songs:illinois

Hey!! Stop what you’re doing! You’re not going to find that Arcade Fire live bootleg today, nor will you be stumbling across the b-side to “Hand In Glove”, and there’s no way you’ll be finding that unreleased Pixies album. What you need to do is get ready to vote in the most important election of our lives. Figure out where your nearest polling place is and make sure you are registered. Tell your friends to vote, tell your enemies for that matter. But just vote.

Worried that you’re not informed enough to vote? You’re on the internet – the information is out there waiting for you. Not a U.S. citizen? Then please call or email all your American friends and make sure they plan on voting. Many artists/organizations are stepping up and helping with the Get Out the Vote campaign, and now so are many of us in the music blogging community. Below are some links but please continue to add your own.

Moveon.com

RockTheVote.com

JohnKerry.com

GeorgeWBush.com

MusicForAmerica.org

DeclareYourself

JustVote

MyPollingPlace

GetEducated

And since this is an mp3blog we’ve added a song or two as well.

Vote by Chris Stamey w/Yo La Tengo

From me I’ve added The Creekdippers‘ (w/Victoria Williams and Mark Olson from the Jayhawks) “Poor GW”

Compadre Records a new, possibly great americana label sent me the links to these two songs by Billy Joe Shaver “Good Ole USA” and James McMurtry’s “We Can’t Make It Here Anymore”

Just found this song by Tim Prudhomme and Staff called George W. Hitler

Bolt.com found our little party and added the post to their website

From PregnantWithoutIntercourse comes Billy Braggs “Help Save The Youth Of America – Thanks PWI

Two fun Dubya cut ups from the Dubya Project (from WFMU by way of Largeheartedboy)

“Der Fuerors Face”

“Sunday Bloody Sunday”

RadioBabylon’s participating and has added tons of music and satire to the cause

KingBlind’s got his post up too

Teaching The Indie Kids To Dance is onboard with some new links

The Napkin’s on the ball and will be adding songs all weekend

Tuwa’s Shanty is up and has added Tom Lehrer’ “We Will All Go Together When We Go”



Rummage Though The Crevices has joined the cause and has added a spoken word piece called “Thank you George Muthaf#$@% Bush and a song by the Compassionate Conservatives

Telephone Thing took the call and added the post

Eric at Lost Bands has found the calling and added “Country Of The Blind” by the Faith Brothers

Enchilada’s Blog has linked to this page with a get out the vote message

Aurgasm adds a couple of songs – Orbital, Cat Power and Antibalas; now he’s updated and added even more

TheBigTicket joins the party with songs from Leonard Cohen And Trey Parker, Thanks Jon!

Something I Learned went old school with the Proleteriat and The Dicks

Bradley’s Almanac from Boston added the post

Largehearted Boy is up now

The Witness Exchange is up too

Our friends at BarsandGuitars have added to the post

Mystery And Misery has editorialized a bit within the post

Alternate Tuning is up

Republic Of Replicants has joined the fray

Moe Rex has added a Freddie McGreggor track at Moebius Rex

ScissorKick gets into the action

Portugal’s in the house Pedacos De Nada (translation please?)

Rock and Roll Report

Close Your Eyes has got a nice version of the post up with an additional song by Dan Bern



10:51 Am Toronto’s got it too

Our first Australian post by Fat Planet

Silence Is A Rhythm Too has added songs by Paris, Faithless and Sonic Youth

The Naugahyde Life from France has joined in and added Jet Set by Dr. John

Frank from Chromewaves added this to his blog

Oakroom has added the Flash animation of Chris Stamey’s Vote PSA

On the any publicity is good publicity front, the cynics have chimed in with their thoughts here and here

I like this one from Music For Robots (unrelated to our campaign but cute and clever nonetheless)

Eminem’s powerful new video for Mosh

Get Out And Vote On November 2nd. Regular Blogging Will Commence On November 3rd.

