Best of What’s New

Welcome to another installment of Best of What’s New, a look at new or recently released music that sufficiently speaks to me to write about it. If you’re a first-time visitor of the blog, I should point out that oftentimes my picks in these posts represent the first exposure to the featured artists. That’s certainly the case this week, which includes different flavors of rock from the U.S. and Australia, as well as beautiful pop-oriented folk from England. Let’s get to it!

Wavves/Hideaway

Wavves is an alternative rock music project started in San Diego, Calif. in 2008 by singer-songwriter Nathan Williams. Apple Music characterizes his music as a blend of distorted no-fi and refined sunshiny melodies. Charmingly messy, most of his lyrics, while difficult to decipher, generally revolve around the subjects of weed, boredom, and the beach — when he isn’t poking jabs at the gloomy subculture of goth rock (a common theme, found in “Goth Girls,” “California Goths,” “Summer Goths,” “Surf Goths,” and “Beach Goths”). Current members of Wavves also include Alex Gates (guitar, backing vocals) and Stephen Pope (bass guitar, backing vocals). Wavves’ eponymous debut album appeared in September 2008. Their third album King of the Beach received generally positive reviews and was the first to enter the U.S. charts, climbing to no. 28 and no. 168 on the Billboard Independent Albums and 200 charts, respectively. Hideaway, co-written by Williams and producer Dave Sitek, is the title track of Wavves‘ upcoming seventh studio album slated for July 16. The tune was released as the third upfront single on June 8.

The Murlocs/Bittersweet Demons

The Murlocs are a rock band from Melbourne, Australia, which was founded in 2011. Their current line-up features Ambrose Kenny-Smith (vocals, harmonica), Cal Shortal (guitar), Tim Karmouche (keyboards), Cook Craig (bass) and Matt Blach (drums). Kenny-Smith and Craig are also members of fellow Aussie act King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. Both bands also share the same label, Flightless Records. On their Bandcamp profile, The Murlocs describe their music as “firmly placed in their own blown-out, distorted brand of soulful RnB.” After two EPs in 2012, the band released their first full-length studio album Loopholes in April 2014. Rolling On, the second single from September 2015 off their sophomore album Young Blindness, marked a breakthrough for The Murlocs and remains one of their most popular songs. Their third and fourth albums from July 2017 and March 2019, respectively, reached the top 20 on the main Australian music charts. Bittersweet Demons, credited to The Murlocs, is the title track of the band’s upcoming fifth studio album set for release on June 25. According to this review by Melodic Magazine, the piano-driven tune was inspired by the death of a close friend of Kenny-Smith. I dig the catchy melody and the cool retro sound.

Benjamin Francis Leftwich/Full Full Colour

Benjamin Francis Leftwich is a singer-songwriter from York, England. According to his Apple Music profile, he is known for his introspective, acoustic folk sound. Leftwich emerged in 2011 with Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm, which peaked at number 35 on the U.K. Albums Chart. He continued to hone his melancholic brand of acoustic folk-pop on subsequent efforts like After the Rain (2016) and To Carry a Whale (2021), which drew similar acclaim and elicited comparisons to the likes of Jose Gonzalez and Iron & Wine. Born in York in 1989 to South African and Australian parents, Leftwich lived a nomadic childhood, spending as much time in Sydney as in his native U.K. Inspired by Elliott Smith and Bruce Springsteen, he taught himself to play the guitar at age ten, and fronted indie pop outfit the Nicoles in his teens before embarking on a solo career. The above mentioned To Carry a Whale is Leftwich’s fourth full-length studio album released yesterday (June 18). Here’s the closer Full Full Colour co-written by him and fellow English musician Samuel Duckworth. The track was also previously released as a single on May 14. It’s a lovely mellow tune!

Reigning Sound/Let’s Do It Again

Reigning Sound are a rock and soul band founded in Memphis, Tenn. in 2001 by garage punk musician Greg Cartwright (vocals/ guitar). Apple Music describes them as blending “the hot wired energy of garage rock with the deep emotional resonance of classic soul music in a manner that suggests a cross between the early Rolling Stones and the Sonics.” Cartwright is also known for his involvement in Compulsive Gamblers and Oblivians, two other Memphis garage rock bands. Reigning Sound’s lineup has changed over the years. After their first single Two Sides to Every Man from early 2001, the band released Break Up, Break Down, their country folk-oriented debut album in May of the same year. Let’s Do It Again is the seductive opener of Reigning Sound’s eight and new studio album A Little More Time with Reigning Sound that came out on May 21. According to this Pitchfork review, it reunites Cartwright with Alex Greene (organ, guitar, backing vocals), Jeremy Scott (bass, backing vocals) and Greg Roberson (drums), the band’s lineup before Cartwright relocated to Ashville, N.C. in 2004 where he has since been based.

