"Half Acre" ~ Hem

My friend Doug introduced me to this band during a recent LEGO building session (LEGO is cool, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  We were working on this Great Wall of China display for the Cranberry Library.)  Sorry, that's a bit of a non sequitur, but it's a true story.

Anyway, the band plays an incredible Americana style of music, of which this song is the archetype.  Simple, yet poignant, lyrics sung by a fantastic vocalist over beautiful instrumentation evocative of the heartland come together for a tune that will keep you hitting repeat.  The band admits to being influenced by Aaron Copland, and if you're familiar with his work you'll hear the similarities... hmm, I should post some Copland sometime... at any rate, have a listen:

If you like this track, you can find a different song on the band's website, available for free download (yeah, sorry, bait and switch... that song is also good but I felt like posting this one.)

"A man is walking on the highway

A woman stares out at the sea

And light is only now just breaking..."

Don't Wanna Die Anymore ~ Ivan & Alyosha

My buddy Jake passed on a tip to check this band.  They're from Seattle and are pretty rad.  This song is on the chill side of their spectrum... they get a bit louder - not Slayer loud, but louder than this.  But today this one feels like the one to post.

Here are a couple takeaway-style performances:

Oh by the way, check their website for a free download of the track!

"Well, I don't want to die anymore

Don't want the Lord to call me home

I've got this feeling he ain't done with me yet

So, I'll sit right right here and place my bet"

"Elias" ~ Dispatch

Given my recent track record, and in the interest of more music and less of my ramblings, I'm going to try and post at least every other day, even if it means limited to no commentary.  As such, here's a track off of Dispatch's first release, "Silent Steeples".  The song has powerful roots, which you can learn about in the video below; if it interests you, you can also check out the band's charity, The Elias Fund, which was started to help a man in Zimbabwe provide education for his sons.

"Distance is short when your hand carries what your eye found..."

"All Sense Of Time" ~ David Wax Museum

David Wax Museum are coming back to Pittsburgh to play Club Cafe on Feb 2., a show for which I'm pretty excited.  This might be my favorite track from last year's release, "Knock Knock Get Up"... but it's a fantastic album, so that's a tough call.

I love that David sings most of the song in the low end of his register.  It's a dynamic you don't hear often, and it sets the track apart while drawing focus to the lyrics.

There isn't a lot of web presence for the song, but you can listen through the band's site, and/or check out this concert recording from last fall:

I find the lyrics to be quite powerful, so here they are in their entirety, taken straight from the band's website:

"How beautiful when it rains

You can hear the nighttime sing

It’s eight and then it’s nine o’clock

But I’m still somewhere in between 

Remember half the world

Sets out while half returns

It’s eight and then it’s nine o’clock

The sun has set but still it burns 

Look and see how everything

Dissolves and becomes one

It’s eight and then it’s nine o’clock

The whole night moves in unison 

May we lose all sense of time

May we be patient as a stone

All the time we’re given

Is given to us on loan"

5-23-12 - "Yes, Maria, Yes" ~ David Wax Museum

You guys.  David Wax Museum are back in Pittsburgh tomorrow night for a show at Club Cafe.  Yes, the Boston-based band with the donkey jawbone will be playing at everyone's favorite PGH venue.  Here's a track which epitomizes their Mexo-Americana stylings with an English-language version of a traditional Mexican folk song:

Be sure to check this track and others in their Daytrotter session.  Be sure to check some other sweet performances which are floating around the interwebs, like this NPR Tiny Desk Concert which opens with this tune:

And most of all, be sure to be at Club Cafe tomorrow night at 8 (7 Central).


"...your careless heart invites me in, just to see me go..."

5-2-12 - "The Affair" ~ Be Honest, Ruth Bryan!

I stumbled upon Be Honest, Ruth Bryan! through The Ballard Sessions, which are Seattle's version of Pittsburgh blog Draw Us Lines' Echo Chambers.  The trio of ladies from the Northwest bring some haunting harmonies and exquisite instrumentation, and in a bipartisan spirit, let a couple of dudes play along as well.


