The Low Anthem in a Rail Car (and then at the Granada)

Low Anthem - This God Damned House - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

If you were at the Granada around Halloween of last year, you might have caught The Dallas Family Band outside, in their wicked high school band uniforms, thumping drums and piccolo-ing. If you were there around October 28th, and had eagle-keen eyes, you might have noticed that members of the Low Anthem had donned dorky band jackets and joined the fun.

The Low Anthem is an unsuspecting band. Their Steinbeckian folk rock is studded with poetic images of loneliness, empty rooms, American horizons, and of course, birds. The above is one of their best examples, "This God Damn House" (beautifully lit and filmed by La Blogetheque in a railway car outside New York City). Even better news is the glorious, undeterred by SXSW show they have at the The Granada, March 17th. Make sure you catch it, or it will flutter away. Ok that was dramatic, but you should go because they play clarinets, clavinets, and a big harpsichord.

Best Post Punxatawny Phil Concert

Despite what the first verse of Yours Truly, The Commuter reports, Jason Lytle has not been left for dead. He's full of epinephrine; the same vinegar that got him through Grandaddy. His new project, Admiral Radley, is a collaboration between Jason Lytle, former Grandaddy frontman (and friend to the Big D), and Earlimart's Aaron Espinoza & Ariana Murray. It's difficult to pinpoint online -- they don't have a myspace page and the Google search goes about one page deep. So what do they sound like? To find out, you will have to attend the Best Under The Radar Show of the spring season in Dallas: The Low Anthem with Admiral Radley @ The Granada, March 17th.

If you don't know The Low Anthem, then you don't know one of the best folk albums of last year Oh My God Charlie Darwin (Nonesuch). Their particular brand of Steinbeckian Americana has been in Dallas before, but under the umbrella of Blind Pilot. This is their first headlining show. Listen to the minimalistic, soaring Charlie Darwin and the feral, sky melting "Champion Angel." It's poetry (is that too cliche? I don't care.)

There's lots of shows to attend post Punxatawny Phil in Dallas, but I assure you this will be one of the best.

Home I'll Never Be

Tonight at the Granada Theater in Dallas with Blind Pilot. Hell yes.

American Roots

The Low Anthem - "This God Damn House" - HearYa Live Session 8/9/09 from HearYa.com on Vimeo.

One of my favorite albums of the year is Oh My God Charlie Darwin by the Low Anthem. Recently, I was reading The Road, and OMGCD became a cathartic release after the dismal tide of Cormac McCarthy. Also, the entire album sounds like gravel, sunshine, and wheat fields. My point is - this Hear Ya live session is wonderful. It's all in the lyrics for "Ticket Taker."

"Now they say the sky's the limit, but the sky's about to fall / down come all them record books cradle and all / they say before he bit it that the boxer felt no pain / somewhere there's a gamblin' man with a ticket in the rain"

I feel like the best way to put the feeling of this album is it reminds you of the roots of America. Thanks to Hear Ya for posting this beautiful session.

Low Anthem - Ticket Taker

Come Back Unchanged

The best Low Anthem song. Time to fight through heated crowds to Austin City Limits for a show with roots as deep as Barton Springs. Off Oh My God Charlie Darwin, which is so out now it hurts your teeth. I think it's the clarinet...

"To them ghosts in the train yard / All them ghosts in my drink / your money's no good here"

"Please take along all the best of my luck and come back unchanged"

Nice.

Roadside Graves Are Playing Your Local Tattoo Parlor

Interview with the Roadside Graves Part 1 from Flynn Hundhausen on Vimeo.

Roadside Graves is on the road, in the smoky wood of whiskey bars and southern tattoo parlors, touring their new album, My Son's Home. It's damn, damn good.

"I lie in bed and hope that I can be true / I don't care who slept with who"

Something in this record is perfect for the summer heat - a southern rock sound that has sweat, blood and beer in it.

My Son's Home is out now on Autumn Tone Records, which is the ever growing cool spawn of Aquarium Drunkard.

Megafaun, Record Stores and Incense

I don't smoke weed. Maybe I should, I don't know for sure. There's a scene in Almost Famous when the kid puts on Tommy, "Sparks" fades up, and I remember thinking when I was a kid: "Should I be smoking weed?"

Is it possible that music can replace the urge? Megafaun's new album, Gather, Form & Fly, comes damn close. It's baroque, dark, and full of barn hay. There's lots of exciting diversions in this album, and as the needle rounds the record, it shocks you. Trumpets and scratchy strings in between beautiful folk songs. Some of them raw, like a garbage bag is wrapped around them, giving them that cool, hippy, papery sound that folk musicians love to do these days.

If this were the Seventies, and war was going on (wait...), I'd probably be in my room Indian-style, with a fairly large bowl, with Megafaun's new record rolling on the table. It really is beautiful to think about, and even better to listen to now.

Megafaun is on tour, right this minute, with the Bowerbirds. Can you think of a better thing to do, than to see them play? And before play their records, burn some incense, and see your future? Damn that Cameron Crowe.

Megafaun - The Fade

This is the Best Song for July 4th

The only decent American thing to do on July 4th is to listen to music and drink beer. In Los Angeles, the sky is either hazy or shock blue, and every where else there's a flood of fireworks. Great, you say? You need a good song. If we're going to celebrate it, let's do it right. There are many applicable songs; a crashing symbol and timpani; the Presidential band; the wicker chair you're sitting in as crackling Lee Greenwood nonsense practically destroys the cheap school speakers.

I prefer Folk. In this case, a minimalist harmonica laid over some Americana harmonies. I'm going to go with The Low Anthem. Aquarium Drunkard published a brilliant interview with them recently, and their new CD, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, is out now on iTunes:

"And who could heed the words of Charlie Darwin
Fighting for a system built to fail
Spooning water from their broken vessels
As far as I can see there is no land"

Speechless. Now, unfold that crusty metal chair, put down the aviators, open a beer, and let this song wear you. Don't pussy out with Lee Greenwood, or blow the fireworks away with crap Billboard hits (though Grizzly Bear is up there now...), try some new Americana folk, some rolling skies and a harmonica.

The Low Anthem - Oh My God Charlie Darwin