Baby, No Ones Honest Anymore (Bloodsucking Whore)

Sometimes just singing a song won't do - Songwriters know that from time to time you simply must wail to get your point across in a  fashion befitting the feeling you've got eating up your insides like an accursed tapeworm. This is a  truth that Ezra Furman is well acquainted with as evidenced by his band's  third full length effort Mysterious Power. Ezra Furman and The Harpoons scored a minor hit amongst indie fans on their last album with the catchy "Take Off Your Sunglasses". As much as I dig that tune I already feel like this new album which hits shelves tomorrow is a fuller, richer, piece of work, than Inside The Human Body. There is an honesty to these songs, sometimes quiet and reserved (  "Mysterious Power", "Fall in Love With My World") and sometimes brash and near scathing ("Bloodsucking Whore") Whichever variety it feels genuine in a way I can't help but appreciate.

Old 97's Rock Mountain Stage (free streaming set list)

The Old 97's are one of my favorite bands period. They are also fantastic live performers so when I saw they played Mountain Stage yesterday I felt like it was a must to post about it. The set list is just a hair over a half hour and features "Champaign, Illinois"  "Every Night Is Friday Night", and "Please Hold On While The Train is Moving" -  standouts from their latest project The Grand Theater Volume One which as the name suggests will be followed by a volume two, surprisingly soon in fact - as Rhett says in the backstage interview, it's currently slated to drop later this year. They didn't  limit themselves to all new stuff though, there are older fan faves  "Won't Be Home" and "Barrier Reef" here too. Although nothing can match seeing these guys live this is still worth a listen, so check it out courtesy of those recently beleaguered OG's of the airwaves NPR.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/31/134988631/old-97s-on-mountain-stage

When Greed Meets Hunger (Down Like Me)

Peter Bjorn and John released their latest album Gimme Some this week. Critics are giving the Swedish trio credit for making whistling hip again - this is in reference to the band's biggest hit "Young Folks". Now, I know how these things work as I've been listening to, and reading about music for years - someone says or writes something they think is clever, someone else reads it, or even thinks the same thought, and says or writes it again; And suddenly you can't escape the suggestion when looking at any review. This may seem like something I should let pass, as a small personal annoyance - but the thing is, that song is old - several projects removed in fact, it wasn't even my favorite track on Writer's Block,  and to continue to beat that same drum really does a disservice to a group that has much more to offer than the fond memory of one hit. (Never mind the fact that the true champion of whistling is Andrew Bird - and as far as i'm concerned that is not up for debate) Back to the point though PB&J are not some one trick pony of a band as clearly evidenced on this new album. Here is one of my favorites from Gimme Some, "Down Like Me". My immediate love of this song surely shows my own biases as right from the opening cords, and the first couple lines it feels like Micheal Stipe visited the studio that day - yet I should perhaps mention that another song on the album had me thinking Joe Strummer did the same. Still this drives home my original point Peter Bjorn and John are not a one hit wonder, they are much better than that.

Every Martyr in this Jungle (Estate Sale Sign)

It's truly a week for lovers of the lyrical arts - I've already mentioned James Mercer today but the full album I'm most excited for this week  is The Mountain Goats All Eternals Deck. This is almost entirely due to  John Darnielle's songwriting ability ; Just for a bit of perspective he once won a New York state award for lyricism - this in a place that is arguably as close as it gets to a heartland of hip-hop. Some fans of the band have begun to sour toward this cleaner more polished product - yearning instead for the lo-fi sound that they fell in love with on the groups earlier efforts. I'm of a mind that anything new is exciting from these guys, nostalgic or not. Some may also be glad to know this isn't a concept album like 2009's The Life of The World to Come. Here is my early favorite from the album " Estate Sale Sign " undoubtedly the hardest rocking track, in which Darnielle's voice quakes with emotion that only comes from something written and sung from deep deep down in a persons soul.

(this live recording may not be all that kind to your speakers - particularly at the very beginning but I felt that it may also remind some of those listeners who are possibly bellyaching over the studio sound that the live
 experience is something else completely)

The Question is Simple, Why Not Be Smiling? (An Easy Life)

Broken Bells is in some ways almost too awesome to exist. It's the kind of collaboration music nerds like me usually only dream of seeing.  James Mercer (of The Shins) has been one of my favorite songwriters for years, and lately it seems everything Danger Mouse touches turns to gold  - maybe we should start calling him Midas Mouse. Nah, that sounds too much like Modest Mouse. But wait a minute there, maybe I'm on to something!  A musing for another day I suppose. Meyrin Fields, the duo's new EP which drops tomorrow totals only four tracks - yet what it lacks in quantity it certainly makes up for in quality. There's not a stinker here and that is reason to smile Though I'd be fibbing if I said I wouldn't have gladly waited another three months or so for another full album. Here is my early favorite from the EP "An Easy Life".

No Wine, No Cheese - But Still A Tasting of... Something (Move On)

I've been told I have taste. I've been told it is good. I've been told it is bad. I've been told it is strange. I'm not one to dwell too much on any one of these opinions but the fact remains that I enjoy sharing music. That is the sole reason this blog exists. Chances are  my posts will be brief but numerous - restricted only by my own personal excitement over bands, albums, tours and everything music related. I will for the most part keep this current, which means I won't be looking backward often. I could wax poetic about my deep love of music till you begged me to stop (or more likely just closed this page) but I will save us both the time and trouble by ending this introduction here... fittingly enough with the help of a song titled "Move On" by Bing Ji Ling (the opener from his new album Shadow To Shine which came out on Tuesday on Tummy Touch .

These Killing Hands (The Tide Pulls from the Moon)

William Fitzsimmons is yet another folk singer with a soft-spoken delivery - still his clever lyrics often impress me which is what I think separates him from what seems to be an overly crowded niche in folk music these days. This is his fifth project and while time will tell whether or not its his best I do feel relatively safe in saying Gold in the Shadow may be his most appealing work to date. Small wonder that when I  brought him up in conversation I  heard that increasingly familiar response "Oh he had a song on Grey's Anatomy!".. Now I've never watched the show, and don't plan on it but it seems someone in their music department deserves some credit for having taste. Here is the new album's lead single "The Tide Pulls from the Moon"