Where are they now? Part 2

Continued from yesterday...

6. +/- - Fear not, little fans. +/- will be back in fashion with the October 21st release of X's on Your Eyes via Absolutely Kosher. No preview tracks yet, though.

7. Copeland - 2007's Dressed Up and In Line wasn't a proper release (though "Chin Up" was an amazing new track). October 14th will see the release of You Are My Sunshine, which features some pretty sweet subtle album art. Unfortunately, no new songs available on their myspace or website (which still doesn't even mention the record...). And if you've got some time to kill and like mazes, you can play the viral marketing game they developed for the release here.

Part-Time Lover (Stevie Wonder)
[from Know Nothing Stays the Same|buy]

8. So Many Dynamos - This St. Louis fearsome foursome is cocked, locked, and ready to rock and have been for quite some time. It's definitely good to count Chris Walla among your friends, and even better to have him produce your record and put his efforts behind it to get labels interested. Well the album, started over a year ago, is now done and you can hear a great track from it here. The record is called The Loud Wars. Fingers crossed for new new news soon.

9. Ben Folds - Oh Ben, what am I going to do with you? It's been sooooo long since Whatever & Ever Amen and we've had some good times along the way. But I'm frankly terrified of your upcoming record Way To Normal (out Sept. 30th). I'm hoping that the tracks (aside from the lead single, a cute bouncy pop attempt that will probably get you some airplay) I've heard from it are just a joke you're playing on me or are just really early demos or something. I still believe in you...

You Don't Know Me (w/ Regina Spektor)
[from Way To Normal (out 9.30)|buy]

10. The Format - Nate Ruess' sunpop band is no more, but good news is around the corner. He's got a new bag, called "fun". It's fledgeling and lo-fi, but the first song sounds promising. It's...fun!

Benson Hedges
[demo]

11. Lovedrug - Ummm, Lovedrug is another hallowed band whose upcoming release scares me. 2005's Pretend You're Alive is #10 in my Desert Island collection, but its follow-up was a small step back. Now, they're poised to release The Sucker Punch Show (Oct. 28), complete with very odd artwork. The first song they posted on myspace was panned by fans on their comment wall, but the second is quite good. So they're batting .500 at the moment...

Let me know if there's any other linesthroughlines band that you're curious about and I'll try to dig up that dirt.

Where are they now? Part 1

I got to thinking recently about wtf was going on with some of my favorite artists who should be about due (or are overdue) for some kind of release. And then I thought it'd be fun and informative if we found out together...

1. Crystal Skulls - Oddly enough, the answer was right in front of me, quite literally. The main peeps in this hip Seattle outfit are now integral to the lineup of Fleet Foxes along with another linesthroughlines favorite J. Tillman. Golly gee, I hope both release their own material again! Jeepers!

Beat Me To It
[from Blocked Numbers|buy]

2. Wesafari - The lack of attention this band got for 2005's Alaska is absolutely criminal. And it's been over a year since the Moss Green EP was thrown to the wind [still downloadable]. Time for an update...and it's fairly sketchy. An e-mail blast from the band back in June indicates the record is moving on to post-production and "sounding so great." No word on release. I can always hope.

Shooting Stars
[from Alaska|buy]

3. The Long Winters - Hey, let's make this a Seattle trifecta, shall we? John Roderick's masterful indie-pop outfit went back in the studio in July to record the follow-up to 2006's Putting the Days to Bed. No word on release date, but in the meantime, you can read his fascinating blog at Seattle Weekly.

4. Some By Sea/Ghosts & Liars - Yet another Washington band/s. Sadly, both of these promising bands have fallen by the wayside. I learned last week that G&L had called it quits (happened back in March), after about a year of not really doing anything other than some stellar demos. Methinks the talented Chris DuBray will not be idle for long. I'll keep you posted.

5. The Slip - This Boston threesome is famous for a fabulous live show and probably also for being featured in a Guitar Hero game ("Even Rats") and Grey's Anatomy. But it's been over two years since the tightness of Eisenhower made ripples across the blogosphere. Now, the band is performing a few dates as Surprise Me Mr. Davis with the addition of merch-guy-turned-singer/songwriter Nathan Moore. But they, too, haven't released an album since 2005. Hmmm....

Airplane/Primitive
[from Eisenhower|buy]

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow...Ben Folds, +/-, Lovedrug, Copeland, So Many Dynamos, The Format, and Lymbyc Systym.

