Tom Morello The Nightwatchman - Saint Isabelle

I loved the first Nightwatchman record and this is a definite progression from that album. It's a lot more musically diverse than the last record while keeping the same political angle on some of the songs. Morello shows he can write strong personal stories and some fantastic hooks as well. The album is out now and is highly recommended. Saint Isabelle is one of the catchier songs on the album. You'll be singing the chorus for days.



Tom Morello The Nightwatchman - Saint Isabelle



Official Site

MySpace

Teddy Thompson - Whelans 27 September 2008

I've always liked Teddy Thompson, enjoyed his albums and was interested to see him live, if not amazingly excited about it. But he really impressed me, putting on a fantastic show for 90mins or so. His songs can range from folk to country to pop to rock and his voice adapts fantastically to each genre. His voice is his greatest asset but he's written some great songs and had a good band behind him.

Despite a fair few technical difficulties, Teddy kept his good humour all the way through and was all round very entertaining. Highlights would have to include I Should Get Up, In My Arms (which he played twice for some reason lost on me) and a stunning version of Leonard Cohen's 'Tonight Will Be Fine'. In my opinion, his songs can sometimes sound a bit flat on record but live they really come alive. All round a great set from a very talented songwriter.

My Morning Jacket - Across 110th Street

One of my favourite bands covering one of my favourite songs of all time at Bonnaroo this summer. Great show, you can download the whole concert over at The Steam Engine.


My Morning Jacket - Across 110th Street

Charlie Pickett - All Love All Gone

Bloodshot Records are releasing a retrospective double cd of this forgotten 80s rock and roll band. It's out on the 7th October.

"Situating themselves at the crossroads where Johnny Thunders and Son House intersect, Charlie whipped up a bad voodoo vibe of heroin rock and midnight blues. These guys were one of the undiscovered giants of the late eighties." --Peter Buck, R.E.M.


Charlie Pickett - All Love All Gone


Info

Fight Like Apes - Jake Summers

The current darlings of the Irish indie music scene, this is their new video for 'Jake Summers'.

Lambchop - National Talk Like A Pirate Day

A track has been made available from Lamchop's upcoming album called OH (Ohio) and it's very good. Always been a fan of the band but some of their albums have passed me by. Looking forward to hearing this one though. It's out sometime around the start of October and they're playing Tripod on the 1 November.


Lambchop - National Talk Like A Pirate Day



Official Site

MySpace

Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody on Later with Jools Holland

elsinore - The General

One of my favourite discoveries are this band from Illinois in America. Led by lead singer Ryan Groff, they have their roots in Americana/folk but are now making a move in the indie rock scene. I got their album Nothing For Design last week and I've been mightily impressed with it.

They've got a great knack for writing a catchy pop song (listen to 'Vampire In My Town' below) alongside more serious, acoustic driven songs like 'Cannonball' which is a really great song. I also got The General EP showcasing one of the songs from their album due out this year. Again, it's one of my favourite tracks of the year so far. I'm looking forward to the album and hopefully it'll be a big enough success for them to make it across the Atlantic.


elsinore - The General

elsinore - Cannonballs

elsinore - Vampire In My Town


You can buy Nothing For Design and The General EP at CDBaby. Learn more about the band through their MySpace

Land Of Talk - Some Are Lakes

This excellent track is taken from their soon to be released album of the same name. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Elizabeth Powell has a really strong voice, reminding me of Kathleen Edwards, and the album should be worth a look when it arrives on the Saddle Creek record label in early October. Involvement on the album from Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) should also encourage a few people to check them out.


Land Of Talk - Some Are Lakes


Official Site

MySpace

Brian Wilson - Black Cab Session

Surely the biggest coup for the Black Cab Sessions so far is this just released performance by the legendary Brian Wilson. He sings That Lucky Old Sun and California Girls with his band who managed to squeeze into the cab as well.

Lisa Hannigan - I Don't Know

I saw Lisa perform today in the fantastic Road Records store where she played about 5 songs with her band. Her voice really is something special and if you can get to any of her many gigs coming up you really should go. Out of the songs she played, this was the one that struck me the most. Been listening to the album since I bought it this afternoon and it's really good, some fantastic songs.


