#mattpick

Course in Fable by Ryley Walker

6.1 - While full of ideas, this feels more like a collection of interludes from prog rock anthems than it does a proper album.  - mjs

3.6 - I felt like I was listening the John Mayer of hobbits that I went to high school with and kinda despised his creativity and musical talent, and reminds me of the shameful Hobbit Day where I drunkenly yelled "where are the hooks man?” during his performance. - Jt

4.0 Prog Americana with storytelling that falls in line with dry-witted contemporaries like Father John Misty is something I don't think I like. -b

Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview on Phenomenal Nature

9.5 - I was so moved by this album’s lyrical content, musical strides, and general authenticity but I don’t even really know how to describe it other than to say it is of the highest quality and you should give it a try. -b

7.7 - Dreamy waves of guitar, synthesizers, horns, and the sounds of nature lay a comfortable bed for an introspective lyrical journey.  - mjs

6.2 - A close listen layers in details that poetically ground a lonely hazy martian dream to a meditative roll through clips of uniquely normal earthling moments. -Jt

7.8 - There's a cocoon of solemn calmness that envelops the entire album and like sitting on a back porch passing time and passively bird watching we see little flutes, strings, tambourines, saxophones fly into view and fly away again. - ty

The World Only Ends When You Die by Skyway Man

9.1 - A rewarding psychedelic journey with pit stops all over American folk, country, and gospel music-- a trip worth taking.  - mjs

7.7 - Skyway Man starts his fun jangling in a barn then proceeds to jangle his way up river to church, to the bar, and to the beach, making friends and jangling all the while. -ty

7.2 - I’m always down for a weird concept album and when I started thinking of this as a rural road trip spiritual time travel musical starring a born again jeff tweedy and jerry garcia it got way way better - Jt

8.1 - Like a lot of great alt-country, you can draw more direct lines to The Beatles than you can to Hank Williams with this one and the deeper you look into it, the more satisfying musical details emerge. -b

This Is The Kit - Off Off On

6.1 - There’s an originality to the songwriting and Kate Stables’s distinctive voice shines, particularly on standout tracks like the closer “Keep Going.”  But ultimately the nervous energy piqued my anxiety more than my interest, in a week where I had more than enough anxiety.  - mjs

7.7- Like an intricately folded piece of origami the sound is both delicate and sturdy and the background has much to offer with reverby guitar, backing vocals, and delicious horn arrangements that enhance it all. - ty

6.8 - This may be because I just finished watching The Vow, but the balance of folksy chaos and spiritual bliss driven by an unusual combination of instruments and the retrospective lyrics made this feel like a nostalgic look back at one's escape from a cult. -Jt

Shore by Fleet Foxes

5.0 - the best part of the relatively uneventful unambitious but kinda pretty camping trip was when Brian suggested maybe it’s all a conspiracy theory... and now that i think about it... maybe it was! - Jt

7.1 - The album basks you in calm, sunny, and peaceful waters in which schools of harmonious fish bob and weave and a weighted blanket made of guitar strings waits on shore to sooth and comfort as a lazy afternoon ebbs and flows. - ty

7.4 - The latest effort from Fleet Foxes takes their established sound, and continues to evolve and grow it.  The guitar jangle and calming vocals feel like the comfortable hug the world needs from time to time. - ms

4.6 - The FF’s music remains meticulously worked and detailed thoroughly, but I have maybe never once heard music so ill-suited for the moment and as such, the album comes across as propaganda to me. -b

Die Midwestern by Arlo McKinley 

6.8 - McKinley’s debut album travels a well-worn path of singer-songwriters, lamenting broken…

5.4 - I’ve always found the path for contemporary soft rock americana to find my heart is via singles on young adult dramas—for example, Arlo McKinley has a better chance resonating with me served during a controversial wedding double episode of Felicity. -Jt