Snow Day By matt pond PA

Matt Pond PA (usually written with lowercase letters: matt pond PA) is an indie band formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1998 by singer/songwriter Matt Pond, along with guitarist/bassist Josh Kramer, violinist Rosie McNamara-Jones, cellist Jim Hostetter, and drummer Sean Byrne (previously of Lenola and The Twin Atlas). Matt Pond is the only remaining original member because the band had to reform when Pond moved to New York City. Their debut Deer Apartments gained them recognition in CDNow’s Unheard? competition for unsigned artists that same year.

Matt Pond PA has performed with Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, Nickel Creek, Youth Group, Mae, Keane, Guster, dios Malos, Neko Case, Straylight Run, and Liz Phair.

As of late 2007, the lineup consists of Matt Pond on vocals and guitar, Dan Crowell on drums, Steve Jewett on guitar, Matthew Daniel Siskin on bass, and Chris Hansen on keyboards, guitar, and vocals.

 

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Just For Tonight By Grove Armada

       Groove Armada is an electronic music duo comprising Andy Cato and Tom Findlay from England. They are now primarily based in London, and continue to produce and record music as well as hosting semi-regular club nights in London and an annual London festival under the Lovebox banner.

     The group has collaborated with a diverse array of artists including Neneh Cherry, DJ Gram’Ma Funk, Sophie Barker, Nappy Roots, Fudge Dog, Sunshine Anderson, Mutya Buena, Jeru The Damaja, Richie Havens and Will Young. Tom Findlay has described working with Prince as his dream collaboration, although there are no plans for such at the moment. They have also recently played with Bryan Ferry in a song called "Shameless" from the album Black Light.

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White Blank Page By Mumford & Sons

Mumford & Sons are a folk/bluegrass group formed in London in September 2008. The band consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, guitar, bass drum), Country Winston (banjo, slide guitar, vocals), Ted Dwayne (double bass, drums, vocals), and Ben Lovett (keyboards, vocals).

Having received critical acclaim from The Guardian on their “Band of the Day” online forum, and resounding praise from nearly everyone who has witnessed them supporting The Maccabees and Laura Marling,

Mumford & Sons continue to turn heads in London’s growing folk scene.

Their debut EP, Lend Me Your Eyes, features four tracks, including lead single “Roll away Your Stone”. Chess Club released their second EP, “Love Your Ground”, on the 3rd November 2009 on 10inch vinyl. The third EP, “The Cave and the Open Sea” (which was limited to 500 vinyls) is available as a download from their official rawrip page. Their debut album Sigh No More was released on Gentlemen of the Road/Island Records on the 5th October 2009, and the first single “Little Lion Man” came out a week earlier.

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Two Sisters In Love By The Dig

In Westchester County – just a stone’s throw from New York City, where they now call home – singer/guitarist David Baldwin and singer/bassist Emile Mosseri first met in sixth grade, becoming fast friends and playing in bands. Baldwin and Mosseri met keyboardist/guitarist Erick Eiser at a summer music program in high school, and the three reunited in college in Boston. In 2007, all three relocated to New York City and began writing songs in Baldwin’s basement as The Dig. The relentless, hard-working young band dug their foundation the old-fashioned way: they embraced an indefatigable DIY ethic, playing all over the city regularly and hitting the streets with an endless stream of posters, flyers, and free music. The band released their debut EP Good Luck and Games  late that year, catching the attention of Popmatters, who wrote in a review, “This is the catchiest, most intriguing power pop band to emerge out of the no-name pile in some time…”

The Dig’s self-booked shows and self-promotion began to pay off by late spring 2008, when the band was booked for three, month-long residencies through the summer at Piano’s in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. With a strong and ever-growing fanbase, late that year esteemed local venues like the Bowery Ballroom and the Music Hall of Williamsburg began to call upon the band consistently to open for national touring bands such as Mission of Burma, The Soft Pack, The Rakes, Longwave, and Rural Alberta Advantage, shows that earned The Dig praise from local blogs such as Music Snobbery: “I have no witty observations or creative writing pull quotes to give you. They are just a damn good band.”

