I saw a review for the new Minus Story album, My Ion Truss, at Pitchfork this morning and immediately checked over at eMusic to see if it was available. I like those guys and had downloaded their other stuff through that service. Sure enough they had it. I guess I somehow overlooked it while checking through the daily batches of new releases last week because that’s when it was added to their catalog.
I also noticed something called A Minus Story Compendium with the triple listing of “new,” “eMusic Only,” and “Free Track.” Turns out it’s a nine track free sampler taken from the other available albums and EP. How cool! I already had all the songs after grabbing the new one but I think it’s a great idea as far as giving others a free introduction to the band is concerned. It’s a great little compilation too. I haven’t listened to My Ion Truss yet, but the other songs selected are the same ones I would have chosen using my new myopic selection standards. Included are my two favorite songs by them, “Little Wet Head” and “You Were On My Side.”
I’m not sure how to describe the band’s music. I see Flaming Lips mentioned a lot but I don’t think they sound like them at all. Still, their brand of mellow neo-psychedelic-indie-folk-pop-rock is in the same ballpark. If you’re intrigued but not an eMusic subscriber, there are a bunch of freebies available at both the Minus Story and Jagjaguwar sites.
I checked out Drive-By Truckers last night at Athfest. They closed out the festival on the free outdoor stage. I went in barely knowing the band and left quite impressed. They put on a really good show.
Seriously, I had had hardly any exposure to their work although I was aware of their reputation. I know David is a fan and wrote about a string of their shows last fall. They’re one in a long list of bands I’ve been meaning to check out but never have. So I wasn’t going in completely cold, I solicited some friends to put together a DBT crash course for me and listened to it the way to the show.
There apparently have been several personnel changes in the DBT lineup over the years. A major one occurred recently when Jason Isbell left the band. So last night John Neff and legendary Muscle Shoals organist Spooner Oldham joined core members Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, Brad Morgan, and Shonna Tucker. Oldham was in town to record with the band in the studio this week. Neff is now an official member, although he has recorded and played with them extending back as far as their first album. I think he may have some of those Elephant Sixers beat as far as being associated with multiple bands is concerned- Star Room Boys, Japancakes, and Jack Logan to name a few.
At first Oldham’s keyboards didn’t quite mesh with the rest of the band. They were too loud in the mix and kind of distracting. They eventually worked things out on the board though and everything sounded great after that. I was of course drawn most to the rockers but they played a nice variety of material.
Patterson Hood is an engaging, charismatic performer. He told several stories to introduce songs and I was fascinated by what he had to say. Funny too. He listed a long string of bands he saw play with Kansas over the years before they launched into “Let There Be Rock” and ended by saying he hated that band. It was a you-had-to-be-there kind of moment but the point is he’s a personable storyteller with great timing, no less effective than a comedian leading up to and delivering a punchline. I found it curious that none of the band members said anything, especially since Mike Cooley sang every other song.
The highlights for me were “Women Without Whiskey,” which I had heard driving to the show (thanks Christian!), and “The Living Bubba.” Hood gave a very touching introduction to one, telling how it was inspired by a songwriter named Gregory Dean Smalley who continued to perform to the end of his days even though he was slowly dying from AIDS. The real showstopper though was “Let There Be Rock.” They were absolutely locked in and scorching. The band took a short break after that and came back for a couple of more songs, but neither of them matched the power and energy of “Rock.” That’s not a complaint. I developed an instant appreciation for Drive-By Truckers based on this strong performance and realize what I suspected was true- I’ve been missing out.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? It has been nearly two months since I’ve shown my face around here but in that time I’ve stumbled across some real gems like Pirats Sound Sistema.
Contrary to popular myth I’m not as worldly some might lead you to believe and am no way a polyglot as I have enough difficulty being understood in my native tongue. That said, Pirats Sound Sistema is, to my best guess, from Spain judging by the Spanish imprint and the vocals. Let it be said I am also a lazy detective. Anyway, Pirat’s Sound System Vol. II is a fantastic summer album that slams together the best of Reggae, Hip Hop, Dub, and Dance Hall with the occasional smattering of Ska like the sublime “Lletres de colors”. The album is fresh and fun especially when they mash disparate elements like they do with “Pel teu bé” which opens with a smokey Middle Eastern feel only to quickly be swept up into a backwards leaning Electro/Dance Hall piece that begs you to shake the change loose from your pockets.
Here’s a video to give you a good feel for their sound…
You can also grab a sample of “Tancs” on their label’s website or just grab the album from eMusic. Highly recommended.
James has been holding down the fort for months but Yancey’s post at the “unofficial” eMusic blog 17 dots has spurred me back into action. I have of course been listening to music all this time, just not writing about it.
One not so little project I’ve been working on lately is selecting choice tracks from the albums on my mp3 player and jettisoning the rest. That probably sounds like the obvious thing to do but for me it’s been a radical shift in thinking. I’ve been in full album listening mode for so long it took a conscious effort to break from that self-imposed constraint. I only recently came to the realization that, duh, there’s simply never going to be enough time to relisten to most of the thousands of albums I have. Might as well pick out the highlights.
I just finished whittling 3,900 tracks to about 800 and have moved on to the albums stored on my computer. From there I’ll comb through the couple of hundred backup mp3 discs I have plus my cd collection. It almost sounds like work but it’s been a lot of fun. The coolest part is hitting random and rocking out. Every song that comes on is my favorite! Can you imagine?
Yes, I am sort of an idiot and probably should have been doing this all along. I always thought of albums as complete works though, like novels. You don’t just read random chapters in a book, you take it as a sequential whole. But that analogy doesn’t even make sense since there have always been singles.
Then again, it’s not like I’m completely ditching albums. My approach will be to listen to new stuff until I get a feel for it, pick out my favorite songs to transfer, and then move on. I can always go back and listen to the whole thing if I get the urge, but in most cases the select few songs will probably be satisfying enough.
I also noticed something called A Minus Story Compendium with the triple listing of “new,” “eMusic Only,” and “Free Track.” Turns out it’s a nine track free sampler taken from the other available albums and EP. How cool! I already had all the songs after grabbing the new one but I think it’s a great idea as far as giving others a free introduction to the band is concerned. It’s a great little compilation too. I haven’t listened to My Ion Truss yet, but the other songs selected are the same ones I would have chosen using my new myopic selection standards. Included are my two favorite songs by them, “Little Wet Head” and “You Were On My Side.”
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? It has been nearly two months since I’ve shown my face around here but in that time I’ve stumbled across some real gems like 