I can’t say I stumbled upon this band myself. A music buddy on last.fm recommended them to me a short while ago (Thanks Zach!). I am so very glad he did. Been listening to Dawes non-stop in my car on the way to work all this past week.
I am completely stunned, er infatuated umm IN LOVE with their gorgeous album called North Hills…incidentally they happen to be from North Hills, California. The band consists of Taylor Goldsmith, Wylie Gelber, Griffin Goldsmith and Tay Strathairn.
Beautiful harmonies and melodies…they got that sweet Americana sound that always breaks my heart. I know I always say this in my posts but do yourself a favor and go purchase this album immediately! LISTEN TO ME!
For those of you in Chicago, come out to the Empty Bottle on Wednesday July 15th to see them with Deer Tick. I’ll be there for sure.
Also head over to Daytrotter to download their session here.
Well I just got more excited than a 5-year old on Christmas morning. Stalking, err lurking on J. Tillman’s myspace today I was greeted with this news from his blog:
The new record, “Year In The Kingdom”, will be out in Sept. through Western Vinyl and Bella Union.
Well I know my co-blogger Smansmith is thrilled with this news as I am, as we both are a little bit obsessive about this man’s music.
Check out his myspace to preview the songs “Earthly Bodies”,“Year In The Kingdom”, and “Though I Have Wronged You”. I fell right back in love after listening to these tracks just once. Stunning, stunning, stunning….I’m convinced that this man can not create a bad song.
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It’s been a cold, rainy and lazy Sunday here in Chicago. The better part of the day I’ve been sitting here in my room searching for new music in the blogosphere, lurking on last.fm and listening to some pretty mellow and sad bastard tunes. Perfect rainy day listening in my opinion. I thought I would upload my playlist to share with you all. Enjoy!
1. I Can Not Have Seen the Light – Magnolia Electric Co.
2. Won’t Be Long – Ferraby Lionheart
3. Wisconsin – Bon Iver
4. My Sympathy – Kurt Vile
5. Your Mother’s Ghost – J. Tillman
6. Heathen’s Kiss – Horse Feathers
7. Hutterite Mile – 16 HorsePower
8. 90-Mile Water Wall – The National
9. In The Long Run – Sam Beer
10. You’re All Around – The Felice Brothers
11. Take These Thoughts – Chris And Thomas
12. Love Long Gone – DeYarmond Edison
13. Cold As It Gets – Patty Griffin
14. Karina – Ryan Adams
15. The Weight Of Lies – The Avett Brothers
16. It Will Follow the Rain – The Tallest Man On Earth
17. I See a Darkness – Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
18. Choirs Lament – Tenlons Fort
19. I Was A Cage – Right Away, Great Captain!
20. It Must Be Raining There Forever – Jason Molina
21. The Sun Never Shines – The Deep Dark Woods
Make sure you join the last.fm “Slowcoustic” group created by my co-blogger Smansmith. He puts up a monthly playlist for download over on slowcoustic.com for members of the group. Smansmith has some damn fine taste in music (just sayin!) so really it is in your best interest to join this group. Trust me on this one.
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The wonderfully talented and easy on the eyes Jeff Zentner is back and better than ever with a new album “The Dying Days of Summer”…although no official release date yet, Jeff tells me his CD will be available “soon” on “iTunes, CDbaby, Amazon (probably), and a number of other online places. Of course, CDs will be available from me personally.”
For those of you not familiar with Zentner and those of you who missed Jeff’s interview on YCD last year, you can read about him here
I asked Jeff to give YCD a little bit of info on the new album:
This album definitely has a melancholy tone about it, but it’s not meant to be sad or somber. It’s a celebration of the hurt of nostalgia and the ending of things. The dying of seasons. Passings.
This album differs from my first album, Hymns to the Darkness, in several ways. First of all, it sounds better. I recorded it all myself in my living room. But I’m better at recording now. It features the pedal steel guitar, which I taught myself to play for this album.
It features some very talented guest musicians, which is different from “Hymns.” It features KatieJane Garside (Daisy Chainsaw, Queen Adreena, Ruby Throat) on vocals on “Where we fall we’ll lie”, which is a track she co-wrote. Andria Degens of Pantaleimon is on “Lights on the Hills,” on vocals, harmonium, and bass. Matt Bauer is on banjo and harmony vocals and Jay Foote is on bowed bass on “Night Jasmine.” Josie Little is on harmony vocals on every other track where you can hear a female vocalist. Sara Zentner, my wife, is on piano on “I’ll be Here When You Wake.”
I’m really proud of this album. I think it’s the best one I’m capable of doing.
