Listen: Dusk – “Pissing In A Wishing Well” [2023]

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Wisconsin country rock heroes Dusk have answered my prayers and have returned with new music. Their sophomore album, Glass Pastures, is out August 20 via Don Giovanni, their first proper album in five years.

It seems like only folks in the know are aware of this band. I’m continuing to do my part to get more people “in the know”. I featured their self-titled debut as one of my favorites of 2018, and even further included it in my Top 200 Albums of the 2010s, smack dab between Kaytranada’s 99.9% and Earl Sweatshirt’s Some Rap Songs. That’s how much I love that dang record. And now, a few years and a few solo projects from the individual members later, they’re back and ready to kick ass with this new LP.

The band picks up where they left off on “Pissing In A Wishing Well”, with sun-baked, southern-fried guitars winding a melody that surges the track forward (not to mention rip some killer solos in the back half), chunky percussion, chiming bar piano and gang vocals on the chorus made for singing with the car windows open and the road’s wind howling back at you. It has a sense of heft I feel is missing from a lot of rock these days. This band knows how to funk it. The full LP is arriving just in time to harness the remaining heat energy from the summer – so don’t miss out on this perfect time and get Glass Pastures on your calendar.

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Listen: Jessy Lanza – “Casino Niagara” [2023]

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Blog fav Jessy Lanza has released her new album, Love Hallucination, and I’ve been really enjoying it. It hasn’t struck me as immediately as her last three albums did, with more lowkey, downtempo tracks held together by minimal grooves, but there are a few tracks that have really resonated with me, like “Double Time” (wish it were longer!), “Big Pink Rose”, and “Limbo”.

The song I’m featuring here, “Casino Niagara”, is definitely my favorite off the record, with a slow and sensual tempo with glimmering synths, delicate percussion and some of Lanza’s best vocals yet, all coalescing into a romantically undulating and dynamic track. It’s a beautiful mood piece, draped in silks and lace. You get what I’m saying. The lights are dimmed. It’s feeling good. Feel good with this record. You’ve earned a little treat.

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Listen: MAYBEL – “Long Road Ahead” [2023]

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Going to try and get back into posting new songs and not JUST Recommended Albums. Goodness gracious. A good reason to do that is for new MAYBEL, a great four-piece folk group from Montreal, whose 2020 debut album Gathering provided me and my partner a lot of peace upon its release.

Their new album, Gloam, arrives October 27th via blog favorite idée fixe records. The first taste is an extremely promising one; a boost in fidelity benefits the band greatly, and they sound more in sync than before, with their three-part vocal harmonies and tender instrumentation. There’s even a sliding, echoing, jangling guitar solo at the end. This thing rocks. Count me in. Stream their new song “Long Road Ahead” below + check out their Bandcamp page to pre-order the record.

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Recommended Albums: June 2023

Check out my favorite releases from June 2023 – four of which made it into my Favorite Albums of 2023 So Far, in case you haven’t seen that. It’s a good one!

There are a few more albums from this month that were on my list to listen to like Youth Lagoon, Joanna Sternberg and Squid, but just didn’t get the chance to listen before wanting to get this out. Who knows, maybe they’ll have a redemption arc and make my Top 50 at the end of the year?

Regardless – there are some fantastic records below. Not sure how I feel about a reissue of old music being my favorite record of the year, but the Arthur Russell Picture of Bunny Rabbit is just that good.

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Warm Visions’ Favorite Music of 2023 So Far

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We’re at the halfway point of 2023 and I’m going to spare you the fanfare: below you’ll find my 25 favorite albums of the year so far (ranked), along with a list of 40 songs (alphabetized). It’s been a solid year for new tunes, but I have to say – nothing has been sticking out to me in a major way. I clearly have enough favorite albums to populate a list of 25, but am I head-over-heels / over the moon / feeling a special way about an AOTY contender? Not yet. Hoping time will reveal those feelings.

Regardless, keep scrolling for my favorites of 2023 so far. Maybe you’ll find something that unlocks a deep passion within your psyche. Or you’ll find something to listen to for a few days after reading. Either way, my job here is done.

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Recommended Albums: May 2023

Arriving late aka arriving on time for Warm Visions, it’s May’s Recommended Albums post. Unfortunately I didn’t make the 10-album ceiling, but these are eight very quality records. Also, cut me some slack. I had to move at the end of the month, so I’ve had a lot going on. Either way, I hope you enjoy per usual.

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Recommended Albums: April 2023

Alright so usually I have no excuse for Recommended Albums posts arriving late (the Warm Visions definition of “LATE” is the post arrives 10 days after the end of the prior month). In this case, I’m a day over. To be fair, I’ve been busy. I just wrapped up an apartment search, I had been at a conference for the first week of May, and I was in Charleston for a wedding at the end of April. There’s a lot going on, but it gave me a lot of time to check out some absolutely fantastic records. I mean, cmon now. 

I highly recommend every record listed below (I guess if I didn’t, this wouldn’t be Recommended Albums then, would it?), and take your time getting through them. Some deserve repeated, purposeful listens for them to unfold for you. From disco glam, to blissful electronics and shoegaze, to psychedelic funk rock, to dubby homespun grooves, to essentially a jam band record, to soooo many more things, April 2023 ran the table. Expect to see many of the records listed below in my Top 50 for 2023.

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Recommended Albums: March 2023

Running more late than usual, it’s March 2023’s Recommended Albums. Featured below are some great records that you may have missed, plus a few that were widely praised, such as Fever Ray’s. I’d like to think most are pretty under the radar though. Definitely check them all out!

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Recommended Albums: February 2023

In this month’s edition of Recommended Albums, we feature new records from established favorites on the blog (Yo La Tengo, Kelela), relative newcomers (Miss Grit, mui zyu), and more SUPER great records from artists I’ve admired for a while (Avey Tare, BIG | BRAVE, Young Fathers).

There’s also A LOT of great tracks that came out last month from Tennis, Anna B Savage, En Attendant Ana, Uh Huh, Jacques Greene, Meernaa, U.S. Girls, Pearla and more. Below that you’ll find what else I listened to in February aside from the new stuff. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t much! It was a lot of Miles Davis, to be clear.

If anyone had been waiting for this, apologies! From preparing for SXSW, to actually attending the festival, my time was sunken into many other things. Hopefully you still dig the tunes as you progress through March’s offerings.

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Listen: Jacques Greene – “Believe” [2023]

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You wanna dance? You wanna have a good time? You wanna add another burner to your running playlist like I did? Jacques Greene has got you covered with his new single “Believe”, out now via LuckyMe.

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