Shhh, Top Secret Octopus Project

Now that I think about it, an eight-armed cephalopod would probably make a pretty efficient musician. Suction cups, ambidexterity, black ink pyrotechnics, curved beak for tearing flesh...oh wait. But still. What if the Octopus Project is a secret government entity's attempt to train said octopi in the magical ways of rock? I like to imagine that scenario when I listen to this band. I like to picture four of the creatures, 32 arms akimbo, a frenzy of pink, rubbery skin. A few arms are playing glockenspiel, different parts of course. Four more on drums, while another one loops beats on a laptop in real time. 6 guitars, 3 basses, a mini-moog, a fender rhodes, 4 88-key Korgs, and a grand piano. A lone arm is in the back corner playing theramin. The remaining 6 arms just churn a froth in the water as means of applause.

Or you could just picture the four stiffs you see up there, foolishly playing at the feet of a huge polar bear. Whichever you prefer.

Listen:
Wet Gold
[from Wet Gold 7"|buy]
I Saw the Bright Shinies
[from Hello, Avalanche|buy]

Sweet-ish Convoj

The first rule of Convoj is don't talk about Convoj. Being a sweet-ass band from Sweden has its minuses, the first of which is that you'll have to dig to find any information on them that isn't in a foreign language. Thankfully, they are part of two fantastic organizations, spanning half the globe between them. Sound/Friends has been mentioned here before, a Brooklyn-based superteam of artists/music-addicts/friends. They bear Convoj's banner stateside while youareawesome!! provides similar sweetness for Swedish artists/musicians. Thankfully YAA!!'s website is in English, so you can read Convoj's humorous bio in its pseudo(or intentionally)-pretentious glory. Basically, they're totally awesome at garnering internet buzz, they think really hard about their music, and their record is brilliant. But in all seriousness, they've got some moxy. Angular indie rock with decidedly American/UK influences (the Killers, Hot Hot Heat, Interpol, pre-electronica Bloc Party), this Swedish import is coming at you pre-hype, pre-fame. And I've just broken the first rule of Convoj. I doubt they'll mind.

Listen:
A Swedish Mile
[from Wrapped in Coffee Filters|download]
Cultural Legacy
[from Sound/Friends 001|buy]

Listening Assignments 8.25.08

1. The Broken West - Perfect Games - This is what a good single sounds like. When you press play and just say yes over and over. It's feel-good, four-on-the-floor. A refined indie sound with a resilient little melody. Nice. [from Now or Heaven (out 9.9)|buy]

2. The Whigs - Violet Furs - Certainly a straight-up down-stroking guitar song, clean-toned and slightly jangly. Sounds like something from the '90s, in a good way. [from Give 'Em All a Big Fat Lip|buy]

3. Rodriguez - Sugar Man - I've been reading about this record for awhile because of its backstory. (Released almost 40 years ago, fell flat in the US, eventually going multi-platinum in South Africa unbeknownst to the artist, re-issued this year). This sounds like one of those songs that would pop up on a movie about Vietnam during a chopper ride, a little (ranging to a lot) psychedelic, that reverby vocal, the buzzing acoustic guitars. This is like opening a time capsule, forgotten and finally remembered. [from Cold Fact|buy]

4. Horse Feathers - Curs in the Weeds - Stark and open, violin and guitar, guy and girl. Trembling vocals, breathed with determination that sounds familiar. Forlorn and longing for human contact at any price. [from House with No Home (out 9.9)|buy]

A Swift Recommendation

"Hey buddy...I saw you from inside...leaning on my car. What the fuck is up with that, huh? Do you see me...leaning on your car? huh? No. No. I'm gonna give you a couple minutes to think about it. I'm gonna sing this verse and then you can apologize to me right after I'm done. You got that?

Hey buddy...nice jacket. Nice fucking curly hair, too. That's great. Are you gonna say you're sorry yet for leaning on my car? Huh? Are you gonna say you're sorry? Hold on. Hold on, here's another verse. One second...

Yeah, nice ending. Jack. Jackass..."

I have no qualms with posting 3 of the 5 songs from Richard Swift's amazing EP because it's a free download anyway and that's the whole point. The other point is that you should have all five songs, fool. He treads some hallowed ground here, from Grease to James Brown to the Beatles, melding those sounds with tongue-in-cheek skills. Swift is an aural time machine and he's doing it better than anyone. Seriously dig into this fellow's catalog, if you fancy yourself a music lover.

