Dana Falconberry & Medicine Bow, “From the Forest Came the Fire” (Modern Outsider). Check our new Austin360 Artist of the Month feature for April for more about this Austin indie songwriter and her five-piece band.
A revealing observation about this new album in comparison to Falconberry’s last release, 2012’s “Leelanau”: Five of its nine songs are more than five minutes long and nothing is under three minutes, whereas “Leelanau” had only two songs over five minutes and included six “songlets” of less than two minutes. What prompted the change?
“I just have been fascinated by like a totally different mold for a song,” Falconberry says. “And thematically it feels really different from the last album, which was more based on natural landscapes and my history. This one is more based on supernatural phenomenon and really deep things that are going on within me — not so much surface-level things.”
Watch our Statesman studio video of “Calling Mountain” above. And catch the band’s record-release show Saturday, April 2, at Stateside at the Paramount.
Explosions in the Sky, “The Wilderness” (Temporary Residence). American-Statesman/Austin360 writer Deborah Sengupta Stith notes that although this is “their first new album in five years, the atmospheric soundscape masters have stayed busy in the half decade since ‘Take Care, Take Care, Take Care’ was released, doing soundtracks for three films and touring the globe. They’re now hitting the road for an extensive U.S. and European tour” after last weekend’s triumphant record-release shows at the Paramount. Perhaps they’ll be back for ACL Fest or Fun Fun Fun? Here’s the track “Logic of a Dream”:
Haberdashers, self-titled EP. Traditional country-folk stylings and instrumentation mark this six-song debut from the new quintet, with guitar, mandolin, banjo and upright bass mixing behind a four-part vocal blend. The songs tend toward energetic and upbeat tempos, from minor-key bluesy (the opening “No Way Out”) and to major-key bright (the bouncy “That’s the Way”), though they take it down a notch with almost whispery vocals on “The World Remains.” Release show April 2 at Continental Club.
RECENTLY RELEASED
Jeff Plankenhorn, “SoulSlide.” An in-demand sideman with a rich, resonant singing voice, Plankenhorn steps out with a dozen tracks of rootsy material, mostly his own compositions. Guest-vocalist ringers Malford Milligan and Ruthie Foster turn up on a couple of tracks, but the spotlight stays on Plankenhorn’s own intuition for a good soul groove. Playing April 15 at Strange Brew.
COMING SOON
APRIL 8: Hayes Carll, “Lovers and Leavers” (Hwy 87/Thirty Tigers), in-store April 8 at Waterloo Records, playing April 15 at Old Settler’s Music Festival.
APRIL 8: Michael Fracasso, “Here Come the Savages,” release show April 9 at Strange Brew.
APRIL 8: Residual Kid, “Salsa” EP (Sire/Warner Bros.).
APRIL 15: Taylor & the Wild Now, “Tides” EP, release show April 14 at Stubb’s indoor.
APRIL 15: Calliope Musicals, “Time Owes You Nothing,” release show April 15 at Central Presbyterian Church.
APRIL 15: Don Leady & His Rockin’ Revue, “Poppy Toppy Gone,” release show April 16 at C-Boy’s Heart & Soul, in-store April 17 at Antone’s Record Shop.
APRIL 22: Sharks in the Deep End, “Killin Machine.”
APRIL 22: Ducharme-Jones, “Strangest Things” (Blissed Out), release show April 22 at One-2-One Bar.
APRIL 29: Greyhounds, “Change of Pace” (Ardent), playing March 25-26 at C-Boy’s Heart & Soul.
APRIL 29: Dave Insley, “Just the Way That I Am,” release show April 23 at White Horse.
MAY 3: Jeremy Nail, “My Mountain,” release show May 6 at Strange Brew.
MAY 6: A Giant Dog, “Pile” (Merge), release show May 7 at Barracuda.
MAY 13: Migrant Kids, “Primordial Soup” EP (Pure Joy).
MAY 14: The Deer, “Tempest & Rapture,” release show May 14 at the Parish.
MAY: Cotton Mather, “Songs From the I Ching,” first in a series of vinyl releases collecting 64 digital tracks.
MAY: Emily Gimble, Title TBA.
JUNE 10: Shawn Colvin & Steve Earle, “Colvin & Earle” (Fantasy).
JUNE 10: Charlie Faye & the Fayettes, self-titled.
JUNE: Jack Ingram, “Midnight Motel” (Rounder).
