Tag: mp3

No comments

Feel Bad For You, August 2011

  By

 

Another… uh… timely installation of the Feel Bad For You mix series is here for your enjoyment, kids. Stream, download, cheers.

 

 

Download

 

Title: If I Go
Artist: The White Soots
Album: The White Soots (2010)
Submitted By: @popa2unes
Comments: Another power trio revival Rock and Roll band trips my wire, The White Soots out of Dayton, Ohio. The band formed in early 2009 with brothers Kyle(Guitar/Vocals) andKraig Byrum(Drums) and longtime friend Karl Benge(Bass) and began playing in clubs in Dayton under the name Fuzz Hound, which was changed to The White Soots after about one year of playing. They specialize in a bluesy, psychedelic mix of guitar infused rock and roll.

Title: “Little Lion Man”
Artist: Mumford and Sons
Album: Sigh No More (2010)
Submitted By: @mikeorren
Comments: In honor of all the Leo birthdays (like mine).

Title: Peggy Sue Got Married
Artist: John Doe
Album: Rave On Buddy Holly (2011)
Submitted By: erschen

Title: Y’all Motherfuckers Need Jesus
Artist: The Goddamn Gallows
Album: 7 Devils (2011)
Submitted by: Adam Sheets

Title: Sick of You
Artist: Lou Reed
Album: New York (1990)
Submitted By: Brad Kelley
Comments: Matt tells me he’s not familiar with this album. This album is Lou Reed’s masterpiece, in amongst some other amazing records. Choosing one song of off it was difficult, but allowed me the opportunity to listen to the whole thing again. If you, like Matt, have this vague idea that Lou Reed is supposed to be really good but don’t know where to start, the album New York is the place to start. “The ozone layer has no ozone anymore, and you’re going to leave me for the guy next door? I’m sick of you. I’m sick of you.”

Title: Satin Sheets
Artist: Willis Alan Ramsey
Submitted By: Truersound
Comments: Loving this guy right now

Title: Barely Losing
Artist: Richmond Fontaine
Album: Post to Wire (2004)
Submitted By: Simon
Comments: Very much looking forward to the new Richmond Fontaine album that’s due soon, so in anticipation thought I’d go with one of my favourites from them this month.

Title: Pensacola
Artist: Jolene
Album: In the Gloaming (1998)
Submitted By: Phil Norman | @philnorman
Comments: The passing of time has only made this record better and their obscurity a shame.

Title: Pass the Peas
Artist: The J.B.’s
Album: The Funk Box – disc 1 (1972)
Submitted By: Gorrck

Title: Golden
Artist: Radio Nationals
Album: Place You Call Home (2003)
Submitted By: BoogieStudio22
Comments: A Seattle-area band that put out an EP and Full-length in the early 2000s. Just damn good rock ‘n roll with a bit of alt-country and americana tossed in.

Title: Picture of Health
Artist: Delicate Cutters
Album: Some Creatures (2011)
Submitted By: TheOtherBrit
Comments: Once again pimping Bham, this album just came out on Skybucket.

Title: Drinking Too Much
Artist: James Leg
Album: Solitary Pleasure (2011)
Submitted By: April @ Now This Sound Is Brave
Comments: Everyone who is subject to my blabbing on Twitter or Facebook or who has run into me on turntable.fm or has talked to me longer than five minutes knew I was going to get around to submitting this song to FBFY sooner or later. This is, as they say, my jam. John Wesley Myers of Black Diamond Heavies doing his solo thing and covering the Kill Devil Hills – though the song seems tailor-made for Myers. My favorite song off of what will probably be my favorite album of 2011 when it’s all done.

Title: Public Information Song
Artist: John Cunningham
Album: 1998 – 2002: Homeless Home / Happy Go Unlucky (2010)
Submitted By: Ryan
Comments: A little folky, a bit Beatle-y, a wonderful song from a fellow discovered by Joe Pernice.

