While we highly recommend purchasing everything from everyone who has ever played here we’re featuring these three records which were released in the last few weeks.
Brown Bird – buy “Salt for Salt” from their Bandcamp page
An example of haunting classicist folk from artists who know what they’re talking about, Salt for Salt is hands down the best folk album I’ve heard this year, stunningly arranged and executed. This album is a spectacular example of what can be done within the framework of traditional music to push it into the headphones of a new generation, without falling victim to incongruous stabs of modernity. It also signals the fully-formed arrival of Brown Bird as a band you’ll be hearing a great deal from in the future.
— PopMatters
Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps – buy “Little Wind” from the artists website
The Good Night Sleeps provide fantastically crisp and pleasant backing for Caroline Smith, who’s voice (a sort of mixture of Jolie Holland, Charity Rose Thielen from The Head and The Heart and Sallie Ford) is the star of the album. It stuns and disarms on the haunting ‘Eagle’s Nest,’ manages to sound sweetly dangerous on ‘Denim Boy’ and bursts and blooms perfectly on standout ‘Calliope.’ Little Wind is a collection of songs that shows a band trying different approaches and styles while always remaining true to their core sound, that of a refreshingly honest and sincere indie pop band.
— Visible Voice
Dan Mangan – buy from Dan’s Store
Oh Fortune is an excellent record, expansive in scope yet efficiently delivered and both musically and lyrically rich. No, there’s nothing as immediate as “Robots” but in lieu of that degree of immediacy, you get songs that continue to reveal themselves over repeated listens. Oh Fortune confirms Mangan as one of this country’s best new songwriters and, as a bonus, forces those who’d seek to dismiss him as too conventional to find a new line of criticism. Maybe that he’s too tall. Because he’s pretty tall.
— Chrome Waves