The Best of January

So, it’s that time of the month again, and it’s a new year with a bunch of really good songs to start off the month. It’s been an interesting year so far, with the markets going all wacky and a Presidential primary that’s really heating up, so here’s something to distract you:

Who Cares? – The Alternate Routes
Are You Lonely – The Alternate Routes

The Alternate Routes released a limited CD that took many of the songs off of their first album and turned them acoustic. The result is spectacular – the songs here are plunky and take on a life of their own.

All In It – British Sea Power

British Sea Power released their latest album, Do You Like Rock Music?, recently, with this as the first track – which has a good beat, sound and feel to it – this one’s a winner. And it just builds and builds, and does it well, which is always fantastic to hear with a song.

Gravity – Coldplay

Here’s a live song from Coldplay that’s new – something that might be on the upcoming album, which is due out sometime in the first half of the year. This feels like classic Coldplay – it’s nice to hear that they haven’t lost their touch.

Falling Slowly – Glen Hansard & Marketa Irgolva

This song is almost the perfect ballad

Kids - Goodtimes Goodtimes
Sunshine Sunshine – Goodtimes Goodtimes

Goodtimes Goodtimes is a band that released their first album last year, and which I’ve since picked up from a couple of music blogs. They have a fantastic guitar groove and vocals. Vocally, they sound a little like Josh Ritter and Paolo Nutini. These are some songs that really get me up, which I like.

Pretty Good (John Prine) – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals and Josh Ritter

A great cover from Grace Potter, and a fantastic duet that I got to see this past summer, and one that I’ve been looking for for ages. Finally!

Spaceship - Jason Spooner
Black and Blue - Jason Spooner

Jason Spooner has a nice laid back feel, with some comforting lyrics and a delicate guitar to boot. Lazy driving songs, perfect for the highway.

Little Black Sandals – Sia
Soon We’ll Be Found – Sia

Sia, whom Zero 7 fans might know from her collaborating work with them, as well as her prior solo albums, is back with problems. Some Real Problems, and this album is no sweat – light, tight and a fantastic listen. Sorry, did that sound corny?

A-Punk – Vampire Weekend

One of the biggest bands from last year before they even released their first album, A-Punk is a fantastic example from these guys. Great guitars, drums and vocals here.

Lying For The Song – We’ll Write
Never Seems To Rain – We’ll Write

These guys have a good feel for rhythm and sound, one that takes me back to some nostalgic college days before I began to worry too much about things. It’s a refreshing sound and one that I’ll be keeping my eyes on.

Hype – Buy

New Alternate Routes

One of the best groups that I came across last year was The Alternate Routes, who I was able to see twice when they came up to Vermont. They’ve been on the road for a while, and they’ve played a couple of songs that either didn’t make it onto their first record, Good and Reckless and True, or they’ve since been writing. Here’s some new things from them:

Louisiana – The Alternate Routes
Desdemona – The Alternate Routes
I Go Away Stoned – The Alternate Routes
My Old Lady – The Alternate Routes

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Acoustic & Original

Back to some of the regular features this week, we have two versions of an Alternate Routes song, entitled Who Cares, which was featured on their debut album, Good and Reckless and True, while this second version is on their recently released Brooklawn Sessions, a disc of all acoustic versions of these guys songs.
The differences between these two songs is huge – some acoustic songs are just a little more quiet, but these guys have really re-worked the song. The original is powerful and has an incredible beat, but the acoustic version has an almost bluegrass feel to it, which is a big departure, which is really cool.

Who Cares (Acoustic) – The Alternate Routes
Who Cares – The Alternate Routes

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My Mix

I can’t think of a good title for this mix of songs. I was fooling around with play lists on iTunes – I swear, it’s a compulsion sometimes, when I came up with the first five songs, when I realized that I had something good here. When I got home from work, I pulled another dozen songs together to come up with this final list. I think that it’s the best play list that I’ve come up with in a while. Let me know what you think:

Everybody Knows - Ryan Adams
Hang Around - Gregory Douglass
When The Pain Dies Down – Chris Stills
Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car - Iron & Wine
Hard Sun - Eddie Vedder
Good Man - Josh Ritter
Who You Are - Cary Brothers
Pressure Suit - Aqualung
Time Is A Runaway – The Alternate Routes
Toy Soldiers - Carbon Leaf
See The World - Gomez
Trouble - Ray LaMontagne
Place To Be - Nick Drake

Have a good weekend! Next week, regular features & an announcement for a new feature.

