The Love Language

Last Saturday night reinforced the reason that I enjoy catching new bands on the way up. In the last twelve months, both the The Love Language and The Rural Alberta Advantage have released phenomenal debuts that continue to gain momentum and it was a special night catching them on the same Schubas bill.

The Love Language got things started and they haven’t skipped a beat since their sets at SxSW and our live session. They fired out with the same passion that absolutely blew me away when I saw them in Austin. Working in some new tunes along with favorites Lalita, Manteo and Providence, the band turned a crowd that was mostly there for the RAA into immediate fans. I’m not sure what The Love Language has brewing for their next album, but it’s already at the top of my most anticipated albums of 2010. Each new tune that played was incredible.

Then the RAA hit the stage. When you think about the year this band has had, well, it’s sort of an indie music fairytale. From eMusic plucking them out as a featured artist, to opening for Grizzly Beat at SxSW, the threesome has combined their good fortune with an amazing DIY album into a new label, Saddle Creek, and a steadily growing legion of fans.

Working in an Abba tune and “Eye of The Tiger,” the band played an amazing set featuring most of the tunes of Hometowns. Countless times during the set, Nils seemed blown away that they were playing to a packed house at the best venue in Chicago. While many bands will utter the words “Thank You” during a set, I have never seen a band that seemed more sincere in their appreciation. They punctuated their set by stepping out from behind the mics and doing an amazing acoustic version of a tune called “Good Night.” It was out of this world.

On their debut album, the band seems to wrestle with their love and disdain of their home province and it’s a poignant perspective.  As they continue to grow and see the world, it will be interesting to hear their take on the new things they experience.

Truly a great night of music by two special bands that are most certainly going places.

HearYa Live Session #44 – The Rural Alberta Advantage

Exclusive: The Rural Alberta Advantage – Untitled New Song

Exclusive: The Rural Alberta Advantage – Rush Apart

Exclusive: The Rural Alberta Advantage – Luciana

Exclusive: The Rural Alberta Advantage – Edmonton

Download the entire session as a zip.

HearYa Live Session 45 – The Love Language

Exclusive: Love Language – Nocturne

Exclusive: Love Language – Providence

Exclusive: Love Language – Manteo

Exclusive: Love Language – Blue Angel (Unreleased)

Exclusive: Love Language – Graycourt

Download all the tracks as a zip file.

The Love Language stopped in the studio for a live session back in April. We posted the video of “Blue Angel,” but neglected to mention the footage for the song “Manteo.” Here it is along with the track from that session.

Shirk (our live session producer) has been in Asia for a few weeks, but we’ll have our 50th session featuring Ha Ha Tonka coming soon.

Exclusive: The Love Language – Manteo

Download the rest of the session here.

Video: The Love Language – Manteo (from the HearYa Live Session)

The Love Language = my new favorite band. It’s been on my mind since I saw them play at SXSW, but after hearing these tracks from our recent live session, it’s now confirmed.

Stuart McLamb played every instrument and recorded the self-titled debut album between his parents’ house and a rented storage unit – all on a $300 recording device. The result was a brilliant body of work with a gritty, lo-fi sound. After hearing his voice on this session backed by a seven-piece band, I’m beginning to think that the lo-fi recording is doing him a huge disservice. In fact, I’d like to request that The Love Language record an alternate version of the album, recorded as a band in a proper recording studio.

The bottom line is that McLamb’s voice is silly good and his raw emotion and lyrical prowess take The Love Language’s music to another level. At SXSW, their manager told us that he wrote and recorded their debut album after a bad break-up and some time in jail. That might inject some emotion into the songwriting.

The tracks from the session are a great accompaniment to the album; each a different flavor of the original. The band struggled on their first two takes of the unreleased song, “Blue Angel,” but after a couple rounds of Maker’s Mark shots, they were properly lubed up to kill the third take. It’s great to see the passion, smiles and fist pumps in the video. In fact, I challenge you to not smile while you watch it. My other favorites from the session are “Providence” and “Manteo.”

Exclusive: Love Language – Nocturne

Exclusive: Love Language – Providence

Exclusive: Love Language – Manteo

Exclusive: Love Language – Blue Angel (Unreleased)

Exclusive: Love Language – Graycourt

Download all the tracks as a zip file.

Video: The Love Language – Blue Angel

The Love Language – “Blue Angel” – HearYa Live Session 4/2/09 from HearYa.com on Vimeo.

The Love Language have just released their first video from the self-titled debut for the song “Sparxxx.” We’ll have our live session with The Love Language posted shortly, so this can serve as a little appetizer.

Here’s the mp3 we’ve posted before:

The Love Language – Lalita

Video: The Love Language – Sparxxx

Tour dates:

The Love Language are a spanking new band and I don’t know much about them yet.  I d0 know that I like this track “Lalita” and they’ll be kept on my radar this year.

Stu McLamb wrote, performed, recorded and mixed the entire debut album 4-track style, then found some band mates in his native Raleigh, NC to help take the songs on stage. You can catch them at SXSW in Austin.

MySpace | Bladen County Records

The Love Language – Lalita