G. Love
I’ll be honest. I’ve let G. Love drop off my radar. It’s been a long while since I’ve chilled out with a cold beverage tapping my toes along with G. Love’s white boy Philadelphonic blues. He’s sweetened up his new album, Lemonade, quite nicely with Blackalicious and Lateef on my favorite track, “Banger.” Perhaps you prefer a twist of Ben Harper, or a pinch of Donovan Frankenreiter. G. Love’s got a posse and they’ve set up their lemonade and blues stand just in time for me to drop some quarters on a refreshing, late-summer cool-me-down.
Spinto Band Cuts Mandy Loose
Bel Auburn
Bel Auburn is a quintet from Ashland, an idyllic Ohio town some distance southwest of Cleveland. I say idyllic despite never having been there because the sweeping soundscapes that Bel Auburn have created are anything but ugly and uninspiring. In fact, these tracks, all from the band’s second self-released LP, Lullabies in A & C, are about as anthemic, emotive, and polished as you’ll find from a group of friends living off the cultural grid. It’s reminiscent of Coldplay or early Jimmy Eat World, the latter of which Bel Auburn claim as an influence. The lyrics can drift into codes known only by their author, but once a warm blast of guitar kicks in and Matt the lead singer lets go with a cathartic chorus, you’ll know exactly what Bel Auburn mean even if you have no clue what they’re talking about.
(Selected tracks are linked below; visit the Bel Auburn Website to download the rest of the album.)
Silversun Pickups’ woxy.com Set Posted
Heidi Gluck
Our next artist from MusicalFamilyTree.com‘s great compilation Delicious Berries, featuring the work of Indiana musicians, is Canadian Heidi Gluck. I know, I know… it seems she spent some time in Indianapolis. Anyway, her track on the disc has a heavy country vibe that really works for me, and that you won’t find at all on the free downloads available below. The songs here are all about pop smoothness, either up-beat or down-tempo. “Open Your Eyes” reminds me a bit of Heidi’s Some Girls bandmate Juliana Hatfield. (The cover of their month-old album Crushing Love is the thumbnail image for this post.) And next week, another artist from Delicious Berries.
North Valley Subconscious Orchestra
Medicine played in Memphis right before I got home from college one summer, but my brother Josh and our friend Andy saw them and even visited with them at the Admiral Benbow Inn (just recently demolished). They learned that Medicine’s wicked guitar feedback was achieved by running Brad Laner’s guitar through a four track and turning all the knobs up. We spent that whole summer trying to get a four track to mimic a distortion pedal with no success. Brad Laner, we determined, was a genius. Which is probably why I recently Tivo-ed the movie “The Crow,” just so I could see that scene of Medicine playing “Time Baby,” trying to get a glimpse of his guitar setup. Now Laner and fellow guitarist Christopher Willits, as North Valley Subconscious Orchestra, are releasing another feast of guitars on Ghostly’s digital download-only album The Right Kind of Nothing. More melodic feedback, anyone?
Ok Go and Eight, Count ’em, Eight Treadmills
Dr. Dog
The details are sketchy, but Dr. Dog is the raison d’etre for the label Park The Van. Now settled in as a five piece, Dr. Dog boasts an alumni membership of 20 strong, all contributing in some small or large way to Philadelphia’s premier basement band. Dr. Dog loves nothing more to get their hands good and dirty, digging around in lo-fi dirt, 4-tracking the night away. With roots reaching down deep to Beach Boys and Beatles bedrock, they sow and reap pop blossoms cross-pollinated with Grandaddy, Ween, and Pavement. I’ve had their album shuffling through my library for over a year and shame on me for not sharing until now. But now’s as good a time as any to be a Dr. Dog fan. Next month the band releases a new EP, Takers and Leavers, then heads out on the road with Cold War Kids on their way to joining The Raconteurs tour as main support.