It´s Friday yet again, pop kids... That´s right, time sure does fly. Here´s another grab bag for you. Which songs made an impression on me this week? Got a varied diet for you this time, old and new, black and white, you name it, I´ve got it... We´re gonna get funky with the one and only brother James and with the mighty Funkadelic, and explore some new stuff with The Box Social and Frontier Ruckus. Then there´s the return of my beloved Dead Moon as Pierced Arrows, and two versions of a junkie lament. Get down and enjoy. Let´s start [...]
Frontier Ruckus are as awesome as their name. Matthew Milia's voice is a wilderness moan, but much more musical than most prophets. He sounds like Raymond Raposa (from The Castanets) but brighter, resonating at a higher timber. Whether or not the warble of either vocalists is in part an affectation to fit the sound of the genre is really irrelevant to me. I dig it because it is damn beautiful. Milia loves to rhyme, and despite my expectation that its overuse would wear on me, it usually works. He concludes "Dark Autumn Hour": [...]
Last week I gushed about the greatness of Frontier Ruckus . Well, with a few emails I had the I Am The Water You Are Pumping EP loaded onto my Ipod, and I can't see it relinquishing it's spot on the most-played list any time soon. With apologies to the great EPs I picked for the Best-of list , this one is a glaring omission. Frontier Ruckus is a sextet from Ann Arbor, which as a life long ND football fan, is not a place with great memories for me. It is however, a [...]
Bring the mutha-f&cking ruckus. Well actually don't. Despite the perfect Wu style name, Frontier Ruckus plays intimate folk songs, laced with banjo, pedal steel, and beautiful harmonies that hit you with the warmth of a summer breeze on sun kissed faces. Hailing from Ann Arbor - and since Chris Bathgate , Canada and That's Him! That's The Guy! call that college town home, I'd say it's become a bustling hotbed of great folk music - this sextet is my latest, greatest obsession. I'll review their [...]
I've been reluctant to promote these guys too much because I want to hide them from other labels snagging them, but they are just so good! If you can picture Jeff Mangum having his friends over and hanging out playing on the porch at a farmhouse, you'd be getting in the right direction. The songs are instantly memorable, the lyrics are swirlingly dense with rich language and the instrumentation is somewhere between subtle and epic, depending on the mood, I've found. Anyway - it's great and they have several albums worth of demos up on their website [...]
W hat are you doing one week from today (that's Friday, June 6th for all those keeping score)? If you are in Chicago and don't have any plans you should head over to Cal's Bar and check out the show. It is 100% blogger sponsored by yours truly and my homies over at Songs:Illinois and Big Rock Candy Mountain . Three bands + cheap beer + bloggers = good times. The lineup includes Ann Arbor, Michigan's Frontier Ruckus , Chicago's own indie [...]
The house concert went well. Thanks for asking. Chris Bathgate was cooler than I could have imagined. He had some high-tech gizmo's that he used to loop both his guitar playing and his vocals. In essence letting him sing harmony with himself and play lead and rhythm guitar parts at the same time. The Spares were just as I imagined they'd be: wonderful. One of the most interesting pieces of information I came away with at the end of the night was that apparently I booked the best band in Michigan for my [...]
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Check Out: Freddie Gibbs feat. Young Jeezy & T.I. – “Pull Up”
Catcall – ‘The Warmest Place’
This Is Not The End (Gui Boratto 2012 Mix)
Lazy Sundays: Penalune – Not All Clouds Are White