Citing influences like Fleet Foxes, Sufjan Stevens, The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Death Cab, Hans Zimmer, and Itzhak Perlman lends credence to my notion that this group of musicians is legit.  If you're into those sorts of things, you just might also like this band.


This track is pretty self-explanatory, but I'll give you a few brief thoughts nonetheless.  The point of view makes for quite the intriguing take on the story.  Dads don't like it when married men fool around with their daughters.  Heck, dads don't like it when any men fool around with their daughters.  And arpeggios in minor keys are a double-edged sword, but when done well, they can really hit the spot:


(Ballard Session)

(recording via Bandcamp)

"In the mornings it's quiet,

I guess even the dead need sleep..."

"And we, oh, we are not free

We are the ties we make...

(...we are the ties we break...)"

2-24-12 - "Song For You" ~ Jenny & Tyler

Here's one my little brother got me hooked on.  This duo met in college, started playing music together, fell in love, got married, and are living the dream of every hopeless romantic hipster musician.


The song starts out minimally, but builds and builds into a beautifully orchestrated arrangement with rich harmonies and deeply sincere lyrics.  There's not a lot of digging to be done to interpret this track, so just bask in the glow of the love expressed and the joy of the tune, and the sweet music video filmed in Seattle + Silverdale, WA:

Some good live performance videos out there, too.  Here are two good ones:

Also, they have a ton of freebies on their website, for the price of an e-mail address.  Ten songs (okay, two are duplicated, so eight songs) just like that; two more if you go to briterevolution (just now found this site; seems cool) and sign up.  Download and give it a listen, but if you like it, be sure to go back and support the artist financially (always the best policy for facilitating that good music continues to be made!)


(Aside: can I just say that I very much appreciate artists who post lyrics on their own sites?  songmeanings.net is great, but people mishear things a lot even on a site like that.  I just like to know that what I'm hearing is what they're saying, ya know?)


EDIT 2-26-12: oh look, MORE free tunes!  This time on noisetrade.com.

"Hear my song for you

I will not hold my tongue…"

2-16-12 - "Little Talks" ~ Of Monsters And Men

Heard this tune on WYEP en route out of Pittsburgh to WV for work this morning.  It's quite good; has a little bit of an Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros vibe (specifically the song "Home", with the female/male vocal tradeoff, and the female leads have some similar qualities...), and some solid lyrics.

The six-member outfit blends accordion and trumpet with acoustic guitars and keys, for a sound that's not quite unique (there's nothing new under the sun, after all) but quite enjoyable, and distinctive from the majority of stuff that's out there these days.

Oh yeah, and they're Icelandic... how about that?

Here's a live performance captured by Seattle's KEXP radio:

And  here's the recorded version (vevo link):

 "Little Talks" ~ Of Monsters And Men 

"There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back..."

"Well, tell her that I miss our little talks..."

2-5-12 - "Serpents" ~ Sharon Van Etten

This one has caught my ear on 91.3 WYEP a few times lately.  For some reason, it reminds me of Florence + The Machine, but that may just be me.  The song is a driving folk rock tune about snakes, and who doesn't love that?


But seriously, the serpents are a metaphor for the poisonous thoughts left over from a traumatic relationship.  Van Etten's lyrics are a maelstrom of resentment and conciliatory efforts as she tries to come to grips with these emotions.  The harmonies dance a tightrope on the edge of catastrophe, evoking the mental turmoil and dragging the listener along for the ride.

"you hold the mirror well 

to everybody else..."

1-31-12 - "Wait So Long" ~ Trampled By Turtles

Quickie post tonight; here's one I am digging lately thanks to my buddy Adam, who apparently discovered these guys on a recent road trip to Minnesota.  The band name is sweet, as is their musical talent.  I think the tempo of this song can only be described as "blistering"...

"And your heart rolls on, like a frozen freight train

you know that I'll  help you if I can

but I'm just a raindrop in a river

just a little itty bitty grain of sand..."

1-27-12 - "January Wedding" ~ The Avett Brothers

With a few performances on TV lately and word that their new album is fast approaching, I've been getting excited about The Avett Brothers again lately.  I've waxed eloquent on several previous occasions about the boys, and even posted a song with a month in the title before.  So I'll spare you the rehash of all that, and present you with this sweet, simple love song:


(live)

(album)

"And I was sick with heartache

And she was sick like Audrey Hepburn when I met her...

