A Free Man

OK, these songs have nothing to do with Easter but are some of the best tracks zipping around the interweb this week. They are late and sparse due to an iMac meltdown. Hey Apple, I thought your OS was meant to be stable?!

Liam Finn, son of Crowded House front man Neil Finn, released his debut solo LP “I’ll Be Lightning” earlier this year on Yep Roc.

MP3: Liam Finn- “Second Chance”

Keeping things in the family, Rufus’ sister and Loudon’s daughter Martha Wainwright has a new LP coming out in June. “I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too” is due on Drowned in Sound. This track from her 2005 debut is how I felt about Apple today.

MP3: Martha Wainwright - “Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole”

Somehow I missed Danish quintet The Elephants when they released their debut LP last autumn on Tapete Records. Consider that oversight rectified.

M4A: The Elephants - “5 Minutes”

There has been a lot of chatter about Denver’s DeVotchKa and I think “Transliterator” has finally won me over. Their sixth LP “A Mad & Faithful Telling” came out last week on ANTI-Records.

MP3: DeVotchKa - “Transliterator”

That’s all I have in me today, folks. Blame Steve Jobs - I’ve got your Leopard right here, buddy.

Popularity: 7% [?]

I fear that with my Antipodean explorations, I’ve sent A Free Man careening uncontrollably down an indie-pop trail. Well, it is time to take the wheel again and steer us temporarily back onto that long open highway of Americana.

I remember talking alt-country one night with a slightly older friend who took great pleasure in lecturing me about Uncle Tupelo not being the first band to mix punk and country. John Doe and Exene Cervenka did it while Tweedy and Farrar were still playing with Tonka trucks - was roughly how this diatrabe went. This is probably true, but they were doing it while I was playing with Tonka trucks as well, and I’ve never been able to really get into X.

So when Boston’s Sarah Borges breaks out in “Come Back to Me” from X’s “Under the Big Black Sun” on her recent record she’s making a statement - “I’m a little bit country, but I’ve got solid punk rock creds.” The thing is, this posturing isn’t necessary because, whether or not they’re “a little bit punk” Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles have made a proper good country record. In this era of saccharine radio country that is something of which to be damn proud. Not bad for a Yankee girl.

What Borges and her crew are doing is making old-school country music - the kind of music that came out of Nashville before things went horribly wrong in the 80’s. It’s her band , The Broken Singles, that makes the first impression on her “Diamonds in the Dark” sophomore LP - they’re solid and polished rollicking in with a classic country riff. But when Borges comes in they don’t overshadow her clear and brassy vocals.

Borges and the band are at their best on tracks like “False Eyelashes” as they lay down that old style country that is so notably absent from today’s C&W radio. They honk and tonk with the best of them on cuts like “Open Up Your Back Door” and when she unleashes her Broken Singles to jam “Diamonds in the Dark” is at its strongest. Mike Castellana is just masterful when he sits down at the pedal steel - go baldies! The only time “Diamonds in the Dark” pales is when they slow things down a little. That’s not to say that the softer ballads fall flat, they just aren’t as compelling as the up tempo numbers.

Borges gets compared to Lucinda Williams in a few reviews but I think a more apt comparison is to Ottawa’s Kathleen Edwards. Borges is a stronger singer than the Canadian, but they share the same slightly bend lyrical sensibility that plants them firmly in the “alt” camp.

Check out “Open Up The Backdoor” and if you enjoy it Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles’ “Diamonds in the Dark” is out on Sugar Hill and available from and Amazon.

MP3: Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - “Open Up The Backdoor”

Popularity: 9% [?]

I’ve read about SxSW ad nauseum today and can read no more about it. One of the bands that’s getting pretty much universal praise after the goings on in Austin is Portland’s Blitzen Trapper. I’m not one to gloat (actually I kind of am), but I covered these guys last summer on my personal blog. It’s been a busy day, so if you’ll forgive a repeat…

Portland, Oregon of the first part of the naughties is like the Seattle of the early 90’s or the Athens, Georgia of the early 80’s - it is churning out some of the best bands in the world right now. The Decemberists, Modest Mouse, The Dandy Warhols and The Gossip are all based out of Portland, and that’s not to mention the hundreds of lesser known acts that call this little corner of the Pacific Northwest home.

