If Boo Hewerdine is known nowadays it’s for being the former lead singer of the English band The Bible. But for me I’ll always associate him (even though I loved some of the stuff The Bible put out) with one record he did with Darden Smith in 1989 called Evidence. It was a strange collaboration since Boo was known for gorgeous indie rock and Darden for southwestern rootsy folk. But they pulled it off and in fact it was those contrasting approaches to music that did it.
Boo Hewerdine’s first record in almost a decade is out Oct 26. It’s called God Bless The Pretty Things. As you can hear from the song “Muddy Water” Boo has one of the most beautiful male voices in music. Buy it here.
I may not be the most rabid dB’s fan on the internet. Nor the most knowledgable. But goddamn it I’m first to the party and that should count for something. Man I loved their power pop meets punk meets jangly southern rock sound.
Here’s the title track plus an unreleased b-side from the upcoming Bar/None project from Stamey and Holsapple. The new record is called Here and Now and comes out on Bar/None June 9.
June 8, 2009 Arlington, VA Iota
June 9, 2009 New York, NY City Winery
June 27, 2009 Carrboro, NC Cat’S Cradle
July 4, 2009 Durham, NC Enofest
July 10, 2009 Asheville, NC Grey Eagle
July 11, 2009 Nashville, TN The Basement
July 29, 2009 Durham, NC Duke Gardens
Jill Sobule’s all grown up. She’s given up on the label system and like several of the artists this week is releasing a fan funded record on her own label. I’ve never been a big fan of Jill Sobule (I liked her “hits” as much as the next guy though) but since Songs:Illinois’ mission statement is to support artists that are independent and doing it mostly themselves I can’t help but do a post on this new record.
California Years comes out April 14 on Jill’s own label. The song “San Francisco” continues to explore the lesbian characters and relationships Jill Sobule has spotlighted her entire career. While “Good Life” is a quirky little tale of love populated with aliens, earthquakes, and total armageddon. The record was produced by Don Was. So even though it’s diy its still got great sound.
P.S. Jill Sobule temporarily replaced “Honky Tonk Friday” so if you need your fill check out the songs posted by Aquarium Drunkard from the new compilation God Less America.
Anyone my age who had a broad interest in music probably has a Michelle Shocked story. Whether it was seeing her live or simply being struck by those darned crickets in her debut release. She was surprisingly successful for a few years back in the late 80’s. I only say surprisingly because her music was so great but also so rural that her success was a complete anomaly.
Over the last decade or so she has been an outsider, experimenting with various genre’s and sounds (most recently reggae and gospel). While her new record, Soul Of My Soul, doesn’t return her completely to her roots, it is more accessible than recent works and probably more palatable to her early fans. The song “Pompeii” takes jabs at the US way of life with it’s failed democracy and corporate hegemony but it does so with a tropical beat, soothing backup singers, and her new “soul” sound.
John Wesley Harding has such a distinctive voice, singing cadence, and style that it’s hard to label him folk, rock, or pop. His music is consistent from one record to the next. What sets each record apart are the songs and the production. The new record is called Who was Changed and Who was Dead and features guests like the Minus 5, Kelly Hogan and Peter Buck. And as far as I can tell from the one song below we’re in for a treat on line with a new record from Nick Lowe or Elvis Costello.
“Oh! Pandora” is a clever take on the Pandora’s Box story. It’s a song that screams positivity in this era of gloom. It’s a a song that declares the glass half full. Musically it’s upbeat with a glorious horn section and soaring vocals. Who was Changed and Who was Dead will be in stores on March 31 but there are a bunch of special order packages you can order through JWH’s website here.
This is not going to be an in depth post on the personal/band history of Gordon Gano. Enough’s been written from that vantage point and I can’t add anything new. I will say though, that if you’re too young to have experienced The Violent Femmes in person than you owe it to yourself to go through their entire catalog.
You’ll be rewarded with nuggets of pure punk rock energy, world music eclecticism, lyricism that is quite unmatched, and musicianship that you simply don’t find with this new batch of fly-by-night blog darlings. Then if you still want more, search down Gordan Gano’s one-off Gospel project called The Mercy Seat (here) and his single solo record. Once you’re done with all that you’ll understand why many wait with baited breath for something new from Gordan Gano.
