This ensemble includes a 10-person choir, a pair of keyboardists, a percussionist, drummer, bassist, guitarist, flautist, trumpeter, trombonist, violinist/violist, harpist, French horn player, a pedal steel player, theremin player, and an electronic effects person. I stole my information from Wikipedia- do you think I would know what a theremin is? According to my count that’s roughly 25 people. I don’t know this group but a co-worker of mine went to a recent music festival in Norman, Oklahoma where this monstrosity of a band was headlining. I was browsing some bootleg footage of the festival and I stumbled upon a few actual videos…

“We Crawl” is off their third album, The Fragile Army, from 2007.

“Light and Day” is off their debut album, The Beginning Stages of…, from 2002. By the way, this group is from Dallas, Texas.

On Friday Paste Magazine featured this video as its video of the day. I listened to What Doesn’t Kill Us by WMMF all weekend and was loving it. So, I went to Barsuk Records website and read about the new release by this band, Mates of State. Re-Arrange Us comes out May 20th on Barsuk Records.

Do you know AutoVaughn? I don’t. Well, now I do. A pop/rock four-piece signed to Epic Records. The group has a 6 song EP, The Cycles, to be released on May 9th. Space is the 2005 debut album by the four Indaina born, Nashville raised rockstars.

This song is about a year old. I just read a little article about the group that triggered my momory so I decided to post this single from thier 2007 debut, Come Undone. It was featured on season 5 of the drama ‘One Tree Hill’ after being sought out by the shows creative team at a Nashville conference.

I don’t know why it has taken me THIS LONG to realize that I really like this song. I don’t want to admit that her appearance on American Idol last night had something to do with it, but it very well may have. I remember liking her the first time I heard “These Words” back in 2004. And I liked her very European look with the plethora of bracelets, the patent leather high wasted belt that was hardly in style yet, and the newsboyish hat. However, I have never delved beyond her chart topping singles. It may be the fact that “These Words” and her other single, “Unwritten”, were overplayed to the point that I got tired of them. There’s something to be said about that. There are, after all, some songs I love so much that I find it impossible to tire of them. Like the Foo Fighters “Pretender” for example. For those of you in CA who are thinkin’ that that song is done and over with, here in Texas they still play it regularly. Anyway, if you love this song it’s on Natasha’s third album, Pocketfull of Sunshine, which was released on January 22nd.

Wednesday May 7th, next week, I will be going to Warehouse Live to see The Whigs with What Made Milwaukee Famous. In light of that I thought I would post one from the secon album by What Made Milwaukee Famous. This is “Sultan” from the March 4, 2008 released album, What Doesn’t Kill Us. These guys have released both thier albums on Barsuk Records which also currently have Nada Surf, Rilo Kiley, and Rocky Votolato to name a few.

I cannot find the new single, “Hideaway,” by The Weepies on YouTube or anywhere else. So, for now enjoy this one from the soundtrack to the movie “Because I Said So” and I’ll keep lookin’.

Gavin DeGraw is finally back. It’s about time! I’ve been waiting for this one to be released and, after five years since his first album, the waiting is almost up. This sophomore album, I’m In Love With a Girl, hits stores next Tuesday, May 6th. Have a listen to the newest single.

This is my favorite song on the new album, Konk, which was officially released on April 14th. I say ‘officially’ because it leaked on the internet about a month before that. I got the double disc version featuring a second CD, entitled RAK. RAK has seven additional new songs and a different version of the album track “See the Sun.” So, I’ve said before that I don’t like posting bootlegs but again I made an exception. This is them live at the Troubadour in LA early February…

Sorry, I’ve been away for a while. The thing is, I don’t have enough people who look at my blog. I need a mailing list, I may switch to WordPress if I can figure it out. Anyway, I return with a bang. The Old 97’s will release their latest album Blame It On Gravity May 13 on New West Records. Band members Rhett Miller, Murry Hammond, Ken Bethea, and Philip Peeples return to their hometown of Dallas. I didn’t know they were Texans! Without furture ado, this little video is a ‘Behind the album’ compilation.