One of those lesser known acts is Blitzen Trapper, who must win some sort of prize for best band name. This sextet has been generating lots of buzz amongst the cool kids at Stereogum and Pitchfork and have recently signed to Sub Pop. I’ve got about a half dozen free tracks over the past few months, but it was “Sci-Fi Kid” (courtesy of KEXP) that turned my crank this morning with its sort of garage psychedelia sound that transitions into synth heavy carnivalia. “Wild Mountain Nation”(from Stereogum), the title track from their most recent record, features Led Zeppelin guitars with a refreshing country twang reminiscent of “Hot Dog”. Good stuff out of the Northwest - enjoy!

MP3: Blitzen Trapper - “Sci-Fi Kids”
MP3: Blitzen Trapper - “Wild Mountain Nation”

“Wild Mountain Nation” is available from eMusic, and Amazon.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Portland must be a fantastic place to be for a music fan these days. I have managed to stumble into “hot” music scenes throughout my life - I lived in Seattle in the early 90’s and Athens, Georgia in the latter part of that decade. These places pale in comparison to the musical Mecca that Portland has become in the Naughties.

The latest Portland based act to catch my ear is The Helio Sequence, a duet composed of Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel. “Keep Your Eyes Ahead” - their fourth LP, and first in four years, was released in January on Sub Pop.

It was the folky, Dylan inspired “Broken Afternoon” that caught my attention on Word Magazine’s free CD, but this track seems to be the exception rather than the rule on “Keep Your Eyes Ahead”. For two mild mannered looking Oregon boys, The Helio Sequence have a big ole sound. Weikel used to drum for Modest Mouse and you can certainly hear the Mouse’s, and some of their Portland contemporaries, influence in Helio Sequence’s latest.I’m not typically a big fan of heavily synthesized music, but Helio Sequence use the keys effectively to establish a loping rhythm that complements but doesn’t overshadow the vocals and guitar. Likewise, there is a fair bit of studio wizardry to generate the swirling, multi-layered, texture that comes through on “Keep Your Eyes Ahead”. Again, it’s not intrusive and serves more to enhance Summers’ and Weikel’s musicianship than hide their failings. Check out “Broken Afternoon” and “Captive Mind” from the new record.

MP3: The Helio Sequence - “Broken Afternoon”
MP3: The Helio Sequence - “Captive Mind”

The Helio Sequence’s “Keep Your Eyes Ahead” is out on Sub Pop and available from Amazon and .

Popularity: 7% [?]

I listened to k.d. lang’s album “Drag” on repeat while I was quitting smoking last year, so she’ll always have a special place in my heart. Her new LP, “Watershed” came out in January and what I’ve heard of it is outstanding. The steel guitar alone on “I Dream of Spring”, an appropriate track for a rainy English Sunday, is worth the price of admission.

MP3: k.d. lang - “I Dream of Spring”

London’s Blah Blah Blah firmly occupy a strange patch of musical turf somewhere in between Blur and Goldie Lookin’ Chain. Check out the oddly charming “Hopeless & Lazy”. Blah Blah Blah are on a UK tour and I bet they would be worth checking out live.

MP3: Blah Blah Blah - “Hopeless & Lazy”

I loved Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins “Rabbit Fur Coat” so much that I was thrilled to see that the Twins have a solo, er duo, record coming out soon. “Fire Songs” is due in June on Vanguard and, if this Cure cover is a good sample, will be a must.

