Justin Townes Earle, Generationals

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        Justin Townes Earle - What I Mean to You off his 2009 album Midnight at the Movies
Earle's songs are what you would expect from a classic americana artist. However, he's 29, lives in the East Village, is a recovering drug addict, and is Steve Earle's kid. It's guys like him and Ryan Bingham and bands like Son Volt that should introduce people to country music rather than the junk they pump on the country radio stations. It can be really good music that has meaning, and it's not all just trucks, dogs, and patriotism done wrong. And it's music that anyone can relate to. He's not just some Southern hick that doesn't know what life is like off of the farm. He lives in Manhattan. "What I Mean to You" is a song about trying to figure out just where he stands with his girl. Yeah, it's got a slide guitar and that really simple drum beat that backs so many slow old school country songs, but it shows off his voice and doesn't rely on clever plays on words to distract you from how overly produced it is like radio country does. It's simple. And that's why it's good.

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         Generationals - Greenleaf off their 2011 album Actor-Caster
This album came out two days ago, and this is the first time I've listened to it. They are from New Orleans, and might be the first non-jazz band that I know from New Orleans, which could just be an indictment of my lack of knowledge. For some reason I'm reminded of Peter Bjorn and John when I listen to Generationals. In a good way, because I like Peter Bjorn and John. If you listen to "Young Folks" and then "Greenleaf" back to back, you'll hear the similarities.

Modest Mouse, Dr. Dog

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  Modest Mouse - Dark Center of the Universe off their 2000 album The Moon and Antartica

Modest Mouse has a very distinct sound. They have so much going on in a lot of their songs, that it almost makes it easy to get focused on one aspect of the song. At least on their older stuff, their songs also reflect a pretty strong disgust with the world. Or maybe it's distrust, or disillusionment. But even if you don't share the same bleak outlook as them, their lyrics are smart and well crafted and make you think. Their music is pretty good too.

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       Dr. Dog - Unbearable Why, off of their 2010 album Shame Shame

Dr. Dog is from Philadelphia, so I started hearing them on the public radio station around here. I heard two songs I liked, so I bought the album, and I haven't been disappointed. They go fast, they go slow, and they have great drum beats and catchy timing with their vocals. "Unbearable Why" is one of my favorites. I really like these guys, because all of their songs have become sing alongs for me.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, G-Love

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  Red Hot Chili Peppers - Hump De Bump off their 2006 album Stadium Arcadium: Jupiter

I've been a huge Chili Peppers fan for a long time, and I respect their mid '90s albums, but I think their last album is their best. There is not a bad song on the entire two disc album. This one is one of my favorites though. It's got old school Chilis funk to it but with new school style. Get this album if you don't have it.

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        G-Love - Milk and Sugar, off of his 2011 album Fixin' To Die

I'm short on time so I'm rehashing G-Love's new album. It is worth the second look anyway. This song is another great mix of classic G meets the new folksy. The title is even similar to one of his old songs (Milk and Cereal.) He again has the harmonica in there, and his signature snarly voice. For some reason I always picture him singing with a look on his face like he just smelled something terrible, if that makes sense. It's an overdone accent and voice, but it's totally G-Love. You can kind of see what I mean in this video.

Carbon Leaf, Trombone Shorty

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       Carbon Leaf - Changeless off their 2004 album Indian Summer

Carbon Leaf was all over the radio in D.C. in the early 2000's with "The Boxer." So I kept up with them and found that there is a very Celtic feel to a lot of their music. I also found that I love a lot of their songs. This song hits me hard every time I listen to it. I can pretty much only think of one way to interpret the meaning of the song as a whole. Friends leaving each other for one reason or another. The singer laments the change while trying to remember the good times. 


Damn. Pretty much just makes me realize that no matter what you do, life goes on and leaves some of your relationships in the past. Even really good ones. In addition to my wife, who thankfully has stuck around for a while and doesn't seem inclined to leave, I can think of 7 people that I've thought of as my best friend over the years. I still keep in touch with three of those people; two more so than the other. So in all reality a 29% rate (2/7) of maintaining a friendship with the people who, at the time, you could never envision not being friends with, is a pretty low rate. It might just be my luck and my fairly nomadic life (moving during elementary school, moving far away for college, moving to a completely new city after college, having two friends move permanently away), but I would wager that a lot of people have this same experience.


