Golden Apples
Golden Apples might currently be one of the best kept secrets in guitar music, but their new full-length, Bananasugarfire, is about to change that. The boldly titled album is an undeniable, kaleidoscopic blast of fuzzed out guitars, joyful songwriting, and vibrant production that’s as human as it is hooky. It’s exactly what a truly great indie rock album can be: fun yet fulfilling, inventive yet inviting, confident yet candid–music that lifts you up with melody, noise, and heart. Arriving hot on the heels of 2021’s Shadowland and 2022’s Golden Apples, Bananasugarfire continues Golden Apples’ prolific streak. Whereas Shadowland was more of a solitary recording project of vocalist/guitarist Russell Edling, and the self-titled involved a more spontaneous revolving door of collaborators, something definite and resolute is happening on Bananasugarfire: the collective has become collected, the band has arrived. Golden Apples’ line-up solidified last year into the combination of Edling, drummer Melissa Brain (Marge, Goshupon, Amanda X, Cave People, Yankee Bluff), bassist Matthew Scheuermann (Lowercase Roses, Petal), and Mimi Gallagher (Eight, Nona, Year of Glad, Cave People), and Bananasugarfire is imbued with a tangible camaraderie that elevates the sum of its talented parts. Recorded at Metal Shop with Zack Robbins, The Bunk with Matt Schimelfenig, and at the home Edling and Gallagher share, the colorful, open hearted, and widescreen yet intimate Bananasugarfire feels like the most fully realized version of Golden Apples to date. “This record really feels like the band,” Edling explains. “My favorite parts of the album are where I can hear someone else’s idea taking form, an idea I never would have arrived at. I wanted to get the best of both worlds: to properly record with the band in the studio and then spend a bunch of time also tinkering around on my own like I did with the first record, but this time Mimi was there in the basement tinkering with me.” Gallagher’s role is a key element to the magic of Bananasugarfire, providing dynamic guitarwork, sugary vocal interplay, and another keen ear to help hone the detailed recordings that make the album so rewarding on repeat listens. Bananasugarfire also marks a shift in Edling’s lyrical approach. While previous releases found him swallowed up in existential doubt and bewilderment, there’s now an understanding that for all the intrinsic darkness of life, there is also a countering light–even if accessing it often takes hard earned perspective and persistence. “I just think in the past few years I’ve really come around to the idea that there’s real tangible power behind your emotions,” he explains. “If you go out in the world and put bad energy out there, I think it actually has an impact, and I think it works the opposite way, too. Being aware of your emotions and the way you carry yourself is sort of a responsibility.” Like the previous two Golden Apples albums, Bananasugarfire opens with a sub-two minute, quasi-introductory song that sets the stage for the record to come. “Anti-Ant Car” starts fittingly with Edling in Martin Newell-mode, a solitary jangling man surrounded by tape hiss–but then the band joins in and the world turns 3D through a steadily cresting melody that arrives at pure musical elation. “Guardstick” picks up that momentum and runs with it, all towering wall of fuzzed out guitars and shimmering production that somehow layers more and more impossibly catchy melodies on top of one another. The band sound huge, and Edling sounds fearless as he sings about the need for kindness in an increasingly callous world. Bandcamp
Alejandro Escovedo
A celebrated singer and songwriter, Alejandro Escovedo has as eclectic a background and body of work as any rock artist of his generation. As comfortable performing with a string ensemble as he is with an amped-up power trio, and as likely to bare his soul in his lyrics as he is to display some serious rock & roll swagger, Escovedo had already played an important role in punk (with the Nuns), roots rock (the True Believers), and alt-country (Rank & File) before he launched a solo career that’s seen him work with everyone from John Cale to Bruce Springsteen. Beginning with 1992’s Gravity, Escovedo’s music has been consistently literate, ambitious, and eclectic, with 2001’s A Man Under the Influence exploring different genres and approaches from track to track, while 2008’s Real Animal and 2016’s Burn Something Beautiful focused on passionate, guitar-based rock & roll. 2018’s The Crossing (and its 2020 Spanish-language counterpart La Cruzada) told a richly detailed story of the immigrant experience. Alejandro Escovedo was born in San Antonio, Texas on