Title: One More Summer
Artist: The Rainmakers
Album: Tornado (1987)
Submitted By: toomuchcountry
Comments: Its hard to believe, but a quarter-century has passed since Kansas City’s The Rainmakers debuted (not including their prior life as Steve, Bob & RIch). And its been14 years since the band went their separate ways. Late last year, however, the band re-formed (with Jeff Porter replacing Steve Phillips), released an album of all new material titled 25 On, toured Norway for several dates plus a couple of homecoming shows in KC Mizzou, and showed they can still rock. If you ever find yourself in Kansas City on a Wednesday night, be sure to visit The Record Bar where The Rainmakers’ lead singer Bob Walkenhorst and guitarist Jeff Porter have a standing gig. With this steamy, greasy summer we’re enduring, I chose this cut from the band’s second release.

Title: Diamond Way
Artist: JEFF The Brotherhood
Album: We are the Champions(2011)
Submitted By: annieTUFF
Comments: I was going to send a song that had a story to go with why I chose it…but last minute changed my mind. Just because I’ve been listening to these guys allllllllllllll day, and they kick ass. So, there.

Title: Conspiracy of the Heart
Artist: Steve Wynn
Album: Kerosene Man (1990)
Submitted By: Beldo
Comments: A great song from the Dream Syndicate frontman’s debut album. A beautiful duet with Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano.

Title : Wide Eyed Son
Artist : Kent Goolsby
Album : Wide Eyed Son (2011)
Submitted by : Corey Flegel (TIAM)
Comments : Obviously, I love this record since it’s on our site, you can download Wide Eyed Son in it’s entirety for free at www.thisisamericanmusic.com.

No comments

Jesse Lége, Joel Savoy & the Cajun Country Revival: The Right Combination

  By

 

I have been thinking about this post for a couple of months now, never sure how to start it and never sure what I had to contribute aside from “It’s really good. You should buy it.” There is some Cajun blood down my mother’s family line, but it’s not a culture I was ever directly exposed to. I have always enjoyed the friendly, happy, highly danceable vibe of Cajun music whenever I’ve heard it, but, until this album, I never had it around for listening on a regular basis. I haven’t studied Cajun music. So, in considering this post, I have felt wholly adrift. But as Joel Savoy’s brother Wilson said in an NPR post about the current crop of Cajun string bands, talking about the audiences the Cajun musicians find when they play outside of lower Louisiana and southeast Texas, “Even if they didn’t grow up in that culture, they can tell if the music is real or fake.”

If the aforementioned NPR piece is correct about a coming surge in popularity for Cajun music, there’s going to be a rise in the fake (I’ve heard a bit of it coming out already, and it’s a sad experience). But even if you’ve never heard of multi-award winning accordionist Jesse Lége or his frequent collaborator Joel Savoy, you know from the first note that this is real. Savoy’s parents, Marc and Ann, are famed Cajun musicians in their own right. And Lége grew up in a one-room house in southwest Louisiana, where his family had no electricity and spoke Cajun French.

For this album, The Right Combination, Lége and Savoy threw a little twist in the mix by teaming up with Pacific Northwest musicians, the Caleb Klauder Country Band. Given the overlapping histories of Cajun and country music, the pairing of the two styles is seamless and results in a lively and varied album. As a starting point, think of Hank Williams playing “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)”, amp the fiddles way up, throw in lots of button accordion and place the unique Cajun shout-singing style alongside Williams’ Alabama drawl.

 

‘tit monde by Jesse Lége, Joel Savoy, and the Cajun Country Revival

 

Courville’s Fetish by Jesse Lége, Joel Savoy, and the Cajun Country Revival

 

The Right Combination can be downloaded via Bandcamp or purchased from Savoy’s label, Valcour Records.

Jesse Lége, Joel Savoy & the Cajun Country Revival @ Bandcamp

Valcour Records

Jesse Lége Official Website

Jesse & Joel Official Website

Caleb Klauder Official Website

No comments

Dex Romweber Duo: It’s a Long, Long Way to Nowhere

  By

 

Is That You in the Blue?, the second studio long player from the Dex Romweber Duo, plays like a fever dream of the 1950s with guitars doubling as ethereal, reverberating angels and fire-tongued devils. And you’re never quite sure if Romweber himself is an archangel or the lead demon.

