VA - Dark Was The Night

This 2CD compilation, curated by The National's Aaron and Bryce Dessner, sounded exciting at first. Maybe you thought "Oh, wow! There are all sorts of my favourite indie rockers on this thing!", and then worried "But wait, maybe it's all hype...", but then downloaded it anyway, just because you had to know. Well, whether it was the pressure of sharing a tracklist with so many of-the-now acts or just because everyone really gave a damn about the cause, this comp is actually very worthy of a listen, with interesting collaborations (Feist with Grizzly Bear, Bright Eyes with Gillian Welch, Dirty Projectors with David Byrne, Bon Iver and Antony each pairing up with a Dessner brother) and a fine selection of cover tunes (TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek fuzzes over The Troggs; The Books and Jose Gonzalez together make a nice Nick Drake; and Kronos Quartet instrumentalize Blind Willie Johnson for the title track). So, after sorting through all your favourite interpretations and co-written exclusives, you remember that this is a Red Hot record and all net proceeds go to benefit AIDS prevention and awareness, and then maybe decide to buy it.  

M. WARD - Hold Time

After a decade of releasing modern rustic ballads, rockers and instrumentals, and following some considerable success sitting squarely in the producer's seat for the She & Him project with Zooey Deschanel, M. Ward dials in an assured and accomplished effort on Hold Time. Whether employing heart-tugging string arrangements and wall-of-sound tympanies when merited, or simply stripping things down to let his slapbacked storytelling come to the fore, this latest transistor transmission's a strong signal that Ward will not fade away anytime soon.  

ALELA DIANE - To Be Still

I remember hearing "Age Old Blues" on a Daytrotter session; when it was over I picked up the phone and called my Nan. The song's lyrics evoked the town in Scotland that my Nan grew up in so clearly and beautifully that it made me miss her. That is the sign of a skilled storyteller, one who can create songs that have a magical three-dimensional sound powerful enough to transport the listener somewhere else, slowing down time and creating moments of reflection. The title of this follow-up to 2006's The Pirate's Gospel is quite fitting, as Diane's voice creates a sense of stillness, telling tales of a past where the hills were greener and the thunder of the ocean ran through the veins of many. These stories are given texture and character with the addition of mandolins, banjos and fiddles, but Alela's voice remains To Be Still's driving force.

BRUCE PENINSULA - A Mountain Is A Mouth

Anyone who has had the opportunity to see Toronto's Bruce Peninsula play live knows the power this group holds. Their sheer performance energy has, of late, been entrancing live audiences all over the city and beyond. At first listen, A Mountain Is A Mouth may not seem to do this experience justice, limited as it is by its own static medium. Still, standout tracks like "Weave Myself A Dress" and "Crabapples" showcase the subtleties in the band's characteristically engaging songwriting, raw lead vocals, and massive yet meticulous choral arrangements. Branching out with this release from their beginnings adapting traditional folk songs, these original compositions are a lively new take on an old, beloved sound.

BON IVER - Blood Bank EP

Now that the flood of praise has rushed on these last several months, Justin Vernon delivers a stopgap EP to tide us all over. The title track's maybe the most straight-ahead three-chord rocker in his repertoire, followed by the more familiar-sounding "Beach Baby", a song cut from the same cloth as "Flume" or "Skinny Love". The real breakthroughs, though, may be said to come in the back half of this four-song sequence, as single-line lyrics (backed by "All My Friends"-ied piano pounds on "Babys" [sic], and slathered in autotune on potentially-contentious "Woods") cycle and build cathartically.  

TIMBER TIMBRE - S/T

Timber Timbre has long occupied a place in many hearts--a secret, dark, mysterious place, somewhere near the left ventricle, maybe. His first two releases, Cedar Shakes and Medicinals, were raw, atmosphere-soaked, rural woodsy songwriting at its best. For his latest self-titled set, Taylor Kirk steps calmly out of the wilderness and into the studio. With bold organ lines and warm guitar tones, he once again wows us with his spooky melodies and haunting vocals. Timber Timbre is one of those rare artists who manages absolute continuity between releases, yet adds plenty of variation to keep us fascinated. This album is sure to secure his spot in the old left ventricle, and hopefully finds him nestling into some new hearts, too.

NEIL YOUNG - Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House 1968 (CD/DVD-Audio)

Starting with an on-mic announcement by a concert organizer surprised by an eager turnout, the crowd that packed this small Ann Arbor club on November 9 and 10, 1968, was evidently already hip to the fact that the newly-solo Young (whose self-titled debut was to be released just days later, and whose last show with Buffalo Springfield was just seven months before) had already amassed a heady batch of personal work. The included DVD-audio disc's preview trailer for the complete Archives may be too much of a tease, but this is revelation enough for this year.

