Joe Pug Gives Away Free EP

.  Joe Pug writes such moving and stirring folk ballads.  It’s hard not get sucked into his story-telling music.  Right now, Pug is busy in the studio working on a new album, which I am greatly looking forward to. But “in the meantime” he has offered up an EP for us to download for free to hold us over. The 5-song EP, duely titled In the Meantime, comes from the original Nation of Heat sessions.  Take a listen to a track from from Nation of Heat and one from In the Meantime, and then trade your e.mail address for the rest of In the Meantime .

Monsters of Folk Give Free Mp3

I shared with you all a couple of weeks ago about a new album that I was excited about called Monsters of Folk.  For those of you that are interested in this supergroup, made up of Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, and M. Ward, you will be excited to know that they are giving away one of the songs off of their new album for free.  And they have announced a series of fall tour dates.  Oddly enough I’d say that the song is pretty good mixture of each of their individual musical stylings.  I’m not hooked yet, but I’m definitely intrigued.  But you can decide for yourself.

Monsters of Folk – Say Please

MONSTERS OF FOLK FALL TOUR DATES

October

13 Vancouver, BC- Orpheum

14 Portland, OR- Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

15 Seattle, WA- Paramount Theatre

17 Oakland, CA- Fox Theater

18 Los Angeles, CA- The Greek Theater

20 San Diego, CA- Spreckels Theatre

21 Phoenix, AZ- Orpheum Theater

22 Santa Barbara, CA- Santa Barbara Bowl

28 Omaha, NE- Holland Center

29 Minneapolis, MN- Orpheum Theatre

30 Chicago, IL- Auditorium Theatre

31 Louisville, KY- Louisville Palace Theatre

November

02 Toronto, ON- Massey Hall

03 Boston, MA- The Orpheum

06 New York, NY- United Palace

08 New York, NY- Beacon Theater

09 Philadelphia, PA- Academy of Music

12 Stockholm- Philadelphia Church

14 Berlin- Huxleys Neue Welt

15 Copenhagen- Vega

17 London- Troxy

18 Paris- Elysee Montmartre

19 Koln- E-Werk

21 The Hague- Crossing Border

22 Antwerp- Crossing Border

The Dodos Embrace Album Leak

Last week the upcoming Dodos album leaked onto the internet for all the world to hear.  Instead of freaking out and trying to control what can’t be controlled, they decided to just roll with it.  So they set up a high quality stream of the new album @ TimetoDie.net and they pushed the release date up from Sept. 15th. to July 28th.  You can also pre-order the new album on cd or vinyl.

I just absolutely love the way they handled this crappy situation.  They knew they couldn’t control it and that there was nothing they could do to stop it once it was leaked, so they decided to focus on what they could control.  It just makes me want to buy their album on principle alone.  Fortunately it is a pretty enjoyable album.  I’ve only listened to it once, and it was pretty stinkin’ enjoyable.

The Dodos – Fables

Guster Celebrates 10 Anniversary of “Lost and Gone Forever”

Guster has become my favorite contemporary artist for one reason and one reason only.  They put on the most enjoyable live experience imaginable.  Not only do they have phenomenal setlists every night with experimental and extended versions of many of your favorite tracks, but they also know how to engage the crowd. And more importantly than that, they enjoy doing it.  After watching them live for the first time I was hooked.  Not only did I have a hard time staring at Brian’s amazing percussive theatrics, but I was also blown away at how obvious it was that these guys were loving what they were doing.  They all had this look of sheer joy upon their face throughout the entire show and it was completely contagious.  I have seen Guster perform live 5 more times since then.  None quite as amazing as the first (it was also my first date with my now wife), but each one has been an amazing and awe-inspiring experience.

My only disappointment with Guster’s live performance has been the absence the song that first convinced me that they were a band worth listening to.  No matter how many times I annoying shouted in the silences between the songs for them to play it, I have yet to hear them play “Two Points For Honesty” live.  Although at the last concert I attended, I was at least given a reason for my consistent let down.  As I mentioned in my last post about Guster, Brian had shared with me after their Fayetteville show that they would be doing a 10 year anniversary tour celebrating the release of their critically acclaimed Lost and Gone Forever, where they will be playing the entire album live from beginning to end. Well I have just recently received official news on the happenings of this tour.  And as I suspected each show is a thousand miles away and would cost me a fortune to attend. Tickets for these shows went on sale this past Friday, so if you are anywhere near any of these, I suggest you get on right now to try and snag a ticket, cause I can gaurantee you they will not last long.

Guster – Two Points For Honesty