back with another roundup of new music, none of which we can say we went out and found, though we're quite happy all of it found us. quite a strong group here, so let's don't piddle too much time away swinging our legs over the edge and simply dive headlong:amy speace - shed this skin (live)
new york country & folk singer amy speace will release a new album, live on radio, collecting some of her best in-studio performances, including the lovely acoustic version of "shed this skin" from a stop in at krfc 88.9 in fort collins. you can check out a few additional tunes from live on radio over at speace's reverbnation page.
taylor hollingsworth - damn boy (what's wrong with you)
the promo materials compare hollingsworth's forthcoming album bad little kitty to, um, nacho cheese: "completely amazing, satisfying and dirty as hell." probably not how we would have put it, but, we suppose, still something of an effective description for this fuzzy, lo-fi southern garage rock with equal parts attitude & humor. in other words, we pretty much dig it.
alan wilkis - i wanna know
alan wilkis is a terribly nice (and patient) multi-instrumentalist from brooklyn who recently finished up a solo album called babies dream big, off of which comes the soulful and smooth "i wanna know" - a fine compliment to your after-dinner cocktail.
shawn smith - ring that bell
first heard about shawn smith through his involvement in brad, a side project of pj guitarist stone gossard. his new album, the diamond hand, off of which comes the soulful rocker above, will be out later this month. also: apparently - and by apparently we mean according to his press materials - mojo magazine named smith one of the best vocalists - of all time. your humble music blog would seem patently unqualified to confirm or refute that assessment. though we do like him.
vir - montana
new zealand transplants and newly local bay area shoegazers vir will release their debut lp shadow of a mountain next week, a darkly melodic exploration of the duel between an urge to leave the nest and, having left, a longing to return. further reading on their myspace page.
