Four tracks deep into their latest release “A Sucker’s Dream,” this was the first song that stuck in my head and I’m pretty sure they’ll wake up with the catchy hook still looping come morning.
I caught onto JJ Grey and Mofro a little late in the game, but thanks to a friend suggestion, I did catch their set at ACL Festival a couple years ago. Pretty sure they played this song, so I happily added it to my collection along with “Dirtfloorcracker” after hearing it on House (thanks Shazam).
First time I heard this track, I initially thought it was Bob Schneider, not Dawes. They recently rolled through Houston on tour, but after a long day at work and late set starts, the yawns prevailed and I called it an early night.
Trouble keeps the bar lights on
For the heartache
Sunset Boulevard to take me home
But I just wanna scream
When living in California I would often head down to LA to see shows at clubs along Sunset Boulevard. The lyrics from this song take me back to those late nights when I would hit Sunset to catch the 405 back to Bakersfield. The Damnwells are also one of those bands that I’m perplexed why they aren’t bigger. Head over to their Myspace page to give “Bastard of Midnight” a listen.
On their last trip down to Houston, my folks brought me the stack of records that, while once spun sound, had been relegated to the second shelf of the bathroom closet for many years. The times change, as does technology, but that doesn’t mean we get rid of stuff – we are Eckers. As I type this I have a stash of cassette tapes (both purchased and mixes) in a plastic tub under my bed, a couple of CD storage books full of live shows from the b+p days, and let’s be honest, a hard drive full of music that would take months to listen to (if that’s all I did in life). Did I mention that minidisc player? Yea, that’s probably in a shoe box somewhere with a couple of shows that I attempted to tape. Oh, and iPods? More than one.
Well, I think you see a pattern here – that I like the music and the technology. So why revert back to those shiny black days? Nostalgia. Amongst those records were several that I remember listening when I was a child – “Rubber Duckie” and “Tiger Hunt” with Bert and Ernie (and his trusty, rusty telescope) and “I’m a Pink Toothbrush” by the Smurfs. While the sound might not be the clearest, neither are the memories but coupled together, everything is a bit more vivid. As an adult, there’s also the added bonus of discovering some of the other music in the collection – Pink Floyd, The Band, Jimi Hendrix, and the Original Soundtrack to The Graduate. Oh, and now I can finally listen to that Guster “Keep It Together” album that I bought to hand on the wall as art years and years ago as well as Cory Chisel & the Wandering Sons’ album “Death Won’t Send A Letter” – purchased last weekend, the day after I turned 33 1/3.
Can I just say how effing brilliant this video is in all it’s Rube Goldberg machine glory. Go on, watch it a couple times through. I think my favorite part is when the song cuts away and the music is replaced by clinking glasses. Oh, and the song is pretty good too.
There’s a definite vein of music that I listen to that while not county, has a tinge of twang to their sound. Blind Pilot fall into that vein, and if you like this song, I strongly recommend picking up their album since it’s one that I can listen to from beginning to end, rinse, repeat.
Throwback Thursday? Maybe I’ll make that a thing, although I was just in the mood to listen to a little Jayhawks after checking out the anthology that they recently released which includes this song.
I’m going to repeat myself from above – tinge of twang but with a bit of folk, a dash of rock and a handful of gospel. Incidentally, I started and ended my day with this song, with the latter being a live performance at Rudyard’s. Again, this is an album that I would highly recommend, in fact, I’ve bought it twice…seemed appropriate to pick it up on vinyl seeing that Friday was my 33 1/3 birthday.
If the video enough of a tip off, this is a band that doesn’t always take themselves that seriously. That’s not to say that their music isn’t seriously good. Seriously.
When I first read that Peter Gabriel had covered Bon Iver’s “Flume” I was skeptical. The original is lo-fi and full of falsetto with lyrics of “Only love is all maroon / Gluey feathers on a flume /
Sky is womb and she’s the moon.” Or at least, that’s what I’m told…it can be a bit tough to understand all of them. Gabriel’s rendition is a bit more refined, but still just as powerful.
It’s quite likely that you know of this song from the recent VW PunchDub commercial that debuted during the Super Bowl. I had ignored the music blogs touting the band and despite being featured on several festival stages, it wasn’t until mid-2009 with their “Veckatimest” release that I actually started to listen. The impressive fan video below was created by Gabe Askew.
I have Jamie again to thank for introducing me to Matt Hires’ “Live at Hotel Cafe” EP around this time last year since I somehow missed it on the Paste Magazine Sampler from Nov ’08. If I were to have made a mix cd that represented what I was listening to last year, this acoustic/pop track definitely would have been on there.
Pure earworm. Not the sort of song that falls along the norm for me, but once again, you can’t deny a catchy hook. Now, if you like the song, you can download it here, but I warn you that the imagery on the site is NSFW (Not Safe For Work).
Mike Doughty – “(You Should Be) Doubly (Gratified)”
I wasn’t a big Soul Coughing fan. I knew a couple of songs, the “hits” if you will, but I caught on to Mike Doughty’s solo music and figured it would be fitting to pick one of his songs since I was going to see him play at a yoga studio turned music venue this week.
And now for a little bit of banjo from an English indie folk band. Okay, upon actually watching the video again, it’s a dobro, no matter, this song is in heavy rotation right now. Their album “Sigh No More” was finally released in the US, which I picked it up on Friday and spent some quality time with it (and Lissie’s EP) while cleaning up my garage and assembling/priming/painting an IKEA coat rack. Exciting, I know.
