The Dear Hunter

Today I want to focus on the other "Dear" band making noise this year. Kyle recently covered the progress of Dear In The Headlights, a great indie band from Phoenix (where I will be moving in a month), and now I present The Dear Hunter. Actually, we already did a short piece on them as the opener for the Say Anything/Saves The Day show back in the spring. However, that was short and in the past, and since then The Dear Hunter have dropped their sophomore album Act II: The Meaning Of & All Things Regarding Ms. Leading.

Yes you're correct in guessing that their albums tell a story; a sort of play/musical if you will. This is nothing new, but its an idea that I sort of like in the way that it really brings more out of the lyrics of the music, especially when done by prog rockers Coheed & Cambria, but they deserve a separate post of their own.

The story in the work of The Dear Hunter involves the tragic birth, life, and death of a boy known as the Dear Hunter. The story itself is interesting to follow if you like to really just sit down and study the lyrics and music, but words aside I think the songwriting itself can stand on its own. The concept for the band was born entirely out of the mind of former The Receiving End Of Sirens band member Casey Crescenzo. In fact in the beginning The Dear Hunter was nothing more than Crescenzo himself. What started as a side project for Crescenzo wanting to branch out musically from the post-hardcore box of TREOS has evolved into a fully functioning band now. The original EP Dear Ms. Leading was recorded entirely by Crescenzo, and the debut CD; Act I: The Lake South, The River North was all recorded by Crescenzo plus his mother for backing vocals and brother for the drum parts. However, the latest release features a full backing band, including his brother now signed on as the full time drummer.

Musically, Act II is an eclectic piece of work, and really demonstrates Casey's song-writing abilities. The album features pieces of posthardcore, prog rock and indie mixed with influences of folk and orchestral sounds. Crescenzo does all the main vocals and is a talented singer as well, with an ability to both sing soft and melodically but also belt out and really let the emotion into his voice when needed.

Here are a couple highlight tracks from the album to get an idea of their sound. But I really recommend checking out the whole thing, because there's a lot of variety in the tracks and its hard to get a good feel for the sound of the band without listening to the entire album.

The Dear Hunter - The Procession

The Dear Hunter - Smiling Swine

The Dear Hunter - Blood Of The Rose


-Alec

Ryan Adams: Discography Part 1 --> Easy Tiger

This post has been a long time coming. Alec knew it would happen eventually, but I have to slob on my favorite singer/songwriter's nuts for a bit. Now with Ryan Adams, where does one begin. He just ended an extended period where he would not talk to the media. He 'just recovered' from heroine and cocaine addictions. He's kind of an asshole to his fans, and kicks some out of his shows who jokingly request for 'Summer of '69' by Bryan Adams. And he is in general an overall douchebag.

However, all this aside, he has been one of the most prolific writers in all of music during the past 5 years releasing a total of 8 albums (most of which are real good). He is my favorite singer/songwriter since Neil Young. He infuses gentle pop songs and ballads with the perfect amount of alt-country twang. His recorded live performances of him alone on an acoustic often equal or better his recorded CD material. He is really an all around great musician, performer, and writer.

His newest album Easy Tiger just dropped in June, which was perfect timing for my European vacation. After the first listen, I have to say I was immediately hooked once again. Easy Tiger feels like all of his older albums rolled into one cohesive unit. The songs posted below show some of the styles evident on the album. 'Two' is the single that he released, which I may have listened to over 80 times already. It opens with acoustic and slide guitars, Adams's smooth crooning, and then breaks into a chorus with some real soothing harmonies. As the weather is just beginning to ever-so-slightly turn, this song should hold a prime spot on your Ipods. 'The Sun Also Sets' brings a sparser arrangement to the table, but the keyboard and Adams's strained voice really bring you in. By the end of the song you want to know 'how it all works out' as well. 'These Girls' is the final song that I put up, and it showcases his ability to craft great songs with essentially just himself and an acoustic. Enjoy!

I'm sure there will be more Ryan Adams to come (hence part 1), but if this leaves you wanting more...check out my favorite Ryan Adams album, Cold Roses.


