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:
DOWNLOAD: The John Henrys - New Years
Like four fifths of their obvious musical heroes The Band, The John Henrys are from Ontario, Canada but seem well-steeped in Americana lore. Naming their band after the nineteenth century folk hero is only the beginning; the band play well-crafted country songs with lines about “stale cigarettes and cheap wine” and “making it home to you”, recalling the sounds of the Byrds circa Sweetheart Of The Rodeo or Willie Nelson’s recent Songbird album. The track we have today is “New Years” (taken from their new album Sweet As The Grain), an up-tempo joint stuffed with pentatonic leads and dry piano spurts, so grab that below for happy hour this afternoon, boss.
Sounds like: Gram Parsons, Drive-By Truckers, The Weight
EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOAD: The Weight - Johnny's Song + Closer Than A Friend + Ruin Everything
RCRD LBL alum Daniel Arnold has sung these good ol Brooklyn boys praises a couple two three times and today sees another opportunity to preach on the weirdness and wonder of the Weight. It makes no sense that the Weight's Are Men (out officially tomorrow on The Colonel Records) comes from the belly of Brooklyn and not the wilds of Kentucky, but if you're going to preach about how NYC is a melting pot, why leave out the possibility that some hirsute boys once from the down dirty post-punk scene would come up to Brooklyn, realize that acoustic guitars don't just have to be used to sing sap to girls, pedal steel and slide guitar can be righteous and sing along choruses aren't just for karaoke bars? This isn't alt. country for sensitivos, winking twang for sequenced ponchos or classic rock for ironic distance. The Weight aren't kidding. The Weight Are Men.
Sounds Like: Gram Parsons, Rolling Stones, Wax Fang, Buffalo Killers
Download: The Weight - Johnny's Song
Download: The Weight - Closer Than A Friend
Download: The Weight - Ruin Everything
Previously Posted:
Download: The Weight - A Day In The Sun
STREAM: Those Darlins - Wild One
Three lovely ladies, guitars, velvet vocal harmonies and immeasurable quantities of what my dad would undoubtedly refer to as Tennessee moxie: these are not just a few of the ingredients that fuel Those Darlins' dirt-road, throwback country jams, they comprise a feminist cocktail of its own punky persuasion as well. Man, when alliteration backfires, it can be totally ugly. Right?
A friend once told me it's better to be crazy than boring. I sort of agree and although I'm not one for re-printing lyrics, this is one of the better lines I've heard in a long while: "If you can't handle crazy go ahead and leave/ If you don't want a wild one, quit hanging 'round with me." Pretty straight-forward and awfully awesome (I'm the worst). But seriously, you'd be crazy to even consider it. Put this on repeat and hang tight -- we've got some exclusive video from the Nashville trio headed your way lickety-SPLIT.
Sounds Like: June Carter, Neko Case
INTERVIEW: David Berman of Silver Jews
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Last week was very exciting because we had the chance to introduce to you a particularly sweet cut from Silver Jews' new outing, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea. This week, alongside the album's release, we've got an e-mail conversation with the man behind the band behind the band: David Berman. More.
Sounds Like: Townes Van Zandt, Pavement, Will Oldham
DOWNLOAD: Computer Vs. Banjo - Give Up On Ghosts
Their name automatically welcomes discussion on the physics of sound. However, in this particular track, I feel The Banjo slays the Computer. Then again, the beauty of digitalism is it can be subtle and almost ghostly- melding and morphing instruments with an invisible hand. Decide for yourself and listen to the crisp, eery track by the Nashville-based duo, Gran Torino guitarist Johnny Mann and Blue Merle guitarist Beau Stapleton below. We dig the rustic, sun-down cowboy feel - guitar twangs reverberating over crackling vocal recording.
SOUNDS LIKE: Beck, G Love & Special Sauce, Alberta Cross, Young Lords,
EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOAD: Wax Fang - The Doctor Will See You Now + World War II (Pt. 2) + Cannibal Summer
Wax Fang "The Doctor Will See You Now" from carbomb detonator on Vimeo.
The line between theatrics and the pop song is a tight one to walk. The grandiose is a delicate thing to play with and incorporating modern elements into a tradition is always dicey. Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera radically combined jazz (see "Mack the Knife") with the classic elements of theater. It is safe to say that one word Wax Fang is not afraid of is "theatrical." Other welcome descriptions might include "bombastic," "extravagant," hell, why not just call it "big." These are songs with soaring choruses and pounding verses that aren't afraid to throw in a dramatic military-esque drum roll ("World War II (Pt. 2)") or the sinister sound of sharpening scissors ("The Doctor Will See You Now") for effect. These are also songs that are heavily steeped in the history of the band - their Bourbon-soaked Kentucky roots show themselves as proudly in their country riffs as Weill's love for jazz glimmered in Threepenny.
But as much as the songs on La La Land (due for re-release this fall) are lush and full or strings and studio wizardry, real appreciation for Wax Fang comes only with seeing them live. The band is recording a live record on June 20th, but if you haven't seen Wax Fang in the flesh, check out the amount of noise a three piece can create with "The Doctor Will See You Now."
Sounds Like: The Whigs, Andrew Bird, My Morning Jacket, Sam Champion, the Black Keys
Download: Wax Fang - The Doctor Will See You Now
Download: Wax Fang - World War II (Pt. 2)
Download: Wax Fang - Cannibal Summer
Live on INDIE 103.1
Back in March of 2008 we played a live performance on the ChuckP / Dead Air show on INDIE 103.1 out of Los Angeles, Ca.
We are featuring a song we played live called "Jeremiah" on our myspace:
www.myspace.com/thegrizzlyowls
Hear The Grizzly Owls stripped down to vocals, Dobro, and acoustic guitar. We were joined by special guest, Raymond Richards (Idaho Falls, Mojave 3) on acoustic guitar.
Hope you all like it,
The Grizzly Owls
SHOW + EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOAD: O'Death
Just a quick heads up, our good friends in O'Death are headlining a great show this Friday night at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg. Included in the cast of not to be missed support bands are the mighty Baltimore psych/electro popsters Ponytail, USAisamonster and Woods. Links to cop tickets—as well as a RCRD LBL exclusive single from O'death—are below.
Stream: Ponytail - Celebrate The Body Electric (It Came From An Angel)
EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOAD: The Grizzly Owls - Whiskey and Clyde
The Grizzly Owls are Jenny (vocals, harmonica, and percussion) and Joseph Andreotti (guitar, bass, percussion, piano, and keys), a married couple who look towards the Dust Bowl migrations of the early 1930s for musical inspiration. So as you can guess, their particular style of bluesy folk is sparse, fragile, and sounds as if it were blown across a barren prairie land for months before it landed in your eardrums and lulled you into a rather disquieting slumber. As Jenny’s voice pleads: “This is my last night with Clyde” you have some serious doubts that everything’s going to be OK. Maybe the Depression hit them hard, or Clyde never came back from the War or something. The ‘30s were no joke, man. Seriously.
Sounds like: Marco Solo, Cat Power, Monkey Swallows the Universe
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