Romweber is a man haunted, and his playing can feel like an exorcism in reverse. As you listen, you begin to understand the motivations of those square parents of the first rock ‘n’ roll generation who wanted to keep this devil music from their children. It’s easy to believe that Dex Romweber is not of this world, and if those leg-wiggling, pompadoured boys of early rock sounded as frenzied and deeply agitated to those parents then as Romweber sounds now, maybe locking up their sons and daughters wasn’t such a bad idea.

Listen, I don’t mean to be hyperbolic, but even among the down-dirtiest musicians you’ve ever heard, you rarely hear someone play as rawly and primitively – and when I say “primitively”, I don’t mean simple or uneduated; I mean from the very core of emotion – as the Dex Romweber Duo. Sister Sara anchors everything with her heavy beats, but you sometimes feel that even she is one good rage from becoming unhinged. And, in case it’s unclear, I mean these all as good things. This is rock ‘n’ roll as it began and should, in its essence, always be. Fun, yes. Danceable, hell yeah. But even more than that, expressing the dark, passionate, ravenous id of the soul.

Here are Dex and Sara working out their ripped up take on a song from Dex’s old band, the Flat Duo Jets, called “Jungle Drums” – which kicks off Is That You in the Blue?

 

 

Download:
Jungle Drums – Dex Romweber Duo

 

Is That You in the Blue? drops on July 26, and the Dex Romweber Duo will be begin touring in earnest on July 22.

7/22 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
7/23 Atlanta, GA @ The Star Bar
7/27 Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor
7/28 Charleston, SC @ Tin Roof
7/29 Athens, GA @ Caledonia Lounge
8/2 Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry’s
8/3 Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree Cafe
8/4 New Orleans, LA @ Saturn Bar
8/5 Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s
8/6 Austin, TX @ The Continental Club
8/8 Phoenix, AZ @ The Rhythm Room
8/11 West Hollywood, CA @ Whiskey A Go Go
8/12 San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside
8/13 Reno, NV @ St. James Infirmary
8/15 Portland, OR @ World Famous Kenton Club
8/16 Seattle, WA @ Studio Seven
8/19 Chicago, IL @ Glenwood Arts Festival at Heartland Café
8/20 Union City, OH @ Woodcrest Lanes
8/21 Columbus, OH @ The Tree House
8/23 Pittsburgh, PA @ 31st St Pub
8/24 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
8/25 Boston, MA @ Church of Boston
8/26 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl
8/27 New York, NY @ The National Underground
8/28 Washington, DC @ Black Cat (Backstage)
9/3 Ormond Beach, FL @ Iron Horse Saloon

 

Dex Romweber Duo Official Website

Dex Romweber Duo @ Bloodshot Records

No comments

Feel Bad For You, June 2011

  By

Feel Bad For You hosts a monthly mixtape comprised of submissions from music bloggers, Twitterers and a rockstar or two, and it’s always a good time. A celebration of eclecticism, you can enjoy it all below, by stream or by download.

Download.

Title: I’ve Got Love
Artist: Warren Smith
Album: The Complete Sun Recordings
Submitted By: Bowood
Comments: Sun Studios legend Warren Smith. That studio…that f…in’ beautiful studio. Thank you Lord for Sam Phillips.

Title: Angel From New Orleans
Artist: The Dead Exs
Album: Resurrection (2011)
Submitted By: @popa2unes
Comments: David Pattillo – electric slide guitar and vocals – Wylie Wirth – on the skins. Pattiillo is a producer with a credit list from Alanis Morrissette to the Hold Steady, The Black Crowes to the Beastie Boys and last year produced the Reni Lane debut for Universal Motown. Wirth has toured extensively in Europe and the US with various bands and was a member of the Warner Bros act Sweet Lizard Illtet.

Title: What She Turned Into
Artist: Retribution Gospel Choir
Album: Retribution Gospel Choir (2008)
Submitted By: verbow1
Comments: I like to think of myself as ahead of the musical curve, finding new stuff before anyone else. The truth is I’m often several years behind, always trying to catch up, hence a 2008 release just finding me at the end of 2010. This band features Alan Sparhawk of Low – I’m not the biggest Low fan but these guys really stick with me. Nothing fancy, just a good rock song.

