Peter Case’s latest album is named after the longest east-to-west highway in America, a road he grew up just a block away from. The attachment to the proverbial “road” is fitting for Case’s long and influential career. His unique blend of folk, country, and straight-up rock and roll not only admires the canon of music he’s entwined with but adds a formidable and highly impressive discography of sounds and words that stretch out the corners of these genres. Far from the music he made with popular power-pop band The Nerves, Peter Case sits down with a couple of guitars and Daytrotter’s piano to play some new and old songs from his solo career. There’s passion, honesty, storytelling, and undeniable talent tied up in the songs; observant and poetically interested lyrics ride on the back of smooth and pleasing fingerpicking. He makes a 12-string guitar sound like a choir of harps, and even plays one of his songs on piano for the first time-perfectly. 

Animal Years makes living-in-the-moment music. They’ve said that their name has come to represent the ethos of doing just that: living like you could die any day, and counting your years as if they were an animal’s-less numerous than human years and more exposed to the dangers of the natural world. In short, every moment counts. 

Their plugged-in folk-rock songs play out like anthems. They have that arena filling vigor but also the personal touch of a songwriter who employs equal amounts of introspection and retrospection. Animal Years’ songs vary in scope, from pop songs to sprawling rock epics. The songs in this session are mostly uplifting, both lyrically and in the pure tone of the instrumentation. Often, though, the forward looking spirit of the songs will take the past into deep consideration, resulting in that glowing, ambivalent nostalgia that everyone’s felt at some point in their life.

Super Doppler sound like they are straight out of the 70’s. They fit right along side Leon Russell or a more classic Dr. Dog. These guys have a really deep sound. Every song goes in and out of soul, rock n’ roll, and R&B. Their energy as a band is what gives these guys a lot of their appeal. Get to know these guys and remember this name.

Eric Donte is the kind of artist everyone wants to discover. His songs explode with originality and fresh, exuberant positivity. Coming across his music, or seeing him perform, gives you the feeling that you’re happening upon something important, a performer and poet who could, in time, become a household name. He’s a double-threat; equipped with both a blissful singing voice and an effortless and entertaining flow, Eric Donte is a true artist on the come-up. His musical influences bleed through into his music, but he’s far from someone who copies or imitates. He believes in himself (check the Eric Donte t-shirt he’s wearing) and wants to share that light with an audience through positive messages in his lyrics. Eric’s brand of hip-hop is on a wave you really don’t want to miss out on.

Stronger Sex in the kind of electro-pop band you’d rather see playing in the middle of an art museum than in a dank, dark club. Their meshed and twisted soundscapes turn themselves into meticulously crafted pop songs which travel and change so much that even if you had a technological understanding of the instruments they employ, the true genesis of these sounds would remain a mystery. But these aren’t pop songs that give up all their secrets on a first listen, either; more nuance can be discovered in the songs as long as you keep panning for gold. While the music remains very danceable, the beats are often elusive and offer themselves more as a backdrop for what sounds like an audial kaleidoscope, a dense quilt of colors that goes far beyond the basic and tactile. 

Stronger Sex has been described (or self-labeled) as a sci-fi cabaret. Once you hear this session it’ll be difficult to refute that turn of phrase. Sounds and melodies come across the stage as actors and dancers would, hanging out for a bit amongst robots and extra-terrestrial beings, before being grounded again in real contemplation with lyrics that are easy to digest but still just outside the realm of complete understanding. With two voices that are markedly human (as in, not laid over with too many effects) we can experience a techno bliss without forgetting who makes the machines.