Oh My Goodness |
As of this writing, the new album by Spencer Albee is officially on the streets. It'll surely get a review in these pages in the coming weeks, but for now, we can assert that the photo of him looking like Harry Nilsson stranded on the Aleutian Islands is one of the best local rock covers of the decade. SPENCER's self-titled record is available at all Bull Mooses.
Wes Hartley's on another tear. He issued two beautiful EPs of spare, alt-country melancholia this month, and revamped two of his bands — WESLEY ALLEN HARTLEY AND THE TRAVELING TREES and DEAD END ARMORY — for a series of shows throughout the state this summer. The EPs, titled Suspended Hankerchiefs and The Week Before the End of a Summer Job, break a bit of new ground, juggling somber sketches of new songs with a couple reworked versions of old, while others (like "Hard Gate" and "It's Butter on the Floor") flirt with a bluesy psychedelia which sounds quite fresh in his hands. Hartley's foregone moody rock band Dead End Armory play the annual Arootsakoostik Music Festival in New Sweden July 13 (with fellow Maine acts the TOUGHCATS, Belfast's UKE OF SPACES, THEODORE TREEHOUSE, and many more), and the Traveling Trees plan to tour the country two months this fall. Visit wesleyallenhartley.bandcamp.com for free downloads.
Therese Workman may have left Maine for Brooklyn last winter, but her experimental hip hop record still makes waves. OH MY GOODNESS, the collaborative project between her and producer Tyler Wood, is way more fierce and dazzling than what we were prepared for. Their new self-titled EP covers a ton of ground. "Rogue" blends twitchily electronic funk-hop (think Anti-Pop Consortium) with a soaring pop chorus. "Not Lying" showcases the lady's rich, dynamic voice as a piano ballad mutates into a skittering electro-funk meditation. And "Everything All" has some of the wildest horn arrangements — it's amazing that they never interfere with the bobbing vocal hook. Stunning, cultured stuff. Visit ohmygoodnessmusic.com.
Sending healing wishes to WCYY DJ ROB RICCITELLI, who was involved in a car accident while riding his bike to work last week. We hear it could be a long recovery, and hope that it contains as much peace and as little pain as possible.
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New England Music News
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, Spencer Albee, Dead End Armory, WCYY, Wesley Allen Hartley, Oh My Goodness, Less 
