DAVE VAN RONK - Down In Washington Square: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection

With track-by-track liner notes and selections spanning his entire career (from early live recordings made in 1958 through to his final studio recordings in 2001), Down In Washington Square is a fitting and thorough summation of a key figure in (and mentor to) the Greenwich Village folk/blues revival of the late '50s/early '60s, and the inspiration for the title character of the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis (the T-Bone Burnett-produced soundtrack for which is set to be released next week). On a related note, Van Ronk's autobiography/memoir The Mayor of MacDougal Street is a recommended read for anyone looking to learn more about this grizzled growler and fine fingerpicker. 

"[His] large personality is what made Van Ronk a central figure in the '60s Greenwich Village scene and folk song revival, and that influence found its way to fellow folkies like Phil Ochs, Suzanne Vega and Bob Dylan. There's an anecdote in the Dylan documentary No Direction Home that's repeated in the booklet here about how the emerging singer learned his version of 'House of the Rising Son' from Van Ronk, and how Dylan asked Van Ronk if he could record it. Van Ronk said that he'd rather Dylan didn't since he had his own plans to record it soon. The problem was Dylan had already recorded it.

Van Ronk said he had to stop performing it live because people thought he was ripping off Dylan, but eventually they both had to stop after people thought they were ripping off The Animals. 'Rising Sun' is included here, along with a host of other songs that have appeared and reappeared in one version or another in various places by other singers." - American Songwriter

THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA - I'll Find A Way / VOLCANO CHOIR - Repave

Those anxiously awaiting the next Bon Iver album can tide themselves over with these excellent new Justin Vernon projects. We're especially enjoying his production work on the Blind Boys of Alabama record with songs boasting guest vocal turns from Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), Sam Amidon, Merrill Garbus (tUnE-yArDs) and Justin himself on the ethereal cover of Dylan's "Every Grain Of Sand".

"Insouciance isn’t a gospel word, yet that’s what makes the Justin Vernon-produced I’ll Find A Way so engaging. Here, the iconic Blind Boys Of Alabama sound more joyful, jubilant and ready than ever, their faith a source of palpable euphoria, whether laced with tuba, tambourine or resonator guitar.

The Bon Iver leader makes Way a progressive, rootsy affair. As a drum echoes hollow and the piano sustains and spreads like a sunset, Vernon’s reverence permeates Bob Dylan's 'Every Grain of Sand.' What reads as a match made as generational marketing becomes an intersection of faith from different realms. Elegant and elevated, believing’s universality becomes a bond." - Paste

"Over a year after its well-received release in September 2009, a decision was made to adapt Unmap to live performance and to tour Japan, after which it was clear that Volcano Choir existed as a fully-formed entity. There would be another record, but as with Unmap, there was no timeline. There were writing sessions that continued for years, sometimes within a couple of months of one another, sometimes within half of a year between November 2010 and March 2013.

Repave brings Volcano Choir into sharp focus. The glitch-laden, cautious presentation of the band's previous work serves as points of both reference and departure across these eight songs, the product of growing conviction and trust, of a fully-operational band, gifted in shading and nuance, and rumbling with power" - Jagjaguwar

DEVON SPROULE & MIKE O'NEILL - Colours / DOUG TIELLI - Keresley

Coventry, England's Tin Angel Records has spent the past few years pooling the talents of a particular pocket of players within Toronto's leftfield folk/pop-rock/jazz-improv underground, and Colours (a follow-up to Sproule's 2011 effort I Love You Go Easy, likewise produced by Sandro Perri and recorded at T.O.'s 6 Nassau studio) and Keresley (named after the village near Coventry where Tielli temporarily resided, shaping this second solo album after missing a flight back home) are the newest results of this cross-Atlantic cultural exchange.

"Colours features an all-star Toronto band including guitar and synth wiz Thom Gill, a rhythm section borrowed from the R&B project Bernice (Robin Dann on vocals, Philip Melanson on drums and Dan Fortin on bass) and Sandro Perri at the production helm. Considering how long these two Ontarians have been away from home, Colours is decidedly a product of Toronto. The city, the songs and the ensemble have knocked these two established artists off balance and right into their element.