Ryan Adams - Two

Ryan Adams - The Sun Also Sets

Ryan Adams - These Girls

The Annuals

This weekend was the most important musical event of the year in Chicago, and one of the biggest in the country. Yes Lollapalooza dropped upon the city for the past 3 days with tons of bands both big and small performing for the crowds. I did not make it out to Lolla, even though I had good intentions of going today, but decided to pass after drinking too much last night and not wanting to part with $100 for one day of music. Personally I don't like music festivals that much, I prefer smaller venues and shorter shows that you can really focus on. Also when I found out that the brilliant people running the thing decided to schedule Lupe Fiasco and Amy Winehouse at the same time it was the deciding factor. However in honor of the festival I am going to write about one of the groups that I could have seen today had I actually gotten off my lazy ass.

The group is the Annuals (much different from the previously mentioned Band of Annuals), an indie band out of North Carolina. Now I'm not that big of an indie person, especially with regards to posting about it because the two things the world does not need more of are lawyers and people who write about indie music. But my personal beefs aside, the Annuals have really gotten to me with their blend of indie-pop that maintains a nice balance between the quirky styles of indie and the more conventional melodies arrangements of mainstream music. The band's 2006 release Be He Me really showcases the bands great song writing abilities and the various styles they incorporate into their songs. They do a great job of mixing things up with slower more somber songs and upbeat higher-energy songs as well.

The first song Bleary Eyed shows the band's pop side a little more and is a catchy song that allows vocalist Adam Baker and percussionists Zach Oden and Nick Radford to shine.

Bleary Eyed

The next song is a personal favorite of mine, a great upbeat song with addictive rhythms with a little soul influence in them.

The Bull, And The Goat


Finally a song to showcase the range of their talents. The last one, Dry Clothes, shows their creativity in song arrangements and distinctive style.

Dry Clothes

So give the Annuals a listen, they've got a lot of good songs to offer, and maybe if I wasn't so lazy I could tell you that they put on a great live show too. But I can't.

-Alec

Pittsburgh and John Fogerty

So Pittsburgh and John Fogerty really have nothing to do with each other, except for the fact that I have seen both in the past 5 days. For those of you who know and those who don't, I just moved to Pittsburgh yesterday. It's actually a pretty cool city, with a decent skyline, some cool parts, and really nice people (I already got two free beers in one day). So come on and visit me on the Southside if you so desire.

And for the music, if you don't know who John Fogerty is, you actually do. He was the lead singer/guitar player for the very famous Creedence Clearwater Revival. Fogerty left the band in the early 70's after some buisness disputes (and by most accounts, he is kind of an asshole). He now tours solo with a backing band and plays lots of old Creedence tunes along with new ones that he has written. He still hops around the stage like a 30 year old, and his voice hasn't lost too much, which made for a great show a few days ago in Milwaukee. I would highly recommend catching this legend in concert while you still can, I'm sure you'll be able to sing along to more songs than you think.

As many of you probably already have the 'Revival' album by Creedence, I'm going to post a few of my favorite 'covers' of Fogerty tunes below. The first is a cover of 'Proud Mary' by soul singer Solomon Burke. It is quite smooth with an acoustic guitar accented by an electric, and Solomon Burke keeping everything nice and velvety. The second is a cover of 'Bad Moon Rising' by Steel Train. We've done a previous post on Steel Train, so check that out...but here is another silky-smooth rendition of a Fogerty tune. A good late summertime tune, so I feel that it's pretty topical. The last tune, 'I Heard it Through the Grapevine' was actually written by songwriter Norman Whitfield, who had Marvin Gaye sing it. It became a number one hit, and has obviously been covered itself many times (and once by Fogerty and CCR). Enjoy the tunes!

Solomon Burke - Proud Mary

Steel Train - Bad Moon Rising

Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through the Grapevine

Another side to Ricky Martin

This is going to be kind of a quick post because I am getting ready to leave town and ran out of time, but I wanted to share a little gem that I stumbled on the other day. I was flipping channels when I came across "Ricky Martin Unplugged" on MTV Tr3s. Now before you rush to judgment, hear me out on this. I know Ricky Martin has infiltrated the US airwaves with his Latin-infused style of pop music, but there's another side of him.

The MTV series showcased a less poppy Martin performing songs of his Spanish albums; songs which have a much stronger Latin influence in their style and rhythm. The songs were full of the infectious rhythms and horn lines that make Latin and Salsa music so irresistible. I was never a Ricky Martin fan before, and still am not entirely, but I did discover a newfound respect for his musical abilities. I downloaded the cd later to give it a second listen, and he truly has some good songs that probably land somewhere between Latin American pop and Salsa.