Listen:
The Bully
The Song for Milton Feher
[from Ground Trouble Jaw|download it for free, limited time]

Animal/Not Animal

It's been over two years in the making, more if you count how long some of the songs from the upcoming Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos' have been bouncing around the pipes. The time between 2005's still-amazing Dust of Retreat and now has been punctuated by a major label signing (Epic), subsequent dispute and finally, compromise. To the benefit of all parties involved, most of all the listener, Margot will release two LP's this year. Animal! (Sept 30)and Not Animal (Oct 7) will contain 12 tracks, though only 5 will be common to both, for a total of 17 new songs. The former is the album the band demanded be released while the latter is the album Epic insisted on. Consequently, Animal! is seeing only vinyl and digital release, while Not Animal will get digital and CD.

Phew, now that all that technical jargon is out of the way, I'll say this. I'm probably more psyched about Animal!/Not Animal than anything else coming out this year, which includes Copeland's You Are My Sunshine, which drops October 14th. The three teaser tracks on their myspace cause me to salivate. The chorus for "As Tall As Cliffs" is going to haunt me all night.
"Darlin' I'm tired, but I should be leavin'..."

Listen:
As Tall As Cliffs
A Children's Crusade on Acid
[from Animal/Not Animal (out 9.30/10.7)|pre-order]
*you can also buy their amazing Daytrotter EP on iTunes.

Positive Reinforcement : The Hold Steady

I'll start by telling you that I'm by no means an expert on The Hold Steady. I never owned their first 7" EP from back in '04 (or their first two full-lengths, for that matter). I don't have their cute little logo tattooed anywhere on my body, nor have I fist-pumped along with them from the front section between the stage and the drunken mosh pit. Other than singer Craig Finn (who's mentioned in just about every music publication known to man), I couldn't name another band member. I'd be lying if I told you that this public obsession with The Hold Steady didn't piss me off just a little.

Have you heard? The Hold Steady is the greatest and best band in the world. Because being uncool is the new cool. Also, 8 years ago, you might get ridiculed if you sounded like the second coming of Bruce Springsteen. Today, you're idolized (read also: the Killers, The National). Being drunk is cool. Rhyming lyrics are occasionally cool, but more often uncool. Matching tailored grayscale suits on stage is so 2 years ago. Now, the jacket should be off, the tie loosened, the shirttails untucked.

Craig Finn is a master writer of prose. I will not argue with this fact. I will also not argue that there are more than a few moments on Stay Positive that my head jerked up from whatever I was doing and I said aloud, "iiinnnteresting." (Often because of the balls-out guitar solos or hookish riffs, which are plentiful.) Certainly I can relate to Craig writing about struggling with faith (or any of myriad religious imagery), girls with daddy issues, physically abused friends, hometowns and old pals, or irony in the "scene". I can enjoy the piano in "Yeah, Sapphire" and the Bon Jovi-esque 12-string on "Both Crosses". I really can be engaged in this record, but more often than not I find myself straying. Lyrically very good. But aside from a few bright spots ("Joke About Jamaica"), it's vocally very poor, despite Finn's apparently taking vocal lessons prior to recording. And I just can't get behind that. I find myself really enjoying on ly small portions of individual songs (the second half of "Slapped Actress"), and not the entire thing.

But I do digress. Somehow, this record is important to me. The hype is irritating, but The Hold Steady are impossible to write off like that. If music was 100% about sweat-slicked guitar riffs, passion and raw lyrics, I'd be the first in line. They are certainly America's biggest and best bar band for intelligent geeks and reformed punks. I just need a little bit more than that.

Listen:
Magazines
Lord, I'm Discouraged
[from Stay Positive|buy]

The Redemption of a Sea Wolf

Maybe it was serendipity that I neglected to mention Sea Wolf as "just another animal band" in my inaugural Grizzly Bear post almost two year ago. More likely, I just forgot about him, but maybe he just wasn't meant to be haphazardly categorized simply by a poor choice of name. Heck, from all I can tell, Sea Wolf was one of the first to be so-named, a leader not a follower. Thus, I will give him a pass.

