Kurt Vile and the Violators

Angel Olsen has a fresh edge to her sound, a warm and wonderful range, and an otherworldly skill and charm. Her special presence became apparent through her debut, Strange Cactiand radiates even more on her sophomore album, Half Way Home. Released on Bathetic Records, Half Way Home is a continuation of Angel's elegance, a collection of both new and old music, honed and matured, thoughts revisited. It presents this beautiful woman and her extraordinary voice taken to a new level, in no doubt a growth and reach brought on by many road trips with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and crew.

"It's now rare to come across a new artist not pre-loaded with backstory-- to find yourself bubbling over with questions instead of already knowing too much....You may be tempted to fill in the narrative gaps with something fantastical: maybe she records at night in the eaves of a barn with a murder of crows, say, or holds seances to evoke the spirits of Roy Orbison and Sandy Denny. But ultimately, the songs are all you need: 11 tracks of rough-hewn folk, shimmering and ribboned with dirt-packed veins, sung by a voice that curls and dips and dissolves like a black smoke plume." --Pitchfork

Steve Gunn is one of the most exciting american guitarists working today. his solo discography, as well as his work with GHQ, should be well known to folks who have followed three lobed recordings over the past several years. percussionist john truscinski is a stalwart of the american underground in his own right through his dedicated work in x.o.4 (with bill nace and jake meginsky), slaughterhouse percussion, as well as with GHQ (as last seen on the outfit's everywhere at once from the oscillation III series). sand city is an extremely mature and thoughtfully crafted album that conjures some of the most potent moments of both fantasias-era sandy bull and the more guitar-centric sun city girls albums while firmly charting its own raga-based territory. it is an exceptionally strong collection that should leave listeners rapt for years to come.