Hints of African high life, British folk, free improvisation, Brazilian spirituals and blue-eyed soul gracefully come together in Doug Tielli's second release, Keresley. The record is a wide spray of textures, dynamics and styles and feels unified by Doug’s fluid voice and musicianship. Voice, guitar, percussion and brass don't just outline a melody; they resonate as one with grace and simplicity. Doug Tielli uses his songs to translate the natural and the un-natural world around him." - Tin Angel Records

GOLDFRAPP - Tales Of Us

Those listeners most partial to the ornately orchestrated aspects of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory's work are in luck this year, as Tales Of Us sees the pair once again ditching the disco glam (with "Thea"'s trudging stomp being the closest they get to a dance number here) and returning to the folk-inflected feel of Seventh Tree and the sombre, soundtracks-influenced side of their debut Felt Mountain.

"While The Singles showed how diverse Goldfrapp have been over the course of their career, each of their albums has its own aesthetic. Tales Of Us' aesthetic is striking; noticeably starker than anything they've made before, its orchestral string arrangements nudge up alongside atmospheric, gently played acoustic guitars. Alison Goldfrapp's voice is given plenty of space in which to seduce. An immediate standout is 'Drew,' which sees those light, airy vocals complementing cinematic orchestral swells to create a romantic, sultry, and atmospheric song that sells Goldfrapp—not for the first time—as ideal candidates to make the next Bond theme song." - MusicOMH

"The delicate guitar and piano figures and the sombre languor of strings behind Alison Goldfrapp's breathy vocals create something akin to a cross between the dreamlike mythopoeism of old folk tales and the lush cinematic arrangements of Michel Legrand. Painted in subtle poetic strokes, the tales deal even-handedly with tragedy, desire and betrayal; the characters trapped in Gordian quandaries rooted in their own natures. Especially beautiful is 'Clay,' whose true story of a tragic wartime gay romance is blessed with a heart-stoppingly euphoric melody." - The Independent

SARAH SISKIND - Covered

Justin Vernon's Chigliak imprint chugs along at an appreciably leisurely release pace with only its second reissue title to date, one that clearly made quite an impression on Vernon when he first heard it, and with good reason, as Sarah Siskind's debut is one of the most intruiging roots-tinged pop/singer-songwriter records we've heard in some time.

"Although it was initially intended as a national release, then 22-year-old Sarah Siskind's 2003 debut album, Covered, produced by Tucker Martine and featuring contributions from guitarist Bill Frisell and the Story's Jennifer Kimball, was eventually released independently that same year when Siskind became suddenly ill and was unable to tour widely and support the album. Several surgeries later, Siskind got her career back on track, but, Covered, although it was a strikingly unique album, has never quite gotten the attention it should have. Sparse, unhurried, and atmospheric, helped immeasurably by Frisell's exact and appropriate guitar playing and centered around Siskind's subtle, literate, and often haunting songs, the album doesn't seem to belong to any era, which gives it a kind of patient power now ten years later...Ten years on, Covered is still an impressive and coherent debut, with songs that fit together like patches in a patchwork quilt, each gathering strength from the others." - Allmusic

MICHAEL FENNELLY - Love Can Change Everything: Demos 1967-1972

As also recently occurred in the case of Drag City's Chris Darrow reissue at the beginning of this year, here's another instance of overdue solo exposure for an underappreciated late-'60s/early-'70s Californian singer-songwriter.

"Hollywood’s Sunset Strip was fertile breeding ground for folk-rock songwriters on the make during the mid-'60s. One of these kids with an acoustic guitar jumped right into a historically important album project within weeks of his arrival. Michael Fennelly quickly became one-seventh of The Millennium, who produced Begin, a lush audio carpetorium of an album that found a cult audience upon its reissue thirty years later. After the Millennium shattered, Fennelly jumped directly into his next effort, the power-pop legends Crabby Appleton. Love Can Change Everything: Demos 1967-1972 charts the development of Fennelly as a songwriter. Starting with his earliest demos produced during the Millennium era and closing with stripped-down renditions of his Crabby Appleton songs, Love Can Change Everything makes the argument for Fennelly as a power-pop legend." - Sundazed

JERRY MOORE - Life Is A Constant Journey Home

A near-dead ringer for the late Terry Callier in his early New Folk Sound days, Life Is A Constant Journey Home is another predominantly guitar-and-vocal/song-based surprise from the ESP-Disk archives to perhaps enjoy alongside the likewise-underheard Michael Gregory Jackson album Clarity.