Here's a couple of the better songs off the album. In particular I like the songs that are more upbeat and based heavily upon Latin rhythms. Some of the other songs on the album are more just straight pop songs and really aren't that good. I think I would really like Ricky Martin if he would cut the cheesy pop stuff, but still he can make some pretty good music. And even if you don't want to give Ricky credit, at least listen to the backing band, because they are pretty impressive. I think of these four my favorite is Pegate, its pretty much impossible to listen to this song just once, the chorus is just too addictive.

Ricky Martin - Maria

Ricky Martin - Pegate

Ricky Martin - Lola Lola

Ricky Martin - La Bomba

Hope you enjoy, and please don't hate me for writing about Ricky Martin.

- Alec

Back in the States

So I just got back from a whirlwind trip of Europe, which was quite an experience. I ate lots of strange yet delicious food, did some sauna, slept in an airport, threw up once, drank copious amounts of strange and familiar beers, and saw lots of old friends from my year abroad. What does this have to do with music? Well, I had to travel to all of these places, and my favorite CD to listen to on the plane rides/in the airport was this one.

The band is Dear and the Headlights, the CD is Small Steps Heavy Hooves. They play a brand of music that is hard to be classified as pop or indie or rock really. It has the voice that is a bit strong and difficult to get used to for some (indie-esque), it has some verse-chorus-verse-chorus-break-chorus tunes (pop-esque), and you get some guitar solos and rockin out (rock-esque). I think that they blend it together pretty well, and put forth quite a few compelling songs and a very solid album. It's one that as I listened to it for the first time, I had my finger on the 'next track' button after the first 10 seconds of pretty much every song, but never pressed it because all of the songs somehow got interesting to me in the next 5 seconds.

Here are a few that I didn't even lay my finger on the 'next track' button for. The first, called 'Sweet Talk', opens up showcasing their rock-ish side. It switches between emotional and strained rock segments, with indie breaks throughout the song which provide a nice contrast the whole way. Then in the end they are combined in a real nice break, where he holds his notes much longer and ends the tune. The second is called 'I'm Bored, You're Amourous.' This one will get your leg bouncing right from the start. When you hear the first chorus you may be a bit turned off...but give it a shot, it's an addicting tune. The last is "Run in the Front', which is a Third Eye Blind-esque pop tune. It's probably the easiest one to get into, and a fun one to cruise along to in the car (most preferably in autumn).

Dear and the Headlights - Sweet Talk

Dear and the Headlights - I'm Bored, You're Amorous

Dear and the Headlights - Run In the Front

Saved you from Alec at last.

-Kyle

T.I. vs T.I.P.

I'm back from a break at home where my computer refused to connect to our wireless, so I can now resume posts. I admit I haven't been listening to a ton of new stuff over the past month or so, but I did get my hands on the latest release from southern rap star T.I. The album is titled T.I. vs T.I.P., which chronicles the rapper's internal battle between his cultured, intelligent personality T.I. and his streetwise, rebellious personality T.I.P (the moniker he formerly used before dropping the P in respect to fellow rapper Q-Tip).

I really felt this album was quite similar to his last release King, in many ways, both good and bad. For the most part T.I. brings back the same style and southern swagger that brought him to the spotlight in the beginning. The cocksure young rapper has a knack for combining hooks with great beats. My problem with this album is that some of his ideas seem to be recycled from time to time. There are many parts that sound similar, and often times I was reminded of stuff from King as well. This is related to the album's other problem, and that's too much filler. Just like King, this one comes in at 18 tracks, about 6 more than needed. A few of the weaker tracks could have easily been removed without drawing from the album as a whole.

The one other thing I didn't like was the lack of the slower songs. While T.I. is well known for his rapid style delivery, his slower songs in which his southern drawl is really brought out are powerful as well, such as What You Know. I felt this style of song was lacking here.

Here are a couple of my favorite tracks so far, including the single Big S**T Poppin' (Do It), the first single.

T.I. - Big S**T Poppin' (Do It)

T.I. - My Swag (feat. Wyclef Jean)

T.I. - Show It To Me (feat. Nelly)


Also I think I'm just going to post the links for downloading now. Embedding the links for streaming was more time consuming and I don't think it adds that much.

- Alec