I recently stumbled across Matthew Perryman Jones on my musical travels. To be honest, I’m not sure how I made it there, but I’m glad I did. It was like finding a $5 bill in your coat pocket a year later or realizing you got 11 chicken nuggets instead of 10 at your favorite fast food joint (in my case Wendys.) It was an unexpected treat.
His voice is easy on the ears and his songs have a quality similar to that of Rufus Wainwright. And I loves me some Rufus. If you’re looking for a singer-songwritery, adult alternative man of the hour, look no further than Matthew Perryman Jones. It probably helps that he lives in one of the musical capitals of probably the world: Nashville, TN. I mean, it’s the home of country music, not to mention the likes of some of our favorite artists including Andrew Ripp, Dave Barnes and Ben Rector (just to name a few.)
But don’t take my word for it. Check out this super official video for “Save You” from Swallow the Sea. It’s like, the real deal.
Buy Swallow the Sea:
So we haven’t posted anything super hardcore in a while. I’m talking about the type of stuff that makes you feel like you just got punched in the face by pure awesome. The kind of music that makes you run faster and jump higher. The stuff that was made by the business end of a kick-ass stick. Well guess what? You’ve just been served. 10 Years has that kick-ass stick.
Figure 1.1
Their new release Feeding the Wolves not only has a manly name, but a manly album cover (see Figure 1.1). Historically I’ve found that if an album has an awesome cover, an awesome name and an awesome artist behind it, you are destined to have something worth its weight in gold. Don’t believe me? Tell that to Michael Jackson’s Thriller or Guns N Roses’ Appetite for Destruction. Yeah, I didn’t think so.
The entire album is a hard-hitting mix of heavy guitar and steel-laden vocals to match. The tracks rarely miss a beat, taking breaks only to show their softer side with powerful ballads (that are not-so-much ballads, I just can’t think of another word to describe them.)
10 Years is currently on the tail-end of the Carnival of Madness tour with the likes of Shinedown, Chevelle, Sevendust, and Puddle of Mudd. But not to worry, they will be headed back out on the road with numerous upcoming tour dates to support the release of their new album.
Buy Feed the Wolves:
We featured Civil Twilight a few weeks back for their wildly popular single “Letters From the Sky”. This alt/punk band has exploded on the alt/punk rock scene as of late and for good reason. Their haunting melodies mixed with smooth piano and percussion as steady as a heartbeat make their sound comparable to Muse or Barcelona (without emulating their exact sound of course.)
But how do these guys’ success translate beyond their wildly popular single? Well, they’ve been around since their debut release in 2007, but really only started to receive notable success with their 2009 self-titled release. “Letters From the Sky” reached #7 on the U.S. Alternative charts and #1 in my heart. So their single helped open the doorway to the great tracks on the self-titled album (which just so happen to be just as good.) After hearing the album in its entirety, I was immediately drawn to the vocals which lend an almost eerie ambiance to an interesting mix of emotional tracks.
It is quite easy to get lost in the music which, to me, is a unique quality that few bands possess. You could close your eyes and forget for a moment where you are and what you’re doing. I suppose that could be dangerous on most occassions (say, for example, you were driving a race car or skydiving or something…that would probably be un-good.) But in most normal situations, it is a pleasant escape from the busy ramblings of everyday life.
Check out the video for “Letters From the Sky”:
Buy Civil Twilight:
Musicians seem to be born with the natural ability to collaborate. Everyday creative forces are uniting to unleash awesomeness on the world. It has been 24 years and I am still in love with the Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith partnership that birthed “Walk This Way”. Now, if only the world’s politicians could learn to collaborate. I won’t hold my breath on that one.
James Mercer + Danger Mouse = Broken Bells
I turn to Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton and James “he’s from The Shins” Mercer for another prime example of a well done collaboration. Danger Mouse is one of those musical genius producer types that has the Midas touch. He has brought his expertise to The Black Keys, Beck, Gorillaz and Gnarls Barkley. On his own, Danger Mouse rocks the house. Add to that, the front man of The Shins, Mr. James Mercer. Mercer’s incredible songwriting chops and haunting vocals have established him as a pillar in the indie rock community. Now for some simple math. James Mercer + Danger Mouse = Broken Bells.
There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the Broken Bells project and the self-titled album is finally available for the masses. For two years the guys have forged their styles together and what we receive is a beautiful album that is both refreshing and interesting. The lead single “The High Road” has been out for a few months and it has been a mainstay in my personal play lists. An upcoming performance at SXSW will do nothing but add to the excitement around this creative project.
KC’s Personal Picks: “The High Road”, “The Ghost Inside” and “Vaporize”
Check out the video for “The High Road”
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A buddy and I are headed to St. Louis this weekend to watch a Blues game, and while we know they suck as a professional hockey team we’re hard-pressed to find a reason to pass up free VIP seats to any sporting event. Mostly because of the free beer.
The Blues chose their team nickname because the city has a rich musical history (check out BB’s Jazz, Blues, and Soups if you’re ever in the area—great music, and the best damn muffaletta I’ve ever eaten), and up-and-coming alt-rock group Cavo is helping to keep that tradition alive with their 2009 album, “Bright Nights, Dark Days.”
These St. Louis natives burst onto the scene in 2008 with “Champagne,” which has the same grit and honesty of the really good early Puddle of Mudd stuff. Not bluesy by any stretch of the imagination, but enough to get serious airplay on the local radio stations and generate enough buzz to get inked to a major label in Reprise Records.
So “Champagne” is the first track on their first full-length album, followed by my personal favorite, “Crash,” which we featured in a recent Jukebox, and “Let it Go,” the next single that also appeared on the Transformers 2 Soundtrack. From there the rest of the album does what a radio-friendly alt-rock record is expected to do—plenty of catchy power chords and rock ballads and memorable hooks, etc. Bottom line: the whole record rocks. Every track sounds like a single. It makes you wonder how what these guys are doing is any different from what the wildly successful Daughtry is doing. It’s the same basic thing with about 30% less pop, which I guess makes it simultaneously more credible in the music community and less popular in the 13 to 18-year-old demographic. Okay, so I guess that explains it. Ho-hum.
Yes, I’ll be spending the weekend singing the blues over the horrible hockey I’ll be viewing, but the car ride down is going to be very upbeat, thanks in large part to the Cavo album I bought a couple of weeks ago. If nothing else, it’s going to be great driving music. The Blues may suck, but rock will never go bad.
Buy the album:
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