Photo Credit Mari Pool

Free from any unnecessary melodrama or inflated expectations that the current Austin landscape expects, a stable approach works well for The Gary, effortlessly rendering these musically structured notations extinct within a three minute Indie assault. A record displaying some lingering confidence and a bright sense of style.

“In 2009, Austin TX trio The Gary made waves with their debut EP, which produced the sleeper hit “Damn Machines” and six other songs of blue-collar angst and disillusionment. 2010 brings the arrival of their full-length album Logan, ten songs of “Minutemen-esque brevity and wit” that raises the bar, though maintains the aesthetic, of their Chub EP. It’s been speculated that The Gary’s sound is the antithesis of much of today’s over-achieving indie rock scene, hearkening back to a sincere and direct approach that is sometimes lost on the gadgetry and vague delivery often found in current musical trends”.

The Gary : Eyes In The Tap Room
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“Heaven is the new maxi-single and video from`Can’t Stop Not Knowing`, the current EP by Milwaukee-band, The New Loud. The track listing for the release features the single version of `Heaven` mixed by Mark Trombino (Jimmy Eat World , Rilo Kiley, Drive Like Jehu) alongside remixes by dub legend Mad Professor. `Heaven` is available now digitally and as a limited edition clear vinyl 12-inch available exclusively through the band’s webstore”

Although I very rarely post a remix, The Mad Professor takes me back a number of years, the days of Roots Reggae and Eighties Dub have fond memories attached, many still hanging by a ragged thread. The New Loud manage to sit comfortably on the audio fence between Electrolica and Indie, a stable relationship that doesn`t require me to dance.

The New Loud : Heaven (Mad Professor Remix)
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Courtesy Of Fanatic Promotions

Billboard.com is reporting that Steve Miller hasn’t released a new studio album in 17 years but he plans to make up for lost time with a pair of blues and R&B cover sets that will come out this year and next.

“Bingo!,” Miller’s first Steve Miller Band release on his own Space Cowboy Records label in partnership with Roadrunner/Loud & Proud, comes out June 15 and features songs by B.B. King (”Rock Me Baby”), Lowell Fulsom (”Tramp”), Jimmie Reed (”You Got Me Dizzy”) and three Jimmie Vaughan compositions, among others. Miller plans to put a companion album out in the spring of 2011.

“This is a party record, man,” Miller tells Billboard.com. “It’s about getting up and getting ready to dance. It’s like the fraternity party gigs I used to play in college. I went through and picked all my favorite tunes that I really, really loved. I wanted to make this record forever; it started off as just kind of a goof, and then it got real serious.”

The sessions for “Bingo!” and its successor actually started in 2008 with co-producer Andy Johns at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch in northern California. The two were working on Miller’s last concert DVD, “Live From Chicago,” and he recalls that “Andy said, ‘Boy, I would really love to do a guitar album with you,’ and I said, ‘Y’know, I’m getting ready to do one.’ The next thing you know…we go into Skywalker and cut 42 tracks.”

Besides his regular band, including the late harmonica player Norton Buffalo, Miller — who’s been playing many of these songs on the road during the past few years — was also joined by Joe Satriani on “Rock Me Baby” and Vaughan’s “Sweet Soul Vibe,” as well as by Santana percussionists Michael Carabello and Jose Areas. Among the songs slated for the next album are Reed’s “Close Together,” Junior Wells’ “Snatch It Back and Hold It,” Roscoe Gordon’s “No More Doggin’,” Muddy Waters’ “Can’t Be Satisfied,” Robert Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago” and Jimmy McCracklin’s “The Walk.”

“It’s a great group of songs, and it gives us a lot of new material to play,” Miller notes. “I’m excited about releasing some new music for the audience and for my band and for me to play. This material we’re just releasing now we’ve been working on stage for the last couple of years and it’s been going over really, really well and it’s just worked out that now seemed like a good time to release a record.”

Miller and company will be on the road in North America starting May 21 in Henderson, Nevada, with a new stage set by Broadway designer Rob Roth. He also plans to play Europe during the fall. Meanwhile, Miller says he has “10 or 11 pieces of music” for original songs that he has yet to write lyrics for, and he’s also working with some youth musicians from San Francisco and Texas.

NPR is streaming the forthcoming album by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. It’s mighty good.

Today’s mix::

1) Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: “You’re Gonna Get It”
2) Kip Anderson: “Your Sweetness is My Weakness”
3) Blues Boy Willie: “If Lovin’ Ain’t Right”
4) Thornetta Davis: “Only One”
5) Ray Charles and Van Morrison: “Crazy Love”
6) Irma Thomas: “I’m Your Puppet”
7) Bobby Womack: “Games”
Branding Iron: “Born too Late”
9) James Brown and Martha High: “Summertime”
10) The Natural Four: “Can This Be Real?”

Somehow, though they’ve amassed a huge catalog that would be enviable amongst even the most prolific contenders, every time Pocahaunted unleash another record on the world we’re always a bit rapt with attention. The records themselves have always been a poor substitute for the live show, but it seems that with Make It Real the band have finally made the studio environment work for them. This may be in large part due to the fact that the lineup for this recording includes heavy input from Cameron Stallones; he of Sun Araw, and no stranger to using the studio as an instrument. Stallones had been playing live with the band for the months preceding the album as well as on the previous album, Passage, and these songs bear the full mark of his fluid and absorbing guitar style. Its a pity that this will be his last record with the band but we’ll all sleep a bit more lucid knowing that this album exists to soundtrack the swampy pre-dawn moments of our most confusing dreams.

