finally seeing these guys at the largo tonight. james vincent mcmorrow is opening. the creators of my two favorite albums of 2011 playing in my favorite venue in LA. i’m literally sick with anticipation. if they start the show with the riff that starts this song, i might actually die.

holy smokes. okay, real quick, before you hit play, go find some good headphones and a quiet room and turn it up as loud as you can take it. this is going smack of hyperbole, but it honestly sounds like the fleet foxes, justin vernon, james blake and the avett bros all got together and made an album just for me. an album, i should add, that just leapt into the top spot for best album of the year so far. incidentally, he’s just announced some tour dates with the band whose album he replaced at the top of that list. genius loves company. mercy what a sound…

i’ve never been much for release dates. i don’t stand in the rain to see movies on opening weekend. i don’t pre-order ipads. i don’t buy albums the day they come out so i can be the first to post about them. i buy them when i remember to and post about them when i get a chance. and usually, i’m totally fine with that. but every once in a while, i’ll completely miss a project that is so right up my alley that i can’t help but feel slightly disappointed in myself. this is that. come on, seriously? a G. Love album produced by the Avett Bros? how did i not even hear about this until 3 weeks after the release date? i mean, i…i…sigh. i guess all that’s left to do is to post the song, apologize profusely and promise myself and everyone else that this will never, ever happen again. hm. i think i’ll start by just posting the song. -d

man. these guys are joining edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros and mumford and sons on tour across the american southwest starting next month. they’re calling it the ‘railroad revival tour’, and they’ll actually be travelling in vintage railroad cars. to be honest, the whole woody guthrie setup sounds a little contrived. but at the end of the night, it won’t matter. it’s still going to be a ridiculous concert. i just hope they come through town in my next life when i’m not poor. -d

*on a side note, i’ve never been able to figure out if this is a cover of an old spiritual or something. anybody know if this is an OCMS original or not?

oh man. this project could have been so cool. these are two of the most interesting musical minds america has ever produced. and the album is not without inspired moments. ‘i got rhythm’ and ‘nothing but love’ could have been ‘little deuce coupe’ b-sides. i mean, straight up, golden era beach boys tunes. but with the exception of those two (and this intriguing if entirely too short ‘rhapsody in blue’ snippet), pretty much everything else feels like an afterthought that somehow manages to sound simultaneously over- and under-produced. (for some of the tracks they brought in this truly meager orchestra to fill them out, and it sounds musaky and awful.) anyway, an interesting idea with a mostly failed execution. but still an interesting idea. -d

come come ye what?! honestly, who is this kid? and how incredible is this song?! i’m completely floored. the hymn will never be the same. i know the melody isn’t ours, but as far as i’m concerned it might as well be. and i’ve never, ever heard it like this. between his arrangement and his voice, there’s this perfect balance of emotion: a deep, quiet sadness, an exhausted hope, both somehow devoid of self-pity and faithlessness. (honestly, how does a 28-year-old kid from new york conjure up something like that?) and despite the different lyrics, those complex feelings seem to be exactly what william clayton was trying to evoke. man. somebody call mack wilberg. i think he and sam have some talking to do. -d

i spent the better part of the weekend going through Sam Amidon’s albums (or samamidon - it seems to change album to album). anyways, holy smokes, dude’s brilliant! turns out that ‘tribulation’ track wasn’t a lucky sxsw one-off. turns out it was the tip of an iceberg i wish i’d hit years ago. the kid (i think he’s 28 now) grew up w/ hippie, sacred-harp-song-singing parents who put a fiddle in his hand at age 3 and put him to sleep with appalachain murder ballads. what resulted was a folk music ingenue with a voice that disappears into the dark characters of the music he adapts (adaptations that, incidentally, sound completely faithful and totally modern at the same time). i’ve never heard anything quite like it. -d

a gem from sxsw 2007. one i listen to all the time, though usually through half-closed eyes. which would explain why i never went after any of his other music. until today. just got his latest, ‘i see the sign’. can’t wait to listen. just hope i can stay awake. -d