I have fallen in love with today’s song…..the best new music (and the best new voice) I have heard in a long time. Let’s listen to the song and then I will share some of the back story of Ashley and Used.
I am embarrassed to say that Ashley has been around since 2006 but I have just recently become aware of her. Ashley recorded her first album, Satisfied, in 2006 but when here first two singles failed to make the top 20, the record company decided to not release it. Ashley continued to pursue a career in country music, achieving significant success as a writer. (note: Satisfied was eventually released and is now available for download on sites like Amazon) It wasn’t until March of this year that she recorded and released her second album, Like A Rose. I highly recommend that you buy it now! Here’s a video of Ashley and Vince Gill discussing the recording of Used for the Like A Rose album.
So, as Ashley indicated in the above video, Used was actually included on her first ill-fated album. In case you are interested here the original recording of the song.
An amazing voice, song writer, and a beautiful young lady. If that isn’t the complete package I don’t know what is? She is destined for bigger and greater things! Oh….one more thing. I forgot to mention that Ashley is also a member of one of the hottest country groups performing today….Pistol Annies. Be looking for a post about them very soon but in the meantime here is a video of their live performance debut.
This must be my week for milestones.
This post is my 500th…….next week I turn 60 and (as the song says) I got some dents and bruises but…….maybe (with a little luck) we can keep me and this blog going a while longer!
Over the past couple of weeks I have been spending a lot of time listening to Daughter, a British folk group fronted by Elena Tonra that has a great indie sound. I particularly have enjoyed one of their songs that I found online, Get Lucky. Let’s listen……..
Much to my surprise, I discovered that Daughter’s version of Get Lucky was a cover version of a Daft Punk song. Daft Punk doesn’t play the kind of music I normally listen to but I was intrigued enough to seek out and listen to the original version of Get Lucky. Listen and see what you think…..
After listening to Daft Punk’s version I have to say that Daughter’s version is the ultimate proof that a cover song doesn’t have to be a note for note copy to be great. Amazing job Daughter! We will definitely be talking more about you in future posts on this blog.
As always I am interested in hearing your thoughts……post a comment and let me know which version of Get Lucky you like best.
Last week Eric found his way to this blog and left a comment about his new song (I’m Going Down) and his upcoming album (also named I’m Going Down). Since he was nice enough to visit the blog I HAD to listen to his song and………it (and the video that went with it) were both great. I was intrigued, I was charmed, and most importantly I was thoroughly entertained both musically and visually which is not something that I can say about most music that I hear today. Maybe more importantly I wanted to hang out with Eric, his band, the people in the video (I would like to think they were his friends), and party. Really good stuff. Let’s listen…..
Eric Howl and the Way Down Lows – I’m Going Down
I wanted more (no….I needed more) so I took to the internet on a quest. Bingo, another song from his upcoming album, You Already Know The Way To Brahma’s House. Weird title for another “alt-country” song but what the heck.
Eric Howl – You Already Know The Way To Brahma’s House
OK, once the song started it was not what the heck,it was what the Hell! Bhangra, rap, Bollywood dancing, who is this guy and why haven’t I heard of him before! Now let me be honest….I am not a rap fan, I have never heard bhangra (had to look it up), but damnit it worked and I was entertained. I have no idea what to expect from Eric’s album when it is released but I personally can’t wait. I suggest we all pick it once it is released and gather back here to talk.
If I had to word to describe Eric in one word it would be eclectic, faced with the same challenge for the Savages the word would be intense. These girls rock, not that’s not quite right, they rock hard and with an amazing focus. I love their guitarist (she has an amazing ringing tone), the rhythm section is rock solid (together they are great and they individually have the capability to drive songs forward), and I don’t even know how to describe the singer. Maybe the thing I like most about them is they are better live than they are on record and that says a lot. As soon as they manage to capture their live sound on a record there will be no stopping them but until then you won’t go wrong by picking up their debut album, Silence Yourself. Enough babbling on my part…..you need to hear this for yourself……
If you have been paying attention over the past year you already know that Dawes has been featured in several posts. The first time I heard them I knew that it was just a matter of time until they produced an amazing record and I am very happy to tell you that that time has arrived.