January 10, 1951, one of 12 children. His family was steeped in music: His father played in mariachi bands and swing combos both before and after he emigrated from Mexico to the United States. Alejandro’s older brother Pete Escovedo is a jazz artist and studio musician; he was a member of Santana and founded the group Azteca. Another older brother, Coke Escovedo, also worked with both jazz and Latin groups, enjoyed a solo career, and was a member of Santana and Malo. Pete’s daughter Sheila Escovedo became a pop star as Sheila E. Alejandro’s younger brother Javier Escovedo founded the early Los Angeles punk band the Zeros. And another younger brother, Mario Escovedo, played in the hard rock outfit the Dragons. Given his family’s history, it’s no surprise that Alejandro developed a passion for music. He moved with his family to California and attended high school in Huntington Beach, where he frequented local rock clubs and ballrooms, seeing acts like Jimi Hendrix, Buffalo Springfield, the Doors, the Seeds, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. While Alejandro was a serious music fan, he didn’t take to playing an instrument right away, and when his father gave him a guitar, he ended up passing it on to his brother Javier. Alejandro moved to Hollywood in 1973 after the breakup of his first marriage, and he became a fan of glam and proto-punk acts like the New York Dolls and the Stooges, who frequently played on the Sunset Strip. He also saw an early L.A. appearance by Patti Smith. In 1974, Escovedo moved to San Francisco, with his second wife, Bobbie Levie, where he intended to study film production. He and his friend Jeff Olener hatched an idea for a movie about a rock band that couldn’t play, and while casting the picture, they ended up forming an actual band, the Nuns, who were one of the first acts of note on the San Francisco punk rock scene. The Nuns became a steady draw on the West Coast, and were one of the opening acts when the Sex Pistols played their infamous final show at Winterland in San Francisco in 1978. However, when the Nuns set out on an East Coast tour, Escovedo immediately fell in love with New York City, and opted to stay there rather than return to the Bay Area. Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Hiding Places, Kid Fears
Hiding Places is a folk band from Asheville, NC and Athens, GA. The outfit is composed of Audrey Keelin Walsh, Nicholas Byrne, Henry Cutting and Anthony Cozzrelli, who all share writing and instrumentation responsibilities. Nicholas, Audrey, and Henry met while studying at UNC Chapel Hill. Reflection, inquiry, and enthusiasm sit at the heart of the group; Hiding Places represents growth. The four-piece write of gratitude, presence, childhood, groundedness, and transformation. The band’s debut EP “The Fly” was released in mid July and is available wherever you stream your music. , In moments of sparse clarity, and in those shrouded behind layered blankets of distortion, these songs each approach the elusive human truths that lie just outside the scope of understanding. Rose Ewing writes with moving honesty and gentleness, weaving together everything from ineffable grief to quiet encounters with the sublime, as Emma Shaw, Michael Whelan, and Ben Ewing join to create the lush sonic environment in which the songs unfold.Website Kid Fears evolved out of Rose Ewing’s solo songwriting project, and began playing shows as a full band in Atlanta in 2021. Their musical style draws influence from slowcore and shoegaze giants Low and My Bloody Valentine as well as contemporary songwriters like Grouper, Midwife and Gia Margaret. Website
Lydia Loveless
Lydia Loveless (she/her/they/them)Nothing’s Gonna Stand In My Way AgainBloodshot Records Endings are messy. Falling in love is messy. Change is messy. Perhaps, change is the messiest of them all. Especially when eyes are on you; when you blast out of adolescence onto stages across the country, then into your twenties, onto more stages and, finally, into your thirties—all on those same stages. The stages that Lydia Loveless has sung her heart out on, has collapsed on, and laughed on, all mirror the stages of her life thus far for the world to see. When Loveless released her first album over a decade ago, she was still a teenager whose songs of debauchery, guzzling alcohol and doing cocaine were an audio wet dream for a certain type of listener who not only wear their music tastes on their (tattooed) sleeve, but in the lifestyle that they emulate: “outlaw” music with brains – akin to Steve Earle, Drive-By Truckers and Lucinda Williams, vintage country heart with a heartland rock soul. In the end, the music industry is still sadly a man’s world and, as