MP3: The Watson Twins - “Just Like Heaven”

Brooklyn’s MGMT get the Best Lyrics of the Week award for…

“I’ll move to Paris, shoot some heroin and fuck with the stars.
You man the island and the cocaine and the elegant cars…”

…and Worst Website of the Week for this. “Time to Pretend” is off their debut “Oracular Spectacular”; it is synth heavy but fantastic.

MP3: MGMT - “Time to Pretend”

I’m really into lush folk-tinged indie music right now and Portland’s Loch Lomond really fit the bill. Their latest, “Paper the Walls” is out on CD or for download.

MP3: Loch Lomond - “A Field Report”

Frightened Rabbit is a Scottish quartet formed in 2004 by brothers Scott and Grant Hutchinson. “The Modern Leper” is from the forthcoming sophomore LP “Sing The Greys. “The Modern Leper” has got a building, driving tempo that makes it feel urgent - great vocals as well.

MP3: Frightened Rabbit - “The Modern Leper”

Nick Lowe has reissued his 1978 LP “Jesus of Cool”. It’s a record I’m not at all familiar with from an artist that, beyond “Cruel to be Kind” I’m not terribly familiar with. I hear bits of Jackson Brown, Brian Wilson and The Who in “So It Goes”. New to me - but great stuff.

MP3: Nick Lowe - “So It Goes”

Voice of the Seven Woods is Mancunian instrumentalist Rick Tomlinson. “Return from Byzantium”, which is featured on his new self-titled record, has a bit of a Western feel to it - reminiscent of Calexico. The new album is out and available from Twisted Nerve.

MP3: Voice of the Seven Woods - “Return from Byzantium”

More folk-tinged pop from These United States whose debut “The Three of Us at the Gates of Eden” was released earlier this month. The DC outfit’s “First Sight” is undeniably catchy.

MP3: These United States - “First Sight”

Number ten is a grower. Strangers Die Everyday, also out of Portland, is a strange post-rock instrumental act. Their debut full length ‘Aperture For Departure’ came out earlier this month on This Generation Tapes. One of the tracks off that LP, “Bicycle” really got into my head this week all the more upon repeated listens. It’s a slightly odd fusing of a string quartet with a rock band’s rhythm section, but I don’t think you hear enough music these days with a cello.

MP3: Strangers Die Everyday - “Bicycle”

Popularity: 19% [?]

That’s the way one of my favorite live albums starts, that deep baritone voice, with the soft Southern accent. This is followed by one of the most familiar guitar licks you’ll ever hear and…

“I hear the train a comin’
It’s rollin’ ’round the bend,
And I ain’t seen the sunshine,
Since, I don’t know when,
I’m stuck in Folsom Prison,
And time keeps draggin’ on…”

The other day we were playing the baby Johnny Cash - the Sun Records version of “I Walk the Line”, in his/her continuing pre-natal musical education, and he or she went crazy, started kicking like Michael Flatley. We’ve interpreted this response as the baby enjoying the music - we’re glass half full kind of people. Now I found this kind of odd, I mean what’s in Johnny Cash for an unborn baby, where are the bits for him/her to relate to? Sometimes I think about things too much, but it got my memory working.

Some of the first music I remember hearing when I was a kid was Johnny Cash. When we first moved to Florida, my dad had a big green Mercury Marquis with an 8-track cassette player and was a big fan of Cash’s “Folsom/San Quentin” live album. I can remember driving in that car with the windows down (no A/C) in the Florida summer just melting into the vinyl seats, with my Dad singing the chorus:

“When I was just a baby, my mama told me, ‘Son,
Always be a good boy; don’t ever play with guns.’ But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.
When I hear that whistle blowin’ I hang my head and cry… ”

That’s the only verse he ever sung. I’m convinced to this day that my Dad knows only one verse to about a hundred songs. Continue Reading »

Popularity: 10% [?]

