What The Hell Am I Listening To?!?
While I tend to keep the conversation around here on progressive, forward looking artists, I can still appreciate a more conservative, retro approach when it’s done well. Here are three local examples that can dig into older styles and still keep me more than interested:
Dead Confederate
Dead Confederate @ The Earl (6/7/08)
Dead Confederate‘s debut LP Wrecking Ball sees the band really define their sound. They have developed an interesting hybrid that seamlessly combines Nirvana-style ’90s with the jamminess and Rock ‘n’ Roll ethics of a band like My Morning Jacket. When you ponder the mass appeal of this mixture, it’s surprising no one has been as successful at blending the two as this until now. The only possible knock on this thing is that Dead Confederate may not be departing far enough away from their influences, but I think when you take a deeper listen, they are achieving a rather unique sound, and the album itself is an epic one. Here’s the beginning and the end of it:
Dead Confederate : Heavy Petting
Dead Confederate : Wrecking Ball
Dead Confederate Myspace
A Fight To The Death
I’m not sure exactly when I got turned on to A Fight To The Death, but I had got a copy of songwriter CJ Bargamian’s (ex-Crybaby, ex-Myssouri) EP under the moniker of A Fight To The Death called End Of Continent Sadness some time ago. Written while he was in San Francicsco in 2006, I thought the album had a lot of potential but sounded more like a demo, and in fact, it sort of was. Many of the tracks from it show up reworked and improved on the full band incarnation of A Fight To The Death‘s new self-titled debut LP. AFTTD sees Bargamain’s gorgeous songwriting surrounded by a very talented band that seems to compliment him perfectly and results in a tasty flavour of nu-Americana. Although, going back and listening to the stripped down versions on End Of Continent Sadness is even more enjoyable now that I know these songs so intimately.
A Fight To The Death : Killdeer
A Fight To The Death : Old Black Chains
A Fight To The Death myspace
Long Knives
Long Knives are another local band that has been on my radar for sometime, but I just never got around to giving them a deep look until now, and I found I was missing out big time. While I wouldn’t make much of a direct comparison to Wilco, Long Knives has the same sort of depth and innate ability to get me to bite hard into a genre I would usually be uninterested in. Another reason i think this album is so good is because it is so dynamic. It hits every end of the spectrum from a beautiful, downbeat ballad song like “Fuckwit” to the unbelievably stunning jammout of the second part of “Headlong Into The Abyss”. If you have been missing out on these guys too, it’s time to give them a try:
- Posted by Davy Minor on October 7, 2008 at 5:32 am
One Response to “What The Hell Am I Listening To?!?”
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matt rowles Says:
October 14th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
love the blog as always! dead confederate is a great sounding live band…check out our new DC video for “Yer Circus”: http://blip.tv/file/1348396
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matt rowles Says:
October 14th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
love the blog as always! dead confederate is a great sounding live band…check out our new DC video for “Yer Circus”: http://blip.tv/file/1348396
