Micah Schnabel and some random ramblings

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yldl69YDsQE]

Lately I’ve been listening to Micah Schnabel’s (Two Cow Garage) solo album and I like it a lot. Self-released small edition of the album came out last year and was quickly sold out. Thankfully Suburban Home Records fell in love with it and is now re-releasing the album with new artwork. I preordered and got a free download with it. It’s a very fine album indeed. If you don’t believe me, you can stream the whole album on Suburban Home’s new listening station. Oh and if you liked that great video by TCSupergenius, be sure to check out his other videos. There’s some other fabulous stuff. Especially those Austin Lucas videos are pure gold.

What else is new? Well The Fox Hunt. I already mentioned them a while ago. I still don’t have the albums. I should get Nowhere Bound in a week or two, because it’s currently travelling from cdbaby to this household (too bad post from USA to Finland nowadays seem to take longer than before). Anyway, the point I needed to make is that The Fox Hunt has also new album out now and you can order it from their website. I did that some days ago. Check out The Fox Hunt on myspace or spotify if you like things like early Old Crow Medicine Show for example.

If that isn’t a perfect soundtrack for lonely days & whiskey nights, try Otis Gibbs. I recently streamed his new album Joe Hill’s Ashes on his website and because it sounded rather perfect to me, I ordered it.

Last friday’s FOTM was a success as well. Ben’s Diapers and Hi-Lo & In Between were both really good and because it was a record release partee for both, I’ve been listening to their new albums during the last few days. I think both of them are great albums. Ben’s Diapers threw in a couple of surprising curve balls midway through the park, but those new dimensions added more colour and actually made the record work perfectly as a whole. Hi-Lo & In Between’s record is also gorgeous. I’m extremely happy that they were able to make it sound so perfect this time around. It’s totally my kind of country/folk band and I’ve enjoyed their live performances from the start. Still I would have liked to love their debut more than I actually did. There was not much wrong with it, but it still wasn’t able to capture their magic like this follow up thankfully can. Well done. Reviews to follow if I can find the cure for lazyness..

Oh.. and Starflower’s new album came out today. A proper news entry about that in a day or two. Just wanted to get that beauty of my chest. I have to wake up in six hours, so I better continue some other night. Take care and all that..

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R.I.P. Mark Linkous

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Mark Linkous. I never knew you personally, but the fact that you are now gone hurts like hell. It hurts so much that I’m almost ashamed to admit that a death of a musician can have such a huge impact on me. It’s because our relationship was always so freakin personal. Your songs and your whispering voice carried me through lonely nights and gave me comfort when I needed it the most. You reached the darkest corner of my heart and made it brighter by injecting a truckload of beauty straight to the core. You took care of me without even knowing it. That’s why our completely one-sided love affair was so extremely personal on my part. Thank you for everything.

Sparklehorse’s first two albums Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot and Good Morning Spider are both classics and some of the finest albums ever made (nothing wrong with the other two either. Those are “only” really wonderful while the first two are some of the best ever).
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Top of the Month: February

1. John K. Samson: City Route 85 EP (I don’t have a physical copy though, but I did pay for the mp3s)
2. Laura Veirs: July Flame
3. Eels: End Times
4. Timothy Seth Avett As Darling: The Mourning, The Silver, The Bell / Killing the Headlamps
5. Jason & The Scorchers: Halcyon Times
6. Danny & The Champions Of The World: Streets Of Our Time
7. Chip Robinson: Mylow
8. Starflower: Ceasefires
9. Richmond Fontaine back catalogue
10. Drive-By Truckers back catalogue

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News: FOTM reminder, Ben’s Diapers, Hi-Lo & In Between

Ben’s Diapers will release their 4th full-lenght album Up in the Mountains, Deep In The Sea in march. The release party will be held at Pikku-Torre, Turku on 5th of march. The event is obviously Flavour Of The Month club and the other band of the evening is Hi-Lo & In Between who are also about to release a new album. Their second album Lonely Bird is due out in march as well. Both of these bands have a couple of great new songs from their upcoming albums on their myspace pages.

Ben’s Diapers at myspace
Hi-Lo & In Between at myspace

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