Lisa Hannigan - I Don't Know


Official Site

MySpace

Black Mountain - Tyrants

Saw this band when I was in Paris and it was a great gig with this song being the definite highlight. Their album In The Future is also one of the best records of the year. Check out the song below.


Black Mountain - Tyrants



Official Site

MySpace


Also, I've decided to discontinue the playlists that I've been putting together since January. I've enjoyed doing them and I have a few that I'm really pleased with (and a few which are a bit more questionable now). I'm going to post an mp3 every day of a different band instead and every now and again I'll put together another playlist when I think I have enough good songs to put on it. Thanks to everyone who has been downloading them and I hope you found a few new worthwhile bands. I'll continue to be posting what I think are the best new groups alongside some of my favourite albums of the year and as always I'm open to suggestions.

Blitzen Trapper - Furr

New album coming out from Blitzen Trapper later this month entitled Furr. Their last album Wild Mountain Nation was very good so I'm hoping they can build on that. This is the title track off the album. Also they're playing Whelan's on the 2nd of October. Tickets are still on sale last time I checked.


Blitzen Trapper - Furr



Official Site

MySpace

Crooked Fingers - Phony Revolutions

Crooked Fingers have always been a band on my radar that I've never really got into but have always meant to. They have a new album (Forfeit/Fortune) coming out next month so hopefully that'll be the spark I need. Download a track off the album below


Crooked Fingers - Phony Revolutions



Official Site

MySpace

Two Cow Garage - Your Humble Narrator

One of the albums I'm most looking forward to hearing is Speaking In Cursive from Ohio's Two Car Garage. It's out at the end of October and is shaping up to be a great album. Best comparisons are probably Drive-By-Truckers and Lucero but there's a whole host of other influences in there. Download 'Your Humble Narrator' from the upcoming album and 'Should've California' from 2007's III.


Two Car Garage - Your Humble Narrator

Bonus: Two Car Garage - Should've California


Official Site

MySpace

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - You Want That Picture

Will Oldham is one of the most prolific songwriters around but, at times, can be very inconsistent. When he gets it right though, he writes songs that can be matched by few. The album where this track comes from, 'Lie Down In The Light' is one of his best releases in a number of years and one of the best albums of the year.


Bonnie Prince' Billy - You Want That Picture


Official Site

MySpace

The Gentle Guest - Down At The Still

The Gentle Guest is essentially Eric Rykal and friends and they make music that would be loosely classed as Americana. Very good at it they are too. This is a track from their debut album, out at the end of the month, called 'We Are Bound To Save Some Souls Tonight'.


The Gentle Guest - Down At The Still

Bonus: The Gentle Guest - Longfellow from the 'Our Little Ruckus EP'


Official Site

MySpace

Dr. Dog - The Old Days

Dr. Dog's album Fate gets better every time I listen to it and is going to be high in my end of year list of great albums. Yes, they've been accused of being too in debt to The Beatles and The Beach Boys etc but I think they've got just the right amount of appreciation for these bands while coming up with something original themselves.

I'll be honest and say this album was my first introduction to the band (this being their fifth album) so I can't claim to have been there from the start but I'm glad I'm there now. Songs like 'Hang On', 'The Rabbit, The Bat and The Reindeer' and 'The Ark' really make the band stand out from a lot of the bands around today.

They're playing Whelans at the start of November and with tickets only costing €13.50 it's sure to be a good night. Download the track below and take a look at the video from Letterman.


Dr. Dog - The Old Days


My Old Ways from 2007



Official Site

MySpace

Hard Working Class Heroes

The Hard Working Class Heroes Festival is taking place this weekend all around Temple Bar with a huge variety of bands playing in various venues. There's some real talent on the Irish scene at the moment and this festival will showcase some of them along with an 'invasion' of Scottish bands which will add further to the festival. Entertainment.ie are running a download chart of songs by the artists featured so that's well worth a look to find a few more bands and also more info on the artists I've featured below. Here are some of my potential highlights for the weekend. Find the full festival schedule here.



