Like a rocket launching into the heavens above us, the Gary Douglas Band’s new album Deep in the Water doesn’t waste any time letting off fireworks with the blistering “River Road,” which has been conquering indie country radio waves since its release earlier this year. The buzz around “River Road” has led to even more buzz surrounding Deep in the Water, but when “Million Miles Away” starts up it becomes quite evident that Gary Douglas is anything else but a one hit wonder. The sonically eclipsing folk ballad is significantly milder than the opening track, but it’s nonetheless a captivating bit of American soul, the sort that some of us feared had all dried up in this great land of ours.

While every genre and style of music presents us with something unique and intriguing to consume, there’s something really special about vocal music. The godfathers of standards – from Frank Sinatra to Nat King Cole – were always backed by really great bands, but it was their voice and the majesty of its echo that really attracted crowds by the hundreds. Singing is often considered but a mere accent to an otherwise complex musical track, but for artists like the brilliant Hughie Mac, it can be the centerpiece of their entire sound. Hughie Mac doesn’t claim to be reinventing the structure and delivery of pop music as a whole; in a fact, he would likely tell you that he’s trying to do the exact opposite with his new album Hughie Mac Sings Some Great Songs, Pt. 3. Mac looks back in time over the course of this album’s litany of dynamic material, which spans decades of the universal pop catalogue and diversely exhibits all of the skill that this enthralling vocalist brings to the table. It’s one of the smoothest playing records of 2018 and could be described as required listening for anyone who enjoys a slick pop beat in the tradition of the old school.

The individualistic strand running through all of Kanisha K’s recording output stands out more vividly than ever with the release of her latest single “Talk is Cheap”. The song is labeled country, but it’s too tidy of a classification for my taste. Instead, I’ve listened often to the song impressed by the ability of Kanisha K and her collaborators to mix up a number of different stylistic touches without ever falling squarely into one camp. There’s strong flashes of rock guitar coming through at various points in the tune, but it’s never omnipresent and the underlying acoustic guitar and swaths of banjo running through the mix rounds out the song’s sound. “Talk is Cheap” has an authentic character, but there’s an ample amount of polish courtesy of another top notch production job framing Kanisha K’s performance.

Experimental rock musician Del Suelo got all of our attention with I Am Free back in 2016, and now he’s taking over the indie world with The Musician’s Compass: A 12 Step Programme. I’ve been in the music industry for most of my life, and only a few other times can I say that a record has been as widely anticipated as Del Suelo’s latest release. The Musician’s Compass is an emotionally charged concept album that dabbles in everything from traditional jam band music to more focused, straight forward hard rock, but in the aftermath of I Am Free’s experimentalism I expected this album to be nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. My expectations proved true, and I can now personally vouch that Del Suelo has produced one of the most thrilling listening experiences of the decade.