This
past week has been rather hectic for me on all
fronts. I’d been out of town, living in Dallas
for most of the summer, and now I’m completing my
transition back to Austin. That means
furniture up on Craigslist, expensive trips to the
grocery store, and a mailbox overflowing with new
albums, all of which has been somewhat overwhelming.
On top of all of that, my computer is in the shop,
so I’m having to bum computer time off other people.
But enough about my moving woes, here are a few
things that were waiting for me in Austin as soon as
I got back, which once I listened to them, all added
up to be quite the welcome home gift.
:The
Telepathic Butterflies - Telescope:
This song is a bit of a time piece, harking
back to British psychedelic rock, complete with space-themed
lyrics. The easily identifiable influences are just
enough to give the music an immediately enjoyable sense of
familiarity that the band uses to their advantage throughout
the album, while slowly moving in their own original
directions of course. For any fellow Austinites,
they’re label mates of The Summer Wardrobe, both on Rainbow
Quartz Records.
:Ghostkeeper
- Three More Springs:
I doubt listening to this song you’d guess
these alt-country rockers were from Canada, but Ghostkeeper
are proud to call Alberta home (even though from the album
you wouldn’t think it). This song, a free sampling off
their new album Children Of The Great Northern Muskeg,
isn’t quite as indicative of the liberal instrumentation and
skillful songwriting that makes the album great, in fact, it
kind of makes Ghostkeeper seem like they might be
moonlighting as an Eagles cover band. Say what you
will about the Eagles, but Ghostkeeper are a band to watch
if Southern flavored energetic alt-country is your thing.
:Two
Hours Traffic - Nighthawks:
This album, Little Jabs, from another
fine Canadian band, Two Hours Traffic, came out way back in
July of 2007, so this might be old news for some of you.
Since I’ve been back in Austin though, I keep coming back to
this album. It’s calculated guitar-pop, and at times a
little cheesy, but cheesy is kind of my thing sometimes.
The album was just nominated for the Polaris Music Award,
which is basically the Canadian version of...well, I’m not
sure there are any music awards that count in America.
Have a listen.
:Women
- Black Rice:
Alright I know, more old news, but like I
said these albums have been piling up in my poor mailbox for
a while. Women’s new self-titled album has been
hogging space in my CD player lately. This song off
the album slowly creeps into its subtly catchy melody, but
drops out just as soon as it fully realizes itself. I’ve
read quite a bit about Women online recently, so I won’t
bore you with facts, just listen to the song - that’s the
important part anyway.
Well
that’s all for this week. Again, I apologize
for being so short winded, I have something in the
works that’s lengthy, complicated, and that works at
the true meaning of "music" and why we buy it, but I
didn’t feel I had the time to dedicate to it this
week with all the moving and such. So next
week, expect bigger things. And more music, of
course!
John Michael Cassetta keeps his own blog, Big
Diction, and writes for the local website Austin
Sound. Comments, complaints, and
solicitations may be directed
here.
- John Michael
Cassetta -
Unless
otherwise expressly stated, all text in this blog and any
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John Laird under a
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