ANDRE ETHIER - Born Of Blue Fog

Released suddenly enough that not many yet know it's out locally (the Canada-wide date is Dec 9), this would be Andre Ethier's second confusingly-titled sequel, the sequel in that sense to Secondathallam and rumoured to be followed by a third and final Blue Fog recording already written. The main noticeable difference between this and its On Blue Fog forebear is the strings, which even join in on "Infant King"'s boogie blues. Most, uh, arresting is second-last track "Cop Killer", a ruffneck bummer of a tune whose subject is "ridden into riots" as Ethier laughs at the letdown, shouting out Jay-Z's "99 Problems" and adding the nod to his own problematic, crooned EZ-unease.

ISOBEL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN - Sunday At Devil Dirt

Released as a UK import on V2 back in May, it's perfect timing that Isobel Campbell gets to now share a domestic release date with her old Belle and Sebastian bandmates. For this second collaboration by the pair, the Devil's even more in the details, like "The Raven"'s Lanegan-led "Rubber Room" slapback, "Come On Over (Turn Me On)"'s "Glory Box"/Isaac Hayes-evoking string-draped descending four-note figure, and, maybe most impressively, "Back Burner", an eerie update of Dr. John's classic Gris-Gris voodoo blues.

ARTHUR RUSSELL - Love Is Overtaking Me

The furthest-spanning collection thus far from Russell's archives, Love Is Overtaking Me is a loosely chronological (1974-1990) look at Arthur's most accessible (but no less odd) pop, country and folk songs, often in the vein of James Taylor or Jackson Browne and variously betraying his loves of Randy Travis, Jonathan Richman, and Talking Heads. Whether backed by tamboura and tablas, Van Morrison-like horn charts, pedal steel, DX7 and drum machine, or simply solo cello or acoustic guitar, Russell epitomizes the boundless new-wave/new-music hybrid that fermented in 1980s New York.

JUANA MOLINA - Un Dia

Un Dia's title track has the pedal-twiddling Argentine locking background coos into a groove that later compels her to wail overtop like a polite cross between Gal Costa and OOIOO. Said politesse allows Molina to execute even her kookiest rhythmic ideas without alienating listeners, unlike Yoshimi's aforementioned lot. Claps in threes on the second half of "Lo Dejamos" combine with dryly-picked guitar to provide an avant-lite estro-alternative to Bird Show's astral travels. Like Jose Gonzalez (also of Argentinian heritage), Molina's modern folk is one of the more scenic middles of the road around.

ALEXANDER TUCKER - Portal / ANNE BRIGGS - S/T

 
Cultivating an untrammelled, drony and pagan/Saxon sound (tech-enabled by studio multitracking and live looping, mind you) and singing in a spooked style simpatico with Blue Fog acoustic doomer Wyrd Visions, Alexander Tucker's tunes likewise harness near-metal mystic sustain, married to chugging strings and repetitive fingerpicked figures, causing each song to come off like an ancient introverted war cry, or some modern mead-hall thrash troubadour.

Far less amplified or obtuse, around forty years back and a few branches over in the olde English and Scottish ballad traditions, Anne Briggs' self-titled 1971 album shows why she's considered one of the most important post-war British folk-revival interpreters, and a clear influence on many of Tucker's peers, especially the offhand acapella efforts of Richard Youngs. Fairport fans who haven't yet heard Briggs' debut should check her wildly different takes on Liege & Lief's "Reynardine" and "Tam Lin" (as the variant "Young Tambling"), and the Irish version of "The Cuckoo" she sings bares little resemblance to the one passed down from Clarence Ashley to so many American musicians.

THE MOONDOGGIES - Don't Be A Stranger

If there is a formula for making a revivalist throwback to 1970s Americana, well, The Moondoggies have got it down, with honky-tonk pianos and barroom blues borrowed from The Band, twangy harmonies from The Byrds, and southern blues and country riffs from CSNY and CCR. Originality may not be their strength, but they more than make up for it with their pristine musicianship, layered harmonies, charm, and loyalty to the iconic sound of '70s Americana. There are classic boogie-down jams like "Bogachiel Rain Blues" and "Ol' Blackbird" to get your bell-bottomed legs a-movin', along with more laidback whiskey-drenched songs like "Save My Soul" and "Jesus on the Mainline". With Sub Pop signing Fleet Foxes and now their subsidiary label Hardly Art signing The Moondoggies, Seattle is looking like it could very well be the next Laurel Canyon.

