Book The Grizzly Owls
We are both teachers and next week is our last week of work. We are ready for summer break and anxious to get out on the road and play some shows.
If you are interested in booking The Grizzly Owls contact either:
or on Myspace:
EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOAD: Everest - Rebels in the Roses + Reloader
It may seem like putting five grown men in a van and sending them on the road is a tall order, but when you're looking at a row of three or four guitars (depending on whether someone's on an organ) and four microphones so that at times you've got twangy, angelic harmonies so dense you can't figure exactly what goes where only that it sounds lovely, it seems a small price to pay to be squished in a van. Anchored by the honestly earthy vocals of Russell Pollard, Everest has created 11 songs of acoustic pop brilliance on Ghost Notes - released by Neil Young's Vapor Records and recorded in Elliott Smith's former room, New Monkey Studio, on classic vintage equipment, recorded and mixed entirely to analog tape. If the recording credentials don't immediately make you realize this band is for real, if you dig into the band members resume file, you'll find tours of duty spent with Sebadoh, the Folk Implosion, Ealimart, Slydell, John Vanderslice, Mike Stinson and the Watson Twins and a video on their MySpace with the band being accompanied by various members of My Morning Jacket.
RCRD LBL is happy to showcase two songs from the Ghost Notes debut. "Rebels in the Roses," opens up Everest's debut quietly introducing the listener to what they can expect from the band. The lyrics are so sweetly heartfelt you immediately feel like you could bring these dudes to a family function and they would probably call your mom "ma'am" and play horseshoes over beers with your grandpa. The tune is a slow build but as each new element is introduced to the song, the understanding that this band has you in the palm of their hand and they'll bring you exactly where you want to be is implicit. Then there's "Reloader." This tune came on during an iPod shuffle session and someone quipped, is this Wings minus Linda? If you're looking for a pop song so catchy you'll be shouting out the chorus the second time it comes around, this is your jam. If you give this album the time it deserves, prepare to have these melodies in your head indefinitely.
Sounds Like: Brendan Benson, My Morning Jacket, Fleet Foxes, Moon High
EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOAD: Cold War Kids - Something Is Not Right With Me
.jpg)
We know you guys have been salivating for some new Cold War Kids tracks, and we have just the thing to quench your overwhelming desire for urban indie Americana this morning. “Something is Not Right With Me” is a brand new, RCRD LBL exclusive track off of the Cold War Kids’ second album Loyalty To Loyalty (out Sept 23rd) , and if we use this as a measuring stick for the new material, then we’re all in for a special treat when the LP drops. Singer Nathan Willet has cultivated his inner Frank Black, and it makes for the sort of raw kinetic power that appeared on their debut album Robbers and Cowards. While we’re waiting to see where CWK are going to take us, take in “Something Is Not Right With Me” below.
Sounds like: The Pixies, Tom Waits, The Walkmen
Exclusive Download: Cold War Kids - Something Is Not Right With Me
Stream: Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up To Dry
Stream: Cold War Kids - Hospital Beds
DOWNLOAD: Florence and the Machine - Kiss With a Fist + Postcards from Italy
Horrifyingly, we’ve totally missed Florence and the Machine live every chance we’ve had over the past year, and we can’t kick ourselves in the asses enough over it. We’ve obsessively collected every MP3 and YouTube video we can find of fresh-faced Florence Welch, who sings about love and loss over Americana-tinged alt. folk with the help of such new British luminaries like Dev Hynes of Lightspeed Champion. Her most popular song so far, “Kiss With a Fist”, echoes the slightly disturbing line “A kiss with a fist is better than none” over scuzzy guitar riffs, and “Postcards from Italy” makes use of her softer vocal abilities in conjunction with a mandolin. FATM just released “Kiss With a Fist” as their debut single on IAMSOUND records, so make sure to keep an eye out for more records in the near future.
Sounds like: The Libertines, The Spinto Band, Neko Case
VIDEO THRWBCK: Cat Power - He War (2003)
We're obviously ecstatic that Chan Marshall has found happiness and stopped the booze, and we're totally into her new Bob Dylan, Delta blues, ramblin' woman musical style, but every now and again we'd love it if she wrote a song as bleak and heart-wrenching as "He War" again. Just like, one single.