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; Murlocs Bandcamp profile; Melodic Magazine; Pitchfork; YouTube

Best of What’s New

After the unprecedented events we witnessed in this country earlier this week, it feels somewhat surreal to blog about something completely unrelated. At the same time, the fact new music keeps coming out is reassuring to me. In fact, music has always had a degree of healing power during challenging times and provided a welcome distraction. While ignoring reality can be dangerous, I believe occasionally escaping from it is a good thing to clear your mind and gather strength.

I’m very excited about this week’s Best of What’s New installment, which features indie and country singer-songwriters, a young incredibly talented vintage soul vocalist who knocked my socks off and…well, you’ll need to continue reading to find out yourself. All of this great music was just released yesterday (January 8).

Denison Witmer/River of Music

Dension Witmer is a singer-songwriter from Lancaster, Pa. According to his artist profile on Apple Music, Tagged by many music journalists as one of the most likely songwriters to fill the void left by Elliott Smith in the acoustic indie singer/songwriter movement, [he] catalogs the experiences of young adulthood in almost painfully honest detail. With a soft and sensitive voice that perfectly matches his laid-back 1970s California pop production and subtly expressive guitar work, he has gone from writing in his journal to becoming an intimate of like-minded artists like Damien Jurado and Pedro the Lion over the span of a few albums. Growing up in Lancaster, PA, Witmer picked up the guitar at the age of 16 and was soon showing enough promise to draw the interest of the Innocence Mission’s Don Peris. As Peris became Witmer’s musical mentor, he would oversee and play guitar and keyboard on his apprentice’s first recordings, 2000’s River Bends EP and the much-heralded Safe Away. Here’s the great River of Music, a track from Witmer’s new EP American Foursquare (Simplified). It surely feels good listening to his soothing voice and beautiful guitar-playing. And the lyrics about the power of music perfectly illustrate what I wrote in the intro of this post.

Morgan Wallen/Livin’ the Dream

Country music singer-songwriter Morgan Wallen, who hails from the tiny Tennessee town of Sneedville (about 250 miles east of Nashville), first gained some prominence as a contestant on season 6 of The Voice in 2014. While Wallen didn’t make it to the final, his stint eventually led to a deal with Panacea Records and his debut EP Stand Alone from August 2015. Wallen switched to Big Loud Records thereafter and released his first full-length studio album If I Know Me in April 2018. Livin’ the Dream is a track from his sophomore release Dangerous: The Double Album. This double album features a hefty 30 tunes, many prominent country songwriters and a guest appearance by Chris Stapleton. Livin’ the Dream, a tale about life as a “rock star,” was co-written by Wallen, Ben Burgess, Jacob Durrett and Michael Wilson Hardy, aka Hardy.

Barry Gibb/To Love Somebody

Yep, that’s Barry Gibb, formerly of the Bee Gees. I recently covered them in a four-part series here (part 1), here (part 2), here (part 3) and here (part 4). All I’d like to say in this post is if you think the Bee Gees were just a disco band, I’d encourage to take a closer look at their music or read my series. Was it necessary for Gibb, the group’s only surviving member, to come out with Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers’ Songbook, Vol 1., an album of newly recorded versions of mostly famous Bee Gees songs? Probably not – on the other hand, why not! The Bee Gees’ catalog is full with well crafted songs. Co-written by Barry Gibb and Robin Gibb, To Love Somebody is among my favorite early Bee Gees tunes. It initially appeared on Bee Gees’ 1st, the group’s first internationally released full-length studio album that was released in July 1967 in the UK and appeared the following month in the U.S. The newly recorded version features Jay Buchanan, lead vocalist of American rock band Rival Sons. The album also includes many other guests, mostly from country music, a favorite genre of Barry’s, such as Little Big Town, Dolly Parton and Sheryl Crow. Be cynical about it, if you like. I dig and stand behind these songs and the Bee Gees!

Aaron Frazer/ If I Got It (Your Love Brought It)

According to his website, Aaron Frazer is a Brooklyn-based, Baltimore-raised songwriter [who] first came into the international spotlight as multi-instrumentalist and co-lead singer for Durand Jones & The Indications. He penned some of the group’s most notable tracks, including ‘Morning In America,’ and sang lead on ‘Is It Any Wonder?’ – the latter an instant sweet soul classic anchored by Aaron’s falsetto, which caught the ear of producer and Black Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach…Soft-spoken with the look of a slightly disaffected 1950s matinee idol, Aaron Frazer possesses a unique voice that’s both contemporary and timeless. His higher register conveys a wide emotional palate and a progressive worldview in the tradition of musical masterminds like Curtis Mayfield. While Aaron’s stirring falsetto and thoughtful songwriting have made him established in the world of revival soul music, he refuses to be pigeonholed. That falsetto is in beautiful action on If I Got It (Your Love Brought It), a tune from Aaron’s debut album Introducing…, which was produced by Auerbach. The song was co-written by Frazer, Auerbach and David Ferguson. So good! check it out!

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; Aaron Frazer website; YouTube