Album Stream: Jessie Baylin ‘Pleasure Center EP’
New Jersey native and Nashville transplant Jessie Baylin released an EP worth getting excited about last week. Pleasure Center EP clocks in at just under 21 minutes, achieving an astonishing amount of fun in such a short time. The EP features four covers and one original.
I was immediately intrigued by the variety of artists that Baylin chose to cover: Thin Lizzy, Stevie Nicks, Sonic Youth, and Arthur Russell is a diverse group to draw from. Yet Baylin makes each track her own, much the same way that Cat Power was able to achieve on her 2000 release The Covers Record.
Pleasure Center EP is a direct departure from Baylin’s 2008 release Firesight. She trades a full, studio sound for the stark simplicity of the 4-track. The EP was produced by Richard Swift (The Shins), giving Baylin an indie credibility that until now was nonexistent. Here’s hoping her new sound rubs off on hubby Nathan Followill of The Kings of Leon.
Baylin will release a LP of original material in mid-January entitled Little Spark. Listen and download the entirety of Pleasure Center EP below. Connect with Baylin via Facebook and Twitter.
Written by Rob Peoni
Band to Watch: Tumbleweed Wanderers
I recently came across Oakland, CA’s Tumbleweed Wanderers at the urging of a friend. The band formed in March and has quickly developed a loyal following in the Bay area. They released the first single, “Take it Back,” from their debut, self-titled EP back in September. The track is a genre-blending blast of a song that features an addictive recurring guitar riff, gratuitous horn and harp lines and pitch perfect harmonies that meld together into one helluva promising start. Listen here:
The remainder of the Tumbleweed Wanderers EP is due out sometime this week. The good folks at S*ALT recently recorded the quartet’s cover of The Tallest Man on Earth’s “I Won’t Be Found.” The band does justice to the track by my favorite Swedish singer-songwriter. Watch below:
Written by Rob Peoni
Album Stream: Laura K. Balke ‘Rumors & Legends’
Anyone who knows me well has heard me speak of my soft spot for female singer-songwriters. Abigail Washburn, Jessica Lea Mayfield and even Norah Jones are all artists that I keep in steady rotation. So to find endearing qualities in Laura K. Balke’s latest album, Rumors & Legends, was no stretch. The songs fell nicely within my comfort zone.
The album is the third full-length release from the Princeton, IN native. It was produced by John Autry and recorded in whatever quiet space proved convenient – a piano warehouse, an empty art gallery, and a variety of apartments. The efforts resulted in eleven songs that underscore Balke’s strengths as a writer.
Though not an overriding theme, there is an element of pop in Rumors & Legends. She carves out a character of defiant confidence, not unlike the ones portrayed in songs by Top 40 starlets Taylor Swift or Kelly Clarkson. However, a darkness is present here that’s lacking for those artists. Her emotions translate in the writing, never missing a syllable, she is clearly a musician that values the lyric. This comes as no surprise, unlike the bulk of Swift’s work, these songs were written entirely by the singer.
Also departing from the Top 40 formula is Balke’s refusal to dress her songs up. There’s no layering of choruses with a dozen vocal tracks or a fifteen-man backing band. Though her band complements nicely, Balke’s acoustic guitar and voice lie at the core of every song on Rumors and Legends.
Saturday night, Balke and her band debuted songs from Rumors & Legends at an album release party at Earth House. Listen to the album in its entirety below. Purchase the album via Balke’s bandcamp page. Hard copies include beautiful artwork that corresponds with each individual track.
Written by Rob Peoni
Thought on Tracks 