DOWNLOAD: Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Danny Callahan
Seems like Conor Oberst has taken a page out of the Cold War Kids Manual To Modern Urban Americana for his new, self-titled album. “Danny Callahan”, a brand new song from his brand new project Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band pick up where his last Bright Eyes album Cassadaga left off, only it sounds like Conor left the spooky desert commune that album depicted and followed his heart down a long and winding road. Conor’s voice is so distinctive that it gives all of his many, many projects a very recognizable common thread, and that’s why he’ll always be more or less as popular as he’s always been—he always disversifies his music just enough to stay interesting, but not too much as to become irrelevant. So bravo Conor/Bright Eyes/etc, another one in the bag.
Sounds like: Cold War Kids, The Felice Brothers
Download: Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Danny Callahan
DOWNLOAD: Death to Anders - Camera Lense + Ghost Rock
Sometimes you just want a good, stiff drink. Or a cigarette after you've "quit." Or a good lay. Or a car with a tank full of gas and an open road. Or the kind of song you can just pound the steering wheel and shout along to (that's not "Free Fallin'"). Sometimes you don't want songs with animal noises or weird glitches or lyrics that came out of Macbeth. Sometimes you just want a good rock song, something you can just live with in your head, that won't drive you crazy but can play over and over again and begin to feel classic. Sometimes you should really just put on Death to Anders.
Combining the melody that seems to come in the water in Silverlake like flouride with the abandon of four dudes making good rock songs with the ability to craft tunes that are both smart and so catchy they could be hummed walking down the street, Death to Anders has come as damn near close to making perfect rock songs as pretty much any band around. This isn't haphazard and it's not sludgey and it's not overly arty. This is Americana. This is a baseball game. Or drinking beer in the backyard with your buddies. Or sitting around a campfire with some guitars and some smokes and some girls and singing as loud as you can into the night. If you've been looking for some good new old rock songs, spend some time with Death to Anders and their Fictitious Business.
Sounds Like: Sam Champion, Pixies, Blitzen Trapper, Neutral Milk Hotel
Download: Death to Anders - Camera Lense
FEATURED: Phosphorescent at Brooklyn Vegan
Brooklyn Vegan reports that RCRD LBL fave Phosphorescent will be playing a July 4th show at Glasslands in Brooklyn, with all proceeds from the event going to the Obama campaign. Now, if there's one thing we love more than ethereal Americana it's Barack Obama, so if you don't have any plans for your Independence Day, we highly suggest you go to this show--it's a win win situation (for both your eardrums and AMERICA!)
Phosphorescent at Brooklyn Vegan
Download: Phosphorescent - A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise
Download: Phosphorescent - You've Lost that Loving Feeling (Righteous Brothers cover)
TOUR: Silver Jews and Monotonix
RCRD LBL faves Silver Jews are going to head out on tour with manic Israeli post punk band Monotronix this fall, which is obviously set to be one of the THE concert experiences of year. Both bands are on Drag City, so it’s going to be a warm family affair (although, at a mammoth 37 dates, the trek will be insane to say the least). This is only the second American tour in singer-songwriter David Berman’s 20-year career (he refused to play live before finally agreeing in 2006), so this is one of those things you have to see, or you’ll regret it forever (like when we didn’t go see Smashing Pumpkins when we were 14, but we digress). Check out the dates after the jump, and read our interview with Silver Jews that we posted last week, as well as some MP3s.
Interview with David Berman of Silver Jews
Download: Silver Jews - Strange Victory, Strange Defeat
Stream: Silver Jews - Candy Jail
Download: Monotonix - Summers and Autumns
DOWNLOAD: Apollo Sunshine - 666: The Coming of the New World Government
Like the The Stone Roses and the Beatles before them, Apollo Sunshine has harnessed the best moments of the psychedelia of their era and transplanted it into an epic yet palatable pop song. “666: The Coming of the New World Government” is a track off of Apollo Sunshine’s upcoming third album Shall Noise Upon, and was recorded in a haunted house in the Catskills (well, we don’t know that it was haunted first-hand, but have you ever seen those old houses in Update NY? Straight up Amityville Horror) with members of White Flight, Drug Rug, Edan, Tulsa and Viva Viva. It seems like with bands like MGMT and Chairlift, the whole psych-pop sound is really taking off, so here’s to Shall Noise Upon being one of the big records of that genre for 2008.
Sounds like: Drug Rug, The Beatles, The Stone Roses
Download: Apollo Sunshine - 666: The Coming of the New World Government
Site developed by Gelo Factory