I once asked a buddy for a restaurant recommendation in Florence, Italy. He emailed back the name of a place with a comment about their truffles, saying “they are earthy and divine.”  I never expected a guy that funneled beers with me in college to talk about truffles let alone use that phrase, but by happenstance, this random phrase is how I’d describe Midlake’s latest release, The Courage Of Others. Earthy. And devine.

It’s also a perfect album for the winter season. It’s sound is heavily influenced by 60’s British prog-folk-rock with mystical lyrics, flute accompaniments and melancholy themes. It’s not an album you want to throw on at your next party, but it immediately gave me the urge to walk through a damp, foggy forest in solitude.

So that’s what I did. I put in the headphones and, for the first time, hiked to the top of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.  It was the site of furious Civil War battles that claimed the lives of more than 5,000 soldiers. Hearing these somber songs while walking past cannon emplacements and preserved earthworks in this battlefield of ghosts made the early morning hike extremely eerie. As I approached the summit, “The Courage of Others” began to play with lines:

How can they have the courage?
Of lords that have long since past.
It’s in their hands. It’s their heads.
It’s been in their blood for many years and brings them sorrow.
In a dark room he trembles alone. He trembles alone.

It was a moving experience and I don’t think the moment’s gravity would have been felt without Midlake providing the backdrop. I captured a picture on my phone:

I’m aware that this isn’t a typical album review, but this is one of those albums that must be experienced. There is no standout single like “Roscoe” on 2006’s outstanding The Trials of Van Occupanther but The Courage of Others is a better body of work than it’s predecessor. It’s available on eMusic if you’re a subscriber. No mp3’s have been released, but there’s a little player below for sampling.

Leonard Mynx – Ball of Fire

Leonard Mynx – Sing Radio

Leonard Mynx – Song With No Name

Strand Of Oaks – End In Flames

From our Strand Of Oaks HearYa Live Session:

Exclusive: Strand Of Oaks – Used Cars (Bruce Springsteen Cover)

Exclusive: Strand Of Oaks – End In Flames

Exclusive: Strand Of Oaks – Daniel’s Blues (Previously Unreleased)

Exclusive: Strand Of Oaks – New Paris

Local Natives – Sun Hands

Local Natives – Camera Talk

The Morning Pages – My Name Is Lion

Exclusive: The Morning Pages – With the Lord

Exclusive: The Morning Pages – City Keeps Me Down

Exclusive: The Morning Pages – Slippin’ and Slidin’

Exclusive: The Morning Pages – Hey Man

Exclusive: The Morning Pages – My Name is Lion

Exclusive: The Morning Pages – No One By Your Side

The movie and the theme song, written by Ryan Bingham, are nominated for some awards. Here’s Ryan performing “The Weary Kind” followed by Bridges performing in an interview. I might actually get out of the house for this one. You can find the trailer here.

Ryan Bingham – The Weary Kind

Jeff Bridges – The Weary Kind

The Morning Pages are finally back! We met this alt-country band back in 2007 after they released their debut EP, The Company You Keep.  Shortly thereafter, they visited the studio for our fifth live session. The Brooklyn band is back with their debut LP, Rising Rain, due out in May.

Here’s more from the press release:

The results were pretty spectacular. Bringing musicians like The Pierces for the harmonies, as well as recruiting piano work from Alec Higgins (Alberta Cross) and fiddle accompaniments from Gillian Rivers (Nicole Atkins), Rising Rain is a classic country- folk record that’s as much Beale Street as it is Bleecker Street. The album’s standouts include the heart-wrenching folk ballad and first single “My Name is Lion,” joyous foot-stompers like “With The Lord” and “This City Keeps Me Down” — tracks that are half folksy soul, half rooftop jam sessions. The record also has a number of plaintive, big-city laments like “Move to the Country” and “Makes Me Cry.” Above all, the album fuses Nashville twang with New York sensibilities as few bands have done before.

The Morning Pages – My Name Is Lion

From the HearYa Live Session:

Exclusive: The Morning Pages – With the Lord

Exclusive: The Morning Pages – City Keeps Me Down

Exclusive: The Morning Pages – Slippin’ and Slidin’

Exclusive: The Morning Pages – Hey Man

Exclusive: The Morning Pages – My Name is Lion

Exclusive: The Morning Pages – No One By Your Side

Local Natives are set to release one of our most anticipated albums of 2010, Gorilla Manor, on February 16th. “Wide Eyes” opens the album and according to guitarist, Ryan Hahn, “It’s about people’s obsession with the miraculous and disastrous…with witnessing extraordinary events.” There’s a great part at about 2:15 where the band breaks into percussion ala Paul Simon’s “The Obvious Child” and you expect the tune to explode. But they dial it back down with a noodly guitar lick and slowly build back up with harmonies before breaking into a closing jam a minute later. I have listened to that part about 100 times and it’s simply brilliant.