"This 1967 reissue is definitely of its time. Recorded shortly before his ordination as a preacher, Jerry Moore's Life Is A Constant Journey Home is a meditative plea for peace and faith, delivered in a smooth plaintive voice and utilizing many of the familiar folk, country, soul and light blues styles of the era. Moore’s message is subtly Christian, but its overtly compassionate and fiery defense of love is certainly all-inclusive. With its light, soulful blues and gently chiding lyrics, the title song opens things up with a mellow but edgy tone. This is a call to wake up, a search for a fast track to insight and redemption." - Music Emissions

VA - Enjoy The Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992

Running the gamut from oddball entertainers attempting to capture/recreate their live act for posterity to home-recording outsiders hoping to create an LP-sized business card of sorts, this 2CD set documents the US private-press phenomenon in all its strange, colourful, varied and unvarnished wonder!

"[W]hile now one can upload content to platforms where it can be found with little effort by millions for free, from the late 1950s to the early '90s, aspiring stars paid out of their own pockets to press their music on vinyl. And then, without distribution, radio play, buzz or press coverage, their music languished in basements or crawlspaces, accruing dust and mold. It is the spirit of the latter that inspired the art book Enjoy the Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992, released this month by Sinecure Books in conjunction with New York's Boo-Hooray art gallery, with a companion 2-CD set of some of the choicest bits." - NPR

"Take note: this is not a novelty freak show. Contained in this anthology are examples of some of the most highly regarded rock, soul, jazz, funk and singer/songwriter albums from the '60s through to the early '80s. From the awkward-yet-talented to the genius-yet-bizarre, one thing unites all musicians presented here: they sincerely hoped to become stars, they committed themselves to record, and they left themselves vulnerable to an industry not understanding of nuance, not appreciative of character." - Now-Again

MICHAEL HURLEY - Armchair Boogie/Hi Fi Snock Uptown

Following limited-edition vinyl pressings of both these albums by Mississippi Records, Light In The Attic's new Future Days imprint has now remastered these second and third records in Michael Hurley's storied but long-unavailable discography, originally respectively released in 1971/72 on The Youngbloods' Warner Bros.-distributed Raccoon label. Snock on [mouth trumpet solo]!

"The semi-reclusive Hurley is best known these days for high-profile reissues from Light In The Attic and Mississippi, as well as his association with Devendra Banhart and Vetiver. But he rose to a strange sort of fame in the '60s via his association with outsider folk acts The Holy Modal Rounders and The Youngbloods. He then struck out on his own and released Armchair Boogie and Hi Fi Snock Uptown, masterpieces of left-field Americana characterized by Hurley's brilliant, offbeat guitar playing and creeping insanity. This is the first time either album has been reissued on CD, and in typical Light In The Attic fashion, they come remastered with thoughtful accoutrements. For example, a Hurley-helmed comic book accompanies Armchair Boogie. Hurley's drawings—which also grace the album covers—are good indicators of his music: nonsensical, non-linear, funny, warm, and somehow familiar." - Ad Hoc

STEVE GUNN - Time Off

A melodiously drony set of boogie-folk by a fellow who's currently turning heads as guitar slinger-for-hire with Kurt Vile and the Violators, after years of plugging away in the psych underground with a discography that includes multiple releases for Digitalis and Three Lobed Recordings. Highly recommended, and likely to appeal across a wide swath of listeners.
 