…no longer does it matter what circumstances we were born in

She knows which birds are singin' 

And the names of the trees where they're performin' in the mornin'…"

1-15-12 - "Ice Age" ~ Big Snow Big Thaw

So like I said late (really late) Friday night, both artists at the early show at Club Cafe were pretty okay.  Pittsburgh band Big Snow Big Thaw set the stage for troubadour Jeffrey Foucault (see how I used a French-type word to describe a guy with a French last name?!?!), and this was their closing tune.


I really enjoy the dissonance and resolution, maybe it's just me.  But the lyrics are pretty intriguing, and maybe you'll enjoy pondering them even if you're not quite as enthralled by the unusual chord structure as I.


Here's a concert video I filmed at Friday's show:

And here's another one that someone got at Thunderbird early last year - the track isn't part of their Winter/Spring dual EP, but hopefully it'll be on the new album (due for release quite soon, rumor has it...)

"how the hell'd I get here,

hangin' in the lurch?

can't reckon if I done myself

or you done done me worse..."

PS - check out another sweet song from Friday's show on my YouTube channel - new one "Homestead Grays".  Might make it a post of its own someday...

12-31-11 - "Snake Hill" ~ Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

If you thought Conor Oberst was the only lyrical master in this group, prepare to think again.  This track was written and sung by fellow MVB guitarist Taylor Hollingsworth, and it's a doozy.  Feels like a good one to close out the year, too, for some reason.


It's easy to imagine that the song is about self-destructive tendencies in general, but also quite plausible that the "poison" is the passion of love when it goes awry.  I think there's more than that on Hollingsworth's mind here, though.  The lines about being born with the poison in his body sound to me like the realization that all mankind has some evil inside, even the best of us.  No matter how hard we try, we hurt the ones we love and those around us time and again.  The challenge of each of our lives is to minimize the occasions where we harm those we care about, and maximize our efforts to heal the wounds we create.


But hey, it's open to interpretation, as are all songs.  I definitely empathize with the emotions in this one, and that's why I wanted to share the song with you all.  I hope you enjoy it, and have enjoyed experiencing a wide variety of great music over the past year.  See you in 2012!

(shout out to Jake for hooking me up with this album, and for coining the nickname "Snake Hill" for our residence after having numerous close encounters of the slithering kind whilst mowing the lawn last year...)


"And it was only self defense

but I coiled up and I bit

I let my venom run into her veins..."

12-27-11 - "Fixin' To Die" ~ G Love

I've been remiss for the bulk of this year in not posting this song.  I first heard it around this time last year, and was spinning it frequently throughout last winter, but apparently never whilst I was pondering which song to select for the day's blog post.  So here you go.

G Love teamed with The Avett Brothers (acting as producers, among other things) on his latest album, and since TAB are pretty swell in my opinion, odds were good that I'd like the collaborative effort as well.  This track is old-fashioned foot-stompin' bluegrassy rock, crying out to the good Lord as he ponders his final days and the fate of his poor children if'n he passes...

(Scott and Seth appear courtesy of their being awesome...)

"Well, I don't mind dyin',
but I hate to leave my children cryin'.."

_____________________________

PS - poke around on philadelphonic.com for some free stuff, if you so desire...

12-18-11 - "Whiskey In My Whiskey" ~ The Felice Brothers

A few of my friends (you know who you are) got this song in my head tonight the old fashioned way - by singing it.  The Felice Brothers don't match up to The Avett Brothers (in my humble opinion), but they still put on a rip-roarin' show with some boot-stompin' tunes such as this one.  It's just a little ditty about the inherent evils of cheating on your significant other whilst he is familiarizing himself with the inherent evils of mixing alcohol and guns...

"I put some whiskey into my whiskey

I put some heartbreak into my heart

I make my way across that ole dance floor

And put three rounds Lord, in my Eleanor..."

