Now Playing: March, 2010

[Moss]

 

Thanks for the Buzz, VC. This one is really good.

 

Yep, the VC hype machine always does me a solid. Thanks. Really liking this one.

[solace]

Last week, I gave Plastic Beach another spin, and now I can't remember why I liked it aside from Gruff Rhys and some of the solo stuff; I'm pretty sure they made a Snoop Dogg album instead.

 

haha, yeah i just had to review that this weekend and i wasn't overly nice towards it (gave it 67/100), but i didn't like all the guest spots at all either minus Mos Def & Bobby Womack.

 

NP:

 

 

[Al.Ducts]

 

Real nice.

[jff]

 

This one's quite good.

 

Just realized this morning that I have that one. It's in a plain white cover, so I didn't realize it's in my collection. I'll spin that one tomorrow...wasn't able to find the one I was looking for. It's probably in one of my several "on deck" piles.

 

Now playing:

 

 

[lizish]

[cryptique]

 

Thanks for the Buzz, VC. This one is really good.

Playing that one again myself.

 

I don't know if it's been mentioned here, but Pat Sansone gets a shout-out in the liner notes.

[cooperissup3r]

 

Thanks for the Buzz, VC. This one is really good.

 

i'm digging this too. the first track sounds like The Band a lot. I Like the lead singer's voice.

[solace]

Dawes fans, if you're truly interested and love Taylor's voice, check out he and Wylie's old band 'Simon Dawes', a couple songs on North Hills started out as Simon Dawes songs:

 

http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/simon-dawes-concert/20030134-110748.html

 

they were a bit harder edged than Dawes

[brianjeremy]

[cgoodwin22]

Joe Purdy - Last Clock On The Wall

[CortezTheKiller]

That Dawes album is cool and all, but I am a bit surprised it is generating this amount of buzz 9 months after its release. For one, this place is typically at least a month ahead of an official release in terms of buzz. And, secondly, it's not really that amazing. I mean, I like that sound - The Band, Laurel Canyon era-Neil, CSN&Y, etc. But, is it really that special? If I am going for a modern-day take on that vibe, I gotta say Sky Blue Sky blows the Dawes record out of the water. I hate to be the buzz kill, but, especially on Wilco's board, I feel like I needed to type this.

[cooperissup3r]

That Dawes album is cool and all, but I am a bit surprised it is generating this amount of buzz 9 months after its release. For one, this place is typically at least a month ahead of an official release in terms of buzz. And, secondly, it's not really that amazing. I mean, I like that sound - The Band, Laurel Canyon era-Neil, CSN&Y, etc. But, is it really that special? If I am going for a modern-day take on that vibe, I gotta say Sky Blue Sky blows the Dawes record out of the water. I hate to be the buzz kill, but, especially on Wilco's board, I feel like I needed to type this.

 

i'm gonna go ahead and say that sometimes feelings are wrong, and you DID kill my buzz. i don't like them at all now. look what you did.

 

 

seriously though, it's a good record. why do we have to go any further than that?

anyway, i'm listening to this now:

 

[solace]

Cortez, i'll fully admit that i slept on the Dawes album for a few months even though i'd seen them @ SXSW last year and once over the summer, partially due to just sheer lazyness on my part, but the album wasn't promoted all that well initially either it seemed. that said, i MUCH much prefer North Hills to Sky Blue Sky, sorry

 

have you seen Dawes live yet? they're fantastic live and more than worthy of any and all buzz they're getting on Via, late or not.

 

it's not like the album got a TON of traditional press... it got a decent review in Rolling Stone if i recall, but Pitchfork never reviewed it or has said a peep about Dawes whatsoever yet. actually on a lot of other forums i'm on it's all been word of mouth too.

 

besides, nothing wrong with an album be a slow burner... sometimes those are the best records

[augurus]

[cryptique]

That Dawes album is cool and all, but I am a bit surprised it is generating this amount of buzz 9 months after its release. For one, this place is typically at least a month ahead of an official release in terms of buzz. And, secondly, it's not really that amazing. I mean, I like that sound - The Band, Laurel Canyon era-Neil, CSN&Y, etc. But, is it really that special? If I am going for a modern-day take on that vibe, I gotta say Sky Blue Sky blows the Dawes record out of the water. I hate to be the buzz kill, but, especially on Wilco's board, I feel like I needed to type this.