The Dig’s continual touring and dynamic live show caught the attention of noted booking agent Kevin French at the Paradigm Agency, who quickly signed the band in June 2009. Around the same time, the band headed into Brooklyn’s Trout Recording with returning co-producer Goggin to record their full-length debut, Electric Toys. With the album, The Dig has crafted 12 rock songs of various shapes, sizes, and moods, linked by the band’s indelible hooks. Written and arranged by all four members, the songs often tell a story: darkish tales with twisted circumstances and desperate people driven to do bad things. Alternately, there are classical references to girls, love, and the many points in-between. Mosseri and Baldwin alternate lead vocals throughout the album; Mosseri’s soaring, roguish tenor takes lead on the poppier tracks, while Baldwin’s raspy, weathered croon holds court on the guitar-heavy, wall-rattling anthems. Differing in sound, their voices retain a stylistic similarity won by playing, singing, and writing together for the past 14 years.

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Oh Lately It's So Quiet By OK Go

OK Go is an American rock band which formed in Chicago, Illinois, United States in 1998. The band consists of Damian Kulash (guitar, vocals), Tim Nordwind (bass), Andy Ross (guitar, keyboards), and Dan Konopka (drums). The band is best known for their singles “Get Over It”, “A Million Ways”, “Here It Goes Again” and “This Too Shall Pass” and for their high concept, low budget, one-shot music videos.

They play rock music, with influences such as Cheap Trick, T Rex and Queen. They share management with They Might Be Giants, with whom they toured before signing to Capitol Records. They served as the house band to the public radio program This American Life on the show’s fifth anniversary tour. Ira Glass, the show’s host, wrote their first official bio, calling them “living catnip” and describing their songs as “part indie rock, part stadium rock, part straight up pop with the occasional whiff of The Pixies or The Cars or Elliott Smith.”
 

The band contributed a cover of “This Will Be Our Year,” the Zombies classic, as the lead track of Future Soundtrack for America, a political benefit album put out by Barsuk Records in the fall of 2004. Lead singer Damian Kulash also became somewhat politically active during that election cycle, writing a heavily downloaded how-to-guide entitled “How Your Band Can Fire Bush” for bands hoping to help unseat President George W. Bush, which garnered him an avalanche of hate mail.

 
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 The Giant of Illinois By Andrew Bird

       The Giant of Illinois," originally recorded by husband and wife duo Handsome Family, sounds like it could be an Andrew Bird original--a whimsical, yet tragic, character must deal with crushing loneliness and not having enough money for food and shoes.
         In keeping with the sound of the original, Bird keeps the proceedings rather minimal, sawing on his violin occasionally while a solemn guitar figure provides most of the musical action.

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 South Of Ohio By  The Ravenna Colt

      In 1902, University of Pennsylvania professor Dennis Magner wrote The Art of Taming and Educating the Horse. In it, Magner describes an interesting case of The Ravenna Colt, a virtually untamable, yet not necessarily barbarous animal.

      The Ravenna Colt, in today’s incarnation, is Johnny Quaid finally realizing and returning to his troubadour roots. He first conceptualized the group’s approach to alternative country more than a decade ago. Quaid was well immersed in music, from his own songwriting and performing, to his work as a recording engineer at Above the Cadillac Studios — chops that would serve the young songwriter well.
       In 1998 Johnny joined Jim James, a.k.a. Yim Yames, on a project that would change their lives — My Morning Jacket. The group worked feverishly touring and recording and has not slowed down since. Quaid lends his guitar licks and engineering style on the first three albums, The Tennessee Fire, At Dawn, It Still Moves, as well as a barrage of EPs and singles.
       Quaid departed from the group amicably at the start of 2004. He left his native Kentucky, headed west to California and worked as a carpenter while keeping a writer’s pen at hand.
        He addresses this immediately on “South Of Ohio,” singing “I lost my drawl in California.” It was upon moving back east that Johnny not only picked up where he left off with Above the Cadillac, but also felt it was time to get The Colt running free.
      You hear a myriad of influences in The Ravenna Colt’s debut album ‘Slight Spell’ available on Removador Recordings And Solutions / Karate Body. “According to the Matador” combines The Flying Burrito Brothers’ dark, spacious twang with a traditional folk in the vein of Townes Van Zandt and Bob Dylan.

 

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Green Eyed Girl By Ted Hawkins

Ted Hawkins was an American singer-songwriter. He was born in Biloxi, Mississippi on 28 October 1936 and died on 1 January 1995, aged 58.

         Hawkins was an enigmatic figure through most of his career; he split his time between his adopted hometown of Venice Beach, California where he was a mostly anonymous street performer, and Europe, where he and his songs were better known and well received in clubs and small concert halls.

