Demob Happy

Jackson Toth waves his Wooden Wand goodbye? 8/10 FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT: Previously leader of the New York-based experimental jazz-folk collective Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice, James Jackson Toth’s solo debut is a lush take on alt-country informed by blues, soul and, occasionally, punk. Whereas Wooden Hand … was very [...]

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The Empire strikes black 8.5/10 Micah P Hinson’s fourth album – the first I’ve heard since his powerful debut ‘Micah P Hinson and the Gospel of Progress‘ – is an accomplished work and the sound of a prolific artist heading for an artistic peak. Produced by alt-rock mixing guru John Congleton, renowned for the dark [...]

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Dawn choruses 8.5/10 The first thing you notice when listening to ‘At Dawn‘ if, like me, you’ve approached their back catalogue, er, backwards, is how faithful it is to a kind of alt-country orthodoxy when compared to the more magpie-like tendencies of ‘It Still Moves‘ and ‘Z‘. Arguably it is more a consistency of mood [...]

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Rustin’ Men 8.5/10 Apparently recorded in old barns in remote parts of Canada, post-rockers Do Make Say Think’s ‘You You’re A History In Rust‘ should be considered as one of the Great Albums Recorded in a Wooden Outhouse (TM), along with My Morning Jacket’s ‘It Still Moves‘ (Grain Silo) and Bon Iver’s ‘For Emma, Forever [...]

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Too long but It Still Moves me 8.5/10 The Louisville, Kentucky band’s third full-length is a whopping 75-minute set recorded in a grain silo and positively swimming in reverb. By eschewing modern recording techniques altogether they were taking a big risk on ‘It Still Moves‘, their first for a major label, but is with the [...]

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Kentucky fried pysch-country 8.5/10 Over four albums My Morning Jacket have fashioned a sound that embraces widescreen emotionalism with rootsy Americana, pyschedelia and alt-country. ‘Z‘ sees My Morning Jacket broaden their influences while retaining the unifying use of reverb that makes all the songs sound unmistakably them now matter how far they stray from the [...]

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