1. Dustin Mayle (Navarra, Ohio) – Your Dog
Dustin Mayle is a Midwest singer-songwriter who blends mythology with the mundane. Dustin writes out of emotional necessity, and often the songs are sprung from journal entries he puts simple guitar pickings to.
I loved many of his recent songs (e.g. Saturn’s Last Ring, New Heaven) and Your Dog is another folk gem! Once again he shows great talent and creativity. This one is from his upcoming record and I can’t wait for more!
Dustin Mayle on his inspirations: My influences are usually somewhat introspective people. Jason Molina was able to write archaic midwestern songs with an introspective core, and it just devastated me. That’s exactly how I felt. So, he was a big inspiration. Adrianne Lenker is the greatest songwriter today. She can’t write a song that doesn’t make me feel every emotion a human deserves to feel. (FULL INTERVIEW)
Last week: 8th
2. Grocer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) – Golden Sedan
Grocer is a band from Philadelphia. Lead by three distinct vocalists, each with a unique voice both on and off their respective instruments, they flicker between moments of brash chromaticism, saccharine pop sensibility, and rhythmic acrobatics.
Golden Sedan is from their new record Bless Me and to be truly honest, it didn’t immediately catch my attention upon first listen, but gradually the song became more and more appealing and enjoyable. I love those raw emotions…!
Grocer on their new album: New record was written and recorded last summer. The writing process is pretty collaborative and we are always trying to be more collaborative with our songwriting. We recorded all of the songs live in our basement, and then sent the tracks to Nate Amos (Water From Your Eyes, This Is Lorelei) to mix them. (FULL INTERVIEW)
Last week: 15th
3. Conflict at Serenity Pools (LA, California) – Graduate
Conflict at Serenity Pools, or CASP for short, is from Venice Beach, California and resides in Los Angeles, with a few collaborators elsewhere.
I admire how prolific he is, he consistently produces a large amount of really great music. His new EP is called Lemon Fiction, it includes 4 tracks and I highly recommend it!
CASP on writing process: In terms of writing it’s a complete hodgepodge. I usually just start with a place of I want to do this. Like I want to do something that is GUITAR, and like urrggghhhh. Like it’s an emotion or an energy level. And then it’s just an accumulation of this. And often it’s spaced out, sometimes over years, and so maybe one idea started a bit urrrggghh, but then I come back to it half asleep at 2 am, and I’m like why are you so urggghhh, let’s calm down and fall asleep. I think if there’s anything I ever want to do with this, it’s make songs that pull you in different directions, which is often how I feel in life anyways. I’m going one way and the other way at the same time. My favorite music does this too. (FULL INTERVIEW)
Last week: (new)
4. Swash (Copenhagen, Denmark) – Half Step
Indie rock band out of Copenhagen, Denmark. They write songs that are simultaneously noisy and melodic, impulsive yet catchy. Their sound is dominated by loud guitars and slack vocals, inspired by the tradition of American lo-fi indie rock.
Swash on their new EP: “We recorded the songs in our practice space which is located in an old bunker from the Cold War era. The room has these curved concrete walls, so sound resonates really weirdly in there, and you can’t really stand up straight either. It’s not an ideal place to record, but it’s been the “home” of the band for quite a few years, so we’ve learned to make it somewhat work.” (FULL INTERVIEW)
Last week: 3rd
5. Luce Rushton (London, UK) – Tiny Car
Luce Rushton (formerly TV Room) is a London-based multi-instrumentalist. In between playing as a session musician for Girl Ray and Sophie May, this is Luce’s venture into an empathetic and intimate world.
Luce Rushton on songwriting: I like to pick up ideas for lyrics day to day during conversations or when something comes to mind and I write them down. Then normally, I am playing guitar and find a riff or a set of chords I like and then I decide what the theme of the song is about by getting inspiration from the notes i’ve gathered or thinking about whatever is most on my mind. (FULL INTERVIEW)
Last week: (new)
6. I’d’ve – Upstream Downriver
7. LEOBLU – full moon & snow boots
8. Slow Code – Whale Eye
9. Zoya Zafar – Clumsy
10. The First Eloi – Hide & Seek
12. Alex Sanders – another day
14. Work Wear – 64
15. Vireo – Cloudgazers
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