I generally like to have lots of kettles in the fire. I like to have new and exclusive songs arriving in my inbox at least on a weekly, if not daily, basis. But the summer doldrums have set in, as well as the fact that there are now so many music bloggers plying their trade. So I was happy to finally have the new song from the Ditty Bops arrive this morning. You may have heard of the Ditty Bops because of their numerous times on Grey’s Anatomy, or for the press their bike tours received, or for their support of same sex unions (they were married in 2008). But all that is a distraction from their music. Playful, old timey, swinging, circus cabaret would be an apt description.

The new song “Lemon Tree” is from an 8 track cd called The Color Album (previously on Warner the girls now are self released). You can buy the new album here. Here
s what Abby and Amanda have to say about the new record:

“Songs inspired by the colors of the rainbow, plus bonus color PINK. With everything from soothing lullabies to upbeat zesty tunes, this new colorful folk album is great for kids and grown ups. Each recycled paper CD jacket is hand-painted by The Ditty Bops,
so every cover is unique!”

Lemon Tree

Wishful Thinking video (Warner Records days)

On Accidental Experimental the new album from Inara George (The Bird and The Bee) Inara revisits some of the songs from her last record (w/Van Dyke Parks). The mix of Inara’s near perfect voice with mildly odd and experimental instrumentation is a great update on the sound of Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, Aimee Mann, et al.

Here’s her song “Accidental” from Accidental Experimental. More On This Album

Accidental

Willy Porter is a mid-west boy through and through. He’s quite successful in the Chicago market as well as surrounding markets like Milwaukee, Madison, Ann Arbor etc. His Midwestern values shine through on the title track of his new record called “How To Rob A Bank”. It’s a bitter look at the way large corporations have plundered the nation.

Instead of barging down the door and heading straight for the vault the robber in “Bank” joins the bank’s board, hangs out in country clubs “farting in velvet couches”, and begins his corporate raiding. The song is an indictment of the robber barons of Wall Street, the politicians in Washington and the people supposedly in charge of minding the proverbial store. It’s all put together in a song that musically reminds me of Loudon Wainwright or Todd Snider.

The new record was released today and is available here.

How To Rob A Bank

P.S. There’s a much longer live-in-the-studio version in the midst of a podcast interview with Willy Porter via Dylan Bolin – highly recommended)

this podcast

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.

Oh! Pandora

Bonus rare mp3′s

Moon June
Heavenly Pop Hit (Chills cover)
So Heavenly

Hey all,

How’s your week going? Mine’s OK. Thanks for asking.

I just heard about a new record from Matt Keating. It’s a double cd called Quixotic. Matt made a name for himself in the early 90′s with albums that resembled the crunchy power pop of Mathew Sweet. He’s mellowed over the years (haven’t we all?).

I can’t claim to give you a full assessment of the new record, but if you were a fan of power pop back then but now like your music at a slightly less frenetic pace than you should look into Quixotic from Matt Keating.

St Cloud

Bonus track:

Who Knew

———–

On a completely unrelated note, there’s a new record by The Waybacks out now on Compass Records. The song “Good Enough” is a good example of their easy rockin’ acoustic country sound. You can buy the new record, Loaded, here.

Good Enough

That’s it for today.

Cheers,
Craig

Why is it that one family can produce multiple talents (be it writers, actors, or musicians) and others (mine in particular) don’t produce any. Is their a type of child rearing that can stimulate those little minds or is it all in the genes? Is a stable home life better or does chaos somehow create little musical prodigies?

Mathew Barber got me thinking these thoughts today. He’s the brother of Canadian chanteuse Jill Barber and now has a new record out called Ghost Notes on the Canadian label Outside Music.

“Easily Bruised” stands out due to the effortless and confident delivery of Mathew’s vocals and the simple, catchy chorus. You can buy Ghost Notes here.

Easily Bruised (the Canadian blog Chromewaves has a demo of this song here)

The debut record by Greg Koons has been produced by Matt Keating. It doesn’t arrive until the fall but I’ve been a big fan of Matt’s (here) so immediately gave this youngster the benefit of the doubt based on just this one song. “Los Angeles Looks Prettier On TV” has that rare element of a catchy chorus combined with plenty of expository details.

Greg Koons’ SXSW showcase is Thursday, March 13 at Stephen F’s Bar.

La Looks Prettier On TV

————–

Selfishly I wanted to be one of the first to post about Sera Cahoone’s Sub Pop debut but Largehearted Boy has beat me to it. Largehearted Boy has the new song from Sera Cahoone.

Only As The Day Is Long

I was so enamored by the first song I heard off of The Brendan Hines new record that it’s no surprise that the whole thing is right up my alley. “Miss New York” was the clever song that stuck out at first (here). As an avowed East Coaster stuck in the Midwest I can relate to the nostalgia that one feels for a hometown.

The new record from The Brendan Hines is called Good For You Know Who. The songs on the record deal with subjects as diverse as drinking yourself to death, suicide, more death and drinking, and selfish behavior of all sorts. Sounds a bit dreary, I know, but musically the songs are fairly jaunty filled with horns, toy instruments, piano and guitar and they mostly come with a pretty big slab of sarcasm on the side. You can order this now via Cd Baby here.

Hard To Kill

Older songs:

Sh Boop
RE: Loving You

For instance, Tift Merritt’s new record is due out tomorrow, and since I wrote it here, a video has been released for the song “Broken”. And really where else are you going to be able to see that than on Songs:Illinois.

“Broken”

Kathleen Edwards‘ new record is out March 4. I’m really liking it, but that’s probably an understatement since I think Kathleen Edwards is in the top echelon of female singer songwriters.

Asking For Flowers is on Rounder Records. They typically put the kebosh on mp3 blogs, so as of yet no one has made any tracks available from it. However they (label, management, artist) have put together a great video EPK with interviews, song clips and behind the scenes video of the recording session. Check it out below, should give you a good taste of the record.

(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.

We’ll Get By