This song is beautifully languid, constantly building from nothing to something. It slowly adds subtle bass and drums, glockenspiel and violins, both vibrating and flowing like silken waves, atop a dark and distant melody. This sounds like a forgotten b-side from the National, but somehow more human. When Sea Wolf's namesake Alex Brown Church sings "I forgive you" nineteen times over the symphonic last 1:20, you get the sense that he's waited a long time to say it. That it's finally possible to move on.

Listen:
Song for the Magpie
[from A Wolf at the Table*|buy]

*It's part of the audio portion for A Wolf at the Table, Augusten Burroughs' new memoir about his father, alongside other artists like Ingrid Michaelson, Patti Smith, and the Tegan half of Tegan and Sara.

Listening Assignments 8.18.08

1. The Rosebuds - Life Like - The Rosebuds have seen a few different incarnations over the years, most recently as a synth-heavy pop band on '07's Night of the Furies. Thankfully, their next release will return to their melodic indie past, though with more noticeable oompf. Linesthroughlines fave Bon Iver also pitches in on the album. With that info and this stellar lead track, sign me up. [from Life Like (out 10.7)|info]

2. Y'all is Fantasy Island - With Handclaps - A more fitting song title would be difficult to find, though handclaps don't actually make their appearance until the singer conjurs them with 45 seconds left in the song. And with the guitar solo closely resembling a basic scale, this is one summer jam that I could possibly do myself. Pro: Could be an iPod commercial. Con: Could be an iPod commercial. [from With Handclaps EP|Free]

3. Dear in the Headlights - Talk About - It took a few listens to love this track, but I definitely do. They practically stole the show from Mae and As Tall as Lions when I saw them last year and this song hints that their upward trajectory is intact. It's stops and goes and organs and curious little pieces of shattered guitar lines and la-dee-dahs and a cute keyboard bridge, too. [from Drunk Like Bible Times (out 9.30)|info]

4. Richard Swift - Lady Luck - Yes, this came out this year. Yes, it's a white guy. Yes, he's oozing soul out of every pore. Yes, he's drowning in reverb. No, he doesn't need rescuing. [from Ground Trouble Jaw EP|free]

Those Malleable Blacksmiths

It's Friday, the culmination of a long week and it's not over yet. I'm in need of an aural massage. I want tiny sonic fingers to etch patterns into my cranium. Last of the Blacksmiths will fit the bill nicely. SanFran's finest soundsmiths painstakingly hammer their molten songs into weighty axes and chop slowly away at the darkness. Underneath the soot and sweat lies a human, like you and me, pink fleshed and broken hearted. It's amazing what a Fender Rhodes, clean guitar and some light horns can do to your mood.

Listen:
What You've Been Saying
Autumn Vacation
[from Young Family Song|buy]

Growing Up w/ Blitzen Trapper

1. Am I the last to hear about Animoto? It's a brilliant site that enables you to do things like this:

Listen:
Blitzen Trapper - Furr
[from Furr (exclusive tour EP)]

2. Thanks to Animoto, I got to watch the hilarious preview of the next Coen Bros. film Burn After Reading while my video was being made. I may or may not have squirted milk out of my nose.


3. Hey PBR drinkers! Did you know that pretty much everything you thought about Pabst Blue Ribbon is false? Read about how your grandfather's brand became indie chic.

4. Did you hear about the Soundgarden reunion? (thanks Heather/IAF,YAF)

Femme Fatale: Carla Bruni

There is a strange hope in this. It's odd enough that the first lady of France has nude modeling pictures all over the internet, but odder still that she's a musician and actually mighty good at it. Carla Bruni's voice is all smoke, no mirrors. The French language is naturally seductive and spills out as if her mouth is full of marbles. For all we know, she could be singing about taking out the trash or Tivo-ing Lost, but I refuse to believe it. She's obviously singing about feeding me peeled grapes on the Mediterranean coastline...

All kidding aside, she's probably a lot deeper than that. And wouldn't it suck to have no one take you seriously because of your past and your position? And could you imagine Michelle Obama/Hilary Clinton/Barbara Bush dropping an album, and a good one to boot?