This song is sung in the present tense, as if the singer knows what is about to happen and wants to make sure the friendship lasts even though distance may separate the two people. It's hard as shit to see that coming. 

"What are the odds, what are the odds
This ends and we don't meet again?
What are the odds, what are the odds
That I will miss your smile"

I'm reminded of something that happened when I was a junior in college. I was 21 and still had a whole year left at school. Nothing significant was going to change when I came back in the fall. I worked with a small group of people and as I went to my last shift for the year, the girl that worked before me was leaving. She was a senior and we weren't really friends, but knew each other through work. As she left I said "see ya later." She responded with "have a great life" as she walked out. I haven't seen her since and I can't even remember her name. But I swear I will always remember what she said. I even understood it at the time. We meet so many people that it's impossible to maintain relationships with all of them. But it's important to maintain relationships with people you care about, even if it is hard due to distance. It's completely worth it, because without friends what do you have? Your job?

"Let fondness be our souvenir.
To keep it warm, we'll keep it near,
otherwise with no heart to recall.
A memory's just a memory after all.
I will not leave this pulse alone
Though it may take the long way home,
I will not wait until the end
for my applause for you my friend."

To me this verse means "don't let the distance get between us. Let's keep our friendship going, even if it takes a long time for us to see each other again." And the last two lines seem to be saying "I won't wait until our friendship has ended to tell you that I'm proud of you and that I enjoy what we have." That's pretty prescient of the writer. But more than likely it was written to be a warning in the present but conceived due to a lost friendship. Don't take your friends for granted and try to remember that life will lead you in different directions, but that shouldn't be reason enough to lose touch with those that really matter. 


You would think that a song about losing friends might be corny, contrived, and skirt around the true emotions, but this song seems like it's straight from the heart, which is why I love it.

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        Trombone Shorty - Hurricane Season, off of his 2010 album Backatown

Since that was such a long and emotional post, I'll keep this one short and objective. I have fun listening to Trombone Shorty. He's young, he's been playing since he was six and I've just started listening to him. But I have a pretty large spot in my heart for good jazz. This one is an instrumental that sounds like big band music and for some reason reminds me of the theme song to Friday Night Fights. I'll be checking back on him in future posts. It's worth a listen.

Bob Schneider, Fang Island

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       Bob Schneider - Big Blue Sea off his 2001 album Lonelyland

My favorite Bob Schneider songs have a funk inspiration behind them. He uses trumpets and  hip hop lyrical rhythm to supplement his singer/songwriter side. I saw him in concert a little over a year ago, and it was a great show. He got everyone up and dancing when with his salsa and funk songs ("Bombonaza", "Tarantula") and then brought it back to chill with his ballads like "Changing My Mind." Plus he had a forty plus year old man playing trumpet in a pink bunny suit for the entire show. Big Blue Sea is from his first album and it's got a slight bit of funk at it's beachy core.

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       Fang Island - Life Coach, off of their self titled 2010 debut album.

 I just heard of these guys while looking through SXSW artists. They are from Brooklyn and 
they describe their mission as making music that sounds like "everyone high-fiving everyone." At this point I don't know them very well, but that sounds like fun. Happy Friday.

Sufjan Stevens, Adele

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       Sufjan Stevens - Jacksonville off his 2005 album Come on Feel the Illinoise!

Sufjan Stevens is a different kind of artist. This album was the second and last of what he said was going to be a 50 part series of albums about each of the states, which he later said was just a gag. I'm disappointed that he didn't at least drag it out a little farther. His songs have a full orchestra sound and harmonized lyrics, so there ends up being a pretty busy feel to his songs. I haven't really ever explored what his lyrics are about, probably because I'm caught up in all of the music going on. Or perhaps it's because I spend all my time reading his song titles, which sometimes read like paragraphs. The longest being;

"The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, 'I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!'"