The Dagger Lees - Stagger Stomp

Fiona Melady - Rush

Fiach - So I

Frightened Rabbit - Modern Leper (Scottish Invasion)

Heathers - Margie

Carly Sings - Apple Tree

Fred - Skyscrapers

Sweet Jane - Heartbreak

The Spook of The Thirteen Lock - The Hare



Also check out Sons & Daughters who are closing the festival on Sunday night. Considering you can see as many shows as you want (or at least what time will allow) over the three nights for only €45 euro, it's well worth looking into. Day tickets are only €20.

Calexico : Red Blooms

Their new album 'Carried to Dust' can be hard going at times but overall is a good album. There's a few really strong tracks balanced out by a few duds. They're playing Tripod tomorrow night and tickets are still on sale for €28. They've got some really good albums already under their belt so it should be a good show. This is one of my favourite tracks off the new album

MP3: Calexico - Red Blooms


Official Site
MySpace

The Baseball Project : Jackie's Lament

One of the best albums of the year is The Baseball Project Vol.1 and this track shows the group at their power pop best. Highly recommended album.

MP3 The Baseball Project - Jackie's Lament


Official Site
MySpace

The Gaslight Anthem : Old White Lincoln

MP3 - The Gaslight Anthem - Old White Lincoln


Official Site

MySpace

Thundercrack Playlist #29

Bumper edition this week. 17 songs, so a slightly larger file size of 85mb this week. (Any issues with any of the songs, please email me and I'll take the song down immediately.)

Download it here


1. Murder By Death - Comin' Home
2. Fiona Melady - Rush
3. The Gaslight Anthem - Old White Lincoln
4. Motel Motel - Harlem
5. The Felice Brothers - Frankie's Gun!!
6. Giant Sand - Increment Of Love
7. Ribbonpigeon - Signal Fire
8. Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris - Love Hurts
9. The Submarines - You, Me And The Bourgeoisie
10. The Gentle Guest - Down At The Still
11. James Hunter - Jacqueline
12. Jessica Lea Mayfield - Kiss Me Again
13. Land Of Talk - Some Are Lakes
14. Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons - Home In The Woods
15. Jason Isbell - Chicago Promenade
16. Jeff Hanson - If Only I Knew
17. Slim Cessna's Auto Club - This Is How We Do Things In The Country

Why He's The Boss - Magic Tour Highlights

Springsteen has wrapped up his nearly year long 'Magic' tour and has performed some of the best shows of his career during the course of the tour. I've been lucky enough to have seen 7 shows on the tour and each one was fantastic. I've put together a small live mp3 album of some of the songs that I feel best sum up the tour and others that were just great performances. The tracklisting is:

1. Then She Kissed Me
2. Radio Nowhere
3. Trapped
4. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
5. Something In The Night
6. Reason To Believe
7. Because The Night
8. Livin' In The Future
9. Incident On 57th Street
10. Long Walk Home
11. Detroit Medley
12. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
13. Dancing In The Dark
14. American Land

You can download it from here

Thanks to all the tapers and uploaders for these great bootlegs. Much appreciated. Most of these performances are taken from the fantastic bootleg of the show in San Jose in April 2008 and also the radio broadcast of the 4th July show from Gothenburg. These shows along with nearly every other Springsteen concert ever, can be downloaded at the amazing BTX MP3 Index.

Also here are a few of my favourite videos from the tour

So Young And In Love


Tenth Avenue Freeze Out


Incident 0n 57th Street


Thunder Road


Born To Run


Born In The USA


Reason To Believe


Then She Kissed Me


Crush On You


I'm Goin Down


I'm On Fire


Backstreets


For You

For You , Paris from Willem2 on Vimeo.

I'm A Rocker

i,m a Rocker , Antwerp from Willem on Vimeo.

Point Blank

Point Blank , Antwerpen from Willem on Vimeo.

Thundercrack

ThunderCrack from Willem on Vimeo.

Wilco & Fleet Foxes - I Shall Be Released