On his Bandcamp page, Dougie Poole tags his upcoming record under both “country” and “not country.” It's paradoxical, yes, but the Brooklyn artist doesn't seem conflicted over his musical identity. Rather, he is refreshingly grounded in the reality of our time. “When I was making this record I was wondering a lot about tradition,” Poole wrote in an email to The FADER. “How do feelings of grief and loneliness become complicated by crazy new technology? How does country, this American tradition of reflective and self-aware music, become complicated by our deepening understanding of the parallel American traditions of violence, theft, and exclusion?” With the amazingly titled Wideass Highway, Poole has managed to bring a genre whose dismissal is so common it’s cliched — “anything but country” — into a contemporary space (see cosmic cowboy Sturgill Simpson for another recent-ish example of this feat). Poole's warbling strings feel familiar, but his rickety production and pensive lyrics articulate a generational self-consciousness that lends the album a modern authenticity. “Part of what was initially appealing to me about making country music was its earnestness and simplicity," Poole went on to explain. "But the more I work at it, the more it seems like there's a lot of pretty heavy stuff to unpack.” -The Fader

Don’t be fooled by the lazy genre descriptors or the pun-y moniker, Cuntry are neither especially quiet nor tame and they certainly aren’t a joke. Songs flow in distinct movements from hushed and understated to a kind of brooding punk aggression where every note and sound is poured through a distinct Southern filter. You know those streaks of silver and black that collide when lightning cuts through a storm cloud? Think that but, you know, in song form. -Immersive Atlanta

Atlanta, GA - Brazilian Psychedelic Surf - NEVER 2 COOL 2 DANCE.

"Jordan Reynolds spent much of her youth collaborating, the 24-year-old a key cog in the indie dream pop produced by Bowling Green’s Buffalo Rodeo. A slew of promising releases spawned DIY tours in college towns and metropolitan areas across the United States, but a proper LP never culminated. Rose Hotel has existed, even as just a small figment in Reynolds’ mind, for at least a couple years. The project has origins as an outlet for songs and ideas that got shelved in Buffalo Rodeo. Her sharp observations examine the fragile nature of relationships, the awkward and painful journey of watching the lust of youth fade into the stern realities of adulthood. Her lyrics sear with the honesty and urgency of 3 a.m. iPhone notes, the kind of morning after meditations that are scribbled onto the back of receipts. The wisdom you cling to when the muse disappears. Today Reynolds unveiled single “Honestly,” the first track from Rose Hotel’s EP “Always A Good Reason” due out in August on Fir Trade Records. The song is tinged with classic country influences, Reynolds’ pure voice drenched in three-chords-and-the-truth authenticity. It plays like song you’d find browsing the radio dial in the 1970s, somewhere between Nixon and Reagan. Back when the voices of Emmylou Harris and Joni Mitchell cut through the hiss of A.M. static. The song is penned to “a man that’s losing too,” her wise and weary lyrics an exercise in acceptance and knowing when it’s time to go. “A woman’s only half her words and half what she decides to do,” Reynolds sings..." -Fringe Music