It feels like me and Damien Jurado are slowly drifting apart. Damien is exploring the soundscape with Richard Swift and I’m stuck at home listening to sad bastards singing about their broken hearts. Maybe one day I’m ready to join them for a walk, but I don’t think I’m ready yet. I already had some doubts about the overall quality of the last album Maraqopa. Of course it had 3-4 songs like Working Titles that were utterly wonderful, but I never got totally into the whole thing. Pretty much same can be said about the new album Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son. There are songs (or moments within a song) that sound amazing, but the whole thing just doesn’t work for me. It really isn’t Damien’s fault that I’m such a narrow-minded prick who is going to spend a lot more time listening to his glorious back catalogue than this newer material. However, the new album gets a couple of bonus points for somehow bringing the classic Ted Lucas album to my mind. Mostly in the beginning of the song Silver Donna. This is Silver Timothy from the Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son.

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Damien Jurado Website

The new Hurray for the Riff Raff album Small Town Heroes came out on ATO records last week. I haven’t listened to the whole thing yet, but it’s definitely close to the top on my mile long shopping list. This is the new and magnificent video St.Roch Blues.

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And this is I Know It’s Wrong (But That’s Alright). Also from the new album.

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Hurray for the Riff Raff Website

The New Mendicants members are Joe Pernice, Norman Blake, Mike Belitsky. I’m not sure do I need to write more. Those names already tell you that this is wonderful music. Of course there is that one problem. Norman Blake doesn’t sing much lead vocals. Not that there’s anything wrong with the other option. I’m a huge Joe Pernice fan and almost everything he has done with the Pernice Brothers and Scud Mountain Boys means the world to me. However, Norman Blake means the world plus all other alternative universes that neither scientists or scifi nerds haven’t even found or imagined yet.

Into The Lime isn’t the new Grand Prix, The World Won’t End or Massachusetts, but it doesn’t need to be. Sure they both have written some greater songs in the past, but telling these guys that they could have worked on the songs a while longer to make them even greater, would be like telling Elvis in the 50s that maybe you should work on that hip thing you do on stage, it just isn’t working. That was then. This is now. And they still sound amazing. Into the Lime is a beautiful pop record. Especially from the sixth song If You Only Knew Her to 9th song Out Of The Lime it’s just heavenly and I’m crying like a baby. When Norman starts singing By The Time It Gets Dark, a tissue isn’t enough, I need a damn bucket or my tears will cause water damage to the apartment. I’m loving this if we agree that there’s only 9 songs on the album. That last song is just awful or maybe I’m a narrow-minded fool. Could go either way. I would personally bet on me being a fool.

The New Mendicants Website

Last friday, I split the work day between Party Dolls and Tedo Stone. First four hours of Party Dolls and then four hours of Tedo Stone. I came to two conclusions. 1.) This new Party Dolls album Love Wars Baby is just magnificent 2.) I really didn’t pay enough attention to Tedo Stone last year. Good Go Bad is a very good album and I don’t think I even mentioned it here.

Party Dolls is a new project that contains members from The District Attorneys, Tedo Stone and Crooked Fingers. The District Attorneys album Slowburner was a big hit in 2012. Well maybe not in the world, but it was a hit in my head. It was one of the big surprises of 2012 and took the #11 place on my albums of the year list. The District Attorneys frontman Drew Beskin is also the main songwriter on this project and he has again written some fantastic songs. Love Wars Baby will be released on 14th of February by This Is American Music. Valentine’s Day sure is a good release date for an intimate and brutally honest album that was written after a bad break-up. This is Kindly Leave from Love Wars Baby.

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