Thanks,

Music Bloggers For Democracy

and everyone that has agreed to post

the big ticket :

songs:illinois :

last sound of summer

moerex

pwi

barsandguitars

scissorkick

radiobabylon

Kingblind

TeachingTheIndieKidsToDanceAgain

TheNapkin

Tuwa’s Shanty

RummageThroughTheCrevices

Lost Bands Of The New Wave

Enchilada’s Blog

Aurgasm

Bradley’s Almanac

Largehearted Boy

The Witness Exchange

Something I Learned

mystery and misery

Alternate Tuning

Republic of Replicants

ScissorKick

Pedacos De Nada

Fat Planet

Silence Is A Rhythm Too

10:51 AM Toronto

Bolt

The Naugahyde Life

Chromewaves

OakRoom

I continue to find great music from foreign sites, this time it’s Glitterhouse Records again from Germany. I’ve only got two minutes to post so this will be very brief. Timesbold are a ny city based group with multiple multi-instrumentalists in the group. You’ll hear banjos, guitar, harmonium, boned saw, horns and mandolin. Visit their website to learn more – Timesbold

Gin I Win



Masters Of War

ee cummings

I Hear You

Bone Song

Western Vinyl may be my new favorite label. They are very small and only have 6 artists signed to the label two of them are Faris Nourallah and Salim Nourallah of the Nourallah Brothers. See my Nourallah Brothers post below. Another is Burd Early a singer-songwriter who has been compared to M. Ward, Songs:Ohio and Damien Jurado. I would add Mark Eitzel to that list especially on Phone Call Away where he appears to be channeling him. Before stumbling upon the Nourallah Brothers and then this website I had never heard of any of these bands and while they’re not americana, alt-country or folk per se I get a sense that this stuff fits with the other music I’m highlighting. Let me know what you think.

Faris Nourallah

Man On The Moon

Problematico

Burd Early

Driftwood

Phone Call Away

Mind And Mother

Tangent

Salim Fourallah

1978

One Foot Stuck In The Past

The Sinker

Sorry With Goodbyes

The Silos are one of those great bands that have been hovering just under or just over the radar for 20 years now. Like Giant Sand, The Silos are in constant flux however the one stable element and the reason the band exists is the frontman, guitarist and songwriter Walter Salas Humara. After two incredible indie releases in About Her Steps and Cuba, The Silos were signed to RCA and in 1990 released their self-titled major label debut. The record was an upolished and dynamic masterpiece that sold poorly and was hard to market.

After being unceremoniously dropped by RCA it was back to the indie world for The Silos and they’ve since bounced around from bankrupt label to bankrupt label (Watermelon, Checkered Past and Last Call). Thier releases have been strong in the intervening years with each one having a mix of soft, contemplative ballads and loud rockers (reminiscent of Drivin’ And Cryin’). Here’s four songs from their 1994 Watermelon record Susan Across The Water including two great driving songs, one slow one and a cover of Lucinda Williams “Changed The Locks”:

Let’s Take Some Drugs And Drive Around

Wanna Ride

Susan Across The Water

Changed The locks

Is this going to catch on as a genre? Are they serious? Bedroom Walls is the name of the band. Romanticore sounds like a genre for the Smiths and Travis but these guys are from California, go figure. Their description of Romanticore includes staring blankly at the ceiling, sleeping far too much, and trying not to cry/trying to cry. Their debut cd is called I Saw You Coming Back To Me and is available on their website for a measly $10. Btw my computer crashed hard last night and all my bookmarks have vanished so if you know of any links for Americana, indie rock, power pop, folk or alt-country music please leave them in the comments and I’ll start rebuilding my list.

Do The Buildings And Cops Make You Smile

Winter, That’s All

In Anticipation Of Your Suicide

Varnaline was the band that was on everyone’s mind when they burst (or slithered) onto the scene in 1996. They were immediately classified as Alt-country but apparently Anders Parker the lead singer/writer had been in an indie rock band called Space Needle. Varnaline put out 3 records on Zero Hour before they webt bust and one on Stever Earle’s label before that went bust. So luck was not really on their side. They broke up after that last disc but Anders Parker continues to use the Varnaline name.



