Sorry I don’t have anything lovey-dovey for Valentine’s Day. Instead, here’s an update on Canadian singer-songwriter Jim Bryson, whose “Satellite” is one of my favorite 3hive songs ever. There are a few new songs from his Kelp records release Where the Bungalows Roam and a bunch of Canadian tour dates on his website, which also offers up plenty of downloadable live tracks and demos. Checking out this new material, all low-fi and laid back — I especially like “The Wishes Pile Up” — reminds me how comfortable it is to listen to Bryson. He’s like an old frind from college playing songs in your living room. How about some shows in Windsor, Jim? I’d cross the border for that.
If By the Bridge [MP3, 4.3MB, 192kbps]
All the Fallen Leaves [MP3, 5MB, 192kbps]
The Wishes Pile Up [MP3, 4.7MB, 192kbps]
Original post: 12/31/04
These long, slow, sad, and self-deprecatingly beautiful country songs from Ottawa-based Jim Bryson match perfectly with the blinding-sun, hoarfrost-covered days we had earlier in the week here in Detroit. Come to think of it, they also match fairly well with the longing-for-even-just-a-moment-of-sunlight, totally gray slush days we’re having now.
This is one of those albums that sneaks up on you bit by bit, note by note, melody by melody. A subtle record that, after hearing it once or twice, lies dormant for a spell until you find yourself humming one of its tunes. “Empty Bottles” has been floating around in my head for weeks. The simple, rich harmonies are sweetly palpable, not unlike the sensation I experienced the first time I ever listened to Either/Or. Self-released on his own Dirty Laundry label, The Ashes Bloom will likely get lost in the glut of mass-market releases racing for your attention this year. Slow life down to bike ride speed and enjoy Reed KD.
Buffalo’s Lemuria has been been a real working band since their formation in 2004. Touring, touring, and then more touring. So after putting out various singles and EP’s, their debut album Get Better is out now on Asian Man Records. And their song below, “Pants,” has triggered my obsessive compulsive disorder; besides having me absolutely hooked, it’s so catchy, fuzzy, and snappy, that after Sheena sings “You never missed a word I tried to fit/Inside a chorus, inside a verse, all my intros and the bridge/That’s where I put all the awful things I think I am/And if you still respect me I guess I’ll have a second chance” I want to tell her that she leaves a great first impression.
Take’s rich, melodic take on downtempo made his gorgeous 2007 debut LP Earthtones and Concrete more than a clever title, but the flag-planting of a new genre. Now Mr. Thomas Wilson has brought some remixes and collabos together for The Plus Ultra EP, where things get a bit electrospacey but no less warm and nuanced. Do yourself a favor and go straight to eMusic for the 
In 2001, while I was living in Mark Eitzel’s hometown of San Francisco, I saw him play at the Great American Music Hall as part of the annual Noise Pop Festival. Eitzel is notoriously passionate about his music and stories abound about his being brought to tears by the memory of the songs he sings while he’s playing them. On this night, however, the spirit was more a mix of frustration and contrition. He was trying out new material and just couldn’t seem to hit the right notes. Plus, he’d been preceded to the stage by Bright Eyes and he seemed self-conscious and intimidated by Connor Oberst’s raw yet nearly flawless performance. Eitzel is a consummate musician, and on that night it seemed apparent that the old adage applied and he just didn’t want to have to follow Oberst’s act. Which was too bad, because many times I’ve seen Eitzel, both solo and with American Music Club, play warm, intimate sets that command your attention like the glow of a single candle in darkness. Likewise, the songs that American Music Club have made since reforming almost four years ago after a decade-long break are certainly older, wiser and more refined. But they’re hardly workmanlike — Eitzel and crew are much less concerned about what we all think, and we think it’s all the better as a result.
A Weather are a whisper out of Portland, Oregon, playing the some of the softest and easiest sounds of the year. Slow, smooth, captivating, trance-inducing — the intertwined vocals of Aaron Gerber and Sarah Winchester are hard to break away from once they’ve caught you. There is an incredible beauty to these tracks, all off the band’s debut efforts on Team-Love Records. If you like things low, lush, hushed and hazy, this is the place to be.
I’m filling in for Lisa today; she’s off doing the New York thing, you know. — working. Actually, so are The Apple Bros. They’re working the rock star gig, though it sounds more like New York, Alabama, than the Big Apple, NYC. Really, I thought I’d have a little fun with this post, seeing as Lisa’s about as far from a good ol’ boy as you can get. She’s probably too young to be a Dukes of Hazzard fan anyway. I think, however, that she’ll like the hip-shaking, bluesy rock from her five boroughs neighbors.
They sound like they’re making music in post-punk London, circa 1979. They look like they’re from Modesto, CA, circa 1999. Inspired musically by Camus, fashionably by Steinbeck. Because they don’t fit the mold, it’s doubtful you’ll find them splashed across glossy magazines or blogged about incessantly by the cool kids. But if you don’t mind they play between the dark and dusty, the play between the gloomy and glittery, San Francisco’s Empty Rooms will sound spectacular in that space between your ears.
After their sophomore album, Tones of Town, the band