The post title comes from the fact that somehow I have FAILED to write about these two albums over the past 6 months (thanks to Mark and his "Thursday Spam" for reminding me about Blitzen Trapper). I'd put "Download or Die" next to all of the tracks mentioned here, but I think it should be pretty obvious how much I like them.
Blitzen Trapper, Wild Mountain Nation (June 2007)
Blitzen trapper puts you in the back of a pick-up truck for a ride through the mountains, minus the inevitable dirt roads and constant use of the acceleration pedal. “Wild Mountain Nation” shouts its perfection for soundtrack use every time you listen to it. When Eric Earley sings “You know that wild mountain nation’s on the rise and going home” you can literally hear the smile in his voice on the word "home." Why these kids got signed to Sub Pop this summer should be obvious.
Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation [alt link]
Buy Wild Mountain Nation from Insound
Blitzen Trapper's Website/Myspace
Important Tour Dates:
September 30 - Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
October 7 - Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel
(more, less important, tour dates here)
Pela, Anytown Graffiti (April 2007)
I love Pela. I've been listening to Anytown Graffiti over and over and over again lately, and every listen increases my love of Pela more.
In "Lost to the Lonesome" it's the use of repetition that does the trick, showing the lost potential of the situation - first, it's "we could crash the party on new year's eve" and "we could break the bed without broken hearts." But none of this has happened, "don't just stand there with your face in your hands" transforms into "don't just stand there like a ghost in my room." The sound is overwhelming, the song is beautiful, I love this album. Fans of Guided by Voices, this is for you.
Pela - Lost of the Lonesome
Pela - Trouble with River Cities
Buy Anytown Graffiti from Insound (eMusic also has it)
Pela's Website/Myspace/Tour Blog
Blitzen Trapper, Wild Mountain Nation (June 2007)Blitzen trapper puts you in the back of a pick-up truck for a ride through the mountains, minus the inevitable dirt roads and constant use of the acceleration pedal. “Wild Mountain Nation” shouts its perfection for soundtrack use every time you listen to it. When Eric Earley sings “You know that wild mountain nation’s on the rise and going home” you can literally hear the smile in his voice on the word "home." Why these kids got signed to Sub Pop this summer should be obvious.
Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation [alt link]
Buy Wild Mountain Nation from Insound
Blitzen Trapper's Website/Myspace
Important Tour Dates:
September 30 - Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
October 7 - Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel
(more, less important, tour dates here)
Pela, Anytown Graffiti (April 2007)I love Pela. I've been listening to Anytown Graffiti over and over and over again lately, and every listen increases my love of Pela more.
In "Lost to the Lonesome" it's the use of repetition that does the trick, showing the lost potential of the situation - first, it's "we could crash the party on new year's eve" and "we could break the bed without broken hearts." But none of this has happened, "don't just stand there with your face in your hands" transforms into "don't just stand there like a ghost in my room." The sound is overwhelming, the song is beautiful, I love this album. Fans of Guided by Voices, this is for you.
Pela - Lost of the Lonesome
Pela - Trouble with River Cities
Buy Anytown Graffiti from Insound (eMusic also has it)
Pela's Website/Myspace/Tour Blog
Labels: band dump, blitzen trapper, Country, pela, rock
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals "Mr. Columbus"