Allmusic gives each and every record by Varnaline 4 stars. Reviewers love them. And the main thing is this is accessible yet challenging rock. Here is a sampling of each of the 4 records that are now available re-issued by the band and available here (3 for $36 and an ep thrown in free).

Only One

Bar Dust

From Man Of Sin

The Hammer Goes Down

lbs

From Varnaline

Lights

From Sweet Life

Gulf Of Mexico

From Songs In A Northern Key

Song

I second Sixeyes recommendation to try WebNymph instead of Mp3blogs.org. I’ve got a link at the bottom of the sidebar. It’s a great site to find other blogs from movies to politics. Also I gotta thank sixeyes for linking me way back when when I was a newbie (like 3 months ago!) he’s sent a ton of traffic my way and I hope they’ve enjoyed what they’ve heard.

Chris Stamey has typically been good for a record a decade. This usually means they are pop masterpieces, it also means the songs are usually choice. Finally it makes it easier to keep up with him and not miss out on his records (you only have 3/4 since 1987). That all may be changing as this year sees Chris Stamey with two releases available (or soon to be). His new full length is called Travels In The South and is available on Yep Roc Records. It’s been hailed in Stereopnile (as the recording of the month), the New York Times and the London Times. Here then are two songs from Travels In The South as well as a bit of a career retrospective.

Insomnia

In Spanish Harlem

The Company Of Light

Something Came Over Me

Glorious Delusion

The Brakeman’s Consolation

From The Word Go

When We’re alone

27 Years In A Single Day

I Know You Will

Geometry

I don’t know Ben Weaver but he drops a lot of great names in his bio. Greg Brown sang on his first record. He also signed up Dean Magraw, Peter Ostroushko and Tony Glover. He then went on the road with Alejandro Escovedo, Greg Brown, Dave Van Ronk and Fred Eaglesmith. His second record featured Bo Ramsey and Dave Moore both artists you can find mentioned in previous post. His sound reminds me of Steve Earle and some of his songs are a little dark but all very powerfull. His newest record is self released in the U.S. and is available at Miles Of Music.

Here’s four songs from that new record Stories Under Nails

Grieve All You Want

Voice In The Wilderness

40 Watt Bulb

Ragged Words

And one from Dean Magraw

Saturn

I bought the new disc Jimson Weed by Nathan after downloading two songs from a Canadian blogger (I forget who, sorry). I really think there are lots of other music fans who are using mp3 blogs to sample music before they buy. If you like these four songs from Nathan than please buy the disc. There’s a great description of their music on the Nathan website “If David Lynch had directed ‘O Brother Where Art Tho?’ Nathan’s Music would be the soundtrack.” This is Americana that is just slighltly offkilter. Go to Miles Of Music or any other online/offline store to pick up Jimson Weed and prove the RIAA wrong.

Sunset Chaser

I Left My Station

Jimson Weed

Big Galoot

First a couple of songs from John Fahey’s Revenant Records Charlie Patton 6cd box set. This came out in 2001 and received three Grammy Awards. Charlie Patton is recognized as one of the first and most influential bluesmen. This compilation confirms that fact. Here’s two from the Revenant website.

Charlie Patton

A Spoonful Blues

Cold Woman Blues

And as a bonus here’s a non album track from B3 organist Dr. Lonnie Smith from the Palmetto Website.

Dr. Lonnie Smith

Woozy

PS Leave a quick comment on the music or the blog and I can send you a gmail invite. I have six.

My Friday night out at Double Door to see the Legendary Shack*Shakers was a bust. Couldn’t get in at the door but maybe it was my fault or just poor commincation with my contact at the band. I’ll have to catch them next time. Anywho it worked out great because I strolled down to Reckless Records

There I bought 11 cds for $11.82. At least 5 of them are keepers including Alice Peacock, Cowboy Mouth, Professor and Maryann, and Nourallah Brothers but the immediate standout is Ox.

