A couple awesome releases today:
CARLO — Carlo
Listen and purchase at Bandcamp
Whether they’re described as throwbacks to a more innocent time in music—or so hip it hurts—Carlo is simply a great band. Drawing equally from Link Wray, Ennio Morricone and Booker T & The MGs, the all-original Toronto instrumental combo has firmly embedded itself on the scene with a self-titled album guaranteed to make any situation a lot cooler.
Carlo is comprised of guitarist James Taylor, keyboardist Kelsey McNulty, bassist Scott McCannell, and current drummer Justin Rupple. Since releasing a debut EP in 2015, the band members have consistently developed their distinctive approach to well-established sounds. Carlo, the album, boldly displays the fruits of that evolution over the past two years.
Carlo certainly achieves that, recorded live at Magnephonic Records in Ottawa, using analog tape and vintage microphones for the highest possible fidelity reproduction. The album was then mastered for vinyl by Precision Pressing using state of their state of the art technology. Such attention to detail is a crucial part of Carlo’s aesthetic although, as evidenced by the band’s enigmatic name, they don’t necessarily follow the rulebook to the letter.
Carlo may be music geeks, but you don’t have to be to enjoy them.
JOE NOLAN — “Music In The Streets” (ft. Lydia Loveless) [Single]
Listen to the exclusive premiere at Roots Music Canada
Get it HERE
Joe Nolan is back. The roots rocker from Edmonton, Alta., will release his new album, Cry Baby, this fall, but he’s offering an advance preview with the first single, “Music In The Streets,” featuring Lydia Loveless.
Cry Baby is a collection of 11 songs, which take you on a trip of melancholic madness, a departure from his previous work, Tornado, which was produced by Colin Linden in Nashville, TN back in 2014. This time around Nolan made a record that hits close to home. Recorded in the dead of winter with Scott Franchuk, the vision behind Cry Baby is one that Nolan has kept locked up inside for the past three years. The music makes clear his struggles with darkness and depression, booze-filled evenings and broken relationships, but sharing his deepest secrets has led to truly remarkable results.
Nolan’s constant strength is his lyrical ability, as his words and imagery pierce the heart and have you hanging off each breath. He is not afraid to bleed – his open, wounded-heart delivery reminds us that we are all human. His unapologetic vulnerability is brave and endearing. Cry Baby is a journey through his early days, his first love, his feelings of failure and his never-ending search to find where he fits in.