I am going to characterize their new album in an way that will probably be controversial but if you give me time I think you will understand. Here goes……Stories Don’t End is the best Jackson Browne album I have heard in many years. Let me explain…..Jackson Browne, at the height of his talent, produced some of the best albums of all time. His albums were an amazing combination of brilliant songs, beautiful vocals, and incredible instrumentation. Jackson wrote, and sang about, things that I had either been through, cared about, and/or wondered about. Put more simply Jackson’s music spoke to me in a very personal way. Stories Don’t End is the first album in ages that makes me feel the same way I felt when listened to some of Jackson’s best albums like Late For The Sky. Does that help??
Enough talking, let’s listen…..
This is my favorite song from the album. When the instruments drop out leaving only the drum beat for the following lyrics I knew for sure that I was listening to something special
At the scene of all I’ve left unlearned, in the directions to your house
In every swing I took to crack the code
I need a cold beer from a dressing room, I need a string of dates back out
I think there are a few of us that still belong out on the road
This is my second favorite song from the album. I am absolutely entranced each time I listen to this song and hear to breakdown where counterpoint vocals sing the chorus. Really good stuff!
To top things off here are a couple of really good live performances of other great songs from the album.
If you like great music you owe it to your self to buy this album.
I’m a worrier at heart. I worry about everything. One of my biggest worries about this blog is that it is not living up to its name….The Best Music You Have Never Heard. Today I am putting that worry out of my mind because I have some music for you that truly fulfills this blog’s promise!
I work hard to try to stay current with new music. As part of this never ending quest, I was recently on the KROQ (K-rock) Los Angeles radio station website trolling for new music and I found a reference to a group that I was not familiar with….
Echo Park stalwarts NO closed out the night. The band has steadily gained steam in the music scene and has gotten a ton of critical attention for their latest EP, Don’t Worry, You’ll Be Here Forever. Their attacking, rhythmic back-beat paired with a down-trodden vocal style draws comparisons to indie rock gods The National, but their is also a late-era New Order level of melody and pop to their songs. NO perfectly closed out a musically heavy night.
This caught my attention and sent me off on a quest to discover more about NO. First stop, YouTube, hoping to get a taste of what this band was like. Here is the first NO song that I found…….
O my gosh where the hell did these guys come from, why have I not heard of them, and where can I find their album? This song is so good that it seemed like the band sprang to life fully formed….the musicianship, the song writing, the production, and the performance were all spot on. I could easily imagine NO performing this anthemic song in concert with the crowd singing along.
While all of these thoughts were running through my head I warned myself to not get carried away…..anyone can can produce one good song. Luckily for me there was more NO music on YouTube and I picked out another song……..
Holy shit….these guys are not one hit wonders. I liked this one better than Another Life and that is saying a lot. Now I definitely needed to know more about NO so I headed back to the internet.
After some searching (NO is not the easiest word to search on!) I finally located the band’s website (http://nomusicfor.me) which provided some background information on the band.
Echo Park’s NO began as a home recording project in July 2011. In a small house on Mohawk Street a group of friends began building something to represent their collective ethos of searching for the more authentic elements in music and in themselves. Their sound has since been dubbed ‘Post-Hymnal Anthematic’ and would appear to be stemming from their desire to collectively sing & yell while driving others to do the same.
Post-Hymnal Anthematic seemed to fit the band’s sound perfectly but I was sad to discover that they did not yet have an album. Their first album is only now nearing completion and won’t be released until later this year. This story has a happy ending; however, because I discovered that NO had produced an EP, “Don’t Worry You Be Here Forever”. To make the story even better, I discovered that the EP was available for free download on their site and contained both of the songs that I fell in love with on YouTube. We have a Freebie Friday winner!
I love this band and am certain that they are going to be huge. NO is the best music I have never heard and you can have their EP for free just by visiting their site. Grab it while you can and let me know what you think!
This is the first of what I hope will be a series of free music Fridays. To kick off this series we have a free Newport Folk Festival sampler pulled together by Paste magazine. This sampler has some amazing performances from many artists that that we have highlighted in this blog including Of Monsters And Men, First Aid Kit, and Dawes. I high recommend you check it out…..you sure can’t beat the price!
Here are the performers and songs from the sampler…….