        Born into a poor family in Mississippi, Hawkins lived a difficult early life, ending up at a reform school by age 12, and drifting, hitching, and stealing his way across the country for the next dozen years, earning several stays in prison including a 3-year stint for stealing a leather jacket as a teenager. Along the way, he picked up a love of music and a talent for the guitar.  After reform school, he ended up in the state penitentiary and was released at 19. "Then I heard a singer whose name was Sam Cooke. His voice did something to me."   In the middle of the mid 1960s folk music boom Hawkins set out for California to try for a professional singing career. He recorded several tunes without commercial success, worked at odd jobs, and took up busking along the piers and storefronts of Venice Beach as a way to supplement his income. Hawkins made ends meet by developing a small following of locals and tourists who would come to hear this southern black man, sitting on an overturned milk-crate, play blues and folk standards as well as a few original tunes in his signature open guitar tuning and raspy vocal style (Hawkins claimed the rasp in his voice came from the damage done by years of singing in the sand and spray of the boardwalk).

           A series of record producers and promoters would "discover" Hawkins over the years, only to be thwarted by circumstance and Hawkins' unconventional approach to life.     Andy Kershaw encouraged Hawkins to come to the UK, and he moved to Bridlington in 1986 and enjoyed his first taste of real musical success, touring Europe and Asia as a well-known performer even while he remained anonymous in his home country.

         During this period Hawkins stayed largely out of trouble and refined his unique musical style: a mixture of folk, country, deep southern spirituals, and soul music. Hawkins' music was informed by but did not resemble blues music (Hawkins himself claimed he could not play the blues because his damaged fretting hand—he wore a leather glove to protect his fingers—would not allow him to bend notes).

         Despite his recognition and fame in Europe, Hawkins was restless and moved back to California in the early 1990s and again took on the role of a street performer. Several musicians and promoters encouraged Hawkins to record, but he did so only on occasion and without much enthusiasm, until he agreed to record a full album for Geffen Records and producer Tony Berg.  Berg added crack session musicians to Hawkins' typical solo guitar-and-vocal arrangements for the first time and brought national attention and respectable sales to Hawkins (though Hawkins, in typically contrary fashion, claimed to dislike the result, preferring his unaccompanied versions). Hawkins began to tour on the basis of this success, commenting that he had finally reached an age where he was glad to be able to sing indoors, out of the weather, and for an appreciative crowd. Hawkins, however, died of a stroke at the age of only 58 just a few months after the release of his breakthrough recording.

  

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 Who Will By Will Stratton

       With its quiet confidence and sleeper status, Will Stratton‘s 2007 debut, What the Night Said, was one of those records a listener feels downright blessed to come across, the humble but unmistakable announcement of a singular talent arriving. At nineteen, Stratton already appeared a mastermind, pairing a powerful command of lyricism with potent songwriting and a producer’s sense of how to best animate his compositions with depth and deft. Now twenty-two and nearing the end of his collegiate studies at Bennington, Stratton is prepared to release what will undoubtedly be another critically lauded effort, the pensive yet pleasant No Wonder. While the November 3rd release on Stunning Models on Display is guaranteed to sweep listeners off their feet, here’s hoping it reaches more ears than its predecessor.

          It would be ridiculous to ask for a better opening to No Wonder than the gorgeous “Who Will,” which simultaneously brings back the Nick Drake comparisons reviewers of his debut were so fond of drawing while showcasing Stratton as a songwriter whose ideas and execution easily debunk any facile analogizing.

As “Who Will” progresses, the instrumentation becomes increasingly complex. Heavenly female background vocals form a fringing glow around Stratton’s. Trumpets and strings buoy the arrangement, rippling through and lending a greater emotional heft to the proceedings. It is about as ambitious–and successful–as a musician or producer could ever hope to be within the three minute pop song structure, and Stratton makes it all feel as effortless as a wonderful dream. “Who Will” feels as light as it is substantial, and makes it clear for anyone who will listen (yet again), that Stratton is a gifted talent who has the tenacity to deliver on the grand scope of his vision.

 

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Brittle Bones By Richard Walters

On July 6th, Kartel will release the debut LP from Oxford, England’s Richard Walters, with critics and listeners alike bound to take notice. The Animal was written over a three year span, encompassing all of the emotional peaks and valleys one traverses over such an extended span. Walters’ fragile vocals are exceptionally well paired with the airy, delicate instrumentation throughout; in conjunction, they conjure up the raw, nostalgic verve of The Clientele’s early releases and the nimble mellifluousness of The Middle East‘s restrained compositions.

