Wilco and The Shins

Wilco and The Shins I'm blogging about in the same post because they are somewhat the same to me. I know that probably offends die hard Shins fans and Wilco fans alike but hey, its not your fuckin blog right? Anyway I hope I redeem myself to those fans because I really enjoy these band's music.
My brother and I saw Wilco live in Duluth back in September, and it was a wicked experience. The show was at the Bayfront Park on a cold (for September) drizzly night. I had really not listened too to much Wilco ( sans Jesus etc. ) before the show but was quite the fan afterwards. That says something for a band by the way. They have at least four good songs on each of their albums, which as my father taught me, makes a pretty good band. My favorite songs:
1) Either Way
2) Hummingbird
3) A shot in the arm
4) Handshake Drugs
5) Why would you wanna live
The Shins also have the different kind of sound that Wilco does, funky and intuitive, they have a number of good songs as well. Their new album is probably the best one in my opinion but they have really good songs on previous albums as well such as the songs: Girl on the wing, and New slang.

Old Crow Medicine Show

Good old bluegrass from Tennessee. A lot of people probably know their somewhat hit "Wagon Wheel" and if you've heard it, you dig it and if you've heard it but don't dig it, then piss off. Old Crow has alot of other good songs on their album. A lot of their songs may not be the traditional bluegrass theme, instead singing about cocaine..a lot. They also have a really good song about going to Vietnam titled "Big time in the jungle" My favorite song on the album though is titled "Take them away," this song is about being a black man working on a chain gang. " Some birds feathers are too bright to be caged, I know I ain't that colorful but a bird just the same." is just one of the many great lines in this song. I'm not sure if the song is a classic or one that they wrote themselves but either way, solidly groovy. A song that isn't even that bluegrass-e so if you didn't like "wagon Wheel" and you didn't piss off when I asked you, then you might even enjoy it.

Gordon Lightfoot

My older brother, whom I love and respect even after this comment, once said he is the only one in our family who doesn't like Mr. Lightfoot, and his reasoning being that he sounds like a pedophile. My roommate, who I also hold in high regard, disrespectfully calls Gordon Fatherfoot. This really makes my blood boil, but as I can easily say and totally disagree with; to each his own. Only a foolish idiot would not be able to appreciate Gordon. Granted it isn't very high paced or exciting all the time but he has so many good songs and has been around for a really long time and is still playing shows, even if he does look like the living dead, as my friends Chris and Kacy described him after his show. Top three Lightfoot songs are:
1: Canadian Railroad Trilogy
2: Summer Side of Life
3: Circle of Steel
I especially like Canadian Railroad Trilogy after a trip to the Canadian rockies this past summer. Driving through them and listening to this song was extremely rad. "Long before the white man and long before the wheel, when the green dark forest stood too silent to be real." Really struck a cord. Looking into the woods as we zoomed by, imagining what it was like before this road. Anyway the song is a type of timeline, from then to now, anyway its all good and Gordon, unlike some other bands, does have a fair amount of lame songs. Still his music is great and he is a god damn legend, the Babe Ruth, some may say, of Folk Music.

Modest Mouse

I was at a really lame party not too long ago and was pondering leaving, I started talking to a dude about Modest Mouse and he said he was a HUGE FAN! e asked me if i liked their first cd or their second better. I was a bit thrown off by this question because Modest Mouse has somewhere between 12-15 really kick ass cds and these last two have been the worst in my opinion, not bad music at all don't get me wrong but by the standards they set with earlier albums, they fell short these past two. The kid had no idea what I was talking about when i told him this, so I had no choice but to give him a list of my favorite Modest Mouse songs to listen to and these were them in no particular order: (I tried to narrow it down to five because like i say it was a really lame party so I was drinking beer fast.)
1: Talkin shit about a pretty sunset
2: Gravity rides everything
3: Night on the sun
4: Polar Opposites
5: Working on leaving the living
There are a hell of alot more good Mouse songs than bad ones, in fact I can only think of two songs I don't like by them which is pretty amazing. After meeting this dude I decided I needed to leave the scene, for it was not mine. Lesson Learned: Familiarize yourself with Modest Mouse, or at least know more before you say you're a HUGE FAN! I'm all for being a huge fan but know all their shit, you'll be an even huger fan, and who knows, maybe the HUGEST

State Radio

State Radio is one of my favorite bands, for sure in the top ten. State Radio has I'm pretty sure at least one member from the old band Dispatch. Their music is a sort of funk and sometimes a little jammy, not to put a bad taste in anyone's mouth, they are not a jam band. Their music is so groovy I can and do listen to the cd over and over especially on car trips. They take on a pretty political message in some songs but also have some less serious ones. Even when their songs like Calvada's Chopper, Camillo or People to People do take on that political agenda, they aren't jamming it down your throat with bad music, like some bands do, but the song is so great to listen to and then you hear what its about or read what its about and it makes even that much better. State Radio is definetly a band to look into if you know anything at all about good music.

Two Gallants

I have a problem of going on binges of certain CD's. Ask any of my old or current roommates, I play the shit out of a song till I get sick of it, (typically weeks or months after everyone else is sick of it). This binge right now is all about a band that my friend Mesa introduced me to a few weeks back a band from Seattle called the Two Gallants.This band has much the same appeal for me as Against Me, their words are really cool ( Long Summer Day) and the style in which they sing is so great because it's not moody, or notes on a scale oriented, so maybe it's not a musical type of singing, but what it is is the singing that anyone who has had a few beers can scream to, and I don't mean like death metal flying-V guitars screaming but just yelling more like. Anyway I have only heard two of their Cds: The Scenery of Farewell, and What the Toll Tells. The Scenery of Farewell is a bit slower for the most part than What the Toll Tells, but both very good albums. Best song from Toll Tells- Long summer day best song from Scenery- Feels like home to me.