more, more, more music... and so we are 2

J. Irvin Dally slid into my consciousness last night as I was thinking of a way of breaking it to you all that it’s our 2nd year anniversary together I’d decided yesterday to just give you a ton of music all week to celebrate the fact that any of you might possibly be reading this still! I dunno… I lost the plot so many moons ago that it’s all sometimes just so haphazard. I feel bad for that and then I say “get a grip! it’s your life and the blog is about it, not the other way around, eh?” But I do feel a renewed enthusiasm for writing to you all when I immerse myself in new music like this. So have at it! (and to be honest, DC’s show had been keeping me going in terms of enthusiasm as well and when that went off the air… well, … it’s difficult being the only one you know excited about new, new, new stuff!)

But, back to J. Irvin Dally, he’s got that voice like the guy in Brazos, really pleasant to listen to without being characteristically this or that. Instrumentally, it’s all that I love. It’s inventive and also economical. There’s more than a few times when I hear a band and think, they just didn’t need all that to do what they’re doing. That’s not the case with this stuff here. With some mild vocal effects, a shaker, guitar, drum and ukulele (?) this manages to create a soundscape that envelops the whole room I’m listening in.

Go and download his EP, Despistado for only $5

J Irvin Dally – The Punchbowls by CrashAvenue

Judgment mp3 The Gentle Guest Cast Off Your Human Form … buy it!

The Gentle Guest from Eau Claire, WI brings a nice Americana/bluesy-bluegrass sound to some very traditional type lyrics. This album came out July 20 to good reviews, including one by Lee, my dear blogger buddy, over at Knox Rd. I marvel over and over when I see these bands of young, attractive men singing what sounds to me to be such somber, traditional, non-rock-n-roll music. But more than a few minutes into this album and you hear the appeal to it, the creativity of it is very attractive. Some of the faster tracks carry on like Mumford & Sons or even like a band I had on these pages over a year ago, the wonderful, Greenland is Melting. And hey, check out the awesome Daytrotter session from back in February that they did! The horn on that first number is omg good.

Cheyenne Maire Mize is coming to Chicago on Friday! Come out to Uncommon Ground, Clark St. location, $5 donation. She’s got a wonderfully evocative voice, expressive and natural. She’s becoming known for her duets with Bonny “Prince” Billy, (see The Decibel Tolls post here) but she’s toured on her own this July and is releasing this, her solo album, Before Lately due out in September. You can stream it from the widget below.

Update!! You can download her album with Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Among The Gold FREE, this week, here

With(out) by CrashAvenue