Catching on Waaaaaayyyyyyy Too Late

One of the best albums I've purchased this year is The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls in America. Unfortunately it finds itself ineligible for any Top Ten albums status because it actually came out last year. But I didn't buy it until some point this year. Well, i've loved it and would consider it one of my favorite albums.....EVER. (GASPS are heard in the background....)

This being the case, i just downloaded their previous album, Separation Sunday, which came out way the heck back in 2005. Better late than never, I suppose. Well.....go figure....i love this one, too!! Its another great album. I love their lead singer Crain Finn's clever lyricism and delivery. He sings a lot about growing up in the Minneapolis suburbs, drugs, drinking, going to parties, drugs, and drugs....all while using some very unexpected Christian undertones. Its unlike anything else I've ever heard. Its not a Hold Steady song unless it includes one lyric that makes you think, "Damn, I wish I would've thought of that." The winner from the Boys and Girls album comes from the song Citrus....."lost in fog and love and faithless fear,
I've had kisses that make Judas seem sincere." That's one I wish I had in my back catalog (it would increase the number of clever lyrics I've come up with to an astounding total of 1). I haven't heard much by the way of new albums coming out, but I can guarantee this will be a "buy on the release date" CD.

Anyways....Separation Sunday......here's two tracks that I think are good representatives of the rest of the albums.

The Hold Steady - Cattle and the Creeping Things (good example of the unexpected Christian references)
The Hold Steady - Multitude of Casualties

Love the lyric in this one, "At least in dying you don't have to deal with new wave for a second time." HA! That's great. Suck it, New Order.

You can purchase all their albums for a very reasonable $10 at their website here. Very very worth it.

PS Okkervil River's got some stuff up on Daytrotter's website now....check it out if you get a chance.

More Daytrotter Goodness....

ME: Uhm, Wayne? What do you do if every time you see this one incredible website, you think you're going to hurl?

WAYNE: I say hurl. If you blow chunks and she comes back, she's yours. But if you spew and she bolts, then it was never meant to be.



This is the way I feel everytime I go to the Daytrotter website. Daytrotter is my Garth's Dreamwoman. Well, now they are back with more goodness. This time its Andrew Bird playing with a band called Dianogah. I'll put two songs below, but remember there's always four, so go to the website and get the other two. They're always great. Actually, if you haven't signed up for the Daytrotter email list, you should do so. I didn't realize they had one until like 5 minutes ago, so I'm hoping they'll send me some regular updates on upcoming bands, etc. I think you'll like the two I've posted here, especially the version of Fiery Crash. Its one of my favorite off the last album.

Now, I'm relatively new to the Andrew Bird scene. So, for those a little more well-versed in Andrew Bird-dom what album to you recommend I check out next. I know he's got a couple. I love Armchair Apocrypha, like possibly Top Ten of 2007 love. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.

Anyhoo, here's the trackolas:

Andrew Bird (Daytrotter Session) - Fiery Crash
Andrew Bird (Daytrotter Session) - Plasticities

RR

Pink Is My Favorite Color

This KGB site is a nucular.

Well dammit...Rutledge went and done it. He introduced the Daytrotter website to me and now I am checking it pretty damn frequently -- another way to waste time at work. Anyway, two bands I am very interested in have been featured as of late. The latest is The National, which I've mentioned before. I can't stop listening to Boxer, their newest album. Check out their cover of the Psychedelic Furs, Pretty In Pink here. The site also features some other tunes from Boxer, which you can access from here. The second guy is Will Johnson, the head honcho of Centr0-matic. This cat is always writing and this Daytrotter session features a few tunes, including the previously unreleased Emma Jane. Check it out, along with three other song, here. After reading the article, I love this guy even more -- he's a bigtime Cardinals' guy!

BK

Back from Vacation

Hello again, RadioKGB. This is my first post in a couple of weeks and I'd like to apologize for my inactivity. But I just got back from an extremely relaxing vacation to the Atlantic coast, so I'm not too terribly sorry about my absence. That said, however, I would like to talk for a bit about a band I spent most of my time on the beach listening to. That band is a little pop group called Bishop Allen. You can check out their website here. To date, Bishop Allen has released one LP, Charm School, and 12 different EPs (one for each month of 2006). All of these can be purchased either digitally or in some physical sense (i.e. CD) on their website, and the January and February EPs are available from eMusic.


So far what I enjoy the most about Bishop Allen is very simple to understand, they write extremely good pop songs. So, I suppose in Gerdon's mind this makes them equal to The Beatles....HEY-O! I'm just kidding, my friend. In all seriousness though, these are some damn good songs. They've got a new album coming out July 24 called The Broken String, and based on everything I've heard so far, you can bet I'll be picking it up. So, I'm going to post a few songs that I've collected, the first three of which are available free on their website. Nothing complicated here, just some damn good songs.

Bishop Allen - Click Click Click Click (from the upcoming The Broken String)
Bishop Allen - Rain (ditto)
Bishop Allen - Things are What You Make of Them (from Charm School)
Bishop Allen - Butterfly Nets (from their Daytrotter session)

And while I'm at it there's a lot of good stuff available now over at the Daytrotter website, which I previously mentioned in this post. Here's a few examples of what I'm talking about...

The Long Winters - Scared Straight (from their Daytrotter session)
David Bazan (of Pedro the Lion fame) - Harmless Sparks/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (from his Daytrotter session)

Keep an eye on the site, they've always got new stuff coming in.

RR

R.I.P. Boris Yeltsin

Tough day here at the Radio KGB headquarters, what with the passing of Boris Yeltsin and all. I offer up this song, that has nothing to do with Boris Yeltsin, but is by a group called Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Not even sure if he would've liked this song, but here's paying my repect....

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Oregon Girl

I'd like to use this opportunity to advertise a site I recently stumbled upon. The website is Daytrotter.com. Daytrotter is a site in which travelling indie rockers stop by and offer up recordings on their way across the country. The bands usually record B-sides or alternate versions of songs on their albums live in the Daytrotter studio. Four songs are always recorded and are made available for FREE download at the Daytrotter website. The above tribute to Boris Yeltsin was taken from the Daytrotter website. There's still a lot of bands on the site that I've never heard, but I figured why not give some of these touring bands a chance.

I've decided to give you a listen to two other songs I got from Daytrotter. These songs are from two of the bigger names currently on the indie circuit. Enjoy.

Peter and the Wolf - Lightness (Alternate Version)

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Goodbye Dear Old Stepstone

RR