How can you not love a band willing to get doused with a vat of Pepto Bismol in the name of band PR?
One of the JrzyGyrl blog favorites, Son of a Bad Man, is getting some spotlight time again. Since I’ve rambled on and on and on about them previously, I won’t spend a lot of time going through the details. I’ll just ask of you…
I was lucky enough to get an advance preview of this song back in November, and it literally spent two months in my #1 song spot. According to my iPod, I listened to it something like 72 times the first week I had it. It’s an earworm you’re gonna love…trust me. 🙂
Easily one of the best purchases I've made this year, Saints of Valory's The Bright Lights.
One of the ways I hear a lot of new music is just by watching what bands I love are listening to, other bands that they promote, and bands with whom they tour. Probably a good 50% of my “new in rotation” music is found this way. Over the past few years, I’ve noticed a handful of my favorite Texas bands talking about a band called Saints of Valory. Regrettably, it took me until now to listen to them.
Holy crap, what have I been missing?
This Austin-based quartet is the real deal. With super international influence bleeding through from its well-traveled, multi-national band members (Brazilian, French man, American and Canadian), Saints of Valory’s debut record The Bright Lights is just great modern rock n’ roll – it’s not indie hipster kid stuff, but real, guitar-centered, melody-driven rock. All the band members have worked producing music in the past, and one did scoring for films, and that experience shines through in the sheer quality of the music. If you like Kings of Leon, Coldplay, and Alpha Rev, you should check this band out because you’re bound to find something you love on this record. It is not an exaggeration to say that this is the only record I’ve listened to for the past week – I’ve played nothing else since I bought it.
Seriously crushing on them right now. In a big, big way.
The band has been around since 2008 where they got together in Atlanta, although they say that they all sort of met in Rio. A trip to SXSW inspired their fairly recent move to Austin, and now they are firing on eight cylinders. I encourage you to check out the Vivogig Podcast interviewing Saints of Valory at SXSW. It’s chock full of great info on the band, including who Valory is (a real person, actually), and most of all, it showcases their true passion for music…it’s inspiring to hear musicians who talk about loving music for music’s sake.
And if you’re a more visceral person, just watch this video of the record’s title track from the fine folks at Do512, Austin’s hippest little social happenings group. Then go buy yourself The Bright Lights.
To say I love Austin, Texas is probably a bit of an understatement. The city is like Mecca for me.
Austin music seems to have a huge pull on me; anyone who knows me knows that Alpha Rev is in my top ten, if not my top 5, artists of all time. Because of them, I’ve been introduced to DOZENS of other great bands…one of them being The Soldier Thread.
While I don’t typically go gaga over bands with female leads, The Soldier Thread is an exception. Patricia Lynn’s voice is just hauntingly beautiful (she also has the cutest haircut ever, and I’m so super jealous of it). I love it. And the band has this ability to go from stunning balladesque songs to full on rockers. I could listen to their Shapes album all flipping day…In Spades, their latest, is also marvelous – I recommend downloading the song “Erin” immediately if you want to have your world changed.
I have a knack for falling in love with artists that seem not to want to tour, record, or be heard from more often than once every five years (see previous posts on Christopher Jak). One of my favorite “talented and silent” types is a fella named Justin Hopkins from Hermosa Beach, California. Thanks to some previously unreleased stuff recently showing up on iTunes (without announcement of any type, so who knows how long it’s actually been there) and a string of shows happening recently in California, my love for this amazing songwriter and musician has been resparked.
I first heard about Justin in 2004…he was one of my first MySpace finds, if I remember correctly. His Building EP was one of the soundtracks to my fall that year, and I actually have it in hard copy…the only one of his releases I actually own a physical copy of. He just has this HUGE voice, and his style of songwriting was right up my alley … very story tellerish. On that EP, he was still pretty rooted in guitar; at the time, I was madly in love with acoustic, and the opening chords of “Laughing Out Loud” were just magical to me (I think “We Live Art” was probably my favorite from that EP, however).
Fast forward three years to when he released Bastard of a Gentleman via digital download only. I’d been keeping up with him via MySpace and had downloaded an acoustic version of a song called “Goddess” that I was maniacally obsessed with. I remember being so excited for the release, sitting at my desk waiting an eternity for the 17 songs to download – SEVENTEEN SONGS! Worth every second of waiting…it is an amazingly brilliant album. This record was definitely more of a production – the guitar was still there, but full on electric, and he started to mix piano into a some songs. Now I love me some guitar, but Justin on piano is one of the most amazing things I have ever heard. I was also intrigued by how “Goddess” had changed … and lyrics from the original version of the song showed up in a song called “Racecar.” I know a lot of songwriters do this, but with “storytellers” (like Springsteen, for example), I’m always amazed by how they can take part of the story and put it into another one and it still works. Many of the Bastard of a Gentleman recordings made their way onto iTunes last year as Vol 1: Here Goes Nothing under Justin Hopkins & The Guilt, although a few bonus tracks (“Try,” “Better Than You Are”) never made it anywhere. The whole album that was Bastard of a Gentleman is not available anywhere today, at least not that I’m aware of.