“Brittle Bones” is the first of The Animal’s twelve tracks, launching the album with a stately, even gorgeous air. An acoustic guitar performs a sweet, slow, gliding dance around which Walters (whose voice also bears a Yorke-ish flair) hangs evanescent curtains of vocal harmonies and piano notes.

There is also an adroit build up to “Brittle Bones,” which intensifies inconspicuously, occasionally releasing flushes of unexpected power. Taken as a whole, all of the elements conspire to create a song which is emotional without being wimpy, fragile without being flimsy, and beautiful while packing substance. “Brittle Bones” and the album whence it comes are clear markers of the arrival of a singular musical talent–here’s hoping Walters receives the attention his work merits.

 

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40 Day Dream By Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is an ensemble band led by Alex Ebert, vocalist of the power pop group IMA Robot. Their first full-length recording, Up from Below, was released July 7, 2009 digitally and July 14, 2009 physically on Vagrant Records. Their first show as a full band was played July 18, 2007 at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, California.

 
After breaking up with his girlfriend, moving out of his house, and joining a 12-step program for addiction, Ebert began work on a story about a messianic figure named Edward Sharpe. According to Ebert, Sharpe “was sent down to Earth to kinda heal and save mankind…but he kept getting distracted by girls and falling in love.” Ebert later met singer Jade Castrinos in Los Angeles. In the summer of 2009, as Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Ebert and Castrinos toured the country with a group of fellow musicians in a big white school bus.

  

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Early Spring Till By Nathaniel Rateliff 

        The first things you notice are the voice and the space. That voice belongs to Nathaniel Rateliff, a man who’s earned the twang and hard-knock weariness that shines through on his Rounder debut. The space comes courtesy of producer Brian Deck (Califone, Iron & Wine, Modest Mouse), who helped transform 8-track bedroom demos into miniature epics of contrast, beauty, and yearning. In Memory of Loss is a stunning, heartbreaking sonic document from a singer-songwriter who’s made his way from a childhood in Bay, Missouri (pop. 60) to the national stage.

         Rateliff grew up of modest means, the son of devout Southern churchgoers.   As a teenager, he stumbled across a cassette of Led Zeppelin’s IV abandoned in a local barn; he wore the tape out listening to it on headphones, drumming along with “When the Levee Breaks” and “Misty Mountain Top.”

          After his father passed away, when Rateliff was only 13, he picked up the guitar. His mother taught him three chords, a friend showed him a few more, and there was no need to bother with lessons; he started penning his own songs on an acoustic. He’d later go electric, gaining an appreciation for the freedom of effect pedals: “I was really into making feedback for hours at a time.” Both impulses are present on In Memory of Loss, with its shards of raw guitar rising beneath hushed, insistent melodies.

        Rateliff   learned the piano, much as he had other instruments—by teaching himself. The first song he tackled was Leonard Cohen’s melancholy classic, “Hallelujah.” (That same mixture of the sacred and profane is recognizable on “We Never Win,” with its throwbacks to gospel vocal harmonies, Rateliff harkening to “an old time revival.”)

       Rateliff began writing a different sort of song than he was used to: quieter, more introspective and patient. A friend turned him on to the bedroom recording potentials of the time-honored 8-track, and a new working method was born. “I just kind of went back to my roots,” he says. “It was a different sound, but it was still coming from the same place.”

        “It was more about songs, and not about an industry,” he says. “It was about a movement, not about making money. I think we’re moving back into that again. There’s still an importance in actually writing songs again. People are interested in hearing things that make sense.”

      “The one thing that made me want to write and play music was trying to get the same feeling that it gave me when I listened to it,” Rateliff says. “Like having an anxiety attack—where you almost start to weep, at the same time feel a strange pressure in your chest.” This persistent troubadour has struggled and persevered to this point; now, the wider world is ready for Nathaniel Rateliff. “In Memory of Loss,” he says, “is for everyone who’s willing to listen.”

 

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 Laid By James

James (formed 1981 in Manchester, England) are a popular band that were at the forefront of the indie rock movement, releasing a string of hit singles and maintaining popularity through the 90’s.

The band’s sound is mostly defined by their lead singer Tim Booth’s resonating vocals and emotional lyrics, as well as a spirit of experimentation that they held onto throughout their active career. 

