There used to be a time in college radio in the late 802s and early nineties that a Golden Palominos record was a big deal. REM were usually involved in some way and of course so was drummer Anton Fier - also folks like Syd Straw, Richard Thompson, Peter Holsapple, Bob Mould, and NYC improvers like John Zorn, Bill Laswell, Arto Lindsey and Fred Firth. The Palomino records that were produced with varying guests over a decade were eclectic ranging from rock to industrial. It's been awhile since I heard from the group but I just [...]
I started this review with a little trepidation. While I love Anaïs Mitchell and am practically an Anaïs completest/stalker; I was worried the this record might be a letdown. Sometimes it's that 5th (or 4th or 6th) record where you might notice a dropoff. Maybe an artist has said all she needs to say, or becomes musically stagnant or unnecessarily experimental. That's often the time an artist puts out the special guest record or the duets record or the inevitable children's lullabies record or the covers project (I could go on and on). But I [...]
Cooper Thompson sounds a bit like someone from an earlier time. You don't have to go back too far though. He get's compared to Springsteen, Waits, and I'd add Buddy Holly to the list. His recording process is simple, organic and analog. As a result his songs are warm and have a glow about them. The new record is called Outlaw For A Year and was produced by Kevin Augunas. The songs were recorded over 8 days and nights with the help of Richard Swift at his studio. [...]
The guys from The Bland Band emailed me their new song/video today. It seems from the band's name and their description of themselves ("A modest little band) that they have a self confidence problem. I hope this post puts that to rest. First off they aren't that little. The band is at least seven members and they are not modest in the assortment of instruments they play - including trumpet, mandolin, guitar, slide trombone, standup bass and drums. The new song (the band's first) is catchy and poppy - in [...]
This is a pretty apt record cover for the band Mad Buffalo's new release wilderness since the record is a throwback both lyrically and musically to an earlier time. Nowhere is this more evident than in the song "Big Joe Walker" which recounts some of the tall tails about this western mountain man. While I haven't heard the whole record it also addresses contemporary American problems. You can preorder the record here . Big Joe Walker
I stumbled upon the upcoming record by James Low a couple of times in the last few weeks. The latest time was on an indie radio country chart. This Portland based artist has a low key country sound that borders on folk. If you are a fan of artists that straddle those two genres than you should check The James Low Western Front out. You can pre-order the album now here . Catch James Low tonight in Portland with Lewi Longmire (wrote about him here ) at the Press Club or tomorrow at [...]
Marlowe and The Sea is basically one dude from Jackson, Ms. His label and bio claim he plays folk music with bite. That might be catchy but I don't think it's true. However the failure to market Marlowe and the Sea as anything but sad sack indie folk doesn't have any effect on the quality of the tunes and the performances. And in this case both are high. The production is a bit rough on this ep - the hiss is almost distracting. But the roughness works and the tune "A Second-Chance [...]
Walter Spencer is best known as the bassist of the Water Towert Bucket Boys. While I like the hard country/string band sounds of the bucket boys, I really like the odd timey blend of folk, string band, and country that Walter Spencer brings to his solo efforts (wrote about his debut here ). The new record is called Red Romance and is available at iTunes and Amazon . "Weed" is just what you expect, a song extolling the virtues of pot. It's funny and surprisingly convincing on the [...]
Finding a record like Josiennne Clarke's The Seas Are Deep makes me realize I should continue this music blog. Here is something (and someone) that is completely breathtaking and yet is not all over the blogosphere and deserves to be. This new record is a collection of covers of traditional folk songs. She is once again accompanied by Ben Walker on guitar. The Seas Are Deep is available here via Bandcamp. Silver Dagger [...]
Snake Wagon's bio is much like their music. Half funny, half serious. The problem is that in both cases it's hard to figure out which half is which. As far as I can tell the band is composed of members of The Barr Brothers and maybe a couple of the guys from The Low Anthem. The record is called Have Fun With Snake Wagon . Here's a few excerpts from various bios: "What is Snake Wagon, again? A bunch of jokesters, pranksters, parodists, specialty obscurantist antique humorists, and [...]
