On the Radar: The Dandy Warhols, Joan Osborne, Siomha, and Stretch Goals

Once I’ve featured a campaign here on Crowdfunding Radar, I usually don’t think about it again until the release date, under the theory that you’ve already seen it and bought in if you’re interested. But before I get into the three new campaigns featured this week, I wanted to revisit a campaign featured in my last column, Crickets by Phil Madeira. That’s because, since I featured it, Madeira has added two stretch goals to his campaign. If he reaches $15,000, he’ll throw in a holiday EP. If he reaches $20,000, he’ll add a copy of his excellent Mercyland: Hymns for the Rest of Us. Stretch goals are common with technology and television campaigns, but less so for music. So if you were on the fence, the pot has been sweetened for this one. Now on to the new campaigns.

Siomha – Untitled Debut Album
I come by new crowdfunding campaigns in a lot of different ways, but one of my favorites is when an artist I follow on social media posts in support of a fellow artist’s new work. So when the guys from We Banjo 3, whose Haven is one of my favorite albums of the year, sent me a heads up about Siomha’s debut album Kickstarter, I was all ears. Good thing, too, because Siomha’s mix of soulful blues, jazz, and guitar rock checks all of the boxes of my personal musical tastes. For this album, Siomha is teaming up with producer Tyler Duncan, who has worked with artists like Vulfpeck, Lake Street Dive, and The Ollam to record in his Ann Arbor, Michigan, studio. While many of Siomha’s higher end backer rewards, such as house concerts and a private listening party, are available only to backers in Ireland, you can still snag a signed copy of the album on CD or vinyl as well as an hour-long chat session via Skype.

The Dandy Warhols – Why You So Crazy
The lines between Americana music and power pop have always been a bit blurred, even more so now with artists like Parker Millsap, Jason Isbell, and Aaron Lee Tasjan pushing the genre in a more rock guitar-oriented direction. So it seems fitting that, in the middle of roots music “going electric,” one of the most influential power pop bands of the modern era would be celebrating their 25th year with a brand new album. The Dandy Warhols will release Why You So Crazy in 2019 and are promising “classically off-kilter psych pop … country-fried Americana … and gothic piano-propelled Rumbas.” In other words, the same out-of-left-field fare Dandy Warhols fans have come to expect. Their preorder site on PledgeMusic offers not only signed copies of the album on CD and vinyl, but also hand-sewn patches, a Dandy Warhols guitar strap, and a disposable camera with photos taken by the band.

Joan Osborne – Untitled New Album
Joan Osborne spent much of the past year on a deep dive into the music and lyrics of Bob Dylan, touring in support of her 2017 release Songs of Bob Dylan. But now she’s ready to head into the studio to record an album so new it doesn’t even have a name yet. But it does have a PledgeMusic preorder page, which promises the new songs will show the influence of her recent foray into Dylan, but also her love of Southern rock, which will make anyone lucky enough to have seen her 2017 AmericanaFest tribute to Gregg Allman alongside Aaron Lee Tasjan and The North Mississippi Allstars very happy. Backer rewards include the album on CD or vinyl, a tote bag, T-shirt, and, for the true Osborne completist, the 1961 Mercury Meteor used on her Songs of Bob Dylan album cover, which can be had for a mere $10,000.