Hype – Buy

Carry You Away’s Best Songs of 2007

It was difficult to narrow down just ten songs out of everything that I’ve heard this year. But, here are the songs that I feel are the best that I’ve heard or enjoyed.

10 – Rangers, A Fine Frenzy

From A Fine Fenzy’s debut album One Cell in the Sea, this song has a really good sound to it, with a pace and energy that really matches her tone. The chorus is a really good one, followed up with some fantastic lyrics. Everything really comes together nicely here for this tune. This song really turned me onto A Fine Frenzy, and will keep me listening for years to come.

9 – Heart Made of Sound, The Softlightes

The video for this song really got me hooked here, and brought me back time and time again for listen after listen. This song gives me the same feeling that I had on my best summers here in Vermont – sounds weird, but for some reason, I connect this song to walking around Burlington Vermont on a sunny summer afternoon. The sound here is bright, energetic and just fantastic. Even when I’m in a horrible mood, I’ll listen to this and it’ll bring me right back up.

8 – Seed of Wonder, Jesca Hoop

This song sounds really different, with some absolutely fantastic guitar work and vocals from Hoop. It’s unconventional, with influences from Hip-Hop and alternative rock. It’s got a lazy beat that’s incredibly catchy.

7 – Hard Sun, Eddie Vedder and Everybody Knows, Ryan Adams (Tie)

This is a tie for me, because both songs remind me of the other. Hard Sun is a good, solid rock song, one that reminds me of driving on a highway, while Everybody Knows brings out the same feeling – both have a good beat behind it backed by lyrics and a sound that just works, really well.

6 – Vermont Avenue, Ferraby Lionheart

I didn’t take to this song at first, but it grew on me quite a bit as time went on. Lionheart’s voice is like gold here, lazy and seductive, with lyrics that match that. The guitar and drum work is wonderful, and I like this song more and more as time goes on.

5 – In the Mausoleum, Beirut

Beruit’s back with more of a fantastic Balkan sound. This song starts off with a fantastic beat and sinks in with some fantastic vocals and lyrics. What’s really catchy is the use of other instruments, such as their distinctive use of a trumpet and stringed instruments. This song floats along wonderfully through the entire three minutes.

4 – Time Is A Runaway, The Alternate Routes and Who You Are, Cary Brothers (Tie)

This was another tie for me, between Time is a Runaway and Who You Are. Neither song really stands out on a technical level, but both songs really grabbed me for their sound and lyrics. Who You Are has a wonderful LA sound to it with a fantastic beat and energy, while Time is a Runaway has some fantastic lyrics coupled with their vocals and background instrumentation. Both are songs to relax to.

3 – Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!, Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans

Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albanians come forth with this fantastic ballad-like song that exhols the wonders of mounted cavelry, looking at their use through history. As a history person, this is just a wonderful song to pull apart line by line, and it’s got such a fantastic song to go along with it.

2 – Ah, Mary, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

I knew that my #2 song would be a Grace Potter song, but it took me a little while to figure out which one. I went with the first one that I heard, Ah Mary, a sort of protest song that pulls you in nicely with Grace’s fantastic voice before cranking it up a notch exactly a minute in as it turns to something you’d expect from some of their idols, like Neil Young. Their studio version seems to be a little subdued – go see this live for the full effect.

1 – Boy With A Coin, Iron & Wine

And my number one song of the year – Iron & Wine’s Boy With A Coin. Like Grace Potter’s album, there were a bunch here that could take the #1 spot, but there’s something here. Maybe because this song stands out so much from Sam Beam’s other songs and typical sound, or maybe because it falls into a fantastic beat and rhythm, this song just completely blew me away when I first heard it.

There you have it, the top 10… er… 12 songs of the year. Here are the ones that didn’t quite make it:

Dreamworld, Rilo Kiley
Sea Legs, The Shins
Down The Line, Jose Gonzalez
Rumors, Josh Ritter
The Pretender, Foo Fighters
Dashboard, Modest Mouse
Keep The Car Running, Arcade Fire
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere, Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
Love Song, Sara Bareilles
Pressure Suit, Aqualung
Sci-Fi Kid, Blitzen Trapper
Eh Hee, Dave Matthews

There were others, but overall, fantastic year for music. Let’s see what’s next.

