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Elf Power formed in 1994 and over the last 23 years have released thirteen albums, two eps, and a handful of singles, while touring North America, Europe, and Japan many times. Albums such as 1998’s Dave Fridmann-produced “A Dream In Sound” and 2008’s collaboration with the late Vic Chesnutt, “Dark Developments” have cemented the bands’ reputation as the finest purveyors of modern melodic psychedelic folk rock around. Their tour in support of their last album , 2013’s “Sunlight on the Moon” , took them on an extensive tour in support of Neutral Milk Hotel’s much acclaimed reunion tour, as well as dates with Broken Bells and headlining dates. Their latest album “Twitching in Time” combines experimental arrangements and sublime songwriting with their powerful live bombast, into their strangest, most cohesive, and most exciting sounding album yet. Opening track “Halloween Out Walking” combines minimal and beautiful folk rock arrangements with otherworldy Moog synthesizer gurglings to awe-inspiring effect. Other highlights include “Watery Shreds”, a piano ballad that transforms itself into an explosive an unexpected distorted guitar drone freakout, sounding like an unlikely marriage of avant-garde keyboardist Laurie Anderson and drone metallers Sunn 0)) . Songs like the title track and “Cycling Aimlessly” are classic fuzzed out melodic rock songs the likes of which the band has become known for , while songs like “Gorging on the Feast” explore a jazzy, melancholy terrain before descending into a shredding heavy rock assault. The constant shifting of sounds and styles makes for one of the band’s most diverse and satisfying albums yet. On this album, singer/songwriter Andrew Rieger and longtime collaborator multi-instrumentalist Laura Carter are joined by Matthew Garrison on bass, Peter Alvanos on drums, and Davey Wrathgabar on guitar. The album is released on May 12, 2017 on the band’s own Orange Twin Records, that has released almost 50 albums since 2001, including releases by Neutral Milk Hotel, Vic Chesnutt, Jeff Mangum, Jack Logan, Nana Grizol, Gerbils and many more.Orange Twin Records works in conjunction with The Orange Twin Conservation Community, 155 acres of beautiful land on the outskirts of Athens, GA that has initiated the development of a highly progressive, self-sustainable and ecologically-minded cluster village and nature preserve.

Tobin Sprout, former guitarist / songwriter of indie-rock icons Guided By Voices, has a new album (his first in 7 years), The Universe And Me (Burger Records), out on January 27. The Universe and Me takes a deliberately primitive approach that focuses on feeling, as opposed to production. The result is a vague bridge between the ballads of psych-era Beatles, and the haunting vulnerability of Daniel Johnston’s Hi, How Are You?.  Sprout penned and sang GBV classics including 14 Cheerleader Coldfront, It’s Like Soul Man, Awful Bliss, Ester’s Day, To Remake The Young Flier and Islands (She Talks In Rainbows).  Burger Records will also be reissuing Sprout’s out-of-print 1990s Matador solo albums, Carnival Boy and Moonflower Plastic.  In 2017, Sprout will be performing throughout the US with his 4-piece band.

Mathis Hunter didn’t intend to wait seven years to follow up his debut LP, Soft Opening, but it makes sense. Permeating the physical, spiritual, and religious worlds, the number seven counts not only seas, continents, and days of the week, but also chakras and heavens. If the real, tangible world and the mystical one are both grounded by the same number, then there is no better way to define Hunter’s music. Where Soft Opening only acknowledges the connection in passing, his new record, Countryman, explores these worlds intentionally as a cohesive whole — two sides of the same coin. The South, where Hunter firmly stakes his claim, is a fitting place for this exploration. Churches, bars, and graveyards dot the landscape in equal amounts — often standing opposite one another on the same street — proving that both the physical world and what lies beyond hold equal sway. Talk of ley lines, laying burdens down, and following the light are scattered throughout the record, giving Countryman Hunter’s greatest sense of place yet. The American South is a weird and complex place that’s often at odds with itself, which Hunter understands all too well. Slide guitars, acoustics, tambourines, Rhodes, pedal steel, and piano are all present on the album’s title track, but they’re bought to life by a full band instead of (mostly) Hunter himself, as with Soft Opening. This change helps the record alternate between heavier, full-on Southern rock songs such as “The Swirl” and the quieter, psych-folk country sounds of “Just a Fable.” These divergent sounds are perhaps best showcased by heavy, slide-driven opener “Ley Lines” and the quieter, more introspective late album cut “Pendulum.” At seven minutes, this later song is perhaps Hunter’s finest moment to date. “Night Jar” taps into a Southern sound, too. Where Soft Opening treaded a looser, more psychedelic landscape peppered with slide guitars, hand drums, tambourines, keys and chants, Countryman is direct, focused, and intentional by reflecting the same essential sound. Where the former record sounds something like a warped revival at a primitive church in deep Appalachia, this record takes place at the modern house of worship just on the outskirts of town. Hunter still leads the congregation, but this is a “come as you are” kind of affair. To be clear, there is nothing inherently religious (though perhaps spiritual) about this, but these images work for Hunter’s genuinely Southern rock album that refuses to be an empty caricature of the South. -Creative Loafing Atlanta