"Even when Gunn fries up an electric solo on 'New Decline,' the drums are mixed to the back like silverware being thrashed around a bar kitchen. His sly, muted vocals disintegrate and replenish as they please. Dynamics or structure are not a major concern; these songs sound happy to just get the ignition working...'Found a spot to kill time and look around,' he sings, and that's what Time Off sounds like: a resting place, both for the riffs that this sideman needed to exorcise and a comfy little alcove for us to hear them played, with care and patience." - SPIN  

"[Time Off] bathes in gauzy pastoral hues and rippling guitars, and Gunn’s voice is distant and ethereal, but don’t mistake that vibe and the album’s title for some sort of slacker folk. Instead, this stuff meditates and digs, with slow rotations, grinding through the dusty surfaces it creates." - PopMatters 

RUTHANN FRIEDMAN - Windy: A Ruthann Friedman songbook

Water's 2006 reissue of Friedman's only proper album, Constant Companion, was a store fave as far as that year's batch of rediscoveries went, so we're very excited that Now Sounds has found even more breezily cerebral, well-arranged soft-pop/folk from someone who should have been as well-known as the likes of Laura Nyro and Carly Simon.  

"Having written The Association’s 'Windy' while living in David Crosby’s basement, Ruthann Friedman remained an intriguing and mysterious figure of '60s pop for decades. Until recently, her released output consisted of a lone folk album issued in 1970. Unbelievably, many fascinating recordings she created with some of the most revered names in West Coast pop have remained locked away in the vaults…until now!" - Cherry Red

SEAN NICHOLAS SAVAGE - Other Life / DIRTY BEACHES - Drifters/Love Is The Devil

As anyone who saw him play here during recent NXNE festivities can attest to, Sean Nicolas Savage is a magnetic performer, whose off-the-cuff, quasi-karaoke, romantically rebellious songbook (mainly documented via cassettes and downloads, until now) has influenced enough hometown peers to have inspired an entire covers collection. With its tales of heartbreak and renewal, the first half of Other Life is especially lyrically devastating.

Meanwhile, fellow Montrealer Alex Zhang Hungtai's sophomore full-length sees him retain his Alan Vega-influenced croon, while replacing the loops and samples of his debut Badlands with an array of live-played, distorted drum machines and synths that, while naturally indebted to Suicide, also inventively and soulfully nods to a wide variety of related dark/outsider music of 30+ years past, from coldwave and industrial post-punk à la Cabaret Voltaire to the 'electronic body music' of DAF. 

STEVE TILSTON - An Acoustic Confusion

We're really looking forward to further acquainting ourselves with this 1971 debut, an album that's grabbed the ears of many a staffer here ever since we cracked open a copy out of curiosity. Hopefully you'll be as excited as us upon hearing An Acoustic Confusion, a set stacked with equally arresting vocals and solo guitar accompaniment that honestly rival the likes of Bert Jansch and Davey Graham!

"An Acoustic Confusion was recorded in the early winter of 1971. Tilston tells of how the heat in the house where the album was recorded broke down from time to time, so he was forced to record with a fur coat and freezing fingers. Not the best conditions for the 20-year-old Tilston, but he managed to make magic there, assembling an album of ten beautiful, personal, catchy and haunting songs with fantastic lyrics, and a terrific level of composition.

All the songs have a big cloud of inspiration from Jansch/Renbourn/Jones/Graham, but it's also a very solid and strong personal statement for the young musician. He avoids the Drake melancholy, the Jones humor, and the Jansch darkness. He’s closer to Paul Simon and Al Stewart in his songwriting than the fathers of his inspiration." - Sunday's Child

ANGEL OLSEN - Half Way Home / JESSICA PRATT - S/T

A pair of impressive debuts by two young singer-songwriters whose albums were both originally released on vinyl this past fall, only to each now be re-released on CD as well.

"The mid-aughts freak-folk moment found artists and fans blurring the boundaries between past and present and seeking out kindred spirits across time, which made it an abundant season for folk reissues. Linda Perhacs' Parallelograms, Karen Dalton's In My Own Time, and Sibylle Baier's Colour Green, to name just a few, all got their long-delayed, much-deserved days in record store windows. And now, after an unhurried half-decade gestation period, 2012 felt like the year we started to hear the debut records from some of the young artists who scooped those reissues up.

