Weekend Music Roundup

 

The weekend has returned and so has my consistency in posting my ramblings about music that I'm listening to. This week there's a few things that I recently listened to, things that were holes in my collection...albums by bands that I love but somehow missed a release. There is also my first 2021 release, and it's awesome. Hopefully there's something in here that you'll want to check out. Enjoy.

Lightning Dust - Spectre: This album came out in the Fall of 2019, and I'm not sure how I missed it. This is Amber Webber's (Black Mountain) indie folk band's forth album and the previous three have been among my favorites of the 21st century. After putting out a new single this past fall, I discovered that I missed this album and quickly corrected that oversight. There's a consistent brilliance displayed by this band over four albums, creating a catalog of indie folk music that few have equaled. "Competitive Depression," "A Pretty Picture," and "When it Rains" were personal favorites. 

Black Pistol Fire - Look Alive: Ten years after their debut, the Austin, via Toronto duo released their sixth album in January. It was one of those early treats, and one of the first 2021 releases I've listened to. It picks right up where they've left off. Pure garage blues rock. It's nothing new, for sure, but these boys do it right. It opens with the solid title track and then explodes in the next track, solidifying their Black Keys meets Death From Above vibe that straight up rocks.

Elf Power - Elf Power: One of the original Elephant 6 bands out of Athens, GA along with Neutral Milk Hotel in the mid-to-late 90s, this is the band's 2010 album, their 12th. Though I was really into the Elephant 6 bands back then, and saw these guys, this was one of the bands in the collective that I didn't gravitate towards until much later. This album is one that I hadn't heard, but saw a used copy at the local shop and snatched it up. It has a wonderful 70s psychedelic folk pop sound that is thoroughly enjoyable. Fantastic stuff and I highly recommend checking out pretty much any of their catalog.

Nazareth - Rampant: Released in 1974, a year before their breakthrough album, Hair of the Dog, this is the UK hard rock band's fifth album. It's just as solid as the record that followed, and most likely laid the groundwork for that album's success. Not quite as outrageous as Slade and not as blues based as others, these Scottish rockers were one of the bands that pushed the changing sound of rock into a sound of excess. "Glad When You're Gone," "Jet Lag," and "Shapes of Things" are standouts on this solid record. 

Rilo Kiley - Rilo Kiley: The 1999 debut EP from Jenny Lewis' former band has recently been re-issued. I've always had mixed feelings about this band, and Lewis in general. This is a slimmed down record and it sorts them well. It's also very late 90s, a simpler time in indie pop and one that was more bent on folk and indie rock than 70s pop rock as it seems to be these days. "Papillon," "Teenage Lovesong," and "Asshole" are personal favorites.

Steve Riley's L.A. Guns - Renegades: So, despite the logo and the name, this is not really L.A. Guns, at least not the Tracii Guns / Philip Lewis L.A. Guns that made a killer record last year. This is the debut of Steve Riley's (former L.A. Guns drummer) incarnation. So there are currently two bands out there, not at all confusing. Actually, I was confused because I was psyched for this album and as it played, my first thought was "oh no! Philip Lewis left again!" and so I did some research and got the full story of two bands, one name. So this is decent. It sounds more like Alice in Chains "Facelift" era than the sleaze rock of Guns.