Local Natives also do a phenomenal interpretation of Talking Heads’ “Warning Sign.” “We’ve basically flipped the song on its head,” says drummer, Matt Frazier, explaining how they switched David Byrne’s original yelped vocals into a beautiful three-part harmony.  The mere fact that they chose that tune is awesome, but the way deconstructed it is inventive and original – not your average cover song.

“Cards and Quarters” is a slow, dreamy tune that moves at a snail’s pace as the harmonies wash over an ever so simple beat. This tune was the song that sold me last year at SxSW and the last minute is fantastic. I could go on about this stunning debut all day. While they were a pleasant surprise in ‘09, I’d declare them one of the top new bands out there today. Couldn’t have happened to nicer group of guys.

Website | MySpace | Twitter | Frenchkiss Records

Local Natives – Sun Hands

Local Natives – Camera Talk

Video: Local Natives – Airplanes

The other night I was having a couple beers with my friend SafariMan, and we got to talking about how excited we were for SXSW this year. We probably spent an hour reminiscing about last year and all of the great acts we saw. At one point, SafariMan asked me, “Who was that awesome band we saw at Habana Calle?” I told him it was Glossary, to which he responded, “That’s right! I’d never heard of them, but they were great!” Ahhhh, SXSW.

Well, I’ve got good news for SafariMan and any other fans of Glossary – they’ve got a nice new album out, released yesterday via Lucero’s new Liberty and Lament record label (Glossary’s Todd Beene also plays in Lucero). We wrote a weird review of their last album, The Better Angels of our Nature, back in 2008. That album ended up being #40 on our best of 2008 list and their latest, Feral Fire, is just about on par. In fact, there are some shining moments on the album that may even be better. I’m not sure yet if it’s as good from top to bottom – time will tell.

Feral Fire continues the recipe developed on Better Angels but with a couple slower numbers mixed in. The driving guitars, harmonizing vocals, bountiful pedal steel, and southern-fried rock feel that drew me to them initially are still there in a big way. They come out of the gate strong with the standout track “Lonely Is a Town”. In fact, the first three songs rocked me right out of my Sauconys (they gave us free shoes once). And lyrically, it’s a great album. I think my favorite track is “Save Your Money for the Weekend,” a song about wooing a good girl:

All my daddy left me was a name and a mouth full of bad teeth
Oh honey I’ll be fine, if you meet me out on Friday night
‘Cause I know Christian girls know what’s wrong
But that doesn’t mean they always have to do what’s right

Glossary is touring with Lucero through the south right now. Catch them live.

We don’t have any approved mp3’s from Feral Fire to post at this time, but the guys have been plenty generous in the past. You can head over to their site to download Better Angels Of Our Nature and Joey Kneiser’s solo album for FREE.

Strand Of Oaks (Tim Showalter) put out Leave Ruin in 2009 and it has become a favorite album of mine.  We’re pleased to share the news that he’s about to hit the road and has offered a second track for free to the fans. “Two Kids” is my favorite song from the album and it’s now available to download. Support this fine musician if he passes through your town.

Strand Of Oaks – Two Kids

Other tracks:

Strand Of Oaks – End In Flames

From our Strand Of Oaks HearYa Live Session:

Exclusive: Strand Of Oaks – Used Cars (Bruce Springsteen Cover)

Exclusive: Strand Of Oaks – End In Flames

Exclusive: Strand Of Oaks – Daniel’s Blues (Previously Unreleased)

Exclusive: Strand Of Oaks – New Paris

Download the Strand Of Oaks live session as a zip.

