PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND: PRESERVATION

Feb 232010

I’m going to keep this relatively brief because if you know anything at all about the Preservation Hall Jazz band, you know it’s a brilliant record.

So, if you enjoy jazz, swing, blues or anything at all about American Roots music, and you enjoy hearing your favorite songs performed by an incredibly eclectic and talented collection of artists, backed by the best jazz ensemble in America, then this is a record you need to own. You’ll probably also want to buy several additional copies so you can distribute them to any friends who may have been physically incapacitated and, thus, incapable of purchasing this Essential Listening album.

If you’re not interested in the history and tradition of American music, or in contributing your money to the preservation of an American institution, then you’ll probably want to continue listening to whatever Starbucks tells you would best complement your double tall, nonfat Grande Caramel Latte.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Tom Waits – “Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing” (from Preservation)

Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Jason Isbell – “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” (from Preservation)

THE MALDIVES – LISTEN TO THE THUNDER

Feb 222010


When Kasey mentioned The Maldives late last year, labeling them “the best country band you’ve never heard”, I was intrigued. Partially seeing it as a challenge, I sought out to acquire their album, Listen To The Thunder. As year end lists started rolling in, I saw their name repeated on a few left-coast based blogs and I knew it was time I checked these Seattle kids out for myself. After a single pass through the album I knew it was necessary that they get a proper ninebullets.net writeup. My only regret is that it took this long for it to happen.

The Maldives come out of Seattle nine members strong, featuring Jason Dodson (Guitar, Lead Vocal), Jesse Bonn (Guitar, Piano), Tim Gadbois (Guitar, Piano), Ryan McMackin (Drums), Chris Warner (Bass), Chris Zasche (Pedal Steel), Seth Warren (Violin), Kevin Barrans (Accordion, Banjo) and Tomo Nakayama (Percussion, Piano), all coming together to create a sound just as expansive as their roster. Over the years the band’s line up has been pretty rough and tumble, but it started to settle in back in 2004 when singer Jason asked Jessee Bonn and fellow guitarist Tim Gadbois to sit in with him for a show. Like glances across a crowded bar, this chance night proved to be a life-altering experience for the turbulence that had been The Maldives. After that, the members and albums just seemed to fall into place, with Listen To The Thunder fully consummating the act.

The band self-describes their sound as “country music if Garth Brooks never happened”. Honestly, I have no idea what that even means. I’d describe their sound as country music being made by kids who spent a large amount of high-school listening to indie-rock. I’d file them along with acts like American Aquarium, Olin & The Moon and Ha-Ha Tonka. Another way to say the same thing is to say that if The Old 97′s would have come around today, they’d probably have sounded an awful lot like the way The Maldives do now.

As to whether this was the best country album I didn’t hear last year or not is tough to say. Hell, the massive stack of unlistened to cds in my computer room will tell you there were a whole lot of country cds I didn’t get to listen to last year. Best or not, I can say this: in a better world, Listen To The Thunder is an album I would have heard last year and, had I heard it, I would have labeled it Essential Listening without a moment’s hesitation.

Check these kids out:

The Maldives – Cold November
The Maldives – Whidbey Island Blues
The Maldives – Time Is Right Now

The Maldives Official Site, The Maldives on myspace, Buy Listen To The Thunder

GREYMARKET: SOME ORBITS WILL NEVER DECAY

Feb 192010


Greymarket is Mike Gargiulo (drums) and L. Cave McCoy (guitar, vocals) and they’re based out of our little home town of Tampa. I’ve never been good at knowing what genres to stuff bands into, so the best way I can describe them is to say that their sound is loud, modern electronic/guitar rock, with a nod to classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin. In other words, this shit is right up my alley.

I’ve seen Greymarket a number of times and just got a copy of the album a month ago. Yes, I am a slacker. I already knew I loved them as a live act, which actually caused me to be a little worried about whether their charisma was going to carry over to recorded media. I don’t think it even took a whole song for me to realize that my worries were entirely unfounded in reality.

Completely unconsciously, I’ve thought of these guys as a “local band” for so long that upon hearing this album it totally hit me that that’s not what they are at all. I realized, instead, that they are in fact a “real band” that just happens to live in my home town. How very lucky for me.