Title: City Lights
Artist: National Grain
Album: self-titled (2006)
Submitted By: Corey Flegel
Comments: some dude on an Amazon review of the record said it best about NG- Their songs sound like deepcuts off of some of the early, better albums by Haggard and the Possum.

Title: Ain’t No Such Thing As a Superman
Artist: Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson
Album: Midnight Band: First Minute of a New Day (1975)
Submitted by: April @ Now This Sound Is Brave
Comments: Shortly after I received the June FBFY call to arms, it was confirmed that Gil Scott-Heron, the man responsible for “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, died. His album I’m New Here was possibly my favorite of 2010, and I was looking forward to seeing what he would do next. Dying wasn’t what I had in mind.

Title: Stuck in an Office
Artist: Edmunds Crown
Album: Regrets of a Company Man (2006)
Submitted By: Simon
Comments: One of the may highlights from an eighteen track album of 3 minute power pop songs everyone should own

Title: Penicillin Penny
Artist: Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show
Album: Belly Up! (1973)
Submitted By: Shooter Jennings
Comments: Be cleansed by her dirtyness

Title: $2 Pints
Artist: Last False Hope
Album: Outlaw Radio Compilation Vol. 1 (2010)
Submitted by: Adam Sheets
Comments: Everything that is great about honky tonk and punk is represented in this song. This is the sound of the future

Title: Sleep With One Eye Open
Artist: Chris Thile & Michael Daves
Album: Sleep With One Eye Open (2011)
Submitted By: Phil Norman | @philnorman | www.bluemoonshineband.com
Comments: Been listening to this record non-stop since it came out last month.

Title: Never Miss Your Mama
Artist: The Black Twig Pickers
Album: Hobo Handshake (2008)
Submitted By: Truersound
Comments: I’ve been seeing these guys a lot lately, and every time I swear they get better. Love it when they break out the washboard, especially on this song and on The Coo-coo. See these guys live if you get a chance, talk Mike into telling some stories. This song also makes me wish I could clog like a drunk hillbilly.

Title: Fuck Me Up
Artist: Brandon Adams And The Sad Bastards
Album: Self Titled (2011)
Submitted By: Romeo Sid Vicious
Comments: This one has been stuck in my head for about a week now. It’s a raw song that’s just plain amazing. I don’t have a rant for this one. Just one I have been enjoying a lot lately

Title: My Back Pages
Artist: The Ramones
Album: Acid Eaters (1993)
Submitted By: @mikeorren
Comments: In honor of Bob Dylan’s 70th, a cover I just rediscovered

Title: Every Day You Have To Cry
Artist: Bon Scott
Album: Round And Round Compilation (1967)
Submitted by: Erschen
Nothing spectacular here but interesting to hear Bon Scott before his AC/DC days. This was a band called the Valentines. The song is by Arthur Alexander and has been covered by quite a few including the Bee Gees and Dusty Springfield.

Title: What Am I Supposed To Do?
Artist: The Sidewinders
Album: Witchdoctor (1989)
Submitted By: toomuchcountry
Comments: The deadline was drawing near for this month’s submission, and I hadn’t chosen my June selection. So my quandary naturally resulted in my submitting this great track by Tucson AZ’s The Sidewinders (later known as The Sand Rubies).

Title: I Can Buy You
Artist: A Camp
Album: A Camp (2001)
Submitted By: DC Noise
Comments: A Camp makes some mighty infectious pop music. The band is fronted by Nina Persson, aka That Girl From The Cardigans (an underrated band, in my opinion).

Title: Let’s Get Out Of Here
Artist: Les Savy Fav
Album: Root For Ruin (2010)
Submitted By: PearlSnapMan

Title: Heart Attack
Artist: Raphael Saadiq
Album: Stone Rollin’ (2011)
Submitted By: @BoogieStudio22
Comments: Raphael Saadiq has been around for a while, but in his most two most recent releases he’s been digging into the Motown catalog of sounds. He’s still got the R&B / Soul thang going on, but his most recent album rocks out a bit more.

Title: Down In The Valley
Artist: The Head and the Heart
Album: Self-titled 2011
Submitted by: Cowbelle / morecowbelle.net
Comments: I’m not huge on this band in general, but I heard this song on a sunny walk in my new stomping ground the other day and it spoke to me. Something about trouble and whiskey – and I think there’s some optimism in there too.

