March by Goodbye Sons

Goodbye Sons
March
2003
Folk
Independently Released

1. Apart
2. March (Lion)
3. More Of The Same
4. Fullgrown
5. Good Work
6. Clockhammer
7. Periwinkle Springs
8. Close Encounter
9. Part Of The Wind
10. Streets & Avenues
11. Sanctuary From The Wasp
12. All About You
13. March (Lion)
14. Someday Or Later
(Also included is a 599x599 album cover .bmp)

Your smile's already told me
"Mark me off your page"
Well, I don't care, I wish I did
Next week I'll be okay
The way I see, it's gone
The way I looked at you
A drunken haze is good for the eyes
But never true

"Clockhammer"

I'm really trusting you guys, here. Goodbye Sons is a completely independent band, and they don't get paid very much for the great music that they put out. This album was put together in their own studio and released completely by the band. However, it is possible to buy a copy from CDBaby.com, (see the link at the bottom of this post) so I'm begging you to buy a copy and support the band if you like what you hear. However, if you don't, and this just gives people a way to pirate their music, then I could get in quite a bit of trouble. But like I said, I'm trusting you, and I'm hoping that this blog post will help rather than hurt. It's in your hands.

Goodbye Sons have been described by CDBaby.com as "a whiskey soaked wall of sound," and I completely agree. Their songs are very much still just simple folk tunes that could be played by anyone with the know-how and an acoustic guitar. However, the production quality and the atmosphere provided by their many instruments and subtle use of effects creates a very unique feel. The sound is very visual, and almost trancelike in some cases. However, they don't wander too far from their roots, and maintain a very natural, organic vibe.

Time for one minor complaint: I truly believe that March would be a near perfect album if the band had chosen to omit one song, "Good Work." It sounds so strange and out of place that it ruins the great pacing created by the song before it, "Fullgrown." (Which is the best song on the album, in my opinion) I will never understand why that song is on the record...but reguardless it is so I uploaded it anyways. I'm sure someone will appreciate it. Besides that song, I can't stress enough how good the rest of the album is musically.

Enjoy the fabulous music on March, it's really a great album. Please support the band if you like it.

Click here to download part 1 (57.93 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (71.09 MB)

Buy it!
CD or Digital Copy

The Lonesome Crowded West by Modest Mouse

Modest Mouse
The Lonesome Crowded West
1997
Indie
Up

1. Teeth Like God's Shoeshine
2. Heart Cooks Brain
3. Convenient Parking
4. Lounge (Closing Time)
5. Jesus Christ Was An Only Child
6. Doin' The Cockroach
7. Cowboy Dan
8. Trailer Trash
9. Out Of Gas
10. Long Distance Drunk
11. Shit Luck
12. Truckers Atlas
13. Polar Opposites
14. Bankrupt On Selling
15. Styrofoam Boots/It's All Nice On Ice, Alright
(Also included is a 500x500 album cover .jpeg)

Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene
He goes to the reservation, drinks, and gets mean
He's gonna start a war
And he hops in his pickup, puts the pedal to the floor
And says, "I've got mine but I want more"
Because Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene
He goes to the reservation, drinks, and gets mean
Goes to the desert, fires his rifle in the sky and says
"God, if I have to die, you have to die"

"Cowboy Dan"

I don't really know how to describe The Lonesome Crowded West. I guess the best way would be to say that it's THE Modest Mouse album. Every indie band that surfaced after they hit the scene wishes that they had written it. This is where everything is at it's best. Great lyrics, great guitar work, great vocals, and just great songwriting. The production is a bit better on their "commercial" albums that they put out after The Moon & Antarctica, but it's certainly nothing to complain about here.

When I first heard The Lonesome Crowded West, I was on a hiking trip with my dad. So when I think about the album's sound, I think about autumn trees, leaves, dirt, and rocks. And looking at the songs now, I think that's a very acceptable way to think about them. The instrumentation is gritty, but beautiful. I still get a bit bored with Isaac Brock's repetitive atheistic messages, but the lyrics to these songs are much more tasteful than usual, and I actually really like them most of the time.

I have a hard time trying to explain the sound that Modest Mouse achieves here, so I'm sorry that I can't pitch it to you. Just trust me on this one. Good songs with soul.