Well, now we’ve got it in a project called Gordon Gano and the Ryan Brothers. The band is said to have recorded twenty two songs although no release date has been set. They’ve been playing NYC clubs for a bit, but now are scheduled to bring their show on the road with a set at this year’s SXSW. This song, “Wave And Water”, features Gordan’s trademark snarl, as well as a funk driven rhythm section, and a chorus of gospel inspired background vocalists. Lyrically it deals with some of the same themes of death and religion from Hallowed Ground and his gospel project The Mercy Seat.
Scott Kempner of Dictators and Del-Lords fame has a new record coming out soon on … I’ve got mixed feelings about the record as a whole but it’s nice to hear his voice again and it’s especially nice to hear it singing a song from the perenially under rated singer-songwriter Tommy Womack.
The new record is called Saving Grace and as I said I’m still listening and forming an opinion but Tommy Womack’s “I’ll Give you Needles” as sung by Scott Kempner is a real gem. Saving Grace is due soon from 02:59 Records.
PS I just enabled video commenting on Songs:Illinois. And while I’m a little worried about seeing all yer scruffy faces, I would like to hear your comments on this development and/or anything loosely related to roots music.
The Old 97’s long awaited record Blame It On The Gravity will suck the oxygen from every other Americana release over the next month or so. Which is a shame because from the songs I’ve heard from Old 97’s bassist Murry Hammond’s new record I Don’t Know Where I’m Going But I’m On My Way deserve to be heard. Murry Hammond is the bassist in Old 97’s but he’s also connected to the new folk movement though his marriage to Grey Delisle.
The track “Lost At Sea” has a Paul Simon circa The Graduate feel. While “I Believe, I Believe” is more of an old country gospel song along the lines of something you might hear on Johnny Cash’s Hymns record. The new disc was recorded in analog which makes the slight reverb and uncompressed layering of instruments a wondeful byproduct of this technique. These songs were written during a period of time when Murry lost his parents, got married, had a child and was a leader at the Burbank Christian Church. So thematically the songs are a bit heavy, but musically they’re rather refined and quietly somber.
Rhett Miller will surely have that last laugh with the new Old 97’s record, but Murry may have made the better record. Ain’t that always the way of things.
This may be my second, even third, YouTube Saturday with Boston bands. But, hey, who’s counting?! This time it’s mostly bands from the 80’s and early 90’s and features a historical perspective with video of a Del Fuegos Miller beer commercial and a trailer from a documentary about local video channel V66.
“Thayer Street” Dogmatics
“Stuck In My Car” The Detours
“My Baby’s, She’s Alright” Scruffy The Cat
“Monday Morning” The Neighborhoods
“Tear My Soul” The Neats
“The Girl With The Curious Hand” Digny Fignus
“Bloom” Gigolo Aunts
Trailer for upcoming documentary on V66 – Boston’s video channel
(CONTEST UPDATE: It’s over. Thanks to all who entered. The winners were two Gary fans from England and France – go figure!)
I was fortunate to be able to provide an exclusive song off the new Gary Louris record a couple months back (how very Stereogum of me, right!?). Now fortune has smiled upon me once again with the chance to share an exclusive cut from the acoustic EP that is only available at independent record stores across the country. The songs on the EP are acoustic tracks of those on the new record. And if you’re like me and like your music stripped to the bones this is a record you’ll want to get.
I’ve got 2 copies of the EP to give away to the 22nd and 23rd person to email me at cbonnell@gmail.com. One email per person please.
The new record, Vagabonds, comes out Feb. 19 but is available now thru LALA.com. The deal is you order now for $10.99 and they’ll ship you the CD on release date, but in the interim they give you the digital, iPod-ready, version. It’s a pretty great deal and is available now at Gary’s MySpace page here.
Here’s the acoustic version of “We’ll Get By” from the new EP.
There’s going to be some talk about American Music Club over the coming weeks since their new record on Merge is coming out soon. The new stuff only exists because of the impressive back catalog the band has created. I don’t know who coined the term emo or for which band, but if you saw an AMC show in the late 80’s you’d think that Mark Eitzel was the terms namesake.