RODRIGUEZ - Cold Fact

Originally released in 1970, this album by Detroit's Sixto Rodriguez sank without a trace domestically, but curiously hit it big with listeners in Australia and South Africa. Cold Fact bears a Dylan/Donovan influence, and was co-produced by great Motown session guitarist Dennis Coffey. Kicking off with the dreamy acid-folk rock of "Sugar Man", a paean to a drug dealer, and the fuzz guitar crunch of the searing putdown "Only Good For Conversation", this disc bitterly reflects the harsh comedown of the hippie hangover. Caustic, socially conscious songwriting and hard-bitten vocals, along with some lovely orchestration, make for a lost classic well worth rediscovering.

VAN MORRISON - Veedon Fleece

Soft but rugged like the Irish wolfhounds flanking Van the Man on its cover, Veedon Fleece is a must-own for any lovers of Astral Weeks who haven't yet delved into this later, but equally worthy period. Flowing over with mystic jazziness, Irish country soul and turns of phrase like no other, from the whiskey-soaked grunts ad-libbed on "Cul De Sac" to the loneliest of falsettos chiding Linden Arden's paranoid 'living with a gun' on "Who Was That Masked Man", it's not too late to give a listen to this firm fan favourite, one held near and dear by the likes of fellow firebrands Sinead O'Connor and Elvis Costello.

CASTLEMUSIC - You Can't Take Anyone

Setting off what seems to be a full summer schedule for Blue Fog (with new discs from $100 and Andre Ethier to come), Jennifer Castle follows 2006's self-released Live At The Music Gallery with more sparse, beguiling beauty. Castle's guitar playing is as wonkily gentle as in her celebrated live shows, punctuating pauses with bluesy pull-offs. Folk-fiddling fellows Ryan Driver and Doug Tielli cameo, as You Can't Take Anyone ably introduces parts beyond our city limits to the range and power of one of this town's true balladeers, singing a secret language about to be made not-so-secret.

RON SEXSMITH - Exit Strategy For The Soul

Bookended by wordless piano-led pieces, any other changes to that ever-consistent Sexsmith songcraft on Exit Strategy are subtle, such as the Cuban horns betraying the sessions' Havana locale and helping to lighten the mood on his response to Feist's Reminder recording of co-write "Brandy Alexander", taking a more carefree view of the trouble he's in (don't know about the late-Cohenesque female backup vocal, though!). "Poor Helpless Dreams" casts Sexsmith in the same fine-fitting near-R&B cloak once worn on Retriever's "Whatever It Takes", this time picking the pace up to disco-lite tempo.

P.F. SLOAN - Here's Where I Belong: The Best Of The Dunhill Years 1965-1967

The fame of those few tunes he wrote that broke through ("Eve Of Destruction", "Secret Agent Man") may still precede him, but the mystery that has surrounded P.F. Sloan ever since Jimmy Webb penned a song (concerning the price paid for the act of creative, soul-wringing songwriting) in his honour (and Eugene Landy temporarily lay claim to his identity!) unclouds itself that much more with the release of this Big Beat anthology, collecting Sloan's first two records for Dunhill, Songs Of Our Times and Twelve More Times. Slighted, sneering folkie-done-wrong self-righteousness rarely sounded so tuneful.

FLEET FOXES - Fleet Foxes

Seattle's Fleet Foxes' full-length is a confident, carefully tailored follow-up to their debut EP Sun Giant. The songs are atmospheric, leaving the listener lost in moments of reverie drenched in reverb, and captured moments that are at times pastoral. Their sound is hard to classify, as it's clearly inspired by a diverse range of music: equal parts gospel, choral, celtic folk, and west coast rock reminiscent of bands such as Steeleye Span, CSNY, the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, and My Morning Jacket. If there is one thing that is apparent after listening to the Fleet Foxes, it is that they craft baroque songs that are rich in harmonic vocal rounds, and compliment them with rich, swirling strings. A refreshing treat for this summer.

BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY - Lie Down In The Light

With Drag City following the example just set by The Raconteurs in sneaking this album onto shelves, and after enough covers, demos and live recordings to tide us over in the two-year interim, we're suddenly, happily given a new full-length Will Oldham effort to contemplate. Marrying The Letting Go's atmospheric approach to the upbeat, relaxed glint of such past efforts as Ease Down The Road, the perverse touches are still there if you look hard enough, and Ashley Webber shines as co-vocalist on many of these songs. One to sit with and listen to in good company.