Click here to download part 1 (87.01 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (69.66 MB)

Pretty vulgar. Not for sensitive ears.

Buy it!
CD

Hi, Everything's Great and Hey, Everything's Fine by Limbeck

I am such a nice guy. Today is my birthday, and instead of taking the day off to play with my shiny new guitar amp, I'm going to give you a present. Yes, you, my loyal music addict blog reader. I've decided to upload two albums that go hand in hand for you to download, one of which I don't think you can get anywhere else on the internet.


Limbeck
Hi, Everything's Great
2003
Alternative Country
Doghouse

1. Honk + Wave
2. Silver Things
3. Julia
4. This Place Is Deserted
5. I Wrote This Down
6. The Sun Woke The Whole State
7. Tan + Blue
8. Gamblin' Man
9. In Ohio On Some Steps
10. Brand New Orange
11. Albatross + Ivy
12. Comin' From Tuscon
(Also included is a 500x500 album cover .jpeg)

I'm not ready for some burned down bridge just yet
And I'm not saying that I want anything from you
The only thing I really want now, if I see you, Suze
Is if we drove side by side on a highway
In the beehive state, and we could honk and wave

"Honk + Wave"

Limbeck is one of my favorite bands of all time, just like this album is one of my favorite albums. They're called "indie" and "alternative country" a lot. But I would describe them as just good old fun. Limbeck writes perfect little pop songs with a noticeable southern influence in their music and lyrics. They're not overly country, but it's there.

All the songs on this album are about traveling, and meeting people in different places around America while on tour with a semi-successful rock and roll band. Even the title, Hi, Everything's Great, seems like something that you'd read on a postcard from someone's road trip. It's wonderfully enjoyable music that is just brilliantly enjoyable. I can listen to it no matter what mood i'm in, and it always relaxes me. Just feel good stuff.

I can't begin to describe how much I love this album. There's not much I can say that will immediately make you want to download it, but I think this is something that you just have to hear for yourself to appreciate it's charm.

Click here to download (78.28 MB)



(This is not the actual cover for Hey, Everything's Fine. Apparently, a scan of the cover doesn't exist on the internet. This is a photo of the inside sleeve, however, which shows pictures of all the guests that appear on songs for Hey, Everything's Fine.

Limbeck
Hey, Everything's Fine
2004
Alternative Country
Doghouse

1. Honk + Wave
2. Silver Things
3. Julia
4. This Place Is Deserted
5. I Wrote This Down
6. The Sun Woke The Whole State
7. Tan + Blue
8. Gamblin' Man
9. In Ohio On Some Steps
10. Brand New Orange
11. Albatross + Ivy
12. Comin' From Tuscon
(Also included is a 590x572 album cover .bmp)

Hey, Everything's Fine is a more personal and warmer sounding Hi, Everything's Great. When I bought the first album, I had no idea that I was actually going to be getting this one as well absolutely free, until I opened the package and this fell out. I must say, it was one of the best musical suprises I have ever had. This album is every song from the studio album, performed acoustically, live at a small party that Limbeck held with only their close friends. It's very quaint, modest, and just an all around awesome performance that I listen to even more than Hi, Everything's Great.

The audience is very small, and most of them have a small part in the music of these performances. Each song has it's own guest star or guest stars, including Nate Ruess from The Format, Justin Pierre from Motion City Soundtrack, and close friend Rachel Cantu. The recording really makes you feel like you're there. Limbeck didn't edit out any of their mess ups, including having to start "Gamblin' Man" three times because of honest mistakes, and restarting "Albatross + Ivy" because the singer "heard a funny noise." There's something about it that just really hits me the right way.

Click here to download (89.11 MB)

These two albums together are probably the most listened to in my entire music library. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Buy it! (You may or may not get both if you order the CD...I got lucky with mine.)
CD / Digital Copy

808s And Heartbreak by Kanye West

Kanye West
808s And Heartbreak
2008
Pop
Roc-A-Fella

1. Say You Will
2. Welcome To Heartbreak
3. Heartless
4. Amazing
5. Love Lockdown
6. Paranoid
7. RoboCop
8. Street Lights
9. Bad News
10. See You In My Nightmares
11. Coldest Winter
12. Pinocchio Story
(Also included is a 420x420 album cover .jpeg)

My friend showed me pictures of his kids
And all I could show him was pictures of my cribs
He said his daughter got a brand new report card
And all I got was a brand new sports car

"Welcome To Heartbreak"

Kanye had a rough year. His mother, who has been the subject of more than a few songs of his, passed away, due to complications with a cosmetic surgery. He was also arrested for getting a bit too jumpy with the paparazzi, and had a bad breakup with his fiancee of a year and a half, because he was spending too much time on his music and not enough with her. Though, if you look on the bright side, the product of all this misery is 808s And Heartbreak, one of last year's best albums.

