Reviews

BILLY + JOE — BREATHE

May 012012

Billy + Joe is the duo of Vancouver-based songwriter Billy the Kid and Richmond’s Joe McMahon, who fronts the rock band Smoke or Fire. Their first collaborative project was a youtube onslaught of 31 cover songs in 31 days this past January. Now, they’ve released their first batch of original songs–the Breathe EP. You should listen to it.

They make such interesting partners–Billy’s songs sound a little like a Smoke or Fire singalong anthem, and Joe’s songs seem to owe a lot to Billy the Kid’s bedroom chorales. The back-and-forth between them isn’t cheap lust, it’s total respect–like a Gaye/Terrell duet. They bring out the best in each other, they make riskier choices on this EP than in their solo work. It’s rare to hear a duo wherein both the male and female voices can be both muscly and vulnerable. It makes for a balanced album and a ton of great choruses. Listen to this if you like Archers of Loaf or Aimee Mann or if you know what’s good for you.

Billy + Joe – Blood
Billy + Joe – Falling
Billy + Joe – Whiskey

Buy Breathe on iTunes, keep up with Billy + Joe on Facebook, and watch all their videos, including the 31 cover songs (which prove to be one hell of a punk rock oral history), on the billyplusjoe youtube channel.

THE COUNTING CROWS – UNDERWATER SUNSHINE

Apr 272012

I’ve been a Counting Crows fan from the day I heard “Mr. Jones”. In my opinion, people willing to sit down and listen to the songs Adam Duritz writes will find unfairly ridiculed gems. I said that to my wife and she scoffed, saying, “Nobody but you listens to that band, Bryan.” Her “nobody but you” really referred to our little circle of commercial radio scoffing snobs, but the point was made and it hung in the balance between us. I can’t say I’ve ever turned her into a Counting Crows fan, just like I doubt I ever made any new Mellencamp fans around here, despite my continual raves of his albums.

That said, reading that the band was putting out a covers album left me incredibly underwhelmed. I am naturally distrustful of the cover song. Why did the band include this track? Did they love it? Were they unable to write an original that they were happy with and needed to fill some time? Why? Why? Why? You never truly know with a cover song, and ever so rarely am I truly happy with the result. But I’m talking about a song on an album. This…this is an album of songs. And they’re all covers.

As you can imagine, my distrust of the cover track expands exponentially when it’s a cover album. Don’t like the idea of them. Not one bit. Too often, a band puts out a cover album that sounds exactly like that; a band playing other bands’ songs. To be honest, there are moments where Underwater Sunshine sounds exactly like that. Lucky for us, they’re pretty far and few between.

On my second pass through this album I took out a sheet of paper and made 3 columns; “Good”, “Bad”, “Okay” and I started counting songs. The final score played out like this: Good (7), Bad (2) and Okay (7), and for a cover album, that’s a homerun.

The highlight of the album very well may be their version of a (once our very own) Kasey Anderson track, “Like Teenage Gravity”. Listening to it is funny. More so than any other track on this cd, “Like Teenage Gravity” feels like it is a Counting Crows song. Honestly, it’s given me a desire to go back and listen to Kasey’s discography with a renewed focus and, in the end, isn’t that the focus of a cover album? Judging from Adam’s track by track writeup on Paste, I think he would say yes…

Here are two of my favorite tracks and one I hated.

Counting Crows – Like Teenage Gravity (Kasey Anderson)
Counting Crows – Hospital (Coby Brown)
Counting Crows – Jumping Jesus (Sordid Humor)

Counting Crows’ Official Site, Counting Crows on Facebook, Counting Crows on Spotify, Buy Underwater Sunshine

JORDAN MINOR – THE COTTONWOOD TREE

Apr 262012

I am sucker for songs about Billy The Kid and if toss in a song about bootlegging and drugs you’ll have me hooked. That’s exactly what Jordan Minor has done with The Cottonwood Tree. That’s what sucked me in but it ain’t what kept me. You see Mr. Minor is a storyteller and I love me a storyteller. Top it off with him being a Red Dirt artist and it’s pretty much a guarantee that I’d find something on this album that I’d really like and I did.