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Weekend Mix – Home

So, I have a new apartment. I have to say, I lucked out completely here. a) The rent is fantastic. b) it’s big, and I don’t have a roommate. Bedroom’s big, second bedroom is now a library/office, good sized kitchen as well as a living room. c) heat and water included and d) it’s not far from where I work, and it’s in a city (well, as close as you can get in Vermont).
Needless to say, I’m very pleased with this, especially since I’m no longer living at my parent’s house. Not that I have anything against my parents, but it’s nice not being the geek in the parent’s house. I’m currently awaiting two more bookshelves from UPS, who apparently can’t find my place. I also need to pick up a bunch of odds and ends, like a cutting board, pizza cutter and some pots.

Yeah… So, here’s some songs about homes:

Home - Alexi Murdoch
Going Home With You - The Alternate Routes
Interior of a Dutch House - Beirut
Can’t Find My Way Home - Blind Faith
Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan
Home - Carbon Leaf
Home - Foo Fighters
On Your Porch - The Format
I’m Goin’ Home - Hootie and the Blowfish
Home Life - John Mayer
Welcome Home - Peters and Lee
Homeward Bound - Simon & Garfunkel
Screen Door - Uncle Tupelo

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New England Rock

I’d like to take a moment and examine a couple of bands from my neck of the woods – New England. For those of you who can’t remember US geography from school, or never learned of it, New England is in the far North East section of the US, comprised of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. We’ve got a long and very proud history within the states, and some fantastic musicians have come from here. Here’s a couple that I could come up with. Sorry Rhode Island…


Vermont – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals / Phish

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals originated in New York, where Potter went to school at St. Lawrence, but she’s from Vermont, and the band is currently still based in Waitsfield Vermont, a town over from where I grew up – I actually went to high school with Grace, even though I really didn’t know her personally. The Nocturnals got their name from their all night rehearsals at the school, and they released their first album in 2004, then their second in 2005, with their latest this year.

Crazy Parade – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals








Phish, well known for its live concerts rather than their studio works, formed at the University of Vermont when John Fishman, Trey Anastasio and Jeff Holdsworth got together to play in Fishman’s dorm room in 1983. They were later joined by Mike Gordon and Page McConnel. The band released their first album in 1988 and they got really popular shortly after, filling a void that the Grateful Dead left when they disbanded. The band broke up in 2001 after a long tour, but most of the members are still active in the music world.

Heavy Things – Phish

Massachusetts – The Dropkick Murphys / Guster

The Dropkick Murphys originated out of Quincy, Massachusetts, and have become huge favorites in the region with their punk/Irish sound. Annually, they play in Boston on St. Patrick’s Day. The group formed in 1996, releasing a couple of EPs before their 1998 record Do or Die. They’re recently released their latest, entitled The Meanest of Times.

State of Massachutetts – The Dropkick Murphys

Guster

Guster is based out of Boston, Mass, and was founded at Tufts University there when Adam, Ryan and Brian met while in attendance. They released two albums prior to 1999 that were sleeper hits, but gained traction with the 1999 album Lost and Gone Forever and have recently released their latest album, Ganging Up On The Sun.

Hang On – Guster

Connecticut – The Alternate Routes / Rane

The Alternate Routes formed a couple of years ago, out of Bridgeport, Connecticut and released their first album, Good and Reckless and True in 2005, which was later re-released earlier this year. The band started when two of the members, Eric and Tim met at Fairfield University in the state. They relocated to Boston and New York for a little while, and now they’re back in Connecticut. Hopefully recording new music…

Time Is A Runaway – The Alternate Routes

Rane

Rane is a band that’s still pretty small, based out of Hartford Connecticut with a sound that they describe as ‘progressive pop’, that’s quite good. I got hooked on them right away, and their first couple albums are very fun to listen to. They started their own record label, Tides Records, and have released 8 albums in the last couple of years. Haven’t heard much from them lately, hopefully we’ll hear from them soon…

From The Vine – Rane

Maine (And New Hampshire)- Ray LaMontagne

Ray Lamontagne is the big artist out of Maine at the moment, and is one of my favorite folk/rock singers out there. He’s got a deep and gravelly voice, not too unlike that of Sam Beam, (Iron & Wine). LaMontagne was born in New Hampshire, and moved around a lot as a child before settling in Maine. Now based there, he’s been singing since 1999. His latest release is the fantastic ‘Till The Sun Turns Black.

