sbcltr recommends the best of new music out this February

Remember when you were in college and you would spend hours looking for new music and experimenting with genres and artists. A playlist for each mood, each song a remedy, every mix put together precariously to inhabit the different layers of your soul. You were the one who was never going to let the song die out. Yet, here you are, almost a decade later, in your cubicle at work, with your fancy headphones to zone out from the noise, and all you can think of is how awful everything sounds. You wish you could move beyond the holy trinity that is popular music right now, (Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Adele) but you can’t because you don’t know where to look nor do you have the time. Here is our solution, a list of all the music we liked this February. Check it out. Groove on.

Claire Guerreso & Deepend – I’m Just A Skipping Stone

Released though Ultra Music on the 19th of February I’m Just A Skipping Stone. is the new collaboration between Claire Guerreso, a Nashville based singer/songwriter and production two-piece Deepend. Deepend mark their first outing on Ultra in serious style here, and their style of brooding deep house works brilliantly with Guerreso’s style of enticing vocals. If you like this one, you should also check out Claire’s “Skipping Stones” – which was released the same day.

The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die (TWIABP): Katamari Duquette

The Word is a beautiful place and I am no longer afraid to die, more commonly known as TWIABP are a post-rock collective with a sound that is large and have a knack for naming songs and albums (including themselves) with weird names.  “Katamari Duquette” is one of their heavier tracks, with the whole shabang of double kick drums and speed riffing –all bundled into a masterpiece.

The Big Thief : “Masterpiece”

In contrast to Adrianne Lenker’s solo LP back in 2013, her band – Big Thief has just released their new single – Masterpiece. A track that promises a sense of mysticism that treads on the lines of dark grungy corners of Brooklyn. It’s a relatable story of two old friends who kill time in diners and rescue each other from terrible parties. One of them passes away and Lenker sings with an aggressive weariness of grief. As doleful as therapy. Try it.

Little Scream: “Love as a Weapon”

Little Scream has it all – a falsetto that just keeps coming at you layered with tight synthetic funk basslines, disco drum shuffle. It kind of sounds like Emotional Rescue-period Stones, which is always amazing. Quite the contrary to what her debut eponymous album sounded like with its grungy guitar lines, Love is a weapon is a track that blends into any space you find yourself sitting in.

Morgane Stapleton & Chris Stapleton: You are my Sunshine (cover)

Dave Cobb decided to feature artists like Anderson and Jamey Johnson on his much-anticipated Southern Family concept compilation, he also took the privilege of working with Morgane Stapleton backed by her husband and Country great – Chris Stapleton. What came of this was a version of the 1939 Jimmy Davis classic “You Are My Sunshine.” A song once for children, takes on another meaning of kinship between the two. You are My Sunshine is a must listen and a beautifully arranged cover of a great song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0K8tOYZhsU

John Doe: Get on Board

Gone are the days when The Blasters were hot on the punk scene, gone are the days when X was the brutal punk band to hit America, move over a few decades later and X front-man – John Doe gets down and dusty with his new track – Get on Board. The opening track for his new album, The Westerner, is a track that sounds like Willie Nelson married Joe Cocker and had a crazy baby