Essential Forever’s Al Heaney recently packed up his turtlenecks and Peter Asher glasses and made the big move from the mellow Midwest to the lights of Los Angeles, where the former film student turned crooner just surprise-debuted a new single sparkling with Hollyweird dramatics. Released on Bandcamp “in the wee small hours of the morning” (to quote another beloved crooner), “Knew It Was the First Time” rotates in a candy-colored Roy Orbison orbit through a Milky Way of tape distortion, haunted by the specter of Phil Spector. Heaney croons about the power of love and crunches numbers like a possessed ’60s accountant in what he so poetically calls “the arithmetic…
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Stewing on and Swooning Over John Myrtle’s “Myrtle Soup”
2021 may finally, blissfully be in the rearview, but there were a few delectable albums whose sizzle we missed amidst the pandemic madness that deserve a spot amongst your 2022 spins, and cheeky Brit John Myrtle’s Myrtle Soup (with vinyl album release set for January 28) is this chef’s choice of the day. John Myrtle crafts songs that simmer with the earnestness and innocence of the early Fab Four but delivers them straight from his London bedroom (or kitchen?) with a knowing modern wink at the sheer absurdity of bursting into song about matters of the heart. On songs like “How Can You Tell If You Love Her” he tackles…
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Listening with Your Eyes: Art d’Ecco’s Anything but Standard “In Standard Definition”
The land that pioneered the Canadian tuxedo is not exactly known for glamour, perhaps unfairly (there’s a certain allure to double denim in the right hands!), but with the rise of glam sensation Art d’Ecco, all that may be about to change. Our neighbors to the north are full of contradictions — those legendarily mild-mannered citizens also pioneered ice hockey, one of the most brutal, bloody sports on earth. And sure, their resident moose are shy and gentle giants, but Canada geese, bullies of the bird world, appear hellbent on world domination. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising then that such a promising new glam rock star should emerge from the…
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Ghostbusters with Rickenbackers: Ably House Conduct a Powerful 12-String Séance on “Posey Hollow Quartet”
Chicago band Ably House aren’t afraid of the dark. They take their name from a Galena, Illinois haunted house, the site of numerous suspicious deaths ending in the grisly 1877 murder of Swiss farmer Jacob Ably at the hands of his own son. Local legend has it that the stairs where Ably slowly met his bloody end from his bullet wounds had to be painted red to hide their sinister stains. His son — who some believe was avenging his mother’s death, officially labeled a suicide – received a life sentence, and when he died in his cell nine years later, his obituary called it “the last chapter of a…
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Dusty Trails and Tall Tales with Tele Novella’s “Merlynn Belle”
Hold onto your cowboy hats, paper crowns and powdered wigs! Small-town Texan charmers Tele Novella are riding back into town with Merlynn Belle, another technicolor time-traveling record packed with all the quirky characters and dramatic scenery your quarantine dreams can hold. It’s been four years since last we heard a note from Natalie Ribbons and partner Jason Chronis, who made names for themselves in the bands Agent Ribbons and Voxtrot respectively, and their long awaited second full length album opens with a question that many fans may have been asking themselves: “Where did you go?” Judging from this new collection of mournful odes to witches, shrines and pearls, it sounds…
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New Year, New Writers, New Reviews: Donna Kern reviews Gyasi’s “Walk On”
When original power groupie Bebe Buell sets her doe-eyed sights on a new artist, you’d better listen up. Her impressive lineup of exes includes Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Todd Rundgren and Iggy Pop, after all, but back in February, Bebe wrote on Instagram, “This is @gyasitheband … it’s safe to say that there’s no one like him in Nashville. Our very own rock God!” That’s some high praise from the high priestess of rock star muses. Bebe and Gyasi live in Nashville now and so, it increasingly seems, does rock ‘n’ roll. From the moment you land at the Nashville airport, spinning guitar displays, live music stages, and an entire…