I asked Charlie Parr's people (yes, he has people!!) for a song from his new record. I haven't heard a lick of it but told them to send any song they wished. Why? Because at this point any song by Charlie Parr is better than almost anything out there. The "new" record is produced in acssociation with House of Mercy baptist church in St Paul, Minn. and and features Emily Parr, Four Mile Portage, Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. It was recorded at Sacred Heart Music Center in Duluth on [...]
It's very rare that I write about an artist that is also then written about by other blogs. I'm a bit of an island. But with Mount Moriah my review was followed by lots of praise in the music blogosphere. Here's what I wrote back in March: I've been checking out the moody americana rock of Mount Moriah . The band's self titled debut record is due out April 12 on Holiday for Quince Records . The band is from North Carolina and seems to [...]
While I was poking around looking for new Christmas tunes I thought I'd check in on Caleb Groh who released some of my favorite Christmas music of the last couple years and see if he had added a vol. 3 to his carol collection (Vol. 1 and Vol.2 can be found for free here ). No such luck but I did notice on his Facebook that The Boston Phoenix released a new song from his forthcoming record Bottomless Coffee . It's the full band rocker "Catastrophic Culprit". I believe Caleb (along with Jeff [...]
This is a great song off the new album from Austin based singer-songwriter Graham Weber . Graham is a favorite of much more well know Austin singer-songwriters (including Slaid Cleaves who took him under his wing and also recorded one of his songs). In his short time in Austin he's gone from being the opener to being a headliner (I saw him MC a show at the cactus cafe at SXSW one year). His new record is called Women . I guess it's in part a celebration and also a condemnation of that word. [...]
Alright so yesterday I lied. I said we were going to get on with the best of 2011 type posts. But it turns out that with a little searching around the net I've found two more releases to feature this week. Great ones too by the way. The first is the Roy Davies project called The Coloradas . I wrote about Roy Davies here and here and am a big fan of his music. The Coloradas are Roy Davis and Bernie Nye. They successfully combine bluegrass with [...]
It's that time of year again. The time of year when new releases dry up and we've got to look back and think about the year gone by. I never make a list but I will repost some of my favorites in no particular order. ----- I know there's a lot of music out there. Lots of different genre's, sub genre's, and micro sub genre's. I know we're all inundated with pr mailings, email submission requests and a stack of cds to plow through. And [...]
I had a couple new things I could write about but nothing struck me as much or as hard as the old stuff from Mike Nicolai . I've written about Mike once or twice in the past but as one of the great undiscovered songwriters in the country it won't hurt to revisit his catalog. Speaking of which Nicolai's catalog is hard to get a finger on - it shifts wildly from twisted folk to power pop to the occasional hard rocker (in fact the band Grand Champeen often backed up Mike Nicolai). Mike Nicolai's [...]
There are only a couple people I am irrationally infatuated with. Ramsay Midwood is at the top of that short list. He's got a new record out now (probably his fourth or so). Of course it's called Larry Buys A Lighter (how could it be called anything else?). This record continues the pattern of previous efforts and is a combination of folk, americana, southern gospel, with JJ Cale like guitar picking and a stream of consciousness lyrical style reminiscent of no one. Here's "Loopers" from the new record. Buy [...]
I've been sitting on this song for a couple days now, patiently waiting `til honky-tonk Friday when I could post it. This is off the debut album from Minneapolis based country band The Cactus Blossoms . These guys have folks in the band that have played with The Jayhawks and The Gear Daddies and the record was produced by Brent Sigmeth (Haley Bonar, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, The Bad Plus). But the essence of the band is comprised of two brothers who have absorbed plenty of old 782s and the entirety of The Anthology [...]
If your idea of Swedish music is something exotic like Lykki Li, First Aid Kit, and/or Jens Lekman the music of might surprise you. On the whole the new record hews closer to Big Star meets Wilco dad rock than the drum and bass electronica music coming out of Sweden of late. Sebastian Fors is one of the main men behind the band. He has been contributing to the Swedish music scene for a few years now in multiple projects and appearing with many different bands. The new self-titled records though is some [...]
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Miike Snow – Paddling Out (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)