I’d never heard of Ox but apparently they went to #1 on the Canadian college charts in 2003. I forked out my $.99 because it looked cool and the instrumentation was up my alley (organ, dobro, violin and guitar of course). These guys are from Vancouver and as some other piece of press comments on their website it seems Canadians are doing Americana better then the Americans (case in point is Nathan). Here’s something else from their website…”studio weary fragments, fragile masterpieces, sonic accidents… ‘americana’ at it’s low-fi best.” Their website is great check it out if you have time. I’m linking one song from their website and the rest are coming from me but if you like it, buy it!

Transam

La City

Stolen Car

North Country Girl

I’m goin’ to have to do an all Canadian week soon if this keeps up. I’m ready with Nathan, Ox and Harte Rouge. Any other suggestions from our friends up North?

Just a quick note to tell you about tonight’s show at Double Door in Chicago. It’s going to be a wild time with two well matched bands. The Saps open up. Chicago band The Saps describe themselves on their website as “country punk fucking rock music”. From what I’ve heard thats an apt description. Meanwhile it would seem that the Legendary Shack*Shakers follow the same coda. Apparently they have one of the best live shows known to man mixing music with wild antics. Colonol JD Wilkes is the lead singer/preacher in the band and he has been voted best front man by the Nashville Scene. I’ll be at the show and I’m looking forward to whatever corn liquor fueled antics these two bands will come up with.

Here’s two from the Saps:

Banned For Life

Don Henley Is A Fucking Joke

Here’s one from the ne Legendary Shack*Shakers:

Agony Wagon

I’ll do a full review with more songs tomorrow. See you at the show.

with free downloads. Glitterhouse Records is a German label which distributes American Music. They have an affinity for rootsy rock and Americana. One song they’ve posted is Poor GW by The Creekdippers and may be the perfect post the day after another poor showing at the debate. They also have songs from Cary Hudson, Sixteen Horsepower, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Al Phoenix and Chris Eckman.

The Creekdippers w/Mark Olson and Victoria Williams

Poor G. W.

Cary Hudson (from Blue Mountain)

Things Aren’t What They Used To Be

Sixteen Horsepower

American Wheeze

Chris Eckman (from the Walkabouts)

Healing Waters Of The Flood

Al Phoenix

Call Me In Piccard

Willard Grant Conspiracy

Sticky

I found the French label resposible for bringing Richard Buckner, Jesse Sykes, the underrated and unknown Neal Casal, Shearwater, Ben Weaver and Great Lakes Swimmer to the heathens and communists in Europe (ironic that a French label is introducing me to such great music) . I could write paragraphs on each one of these artists and I reserve the right to do so with Neal Casal, Ben Weaver and Shearwater at a later date but for now here are the songs. Checck out all the bands various homepages or Miles Of Music to buy any of these.

Richard Buckner

A Chance Counsel

Jesse Sykes

The Dreaming Dead

Neal Casal

St. Cloud

Ben Weaver

Sway With Me

Shearwater

A Makeover

If You Stay Sober

Little Locket

Great Lakes Swimmers

Merge, Vessel and Harbour

Dumptruck was one of the great bands from the 80′s but also one of the most cursed. This Boston band released three outstanding records and at the end of the day were sued by their label for the return of advances and wouldn’t allow them to sign with another label or to even tour under the band name. Dumptruck was successful in mingling the sounds of early alt-country with jangly pop. Their peak may have come with the release of for the country in 1987. Apparently Ryko has reissued these albums and added bonus tracks and rarities. Positively Dumptruck is the name of their second release and I’ve added songs from that as well. This is the last of the posts based on the ad below for TT and the Bear in Boston some week in the late 80′s, what a week sometimes it’d be nice if we could go back intime and experience some of what is lost.

From for the country

Island

Carefree

Going Nowhere

For The Country

From Positively Dumptruck

Back Where I Belong

Secrets

Seven Steps Up

Change