Even though I haven't read into his lyrics, I love the music he makes on this album. Jacksonville is one of my favorites.

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       Adele - Rolling in the Deep, off of her 2011 album 21

Other than the Spice Girls when I was 9, I've never really been much into female british pop singers. However, I've now listened to both of Adele's albums and she sounds more like she's from 1960's Alabama than 21st century Britain. I can't say much other than she has a really good voice. This song's been all over the radio here, and strangely, it's pretty popular on the rock station. Ok, you can now stop laughing about the Spice Girls, I was 9.

Kings of Leon, Ryan Bingham

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       Kings of Leon - Taper Jean Girl off their 2004 album Aha Shake Heartbreak

You know that I could use somebodddeeeey. Everybody knows that line. But before Sex on Fire and Use Somebody made them a huge hit, Kings of Leon had already been making great music. I have not listened to their very first album, but Aha Shake Heartbreak and Because of the Times (album #'s 2 & 3) are both really well done the whole way through. Listen to the entirety of both of those albums and you will forget how much radio stations ruined "Use Somebody" by playing it so damn much. "Taper Jean Girl" is my favorite from Heartbreak. It gets me moving right from the start every time I hear it. I know my co-workers and all previous roommates I have had hate me for my constant foot and pen tapping, but it's not my fault. Blame the Kings of Leon.

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       Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses - Direction of the Wind, off of his 2010 album Junky Star

Ryan Bingham made me convinced that I don't care as much about sports as I used to. Quick background; I pretty much had two things going on in my life when I was younger; sports and school. I still love sports, and I think that will be ingrained in me forever, but I've found a lot of other things that I enjoy, and I've found that there is not as much time for those things if you are constantly thinking about who's in first place. (The exception is Notre Dame football, which I will always make time for.)

So, I had my sights set on seeing Bingham at a small bar in Philly last October. For two or three months prior to the show I was excited that the show was coming up. My wife and I were planning on going. However, my wife is also a big Phillies fan (full disclosure; I've become one since moving here four years ago.) The Phillies made the NLCS, my in-laws got tickets to game 1 in Philadelphia, and it just so happened to be on the same night as the concert. In the past we've gone to a lot of games, and I always enjoy going. But on that night, all I really wanted to do was go to the concert. I went to the game and I had fun, but the Phillies play at least 162 games a year... and Ryan Bingham will only play at the North Star Bar once. 


That made me realize that I've turned a corner. Sports isn't my favorite thing to do anymore. I still enjoy playing, but until the playoffs, other things are more important. So, in that very specific way, this song is appropriate to me since it's saying that there is a change in opinion, a change in thinking. I'm just not as into sports as I used to be. I've figured out there is a lot else out there that is interesting and develops you as a person, rather than just allowing you to remember that Mark McLemore was the Orioles' second basemen in 1993. Sports can teach you a lot about life, but you have to have the other parts of life in order to put those lessons to practice. 


In "Direction of the Wind", Bingham's talking about how there has been a change in the way people think about social issues; race, class, civil rights. He thinks it's a change for the better and he's hoping that it catches on and continues in that direction. It's interesting to me to see the opinions of a young guy (Bingham is 29) from West Texas and how different they are from what you might have expected from that region in the past. I can think of a few other instances (Brad Paisley comes to mind), but there aren't too many country artists that really try to tackle tolerance and social equality in their music. His music sounds like old school country/americana, but his lyrics are clearly that of the younger generation. 


By the way, this is a video of the song being performed at the concert that I missed.

