Holy Hasselholff!

I'm afraid he's serious:

One from the Office

So the new job has really cut into my blogging career. Never a career, obviously/actually, but if I keep the late nights up it can never ever be.

But I'm bucking the tendencies and posting a quick one from the office cpu. Albiet at 6pm, but a post none-the-less. No worka gonna keepa me down...

Biru brought this one into my field of vision and I am greatly grateful (while eating grotesque and grandeous grapes). Horse Feathers are featured on the new PDX Pop Now comp that's floating around. Perfect new-roots/old-time with the necessary violin and banjo, this two-piece Portland, Oregon outfit makes beautiful music that fits very well next to Sam Beam. And by next to I nearly mean at the same level. Their full-length debut, entitled Words are Dead, is scheduled for a September release. Check it:

Horse Feathers - Finch on Saturday.mp3

Going Down the Crooked Road

Going Down the Crooked Road is a fantastic website that chronicles the adventures of three individuals trekking the Virginia Heritage Music Trail, a series of linked roadways that traverse a 250-mile course deep in Southwest Virginia. The trail is a tourism initiative created to spotlight the area's mountain music traditions and history. The site includes interesting interviews, recordings, podcasts, photographs, and even recipes that highlight not only the past but also the current status of a culture that's consumed by music.

Perhaps I find this especially intriguing given that I used to frequent Floyd's Friday Night Jamboree. It was a melting pot of old timers, hippies, and suburban college kids, but the music, dancing, and toothless smiles were as real and genuine as any situation I've ever experienced. It's great to see a multimedia website that so accurately portrays the experience.

Make sure you click on the Multimedia Experience box.

Farm - June 24 - Langdon St. Cafe, Montpelier

A good number of months ago I wrote about this St Albans, VT based trio in advance of their last Montpelier appearance. I wasn't in attendance that time around, but made sure to catch them when they played two weeks ago at Langdon Street Cafe.

What I expected was an eclectic low-fi roots rock show with occasional spaced out solos and muffled vocals. What I got included all of the above, but with more creativity, multi-instrumentalism, and soulful blues. The band members rotated seats throughout the show, allowing for a variety of tempos and styles. This is something that could easily leave the listener ranking favorites and the set sounding fractured, but in this instance it worked extremely well. Each singer had a distinct style for sure (first impressions from each: Bonnie Prince Billy-era Will Oldham, Nirvana unplugged, and Black Mountain stoner rock chants), but the music stayed stayed nestled in that neverworld where blues based-stoner rock-indie Americana meet.

Below are a handful of tracks from the show, which do a better job illustrating the tight variety than I can. The quality is surprisingly good, if only a bit quiet. Don't miss the beautiful Devil's Got a Hold on Me (which balances sloppy guitar and pitch-perfect trumpet) or the fantastically distorted and drawn-out 31.

Sadly enough these guys will be strangers from the road during the next few months. Hopefully their return will bring about a new cd that can capture some of the understated excitement that they put out live.

More dark and blurry pictures at Flickr

Live at Langdon Street Cafe - 6/24/06
Farm - Devil's Got a Hold On Me (live).mp3
Farm - Story's Over (live).mp3
Farm - 31 (live).mp3

Aberdeen City coming to Vermont

Boston based Aberdeen City will be performing on June 25th at Murder by Death and Langhorne Slim. I came across AC last summer via the fantastic Bradley's Almanac. I guess it's a bit modern rock, like a sellable product from the Williamsburg Interpol Cloning Factory that was so busy a few years ago, but I enjoy them none-the-less.

This is what Indie Workshop had to say about their 2005 debut The Freezing Atlantic (which will be re-released August 8th by Sony):

The band has an uncanny knack for finding the right moments of sheer orgasmic, melodic release amid a bed of lyrical and musical tension that occasionally sounds so claustrophobic, it's like you're afraid to breathe. Normally I would hesitate to describe a band's songs as "anthemic," but in the case of The Freezing Atlantic, I use that word in the most complimentary light possible. These are songs on a grand scale, crafted yet still retaining a visceral element that keeps the album and the listener alike on edge.

Purchase The Freezing Atlantic for $10

Aberdeen City at MySpace

Four song in-studio performance at WOXY - 11.11.05