After unloading some bad news regarding Cardinology - and the extended discussion that followed - i'm glad to move on with my Ryan Adams Spotlight. This edition features what is probably the most underrated Ryan Adams album. If you've been keeping up here, you know that Demolition was the result of numerous studio sessions that took place both before and after the recording of Gold . Lost Highway wasn't hip to the idea of releasing a 4-disc set, so some decision making was in order. You could [...]
i've been flipping back and forth from tonight's CMA Awards, and i swear it's the funniest thing on TV.... well, it would be if weren't dead serious. It's like a dogshow in that the only people that really care about it are the ones there on the stage. But the sad thing is, these idiots are put there by real people, who really like this music, really buy it... really sing along. They make it a lucrative business. Why else do you think Jessica Simpson and Hootie jumped on the bandwagon? The [...]
My new music radar has been on sleep mode for a while. i had to sort through a multitude of Fall releases and begin making a year-end list as of late. But yesterday, i was jonesin' for some new aural pleasure. i had 4 band names in mind when i went to The Hype Machine for some research. What i heard was instantly gratifying. 2 are very folky, 1 is crazy ambient-punk, 1 is Eurofolk - all are uber-hipsters. Horse Feathers Portland, [...]
i've been putting off… not reviewing, but voicing my opinion of Cardinology . i was waiting for receipt of the vinyl, but during the wait, i acquired the mp3's. Also in that time, i read way too many reviews to be completely objective. The best treatment i came across was this one suggesting that somewhere there's a Ryan Adams Album Review Generator , pumping out cookie-cutter anecdotes with the same words said in different ways. He goes on to statistically dissect a multitude of published reviews, citing many of these generic standpoints. [...]
Max Stalling may be a one trick pony on the surface, but dig a little deeper and you'll find he's got a whole herd of talent. A songwriter first and foremost, Max is one of the best composers to have been associated with the Texas Music scene ( alongside Mike McClure and Slaid Cleaves - both of whom have been spotlighted here ). Max didn't take up music seriously until after college ( he's a fellow alumnus of Texas A&M ). Just as his songs [...]
Going through some of my 2007 pickups, i remembered a few of the best came with entire discs full of bonus material - none of which were advertised or marked as limited edition releases. This has taught me to always pre-order. It seems the Bonus Disc was a treat reserved for '07 - 2008 has given me only one, The Kooks' Rak , which is really more of an extra album than it is a bonus disc. This year, the trend seems to be the option of vinyl , [...]
i started This Mornin' I Am Born Again early this year after discovering the music blogosphere and the various 'Best Albums of 2007' posts that flooded it. My first posts consisted of my own lists of Top 10 Albums as well as Top 10 Songs . It seems only fitting to review your previous year's 'best of' list prior to making the next year's. Aside from improving the writing and aesthetic quality of the posts, i can't say i would make many adjustments. But a year's worth of additional listening is almost certain to change [...]
i'm gonna jump a little out of order here in my Ryan Adams Spotlight - for date relevance's sake and to offer up a little treat for Halloween. The last solo project Ryan did before his last solo project 29 ( ET... whaterver, the cardinals played ) was this Halloween Promo EP . Released in July of 2004, the sampler includes some great tracks that show Ryan's progression from the introspective self-medication of Love Is Hell into the type of sound The Cardinals would soon be [...]
Drew Womack – Leaving October buy Drew Womack ( 2004) Fired up the 'ol heater for the first time this year.
Fine. i've been both a little uninspired and busy with work (yes, i have a job). Nothing new has hit my ears lately, but i have been sorting through all my '08 discs, giving them a full spin, and doing some preliminary ordering. i started doing those ' one liner ' posts 1) to feature some of my photography and 2) to help me through moments of idea-lessness. Today, i will [...]
Bands have been reaching outside of their influence bag to find those not-so-normal cover songs for quite a while. In the 90's The Gourds covered Snoop's Gin & Juice , Alien Ant Farm went MJ on us with Smooth Criminal , and and Dynamite Hack paid tribute the original gangsta Eazy E with their mellow version of Boyz In The Hood . Here's a semi-new batch of obscure covers - originals are not included this time since pop music is evil and contagious. Deer Tick - Beautiful [...]
We are T-minus 7 days until Cardinology . i wanted to wait until/if the show i attended at the Paramount Theatre in Austin last week was put on archive.org , but i'm impatient. Believe it or not, this was my first Ryan Adams show ever. I know.... how can i claim to be such a fan... blah, blah, blah. But unless it's some local flavor of the week, pretty-face country crooner, or MTV star - we don't get a lot of shows down this way. At least not my kind of music. i did have a [...]
Often, the greatest measure of an artist's wealth is how their peers speak of them. Strangely enough, those that are most admired by others in the music community tend not be be widely popular. For songwriters in particular, having their work covered by those in the business who are 'bigger names' may be the the extent of the fame they'll receive. Guy Clark has had his songs re-interpreted by the likes of Jerry Jeff Walker, Johnny Cash, Vince Gill, Jimmy Buffett, Brad Paisley, and Emmylou Harris. But the general public - even those that claim to be [...]
1. Iron & Wine – The Devil Never Sleeps buy The Shepherd's Dog ( 2007) 2. Whiskeytown – Mirror, Mirror buy Pneumonia ( 2001) 3. The Felice Brothers – Love Me Tenderly buy The Felice Brothers ( 2008) 4. The Raconteurs – You Don't Understand Me [...]
Mike McClure Band – Skies Are Turning Red buy Everything Upside Down ( 2004) 19 tracks of Red Dirt Goodness. Just Buy It.
Townes Van Zandt - Snake Song buy Flyin' Shoes ( 1978) It's sad how little i've talked about Townes here. i'll try to change that in the near future.
If you would've asked me two years ago if i liked music from females, my short answer would have been no. And then i would have gone into a "but, i kinda like...." consisting of a few songs here and there. i don't know who to credit with opening my eyes to the beauty of female crooners ( most likely Kasey Chambers... ), but sometime over the last couple years i've come to enjoy more and more music from women. It's gotten to the point now where the gender of the artist doesn't matter one bit - as [...]
Time again for one of my sporadic movie/soundtrack posts . Just finished watching Stranger Than Fiction, and i like. Will Farrell toes the line between humor and oddity better in this film than his other ' dramedies. ' This was a movie that i hadn't been dying to see, by any means, but i'm glad that a rainy Monday night allowed me to do so. With a guest list of folks like Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman , and Emma Thompson , the movie has promise from the start. Thematically, [...]
Go check out the past week's posts over at Star Maker Machine . The theme, Blog Names, features songs used in the titles of different music blogs from around the web, but has become more of a "check out this great blog" thread. The SMM contributors, myself included, have simply praised some of their favorite music-related reads for the last 7 days. If you've been looking for something new to add to your readers, you've found it. i did a write up on [...]
i didn't take that picture. But i could have. Like... five minutes ago. That is, if The Kooks hadn't have canceled their show in Houston tonight. Although i only bought my tickets 2 days ago, i was hugely pumped to see that show. And just before i was to leave town and head for Houston, across the wire came the news. Some sort of illness. Shit. So here i am. In front of the computer instead. Whiskey & soda. [...]
This Mornin' I Am Born Again
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