12-16-11 - "Coal War" ~ Joshua James

Presented with limited commentary:


Old-timey, folksy music is trendy in indie circles lately, but that doesn't mean it isn't great music (well, some of it).  I postulate that this is an example of the good kind of trendy old-timey folksy music.

Download the track for the price of an e-mail address on Joshua James' website! (and at least one more freebie if you click through to the site and poke around)

"I ain't cutting' my hair 'til the good Lord comes…"

12-03-11 - "November Blue" ~ The Avett Brothers

So I intended to be all clever and post this song in November, but I plumb forgot.  Lucky for you, it also mentions December, so I can still use it and feel somewhat clever.  But even if it were May, the song is amazing.

It's from the early days of The Avett Brothers, so it's much more raw than the more polished recordings of the "Emotionalism" and "I and Love and You" albums.  The emotions are just as raw and powerful.  The intensity of the feelings expressed will pull you right into the moment.  Pretty much all of us can relate on some level - whether it be a fleeting crush who doesn't reciprocate, or an extended relationship derailed when one lover moves away.

Here's the Crackerfarm backstage recording of Scotty A. singing the tune, from Kent, OH in 2008 (my bro and some good buddies were at the show, but I missed it).  By the way, Crackerfarm has dozens of similar (and similarly awesome) videos of the Bros. Avett singing stripped down versions of their catalogue - check them all out!

And here's an intimate performance from a stage in a high school in Manhattan - being at a show where they bust out a song like this is just a transcendental experience:

"if I had money, would it all look good

and if I had a job now, like a good man should

if I came to you tomorrow, and said let's run away

Would you roll like the wind does, baby would you stay?"

11-30-11 - "Santa Fe" ~ Beirut

Beirut is an interesting band.  I haven't yet fully explored their catalog, but what I've heard, I've enjoyed.  However, I say "interesting" because it's not necessarily the kind of stuff that grabs you at the first measure and doesn't let you go, and it's not necessarily easy to grasp the depth of the songs without giving it some time to digest.  Don't get me wrong, this isn't some totally obscure and inaccessible music, it's definitely pleasing to the ears; but neither this track nor Elephant Gun (nor several others) are simple and straightforward lyrically, and it may take a few listens to really get into the music (but it's worth it!)  So you either have to be in the mood to get into some thought, or just enjoy the music and not worry about the meaning.


This one seems to have to do with more than just the actual town of Santa Fe (although singer/songwriter Zach Condon hails from the town).  I kind of concur with some of the folks on songmeanings.net, who think it may be a dual meaning - being called home both physically and spiritually.  "Santa Fe" means "holy faith" in Spanish, and I can definitely see the parallels in the lyrics.


The town is overlooked by the Cross of the Martyrs, which may be the cross referenced in the song... or not.  Pretty sweet looking though, no?

(photo borrowed from grumpygrimble on Panoramio)

Then you have the music video, which has some dark moments but conveys a message through them.  It doesn't necessarily directly parallel the song's lyrics, but then again, maybe it does...

And just because I can, here's a live performance too:

"On the cross, Santa Fe

and all I want

sign me up, Santa Fe

and call your son…"

11-29-11 - "Hope You Know" ~ Megafaun

So apparently these dudes used to play music with Justin Vernon (a.k.a. Bon Iver).  So that basically makes them awesome.  Wikipedia classifies Megafaun as "psych-folk", which only adds to the potential for awesomeness.  Can I build them up any more before you listen to the track?


Hyperbole aside, this is just a chill track with simple piano over a restrained drum and bass foundation, washed over by a gently blended harmonic wave.

"close your eyes
and kiss goodbye..."

11-24-11 - "Wagon Wheel" ~ Old Crow Medicine Show

Holiday Quickie.  Here's a track that was cobbled together from the strains of a chorus composed by Bob Dylan.  Nostalgic and regretful, but with a hopeful attitude toward the future, the protagonist seeks redemption and rebirth as his journey to his hometown acts as a metaphor for his turning from evil, self-sabotaging ways and returning to his roots...

"North country winters keep a'gettin me

lost my money playin' poker so I had to up and leave

but I ain't goin' back to livin' that old life no more..."

"...and if I die in Raleigh, at least I will die free..."