Slightly Stoopid, Free Energy

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       Slightly Stoopid - Jimi off their 2007 album Chroncitis

Continuing on my high school musical interest rehash trail, I think you should check out Slightly Stoopid. They are from near San Diego and I got introduced to them because my friends thought they sounded like Brad Nowell from Sublime in one of their songs. If you are looking through their albums and notice a trend, don't jump to conclusions. I was not a stoner in high school, I just happened to love stoner music. One day it's going to be fun when my kids find my Slightly Not Stoned to Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid album. SS albums generally include one or two punk songs, several reggae/rock songs, one or two hip-hop inspired beats, and at least one or two really mellow songs that I love to throw on and chill out to whenever I'm on a beach. I was in the Bahamas last year and I put Chroncitis on my iPod, sat down by the water, let the waves hit me, and got a really bad sunburn. Sitting there, looking out at the water, and listening to that music is exactly what a vacation should be. "Jimi" is one of those songs that makes me think of the beach. Plus it shows off their style and talent with the guitar.

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       Free Energy - Dark Trance, off of their 2010 debut album Stuck on Nothing

I heard Free Energy first on WXPN, which is the local public radio station here in Philadelphia. They are based in Philly and they have a good 70's/80's rock vibe that fits in well here. "Dark Trance" has the power chords and guitar solos that a good hair band song might have (I say "good" hair band very lightly). Seems to me that this song is about not dwelling on past opportunities, not letting past mistakes deter you from taking chances in the present. Their album overall is lacking in variety of song style, but each song by itself is pretty solid. I think their lyrics are strong, so I'll be waiting to see if they open up their musical direction on their next album.

Low Life, Secret Knives

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       The Low Life - Four Walls off their 2003 album Thixotropic

These guys were a band from the D.C. area but they have since broken up. I'm not sure if it was due to creative differences or lack of making money, but I've always felt somewhat responsible. I got introduced to them while I was in high school when I got their original EP from one of my friends who was on their street team. Then, one day while walking around campus at college during my freshman year, this guy walked up to me and said "Hey, you want this CD? These guys are playing tonight." So I snagged it and it happened to be The Low Life, Thixotropic. I already knew I liked them, so I probably would have bought the album if they didn't just give it to me. That night I dragged two of my friends to the free show. There were only 40-50 people there, and it was obvious that the majority of them had no idea who the band was, but it was fun. So, at that point I'd gotten two free CD's and a free concert. I know they got paid for the gig and I did buy a t-shirt, but somehow I've always thought, "maybe if I'd just bought their music they'd still be together." "Four Walls" is the last song on the album and it's more mellow than the rest. Check it out, and because I think I owe them, here's a link to the lead singer's new web page http://www.evanbliss.com/ He's making music on his own now.

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       Secret Knives - The Garden, off of their 2010 album Affection

The Secret Knives are from Wellington, New Zealand, and it's another band I discovered from indierockcafe.com. I know nothing about them and I have no New Zealand stories, but I was intrigued by their sound. It's a mix of electronic and alternative rock. I listened to their album (available here) and it's one of those that you can get lost in, but in a good way. I'm not sold yet on the whole deal, but "The Garden" is a good start. 

Ben Harper, Bassnectar

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       Ben Harper -  Bring the Funk off his 2003 album Diamonds on the Inside

Ben Harper might be most well known for his slower, stripped down songs such as "Burn One Down" and "Walk Away", but plenty of rock and reggae songs fill out the 8 full length albums that he's put out over almost 20 years. My favorites happen to be the funkier songs. "Bring the Funk" has a great bass line. I can't find a good video of it, so find it on iTunes. 

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       Bassnectar - The 808 Track, off of their 2010 album Wildstyle 

This one's just a straight up bass heavy electronic jam to start your weekend right. I stumbled across these guys because I was trying to listen to a bunch of bands on the Bonaroo line up that I've never heard before. I wasn't expecting electronic bass heavy music (probably should have, given their name), but then I remembered that hippies love acid, and acid loves electronic music. Happy Friday.

Ben Folds Five, Miniature Tigers

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       Ben Folds Five -  Fair off their 1997 album Whatever and Ever Amen

In college I had the chance to see Ben Folds solo on campus for like $15, but at that point I basically only knew "Brick" and "Rockin' the Suburbs." My other choice was probably to go play beer pong and make fun of my friends, so naturally I passed on the concert. Now I realize I should have gone. So many of their songs are perfect sing alongs, which would have been amazing with a drunk college student crowd. If you can't get into "Fair" and start jumping around when the pace picks up (while completely disregarding the fact that the song is about a bad break up and/or a domestic dispute) then you are nuts, or not drunk enough. 