Okay, so I can’t actually find this song out in the Internets for you to listen to, but this track off of “Karma Covered Apple” is one of my favorites by the band. I got into Dead Hot Workshop via The Refreshments and Gin Blossoms many years ago. Even had a chance to see Brent Babb play a set at Long Wong’s on Mill Ave on a trip to Tempe back in 2001.
For the last couple of years I’ve downloaded the SXSW bit torrent that features music that takes me quite some time to sift through. Balmorhea’s track in all it’s ethereal glory, possibly because they fell towards the top of the playlist and I eventually picked up their album at Waterloo’s in Austin. Balmorhea State Park is located out in West Texas and if/when I ever make it out towards Marfa and Big Bend, I’ll be sure to be playing this album along the way.
Sometimes I think it’s imminent that I discover some artists and songs. Take for example Lissie. Paste Magazine touted her as “Best of What’s Next” in their Dec ’09/Jan ’10 issue and even featured a song that month’s sampler. Fast forward to the end of January and her song “Everywhere I Go” plays the perfect soundtrack to the final scene of the final episode of Dollhouse. To be honest, I’m a bit behind with my Paste reading so I completely missed her the first time, but was given a second chance with Dollhouse. So here’s your chance to see what you’ve been missing.
When I heard that The Format were no more as of February 2008, I was a little disappointed. You see, I’d just barely discovered their indie power pop when they were one of the special guests at Guster’s Boston Opera House shows back in April 2007. After the split, Nate Ruess went on to form fun. and released “Aim and Ignite” in August 2009 which is still full on power pop with a bit more rock and just like their name, is fun to listen to.
I’ve made some great friends through music and the thing is that they usually have similar taste in music. Dave Mallick introduced me to Erin McKeown’s music a few years ago as he was a fan and had taped several of her shows. This past Thanksgiving while I was in NJ with the Mallick’s I had my second visit to Princeton Record Exchange (PRex) where I scored McKeown’s new album “Hundreds of Lions.” “The Foxes” is one of my favorite tracks from the album.
Someone once asked if I had any “angry” music and the best I could come up with was Pearl Jam. I thought of that question when I heard “Shake It Out”, but the irony is that I first heard Manchester Orchestra through their much mellower song “I Can Feel A Hot One.”
Or if you prefer, here is the video inspired by the movie “Over the Top”
Snow Patrol featuring Martha Wainwright – “Set Fire to the Third Bar”
If you weren’t familiar with this song previously from Snow Patrol’s “Eyes Open” release, then it may have found its way to your ears via the trailer for the movie Dear John. Have I ever mentioned that my dream job would be something along the lines of selecting music for tv or movies, or even putting together music that you hear playing overhead in stores and restaurants. Until then, I guess I’ll stick to the day job.
It started with hearing a hauntingly beautiful song featured in an episode of Dollhouse. After a bit of searching I discovered the song and its artists. Fitzsimmons I was already familiar with (please, check out his album “The Sparrow and The Crow”), but Golan was a new find for me.
Caught Charlie Mars’ opening set for Griffin House last year. I’d previously seen Mars open for Bob Schneider in Boston back in 2004, but his music didn’t catch my ear as much as this time around. Can’t deny a song that wedges itself in your head on first listen.
For the past year or more I’ve been posting a list of artists that I listened to on the drive to work to Twitter/Facebook as the MCS or Morning Commute Songs/Shuffle. It started out as a kind of memory game, one in which I see if I can remember the 4 to 5 artists in order that I listened to on the drive. I realize that doesn’t sound too difficult, but given lack of coffee and my proclivity to zoning out that early in the morning, there were times I would have to shuffle back to see who I’d heard.
Again, if you follow me on the Twitter or Facebook, you already know that as of January 18th, my job and work location (but not company) changed to one that takes me from garage door to office door in about 10 minutes with the drive itself lasting for a song to song and a half. So, with the revamp of my blog, I’ve decided to feature those songs here as a sort of weekly mixtape. I’ve long enjoyed sharing and introducing friends to music, so this is just another way to do just that. As I’m still working out the kinks and learning to use WordPress, please feel free to drop me a comment as to your thoughts. With this first post I’m playing catch up with the first of songs.
Years ago when I was living in Bakersfield, a friend highly recommended I check out this guy that was performing at the Troubadour. So glad I listened to her since that guy, Will Hoge, has long since become one of my favorite singer/songwriters.
I watched the Grammy’s tonight and Zac Brown Band won the 2010 award for Best New Artist. See, this is what kills me (among many other things) about the Grammy’s – The Foundation was released in 2008 (NOTE: I think I picked the album up at Waterloo’s in Austin sometime mid-2008 with the release year on the album listed as 2007 – need to dig out the album to confirm). No matter, this song came up on shuffle before setting out on my drive. Do yourself a favor though, and check out Ray’s original version.
Greg Laswell is one of the Hotel Cafe crowd. Which is to say – one of the amazing singer-songwriters that Hotel Cafe is known to be the breeding ground for. Laswell’s original material is worth checking out, but this song comes from his Covers EP and has been featured on Grey’s Anatomy.
I’m not sure if she was joking, but my friend V suggested that I watch So You Think You Can Dance for the music about two seasons ago. She was right – I’ve discovered a few songs such as this one and have been amazed by the dancing too.
I was planning on going to see Matthew Mayfield open for a band at Warehouse Live last year, but unfortunately he had to cancel due to illness. I ended up not going to the show, but had given the headliners a listen and picked up their album on my next trip to Waterloo Records. Needless to say, they will be coming back to Houston in March and I am planning on going. Nice little bonus is that I recently found out that Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers and Graham Colton will be opening.
