Manning Fireworks (Opaque Red Vinyl LP)

In the month and a half since this came out, I have probably listened to it over five times a week. One of the many beauties of MJ Lenderman is that his songs just get better with each listen. A friend described it to me as if Townes Van Zandt was in Pavement, but Lenderman is paving his own path and adding to the canon of The Great American Song Book at only 25 years old. He is an incredibly funny and witty yet poignant lyricist and the music is just amazing, top it all off with a five minute outro of oddly calming guitar feedback and you have one of the albums of the year. This is the Bob Dylan going electric for our generation and the people are finally ready to welcome it with open arms, get on it while it's still hot! - Lucia

Those who caught MJ Lenderman's surprise show at Whammy Bar earlier this year will attest, this is an artist who is on fire, with plenty of fuel left to burn. Lenderman flew more or less direct from Auckland to go and film the unforgettable Waxahatchee duet performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, further solidifying his place in our hall of favourites. Now, MJ has announced his new album on ANTI-, Manning Fireworks, a simple-hearted work of wide-eyed genius that swings and swaggers from lo-fi crackle to full-blown guitar jams of Crazy Horse proportions. Get. On. Board. - Flying Out

MJ Lenderman is a songwriter born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. The anatomy of an MJ record might go something like this: warped pedal steels and skuzzed out guitar; crackin’ a cold one with some buds; a voice reminiscent of the high-lonesome warble of a choirboy. Songs snake their way from a lo-fi home recording to something glossier made with longtime friends at Asheville’s Drop of Sun studios, but the recording setting doesn’t seem to matter much – at its core, a Lenderman song rings true.