Folk Rock
The Decemberists Announce Three Livestream Concerts to Celebrate 20th Anniversary
Grab your earbuds and climb aboard because The Decemberists are setting sail on the world wide web. Today, the beloved indie folk group have announced a series of livestream concerts to celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band, after their previously announced anniversary tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “It was with truly heavy hearts that we announced the cancellation of this summer’s tour,” wrote frontman Colin Meloy in a letter to fans. “We really had hoped that we’d be able to play in front of you sweaty, singing thousands when we postponed the dates initially — and while there is every reason to believe that this pandemic may soon be a strange and bitter memory (yay vaccines! yay science!), it just isn’t wise to gather together in our sweaty, singing multitudes *qui...
Skullcrusher Announces New Storm in Summer EP, Shares Title Track: Stream
Helen Ballentine has announced the next project under her Skullcrusher banner. The Storm in Summer EP drops April 9th via Secretly Canadian, and has released the title track as an early preview. The five-track follow-up to her 2020 Skullcrusher EP finds Ballentine reeling from the spotlight after experiencing some unexpected success. As she explained in a statement, “I wrote ‘Storm in Summer’ after releasing the first Skullcrusher EP. Over that summer I thought a lot about what it means to really put myself out there and share something personal. I felt so vulnerable and overwhelmed by the fact that these songs I had written in private were exposed and likely being misinterpreted or disliked. I think the song really tries to communicate these anxieties in a cathartic way whi...
Skullcrusher Conjures Vintage Folk on New Single “Song For Nick Drake”: Stream
Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Helen Ballentine records music under the moniker Skullcrusher, but it doesn’t sound like what you might expect it to. She writes dreamy folk songs fit for Secretly Canadian — who fittingly released her debut EP last year — and today she’s back with another slice of such: a standalone single called “Song for Nick Drake”. As the title implies, “Song for Nick Drake” is an ode to the late pastoral legend and the visceral memories his music conjures. “‘Song for Nick Drake’ is about my relationship to the music of Nick Drake,” explained Ballentine in a press release. “It recalls moments in my life that are viscerally intertwined with his music, specifically times spent walking and taking the train. The song is really my homage to music and the times I felt mos...
Neil Young Sells 50% of Rights to His Entire Song Catalog
Neil Young is the latest prominent artist to sign away publishing rights, adding to an ongoing trend in the music industry. The deal sees publishing house Hipgnosis acquire half the worldwide copyright of and any resulting income from Young’s over 1,180 original songs. Exactly how much cash the sale netted the folk rock icon isn’t known, but it’s almost undoubtedly a nine-figure sum. It’s the latest major deal made just this week by Hipgnosis, founded in 2018 by artist manager Merck Mercuriadis (Elton John, Beyoncé). Earlier, the company closed on 100% of Fleetwood Mac member Lindsay Buckingham’s catalog, as well as for producer royalties for 259 songs by Beats founder Jimmy Iovine. Young’s catalog now joins those and others owned by Hipgnosis, including Timbaland, The-Dream, Mark Ronson, ...
Neil Young Returns to His Hometown to Play “Comes a Time” in an Empty Theater: Watch
Coronavirus may be keeping people apart from their relatives this holiday season, but that didn’t stop Neil Young from finding a socially distanced way to tap into his own family nostalgia. Young recently returned to his childhood hometown of Omemee, Ontario to film a special performance of “Come a Time” to an empty Coronation Hall, the venue where he spent numerous evenings with his parents as a boy. The clip, which clocks in just under four minutes, sees Young walking onstage to a completely empty Coronation Hall. The tiny venue looks regal yet worn without people populating the space, especially when Young sits in a chair onstage front and center. With some papers scattered on the floor and a few microphones positioned at his height, Young begins playing his heartfelt 1978 classic with ...
Bob Dylan to Release Archival 1970 Set Featuring Nine Songs with George Harrison
On the heels of selling his entire songwriting catalog, Bob Dylan has announced a special new archival set is on the way. It’s called 1970 and it features 74 previously unreleased tracks, demos, and outtakes, including nine songs that feature George Harrison. It’s due out on February 26th, 2021 via Columbia/Legacy. As the title suggests, 1970 focuses on the music Dylan released during that era. The three-disc set boasts outtakes from the sessions that birthed both Self Portrait and New Morning, the two albums he released that year, as well as alternate versions of select songs, such as “Alligator Man”, and instrumentals. Of course, the most alluring part of this special release is Dylan’s collaborations with the late Beatles guitarist. On May 1st, 1970, the two holed up in a studio to...
