January 2018 - the slower you go, the faster you'll know

Well, there’s really no contest. The best thing I heard in January was a group from Finland called Steve ‘N’ Seagulls that plays bluegrass covers of metal songs, recommended by my friend Barry (thanks, Barry!). This cover of Dio’s Holy Diver is typical:

Why are they in a boat inside a barn? Yes!

I really like the album Stadium Cake, by Oh Pep! It’s folksy pop music by two women from Australia. I just ordered a record player (which hasn’t arrived yet), and this is the first record I bought to play on it. Here’s the first song I heard off it (on Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist):

Midlake was recommended in the Reply All newsletter recently, and I really liked the album Bamnan and Silvercork. Reminds me of the band Grandaddy (pop melodies, droning synths, slackery vocals).