I haven’t kept up with the band’s recent recordings or Mark Eiztel’s solo records (although I have those somewhere around here), but I will continually to return to the band’s early catalog if I want to experience this band at its greatest. Here’s something from the new album, Golden Age, plus some great videos from the band’s heyday.
OK, I’m not really in the mood to do the whole bio recanting, name-dropping and discography overhaul that is your typical mp3 blog post. You either know Steve Poltz or you don’t. You either like clever lyrics or you don’t. You either…you get my point.
Steve Poltz has just self-released his new record – Traveling. The song “Hater’s Union” is a self-loathing, auto-biographical piece about Steve’s past with his old band The Rugburns. I don’t think one listen to this slightly (oh alright, down-right depressing) song will be the catalyst to get you to buy this record, but if you’re a fan (and you know who you are) you’ll be picking this one up here ASAP.
Sid Griffin, he of the 80’s country-punk group The Long Ryders, keeps pretty busy with all his musical projects, but it’s his latest group’s release, Turn the Water On, Boy!, by The Coal Porters that should get him the most attention since the late 80’s. The Coal Porters is the group that Sid formed in England with fellow Long Ryder alumns and Chris Hillman from The Byrds on mandolin. They are a pretty traditional sounding bluegrass group, but with both his and Chris Hillman’s musical history they have been attracting a diverse following. The band is pretty content to stay in the UK where they have a bunch of spring dates up on their site, but it sure would be a treat to get them to the states.
Below is a Sid Griffin original about Woody Gutherie that’s kinda cool and a cover of the Gene Clark classic “Silver Raven”. You can also hear what their live show sounds like below and don’t miss the wacky bluegrass cover of “My Generation”.
You can buy the digital release here through Amazon.
Final Wild Sun (The Coal Porters covering The Long Ryders) My Generation (yes, this is a bluegrass version of The Who’s classic) Just Like Tom Thumb Blues (The Long Ryders live from their reunion tour with opening act Greg Trooper handling the vocals)
I did a YouTube Saturday post a couple months back that focused on one venue instead of any particular band. At that time I featured Schubas in Chicago, the club I truly believe is the best in the Midwest.
Now it’s off to the East coast and the club I feel may be one of the best period – Maxwells in Hoboken. Like all the great venues it’s small and long. The sound tunnels down the tube-like building creating excellent sightlines and in the case of the Nirvana show from `89 and aural assault like none other.
I rarely regurgitate press releases I receive in the mail. The bulk of them I delete without opening, the rest I check out of curiosity and reject. But it’s a rare instance when the stars align for a songwriter that I’ve written about, love and respect. In this case Chuck Prophet has all cylinders working in overdrive as his new record is getting radio play, a song is featured in the new Katherine Hagel vehicle 27 Dresses and a recent appearance on David Letterman.
For 27 Dresses the producers have chosen the song “Freckles” which I wrote about and linked to here (and sort of here as well) a few months back. The movie may be a bit of a stinker but I just ready that Hagel almost saves it with a radiant performance (she was great in Knocked Up, no?).
Anyway I’m going to link to the newish video for “Freckles” and the mp3 of what must be the next single “All Over you (Doubter Out Of Jesus)”. “All Over You” continues the Chuck Prophet tradition of somehow combining euroglam rock with soulful textured singer/songwriter fare. Also, below is the video of last weeks performance of the same song on Letterman.
I’m always worried that Asaurus Records is on the cusp of throwing in the towel. Sometimes months go by when they don’t update their website and I start to worry. But they did just update and improve their site, so hopefully we’ve got them for another year at least. In fact, in February there’ll be a new record out that is a lo-fi compilation of covers of Depeche Mode tracks. Grumpy Bear contributes this cover of the song “World Full Of Nothing”. The previous outing from Grumpy Bear on Abandoned Love Records was much listened to in my house, so I’m happy to hear something “new” from them.
“World Full Of Nothing” is from the February release called Letting You Down Again: Lo-fi Vs. Depeche Mode. According to Asaurus it’s taken three years to put this baby together. I don’t have a track listing yet, but expect some of your favorite Asuarus bands to be represented (Colin Clary, Pants Yell, Mathlete and hopefully the Capstan Shafts). There’s a gauziness to the track below where you just want to reach your hand into the mix and pull back all the layers and get to the root of the sound. That’s done for you, thankfully, right at the very end of the song by the band itself.
