Best of What’s New

Another Saturday is upon us. Today, Best of What’s New is hitting a milestone of sorts with its 100th installment. Since the publication of the weekly feature’s inaugural post on March 21, 2020, I’ve covered more than 400 newly released songs. Discovering tunes I sufficiently like can be a challenge, given I’m primarily into the ’60s and ’70s. But I continue to be encouraged it’s still possible to find decent new music, as long as you are willing to look for it. Let’s get to this week’s picks, which all are on albums that were released yesterday (February 18).

Gregor Barnett/Driving Through the Night

I’d like to kick things off with new music from the debut solo album by Gregor Barnett. He is best known as a co-founder of Philadelphia-based punk band The Menzingers, which has been around since 2006. Here’s an excerpt from Barnett’s bio on the website of his label Epitaph Records: “It was this perfect storm,” says Menzingers guitarist/co-vocalist Gregor Barnett. “The band couldn’t tour, I was going through a really difficult time, and I was stuck at home watching my family struggle with illness and death and hardship. The only thing I could do was write my way through it.”And yet, despite all the turbulence surrounding its creation, there’s something deeply hopeful and reassuring about Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave, Barnett’s debut release under his own name. Written and recorded in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the collection is a sonic departure from Barnett’s more punk-leaning work with The Menzingers, drawing on the gritty, off-kilter Americana of Tom Waits or Warren Zevon as it faces down loss and doubt in search of relief and redemption. Here’s Driving Through the Night, which like all other tracks on the album was penned by Barnett. I like his sound!

The Heavy Hours/Wasting All Our Time

The Heavy Hours are an alternative rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio. Here’s more from their website: On the heels of releasing their acclaimed Wildfire EP (2021) in the midst of a global pandemic, The Heavy Hours now return with Gardens, a full-length album that further exemplifies their distinctive strain of warm-hearted, open-armed alternative rock. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based quartet recorded Gardens several years ago, long before the group had management, an agent or a record label in their corner. With money they had collectively saved up, each of the members took a week off of work and set out to record a pocket full of songs at Montrose Recording located on remote farmland in Richmond, Virginia with producer Adrian Olsen (Nate Smith, Foxygen, Futurebirds). Somehow these early studio recordings found their way into the hands of multi GRAMMY award-winning producer/songwriter and Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach who immediately took a shine to the band and in turn led to organizing a writing session in Nashville, TN, which crafted tracks released on the Wildfire EP. This brings me to Gardens, which according to this mini-documentary was recorded in 2018. Here’s Wasting All Our Time, credited to all four members of the band: Andrew Yorio, Michael Marcagi, Jonathan Todd Moon and Ian Malott. I’m glad The Heavy Hours were finally able to release this great music.

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers/Been Lovin’ You Too Long

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers are a band around country singer-songwriter Sarah Shook. According to her Apple Music profile, Shook was born in Rochester, New York in 1985. She was raised in a deeply religious household, home schooled, and only allowed to listen to classical or Christian praise music as she grew up. Despite these restrictions, Shook taught herself to play guitar in high school and began writing songs…In 2010, she put together her first band, Sarah Shook & the Devil, who issued an EP in 2013, Seven. By the end of 2013, that band had split, and Shook & the Devil guitarist Eric Peterson started over with the group Sarah Shook & the Dirty Hand, a stopgap project that played live around the Chapel Hill area. Meanwhile, Shook had found a fan in producer and engineer Ian Schreier, who was eager to make a record with her. In 2015, she and Peterson assembled a new band to record with Schreier, which also included Aaron Olivia on bass, Phil Sullivan on pedal steel, and John Howie, Jr. (who is also Shook’s partner) on drums. The new combo, dubbed the Disarmers, cut their debut album live in the studio with Schreier at the controls. Sidelong was self-released in late 2015. Fast-forward about six years and two months to Nightroamer, the third album by Sarah Shook & the Disarmers. All tunes on the record were written by Shook. Here’s Been Lovin’ You Too Long.

Goodbye June/Breathe and Attack

My last pick for this week is by Goodbye June, a rock band from Nashville, Tenn., formed in 2005. I first featured them in a Best of What’s New installment in December 2021. The group consists of Landon Milbourn (lead vocals), Brandon Qualkenbush (rhythm guitar, bass, backing vocals) and Tyler Baker (lead guitar), who are all cousins. Apple Music describes them as a hard rock band who blend a rootsy sound with big guitars and plenty of strutting style. Their debut album Nor the Wild Music Flow came out in 2012. Breathe and Attack is from their fourth and latest studio album See Where the Night Goes. I said it before, I’ll say it again: This band reminds me of AC/DC. Milbourn has some of that Bon Scott swagger, and their guitar-playing stylistically is pretty similar to the rock & roll band from down under. Check it out!

Before I wrap up, here’s a playlist of the above tunes. As usual, I threw in a few others by the featured bands.

Sources: Wikipedia; Epitaph Records website; The Heavy Hours website; Apple Music; YouTube; Spotify