I found these guys a few months ago and have been coming back to them about once a week. They intrigue the hell out of me to the point that I don’t want to over do it and play their limited song collection into the ground, but dammit I can’t help myself! Pepper Rabbit has hit the right chords with me and fortunately for all of us, it was recently announced that they’re releasing a new album, Beauregard, in late October. With a name like that, how can you not be intrigued by these guys? They’re new to us and they might be new to you too.
The New Classics is a reoccurring segment in which we examine our favorite indie releases that are bound to replace our parent’s “classic rock” stash hidden in the attic or the basement. These aren’t reviews, these are uneditied testimonies and opinions about why we love what we love. Can we get a witness? Words by Jacob Barron
As I think a lot of people do, I tend to discover music backwards, meaning I heard this album first and it opened up a whole other world of musical possibilities that had already been considered classics for decades. From Sufjan Stevens‘ Illinois, any dedicated listener can find entry routes into everything from Steve Reich to Dave Brubeck to Vince Guaraldi to Pavement to Neil Young to a slew of other artists. To make an extremely topical analogy, the album is Lake Michigan, and invites its visitors to follow all the different rivers and tributaries that empty into it.
So we typically toss a video at you, tell you why we think it’s awesome, and let you draw your own conclusion. Sometimes we throw a change-up…strike that – let’s call it a round up. All of these videos are of bands we have previously talked about here on Draw Us Lines. So I won’t be telling you much about the bands themselves, just my musings of what I think about the videos. Hold on to your hats!
These guys seemed to have slipped through the cracks for me, but I’ve found Lost In The Trees, I’ve heard the story behind their new LP, and I knew they were right up my alley. “New LP” may be a bit of a misnomer. All Alone In An Empty House is a beefed up re-release of their debut album. Re-doing your own album – totally ballsy. To sit back, look at an old album, and admit to yourself that you can make it better, shows a band who wants to give everything they have to their fans. Ari Picker (what a name!) is the front man of this 6-piece symphonic-folk-pop group hailing from Chapel Hill, NC. He’s classically trained and it shows, but just enough that Lost In The Trees still feels like that raw folky rock band that we all love.
It’s a beautiful Sunday afternoon. It’s hot outside, but it’s cool in here, and there’s no rain in the forecast for the next million days. Indian summer? Not quite yet, but pretty soon we might fall into that category. These types of afternoons are just beggin’ for you to find a porch, find some friends, and find a beer or two. Put some music on and just sit there – no talking required. The soundtrack to that afternoon? Well if I had my pick, and I usually do, I’d opt for some Hurray for the Riff Raff . Now we’re talking…
Writing album reviews is hard. I don’t envy music critics in the slightest and I’m more than all right letting the professionals really talk about the best albums out there. Even the albums I love the most and touch me in the deepest parts of my insides can pretty much be summed up with “Oh man, I love this part…this part is amazing” or “Did you hear that? The way he does that with the guitar? It’s incredible!” or my personal go-to “Wait wait wait…my favorite part…right here…yeahh”. Unfortunately I can’t copy and paste those phrases into a document with a picture of an album and a rating at the bottom that says “Four out of five Crabby Patties for Spongebob Squarepants!” and get away with it. It just doesn’t work like that even if our brains and hearts do.
The New Classics is a reoccurring segment in which we examine our favorite indie releases that are bound to replace our parent’s “classic rock” stash hidden in the attic or the basement. These aren’t reviews, these are uneditied testimonies and opinions about why we love what we love. Can we get a witness? Words by Christopher Carosi
Album: Alligator
Artist: The National
Released: 2005
Label: Beggars Banquet
Produced by: The National and Peter Katis
Alligator simultaneously possesses every nervous and triumphant bone (tragically) in the human body. This band’s genius is how they play directly into any heart, and pull on memories that seem real to the listener. It’s fucking uncanny. I know a few reasons why.
When I found out that The National had a new song that had been released, I was puzzled, confused, excited, giddy, and 100% completely pumped. With High Violet coming out not that long ago, I thought why would they release a new song? But then I got my wits about me and thought, “Why the hell am I trying to analyze this?!” I should just be grateful that we got it! They (some old guy who probably knew a lot) say that “To err is to be human”. So what does that make The National?
[So I'm hitting you with something we haven't done before. A list and a how to all in one, put in a box and wrapped in a bow. I'll be giving you a little incite on what I do everyday, because I know you are dying to find out what that is! Everyone knows what they like, certain artists, time periods, genres, but where do you find something that you've never heard of? The biggest question is, where do I start? Use these tips to begin your journey to listening to something new from your speakers.]
If it’s not one thing it’s another around here at Draw Us Lines . Let me clarify. Lately we’ve been featuring a lot of those Americana alt-country bands that we love oh so much. I’ve talked about this before. It seems as though it’s a summer of slide guitar and lazy vocals. Maybe it’s the heat. Maybe it’s the sweat. Who knows? But it seems as though, when we aren’t featuring alt-country or alt-folk bands, it’s a poppy female fronted band (e.g. Forest City Lovers, School of Seven Bells, Kathryn Calder). As my good friend Blake says “If it ain’t broke, then you did it all wrong”. Or he might say “Who gives a shit. If it’s good, it’s good”. Amen brother. The latter seems to be more applicable here. Enter our next female vox fronted band Land of Talk .
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We get a lot of emails from bands and labels. We try our damnedest to listen, but we can't like it all and we can't post about everything. We're just two men. Don't get discouraged. Keep up the good work. You're doing great.