One such record is Missouri native Angel Olsen's excellent debut LP Half Way Home. Her songs are struck through with poetic macabre ('I thought this time last year I'd be dead/ It's quite strange the thoughts that pop into your head') and showcase a tortured, warbling croon that sounds like Vashti Bunyan leading a seance to commune with Roy Orbison. San Francisco's Jessica Pratt calls upon similar influences but makes music that feels like a counterpoint to Olsen's. As with Baier, the simplicity and affectlessness of Pratt's tranquil tunes are precisely what make them so hypnotic." - Pitchfork

SAM AMIDON - Bright Sunny South

As fans of Sam since the pair of albums he recorded for Iceland's Bedroom Community label (2008's All Is Well and 2010's I See The Sign), we were very excited to hear of his signing to Nonesuch; similar to the case of Devendra Banhart's impressive effort for them earlier this year with Mala, Amidon has stepped up to the major-label plate and delivered what could be his best record yet, with thoughtful, sparse arrangements and a set of adaptations (both trad and not-so-trad) sung with graceful restraint.

"Throughout the record, there’s an underlying tension between what Amidon is singing and the means of his delivery—a melancholic feeling allowed to take root in the spaces between the thin arrangements...The result is his most emotionally and tonally complex LP to date. With Bright Sunny South, Amidon has taken a huge step forward as a folk artist, creating arrangements which preserve his musicianship, while deepening the maturity of his interpretive skills." - Drowned In Sound

"Amidon describes Bright Sunny South as a 'a lonesome record' and a return to the more spare sound of his 2007 self-recorded debut, But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted: 'There was an atmospheric quality to my last two records; those albums are like a garden of sounds,' says Amidon, 'but this one is more of a journey, a winding path. The band comes rushing in and then they disappear. It comes from more of a darker, internal space.'" - Nonesuch

JIM GUTHRIE - Takes Time / MICHAEL FEUERSTACK - Tambourine Death Bed

Two of this region's most admired indie-rock singer-songwriters return with new releases this week, as Jim Guthrie releases his follow-up to 2003's Now, More Than Ever and Mike "Michael" Feuerstack makes his first full-length album under his own name after nearly twenty years of recording and touring as Snailhouse.

"Although the sounds Guthrie creates are often airy, nothing was instantaneous in creation. Forget the magnitude of layers Guthrie adds; the key contributors were a discerning ear and patience. Time quickly became an irrelevant factor as Guthrie tried endless combinations of emotion, tone and texture until the final dressing was right. These songs are finished products—even on the most casual listen, you hear complex and complete thoughts. All things considered, the most remarkable aspect of Take Time is that even with Guthrie’s constant tinkering and meticulousness, the end result is a record that breathes deeply and savors each moment." - Herohill

"Even after saying goodbye to his spiral-shelled pseuodonym, Michael Feuerstack keeps the delicate destruction of his work in Snailhouse close by. Tambourine Death Bed, the first record under his own name, sees the indie-folk mainstay managing to keep dazzling and drawing tears with a marvellous, macabre collection of love songs, lust songs and hard-done-by singalongs. Wonderfully fragile, heart-wrenchingly powerful, it’s just what you’d expect from Feuerstack, except with the shell shed from his back, his lyrical penmanship seems that much more like a rousing grasp at something new and clear and less like sombre soliloquizing." - Beatroute

NATHAN ABSHIRE - Master of the Cajun Accordion: The Classic Swallow Recordings

Chronicling this legendary Louisianan's work with both the Pine Grove Boys and Balfa Brothers, Master of the Cajun Accordion is an irresistibly swinging slice of '60s and '70s roots revivalism that's lost none of its joyful vitality over the intervening years.

"After some 20 years, Ace Records' Nathan Abshire 2 LPs-on-1 CD has been totally revamped by John Broven. With stunning new mastering, the track sequencing better reflects the recording chronology in the distinct periods with the Pine Grove Boys and then the Balfa Brothers, with the addition of ‘French Blues’ to complete the Swallow output. The now-sumptuous booklet features an essay by Lyle Ferbrache based on his original research with members and families of Abshire’s Pine Grove Boys; a comprehensive song analysis with sterling contributions from Ann Savoy and Neal Pomea; a first-ever attempt at a discography with personnel; many vintage photographs; and LP and label scans. The end result is one of the most listenable and enjoyable Cajun CD releases ever, by one of the music’s most revered musicians." - Ace Records

TANDYN ALMER - Along Comes Tandyn

Pssst! You, yeah, you! Lookin' for some slightly-delic sunshine pop? Well, has songwriter Tandyn Almer ever got a good strong dose for you! That’s right, Tandyn Almer… Name don't ring a bell, eh? Hmm, maybe you’ve heard one or two of his tunes like "Sail On, Sailor" by The Beach Boys or "Along Comes Mary," a Top 10 smash hit by The Association. Yeah, now you’re gettin' the picture, right?

