The Minni-Thins

The Minni-Thins | That Old Kentucky Blackgrass | 3hive.com

The Minni-Thins describe themselves as “…a loud hodge-podge of nineties indie rock, punk, folk, and even country…. think: the Butthole Surfers doing LSD with Connor Oberst and having a bad trip while trying to write an album in the style of The Pixies.” I can’t top that. Give their burner “Apparent” (below) a spin, it’s a sure thing to clean out your sinuses.

Their album, That Old Kentucky Blackgrass, has finally been unleashed upon the masses after being shelved for 10 years. You can get a hold of it now on their Bandcamp page. Enjoy.

The Minni-Thins – Apparent from That Old Kentucky Blackgrass (2006/2016)

Will Courtney

Will Courtney | Planning Escapes | 3hive.com

Will Courtney | Planning Escapes | 3hive.com

There is nothing better than music to take you away to other times, whether they be good times or bad. Courtney’s voice always takes me back to when my kids were little, when his other band, Brothers And Sisters, were on constant rotation in the house and in the car. Good times.

Now, 10 years later, Will is releasing his sophomore solo effort, Planning Escapes, which was recorded in Texas with his backing band, The Wild Bunch, which features members of Brothers And Sisters.

Planning Escapes has a little bit of everything in it’s 10 songs, from down-tempo country ballads to straight-up rock ‘n’ roll. Give the Neil Young-esque “Sad, Sad Eyes” a spin below, you won’t regret it.

Planning Escapes is solid from start to finish, I highly recommend it. Get your hands on it now from Will Courtney’s site.

Will Courtney – Sad, Sad Eyes from Planning Escapes (2016)

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Woods

Brooklyn’s Woods are back with their outstanding 9th LP, City Sun Eater in the River of Light. Taking the best parts of almost every genre of music out there and adding it their already wonky, folk-psych sound, Woods have created a groove-driven (dare I call it “groove-psych”), psychedelic rock masterpiece.

Check out the head bobbing beat of “Can’t See At All” (below) for a mere sampling of how cool this album is.

City Sun Eater… is out now and available on whatever media suits your fancy from WOODSIST Records – I highly, highly recommend it.

Woods – Can’t See At All from City Sun Eater in the River of Light (2016)

Peter Stringer-Hye

Nashville native, and member of The Paperhead, Peter Stringer-Hye recently released an incredible self-titled EP with Trouble In Mind Records. Check out EP closer “Throw Away The Day”, it’s a country tinged, psychedelic, toe-tapper and my favorite track from the EP. Head over to TiM’s site and snag yourself a copy before they are all gone.

LABRYYYNTH

LABRYYYNTH is a new project from members of Dr. Dog and Golden Boots. Their self-titled debut LP is 10 tracks of stripped down, sci-fi themed, head nodding 70’s era pop rock. Check out the Moog driven toe-tapper “Traveling Strange” below. LABRYYYNTH’s album is available in all formats from PIAPTK. It’s also available on cassette from Burger and vinyl from Bleeding Gold. I highly recommend it.

LABRYYYNTH – Traveling Strange from S/T (2014)

David Novick

There is not a lot of info on the interweb about David Novick, but I will share with you what I know. He is out of SanFrancisco. He recently released his second album Your Sister’s Hand.

Novick’s psychedelic folk sound is perfect to chill out to. Check out slow builder “Beneath The Line” (below) to sample a taste of Novick’s mellow goodness. Your Sister’s Hand is available now on Ty Segall’s Drag City imprint GOD?. Enjoy.

David Novick – Beneath The Line from Your Sister’s Hand (2014)

Skye Steele

Straight from the inbox comes multi-instrumentalist Skye Steele’s new EP Glorious Sunshine. It contains 5 songs of dreamy, haunting and sometimes pretty sparse folk songs.

Skye’s guitar and vocals play of each other well while the vocal harmonies and piano hauntingly swirl in and out of the foreground on “Singing In The Street” (below), the standout track from the EP. Glorious Sunshine is available now through iTunes. Enjoy.

Skye Steele – Singing In The Street from Glorious Sunshine (2014)

Greg Ashley

Former Gris Gris singer, Greg Ashley’s new album (and first with Trouble In MindA Generation of Slaves is a smooth slab of lo-fi goodness. Mixing jazz and folk with hints of country to create 9 songs that you will find yourself revisiting over and over again.

The male/female vocals and honky-tonk piano on “Misery Again” (below) combine to make it one of the best tracks on the album. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. A Generation of Slaves is out now and available from Trouble In Mind. I suggest you get your hands on a copy as soon as you can.

Greg Ashley – Misery Again from Another Generation of Slaves (2014)

New Bums

New Bums are a new band featuring  Donovan Quinn (Skygreen Leopards) and Ben Chasney (Six Organs of Admittance, Comets on Fire). Their sound is simply put, two guitars (with the occasional drums and other instruments) and two voices.

Their debut LP, Voices in a Rented Room is out now through Drag City. Album opener “Black Bough” (below) illustrates their sound perfectly. Two voices and two guitars playing nicely together, while the minimal amount of drums fill in the extra space to make this one of the standout tracks on the album. Enjoy.

New Bums – Black Bough from Voices in a Rented Room (2014)

Juan Wauters

Juan Wauters’ debut solo album, N.A.P. North-American Poetry, is very chill, quite the departure from his more rowdy garage-rock band The Beets. But it still has that edge, do you know what I mean?

Listen to “Water” (below), Juan’s voice plays well with his gentle guitar picking and is one of the standout tracks from the album. N.A.P. North-American Poetry is out now on Captured Tracks. I highly recommend it. Enjoy.