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       Miniature Tigers - Tropical Birds, off of their 2010 album Fortress 

This is a good driving album for the summer, so listening to it now in March is getting me excited for my upcoming trip to California over the summer. They opened for Ben Folds in 2009, which I just learned in the course of research for this post. So if blogging doesn't work out, I always have the subconscious genius thing going for me. Anyway, check out this band. They are relatively new and from Brooklyn. Light and airy melodies fill the album with a few more rock worthy tunes mixed in. "Tropical Birds" is one I can see myself listening to while cruising the PCH with the top down. 

Hayes Carll, The Strokes

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       Hayes Carll -  I Got a Gig off his 2008 album Trouble in Mind

I grew up pretty much only listening to country music (with some Billy Joel and Sinatra mixed in) until I was about 10. Around then I stumbled across the Foo Fighters on my radio, my cousin introduced me to Sublime, and music was never the same for me. But country music will always be my musical foundation. Whereas DBT and the Avett brothers use country/roots as a stepping off point for their own styles, Hayes Carll sings straight up country music, and I respect that. I saw him live last year and I can attest to the fact that his album doesn't do justice to his remarkably strong twang. The lyrics of his broken dream/down on your luck storytelling will keep him off most radio stations, but they are great stories and even better music. I Got a Gig is a fast paced song in which Carll creates a rhythm with his stretched out vocals that basically negates the need for a bass drum. He just came out with a new album in February that I haven't had a chance to check out yet, but if it's like Trouble in Mind it will be a great pick up. This is a weird video, but it's the only album version of the song I could find. 

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       The Strokes - Macchu Picchu, off of their 2011 album Angles 

I heard this song for the first time today, but I've listened to it a few times now, and it was the one that most caught my ear the first time through their new album. Other than "Last Nite" which came out when I was in high school, I haven't really paid much attention to the Strokes. I like this song though. It's got a slight ska feel at first but it's also got the power chords that I remember from Last Nite. Here's a link to their website, where they are streaming their entire new album. 

http://new.thestrokes.com/featured/listen-to-angles-here

Band of Horses, The Decemberists

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       Band of Horses -  Islands on the Coast off their 2007 album Cease to Begin.
I really like the feel of this song, and after hearing it, but without really listening to the lyrics, it really did sound like a beachy song. I've been reading a lot about songwriting and when I came across an article where lead singer Ben Bridwell was interviewed about this album I was completely shocked. He said in the interview "The lyric actually says ‘eyelids want to close,’ but I always thought it sounded like ‘islands on the coast,’ so I named it that to screw with people." Awesome, right? Dude just named the song what it sounded like to mess with people's heads. The lyrics in their songs are often hard to understand because he sings with abnormal timing, splitting up lines and even individual word. But I guess part of the fun of listening is to try to figure out what he's saying. This song happens to be about the end of a chapter for the band, as it was written when they decided to move from Seattle to Charleston. It's a bittersweet song because the reason they were leaving Seattle was broken friendships, but they were happy to move to Charleston to start a new chapter. I think the lyrics convey the disappointment over the problems from Seattle but the melodies and the upbeat tempo convey the hope of good times in Charleston. And they've definitely had good times since they moved to Charleston. They are one of my top 5 bands at this point, so listen to them when you get a chance

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       The Decemberists - Calamity Song, off of the 2011 album The King is Dead 

By now this album is two months old, and if you haven't heard about it, you haven't turned on the radio, looked at iTunes, or been to a Best Buy in quite a while. For a band that I used to hesitatingly recommend to others due to their penchant for wearing Civil War era clothing, they sure have gotten a lot of major air play and national acclaim for this album. They write a lot of songs about obscure historical events, but Calamity Song is about a combination of disasters that leads to chaos. I can't begin to explain how or why some of the lyrics are what they are, but on this song and in general on the album they have managed to transition their own very unique form of the Americana genre. And they definitely have not left behind their storytelling.