Although James predate the ‘madchester scene’ of the late 80’s and their sound was never “baggy” nevertheless their Mancunian origins and their more commercial releases were appropriated by the scene. For many reasons, including the departure of lead singer Booth, the band’s final album became a struggle to record. This departure occured in 2001 and the band has been inactive since, though they never officially declared a breakup.

In January 2007, music magazine Filter cited an announcement on singer Tim Booth’s personal website, saying that “Tim will be rejoining James in early 2007 for a series of live shows to be announced very soon.” At the same time, James’ old website was replaced by a new domain holder at www.wearejames.com. The site confirmed that the line-up for the reformed band will be that which recorded the album Laid: Booth, Gott, Glennie, Davies, Hunter and Baynton-Power. Booth confirmed in interviews that he became convinced to rejoin the band after meeting up with Glennie and Gott the previous November for a jamming session, out of which new songs were born.

 

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Harry and Bess By Ferraby Lionheart

Ferraby Lionheart was born in Los Angeles, but has lived in Nashville, Tennessee. He started recording songs on a 4-track recorder when he was 18. Through a mutual friend, Ferraby was noticed by producer/multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion, who invited him to play on-stage for a song.  According to the biography on his website, he never intended to have an EP at first, as he just had a collection of songs to see where his music was heading--and the fact that he had grown tired of writing songs for the band he was in at the time, Telecast (not to be confused with the Christian rock band of the same name.) 

The self-titled EP was released in 2006, then re-released digitally in February 2007. He was named after John Ferraby who was also member of the Bahá'í Faith - Lionheart describes himself as a "spiritual guy" who keeps his religion a "prominent part of my life."  His debut album, Catch the Brass Ring, was released on by Nettwerk Records on September 4, 2007.  Ferraby currently resides in Los Angeles.

His new album, Jack of Hearts, is out now and the first single released is “Harry and Bess.” The song is about the heartbreaking romance between Houdini and his wife.

  

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Flash-Back Friday (No school like the old school)

 The Passenger By Iggy Pop

      James Newell Osterberg, Jr. (born on April 21, 1947 in Muskegon, Michigan), better known by his stage name Iggy Pop, is an American rock singer and occasional actor. Pop is one of the most important innovators of punk rock. Also referred to as “the Godfather of punk” and “the Rock Iguana”, he is widely acknowledged as one of the most dynamic stage performers of rock.

Pop was the lead singer of The Stooges, a late 1960s/early 1970s band that featured brothers Ron and Scott Asheton and Dave Alexander and was highly influential in the development of hard rock. The debut album was produced by the Velvet Underground’s John Cale. The band’s “ I Wanna be Your Dog” is a garage punk standard.

     Raw Power was first released in 1973, the savagely bombastic Raw Power is perhaps the first record that could truly be called punk. It was the confluence of The Stooges ages, hormones, creativity, ability, experience, tastes, lack of supervision, contempt for authority and ambition that has made Raw Power one of the most influential albums of all time.

     The Stooges were infamous for performances in which Pop leapt off the stage (hence, the “stage dive”), smeared raw meat or peanut butter over his chest and cut himself with broken bottles. A glimpse of the vibrating intensity of Iggy live can be seen in the Ramones movie “End of the Century.” Guitarist James Williamson became a key collaborator, a partnership documented on the 1978 album Kill City.

      In 25 years as a solo artist, Pop’s best-known songs have included the thumping Lust for Life, to be heard on the soundtrack of the find-a-vein, shoot-it-up movie Trainspotting, I’m Bored and The Passenger (the latter based on a poem written by Jim Morrison).  David Bowie played a key role in reinvigorating Pop’s post-Stooges career and was a collaborator on the albums Lust For Life and The Idiot. Iggy may be under-rated as a songwriter. Bowie and Tina Turner covered his “Tonight”. Bowie also put out his own version of “China Girl,” while Grace Jones covered the icey  "Nightclubbing”.

 

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Who Knows Who Cares By Local Natives

       Local Natives (formerly cavil at rest) is an indie rock band based in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California. After the three founding members originally met in high school, a bassist and a drummer were found, and they all moved to a house in Silver Lake in 2008 to record their album.