Title: Walking Into Walls
Artist: Mike Ethan Messick
Album: The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday (2011)
Trailer / farcethemusic.com

Title: Arousing Thunder
Artist: Grant Lee Buffalo
Album: Copperopolis (1996)
Submitted By: The Second Single

Title: Heart Won’t Bend
Artist: Branden Barnett
Album: Heart Won’t Bend (2011)
Submitted By: TheOtherBrit
Comments: I forgot to send in my submission so made this selection in about 30 seconds. This song is part of a series of singles and covers Branden has been releasing on his bandcamp (bandcamp.com/tag/branden-barnett). 100% of what you hear on there is Branden and I think that’s pretty badass.

No comments

The Ridges: This Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures

  By

 

As I was listening to the Ridges’ EP last night, a storm kicked up that colored the sky charcoal grey and blew leaves horizontally through the air. It seemed appropriate to the roll and swell of moody strings and beautiful but fraught vocals of the album.

Formed in Athens, Ohio, and consisting of core musicians Victor Rasgaitis (guitar), Talor Smith (cello) and Johnny Barton (percussion, glockenspiel) – with a rotating line-up of additional musicians contributing violin, viola, upright bass, trumpet, percussion, mandolin, cello and accordion – the Ridges took their name from the institution that was formerly the Athens Lunatic Asylum. And the band continues to draw inspiration from the old asylum. Not only was their album recorded in the ornate Victorian building, but the songs are imbued with an aching hauntedness that seems to reflect the ghost stories that surround any once-abandoned institution worth its salt.

That’s not to say that the self-titled EP is a non-stop dirge full of melodramatically gothic declarations of emotion. While none of the lyrical matter could be accused of being upbeat, many of the songs invite foot-stomping and sing-alongs. Listen to and download an example of what I mean with stand-out track “Not a Ghost”.

 

Not a Ghost by The Ridges

 

Now download the full EP at their Bandcamp site and get haunted.

The Ridges @ Bandcamp

The Ridges @ Facebook

2 Comments

Phantom Tails: We Turn the Wheels of Alchemy

  By

 

It took me a while to realize why the music of Phantom Tails sounded familiar. It was probably the third or fourth listen to Sounds of the Hunchback Whale when I realized that this music would not have been out of place in the goth clubs of ’90s San Francisco… but more like the ’90s goth scene if I’d had my way with it. This is not music you swoopy dance to while artfully waving your lacy cuffs. It requires a little more funk in your back-end. The band’s synth wizard Sergio Hernandez has called it Deep Space Doom Funk.

 

Real Savage by Phantom Tails

 

While it’s definitely dance music, it’s not without grit, coming down with an industrial thump at times. Songs are written, sampled, layered, sampled again, layered some more, resulting in fuzzed out laser zaps, rounded out with jagged guitar, heavy bass and drum machine beats that go down to bedrock instead of floating off into the atmosphere.

 

Streetsweepers by Phantom Tails

 

You can dance to it and still look like a badass.

Plus, singer/guitarist Orion Treon quoted the Wu-Tang Clan in an interview, and we are all the way down with that.

You can listen to and download the two songs above, then get over to Bandcamp and pick up the whole album. It’s good from top to bottom.

 

Phantom Tails @ Bandcamp

Phantom Tails @ Facebook

PhantomTailsTV

No comments

We See Lights: Twee Love Pop

  By

 

I was going to begin this post by attempting to argue that, despite it’s name, We See Lights’ new EP Twee Love Pop is not actually twee. Considering the songs talk about holding hands, gifting a book of poetry and loving the way the object of affection’s hair curls when it rains, there was no way I was going to win that argument.

But it’s twee in a charming way.

Indeed, Twee Love Pop is so charming that my co-blogger Jennifer and I both like it. As Jennifer says, this “is one of the few times [we] agree on, well, anything, when it comes to music. Other examples: The Felice Brothers and A.A. Bondy. You are breathing rarified air, We See Lights!”

It may also be because they don’t hide their Edinburgh accents, and we’re accent whores.

