When I think of indie Americana, I always think primarily of Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Wilco and Beachwood Sparks. Arbor Labor Union (Atlanta, Georgia) seem to be lifting the mantle of those forebears and continuing in the great tradition of the sound. The Bandcamp page doesn't really reference any particular sound, except there is a reference to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The great Sophomore Lounge (and its leader Ryan Davis) are releasing this on January 2nd.
As long as we're talking indie Americana, let's clear the slate. In 2024, New West Records released Color Green "Fool's Parade" on LP, and even released a live digital album. The only written buyer "review" is from...wait for it...Curation Records.
And as long as we've mentioned Curation, and the two previous music bars do have physical releases, this seems the perfect opportunity to slip in Benji Knight's two song digital single. Benji was in Fighter Jet, The Tyde and Beachwood Sparks. Bringing it back to the beginning of the post.
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Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band — New Threats from the Soul (Sophomore Lounge / Tough Love)
Listening to Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band’s second album, New Threats from the Soul, feels a bit like visiting a rambling old country town that’s experiencing a renaissance. It’s full of colorful characters, tall stories, and unexpected twists and turns. Its seven songs run to nearly an hour, so it’s long, involved, and rewards close attention. In her Dusted review of the band’s debut, Jennifer Kelly summarized the music’s appeal thus: “so rich with musical and lyrical ideas that it takes a while to bring them into focus. Spend the time, though, and this album is a universe, harsh and shadowy but shot through with beauty.” The same applies here, but the colors are brighter, the performances more confident and the blend between country and experimental-rock more seamless.
Given I’ve had my mind blown listening to the music of Davis’s other band, instrumental adventurers Equipment Pointed Ankh, it’s this side of the Roadhouse Band’s modus operandi that appeals the most. On the broadly accessible country-rock of the title track, a sinuous little melody is passed between a whistling synth, clarinet, and violin, and the outro is a lovely field recording of crickets paired with marimba. “Monte Carlo / No Limits” has a truly bizarre drum’n’bass breakdown with a killer fiddle and guitar melody. And what sounds like prepared piano during some of the instrumental passages on “Mutilation Springs” plays off beautifully against the sad, burnished gold of the verses.
Speaking of “Mutilation Springs,” it’s undoubtedly the album highlight, where the band slows down and stretches out towards the horizon. Into this space, Davis unfurls some of his most beautiful lines, such as “By the time the sunshine retracts we can practically see the agony on the face of the moon,” and “If we put our heads together on this sad sack of feathers can we remember what the memory foam forgot?” I can’t think of many songwriters currently penning such wonderful, memorable lyrics. This is obviously an important song for Davis, as the band revisits the core chord changes and some of the lyrics on “Mutilation Falls,” but in a dreamier cast, culminating in a squelching synth finale.
Even after listening to this album on repeat for the past month or so, it still feels like there’s plenty of corners to explore and riches to uncover. Davis is on fire right now, so it’s no wonder guests Ned Collette, Will Oldham, and Myriam Gendron volunteered to come along for the ride.
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One of the contributor tiers for the @indivisiblerpg fundraiser was designing your own minor NPC. I didn’t splurge on that myself, but one person who did asked the Giant Bomb forums for help in designing a character that could get put into the game. He’d then bring that design on to Lab Zero to work on. This was all over a year ago.
With that in mind, I tried designing various characters based on either my own ideas or thread suggestions, usually community memes or references to various video game playthroughs.Â
The dude who asked for help with the design process had to go silent after signing an NDA, so I dunno if any of these got picked up and are gonna be in the game. I kinda don’t think so, he was more hoping for the community to design their OCs together, but of course it was gonna turn into this lol. Fun exercise, anyway.
It’s been 5 years and it feels like so much more.Â
Your were a great man and many of what you helped create is still there and amazing today.
You live in our hearts forever may you rest in peaceÂ