But if that still ain't the case, it'll come through loud and clear upon listening to this new collection of fifteen previously unreleased mid-'60s demos Almer's publisher sent to potential clients. And yet it's hard to believe that the songs on Along Comes Tandyn (recorded with a number of different musicians and vocalists) are demos, since they don’t quite have the rawness typically found on demo tracks. Coming off somewhat more like a finished product, the album kicks off with the Association-like "Find Yourself." Tougher-sounding pop-rock tunes such as "You Turn Me Around" and its infectious refrain will stick to you like glue from the very first spin, while "Alice Designs" is a not-so-veiled ode to LSD. Dylan-esque folk-rock also makes a welcome appearance on "About Where Love Is," and, speaking of protest songs rockin' the folk, the album wraps up with some social commentary on the Hollywood teen riots of late '66, "Sunset Strip Soliloquy."

While some of the demos here were indeed recorded by various groups, Almer's compositions hardly struck gold. His career was sadly hampered by mental disorders and he passed away this January. This Sundazed release, with its detailed liner notes telling the full tale of Tandyn Almer, fittingly provides a testimonial to his considerable melodic talents. Available on CD and vinyl, it should appeal both to fans of Californian '60s pop and, for that matter, anyone who loves well-crafted tunes from any era.

DANIEL ROMANO - Come Cry With Me

On this, his third solo outing, Welland, Ontario's Daniel Romano finally fully embraces his love of classic country music in the vein of George Jones, Hank Williams, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Signed on with a new record label, Normaltown Records (a subsidary of New West), it's his most accomplished release to date, sure to satisfy his fans and make him plenty of new ones.

"In tracing the evolution of former Attack in Black singer Daniel Romano as a classic country songwriter, one can hear the steady formation of a distinct sonic landscape pulsing hard and true through the veins of that heart wrenching, '70's-era honky tonk sound. Building from his solo debut, Workin' for the Music Man (2010), to Sleep Beneath the Willow (2011), this landscape has become so vivid, so exquisitely entrenched in bygone lyricism and traditional arrangements that with a title like Come Cry with Me, listeners know exactly where Romano is taking them." - Exclaim

"Daniel Romano, hailing not from the south but the great white north—Ontario, to be exact—may not have been raised in the Tennessee countryside or Texas plains, but his knack for broken-hearted trad-county songs that pay tribute to Gram Parsons and Hank Williams is fairly uncanny for someone surrounded more by ice hockey than honky-tonks. Coming from a thin, 27-year-old Canadian whose only connection to the genre is from his grandparents (big country radio fans), and who used to play in an indie punk-band, this could all come off as a little eyeroll-inducing if it weren’t so well executed. It’s a fine line between revival and parody, and he walks it well, cowboy boots and all." - American Songwriter

DEL SHANNON - Home & Away

Del Shannon was the hardest-rocking teen idol of the early '60s, but had no trouble updating his style as the decade wore on. By 1967, he found himself in England recording this orchestrated pop-rock gem, produced by Andrew Loog Oldham.

"[D]espite its lofty ambitions of being a British answer to Pet Sounds, this LP didn't see release as scheduled in 1967. It took more than a decade for Home & Away to surface, and it’s recently been reissued as a remastered CD from Now Sounds.

Though the new Home & Away is a most welcome release, the oft-quoted Pet Sounds analogy isn’t quite appropriate.  Though Home & Away and the Beach Boys' classic are both orchestrated pop albums, Pet Sounds was an intensely personal vision both musically and lyrically–that of Brian Wilson and his chief lyrical collaborator, Tony Asher. Home & Away was the work of numerous pop songwriting teams from Oldham’s Immediate Records stable. Not that there’s anything shameful about an immaculately crafted collection of largely original pop songs, which is what Home & Away is; the high quality of these tracks, sung passionately by Shannon and arranged pristinely by Arthur Greenslade, will make you wah-wah-wonder why the album was initially shelved in the first place." - The Second Disc