We See Lights couch their sweet lyrics with acoustic guitar, banjo, bells, light percussion, a lot of happy bounce and, everyone’s weakness, harmony singing. Twee Love Pop is a sunny little love note of an EP. Take a listen to (and download) the first two songs.

 

My Oh My Oh My by We See Lights

 

I Hope You Like the Smiths by We See Lights

 

You can take a listen to the EP, plus a couple of their earlier releases, at their Bandcamp site, and then you can download the EP from Amazon or iTunes.

We See Lights Official Website

We See Lights @ Bandcamp

Twee Love Pop @ Amazon

Twee Love Pop @ Amazon UK

Twee Love Pop @ iTunes

Twee Love Pop @ iTunes UK

No comments

Austin Lucas: Constant Sound of Thundering Rails

  By

 

As has likely become obvious to regular NTSIB readers, I’m a sucker for a good voice. A voice full of pathos and urgency – and especially one that has been roughened with whiskey and cigarettes – will get me every time. Austin Lucas has a classic bluegrass voice. “High lonesome” is a good phrase for it. And while this sort of voice would seem best paired with quiet instrumentation and pretty guitars, as Lucas has often used in the past, on his latest album A New Home in the Old World, Lucas shows that bringing up the intensity of the music to match the intensity of the voice benefits both the singer and the song. Check out a little of what I mean on my favorite song from the album, opening track “Run Around”.

 

Run Around by Austin Lucas

 

It’s a sharp smack in the face of an introduction to an album that pulls a taught thread of emotional intensity throughout. Later on in the album, such as on lead single “Thunder Rail”, electric guitar is pulled into the mix, recalling some of the best roots-minded alt.rock.

 

Thunder Rail by Austin Lucas

 

Lucas is an earnest songwriter, but New Home doesn’t fall into the usual singer/songwriter trap of using the music as nothing more than a bed of lettuce for the entrée of the lyrics. This is not a poetry reading. This is music flowing with blood, guts, yearning and hope.

You can purchase the album directly from Last Chance Records (my advice is to purchase directly from the label whenever possible – they’ll put much more care into your order than a megawarehouse would and often at a better price), where a live album from Lucas is also available. You can also catch him on Willie Nelson’s Country Throwdown 2011 Tour that starts up toward the end of this month.

 

Austin Lucas Official Website

 

No comments

Daniel Knox: I Make Enemies Everywhere I Go

  By

You climb the metal fire escape on this frigid, Chicago night, a little uneasy. The steps sway and clang under your feet while layers of paint and rusted metal disintegrate under your hand. You are halfway up when you make the mistake of looking down to check your progress. A pause as you close your eyes, grip the railing with both hands and whisper, “Oh please oh please oh please…” A deep breath, and you continue on.

You reach the door and sniff back some rogue snot before turning the handle. You step in to find the inside just as dark and cold as the outside. Darker. Except for a soft spotlight trained on a man and a baby grand piano. The bear of a man is dressed all in black, and his hands play across the ivories more delicately than you’d have expected. He watches you, grinning. His face is pleasant enough, but something about the grin is slightly unsettling, as if it will spread into a giant Mr. Sardonicus rictus at any moment.

“Watch your step,” the man warns casually, just before you feel age-old wooden slats begin to give way under your foot.

You cautiously navigate your way across the room to the piano, thinking, however illogically, that if you can just grip this huge, heavy piece of furniture in the middle of the rotting floor, you’ll be safe. The man continues to grin as you listen to him play. He begins to sing. A full, sonorous voice that seems to come up from another time. It makes you think of thin, foreign men with severely pomaded hair and angular women with Louise Brooks haircuts. The man plays a beautiful song, and you begin to relax under the lilting melody. Until your mind begins to process the words…

When I come back to life, I’ll find you,
Push my thumbs into your eyes and blind you.
When you hear your name called out across a crowded street,
you’ll think of me and swear the ground was stolen from your feet.

He punctuates the verse with a high, ghostly, wordless howl-hum.

Your shoulders freeze. You glance back across the room and wonder how quickly you could make it back out the door and down the fire escape. You turn back as the man stands, still grinning, and motions you to follow him. You don’t know why you follow, but you go. Out a window you climb, onto a snowy stone balcony overlooking the city. Chicago is laid out for you in a jeweled grid, the snow making everything pristine. Clean. Wonderful. You try to remain on your guard, but the site dazzles you and your eyes widen and sweep the landscape like an excited child’s.