Hey, completely new topic. Did all my sad little rants about the greatness that is The Felice Brothers finally pay off? Don’t know, but they have been picked up by Team Love and will release a compilation of all their best stuff on March 4. Here’s a song that will no doubt be on there. Good going, boys!
P.S. Swedesplease has an excellent collaboration between Grumpy Bear and Anna Järvinen called “Round The Bend”.
P.P.S. Hey just an administrative fyi. I just added an email subscription box to the right. Simply put your email address in the box and click enter and in the future you will receive Songs:Illinois updates directly to your email inbox.
P.P.S.S. Also the radio player on the right is working like a charm. Check it out!
Antietam is one of these strange lost bands from the 80’s that deserve a reunion, but really, whoever thought they’d get one. Others in this category include Big Dipper, The Embarrassment, Fetchin’ Bones, Buffalo Tom and Swimming Pool Q’s. The band that released it’s early work on Cosloy’s Homestead Records, now sees it’s long awaited double disc of new material put out on the iconoclastic Chicago label Carrot Top. (Read more about it’s early releases here at Vinyl Mine).
At the time that Antietam was kicking around the Atlantic coast they were one of the noisiest “art-rock” bands on the scene. Like many of the individuals from that era the band has mellowed with age. On the new record, Opus Mixtum, Tara and company get the sound of the swirling, lightly psychadelic guitars just right and the vocals, a la Mo Tucker and Joan Jett, are equally adept. Tara Key had been called one of the best guitarists of her generation and you can hear why on the distorted intro to “Time Creeps” and the lead guitar lines on “Shipshape”. Perhaps this is the record the band should have made twenty years ago?
Shit I don’t have the time to give this a proper post. But I’d like to at least go on record as saying one of the members of one of the best/most influential English groups from the last 3 decades has a new solo record out (tons of info here). That person is Max Eider. He, along with Pat Fish, were co-founders of the seminal English pop group Jazz Butcher. Jazz Butcher was notable for combining a little bit of loungy jazz with indie rock.
Max Eider’s new record is called Back In The Bedroom (possibly a reference to his now classic solo record The Best Kisser In The World). If you’ve heard that classic record you’re probably as big a fan as I am. And if you’re only just being turned on to him than I think the sound and feel of “I Want” is a great introduction. You can buy the new record here.
About 20 years ago I had a major thing for the garage rock band The Cynics. The band is still going strong and has released a new lp just recently. The band has taken 3 chord rock `n’ roll literally around the world. In their twenty years of existence The Cynics have reached cult status in Europe and Japan though relentless touring, possibly even rivaling the fame of that of infamous NJ/NY based group – The Fleshtones.
Again, as with many records reviewed here, I haven’t heard the whole thing but some are saying this record is on par with their classic release Rock `N Roll. Buy Here We Are now through the Get Hip garage superstore here.
These YouTube Saturday’s were supposed to be easy. They were meant as a cop-out, a cheap and quick way I could post on Saturday and not have to upload mp3’s, fight for a good description of the music or search out something new. But it turns out these are pretty hard. I have to walk the line between bands that are well known enough to have YouTube videos but not so well known to attract the wrong crowd to S:I.
The Silo’s are perfect then. At their peak they were a critically acclaimed band on a flawed major label. Their songs, mostly written by Walter Salas Humara, were hook laden but precise in their storytelling or scene setting. Bob Rupe added some songwriting but mainly a massive and slashing guitar sound.
The band minus Rupe continue to play live and record new songs. They’re just not the same. I hope there’s a reunion in the works. They are currently working with Bloodshot Records. Here’s two from their Bloodshot release Come On Like the Fast Lane.
Glad you found me at my new url. Songs:Illinois is committed to writing about music that is under-appreciated and unique. I've found that the music I write about shares a couple of traits. And they are: lyrical integrity, musically diverse, and written/performed by compelling characters.
Most songs found here are free and legal and have been provided by either the artist or label. If for some reason you'd like to have a song removed, please email me at cbonnell (at) gmail.com.
