Hello! After a lazy week, I’m finally settling back into some kind of groove, and I’m excited to share the first regular installment of the Noted newsletter with you. I’m devoting more of my time this year to scouring Bandcamp and other sources for the coolest stuff I can tell you about. Here’s what’s been on my radar this week.
Soft Serve by Soft Covers
Soft Covers’ aptly-titled debut album serves up a slew of guitar-driven indie-rock earworms that are clean, tasty and endlessly catchy. The Melbourne-based trio flex their heightened pop sensibilities on every track, with vocalists Laura Marsh (who also created the record’s endearing cover art) and James Southey taking turns delivering reflective, story-driven songs. “Nth Qld, late 80s” stands out with its use of organ and vibraphone, showcasing the group’s ear for arrangement. Reminiscent of the Feelies, the band’s sound is melodic and full on tracks like “The Ballad of Rikki Tarr,” always pleasant and never overbearing. Each song sounds like the best on the album - until you get to the next one.
Safe 2 Run (Versions) by Esther Rose
On this companion EP to last Spring’s full-length album Safe to Run, singer-songwriter Esther Rose organizes a reunion of sorts, enlisting the help of some old friends from her days in the mid-2010’s New Orleans music scene. Several artists that were previously featured alongside Rose on a pair of 2019 compilation albums by the indie label Mashed Potato Records make appearances on this year’s stripped-down versions of last year’s songs. Bella White’s harmonies enhance the already-poignant “Chet Baker,” and the Deslondes’ backing vocals on the title track are nothing short of haunting. At just under fifteen minutes in length, the EP is short and sweet - the perfect side dish for one of the best albums of 2023.
Shadow Factory: The Sarah Compilation by Various Artists
In 2020, Captured Tracks kicked off their Excavations reissue series with Strum and Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983-1987. Across the pond during this mid-80’s period, Sarah Records was operating out of Bristol, UK, releasing stellar music from Britain’s own jangle-pop scene. The label released their first of several compilation LP’s, Shadow Factory, in 1988. Highlighting a stark contrast between the British and American psyches, the music on Shadow Factory is full of bright, jangly guitars, but has an air of despondency not present in the energetic, bombastic songs of Strum and Thrum. Another Sunny Day’s “I’m In Love With A Girl Who Doesn’t Know I Exist” is a beautifully gloomy opener, while the Beatles-esque “Sunflower” by the Springfields (the one American band on the compilation, from Champaign, Illinois) is the record’s cheeriest track, a comparatively sunshiney slice of pop-rock perfection.
In other news, the first major album announcement of the year came on Tuesday. Waxahatchee is releasing Tigers Blood, her follow-up to 2020’s Saint Cloud on March 22nd. I’ve been following Katie Crutchfield since I picked up Waxahatchee’s record Ivy Tripp at Amoeba San Francisco on a trip in 2015, and she’s one of my favorite songwriters actively recording and performing right now. She’s always seemed to have one foot in the punk/indie pool and the other in country and Americana, but on Saint Cloud she plunged fully into the latter.
I spent a lot of early pandemic hours walking through Glen Echo Park in the Old North neighborhood of Columbus listening to Saint Cloud. The twang in her voice, sometimes obscured by the heavy guitar rock of albums like Ivy Tripp and Out In The Storm, felt entirely at home on it, as it does on the first single from the upcoming album. Really, really excited for this one.
That’s it for today, folks! I’ll see you next week.
-Brett