Beside you, the man begins to chuckle. Maybe he’s not so bad, you think. He’s shown you something beautiful you might never have seen had you let fear turn you back down that fire escape.

Then you feel a strong tug on the back of your jacket. As the snow-laden streets fly up to meet you, the man’s booming laughter echoing behind you, you realize he really was as bad as you thought.

Ghostsong by Daniel Knox

Daniel Knox’s album Evryman For Himself, the second in a trilogy, releases May 10, 2011. The first album of the trilogy, Disaster, is available to stream, download and order on CD on Bandcamp. And, if you’re brave enough, he’s on tour.

Daniel Knox Official Website

photos: John Atwood

No comments

Cut in the Hill Gang: Livin’ in a Town That Ain’t Even on the Map

  By

 

Here’s how I want to write this post about the Cut in the Hill Gang’s Mean Black Cat: Holy shit, buy this album! Go! Do it now! It is flat-out, fist-pumping, sternum-thumping rock-and-goddamn-roll from top to bottom, and you need it. Then I would throw out a couple of songs, and you would listen and say, “Damn, the effusive writer is correct! Where’s my credit card?”

But some people are going to want more than my exuberant flailing to go on (if you weren’t already enticed by the description of the album in our James Leg interview).

In this most recent incarnation, the Cut in the Hill Gang is comprised of four frontmen: Johnny Walker (Soledad Brothers), Lance Kaufman (StarDevils), Reuben Glaser (Pearlene) and James Leg (Black Diamond Heavies). And on Mean Black Cat, the four put their dirty fingerprints all over other people’s songs. CitHG dip into a number of genres and eras, covering the likes of Lula Collins, the Gun Club, Gary U.S. Bonds, the Kills, Hound Dog Taylor, the MC5, Bill Allen… If you’re familiar with the other works of the CitHG members, the artists covered aren’t a huge surprise, but the way some of these songs are covered may give you a pleasant start. The opening track, “Don’t Ever Leave Your Daddy at Home”, is a stunningly ragged and raw turn on Frank Frost’s “Never Leave Me at Home” that feels like it could burn the lining out of your throat just from listening to it. And the greasy slide of the Gun Club’s “Promise Me” is turned into a sparse, haunting, echoing plea as the album’s closer.

There are also clever marriages of songs. The MC5’s “Black to Comm” flows seamlessly in and out of Hound Dog Taylor’s “Let’s Get Funky”. Later on, the Kills’ “Fuck the People” meets up with Spacemen 3’s “Revolution” to form a sneering call to arms.

Two of my favorite tracks on the album are the covers of Gary U.S. Bonds’ “I Wanna Holler” and the Mighty Hannibal’s “The Right to Love You”. Leg takes the lead on “Holler”, bringing the keys to the forefront and covering everything with his trademark growl while a tribal drumbeat thrums deep under it all. (Plus, it’s amusing to hear Leg utter the line “I’m just a silly sap.”)

 

I Wanna Holler by Cut in the Hill Gang

 

The vocals of “Right to Love” are so heaped with emotion that they sometimes sound as if they will cut out all together under the strain, yet the vibe of the song holds a certain menace that makes love sound like a threat.

 

The Right to Love You by Cut in the Hill Gang

 

This album would be shooting to the top of my Favorite Albums of 2011 So Far list if it wasn’t for the fact that it was released last October.

You want this album now, don’t you? Yeah, here’s the catch for all the U.S. readers: It’s only available as an import. Mean Black Cat was commissioned by German label Stag-O-Lee and hasn’t been picked up by an American distributor. But this being the Age of the Internet, the album is easily obtainable through Stag-O-Lee’s parent company Glitterhouse or through Amazon or a few other online retailers. Yes, it will cost you a little more, but if you’re turned on by what you’ve heard, I’m confident you will find the album worth the extra scratch.

 

Cut in the Hill Gang @ MySpace (where you can hear a couple more songs off of Mean Black Cat, as well as the great “Soul to Waste”)

The Tale of the Cut in the Hill Gang