“When the shadows of this life have gone
I’ll fly away
Like a bird from these prison walls I’ll fly
I’ll fly away…”

-”I’ll Fly Away” - Traditional Hymn

On the rare occasions that I get homesick for the U.S. it’s for the Deep South, where I spent about half of my life and the good part of my formative years. The two things that I miss most about Dixie are the food and the music. New Orleans is kind of the hub for both of those things down south. When I heard the The Hot 8 Brass Band’s version of “Fly Away” the sounds, tastes and smells of Big Easy hit me almost viscerally.

A New Orleans jazz cover of an old Baptist hymn is a little bit of a departure for a music site that’s been focusing on up and coming indie artists. But, The Hot 8 Brass Band is so good that I just had to . Their version of “I’ll Fly Away” is more spiritually uplifting than anything you’re likely to hear in a church. This is classic New Orleans jazz, but it doesn’t fall into the trap of sounding like a pale tribute act. The Hot 8 boys are spontaneous, funky, improvisational and even a little sloppy sometimes. They spoon some rock, a little funk, a dash of soul and hip-hop to taste into their pot and mix it up into an irresistible gumbo.

I’ve posted “Fly Away” as well as The Hot 8 Brass Band’s cover of the Marvin Gaye classic “Sexual Healing”. If you like these two tracks then check out “Rock with the Hot 8 Brass Band” - available from Amazon, or eMusic.

MP3: The Hot 8 Brass Band - “Fly Away”
MP3: The Hot 8 Brass Band - “Sexual Healing”

Popularity: 7% [?]

More frequently these days I find myself veering towards the crotchetiness that advancing years tend to thrust upon men. This often manifests itself by actively ignoring hot new acts with a “these kids today” kind of dismissal. This really doesn’t hurt anyone except me, as I miss out on some really great music.

I had directed this crotchetiness at Vampire Weekend earlier this year. The singles that got leaked on the net tended to be poorly produced and noisy, so it was easy to write off the Gotham act as unlistenable. Once they started to get some hype, the grumpy old man persona was firmly entrenched.

Well, I’m not to old and grumpy to admit when I’m wrong, albeit a little late - Vampire Weekend are the real deal. The NYC quartet are nearly flawless in their self-titled debut. The most charming thing about these guys is that they’re insightful enough to realize that there is no truly “new” music. With that in mind they draw from diverse genres (ska, dub, Afro-pop, post-punk) to make the closest thing to a new sound that I’ve heard since Arcade Fire’s debut. What’s truly incredible is that they draw these diverse influences together as effortlessly as anyone has since the heyday of the Talking Heads.

I know I’m about the last music blogger on the interweb to tout these guys, but if for some reason you haven’t bought their debut - do so now. I’ve pasted two of my favorite tracks below. The full-length album (XL) is available from eMusic, Amazon and .

MP3: Vampire Weekend - “Oxford Comma”
MP3: Vampire Weekend - “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”

Popularity: 10% [?]

Another Northeastern (U.S.) roots rock act caught my attention this week, I smell a scene up in the Hudson Valley. The Rosewood Thieves are a New York based quintet who released their second EP “Lonesome” in the Autumn. Their music strongly hearkens back to the 1960’s with Mackenzie Vernacchio’s organ summoning up echoes of The Kinks, Bob Dylan and The Faces. The Rosewood Thieves are purely 21st century Americana, however, and Erick Jordan’s narrative songwriting and the sparse production they employ reinforce their place in time. Check out “Honey, Stay Awhile” and see what you think.

“Honey, Stay Awhile” came my way via KCRW and is on the EP “Lonesome” which, along with their previous EP “From the Decker House” is available directly from the band or .

Popularity: 6% [?]

“Well there’s a child on the way
It could be any day
But how this life will change him
That we don’t know

Well there’s a child on the way
Gonna look just like him
One day, he’s gonna say
“Ain’t you my dad?”

Then he’s gonna look down and smile
And after a while, he’ll say,
“That’s for sure, cause you got my eyes.”

-Wilco - “Dreamer In My Dreams”

Wilco’s seminal “Being There” is available from your local independent record store, Amazon or .

Popularity: 6% [?]