Some Orbits Will Never Decay is polished and smooth and lush and layered. Live, they’re definitely larger than the sum of their two parts, and on the album it’s even better. A couple of the highlights for me are “Hey, Mr. Spaceman”, which was one of the first tracks I found myself singing along to, and “Cascade (Down the Rabbit Hole)”, which I resisted at first because the Alice in Wonderland thing has been done before, but eventually had to succumb to because of its sheer catchiness. “Full of Stars” is probably my favorite track, with its gentle beginning full of acoustic strings and soothing vocals that bridges into big ass layers of electric guitars and crashing percussion, but the NASA samples in the middle are a little garbled and go on a touch too long for me. I can see and appreciate what they were going for with them, though, and it’s one hell of a song and a good way to wrap up a hell of an album.

I can’t think of much I don’t completely love about this album. I’m super proud of these guys and they have potential to get some airtime with a lot of these songs. They just kicked off a tour last weekend (check out the dates here) so check out the songs below and go show some love if they hit your home town.

Greymarket – Full of Stars

Greymarket – Hey, Mr. Spaceman

Greymarket’s Official Site, Greymarket on MySpace, Buy Some Orbits Will Never Decay

KASEY ANDERSON: I WAS A PHOTOGRAPH VIDEO

Feb 192010

A while back I asked friends and fans to submit videos for my song “I Was A Photograph.” Three winners were selected, two of which I can now post (the third will be available shortly). Below you’ll find Robert Archer and Aubrey Bramble’s videos for the song, both of which are stunning and haunting, and both of which I am extremely grateful for.

(Editors Note: If you’re not familiar with the song’s backstory you might want to read this post prior to proceeding.)

I Was A Photograph by Robert Archer


I Was A Photograph from Kasey Anderson on Vimeo.

I Was A Photograph by Aubrey Bramble

JOE PUG: MESSENGER

Feb 182010

Pug

Joe Pug is infuriatingly good.

Let me clarify. If you’re a fellow songwriter, Joe Pug is infuriatingly good. Gifted with razor-sharp wit, vivid, eloquent lyricism and a voice that echoes the younger incarnations of Prine and Dylan, Joe Pug makes other songwriters – most of whom will spend their entire lives trying to write songs half as good as Pug’s – furious. If you’re somebody who simply listens to and enjoys music, there’s nothing infuriating about Pug; he’s just a Godsend.

After the staggering brilliance of Pug’s debut EP, Nation of Heat, his first full-length LP, Messenger, could have been a colossal letdown, simply because Pug set expectations so high. It is anything but. Messenger is a collection of ten literate, poetic gems, brimming over with wit, wisdom and imagery. At 25 years old, Pug has filled his first two releases with a lifetime’s worth of brilliance, setting the bar incredibly high for himself, and damn near unreachably high for any other songwriter of his generation. He is, as they say, the Real Deal.

Take for instance the coming-of-age anthem “Not So Sure.” Pug casually tosses off the admission that he “undressed somebody’s daughter, then complained about her looks,” which seems simple enough until you stop to consider that he has, in less than ten words, captured everything worth saying about the mercurial and dismissive nature of young romance. That’s something of a feat for anyone else. For Pug, it is one of dozens of lines that distill the countless nuances of life down to simple, undeniable truths. To say this is not an easy task for a writer is like saying a 102 MPH fastball is moving “pretty fast.”

If there is one knock on Messenger, and even this is a bit of a reach, it is that the arrangements are very much “stock” roots music. The pedal steel comes in exactly when you think it will, and the accompanying electric guitar plays the lick you expect it to. For anyone else, it would just be a matter of a clean arrangement but for a songwriter of Pug’s considerable gifts, it seems something of a disappointment.

Nitpicking notwithstanding, Pug’s album will find its way to numerous Best of 2010 lists as well as Essential Listening lists, and rightfully so. Soon, he’ll have only himself to compete with.

Joe Pug – “Not So Sure” (from Messenger)

Joe Pug – “The Door Is Always Open” (from Messenger)

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