such, Loveless grew up in the spotlight (or perhaps, more accurately, the bar lights) while she was placed on a pedestal. Her voicemail greeting is a tongue-in-cheek ode to this: “Hi, this is Lydia Loveless, savior of cowpunk. Please leave a message and I will get back to you.” The time between their late adolescence to now is defined by a shelf full of records, hundreds of thousands of miles on the road, and a ribbon of heartbreaks pockmarking their trail. Loveless is a fiercely brave writer who bluntly assesses their life in song: their struggles with alcohol and depression, and the uncertainty of not only the future, but what piecing together the past will mean for the present. In 2020, they put out their excellent fourth full-length Daughter on their own label, Honey, You’re Gonna Be Late Records, with encouragement from their friend Jason Isbell, but could not tour behind it; the one consistent throughline in Loveless’ life was impossible due to the pandemic. They were living in North Carolina with their boyfriend at the time, stuck, away from the stages they grew up on, isolated from their family, and going stir-crazy. As the world came undone and then back together again, Loveless returned to Columbus, where their career first began. Starting anew, Loveless found part-time work at a recording studio (Secret Studios) and began processing the last two years of their life. The title of their new album, Nothing’s Gonna Stand In My Way Again, came easy—like a mantra from the heavens. Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way Again continues the evolution of Loveless. The artist who once sang that she would rather stay home and drink gallons of wine is now on the other end of the bottle, where a bit of resignation resides. She sings on “Feel”: “I’m getting older and my jets are starting to cool, if I ever get sober it’s really over for you fools.” Though a melancholic weight rests on the record—as it was written after the breakup with her longtime boyfriend and following a period of isolation and depression during the pandemic—it also feels like a triumphant moment from an artist who’s continuing her stride. Loveless has always been a brutally honest songwriter, one whose articulation of love, heartbreak and bad habits is wrapped not only in catchy melodies but also her finesse with words. Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Southern Culture on the Skids
Southern Culture On The Skids has been consistently recording and touring around the world since 1983. The band (Rick Miller – guitar and vocals, Mary Huff – bass and vocals, Dave Hartman – drums) has been playing together for over 30 years. Their musical journey has taken them from all-night North Carolina house parties to late night TV talk shows (Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show), from performing at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan to rockin’ out for the inmates at North Carolina correctional facilities. They’ve shared a stage with many musical luminaries including Link Wray, Loretta Lynn, Hasil Adkins and Patti Smith. Their music has been featured in movies and TV, parodied by Weird Al, and used to sell everything from diamonds to pork sausage. In 2014 the band was honored by the Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with an exhibition featuring their music and cultural contributions. Their legendary live shows are a testament to the therapeutic powers of foot-stomping, butt-shaking rock and roll and what Rolling Stone dubbed “a hell raising rock and roll party.”At Home with Southern Culture on the Skids is the latest full length album from the band and is due to drop into stores on March 12th. The album consists of 11 tracks recorded and mixed in Rick Miller’s living room with some additional tracks recorded at his studio, The Kudzu Ranch.The first radio single off the album is “Run Baby Run”—a rocking number with deep garage roots. SCOTS bassist Mary Huff provides an urgent vocal while the band pulls back the throttle on a full race fuzz fest—cause she’s gotta to go fast! Run Baby Run!The other songs on the album are a combination of the band’s unique mix of musical genres: rock and roll, surf, folk and country—all a bit off-center, what Rick proudly calls “our wobbly Americana”. Rick goes on, “We put a few more acoustic guitars on this one, as you would expect if you recorded in your living room, but it still rocks like SCOTS. So put your headphones on, get in your favorite chair/sofa/recliner, put on “At Home With” and let’s hang out for a while.” Guitar riffs as lumpy as a camel, rough as a jackhammer or smooth and bright as Tennessee sippin’ whiskey, all slung loose and loud over salacious beats – No Depression For over thirty years, Southern Culture On The Skids have played an eclectic range of Americana including rockabilly, surf rock, country and R&B, with a punk edge and heaps of humor. They are known for their legendary live shows and wacky antics…But it’s more than just great fun; they are fantastic musicians to boot. – Elmore Magazine This Chapel Hill-based trio is flat-out amazing. Without resorting to needless flash or attention-hungry showboating, Miller in particular is one of the most spectacularly gifted guitar players I’ve ever seen. He juggles a lot of styles – country, garage rock, surf, rockabilly and soul to name just a few. – Stomp & Stammer Website | Facebook | Instagram