Blind Pilot – Always
Joel Rafael – Racing And Chasing The Sun
Robert Ellis – Comin Home
Jonathan Wilson – Ballad Of The Pines
Trampled By Turtles – Keys To Paradise
Preservation Hall Jazz Band – A Good Gal’s Hard To Find
One of the bands on the sampler that I have not written about but have been following for years is Blind Pilot from Portland, Oregon. I particularly enjoyed their 2008 debut album, 3 Rounds and a Sound. To give you an appreciation for this group I have two songs for you, a live performance from this years 2012 Newport Folk Festival and the title song from their debut album. Enjoy!
So…..I have a story about how I learned about Wild Nothing. My son called me a couple of weeks ago to tell me about this new band, Wild Nothing, that he was super excited about. I consider myself to be relatively hip, from a musical perspective, so I was shocked I had never heard about them. The excitement in my son’s voice convinced me that I needed to check them out. Here is a transcript of our text messages from a couple of days later.
Me – I bought Wild Nothing on Amazon last night (MP3 download). Listened to it yesterday at work and am listening again this morning. I couldn’t tell you what any of the songs are about but I can tell you that when I am listening I feel like I am just floating through space in a happy little bubble 🙂
My Son – I know….right! My only complaint is that the songs run together just a lil. But they are all super pretty. From what I have heard of his first record (live versions of those songs) it’s killer too. The songs running together makes it a lil much sometimes to listen to the album as a whole.
And that, my friends, pretty much tells you almost everything you need to know! Notice I said almost……here is the rest of the story and some music to go with it.
Wild Nothing is Jack Tatum (with a backing band for live performances). Jack has written and performed music that some people refer to dream pop since 2009. Confused about what dream pop is…..think British 80’s synth pop and that will get you close. Wild Nothing’s latest album, Nocturne, is the one that I have been listening to and it’s where I would suggest that you start as well. Here’s a short excerpt from the Pitchfork review of the album that will provide you a little more insight.
Entire labels and local scenes are dedicated to preserving the era Nocturne evokes– lacquering the malaised vocals, getting the right reverb plates, and hoping that aesthetic identification is more important than writing melodies that stick. Tatum, however, is a songwriter first who just happens to work in this medium. His vocals are put to the forefront to give the listener a clearly marked place to return, and his melodies are smoothly curved, like a small divot at which the rest of the arrangements can dig deeper. The hopscotch verse melody of “Shadow” works in tandem with an insistent, four-note motif doubled on lead guitar and violin. On “Counting Days”, a simonized harmony serves as the chorus, but the little guitar countermelody that darts around it is the hook. Tatum understands the semantics of this stuff.
So, with Pitchfork as an introduction, here are a couple of songs from the album: Shadow and Counting Days……
Brilliant…….yes?
I hope you are convinced……..but if you aren’t aren’t I have a special surprise for you. You, my loyal readers, can listen to the whole album (see below) before you decided to buy it. You will eventually decide to buy it….music this pretty doesn’t come along every day!
The breakthrough of Mumford and Sons a few years ago has opened the door for other similar indie folk/indie pop groups. I’ve had a couple of these groups on heavy rotation on my computer for the last couple of weeks and I have to say that I’m really impressed.
First up is the debut album, My Head Is An Animal, from five piece Icelandic group named Of Monsters And Men. I am a little late in getting on the bandwagon for this group since their album was released in 2011 but I have become a huge fan. Here is a catchy song called Little Talk.
I always like to watch new groups performing live to get an idea of who is singing and who is playing the various instruments. In case you feel the same way, I have a great live performance of a song called Mountain Sound for you.
The second group that I’ve been listening to is The Head and the Heart, a six piece band out of Seattle Washington.
I think you will really like Down In The Valley, their first single……
if you liked Down In The Valley, you must listen to this incredible live acoustic performance of Winter Song.
As the title of this post says…..you need to add these groups to your playlist NOW….you won’t regret it. As always…..let me know what you think!
I don’t talk much about Country Music in this blog but there is some country music that I really enjoy. One of my favorites is Jamey Johnson. Here is Jamey’s song that initially captured my attention a few years back…..it is a real stunner in my opinion!
Jamey put out a new album yesterday called Living For A Song: Tribute To Hank Cochran. I haven’t bought it yet but I have heard it is great. Our new music offering for today is a duet between Jamey and George Strait on a song called Eagle from his new album. I really like it……let me know what you think.
thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard 