To cover "Jolene" is to stand in a very long, very deep shadow, yet with their new single, Sugarfoot have brought their own strange and compelling light. This isn't the familiar, simmering confrontation we know. Stripped of its country gallop and rebuilt around the stark, lonely-sounding architecture of Graeme Park's piano, the song is transformed from a desperate challenge into a haunting, prayer-like surrender. https://open.spotify.com/track/4P53bty0Ik9kgTfvMjqiIG?si=7e611d085f2f41c4 The...

Melbourne's TJ Howlett throws a shovel full of coal-dusted reality into the guitar-driven blues-rock furnace with his "Not Mine" EP. Two songs. Just two. But, my word, they carry the weight of generations. Suddenly, I'm thinking about Dorothea Lange's photographs, only... louder. https://open.spotify.com/album/6lCrWQGWQo9LsVDL94CR4k?si=97afEOrjR1WPe9AVG2pfgw "Not Mine," the title track, and then "Drinking Man" – they're not just following each other; they're wrestling in the dirt. This EP...