NEW RELEASES
The Mountain Goats
John Darnielle is back and apparently he plays the piano now. This new collection of 12 songs outlines "hard lessons" he learned from specific verses of the bible. Thankfully, as a lapsed Catholic and professed nonbeliever who chants the Hare Krishna, this is not Darnielle's version of the infamous "hey look I found religion" albums, instead this album is soft and contemplative. The one complaint Matt has about The Life of the World to Come is that it lacks the raw hollerin' type of songs found on earlier recordings but hey, isn't it always the cynical nerd who says, "it'll never be as good as that first demo 8 track I traded that guy with the lazy eye an ounce for."
Frank Fairfield
He plays in old bars, Churches, and at the L.A. Farmers Market with a coffee can at his feet. He has a radio show where he plays old 78s. He's a giant of a man whose banjo looks like a kid's toy in his hands. He is Frank Fairfield and we'd compare his music to other bands, except the kind of music he plays pre-dates the music you listen to! Recorded with just one man and three instruments, his self titled debut is a jaw dropping return to old timey music.
The King Khan and BBQ Show
The new upcoming album, Invisible Girl, from King Khan and BBQ is more of just what you'd expect from these two: toe tapping garage motown that almost sounds too energetic for just two men, even if one of them is in a sequin evening gown. After being disappointed with their collaboration with the Black Lips, these two nugget acolytes have totally redeemed themselves with this new and a bit more polished release.
NEW NEWS
Mississippi Records is stoking our fire as of late, their cache of affordable bluesy records have crawled up and nestled right in our left ventricles. Adam screamed like a woman after finding Abner Jay's album. The son and grandson of slaves in Washington County, Georgia, Jay started playing in medicine shows when he was 5 and is the one man blues equivalent of a punch to the gut.
Matt peed himself a little when he opened a box and pulled out Last Kind Word Blues. Along with a slew of murder-your-neighbor-for-a-copy blues tunes from 1926-53, it contains Geeshie Wiley's heartbreaking title track (that's a $120 78 if you can find it), wonderful music your granparents made your parents to.
Analogue Africa...sigh. We feel about Analogue Africa the way 15 yr old girls felt about Shaun Cassidy during the 70's, whenever one of these hits our record player you can be sure it stays on at least 2 or 3 times. These 2 lp sets are the stuff that makes any group of people begin shakin their booties to the hypnotic beat. Recently we tested this and we received a positive result on 13 out of 17 city buses (3 buses threw us off and 1 had a guy in a Tasmanian devil hat that had obviously already captured everyone's attention).
COMING SHOWS
November 14th Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three at 3 Foods Cafe
The Rvierboat Soul that is Pokey and the Souh City 3 return to Humboldt for another night of fun and debauchery with the No Good Redwood Ramblers, after some blue cheese nachos of course.
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November 7th The Legendary Kawabata Makoto of Acid Mothers Temple will play the Jambalaya in Arcata! Backed by Humboldt's newest local band Radio Moscow, clear your schedule for this one because it promises to be one hell of a night!
