Bloodshot Records is celebrating their 20-year anniversary by releasing WHILE NO ONE WAS LOOKING: TOASTING 20 YEARS OF BLOODSHOT RECORDS. Artists such as Blitzen Trapper, Superchunk, Ted Leo, Ben Kweller, Chuck Prophet, Split Single, Daniel Romano, The Minus 5, Frank Turner, Andrew Bird, and The Handsome Family cover tracks by current and former Bloodshot artists like Neko Case, Graham Parker, Alejandro Escovedo, Lydia Loveless, Old 97's, Robbie Fulks, Justin Townes Earle, Waco Brothers, and Cory Branan. Below you can hear Blitzen Trapper do Ryan Adams's To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High), which you can download today from KUTX.
Blitzen Trapper - To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High
Original Ryan Adams version
A few more from WHILE NO ONE WAS LOOKING:
Look The Other Way by Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants (Justin Townes Earle cover)
Deep Red Bells" by Into It. Over It. (Neko Case cover)
Some other cool stuff Bloodshot has put out? Here ya go.
JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound - "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" (Wilco cover)
The Silos - Behind Me Now
Cory Branan
Evening Gown by Alejandro Escovedo feat. Jon Langford (Mick Jagger cover)
So, what's new with Old 97's, you query? I'm glad you asked. Tomorrow the band releases The Grand Theatre Vol. 2. I haven't heard the whole thing yet, but I have heard Brown Haired Daughter, which manages to sound wistful and bright at the same time, alt country ballad-y and rock 'n' roll without approaching powerballad territory. Perfume is another new track the band has made available for previewing purposes, more of a mid-tempo rollicking number, some power-pop back up vox and trademark spot-on twangy guitar. You can download Brown Haired Daughter for free at the band's media page on their website, s well as a live Rhett Miller show. In fact, the Old 97's keep fans coming back by constantly giving away music on their media page - it's always good. What's that? Do I think Rhett Miller is one of the best singer-songwriters alive? Well, yes, I reckon he is.
Everyone's got a best of the year list. Sorry, not here. But you do get a bunch of music that I loved in the past year (some of which may have been released prior to 2010, I don't care), some of which I've blogged about already, and some of which I didn't get to sharing. So here it is, Part Three (and of course by This Year I mean last year), come on back for the next parts.
Crocodiles: a perfect mix of psychedelia, Jesus & Mary Chain, and shoegaze euphoria still gets me stoked.
Cut Copy's name has come up in my endless search for fine music, but I ignored 'em, because with a name like that I stupidly guessed I was gonna hear techno or industrial-type sounds. I still don't know anything about the band, but this song sounds like a joyous celebration of something; the future? the road right in front of you? Re-claiming Gary Glitter's stomping beats for a pretty possibility party? For an email address, Cut Copy will give you this song for free.
Old 97's The Grand Theatre Vol. 1 contains this raucous, raw stomper, proving that not only can the band ace alt country and sweet pop, garagey rock is also in the arsenal.
Winnipeg's Telepathic Butterfliesseem to have skipped the last three decades in their quest to make sounds less fleeting than disposable pop. Reverb-drenched guitars, thick harmonies, literate lyrics and well-crafted tunes are a good start, and since thousands of people like you listened to their songs in previous posts on this blog, many of you agree.
The Thermals released their new album Personal Life and continued their fine tradition of short, hook-filled, rocky-road-flavoured gems. The band members have a sense of humour. They have conveniently provided useful terms such as mid-fi, post-pop-punk, and post-power-pop, among others, which you may apply or not as you see fit. Near as I can figure, The Thermals are a power trio from the future. And they wrote a song called Canada.
Urge Overkill came back to ready their first album in more than a decade, performed on Yo Gabba Gabba, and gave a away a new song, Effigy. Bring back the swingin' medallions and they will come, boys.
Okay folks, for your Valentine's pleasure, here's a short list of favourites's I've been listening to for the past year. Almost all of them are available for free download at Stereogum - coool, huh? Just go to their mp3 downloads page, view by artist, and scroll down to the artist you want.
Blitzen Trapper - Furr - A mix of Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, and indie folk/alt country would not be the thing I would expect to love - but I do.
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Counting Crows - 1492 - I know, I know,Counting Crows! The band's been slagged beofre, especially Adam Duritz - his voice on their live album was hilarious. However, this song is not wimpy music fopr coffeeshops, but a noisy barrage of welcome oddity. Including Duritz taking a self-deprecating jab at himself: "I'm a Russian Jew American/Impersonating African Jamaican".
Friendly Foes – Not free on Stereogum, but free on rcrdlbl.com, this noisy pop band will give you good music. All short tunes full of piss, vinegar and melody. Free. Full Moon Morning is a great tune, as is Get Yr Shit Together.
The Broken West – Perfect Games & Auctioneer. I couldn't just pick one song from this band, they are my new favourites hands down. ___________________________________________________________________________________
Old 97’s - Ride - Taken from their fine album Blame it On Gravity.
Rowdymen – Rode Hard (and put away wet)- Still unreleased, this country gem sounds like Yoakam, Springsteen, and Steve Earle got drunk and then got lost and left a tune in the back of a taxi for a former rockabilly hero to resurrect. Will it come out this year? Ask Jason "Axl" Allen.
Western States – The Road is Dark as the Night - Okay, this isn't officially out until sometime in the near future, but you can hear a couple of new one's from our cosmic Canadian purveyors at their MySpace page. Full review to follow nearer to release date.
mp3s will be posted for a limited time and are for promotional purposes only. If you like it, buy the albums, go to the shows, buy the t-shirts - support the artist so they can keep on keepin' on. Artists - if you would like an mp3 or video removed, please contact me directly at chrisyakchart@hotmail.com.
If you've got something Scruffy should hear, same email. Snail mail is cool too.
Scruffy the Yak 34 Allenby Cres Winnipeg Mb R2C 3J4
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