     Their debut album as Local Natives, “Gorilla Manor”, was released in the UK on Nov 2nd, 2009, and saw a US release date of Feb. 16th, 2010. The band’s sound has been described as “afropop-influenced guitars with hyperactive drumming and hooky three-part harmonies”. They started to attract the attention of the music press after playing nine shows at the 2009 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. Initial reviews of Local Natives have drawn favourable comparisons to Arcade Fire, Fleet Foxes and Vampire Weekend.

 

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To Ohio By The Low Anthem

The Low Anthem are a folk quartet (up until recently, a trio) from Providence, Rhode Island, United States. They formed in 2003 and consist of multi-instrumentalists Ben Miller, Jeff Prystowsky, Jocie Adams and Mat Davidson.

From its hand silkscreened cover art to its meticulously crafted songs, The Low Anthem offers work meant to be held, savored, contemplated, and occasionally stomped along to. The Providence, RI, trio’s Nonesuch debut offers a distinctly human touch in an era of instant uploading and ephemeral expression. The mood of Oh My God, Charlie Darwin is melancholic from the start—quiet, intimate, full of longing, and often hauntingly beautiful. In its lyrics, a dog-eat-dog society is nearing collapse and relationships are bruised, broken, or irretrievably lost. Yet in their tenor there is a pencil shaving of hope.

The Low Anthem combines folk and blues arrangements with the elegance of chamber music and the fervor of gospel. Much of Oh My God is hushed and hymn-like, but the trio throws a clamorous curve with raw, stomp-and-holler tracks like “The Horizon Is a Beltway” and its version of “Home I’ll Never Be,” a Jack Kerouac song passed via Tom Waits. Members Ben Knox Miller, Jeff Prystowsky, and Jocie Adams—all students of classical composition—bring a wide range of individual interests to the band. Prystowsky is a scholar of baseball, jazz, and American history. Adams, a classical composer and technical wizard, spent summers working an infrared spectrometer at NASA.

 

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The Last High By The Dandy Warhols 

        The Dandy Warhols is an American alternative rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1993. The band was founded by lead singer Courtney Taylor-Taylor, keyboardist Zia McCabe, guitarist Peter Holmström, and drummer Eric Hedford. Hedford left in 1998 to be replaced by Taylor-Taylor’s cousin Brent De Boer. The band’s name is a pun on the name of American pop artist Andy Warhol.
    
        The Dandy Warhols are strongly influenced by The Brian Jonestown Massacre(Anton Newcombe), The Velvet Underground, The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles, The Shadows, and The Rolling Stones. They also include implicit musical references to My Bloody Valentine in some songs. Front man Courtney Taylor-Taylor describes the band’s beginning as a group of friends who “needed music to drink to”.

 
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Hot Live Indie Week (Best of Live Indie)

Skinny Love (Live) By Bon Iver

      Over the winter of 2006-7 Justin Vernon retreated to a remote cabin in Wisconsin. It was in this isolated sanctuary that he recorded nearly all of what was to become ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’. The record is a quiet masterpiece. 

        It is pretty remarkable to think about the distance that this falsetto-voiced singer from Wisconsin covered in 2008. From the initial Internet whispers that someone had gone and produced a remarkably evocative record whilst living as a semi-reclusive woodsman in the middle of nowhere to playing  sell-out shows where ever he goes, it has been a meteoric rise to fame in the world of alternative music.

        Nothing can be said to detract from Vernon’s musicianship, instrumentally. Rotating among more than five guitars, he and two others used their instruments to experiment with acoustics. Much of the appeal of Bon Iver rests in timbre and layered sonic quality.  Moreover, there is so much talent to burn here that it is hugely unlikely that his star will extinguish any time soon. I, for one, am perfectly fine with that.

 

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Hot Live Indie Week (Best of Live Indie)

The Trapeze Swinger (Live) By Iron & Wine

        In 2005, Iron & Wine began to evolve from Sam Beam's sleepy bedroom recordings into a fully functioning folk-rock band. The Woman King EP, the first of two extended plays released that year to bear the Iron & Wine name, was Beam's first foray into incorporating not only a full band but electric instruments. This evolution would continue with the flashes of twangy Eagles-esque pop found on his collaboration with Calexico, In the Reins, and the 60's psychedelia influence found on 2007's The Shepherd's Dog.