Amigo the Devil Premieres Video for New Song “Another Man’s Grave”: Watch
Amigo the Devil recently announced his sophomore full length album, Born Against. Now, the folk-rock troubadour is teaming up with Consequence of Sound to premiere the video for the LP’s first single, “Another Man’s Grave”. With “Another Man’s Grave”, Amigo continues his foray into dark Americana. Despite his music’s acoustic foundation, the songs have also resonated with metal and hard rock audiences, as he’s shared the stages with several heavy acts over the past few years. “This is very much a coming to terms song,” Amigo says of the new single. “It’s the realization that the habits and routine we’ve been living, the behaviors, and outlook displayed aren’t true to the person that we know exists somewhere within. It’s about the purgatory-like time between accepting this and the moment we...
Katy Kirby Curls Up in a “Cool Dry Place” on New Song: Stream
Up-and-coming indie rocker Katy Kirby is trying to decode the best way to go through life as a young adult. The most useful tool to do so is self-reflection, and she’s got plenty of it on her latest single, “Cool Dry Place”, which you can stream below. The song comes from Kirby’s upcoming debut album, Cool Dry Place, due out February 19th via Keeled Scales/Secretly. What starts off as a stripped-down, whisper-sung melody builds into a sweeping folk-rock ballad on “Cool Dark Place”. Kirby sings about her restlessness in a relationship with comforting vocal tones, but come the end, she inverts that subtle shiftiness with a gut-busting, deconstructed guitar solo that recalls Big Thief and early (Sandy) Alex G. In a statement, Kirby elaborated on the ways in which “Cool Dry Place” is a mu...
Fleet Foxes Announce Virtual Concert “A Very Lonely Solstice Livestream”
Fleet Foxes have announced a special virtual holiday concert. Titled “A Very Lonely Solstice Livestream”, it will see frontman and principal songwriter Robin Pecknold perform a solo acoustic set live from St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn, New York. “A Very Lonely Solstice” comes in support of Fleet Foxes’ Shore, which Consequence of Sound just named as one of the Top 50 Albums of 2020. It’s set to take place on Noonchorus on the Winter Solstice, December 21st at 9 p.m. ET; it’s a rather poetic date considering Shore was surprise-released on the Autumnal Equinox, September 22nd at 9:30 a.m. ET. The upcoming livestream will no doubt feature standout offerings from the acclaimed Shore. Also promised is a guest appearance from the Resistance Revival Chorus, an ensemb...
Phoebe Bridgers Releases New Copycat Killer EP: Stream
Phoebe Bridgers has been one of the bright spots in a very, uh, punishing year, and today she’s just dropped a new EP to soothe us all. Her Copycat Killer EP is out today on Dead Oceans, and you can stream it below. For this new collection, our former Artist of… Please click the link below to read the full article. Phoebe Bridgers Releases New Copycat Killer EP: Stream Meagan Fredette You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
Jade Bird Shares Radiant New Single “Headstart”: Stream
UK-based folk rocker Jade Bird has just released a new single called “Headstart”. It’s her first piece of new music since releasing her self-titled debut album over a year ago — and it’s well worth the wait. “Headstart” is a three-minute romp bolstered by chipper guitar and her soaring vocals. Bird recorded the new track in the iconic RCA studios with producer Dave Cobb, who worked with big name Americana artists such as Brandi Carlile and the late John Prine. According to Bird, she found the inspiration to write “Headstart” after a trip to upstate New York at the start of this year. “Being there, I was immediately taken back to the magic and inspiration of creating the first album,” she said in a statement. “It’s quite a light-hearted song, about liking someone who just can’t see the sign...
Joni Mitchell Shares Archival Release Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967): Stream
Legendary songwriter Joni Mitchell has cracked open the vault to reveal Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967), an archival project featuring unreleased music. Stream it in full below via Apple Music and Spotify. Vol. 1 is the first entry in the folk artist’s recently launched Joni Mitchell Archives series. Consisting of five CDs, the inaugural release includes Mitchell’s earliest-known recording, a 1963 in-studio radio performance for CFQC AM in her hometown of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and her first-ever demo, “Day After Day”. There are also early versions of songs like “Michael From Mountains” and “I Had a King”, a 1965 mini set for Let’s Sing Out on CBC TV, and her rare Neil Young cover of “Sugar Mountain”, as well as 1967 New York City home demos of “Free Darling”, “Mr. Junk”, “...