Now this album isn’t perfect and at times it’s obvious that this is a first album but for all its faults it’s still pretty damn good. You see, the thing is that the good tracks are really good and the others are only a little off. This is a country album through and through and I love it for that alone but Jordan’s storytelling sets him apart. He has a way with words when he isn’t trying too hard. Some of the subject choices are kind of trite and some of the lyrics seemed forced but for all the faults I could find with The Cottonwood Tree I think this kid has a helluva lot of talent and will be worth supporting and watching. Not everyone’s first album is perfect and I think that it’s obvious Jordan put a lot of work in to this one. Overall this is a pretty fun album and you could do a whole lot worse these days.

Jordan Minor – The Ballad Of William Bonney
Jordan Minor – The Cottonwood Tree
Jordan Minor – Still Shinin’

Jordan Minor’s official site, Jordan Minor on Facebook, Buy The Cottonwood Tree

SUNDAY VALLEY – TO THE WIND AND ON TO HEAVEN

Apr 252012

EDIT: SUNDAY VALLEY HAS NOW CHANGED THEIR NAME TO: “Sturgill Simpson & The High Top Mountain Boys”

Until Saving Country Music mentioned them yesterday, I’d never heard of Nashville’s Sunday Valley.

Since then?
Utterly. Obsessed.
I mean, like, I’ve listened to To The Wind And On To Heaven six times since then obsessed.

Apparently, To The Wind was released in January of last year and the band is currently back in the studio recording a new album but that doesn’t mean you should sleep on this one. To summarize my man Mike Ostrov, To The Wind is a “totally bullshitless record”.

I couldn’t have said it better myself and a totally bullshitless record deserves a totally bullshitless review.

Essential Listen. No bullshit.

Sunday Valley – All The Pretty Colors
Sunday Valley – I Don’t Mind
Sunday Valley – Jesus Boogie

Sunday Valley’s Official Site, Sunday Valley on Facebook, Buy To The Wind And On To Heaven

The Only Sons – When The New Wears Off

Apr 242012

I had a loveseat once.

Recently I moved into a basement apartment, it was terrible experience and life in the basement has been rather deflating.  Fourteen months ago I lived in a home I owned but couldn’t continue to afford.  I picked up and moved across the country into a duplex and started a business.  A year later I needed to spend less on rent and thus a basement apartment.

During the move I filled the basement and worked in a circle trying to find places for everything.  I would get one area partway set up and then have to move to another section to clear some clutter.  It took days and I knew I wasn’t happy and that some of my stuff just wasn’t going to fit.

My basement still isn’t very good but things started to come together when I made a decision about the loveseat.  I put the loveseat at a friend’s house and suddenly the whole basement seemed to be tied together.  My loveseat is like the rug that The Dude owns in The Big Lebowski, but opposite.

I only told that story because I’m convinced that The Dude would love The Only Sons.  Really convinced.  I first heard the previous Only Sons record, American Stranger, when it was reviewed on Nine Bullets and picked up a copy.  It took a few months for the record to grow on me but it was real solid rock.

Something changed in the sound between American Stranger and When The New Wears Off.  There’s more swamp now and more boot stomping.  I don’t know if they were in the studio and somebody was yelling for them to add more boot stomp but it sure sounds like it.

“Devil’s Circus” is an opener that means business and the title track follows without letting go of the good time momentum.  And then “Bully” is a better song than the first two.  There are a couple of songs about being in a band or the life of a musician, a trend that I’ve never been fond of but with “Helping Hand” The Only Sons tap into a trend I’m much more a fan of.  It’s got a little bit of south swagger and soul mixed with the guitar rock of the rest of the album.

Here’s what I’m certain of-if you dig the three songs here you’ll enjoy the whole album.  And When The New Wears Off is a great title and Essential Listening.

The Only Sons – Devil’s Circus
The Only Sons – Bully
The Only Sons – Helping Hand

The Only Sons Official Site,  The Only Sons on facebook, The Only Sons on Spotify, Buy When The New Wears Off

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