Curtis Waters
At only twenty-two years old, Curtis Waters has already established himself as a talented musical triple threat: writer, producer, and performer, and he doesn’t miss the opportunity to flex his creative muscles on the violent delight that is “STAR KILLER”. Sonically addictive, the relentless and unflinching production serves only to increase the power behind Waters’ stark lyricism. At its core “STAR KILLER” is a personal commentary for Waters, who is navigating new success whilst also staying true to his identity as a first generation immigrant from Nepal.Following one billion streams on his debut album ‘Pity Party,’ Curtis Waters followed up with the electrifying post-punk single ‘MANIC MAN’ – a brutally honest reflection on identity, insecurity, and mental health. The 22-year old singer, songwriter, & producer has earned over 150K YouTube subscribers, 60K IG followers, and 138K on Tik-Tok – earning him over 100M views across platforms. After the growth of his viral hit ‘Stunnin,’ the Nepali-born creative was covered by the likes of Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Pigeons & Planes. He quickly launched himself into collaborations with acts like renforshort, Kim Petras, and Brevin Kim alongside serving as the ambassador for major brands including MCM, Mercedes, and Haagen Dazs. After experiencing rapid online success, the multi-hyphenate spent time re-imagining his creative identity & sound, working with artists like TiaCorine, Shrimp, and greek as he built a new world. His forthcoming album is a true immigrant story, a reflection on a young, brown creative being thrown into the mainstream overnight, while navigating deep issues of self-doubt & cultural identity along the way.Instagram | Twitter | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok
Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters
After staying close to home for most of 2023 and woodshedding some new material, Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters can’t wait to hit the road and spread some holiday cheer! The band will play new and old favorites, featuring songs from their 2019 EP “Christmas on a Greyhound Bus” as well as a selection of familiar holiday classics and original material from their six studio albums.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify
Crazy Chester: A Very Carrboro Tribute To The Band & The Last Waltz
Featuring: Jones Bell as Richard Manuel + Dr. John Charles Cleaver as Garth Hudson Rob DiMauro as Levon Helm Justin Ellis as Rick Danko Rafael Green as Robbie Robertson With Guest Appearances From: Owen FitzGerald as Neil Young Danny Grewen as Trombonist Jeremy Haire as Eric Clapton Charles Latham as Bob Dylan Glenn Jones as Van Morrison Jodi Jones as Emmylou Harris Georgia Moon as Joni Mitchell + Saxophonist Brad Porter as Ringo Starr Jacob Seyle as Paul Butterfield Alex Thompson as Ronnie Hawkins Formed in early 2020 for a series of one-off events, Crazy Chester is a homegrown tribute act to The Band, consisting of Carrboro musicians Jones Bell (Mellow Swells, Ravary), Charles Cleaver (Big Star’s Third, Scivic Rivers), Rob DiMauro (Heat Preacher, Mixtape Grab Bag), Justin Ellis (Slow Teeth, Ravary, Easter Island), and Rafael Green (Little Raven, Ravary), respectively recreating and playing the parts of Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Robbie Robertson.For the third year in a row, Crazy Chester will be performing most of The Band’s legendary farewell performance from Thanksgiving Day 1976, immortalized in the 1978 Martin Scorsese film “The Last Waltz” – complete with additional musicians and special local guests to play the songs originally performed in the film by Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and many more. Join for an unforgettable live performance of a Thanksgiving tradition, live at the Cat’s Cradle. Featuring performances from Charles Latham, Danny Grewen, Owen Matthew FitzGerald, Georgia Moon, Jodi Jones, Glenn Jones, Alex Thompson, Jeremy Haire, Brad Porter, and Jacob Seyle!