Listen:
Tu Es Ma Came
[from Comme Si De Rein N'etait|buy]
Quelqu'un m'a dit
[from Quelqu'un m'a dit|buy]

Listening Assignments 8.11.08

1. Ray LaMontagne - Let It Be Me - If someone out there can prove to me that this man was not set down on this green Earth to sing, I will promptly pour ketchup on my finest necktie and eat it. All I can say is this: There are album teasers and then there is this song. If you don't want to buy this album after hearing this song, you're smoking drugs. [from Gossip in the Grain (out 9.30)|pre-order]

2. Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire - Whelp, as mentioned last week, this is the song I wanted all along. And I'm far from the first to post it. But holy moly, this song is sex on fire. I'm not sure this band could be hotter. [from Only By the Night (out 9.23)|info]

3. The Rumble Strips - Boys and Girls in Love - This starts off like Flight of the Conchords' "Hiphopopotamus vs. The Rhymenocerus" and quickly begins sounding like a Jason Anderson track, which is to say that it's foot-stomping, piano-pounding goodness. Then it's closely akin to something The Morning Benders or Port O'Brien would do (hand claps and general glee). Except British...[from Girls and Weather|buy]

4. Passion Pit - Sleepy Head - Thump thump thump thump thump. This swirling indie psychedelic techno-pop hypnotizes me. I'm not a dancer, but my feet keep moving themselves. Damn you, passion pit ! (just kidding I love you). [from Chunk of Change EP (out 9.16)|pre-order]

A French Kicks Kiss

Somehow, I missed the fact that NYC's French Kicks released their follow-up to 2006's Two Thousand all the way back in May. Unfortunately, that means the buzz it created was somewhere between a whisper and a cough, a sad fact because I really dig the hell out of it.

"So Far We Are" was my #17 track of 2006, a hook-filled number with one of the most likeable drum parts in recent memory. But it seems no one can mention them without mentioning the Walkmen, a band I've never been able to get into at all. If anything, it should be the other way around. This is much more accessible to me. Swimming is slippery with subtle flairs. Mostly simple arrangements with tasteful and beautiful melodies throughout. Oddly enough the record is bottom-heavy for me (aside from the cool track 4 "New Man") as I find myself listening to the second half on nearly on repeat. "This Could Go On" is a rewarding and fitting finale, building from an odd floor-tom beat into an unexpectedly pretty turning point. It sounds like the band calling out, through the night, to you. Oh, how they've missed you terribly.

Listen:
Sex Tourists
Love In the Ruins
[from Swimming|buy]

Inara George's Destiny

It is apparent by now that Inara George (of the Bird and the Bee) was born to be a musician, but perhaps even more so born to make An Invitation, due out August 12. After all, her father was Lowell George, founding father of Little Feat and previously of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. After all, Lowell's good friend, the legendary arranger/composer/artist Van Dyke Parks (Beach Boys/Brian Wilson, Joanna Newsom, Harry Nillson, to name a scant few) was present at her birth. Little did Parks know that in 2008, 29 years after Lowell's sudden death from heart failure, he would collaborate with Inara to make An Invitation, arranging full-orchestral accompaniment to her mature, melodic songwriting.

The resulting album is a brilliant, triumphant letter of love, addressed to every living thing, the sun, the moon, the sky. Equal parts Brian Wilson's Smile and MGM's Gone With the Wind. Despite 10 of 13 tracks wrapping up in a tidy 3:30 or less, these recordings feel sweeping and epic. Each song is a century, condensed into a silver spoonful. This is a destiny set to digital tape.

Listen:
Duet
Oh My Love
[from An Invitation with Van Dyke Parks (out 8.12)|buy/stream]

Apollo Sunshine Shall Noise Upon You

It's rare, but sometimes a band actually makes the album you always wanted them to make. Not that what you wanted was anything specific, but somehow they hit that nail on the head. A natural progression from where they were then to where they are now, minus the identity crisis 90% of bands out there have from one album to another. This year, so far, that band is Apollo Sunshine.

They took an odd detour to get here, with 2003's Apollo Sunshine an unexpectedly southern-fried affair. It was, nonetheless, critically revered and the bar raised, though predicting which of their schizophrenic influences they'd exploit next would have been pure folly. Shall Noise Upon is definitely a return, of sorts, to the sounds that made Katonah so fresh in the first place. However, like the prodigal son, the band returning isn't the same one that set off into the wilderness. Their collective savvy is palpable as they craft beautiful sounds with intention and maturity. And too keep you on your toes, there are still moments of noise and homages to unexpected genres (gospel and dirty funk!).

