My favorites from the first half of 2012

Here are some of my favorite songs from the first half of 2012 that I haven't mentioned yet. They aren't all new, but they were new to me this year. The list:

Damien Jurado - Museum of Flight
Penguin Prison - The Worse It Gets
Shakey Graves - Built to Roam
Tall Tales and the Silver Lining - Collar to the Wind
Meg Myers - Tennessee (feat. Doctor Rosen Rosen)
Sampy & The Bad Habits - Stick with me
Theophilus London - Big Spender (feat. ASAP Rocky)
Gush - Let's Burn Again
Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires - Righteous, Ragged Songs
Fabulous, Arabia - Perm

The Bay Bridged

Lately, I've been spending a lot of my music exploration time going through Bay Area music for www.thebaybridged.com. I go through all submissions to the site, and it's a lot of fun talking to artists just starting up. So far, I've written about Anna Ash, Toby Oler, and The Fucking Buckaroos, among others. Check it out!

Outtacontroller

It's not easy to make loud punk music with two guitars, a bass and drums and remain interesting in this day and age, but Outacontroller manages to do just that. They add smooth harmonies and incredible hooks to the tried-and-true formula of loud guitars, a punk attitude, and juvenile (but witty) lyrics. They just make me want drop what I'm doing and go have fun at the beach or something. Listen to two of my favorite tracks from the LP Don't Play Dumb, and download the entire album for free from their bandcamp page.

The Blandband - Pålsboda Jam

If you listen to the Blandband without seeing the "å" in the title, you might think it came from a place like Athens, GA, or the Carolinas. And you would be wrong. "Pålsboda Jam", with its acoustic strings, horns, and a twangy lead singer interacting with background harmonies, comes from seven dudes in Uppsala, Sweden. Given Norway's obsession with The Rainmakers, I guess I can't be too surprised to hear Americana-esque sounds coming from Scandanavia. So far, it looks like they only have two songs, but I'll look forward to hearing more.

The Blandband - Pålsboda Jam (download)

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Originally found on swedesplease.

The Coasters - Love Potion #9

I often find soul covers from the 70's to be highly enjoyable:



The Coasters - Love Potion #9 (download)

Originally found on soulsides.com.

Jonny Corndawg - Night Rider

You can't always judge a song by its album cover. When this album art popped up on my playlist of stuff I hadn't heard, I didn't expect to hear one of the softest and sweetest truckin' songs known to man. Corndawg's gentle voice over the steady rhythm form the perfect soundtrack for a long road trip in the middle of the night. All while not taking himself too seriously, which we all should appreciate.

Jonny Corndawg - Night Rider (download)
Jonny Corndawg on facebook

Also, check out this great kickstarter video used to raise funds for his "Dad Country" album recorded with Dawes:

Through and Through Gospel Review

Through & Through Gospel Review is an album Joel Marquard recorded in a spare room in his house in Arizona with a reel-to-reel. He writes traditional-sounding gospel songs, adds distorted, muddy guitars and lots of reverb to create a sound that is both uplifting and haunting at the same time.



Through & Through Gospel Review - I'm Not Dead, I'm Alive

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Download Through & Through Gospel Review's album for "name your price" at Bandcamp