firstly, i gotta thank mr duquette johnston for tipping me off to these guys. well, he didnt directly say “hey greg check these guys out”, it was a general tweet. secondly, about 15 seconds into the first song, “good times, they disappear,” off the choosy beggars’ self titled record, i knew i was in love. sadly, i cant find any good information on these guys other than the fact that they tagged “seattle” on their bandcamp site. so, i can only assume they reside from said city. the other tag on their badcamp site is “classic rock.” there are definitely hints of that genre, but also early motown plays just of an integral part of the “vibe” of the record. the remind me of catfish haven doing the black crowes doing smokey robinson – that may be a horrible comparison, for what its worth. regardless, the record is definitely one of the best i have heard this year. probably only number two or three too strand of oaks’ pope killdragon or futurebirds’ hamptons lullaby.

good times, they disappear

strand of oaks’ leave ruin is a record that for some reason i didnt put on my best of list last year, and thats criminal. some of the other ones, looking back, could and do take a back to seat to said record. its not an immediate “hey this is the greatest thing ever” kind of record, but damn does it catch fire once its fully digested. well, timothy showalter and his strand of oaks are back with a new, equally excellent record called pope killdragon. pope killdragon “suffers” from the same immediacy issues as leave ruin, but again damn once it hits its a phenomenal record. top ten contender for sure, and can almost guarantee it. its only avail on emusic right now, i believe and can be grabbed by clicking here. here is a recent daytrotter session for your listening/downloading pleasure.

bonfire

happy day, people! actually its not all that awesome, but it is a day i can have a beer at 11 and not feel like a loser, though some may beg to differ. if you are seeing this then that means the propagation – in case you care to know what that is, has made it your way. i’ve had to scale back operations, a bit, but nothing too serious. you may find that some of the older stuff, meaning 8 months or older, isnt there any more. i have kept quite a bit of the files, but i really had to cut down on the active links cause they were killing the site. so, if there’s something you are lookin for, let me know, and ill try my best.

while i work on some other back end stuff, here is a cool yet brief strand of oaks show from the nave in sommerville, ma on 8.8.08. i have listened to leave ruin at least a dozen times over the weekend, its really quite awesome. thanks to randy winchester for artsomerville for the recording. grab it in flac here.

1. leave ruin
2. sister evangeline
3. daniels blues
4. sterling
5. two kids
6. end in flames

sometimes one of the highest compliments i can pay a record is that its too short. i know thats a pretty lame compliment, but when you want more of what a record is giving you i think thats a pretty awesome type of longing. a meager nine songs make up strand of oaks’ leave ruin, which is either a pity, or just the right amount. for the most part, im torn. i want to hear so much more, but me thinks these nine songs are so strong that i would’ve hated to have him, timothy showalter, muck it up with possible filler. honestly, i havent come across a record this identifiable in a long, long while. showalter’s lyrics seem to have taken pages out of the various stages of my semi adult life. i have only spent less than 24 hours with it, but i feel like its going to be one of them records i listen to for years to come. highly, highly recommended! seems like, as of late, i have really been gushing on a lot of shit. signs of a good year…. if you download only one of 10 songs i recommend this year, check out “new paris.”

you can buy it on amazon for a mere 7.99. money well spent….

ryan over at muzzle of bees has got an interview with mr showalter for your reading pleasure.

end in flames