There was awhile that I wondered if this album was ever going to happen. In the three years since Apollo Sunshine, the members had seemed more interested in DJing parties and clubs than touring/writing/recording. But here it is in digital, vinyl, and streaming form, the hard-copy to be released in less than a month. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Listen:
Breeze
Singing to the Earth (to Thank Her for You)
[from Shall Noise Upon|stream|buy]
Conscious Pilot
[from Katonah|buy]
The Bright Side
[Monty Python]

Listening Assignments 8.4.08

1. Ray Charles - Oh, What a Beautiful Morning - This song is an easy sell, though I'm not sure how many people my age group know it. This is Ray at his best, taking this old standard and making it shine. If this song doesn't get you pumped to start the day, I don't know what will. [from Standards|buy]

2. Kings of Leon - Crawl - Fuzzy wuzzy was a bass tone. And so this song followed along. It isn't quite what I wanted or expected out of the Kings of Leon, but singer Caleb Followill's voice still dominates all else. The fantastic single "Sex on Fire" is streaming on their myspace and is the song I wish I could post here. How's that for a glowing, informative review!? [from Only By the Night (out 9.23)|info]

3. Wild Sweet Orange - Tilt - I had high hopes for this band last November, hopes that dissipated slightly as I listened to more of their music. There are some great tracks on this album ("Land of No Return", "Seeing & Believing", "House of Regret"), though it'd be stronger if "Wrestle with God" was included, but the songs that aren't great sound like they're trying too hard to be profound. "Tilt" is really nice though. Reminds me of early Jimmy Eat World. [from We Have Cause to be Uneasy|buy]

4. The Theater Fire - Swimming - It's been over two years since I wrote about The Theater Fire, but they were one of the very first bands I discovered through the world of blogging and opened my eyes to the potential of this whole endeavor. This track is actually one of their first, all the way back from 2003, a sort of cowboy confessional. Really endearing. [from The Theater Fire|buy]

Growing up with The Men

I will tell you that I have always been like this. I'm aurally addicted. When I was in 2nd grade, I was obsessed with "We Didn't Start the Fire". I didn't have the means to play it on my own but my dad had given me a copy of the album Storm Front in cassette form. My step-father also liked Billy Joel, so we played it in his truck often. Until, that is, we were on a family vacation driving from Portland, OR to North and South Dakota, through Montana and the rest of it. We were listening to "We Didn't Start the Fire" when the truck's caught on fire. That fire ate through the dash, devouring that cassette tape. I didn't hear the song again for years.

But when I was a little older, maybe 9 or 10, I began to gorge myself with music. I had a CD player by then, it also had radio, and I listened to z100's 5 @ 9 every night. I knew every word to Bel Biv Devoe's "Poison", I could recite Whitney's "I Will Always Love You", and I was particularly obsessed with All-4-One's "I Swear". I had a very small collection of CD's, mostly ones my dad had given me. Mostly albums the labels were sending him to review in his position as station program director. Mostly not very good records. But I would listen to them, over and over. I'd put my favorites on repeat and probably drove my mom nuts.

One of those records was the self-titled LP by The Men. I found it in a Goodwill today for $2 and jumped on it. Listening back, I'm amazed by how relevant it still is. Aside from a laughably-reverberating snare drum sound, its pop sensibilities are timeless. It's a lot like Crowded House and the Tragically Hip, with a more gravelly vocal tilt, and incredible guitar tones. Anyway, you may not even dig it, but I thought I'd open a window into my world. I probably listened to "Goodnight, Sally" over 1,000 times when I was 10. I think that says something about me today.

Listen:
Goodnight Sally
Easy Target
[from The Men|buy]

The Fabulous Avett Brothers

If there are rockstars disguised as folk musicians, they undoubtedly be the Avett Brothers. You wouldn't know it, listening to The Second Gleam, but you'd know it if you ever saw them live. Beards? Check. Youthful exuberance? Check. Sibling frontmen? Check check. Front-row-fist-pumps-and-full-voiced-sing-alongs? Checkity check.

Folk-punk?

This is Townes VanZandt on speed. The Beatles high on bluegrass. When Iron gets piss-drunk on Wine. This is foot-stomping falling in love, right here.

Exhibit A:


Listen:
St. Joseph's
Tear Down the House
[from The Second Gleam|buy]
Will You Return?
[from Emotionalism|buy]

Spamalot

Just so you know, Blogger incorrectly flagged my blog as a spam blog and locked it until it could be reviewed. I couldn't even post to tell you I was locked out! Lamesauce.

Anyway, back to business...