For a while now, I’ve been aware that the sister labels of Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar, were a goldmine of good music. I keep noticing their logos on the back of albums that I enjoy, but it wasn’t until this past month when picking up The War On Drugs and The Lord Dog Bird, that I really had to take a moment to wonder how they put out so many good bands. Two labels with attitude coming straight out of Bloomington, Indiana, they seem to pick up on bands from all over rather than being an insular “scene” of music. My only guess is that they have great taste and are good at weeding through demos. So I’m kicking this month of with those two bands. The Lord Dog Bird (despite having my least favorite band name since Sparklehorse) are awesome. And it wasn’t until I picked up the album that I dumbly realized it is a side project of Wilderness guitarist, Colin McCann. The War On Drugs‘ Wagonwheel Blues is easily one of my favorite debuts of the year. They are from Philadelphia and have a throwback feel to them in an upbeat tempo akin to Arcade Fire, but with some wandering tracks in the vein of Hearsay favorites, Hudson Bell. I took a while trying to figure out exactly who it reminded me of; Freed noted the guitars having Velvet Underground-like harmonies… and “Arms Like Boulders” sounds just like a Bob Seger track. But it mostly seemed like a cross between Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, before that I realized that Dylan + Springsteen = Tom Petty. Final answer.
There’s a bunch of throwbacks rounding out the mix. Toni Basil‘s (of “Oh Mickey” fame) “Breakaway” is a classic Motown-era soul track, and then there is Ska/Rocksteady grandfather, Prince Buster, doing the first version I’ve heard of “A Change Is Gonna Come” that I love so much that I don’t feel the need to compare it to Sam Cooke’s version. Oh, and The Fendermen‘s classic “Muleskinner Blues” is the best version of a song that The Cramps and Cat Power would go on to cover.
I have been really excited about the new David Byrne & Brian Eno collaboration, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, and came inches from including “Strange Overtones,” the lead single on this mix. But instead I’m opting to close out with Eno’s collaboration from 1990 with John Cale. Ain’t no denying that.
[banner photo by james herman]
September 2008 Mix
01 The Lord Dog Bird – Song For Woodthrush
02 The War On Drugs – Arms Like Boulders
03 Toni Basil – Breakaway
04 The Fendermen – Muleskinner Blues
05 Alsace Lorraine – If This Were the Past
06 Prince Buster – A Change Is Gonna Come
07 The Meeting Places – Turned Over
08 The Duke Spirit – The Step And The Walk
09 Mice Parade – Tales of Las Negras
10 Brian Eno & John Cale – Spinning Away
