The (Local) Fresh Five: Luke Callen, BOOBLESS, Caution, cowboyslang, Matthew Thomas & Wounded Wing
For the Fresh Five we pick out five great new(ish) jams that we’re currently obsessing over. All of these songs come from local (Minnesota) bands/artists.
We’re stretching “local” here to extend to our friends across the Mississippi and it’s worth it to include Eau Claire’s Luke Callen and his great new record Fool’s Spring. Callen is a folk & country of a vintage hue. His raspy, melancholy baritone (with frequent pedal steel accompaniment) feels reminiscent of another era, however Callen’s themes of loss, loss, and getting knocked around, are timeless. Check out standout single “Smith Valley” and stream/purchase the rest here.
Callen will perform at Icehouse on 5/2 (tix/info)
Caution is Nora Button (of Minneapolis) & Cash Langdon (of Birmingham, Alabama) respectively. The duo formed in 2019 after meeting and playing in punk projects in the DC area. They released their latest album Peripheral Vision late last year and are currently touring to promote it. Their sound crosses a lot of genre boundaries, including punk, pop, shoegaze, and even dipping a toe into country. Single “Mind Like A Tool” is a really solid piece of power pop, containing heavy rock riffage and head bopping melody. Stream/purchase the whole album here.
The pair will open for King Tuff at the Turf on 5/12 (tix/info). If you can’t make that they’ll also be performing at the Seward Cafe the following day.
BOOBLESS is the latest (self-titled) album from the fine folks at Bumpy Records. The quartet (composed of Ollie, Meyer, Trystə, & Pete) make slacker-core indie rock with a full heart and a good sense of humor. “You Can Do Things” is a rollicking art-rock single, with deadpan vocals and angular guitar noodling, at time recalling skeins of a more fun version of the Fall or even Dick Diver for a more modern comparison. Stream/purchase the record here (out now).
And now for a different vein of music! Local artist Dan Stanton is cowboyslang – a pianist who makes lovely meditation-oriented ambient music. He has a new record out now – A Beautiful World, and its a captivating collection of spare yet sprightly compositions. You can stream/purchase the album here.
We last checked in on Matthew Thomas and Wounded Wing last year. They followed up the same year with a new tune “Burned Out Moon” that following fall. We’re catchinig up on it now and very glad to do so – the latest song is a melancholy, beautiful piece of folk/Americana. Stream/purchase the track here.