Patrick Droney
Patrick Droney grew up in the era of dedication lines and VHS tapes. He survives on sentimentality. It hits him every time he hears Delilah on the radio or passes by the Blockbuster sign near the bodega on his corner. The Brooklyn and Nashville based artist/producer/guitar sensation returns with his sophomore album, SUBTITLES FOR FEELINGS, which explores the idea that each frame of life holds a deeper context—a subtitle meant to be translated in time. Written and co-produced by Patrick Droney with collaborators including Foy Vance, Butch Walker, Jon Green, and Lori McKenna, the songs are a deepening of his timeless, cinematic pop sound. Rewind to May 2021, when Droney released his debut album, STATE OF THE HEART. With streams now in the hundreds of millions, the project was his own coming of age film, offering striking snapshots of the human condition in songs like “Glitter” and “The Wire.” Since then, he has toured extensively, selling out shows across the U.S. and making his U.K. debut with the Eagles at London’s Hyde Park. He performed at Super Bowl LVII, claims alumni status at Late Night With Seth Meyers, The Kelly Clarkson Show, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and has shared stages with Sheryl Crow, The Vamps, and more. He also released genre-bending collaborations with Kygo (“Say You Will”) and Billy F. Gibbons (“Rough Boy”). Droney is set to bring the music on the road this fall with THE RUNAWAY TOUR 2023, which ends where his journey began—in New York at Webster Hall.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | TikTok
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World Time keeps moving and things keep changing, but that doesn’t mean we can’t fight back. Yo La Tengo have raced time for nearly four decades and, to my ears, they just keep winning. The trio’s latest victory is called This Stupid World, a spellbinding set of reflective songs that resist the ever-ticking clock. This is music that’s not so much timeless as time-defiant. “I want to fall out of time,” Ira Kaplan sings in “Fallout.” “Reach back, unwind.” Part of how Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew escape time is by watching it pass, even accepting it when they must. “I see clearly how it ends / I see the moon rise as the sun descends,” they sing during opener “Sinatra Drive Breakdown.” In the séance-like “Until it Happens,” Kaplan plainly intones, “Prepare to die / Prepare yourself while there’s still time.” But This Stupid World is also filled with calls to reject time – bide it, ignore it, waste it. “Stay alive,” he adds later in the same song. “Look away from the hands of time.” Of course, times have changed for Yo La Tengo as much as they have for everyone else. In the past, the band has often worked with outside producers and mixers. Yo La Tengo made This Stupid World all by themselves, though. And their time-tested judgment is both sturdy enough to keep things to the band’s high standards, and nimble enough to make things new. Another new thing about This Stupid World: it’s the most live-sounding Yo La Tengo album in a while. At the base of nearly every track is the trio playing all at once, giving everything a right-now feel. Take the signature combination of hypnotic rhythm and spontaneous guitar on “Sinatra Drive Breakdown,” or the steady chug of “Tonight’s Episode,” a blinkered tunnel of forward-moving sound. There’s an immediacy to the music, as if the distance between the first pass and the final product has been made a touch more direct. The songs on This Stupid World were still journeys, though. An example is the absorbing, three-dimensional “Brain Capers.” To construct this swirl, the band blends guitar chords, bass loops, drum punches, and various iterations of Hubley and Kaplan’s voices into shifting layers. Simpler but just as dense is closer “Miles Away.” A dubby rhythm lurks below Hubley’s vocal, which brushes across the song like paint leaving bright blurs. Throughout the album, these touches, accents, and surprises intensify each piece. It’s a rarity – a raw-sounding record that gives you plenty of headphone-worthy detail to chew on. This Stupid World gives your brain a lot to digest, too. All the battles with time drive toward some heavy conclusions. In the gripping “Aselestine,” Hubley sings about what sounds like a friend on death’s door: “The clock won’t tick / I can’t predict / I can’t sell your books, though you asked me to.” In “Apology Letter,” time turns simple communication into something fraught and confusing: “The words / Derail on the way from me to you.” Not everything is so serious, though. The absurdist “Tonight’s Episode” helps McNew learn to milk cows, steal faces, and treat guacamole as a verb. And somehow Alice Cooper, Ray Davies, and Rick Moranis show up in “Brain Capers,” all telling us time isn’t finished yet.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