0 Comments Published by Kate on Wednesday at 8/08/2007 04:01:00 PM.
This is Somewhere, released yesterday (August 7th), has been sitting on my desk for a few weeks now, and I've been delaying and delaying and delaying on posting on it now that I've heard the whole album (see previous post). Then this morning "Mr. Columbus" happened to come up on shuffle, and I knew I had to post on it. If Nothing But the Water was an album about self-realization, then This is Somewhere is concerned with redemption. In "Mr. Columbus" the somewhere to reach is the edge of the world (maybe it's flat?), and The Nocturnals weld steely guitars with Grace Potter's soulful, bluesy vocals. Fans of KT Tunstall, this is for you.(Update: I removed "Mr. Columbus" per request, but now am posting a live version that I think does the song justice)
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Mr. Columbus (live)
in Rochester, NY 5-3-07
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Ah Mary
Buy This is Somewhere
Website/Myspace
Labels: Blues, Country, grace potter, rock
Emotionalism was released in May, and the Avett Brothers have released a number of records since 2000, so I'm very distraught realizing I'd never heard their music before. I was listening through my recent musical acquisitions and one song stuck out in its simplicity, "The Ballad of Love and Hate."In the song, Love and Hate are not abstract ideas but two people caught in a relationship that exists in despite of their opposing natures. What these natures are should be obvious. The song works because Love's name could be Lily and Hate's name could be Severus (the same goes with Sally and Harry, Hero and Claudio, the list goes on) and it would still make perfect sense. I've been doing a lot of HP re-reading lately, sorry. I'm not suggesting anything, I promise. Genre-wise, The Avett Brothers is low-key folk with bluegrass instrumentation.
"Hate keeps his head up and walks through the street.The Avett Brothers - The Ballad of Love and Hate [download or die]
Every stranger and drifter he greets.
And shakes hands with every loner he meets
with a serious look on his face."
The Avett Brothers - Die Die Die
Buy Emotionalism from Amazon.com
The Avett Brothers' Website/Myspace
You can catch the Pretty Girl EP over at the Late Greats (which is a joke, by the way, because so many of the Avett Brothers' songs have "Pretty Girl" in the title). It actually introduced me to this song, which I like because it reminds me of the 9-hour drive to from Virginia to Ohio and vice versa I often have the pleasure of taking:
"We drive for milesThe Avett Brothers - Letter to a Pretty Girl
Through corporate Ohio
Rest stops in West Virginia
Traffic in Washington DC'
Personal Update: My best friend from high school is visiting for the next few days, so posting will be sketchy, but it will probably still happen. Afterwards I'll be in DC for a week visiting friends, I'm hoping to catch a few concerts while I'm there.
Bonus: Jack Johnson - We Are Going To Be Friends (White Stripes cover)
Labels: artist profile, Avett Brothers, Country, folk, song piece
No, I'm not really having one. But you can here, where you can stream the Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter. No kidding.Thanks to Turn the Page for letting me on to this track off the new album, I think Ritter played this song when he came to Oberlin last year. If you get on his mailing list and buy your concert tickets in advance you get an mp3 from the new album - I don't think this is very fair because there's no Oberlin date yet, and he always comes to play there being his ruggedly handsome, beard-sporting alumni self.
Josh Ritter - Next to the Last Romantic (The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter)
Josh Ritter - Thin Blue Flame (The Animal Years)
I can't decide how I feel about what I've heard from the album, I'm going to have to listen to it more.
Update: You can also see Josh Ritter's performance at the Verbier Festival here, just click on July 24th (the video quality is really great).
Labels: Country, folk, josh ritter
I wrote about the Broken West back in May, but finally bought I Can't Go On, I'll Go On while I was in Georgetown on Saturday. I'm still impressed with how great of an album it is, belonging up with the likes of Ryan Adam's Heartbreaker and Wilco's A.M.Check it out.
The Broken West - So it Goes [download or die]
Buy I Can't Go On I'll Go On from Insound/Amazon
The Broken West's Myspace
Labels: Country, rock, the broken west
(source of the title)
I haven't done a new band love post in a while, so here go two bands (many more to come):
the Eames Era - Last to Know
Heroes and Sheroes was released in April, and still I've managed to miss this band despite some serious blog-love they have going on. No more. Think indie pop and you've got them pegged.
Buy stuff (iTunes, their website)
Limbeck - Big Drag
I posted a track from their 2005 release, Let Me Come Home, a few weeks ago without realizing that they released a new self-titled album in April and are touring with the Format! Limbeck = folk rock, alt country - whatever you choose to call it.
Buy Limbeck (on iTunes or from Doghouse Records)
More tracks at Purevolume
Some important (Limbeck) tour dates:
8/25 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
8/29 Cleveland, OH @ The Agora Theatre
(More tour dates at Limbeck's website)
(download the Format's live set on the Interface)
In the meanwhile, The Lone Microphone has a review of the Ryan Adams' show in Detroit and eMusic has a FREE Pitchfork Music Festival sampler.