Trouble – Ray Lamontagne

Rhode Island – I couldn’t find anyone from there. Anyone know of any?

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One Hit Wonders

I was going through my music library for a couple of albums, and noticed that there’s a couple of bands that I really, really like. The only problem with them is that thus far, they’ve only released one album. Either they’re a newer band and haven’t written anything else yet, they just seem to have vanished from the face of the Earth, or they’ve broken up after only one album. Here’s my favorites with only a single album:

Existing Bands Dragging Their Heels

Ex-Girlfriends – Low Millions

Low Millions came out with a hit single in 2004, called Eleanor, closely followed by a couple of other singles, Statue and Low Millions. The band has a very cool and relaxed sound, and the theme of the album is pretty overt – breaking up and ex-girl friends. I’ve been listening to it a lot more than I usually do. There’s nothing especially different about this band – they’ve got a fairly mainstream sound, but they maintain a solid beat and some pretty good vocal work here. I really liked this album, save for a couple of tracks, and I had hoped that they would get going on a followup sometime in the near future. I believe that the band is made up of a bunch of members from other bands, which might be part of the reason for no activity on their part. According to a myspace blog entry, they were starting on some new material in 2006. Hopefully, we’ll see some more from them.

Mockingbird - Low Millions

Give Up – The Postal Service


This is one of the Indie super groups, made up of members of Death Cab for Cutie, Rilo Kiley and a couple of others, under the indie favorite Subpop records. They’re the ones responsible for the fantastic song Such Great Heights, as well as We Will Be Sillouettes and a couple of others. Give Up has a fantastic sound and a nice blend of electronic and rock there. Unfortunently, they have also not come up with a followup album, although it seems that one has been in the works for a little while now, with most, if not all of the original members coming back for the album. This’ll be a good one to wait for.

Natural Anthem – The Postal Service

A Girl Called Eddy – A Girl Called Eddy

I came across A Girl Called Eddy through Amazon.com when they had a list of free MP3 songs – I downloaded and fell completely in love with Under The Warm Sun, Golden and The Long Goodbye, and went out to get more of her music. She’s got a great voice and sound, smokey with some really good guitarwork. Her debut, self titled album followed her first EP, Tears All Over Town. Unfortunently, that seems to be it for now – her webpage has vanished, in place of a myspace account, and while I think that I’ve read that she’s coming up with a followup, I haven’t seen or heard anything recently. I hope that she’ll be recording again, because her music is fantastic.

The Long Goodbye – A Girl Called Eddy

Bands Gone the Way of the Dinosaur

Buring in the Sun – Blue Merle

Blue Merle is another band that released a single that had some radio play – the title track, Burning In The Sun. The band has a pretty unique sound, with some very good guitar work, as well as employing some cool insturments on various tracks. I just saw one of the former members of the band, Luke, when he played with Brett Dennen’s band and with Guster the other night. (I didn’t realise that until after the concert). The band sounds something like a mix between Carbon Leaf, Dave Matthew’s Band and Coldplay, with some good lyrics and what I thought was a nice, rich sound. Unfortunently, the band didn’t really like the direction and sound, and split up a couple of years ago. The band members are now all doing their own thing.

Bittersweet Memory – Blue Merle

New and Upcoming Bands

Good and Reckless and True – The Alternate Routes

I found these guys this summer, and they’re a pretty new band, out of Connecticut. I’ve seen them twice, and they’ve really good a good sound, a solid rock album, with a good amount of media exposure thus far. Their live shows were a lot of fun to watch, and their first album, Good and Reckless and True was a really good one to listen to. I talked with one of the band members, and he said that after their current tour, they’ll be back in the studio.

Ordinary – The Alternate Routes

One Cell in the Sea – A Fine Frenzy

One Cell in the Sea is the first album by A Fine Frenzy, which was released earlier this summer. This is a fantastic first effort from a very promising musician. This has a number of fantastic songs on it, and because it’s a first album that’s recently been released, I’m confident that we’ll see her soon again.

