty, a duo with guitarist Greg Skorupka. Skorupka’s on the first track here, “Negative Space,” but Barjack goes it alone the rest of the way (except for “Hero’s Epitaph,” featuring AnneMarie Alvarez’s Pauline Murray-like vocals), on this more acoustic/electronics-based alter ego to MK’s driving punk. Like a lower-fi Bad Religion, Barjack’s passionate, perceptive lyrics still burn with conviction, ensuring Fire is another vehement, thought-provoking record.
Alice Bierhorst – All Shall Be Revealed (Shur)
I first heard New York songstress Bierhorst on her 2003 sixth LP Earthbound, but was surprised to hear this year-old album is her 13th. Still, her frisky, golden voice and radiant piano sounds so springlike refreshed and uplifting, it immediately put me in a good mood. Her lyrics are like a primer for living a more fulfilling, take-nothing-for-granted life – if you made any New Year’s resolutions, put on “Airborne” or the title track for some added inspiration. And check out 2011’s The Magic Lantern, a retrospective of her whole career.
Cari Clara – Midnight March (Deep Elm)
Cincinnati’s Cari Clara is ex-Simpletons frontman Eric Diedrichs, whose 2002 self-titled LP I found exquisite. He’s been aptly compared to Radiohead, Muse, and Pink Floyd, but he still reminds me most of Elbow. The debut’s minimalist sound has given way to booming, full-blown orchestrations on this fourth LP, each song building to euphoric crescendos, and topped with Diedrichs’s breathy, dramatic croon. But Midnight sounds revitalizing and exuberant, not inflated or pretentious – look no further than the smashing chorus-filled opener “Shout.”
Dangerous Ponies – “Gave Up” (Dangerous Ponies)
I liked this Philly septet’s self-titled 2011 debut, calling their sunny, sing-along pop “unfailingly charming and jovial.” This new live track from their upcoming second LP packs a heftier, tighter wallop, yet still retains their patented catchy melodies. Listen on BandCamp for the lyrics, about meeting that special someone who helps find your confidence. But it’s more fun to watch the band – led by all smiles, face-painted singer/founder Chrissy Tashjian – crank it out on YouTube.
Diana Darby – IV (Intravenous) (Delmore Recording Society)
As with Alice Bierhorst (see above), I first heard Nashville folkie Darby a decade ago, on 2003 second LP Fantasia Ball. So I was glad to find she’s still making records; this is her fourth LP. Like Bierhorst, she sounds more resonant and affecting now than back then. Her approach is unchanged, as she still coos in a near whisper (she resembles Gerri White of Sacramento popsters Baby Grand), backed by haunting acoustic, occasional agitated cello, and a church-still ambience. IV scores a perfect 10 on the goosebump-o-meter.
Higgins – Straight A’s (Serious Business)
This NY outfit’s “delightful, dreamy” first LP, 2006’s Dear Higgins, was recorded in a Weehauken, NJ kitchen by two old Long Island pals, guitarist Kevin Fish and drummer Brian Kantor. This fourth album polishes off the earlier LPs’ rougher edges, but their handsome pop is still ensconced in a 1960’s framework – the first three songs, “Paranoid Trails,” “Slap or Pinch,” and “Lie,” recalled The Kinks, Byrds, and Beach Boys. However, their lush, modern arrangements – like on the theatrical closer “Sing” – make Straight A’s sound contemporary, not retro.
Brandon Reilly – Two Songs digital single (Brandon Reilly)
Following the hiatus of his band Nightmare of You, Brooklyn-based guitarist/singer Reilly returns with these two excellent tunes (and NoY have also been recording new material, as a duo). Both benefit from full-bodied production and Reilly’s strong voice. His dark-humored lyrics are sharp and acerbic, hilariously lamenting the vapidity of NYC’s dating scene on “Sharing the Neighborhood,” and agonizingly coming to grips with a friend’s drug-related death on “Now That You’re in the Ground.”
Sudden Ensemble – Sudden Ensemble Play the Ciphers (Box 13)
On this fourth LP, this Jersey City, NJ trio – whose 2003 debut AM11 was a favorite of famed British DJ John Peel – tweak their formula. Instead of the off-kilter piano tunes of 2009’s In the Woods with the Bees or the noisy anti-pop of 2007’s Life in the Birdcage, Ciphers is languid, hazy Americana/country-rock, with a Velvets-like stoner vibe. Duetting vocalists Wayne Garcia and Doreen Kirschner sing like they just rolled out of bed, but the band’s understated, slightly disheveled playing and the relaxed mood always feels inviting.
Denison Witmer – The Ones Who Wait (Asthmatic Kitty)
Lancaster-raised, Philadelphia-based Witmer is another artist I’m rediscovering after first hearing him a decade ago, on 2002’s superb third LP Philadelphia Songs. But this ninth album is every bit as lovely. His softly crooned, gently plucked, introspective acoustic songs are bathed in an even warmer, often spooky stillness (only the horn-flecked “Every Passing Day” pushes up the volume levels). Also, don’t miss the Wait, Part II EP, which contains alternate versions, B-sides, and a cover of Sufjan Stevens’s “Abraham.”