I haven't done a new band love post in a while, so here go two bands (many more to come):
the Eames Era - Last to KnowHeroes and Sheroes was released in April, and still I've managed to miss this band despite some serious blog-love they have going on. No more. Think indie pop and you've got them pegged.
Buy stuff (iTunes, their website)
Limbeck - Big DragI posted a track from their 2005 release, Let Me Come Home, a few weeks ago without realizing that they released a new self-titled album in April and are touring with the Format! Limbeck = folk rock, alt country - whatever you choose to call it.
Buy Limbeck (on iTunes or from Doghouse Records)
More tracks at Purevolume
Some important (Limbeck) tour dates:
8/25 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
8/29 Cleveland, OH @ The Agora Theatre
(More tour dates at Limbeck's website)
(download the Format's live set on the Interface)
In the meanwhile, The Lone Microphone has a review of the Ryan Adams' show in Detroit and eMusic has a FREE Pitchfork Music Festival sampler.
Labels: artist profile, band dump, Country, Eames Era, festival, Limbeck, pop
new Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
3 Comments Published by Kate on Tuesday at 6/19/2007 09:40:00 AM.
I first wrote about Grace Potter last August with their release of Nothing But the Water, and was recently excited to discover they have a new album, titled This is Somewhere, coming out on August 7th. From what I'd heard of the new album, the band seems to have upgraded their instrumentation a few notches (which may have been p-word induced, but I don't care), with arrangements that now match Potter's lyrics and soulful vocals. The Nocturnals still reside in that delicate place between old style Rock & Roll, Blues, and (*gasp*), Country, but it seems to be a perfect fit.Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Stop the Bus (from This is Somewhere)
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Some Kind of Ride (from Nothing But the Water)
Pre-order This is Somewhere from Amazon.com
Their Website/Myspace
Labels: Country, grace potter, rock, upcoming
Like most mp3 bloggers, I listen to every submission I get. And again, like most mp3 bloggers, I rarely post such submissions. This is one of those exceptions.
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals' music feels as though it could have been pulled out of someone's record collection in the 70s as in a music store today, timeless in its combination of blues and old school rock & roll. There are no duds or exact sound-alike's in "Nothing But The Water," the band's sophomore album, released in May. Fans of Neil Young, Hootie & the Blowfish, Neko Case, & Wilco may all find it worth digging in their pockets to buy the album.
Oh, but wait, I'm not done yet. Interestingly enough, GP&N seems to have hired an "indie" promo company (I would know, they contacted me), which does a lot of the same jobs a label would normally do. It's an interesting phenomenon - so-called indie promoters work on developing blog hype, which gives the band cred in the hipster realms, which is entirely paradoxical because the whole system violates the DIY (do it yourself) ethic of indie. Or does it? I would appreciate your thoughts on this....
Back to the band, who I do like very much...
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Toothbrush and my table
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Ragged Company
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals' Website / MySpace
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals' music feels as though it could have been pulled out of someone's record collection in the 70s as in a music store today, timeless in its combination of blues and old school rock & roll. There are no duds or exact sound-alike's in "Nothing But The Water," the band's sophomore album, released in May. Fans of Neil Young, Hootie & the Blowfish, Neko Case, & Wilco may all find it worth digging in their pockets to buy the album.
Oh, but wait, I'm not done yet. Interestingly enough, GP&N seems to have hired an "indie" promo company (I would know, they contacted me), which does a lot of the same jobs a label would normally do. It's an interesting phenomenon - so-called indie promoters work on developing blog hype, which gives the band cred in the hipster realms, which is entirely paradoxical because the whole system violates the DIY (do it yourself) ethic of indie. Or does it? I would appreciate your thoughts on this....
Back to the band, who I do like very much...
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Toothbrush and my table
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Ragged Company
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals' Website / MySpace
Labels: Blues, Country, grace potter
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