Weekly RecommNeds: Will Johnson / Beachwood Sparks
Music for your mellow mood… enjoy!
Will Johnson: Scorpion
Will Johnson (Centro-matic, South San Gabriel, New Multitudes) is one of those guys: either you love his music obsessively or you just haven’t listened to enough of it yet. His newest album is a great place to start. Here, he’s barely above a whisper, singing moody tales of love and woe with a quiet intensity that permeates the entire set. But this is much more complex and interesting than your normal singer/songwriter fare. Throwing in some beautiful instrumental pieces and with strong material throughout, Scorpion is a virtuoso performance that shouldn’t be overlooked.
MOG: https://mog.com/m#album/72375955
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B008XCIKJ0
Rhapsody: http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/will-johnson/album/scorpion
Beachwood Sparks: The Tarnished Gold
If you’re going to wait 10 years to drop another album on the world, it should be this good. I know that this one has gotten a little press here at Hidden Track, but I had to throw my word in for one of my favorite albums in 2012 (I know I say that every week). Crunchy, psychedelic country music from a gone-but-not-forgotten era – right down to the band and album name and cover art — sounds right at home here and now: Haight-Asbury’d acoustic, electric and steel guitars meet lush Laurel-Canyon’d harmonies to smile-inducing effect. This is the musical equivalent of putting some West coast sunshine in a jar and saving it for a cold, dark mid-February New England. Of course, you can enjoy it any day… and should!
MOG: https://mog.com/m#album/69372523
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B008ABAWP4
Rhapsody: http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/beachwood-sparks/album/the-tarnished-gold
THANK YOU!
Been a fan of Beachwood since their first album. Such an amazing band. Hopefully this finds it’s way to a bunch of people.
Great work at usual. Love that Beachwood Sparks record – well worth the ten year wait on that one. Definitely a more mature, mellow sound, but still has that classic Beach Boys meets Flying Burrito Brothers sound to it.
I was surprised to hear a new Beachwood Sparks album after so many years. I heard their first album about six year ago and loved it. I couldn’t understand why they didn’t catch more attention years ago.
As far as “new” psychedelic goes, have you heard the stream of the new Tame Impala yet?
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/30/161354876/first-listen-tame-impala-lonerism
Good stuff!
Maybe we will be reading about this in a future edition of RecommNeds.
Haven’t listened to Tame Impala yet, but looking forward to it… the listening queue is long and never-ending :). Tame Impala put on one of the best shows I’ve seen this year, though…