         For Record Store Day 2009, Iron & Wine released the limited run CD Norfolk. Recorded on the Woman King tour, it acts as a marker to close out the first half of Beam's career as a solo artist, while hinting at the sound that he would grow in to. On the recording Beam is backed by his band, although they only hit full stride for the more raucous tracks like "Lilith's Song" and the dusty Delta blues redux of "Free Until They Cut Me Down". On the songs culled from his earlier catalog, Beam serenades his audience with his beautifully hushed tones and gently finger-picked acoustic guitar just as he always has, but now with the addition of some light backing drums and new melodies due to the incorporation of the full band sound into his hazy southern anthems. Beam does save some of his songs from the band treatment, leaving the more delicate numbers like "Southern Anthem" and "Sunset Soon Forgotten" in their simplistic and bare natural beauty. Iron & Wine end their eighteen song set perfectly with "The Trapeze Swinger". Beam's alluring and reassuring vocals and the calming notes from his acoustic guitar outshine the original recording from the In Good Company soundtrack with a fuller, more vibrant sound. It is nothing short of perfect.

        All in all, Norfolk is a delightful look back at the first few years of Iron & Wine and showcases many of the songs that made us fans of Sam Beam in the first place. The only downside to Norfolk is that due to its limited release it is rather hard to find, but it is definitely worth the search.

 

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Hot Live Indie Week (Best of Live Indie)

California Stars (Live) By Wilco   

       It’s hard to classify a band like Wilco, made up of front man and guitarist Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt on bass and in charge of most harmonies, Nels Cline on lead guitar, Mikael Jorgensen on keyboard, multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, and drummer Glenn Kotche.  When you’ve been playing over 15 years, with sound, energy, and members changing over time (all except for Tweedy and Stirratt), the genres Wilco encompass tend to evolve and blend together, resulting in an incredibly rich concert experience that spans pure country, alt country, experimental, straight up Rock and Roll. 

         With such long-standing history, the audience is made up of what you would come to expect from Wilco shows – you’re not just rocking out with the college kids, but your high school librarian and your hippie great uncle are bobbing around in the crowd as well.  

         Make no mistake, though Wilco is a band that overflows with talent, Jeff Tweedy is the artistic genius driving the ship.  Oftentimes when bands have such complicated, calculated instrumentals, the quality of the lyrics never quite live up to the promise of the melody.  This is not the case for Tweedy’s lyrics, which in some cases are quite literally Poetry with a capital “P,” taken directly from his publication Adult Head, a book of Tweedy’s poetry.  Only Jeff Tweedy could make the melancholy lyrics “I am trying to break your heart” cause couples to snuggle closer to each other.  There’s something very believable and endearing in the way that he alternates between cooing and screaming to his audience.   It is this sort of authenticity that, combined with Tweedy’s creative instincts and general swagger, sells out shows in minutes.  Wilco fans love him and he loves us back, and after going to just one show, I guarantee you’ll be hooked for life.

 

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Furr By Blitzen Trapper

Blitzen Trapper is an experimental rock/folk sextet which formed in Portland, Oregon, United States in 2000. The band consists of Eric Earley (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Erik Menteer (guitar, keyboards), Marty Marquis (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Michael Van Pelt (bass), Drew Laughery (keyboards) and Brian Koch (drums, vocals). 

   

In various combinations and guises, the group had already played a long time together before the “crystalization event” in July 2000 on the slopes of the famous volcano Mt Hood. Since then they have performed for audiences of all ages and socioeconomic groups, mostly playing close to home and for many years distributing recordings like itinerant madmen, for free.

 

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Words By Low

Low is an american alternative group from Duluth, Minnesota. The group was formed in 1993, by Alan Sparhawk (guitar and vocals), Mimi Parker (drums and vocals) and original bassist John Nichols (bass guitar). Zak Sally replaced Nichols after Low’s first album and tour. In 2005, Sally quit the band; Matt Livingston replaced him shortly thereafter. In 2008 Steve Garrington took over on bass creating the current lineup of Sparhawk, Parker and Garrington.
   
Their music is commonly described as “slowcore,” a subgenre characterised by slow tempos and minimalist arrangements. They are one of the earlier bands to adopt and popularize the style, making them considerable contributors to the slowcore movement. (It is worth noting that the band dislike this label. In an interview Alan Sparhawk says of descriptions of their music: “What’s the cheesiest? Slow-core. I hate that word. The most appropriate is anything that uses the word minimal in it, but I don’t think anybody’s made one up for that”) Parker and Sparhawk’s striking vocal harmonies represent perhaps the group’s most distinctive element.