In 2008, a charity record called AFL Music – The Cause, Vol. 1 got released, and one of Justin’s songs called “The Best Part of Me” was on it. It had never been released before, so of course, I had to get that. The crashing piano was in full on effect…In the meantime, he was teasing us by putting songs into his MySpace player that hadn’t been released yet, like “Courderoys,” which quickly went into contention for my favorite Justin Hopkins song EVER – but frustratingly, was never available. He also kept touring in Sweden, of all places, and a few places in Europe during this time and would put up live versions of songs he played there. He had a free download of him performing an acoustic version of “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” in France, and it is one of the most beautiful versions of the song I’ve ever heard done (feel free to e-mail me if you want a copy of it).
A couple of weeks ago, a few tweets popped up on Justin’s Twitter…he was playing a handful of shows in California. Flipped over to his Facebook page to get some more info. Just scrolling through the feed, I saw an album cover that I didn’t recognize and some notes about it being on Spotify. I went trolling on iTunes and found We Are Where We Came From, which included another handful of songs from Bastard of a Gentleman, some other unreleased stuff that I’d heard (“Why Would God Come to L.A.”!!!!), and a few songs that I’d never heard and … HOLY SHIT – “Courderoys!” I have NO idea how it got onto iTunes without me knowing about it, or how long it’s been there, but it has reignited my obsession for Justin’s music. “Courderoys” will be the first song on my Summer Mix, and I’ve had it on repeat in the car lately – sunroof open, windows down, volume all the way up repeat.
So here’s my plea…Justin, please, please, please tour. Please come to the East Coast. Please release new music. 2011 has been good to me so far, and getting to see you live would totally just make my year.
Y’all check him out. There are a shit ton of old videos on YouTube; none are great quality (except one official music video where the sound and the video don’t match up). Then go buy some Justin Hopkins music to feed your soul.
Someday (this one is a brilliant showcase of his piano ability if you can get past the distorted sound)
Perhaps it’s wrong of me to post something about a country other than Mexico on Cinco de Mayo, but… well, whom am I to battle my musical addictions?
Apparently, something in the universe is steering my musical world towards the land down under. My best friend, Christy, is hitting Australia as part of her round-the-world honeymoon. One of my other besties, Shelia, is absolutely obsessed with all things Australia right now and is taking a vacay there in December. And my loves over at BalconyTV have a bunch of Aussie and New Zealand-based channels have now spawned two new musical crushes for me.
I thought two things when I saw Thirsty Merc‘s lead singer perform “Tommy & Krista.” 1) This song could have been on the soundtrack of “Bosom Buddies.” (Lord, I miss 80s TV!) and 2) Holy crap, he looks like Freddie Mercury and Russel Hammond’s lovechild. I thought the song was okay. But for weeks I found myself humming the chorus, so I finally went to their website and downloaded it and a bunch of other songs, paying ridiculous Australian prices, because I couldn’t get the earworm out of my head. And I gotta tell you, the more I listen to that song, the more I adore it! However, it’s their song “All My Life” that has brought them up to “supercrush” status in my little world. And I think I just love that so many of their songs are melodic gems with good, old-fashioned love song lyrics. But, I’ll let y’all form your own opinions…
Next up, Kiwi rockers Mercury Crowe. You will NEVER find me turning away from a dirty, sweaty southern rock band. And while Mercury Crowe might be from New Zealand, they sound like they came right outta the South and could be on tour with Will Hoge. Hell, they’ve even got a song called “Carolina” (although it’s about a girl, not one of our great states). Guitar-laden, fist pumping awesomeness. If you like old-school Black Crowes, Blackberry Smoke or The Trews, you’re gonna totally dig these fellas, I promise. Their 2009 release Set Your Mind to Fly is good, but their newer singles show a ton of development since then. Currently, “Ride” is stuck on repeat in my playlist. It is a fabulous summer song….Here’s the original, “Oh my goodness, I’m in love” video from BalconyTV – it’s acoustic, but y’all will get it.
Join me in my musical land of down under love, won’t you? Seriously, kids, check these bands out.
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