I’ve listened to the new album and it is definitely a stunner so keep your eyes open for information on the release date on his myspace and for links to purchase his last album “Hymns to the Darkness”
Enjoy 2 tracks from the upcoming album that Jeff was kind enough to let us preview!
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Well I meant to post this a while ago when I got the email, but I got busy with the holidays and all. For those of you who have not heard about this highly anticipated charity record, read below. I can not wait for this…wow. News from one of my favorite bands, The National
First off, Aaron and Bryce have produced a charity record called “Dark Was The Night” for the Red Hot Organization that comes out on February 17th worldwide on 4AD. All profits from the sale of the record will go to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The album features 32 exclusive tracks (!) and will be released as a double CD and on triple Vinyl. We wrote and recorded a new song for the record called “So Far Around The Bend”. Aaron and Bryce also collaborate on the record with Bon Iver and Antony Hegarty respectively. Please help us support this very important cause by spreading the word and picking up the album in February 2009.
The full artist list: Andrew Bird Antony + Bryce Dessner Arcade Fire Beach House Beirut Blonde Redhead + Devastations Bon Iver Bon Iver & Aaron Dessner The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti) Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues The Decemberists Dirty Projectors + David Byrne Kevin Drew Feist + Ben Gibbard Grizzly Bear Grizzly Bear + Feist Iron & Wine Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings Kronos Quartet Stuart Murdoch My Brightest Diamond My Morning Jacket The National The New Pornographers Conor Oberst & Gillian Welch Riceboy Sleeps Dave Sitek (TV On The Radio) Spoon Sufjan Stevens Yeasayer Yo La Tengo
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There is something about Portland these days….a number of bands/artists based in that city have grabbed my attention this past year…and Blind Pilot is no different. This duo is Israel Nebeker (guitar, vocals) and Ryan Dobrowski (drums).
If there is any album I would recommend to go out and immediately buy right this minute, it would be “3 Rounds and a Sound”. Do it now, and you can thank me later. To say I have been listening to this album to and from work obsessively is a mild understatement. I can’t get their songs out of my head….and really, I’m not sure I want to. Heavy heavy rotation these past few weeks. This is pure infectious indie-folk bliss guys. There is not a bad song on the album and they all deserve your attention but I’d have to say my favorite track is “The Bitter End”.
From their website:
Friends since college, Israel and Ryan have traveled many a mile to get where they are today–literally. Last year Israel and Ryan embarked on a West Coast bike tour. This wasn’t a tour where they road bikes, and had a van hauling the equipment. They hauled everything on their bikes. No gas. 100% leg powered. Playing little towns that don’t often get shows by “touring bands” – they were able to share their brand of music with people who weren’t particularly familiar with indie-pop, or indi anything. But they found that heart-felt lyrics an beautiful music appeal to just about everyone. In fact, they completely sold out of their EPs. They returned to Portland anxious to complete their first full-length album. The long road to this album has paid off in spades.
As Willamette Week (the very first publication to receive a copy of the album) immediately proclaimed: “Every once in a while a band comes along that knocks me so flat on my ass that I wish I was in the PR business or an A&R guy instead of a critic, so I could throw myself wholeheartedly behind it. Blind Pilot [gave] me that sensation. Frontman, Israel Nebeker sounds like a less theatric version of James Mercer: every bit as sincere and captivating, with vocal control and style to spare. And this band has songs coming out of its ears: deep, clever guitar-driven tunes fleshed out with soaring horn arrangements. Listening to and thinking about these songs has kept me awake at night lately.” It would be hard to imagine a better review, but “3 rounds and a sound” is just that good.
Hello all you Crazy Dreamers….haven’t posted in a while as I am pretty much married to my job lately but I have not forgotten about my music buddies here on YCD!! Thought I’d pop my head in and say a few words.
My dream of seeing Jason Molina live was realized last Monday as I got to see Magnolia Electric Co. at the Abbey Pub here in Chicago. I pretty much think Molina is a genius so I was super excited for this show and MECO did not let me down. I was almost in tears when they played “In The Human World” as that is my #1 played song in my iTunes and favorite Mag Elec. song ever. This show will definitely go down as the best I’ve seen all year.
For those of you not familiar with Molina, he recorded under Songs:Ohia with a rotating cast of musicians until 2003 in which he announced on tour the name change to Magnolia Electric Co. You can find his discography here.
Set list:
London Bridge*
Love Letter from the Ace of Spades*
In The Human World
Rock of Ages*
Shiloh Temple Bell
The Farewell Transmission
Oh Grace*
Josephine*
Talk To Me Devil, Again
Thank You’s / Crowd
Whip-poor-wil
Blackbird
I’ve Been Riding With The Ghost
John Henry Split My Heart
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