Every day, I will dub an album my "album of the day." A link will be posted to it in my sig, and this will the archive.
Sixteen Horsepower: Sackcloth n' Ashes Sixteen Horsepower is easily one of my top 5 bands of all time. singer/guitarist/banjo picket/bandoneon squeezer/songwriter David Eugene Edwards hails from Denver and has teamed up with a couple of French guys Jean-Yves Tola (drums) and Pascal Humbert (bass) to make some of the most original, haunting, intense music you could possibly imagine. 16HP draws heavily on older American music forms and combines them with a modern sensibility to make some intense music. They're most often compared to Nick Cave, who I don't really know anything about, but it is a point of reference. This album contains their one semi-"hit," called "Black Soul Choir." Just as points of reference, they've recorded covers by the Carter Family, Hank Williams Sr., The Gun Club, Leonard Cohen, Creedance Clearwater Revival, Bob Dylan and Bill Withers. I've seen them twice in concert and both times were incredible. One of the times, they opened for Morphine and absolutely blew them off the stage.
Travis: 12 Memories First off, great album cover. Not that it has jack all to do with the music, but I do enjoy a well designed cover. Some people debate over who's more like the Beatles, Oasis or Coldplay. My answer to that debate is Travis. They're all about the harmony singing, the catchy hooks, and some idealistic, yet cynical songs. I bet if Lennon were alive today, he'd have had no problem penning the tune "Peace the F*** Out" that appears on 12 Memories. I don't think they conciously try to sound like the Beatles (like Oasis does), I think this is just the sound that honestly comes out when these four guys get together. Not that they're a carbon copy or anything, but the influence is undeniable. A lot of people said they don't like this album as compared to their early efforts because it isn't as catchy, but I've found that despite no huge single like "Sing", I find myself returning to this one more often that their other albums.
Robert Randolph & the Family Band: Live at the Wetlands Robert Randolph plays pedal steel, but his music is far from being country. He plays a popularized, much more high energy version of a type of music called "sacred steel" that uses pedal steel as the lead instrument for a very high energy style of music used in some charismatic African-American churches. Randolph is a New Jersey native and he grew up playing this music in churches, but has now brought it to the bars and concert halls of America, Europe and the Far East. Having never really heard his music, I went to see him perform last December and can honestly say it was the funnest, most joyous concert I'd ever been to. The family band also includes Randolph's cousins' Marcus (drums) & Daniel (bass/vocals) and is rounded out with a keyboard organ player that seems to change fairly frequently. They also frequently tour with an additional guitarist who also changes. Most of the songs are long and include a lot of improv. This particular CD is over an hour long, but only has six songs on it. Randolphs high intenisity music is truly a celebration of life. Far from being "churchy" or "stuffy" this music compels you to groove and dance.
Jack Johnson: On and On I broke this album out in honor of our extra hour of daylight. That extra daylight signals the coming of spring and summer and this is the perfect summer chill music. Super laid back, but with a nice groove, Johnson makes the most out of an acoustic guitar, bass and drums. Smart lyrics & catchy tunes put him well past the rest of the acoustic rocker pack. He also used to be a pro surfer and has also made films. He's a renaissance man for sure. Most people that are into Ben Harper like Jack Johnson eventhough they don't really sound alike. Johnson is from Hawaii and it is easy to tell the island's influence on his music. You can hear tunes and picking styles that are influenced by the island's slack key style.
North Mississippi All Stars: Shake Hands With Shorty I didn't really know too much about this band until a couple of months ago. I'd heard good things about them, and they were playing two nights in town, so I decided to go check them out. What a wise decision that was. They play an amazing blend of rock and gritty Mississippi blues. They played about 3.5 hours before we left (the people I was with mutinied and demanded I take them home!) This particular CD is a bunch of covers of blues songs from artists from mainly north Mississippi. A great band that will probably break out pretty big in a few years. They recently completed a UK tour where they were hailed in the press as one of the best acts in the US.
Starflyer 59: Gold Starflyer 59 didn't get too creative on the cover of this CD, but man, did they unleash some genius music on this one. This is one of those albums that most people really don't like on first listen, but it eventually begins to hit you just how brilliant it is. Even the band's own fans didn't like it at first, the general consensus now though it that it one of their best (if not the best.) Starflyer likes huge dynamic shifts. At times there music will be quiet & slow and then the next moment it sounds like a spaceship taking off. Very dynamic, big guitars on this one. They're most often compared to smashing pumpkins because of the big shifts in dynamics, but I don't think they sound anything alike personally. Another thing about Starflyer is almost every album they put out they sound like a totally different band.