“Big Love”, Matthew E. White

Label: Hometapes (released August 21, 2012)

Big Inner is by far one of the more intriguing debut albums to come out this year: it’s equal parts experimental Beck, cynical Randy Newman, brooding The National and Big Easy celebrating Allen Toussaint.  "Big Love" grooves with a percolating bass line and a fantastic jazzy piano hook that could have found a home on a Nina Simone album. It’s an arrangement that you want to stick around for as it bounces from “Tomorrow Never Knows” territory to a loose gospel-influenced call and response. Surely one of the better cuts of the year and coming from a man who looks like he could have been a cult leader. Check out the beautiful brass/string arrangement on the epic “Brazos”, one of the more enjoyable nearly 10:00 songs perhaps ever and surely a call to inherit Harry Nilsson’s long lost throne.

Big Love

Brazos

RIYL: Harry Nilsson, Beck, Randy Newman, Allen Toussaint, The National

Treat Her Fine: A Mixtape

As finals draw near and the first semester comes to a close, here’s a little playlist to get you through.

1. Hank – Treat Her Right (off of Tied to the Tracks)

2. Maybe Baby (Buddy Holly Cover) – Justin Townes Earle (off of Rave On Buddy Holly)

3. Let’s Go Young – Hundred Visions (off of Permanent Basement)

4. Don’t Stop Loving Me Now (Floating Action Cover) – Juston Stens (via Everybody Taste)

5. Who’s Gonna Find Me – The Coral (off of Roots and Echoes)

6. Thought and Commonsense – Cheers Elephant ( off of Like Wind Blows Fire)

7. Where’d All the Time Go – Dr. Dog (off of Shame, Shame)

8. 50 Lashes – Floating Action (off of Floating Action)

9. Lonely Lonely Night – Juston Stens (off of Trash or Treasure)

10. California – Cheers Elephant (off of Man Is Nature)

11. Hot Love – T. Rex (off of Electric Warrior)

12. You Never Know – Wilco (off of Wilco)

13. Leaves, Trees, Forest – Dan Mangan (off of Oh, Fortune)

14. No Voodoo- Allah-Las (off of Allah-Las)

15. Soul Sister – Allen Toussaint (off of Life, Love And Faith)

16. In Living Color – Lands & Peoples (off of Pop Guilt)

17. Big Bad Love – Andrew Combs (off of Worried Man)

18. Leap – The Cave Singers (off of Welcome Joy)

19. You Had Me At Hello – Mystery Jets (off of Radlands)

20. You Silly Git – Dan Mangan (off of Nice, Nice, Very Nice)

21. Atlantic City – Bruce Springsteen (off of Nebraska)

Listen to it on Spotify

Treat Her Fine (.zip file)

“California”, Cheers Elephant, Man Is Nature (2011)

The eighth track off  Philadelphia based Cheers Elephant’s 2011 release, Man Is Nature, “California” is an absolute stunner of a pop melody. Starting off with a bouncy jazz guitar riff, “California” bursts with the energy of Beatlesque harmonies and sly, tongue-in-cheek, lyrics that are reminiscent of Queen’s “Killer Queen”. A stellar track on a stellar album you might have missed last year.

California – Cheers Elephant

 Cheers Elephant’s latest album Like Wind Blows Fire may well find itself back here on a Best of 2012 list, so prep yourself by grabbing the album on Bandcamp!

RIYL: Dr. Dog, Queen, The Beatles

Dr. Dog “Exit For Sale”, Wild Race EP

I’ve been a fan of Dr. Dog ever since I first heard the Grateful Dead/Beatle harmonies of “Worst Trip” and The Band homage of “Alaska”. Yes when they first started, they were a “revivalist” band, perfectly happy to ape the ‘60s status quo.  Things started to change around Shame, Shame when they released the biting “Take Me Into Town” as a bonus track. In February 2012 Be The Void followed, showing Dr. Dog at their most creative they had been in years. It was no longer just spitting out the music of their forebears, it was adapting it, putting it through some weird kind of dimension where all time periods existed at once. I still consider it one of the best albums of the year.  8 months later Dr. Dog released Wild Race EP  containing this neat little number “Exit For Sale”.  Featuring a menacing chromatic piano line and bluesy guitars, the song explodes into some beautiful harmonies during the chorus and remains an example of the goods Dr. Dog has to offer.

Take Me Into Town – Dr. Dog

Exit For Sale – Dr. Dog

Ephemera:

Worst Trip – Dr. Dog

Alaska- Dr. Dog