Guess I’m a little late in posting this as it debuted on J.’s own site December 8.
“Not Enough” comes from J.’s new solo CD, “Several Shades of Why”, due out on SubPop on March 15. The tour to support “Several Shades of Why” kicks off on March 10 and runs through May.
LOVE this short interview with J. about people he’s collaborated with.
These Jersey guys first came to my attention when they told The Aquarian Weekly that they were named after Shannon Hoon’s daughter. While I was expecting to hear a Blind Melon tribute band, I was pleasantly surprised to find a mixed bag of indie rock sounds on The Nico Blues “Blame the Boredom, Blame the Basements” and if there’s a Blind Melon influence in the music, I can’t easily detect it.
Then again, I’m not sure I agree with the bands that The Nico Blues have been compared to: Fugazi,Pavement, The Grateful Dead and the Smashing Pumpkins. The Nico Blues don’t sound like a punk band, a hippie/jam band, or an egotistical arena-rock band. They also don’t sound like The Blood Brothers although they are times that the vocals share some similarity between the two bands. Whatever it is they sound like, I’m digging it.
Recommended for fans of: The Blood Brothers, Modest Mouse, Pavement, Free Diamonds, Toys That Kill
Last weekend I heard the Bee Gees disco classic “More than a Woman” on XM radio. It really is the epitome of ’70s disco music and while I grew up on this stuff (thanks to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack which was a staple in everybody’s record collection in the late ’70s), Barry Gibb’s falsetto vocals can be a bit grating at time. But as I listened to the song, I was deconstructing it down to it’s bare core and was imaging it being performed by some bearded, indie folk rock act like Iron & Wine. In my head, it works.
The Bee Gees have been the subject of many tribute albums (like Melody Fair featuring contributions by Material Issue, Young Fresh Fellow, The Fastbacks) over the years and many artists have covered a song here or there but very few are in line with what I’m imagining.
So, I challenge somebody with the right connections and deeper pockets than mine to put my dream tribute album together. I’m thinking that Iron & Wine, The Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Deer Tick, Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters), David Bazan (Pedro the Lion), Grand Archives, and Jose Gonzalez should be on the list of acts invited to contribute.
And, to get things started, Ray Lamontagne and Damien Rice could properly record their cover of “To Love Somebody” for inclusion.
Am I missing any artists? In the folk/indie rock genre, who do you think would do a good job of covering a Bee Gees song? And, if you’ve stumbled upon any other good Bee Gees covers, let me know in the comments section.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. I find it impossible to stay away from a $1 CD bin and thankfully have discovered that there are a few prime locations to come away with huge scores if you’re willing to put the time in to digging through piles and piles of junk. This feature will focus on CDs that I’ve plucked out of dollar bins.
Judybats – Pain Makes You Beautiful (Warner Bros.)
Original release date: March 9, 1993
Purchased at: Half Price Books (Westerville, Ohio location)
Listening to the Judybats some 17 years after this release, it’s hard to believe that this lightweight, Brit-dream-pop-inspired music created by fresh-faced, just-out-of-college-looking Tennessee guys was considered “alternative”. But, in the early ’90s, artists like R.E.M. and Matthew Sweet … heck, even Toad the Wet Sprocket … were creating jangly pop music that didn’t really sound like the mainstream rock that closed out the ’80s. And, so, these bands WERE alternative when compared to artists like Poison, Genesis, Bobby Brown, New Kids on the Block, and whatever else dominated the charts during my final high school days.
Continue reading “Plucked from the dollar bin: Judybats”
How often do you think these bands are confused for each other?
Paul & The Patients features ex-Pitty Sing singer Paul Holmes.
Pete & The Pirates are a British band with no-ex-members of any “15 minutes of blog fame” bands from the early-to-mid 2000’s.