My brother sent me an email yesterday asking about Josh Rouse’s discography and it got me thinking back on his music and its strange trajectory. Rouse was a major part of my latter high school years and all of my college years. To say he has a role in my most formative years is an understatement. From 2001-2005, he was the artist whose live shows I frequented more than any other. The below review appeared on the now-defunct Absolute Punk on its release day. Strangely its the only Rouse album I ever reviewed and maybe that’s just as well. Without further ado, The Happiness Waltz. Read more…
If you’ve read this blog long enough, you’ll know we are huge fans of Bandcamp. Heck we’ve already posted that we’re envious of those in Oakland who can attend their brick-and-mortar presence and we’re stoked about their live shows. But seriously what sets Bandcamp apart from its contemporaries is how it has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Back in March, the streaming platform launched Bandcamp Fridays to support artists impacted by the pandemic, and over the past few months fans have come together in a huge way: in just four days, fans put more than $20 million directly into the pockets of artists and labels.To continue supporting artists during the pandemic, Bandcamp.com is waiving their revenue share again on August 7, 2020, from midnight to midnight Pacific Time. For more details, head here.
These days it’s getting harder and harder to recognize country music. Be it Kane Brown partnering with Marshmello or Keith Urban dabbling in EDM, the trappings of traditional country music seem to be fading like a Nashville sunset. Thankfully there’s still folks like Ray Wylie Hubbard out there. His debut release for the Big Machine Label Group is Co-Starring, a sterling set of ten old-school country gems. Each of the ten songs features Hubbard partnering with an artist or band he’s befriended over the past decade. Read more…
Long before he became a household name in Grammy-winning country outfit Sugarland, singer-songwriter Kristian Bush was a member of the Atlanta-based acoustic folk duo Billy Pilgrim. Bush and singer-songwriter Andrew Hyra released two critically acclaimed albums as Billy Pilgrim and found themselves sharing stages with the likes of Melissa Etheridge, Cowboy Junkies, Matthew Sweet and Hootie and the Blowfish, to name a few. Read more…
Finally, it’s here. Originally slated to be released on April 24, Rufus Wainwright’s new album Unfollow the Rules is now finally released to the world. And damn, was it worth the wait. Produced alongside Mitchell Froom Unfollow the Rules is a winning slice of baroque pop that excels from start to finish. Read more…
There is no easy way to say this. As much fun as blogging about music can be, for the time being SITH will be taking a step back as I focus my attentions on chemotherapy and beating the heck out of colon cancer. There may be a few random posts here and there, and we might try and dig back into the archives to produce content, but for now, this little humble home on the web is going to go quiet. Prayers and positive thoughts are most appreciated.
We’ve been in somewhat of a music vacuum these days. That is to say, we’re not exactly inundating ourselves with music on a daily basis. But sometimes a song comes along that pulls you out of that vacuum. This week that song is “Purple” from Los Angeles collective The Memories.Read more…
We’ve written about Joe Iadanza on this blog before so seeing his name again should not come as a surprise. What does come as a surprise though is the bold and downright kick-ass idea that Iadanza has concocted. In an effort to cope with COVID-19, he has crafted the ambitious 40 Days of Bruce. Yep, you read that right, 40 songs of Springsteen. Read more…
For the past decade or so, we’ve been quite enamored with the homespun DIY folk of Philly’s TEOA (The End of America). The prolific duo have released three albums since 2010 (Shakey and Steep Bay remain our faves) but in the past couple of years have released one-off singles nearly every month. Sometimes those singles take the form of a cover, like The Isley Brothers’ “Footsteps in the Dark” and Leonard Cohen’s ubiquitous “Hallelujah.” Read more…
If you browse this blog long enough, you will notice a bevy of posts about Mark Erelli, and that’s no accident. For as long as I have listened to music critically, his music has been part of the journey. His self titled debut, released in 1999, helped make sense of the high school to college transition. Similarly, 2000s Compass and Companion helped usher in those all too exciting and ephemeral college years. Read more…