Download:
[MP3] Pocahaunted – All Of Is Of

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Somehow, though they’ve amassed a huge catalog that would be enviable amongst even the most prolific contenders, every time Pocahaunted unleash another record on the world we’re always a bit rapt with attention. The records themselves have always been a poor substitute for the live show, but it seems that with Make It Real the band have finally made the studio environment work for them. This may be in large part due to the fact that the lineup for this recording includes heavy input from Cameron Stallones; he of Sun Araw, and no stranger to using the studio as an instrument. Stallones had been playing live with the band for the months preceding the album as well as on the previous album, Passage, and these songs bear the full mark of his fluid and absorbing guitar style. Its a pity that this will be his last record with the band but we’ll all sleep a bit more lucid knowing that this album exists to soundtrack the swampy pre-dawn moments of our most confusing dreams.

Download:
[MP3] Pocahaunted – All Of Is Of

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Somehow, though they’ve amassed a huge catalog that would be enviable amongst even the most prolific contenders, every time Pocahaunted unleash another record on the world we’re always a bit rapt with attention. The records themselves have always been a poor substitute for the live show, but it seems that with Make It Real the band have finally made the studio environment work for them. This may be in large part due to the fact that the lineup for this recording includes heavy input from Cameron Stallones; he of Sun Araw, and no stranger to using the studio as an instrument. Stallones had been playing live with the band for the months preceding the album as well as on the previous album, Passage, and these songs bear the full mark of his fluid and absorbing guitar style. Its a pity that this will be his last record with the band but we’ll all sleep a bit more lucid knowing that this album exists to soundtrack the swampy pre-dawn moments of our most confusing dreams.

Download:
[MP3] Pocahaunted – All Of Is Of

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

A couple of weeks ago I commented about the year being off to a slow start and I still think that’s true although I have gotten to hear a few more discs since then. The good news may be that I have not heard any really bad albums except for that Christopher Lee project, but that’s not really metal. A few albums have been slightly disappointing including the new ones from Gamma Ray and the Scorpions. However some others have been surprisingly better than expected including the new ones from Treat, Heathen, Dirt Mall and Krokus. There are a few releases out that I have not heard yet including High on fire, Icarus Witch and others. However the top album so far this year is definitely Ufommaut’s Eve. I don’t want to go into too much detail now since I still have the review to write and I’ll tell all then. I’ll just say that it beat me over the head with a wall of sound. The second best album I have heard this year is another one I need to review and that’s Stone Axe 2. They quickly followed up last year’s debut with more classic rock/early metal and they are even tighter this time around. Another review I have to write yet is the new Armored Saint which I am still torn on. I like it, but it’s not what I was expecting.
There are of course more albums to come this year. I am not great at looking ahead to what’s coming out and don’t always read a lot of metal news sites because they bore me so I am sure there are albums do out that I don’t even know about yet. The year started slow, but it’s picking up and I am sure there are plenty of good albums to come out.

A couple of weeks ago I commented about the year being off to a slow start and I still think that’s true although I have gotten to hear a few more discs since then. The good news may be that I have not heard any really bad albums except for that Christopher Lee project, but that’s not really metal. A few albums have been slightly disappointing including the new ones from Gamma Ray and the Scorpions. However some others have been surprisingly better than expected including the new ones from Treat, Heathen, Dirt Mall and Krokus. There are a few releases out that I have not heard yet including High on fire, Icarus Witch and others. However the top album so far this year is definitely Ufommaut’s Eve. I don’t want to go into too much detail now since I still have the review to write and I’ll tell all then. I’ll just say that it beat me over the head with a wall of sound. The second best album I have heard this year is another one I need to review and that’s Stone Axe 2. They quickly followed up last year’s debut with more classic rock/early metal and they are even tighter this time around. Another review I have to write yet is the new Armored Saint which I am still torn on. I like it, but it’s not what I was expecting.
There are of course more albums to come this year. I am not great at looking ahead to what’s coming out and don’t always read a lot of metal news sites because they bore me so I am sure there are albums do out that I don’t even know about yet. The year started slow, but it’s picking up and I am sure there are plenty of good albums to come out.

A couple of weeks ago I commented about the year being off to a slow start and I still think that’s true although I have gotten to hear a few more discs since then. The good news may be that I have not heard any really bad albums except for that Christopher Lee project, but that’s not really metal. A few albums have been slightly disappointing including the new ones from Gamma Ray and the Scorpions. However some others have been surprisingly better than expected including the new ones from Treat, Heathen, Dirt Mall and Krokus. There are a few releases out that I have not heard yet including High on fire, Icarus Witch and others. However the top album so far this year is definitely Ufommaut’s Eve. I don’t want to go into too much detail now since I still have the review to write and I’ll tell all then. I’ll just say that it beat me over the head with a wall of sound. The second best album I have heard this year is another one I need to review and that’s Stone Axe 2. They quickly followed up last year’s debut with more classic rock/early metal and they are even tighter this time around. Another review I have to write yet is the new Armored Saint which I am still torn on. I like it, but it’s not what I was expecting.
There are of course more albums to come this year. I am not great at looking ahead to what’s coming out and don’t always read a lot of metal news sites because they bore me so I am sure there are albums do out that I don’t even know about yet. The year started slow, but it’s picking up and I am sure there are plenty of good albums to come out.