When hip hop artists like Akon, Flo Rida T-Pain, and Lil Wayne started becoming the new craze on rap radio, I stopped listening. There was just no soul behind it. Hip Hop in the mainstream had hit a major low. However, Kanye has always been one of those rappers whose music has really hit me the right way. And while it took me a long time to warm up to the idea of his putting out a pop record instead of a rap one, now I love it. He took the ideas of the aforementioned rappers and used them as a springboard for something truly meaningful, expressing real emotions about real loss through simple yet very classy music.

808s And Heartbreak features no real rapping. All the vocals are sung by Mr. West himself, through extreme levels of auto-tune, and in some cases, more rock-like effects such as distortion or reverb. This may be a put-off to some, but Kanye isn't using the auto-tune because he can't sing (he's a fine singer, especially for someone who is primarily an MC) but because it can actually sound really cool. He uses it to compliment the electronic beats, which are all made with old Roland TR-808 drum machines (does the title make sense yet?) and squeaky lo-fi keyboards. It all comes together to make a very modern yet un-cliche sound that towers above what most mainstream rappers are putting out currently.

Click here to download part 1 (67.2 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (42. 02 MB)

Buy it!
CD / Vinyl / Digital Copy

Relationship Of Command by At The Drive-In

At The Drive-In
Relationship Of Command
2000
Post Hardcore
Grand Royal

1. Arcarsenal
2. Pattern Against User
3. One-Armed Scissor
4. Sleepwalk Capsules
5. Invalid Litter Dept.
6. Mannequin Republic
7. Enfilade
8. Rolodex Propaganda
9. Quarantined
10. Cosmonaut
11. Non-Zero Possibility

A vivid dissection that mocked the strut of vivisection
Semi-automatic colonies and a silencing that still walks the streets
In the company of wolves was a stretcher made of cobblestone curfews
The federates perform their custodial customs quite well
Callous heels, numbed in travel, endless maps made by their scalpels
On my way, nails broke and fell into the wishing well

"Invalid Litter Dept."

I got into At The Drive-In after becoming a huge fan of The Mars Volta, and then looking into the history of Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. When I first heard them, I thought their music was great, but it would never be equal in my mind with some of the music put out by The Mars Volta. While I still think that albums like Frances The Mute or De-Loused In The Comatorium was the duo's creative peak, At The Drive-In's music has grown on me a lot more than I thought it would. They have a lot more lasting potential than The Mars Volta does, and don't lend themselves to sounding dated.

Relationship Of Command is one of At The Drive-In's best albums. All of the instrumentation is top notch, and in my opinion this was the peak of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's guitar playing. While the songs may not seem complex at first listen, there are a ton of off-kilter things going on in the guitar department that really add to the craziness of the songs. This is also Cedric's strongest album with At The Drive-In. His vocals got a bit better for The Mars Volta's first two albums, but his delivery is spot-on here, and it's hard to believe how he's able to keep his voice from wearing out while screaming out the words to songs like "Rolodex Propaganda" or "Enfilade." His lyrics are as cryptic as ever, and he sings with a passion that's simply not found in The Mars Volta's music.

Relationship Of Command is pure, raw energy. This is both one of it's strong points and one of it's weanesses, in my eyes. On one hand, it is impossible not to shake your fists and stomp around during the opening of "Arcarsenal," but the power that this album has comes with a price. The only rest stops along the way are the verses to "Invalid Litter Dept." right in the middle of the album, and "Non-Zero Possibility," the finale. This is probably not going to be an issue for those used to listening to heavier music... but I'm a fan of mellower stuff, and I think Relationship Of Command can be a bit of an exhausting listen.

Click here to download part 1 (49.45 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (47.74 MB)

Buy it!
CD / Digital Copy