“Damned” (single)

In between recent stints as a live guitarist (Kings of Leon, Lees of Memory), punk rock troubadour Ethan Luck has been recording songs for his follow-up to last year’s spectacular Hard Seas EP. “Damned” is the first of these new tracks to be released and Luck’s West-Coast-meets-East-Coast twang fuels this beautiful barroom singalong that sonically lands somewhere between Bakersfield and Nashville. I can’t seem to pick my favorite between the arm-around-your-buddy’s-neck full band version and the drink-alone acoustic version, but Abby Gundersen’s fiddle work on the latter might just be enough to tip the scales.

The Wallies are a Sarasota, FL-based no-holds-barred rock band and their album artwork for Covers perfectly captures the vibe of their raw brand of red, white and blue American rock ‘n’ roll. Covers allows for a really cool look at The Wallies through five unique cover songs: “Diane Young” (Vampire Weekend), “Best of Friends” (Palma Violets), “Will You Be Mine” (Earth Angel), “Lightning Bolt” (Jake Bugg), and “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve” (The Orioles). Their garage rock take on “Diane Young” is probably my favorite of the bunch due to the spirited vocals of Croatian-born lead singer Neven Skoro.

Over the last couple of years I have found myself describing Courtney Barnett as “an Australian Guyville-era Liz Phair” (a HIGH compliment from me, by the way) and the more I listen to her, the more I believe she is exactly that (and much, much more). Barnett’s unassuming vocals, deadpan delivery, unadorned guitar-playing, and playful lyrics all mix together to create a sound that is somehow both comfortably familiar and entirely brand new. Her World Cafe Session features four tracks from her “debut album” The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas spliced between an enlightening interview with host David Dye.

Pawn Shop #1 (eBook)

Joey Esposito’s Pawn Shop graphic novel series captures the intertwining lives of a widower, a nurse, a punk, and a city employee, all living out their days against the revolving backdrop of New York City. In Issue #1, the widower character walks around Manhattan and tries to make sense of his upturned life. Each subsequent issue (also available here on NoiseTrade) focuses on a different-yet-correlative individual to create what USA Today’s Brian Truitt calls, “four stories of love, loss, pain and hope… both a memorable love letter to New York City and a touching study on the interconnectedness of us.”