
No, not mine, that's a secret for a little while longer. Well, at least until I figure out which five they are at least, which might take another week or so. No, this is yours. For those of us sleeping off hangovers from Thursday's drinking, and preparing to give ourselves whole new ones tonight, I think this might be the perfect diversion: simply list, in order, your five favourite albums of the year. I am not sure how to score this, frankly. I could either award five points for a number one, four for a two and so [...]

I've finally returned to a certain place and state of mind that I have been lonely without for almost a year now. I feel refreshed and rejuvenated as my days revolve around some very important "T" words: Travel, Tapas, and Techno. I stay out until 5am, dance all night, and get up early to experience another country and another language. I am falling in love again with the life I used to live and I don't know how I've ever left it. I am clueless as to why I am so drawn to Europe, but when I am here and [...]
Earlier this year, Murder By Death put on a pretty epic tour throughout the States in support of their latest effort, Good Morning, Magpie . Apparently, however, that wasn't enough for the four cello-obsessed whiskey fanatics. Which is why Murder By Death is hitting the road yet again, and this time they're even going to Canada for a few days! Starting this week, the Indiana natives will embark on a two-week tour alongside Philadelphia rockers MewithoutYou, only to get right back on the road in early September for their own headlining tour. Hitting everywhere from [...]
Jun 15, 2010, 4:44pm
MBV

Frank Yang This past Saturday night was one of those evenings with absolutely no shortage of options for Toronto concert-goers - and that's even before Arcade Fire showed up to siphon off another 1000 people or so to the east end - so I wasn't sure how well the Toronto debut for both Sweden's First Aid Kit and Oklahoma's Samantha Crain at The Rivoli would do. Any concerns about possibly being the only one there, however, evaporated when I got to [...]

Frank Yang This past Saturday night was one of those evenings with absolutely no shortage of options for Toronto concert-goers - and that's even before Arcade Fire showed up to siphon off another 1000 people or so to the east end - so I wasn't sure how well the Toronto debut for both Sweden's First Aid Kit and Oklahoma's Samantha Crain at The Rivoli would do, particularly since I heard that First Aid Kit's free in-store at Criminal Records earlier that afternoon [...]

Hey everyone, Autopsy IV here. Sometimes someone sends you a review that puts things so well you just decide to scrap your own intentions of writing one and just run theirs. Such is the case today. Kyle Coroneos , a regular reader and frequent commentor sent my this review a couple of weeks ago and there is no better time to run it than on the album's release date. Enjoy! They say you have your whole life to write your first long player. [...]

I'm going to start tallying up the amount of times I've planned on writing something specific and wound up doing otherwise. Or the amount of times I've planned on going to the gym and wound up going out... to, let's say... a concert. I had a couple of different Artist Spotlights lined up for today, but after Saturday night's show at Seattle's all-ages venue, The Vera Project , I felt the need to revise and attempt a different format. There really is something to be said about a performance that leaves you reevaluating your life. Let me [...]
sie hat ein so festes gemüt, eine stählerne haut, ein umwerfendes wesen. auch ihre musik fühlt sich so fleischig an. weit weg von ätherischer fügsamkeit. schaut man ihr ins gesicht, schaut man in tiefe seen. samantha crain heißt dieses von anmut nicht gerade verwöhnte wesen. sie hat eine eigene schönheit, die tiefer liegt. ihre songs sind da direkter und eingängiger, biedern sich aber nie an. im gegenteil unterstreicht ihre machtvolle art, wie sehr unabhängig sie ist, sein will. ihre erste ep fabrizierte die junge dame unter den wachsamen augen von joey lemon von [...]

