Buddy Dan turned me on to the Heartless Bastards. All This Time is one of the best albums I've heard in a long time. Moving, smart and ass-kicking rock and roll. And Erika Wennerstrom's vocals rip your heart out through your ears.
I turned Dan on to The Decemberists. "Hey check out this cool Portland band," I wrote when I sent him Picaresque. "I hear they have a new one out that is supposed to be really good. It's called The Crane Wife." 'Lo and behold, a couple weeks later he sends me TCW with accolades. I am blown away. Colin Meloy is a genius. "The Island" is the Bronte sisters meet Sweeney Todd, scored by ELP and Roger Waters. Amazing. And the whole album is great. There's Shakespeare--"O, Valencia"--and Stephen Crane--"Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)"--and Elmore Leonard--"The Perfect Crime No.2".
I live for times like this. The transcendence of falling in love with a new album and/or a new band is the closest I'll come again in this life to falling in love with a beautiful new woman. For a while there, it was The Hold Steady. After the intensity of Boys and Girls in America and then seeing them back-to-back in Seattle and Portland last fall, I am so glad not to have to starve through a barren winter. And I have a couple of tours to keep my eye on for the coming months.