Rangers – A Fine Frenzy

Say No To Being Cool Say Yes To Being Happy – The Softlightes

This is another first album from a cool sounding band, the Softlightes. Fans of Death Cab for Cutie will like these guys, as they’ve got a similar sound. Heart Made of Sound is the best track on the album, and it’s got a really cool video as well. I’m relatively certain that we will be seeing more of these guys in the near future, and I’m sure that it will be worth waiting for.

Heart Made of Sound – Softlightes

Time Without Consequence – Alexi Murdoch

Alexi Murdoch came out last year with his first full length album, Time Without Consquence. Murdoch has a sound akin to that of Nick Drake, abit a little more modern and a little more experimental. This is a fantastic first effort from Murdoch, one that has brought out a number of fantastic songs. This is a guy that I desperately want to hear more from, and soon.

Blue Mind – Alexi Murdoch

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Remaining Pictures from Concert

As promised, here’s all the pictures from the concert last night:

http://norwich.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012458&l=a5765&id=70000497

Concert Review: The Alternate Routes and Paolo Nutini

I went out to the Higher Ground to catch The Alternate Routes and Paolo Nutini as they played a couple of good sets of music up here. The Alternate Routes have been up here in Vermont before, and I was able to see them at their free concert back in July. Paolo Nutini, I’d heard of, as he’s been on the radio with his two singles.

The Alternate Routes opened, and played a fairly good set this time around. It was a bit of an improvement over their July performance, and it was a bit of a shorter set, and they had concentrated on their better songs. Consequencely, their songs were pretty fast, which brought the crowd into full gear by the middle of their set until their finale. They once again used their toolbox & microphone combination during Fourtune Teller (I really hope that this makes it into their next album, whenever that is.) and they got the crowd singing along for My Old Lady. They pulled out an incredible amoung of energy for their time on stage. They’re still a new band, and had a couple of moments where they stumbled a little. They talked a little much between songs, but they’ve really started playing much better together as a group. Above all, it looked like they were having fun.

Set List:
- Shelly
- Time Is A Runaway
- California
- Going Home With You
- Roxanne (Tease, The Police)
- Fortune Teller (Toolbox)
- Aftermath
- Ordinary
- My Old Lady

Paolo Nutini is an artist that I don’t know a whole lot about, andreally didn’t have a whole lot of time to research them. I’ve listenedto New Shoes a number of times, and was fairly surprised at how raspy hesounded, as if he’s been on tour for a long time. He was also a bithunched over and seemed shy on stage in front of everyone, and took acouple of songs to really get a good flow going. They really kicked inwhen they got Trouble So High, a cover song, where the reggae sound really complimented his vocal work.

It took a while to get used to his voice, but it’s different, and worked pretty well with his songs. The faster songs worked the best with him, such as New Shoes, Last Request and Trouble So High, as well as a couple of others. He also did a number of covers – 3 – which seemed like quite a bit compared to other concerts that I’ve gone to. By the end, it looked like he was beginning to enjoy himself, and the crowd certainly seemed to be enjoying the act – he was the main focus of the night, and the crowd got into his music much faster than they did with the Alternate Routes.

Set List
- Alloway Groove
- New Shoes
- Rewind
- These Streets
- Autumn
- Natural Blues (Moby Cover)
- Millions Faces
- 55 to 1 (New Song)
- Everybody’s Talking (Harry Nielssen Cover)
- Last Request
- Rainbows
- Jenny, Don’t Be Hasty
Encore
- Alloway Groove (Second Part)
- I Wan’na Be Like You (Louis Prima & Phil Harris Cover – From the Jungle Book)
- Funky Cigarette

Both performers did very well on stage. The Alternate Routes seems to be improving their act, at least since I’d last seen them in July, and they performed a really good, if a short, set. They demonstrated a considerable amount of energy and really seemed to enjoy their time on stage.
Paolo Nutini seemed to be a bit more shy in front of the crowd, but played a fun set that really got the crowd going, which was fun to watch, with a good blend of fast and slow songs.
In both cases, they both played their radio singles early in the sets, which surprised me, but it seemed to work nicely. They built up to a finale with their faster songs and settled into some of the deeper tracks from their albums over course of the sets.
A couple of people asked me what I was doing while I was writing down the set lists, which was interesting. I handed out this address to a couple of people, and if you’re reading this, thanks for your interest and hope that you found this okay. I also talked with a husband and wife who were there with their daughter, and they seemed to enjoy their time there.

I’ll get more pictures online at some point later today.

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