Tour dates:

02/16/10 – North Manchester, IN – The Firehouse
02/17/10 – Ypsilanti, MI – The Elbow Room w/ Chris Bathgate
02/18/10 – Grand Rapids, MI – The DAAC
02/19/10 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon w/ Juniper Tar, Common Loon
02/20/10 – Milwuakee, WI – Cactus Club w/ Daredevil Christopher Wright, Conrad Plymouth
02/21/10 – Chicago, IL – Halfway Lounge w/ Mako Sica
02/24/10 – Bloomington, IN – The Bishop w/ Vollmar, Mayor of Rocky, Ripple
02/25/10 – Akron, OH – The Manitee
02/26/10 – Columbus, OH – Skylab w/ The Black Swans
02/27/10 – Millheim, PA – Elk Creek Tavern w/ Chicken Tractor
02/28/10 – Frostburg, MD – House Show
03/01/10 – Baltimore, MD – The Wind Up Space
03/02/10 – Kutztown, PA – Eckhaus Gallery w/ Bad Temple
03/03/10 – Brooklyn, NY – Zebulon
03/04/10 – Stroudsburg, PA – Main St. Jukebox
03/05/10 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fire w/ Hezekiah Jones

Hello, everyone. It’s the shortest, and quite possibly worst, month of the year. But let’s look on the bright side – the days are getting longer, we’ve got the Super Bowl to look forward to, college basketball is heating up, Kings of Leon’s clothes are now available in the States (I kid), and this month is jam-packed with some great shows. And there’s everyone’s favorite made-up holiday – Valentine’s Day. I’d like to take this opportunity to tell everyone that we love you. Give us a man-hug if you see us at the rock show.

CHICAGO

Royal Bangs – Lincoln Hall – 2/6

Those Darlins – Schubas – 2/11

Backyard Tire Fire – Double Door – 2/13

Editors / The Antlers – The Vic – 2/15

Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons / Dawes – Double Door – 2/16

Evan Dando – Double Door – 2/19

Sondre Lerche – Lincoln Hall – 2/19

State Radio – Metro – 2/19

Ha Ha Tonka – Subterranean – 2/20

Portugal. The Man / Port O’Brien – Lincoln Hall – 2/26

Rocky Votolato – Schubas – 2/26

Justin Townes Earle / Joe Pug – Lincoln Hall – 2/27

ATLANTA

Girls – The EARL – 2/5

B.B. King / Buddy Guy – Fox Theatre – 2/6

Sondre Lerche – The EARL – 2/11

Them Crooked Vultures – The Tabernacle – 2/11

Bowerbirds – The EARL – 2/12

State Radio – Variety Playhouse – 2/13

Futurebirds – Smiths Olde Bar – 2/14

Generationals / Hacienda – The EARL – 2/16

Glen Phillips – Variety Playhouse – 2/17

Royal Bangs – The Masquerade – 2/18

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears – The EARL – 2/20

Surfer Blood – Criminal Records – 2/26

Leonard Mynx is following up his debut EP with another free album entitled Le Petit Mort. Offering free music to find your fanbase was a marketing tactic also used by Joe Pug and it undoubtedly helped him in with ticket sales as he started touring. Perhaps Mynx has a similar strategy.

His previous album, Vesper, was sparse and mostly acoustic. This effort called on many Portland musicians, whose other projects include Norfolk and Western, The Decemberists, M. Ward, Horse Feathers, Loch Lomond, Audie Darling, Laura Gibson, Jolie Holland (and many more), to give his songwriting more flavor.

I’ve listened to Le Petit Mort for a full week and, despite the title, it nods its brim to music that is truly American in the vein of Bob Dylan and Tom Waits. You can hear three of my favorite tracks from the album below and look for an update from us when it’s released for free this Spring.

For a free copy of Mynx’s first album, Vesper, you just email  leonardmynx[at]gmail.com and provide your name, mailing address (if you want a cd), or email address.

Leonard Mynx – Ball of Fire

Leonard Mynx – Sing Radio

Leonard Mynx – Song With No Name

A.A. Bondy – Introduction

Exclusive: A. A. Bondy – Mightiest Of Guns (Video)

Exclusive: A. A. Bondy – Slow Parade (Video)

Exclusive: A. A. Bondy – When The Devil’s Loose (Video)

Exclusive: A. A. Bondy – I Can See The Pines Are Dancing

Download the A.A. Bondy Live Session as a zip file.

And the rest:

Justin Townes Earle and Dawn Landes – Do I Ever Cross Your Mind

The Tallest Man On Earth – King Of Spain

The Tallest Man On Earth – I Won’t Be Found

The Tallest Man On Earth – Into The Stream

The Tallest Man On Earth – Pistol Dreams

Drive-By Truckers – This Fucking Job

Futurebirds – Dirty D

Futurebirds – MJB