The Coals

Jason Mandell has a handful of recordings and a fresh start. Mandell caught my ear three years ago as part of the U.S. Mail Band, which then became the Coles and then, for legal reasons, the Coals. Earlier this year writing partner Sutter Zachman left the project, so Mandell has put together a band around his songs, recorded with Mike Daly (Whiskeytown) and Michael Beinhorn (Soundgarden, Soul Asylum). Patrick Park, Sara Watkins and Jack Irons also collaborated. File under: dusty country roads. Expect a release early next year. - Buzz Bands

A truly multidimensional artist, Jason Mandell is a songsmith, guitarist, singer and writer (sometimes for this very newspaper). When the Coles (later, for legal reasons, the Coals), his bountiful collaboration with singer-guitarist Sutter Zachman — and a great young hope of the local country/folk scene — parted ways 18 months back, Mandell packed the tunes he'd penned and built a fresh band around 'em. Though he's a New Yorker who's lived his adult life in and around L.A., Mandell's musical expressions are shudderingly personal in content yet oddly escapist in tone — whispers from forlorn Texas trails, desperate Mexican backroads and elusive, possibly mythical, paths to happiness. Quaint and untainted, the Coals are a rare and beautiful thing to behold. - LA Weekly