The denizens of this board didn't catch up to this one until pretty recently for reasons unknown (or maybe because no one posted it in this thread until the last couple of months, at which point everyone checked it out). It's just a quirk of timing. If someone posted about a great overlooked album from, say, 1997, and everyone checked it out and began listening to it obsessively, someone who hadn't been following this thread might be pretty confused by all the love for a 13-year-old record. Same thing here, just with a smaller time shift.

 

I think North Hills is easily the equal of Sky Blue Sky, and personally I like it better by a fair amount. And that's saying something, because I'm one of the defenders of SBS on this board (aside from a couple of songs on it that I loathe).

 

But that's just a matter of taste, of course. Perhaps I was just ready to hear something like this Dawes album. Sometimes a record comes along that just clicks with me, even if it's not a masterpiece by most people's standards. Certainly there are flaws on North Hills -- I think some of the songs get to sounding too similar, and the lyrics, while generally pretty good, occasionally lapse into cliché. But there are so many great moments sprinkled throughout those songs, and the overall sound, while owing an obvious debt to The Band and others, still manages to seem fresh, at least to me. I can see why someone wouldn't like the record, but to me it's been a minor revelation, and has dominated my playlist for the last few weeks.

[lizish]

[MattZ]

I am just catching up on this thread and now giving Dawes a shot. So, NP: Dawes.

 

I've got to admit that any band that reminds me of the Band usually ends up falling flat. Anything that reminds me of the Band makes me put on the Band.

[lizish]

 

all Chilton all the time for the next little while.

 

Includes all the covers of Thirteen. Came across a horrendous Mary Lou Lord version that got moved to the recycle bin.

[MattZ]

I am just catching up on this thread and now giving Dawes a shot. So, NP: Dawes.

 

I've got to admit that any band that reminds me of the Band usually ends up falling flat. Anything that reminds me of the Band makes me put on the Band.

 

(NP: Northern Lights, Southern Cross)

 

Never fails. Will give Dawes another shot soon.

[CortezTheKiller]

Cortez, i'll fully admit that i slept on the Dawes album for a few months even though i'd seen them @ SXSW last year and once over the summer, partially due to just sheer lazyness on my part, but the album wasn't promoted all that well initially either it seemed. that said, i MUCH much prefer North Hills to Sky Blue Sky, sorry

 

have you seen Dawes live yet? they're fantastic live and more than worthy of any and all buzz they're getting on Via, late or not.

 

it's not like the album got a TON of traditional press... it got a decent review in Rolling Stone if i recall, but Pitchfork never reviewed it or has said a peep about Dawes whatsoever yet. actually on a lot of other forums i'm on it's all been word of mouth too.

 

besides, nothing wrong with an album be a slow burner... sometimes those are the best records

I listened to it fairly regularly last fall. And, I do like it. I LOVE "Peace in the Valley." It got a little bit of buzz last fall on the other forum I frequent. I was just surprised to see how frequently it was suddenly popping up in this thread for the reasons I stated last night. I have not seen them live, so I suppose that pokes a hole in my opinion a bit. I can see how my initial post gives the impression I have a negative opinion on it. I don't. It's more out of respect for some of the tastes on VC and the level to which most folks on here seem to be a whisker ahead of the cutting edge that I typed that. Please return to regularly scheduled North Hills listening enjoyment.

[jff]

 

all Chilton all the time for the next little while.

 

Includes all the covers of Thirteen. Came across a horrendous Mary Lou Lord version that got moved to the recycle bin.

 

There's a good version of 13 on this:

 

[Moss]

 

But that's just a matter of taste, of course. Perhaps I was just ready to hear something like this Dawes album. Sometimes a record comes along that just clicks with me, even if it's not a masterpiece by most people's standards. Certainly there are flaws on North Hills -- I think some of the songs get to sounding too similar, and the lyrics, while generally pretty good, occasionally lapse into cliché. But there are so many great moments sprinkled throughout those songs, and the overall sound, while owing an obvious debt to The Band and others, still manages to seem fresh, at least to me. I can see why someone wouldn't like the record, but to me it's been a minor revelation, and has dominated my playlist for the last few weeks.

 

This.

 

I think I have just been playing so much dream pop and punky guitar stuff that this was just a nice change. Had I been listening to fleet foxes and bands like that, this one may not have hit me so hard. Of course, I'm often one of those people that come to the table late on most things.

 

We had a huge snow storm which extended my commute but about an hour last night and this album kept my blood pressure nice and low.

[dustbowler]

[cryptique]

 

I've been digging this at least as much as any of his other post-Tyranny of Distance records.

[cgoodwin22]

just finished:

 

now listening to:

Arms & Sleepers - Matador