Oh you KNOW I adore Samantha Crain and am so excited to get my ears on her new album!! This sweet video of "Santa Fe" gives us a peek at one of the tracks off You (Understood) due out June 8, on Ramseur Records.... pre-order it here! Her last record Songs In the Night was beautiful and well-received. Don't miss her on tour as she promotes this new one. This young artist has a voice you won't soon forget, and a manner of creating a melody that melds words and [...]
Multi-instumentalist Samantha Crain debuted her new song, "Santa Fe", on Paste Magazine. She's touring in NA, (several events this week in Portland) and will be releasing her sophomore album, You (Understood) on June 8th. Check out the video above filmed in downtown Santa Fe, NM with special guests Frontier Ruckus.
Best Albums in 2009. The Duke & the King – Nothing Gold Can Stay. Download "The Morning I Get to Hell" (mp3). Simone Felice, of the Felice Brothers, has teamed up with Robert Bird Burke, Simi Stone, and Reverend Loveday to create a folk album that is also an homage to '70s soul. The ardent acoustic songs are punctuated with moving melodies, accordant music, and lilting vocals. Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers – Songs in the Night. Download "Songs in the Night" (mp3). Download "Get the Fever Out" (mp3). On this impressive debut full-length album, Samantha Crain crafts descriptive [...]

Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers recently recorded another session with Daytrotter.com awhile back. Crain and the Midnight Shivers also appeared on Daytrotter in January 2009 . Samantha Crain welcomes you to Daytrotter! Six other Oklahoma artists have been featured on Daytrotter – Evangelicals and Aqueduct both sessioned there in 2007, as did The Uglysuit in 2008 and Other Lives and Starlight Mints in 2009. Below are mp3s from [...]
The year (and decade for that matter) are over in 1 day, and I wanted to wait to the last possible moment to write out my picks. So after much deliberation and consideration, here are my 10 favorite albums of 2009 (And to make things interesting, I am going to attempt to tell you why they are awesome in 140 characters or less): 10: Fanfarlo Reservoir Better with each listen, I am continually drawn into this heavily layered, lush album. Every song so far has been my favorite of [...]
Check out Part I (11-20) Part II of my Top 20 Albums of 2009 10. Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At The Movies Bloodshot, 3.3.2009 Justin Townes Earle 's second album cemented his star-studded name as star in his own right and won the top spot in the first ever [...]

My decade list has been posted. The Bird List has been compiled. Now it's time to look back at this year's new releases and attempt to list my favorite albums of 2009. It's important to note that these are my favorite albums and not necessarily a critical review of the best of the year. There's a lot of stuff out there that I didn't hear this year, a lot of things I enjoyed but didn't earn favorite status, and a few critical darlings that just flat didn't do it [...]
So here it... the best 11 albums of 2009...according to me.But if you want a voice...then it's time to vote on your favorite albums. Next week, I will publish a list of the 111 best albums of 2009...according to you...my readers.If you want to vote...just put your top 20 albums in the comment section anywhere on the blog.Here are the 11 Best Albums of 2009: 1-11 (Part 5):1. The xx - The xx2.

Well I hope you've all had your thinking caps on for the last few days, because today is the first of two list days here on Song, by Toad. This week the Friday Five is going to be your chance to list your five favourite songs of the year. On the off-chance that enough people do actually vote for the same songs I will then add them up at the end and award some sort of Toadly Prize of Music Achievement to the winners. And if you all vote for completely different things then I just won't bother. [...]

Though this album came out early in 2009, it took her coming through town for me to decide to check the cd out. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I put the cd in my car but it certainly isn't what I got. What I got was 11 tracks of lyrics piled high with dark overtures and melancholy undertones riding on top of a country/rock bounce and shuffle musical accompaniment. While the music and songs themselves are good enough, it's Samantha's voice itself that I find truly captivating. Her voice and enunciation somehow manage to be [...]

It's that time once again... Wednesday night at 7:00 (Eastern), WDVX and wdvx.com will broadcast this month's edition of Tennessee Shines live from the Bijou Theatre in downtown Knoxville. This month's lineup is a pretty solid one featuring Americana stalwart Dave Alvin, former Nickel Creek fiddler Sara Watkins, Band of Horses guitarist Tyler Ramsey, and up and coming Oklahoma songwriter Samantha Crain. Obviously, the biggest name on this month's bill is Dave [...]

The wife and I had the great pleasure of seeing The Avett Brothers perform live at Cain's Ballroom this past weekend. We were both truly blown away. I would feel cheap giving the concert some sort of grade on how good or bad the concert was. It's a such a subjective thing, that is completely relative to the individual attendee. Not to mention there are many variables outside of the artists control at each and every different show. But I'm going to give you all several reasons that I think you should attend the next Avett Brothers show that comes [...]