Annie Blackman - Bug. Not sure where I found this one, but it is lovely little indie music. One song - "Altitude" - involves her being at the Austin airport and waiting for a flight where the airplane is too hot, and also mentions the Austin Marriott. Which is odd to hear, but it is a really pretty tune. She apparently started recording things in a home studio during the pandemic, where she and her dad used pvc pipe to hang up sound-dampening fabric for her to perform inside of. Love that visual. But this was her first thing recorded in a studio. Sounds good. Warm and clean and uncluttered. The opening track is the top streamer with 29k streams, so this one is not on a lot of people's radars just yet. "Ash."
Sweet homemade video. "You love me, I believe you, please don't say it anymore" is a great line. Completely unassuming stuff, but the lyrics work and the underlying tune is gently pleasant. Nothing to sell as the greatest album of all time, but it really is nice.
Katy Kirby - Cool Dry Place. Her only album for now - and it sounds really great. She came to ACL last year, although I couldn't make her show. Edges into rock and roll at times, but frequently keeps the gear shifted down into a more chilled singer/songwriter zone. Not a ton of streams on Spotify, but a few tunes crack a million. "Juniper" has 6.8 million.
The first touchstone I smell there is Courtney Barnett - clever lyrics delivered over winding little guitar tunes. I've only had green chartreuse, maybe I need to try the yellow that she is using in that cocktail. Maybe it will be less harsh. The difference between weeds and herbs, are flowers." Lovely. I also really like the vibe of the title track, the light little way that she sings "keep me, keep me" reminds me of the Von Trap kids singing like coocoo clocks. But it is a really great-sounding song. I like this one.
Leon III - Antlers in Velvet. This is another one that came to ACL last year, and was notable because the band includes people who founded Howler Brothers clothing company. Which is dope as hell. I want to be the dude who got wealthy making overpriced but extremely cool clothing for bros and now has time to make sweet psych rock beauty. Dammit. The best song, bar none, is the almost ten minute epic opener, "Fly Migrator." I've needed to review this album and move past this for a long time, but every time the album starts and that sweet reverb-soaked track slides into my ears, I'm entranced again. If you hate jam bands, then that song will not please you, but I find it delicious. But the top song per streaming is the third track, "The Whisper is Ours," with 58k streams.
Psych rock meets pedal steel goodness. Has a My Morning Jacket echo that I dig. I really enjoy this album as well. Cool stuff.
Zach Bryan - Boys of Faith. I have wasted a lot of your time, dear reader, with discussion of this dude. So, I won't go too deep into any of that here, other than to mention my middle kid is begging me to buy tickets to see him in San Antonio later this year. Also, I'll note that he got some shit when this little album was released, because he put it out on the same day as his buddy Charles Wesley Godwin, and because ZB is so massive, he sucked all of the air out of the room instead of letting his boy have a day to himself to release his own thing. All of that aside, I will say that these songs are pretty good. Better than a lot of the other stuff he's been shoveling into the ether. He's got Noah Kahan on one, and Bon Iver on another, and just in general, I feel like these songs are pretty fun. The stream counts on this are nuts. The Noah track is the hit with 71.9 million streams.
The unchained feel is also a good time. Feels like one of those they could jam for long periods of time on stage together. The opening track, with its driving beat and good storytelling about Zach as his dad's pool hall protege, is fun time. "Deep Satin" just sticks in my head, mainly the chorus line where he sings "Friend of the Devil, by the Dead" and how that is what his/her friends want him to be. Dig it. Short little disc, which I think honestly works better than his overbloated 30 song discs. Just do this little guy 10 times a year instead!
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