Good News from the West Vol. 2

It’s been almost a month since my last post on what's good in America these days. I have managed to gather a few albums since then so I might as well tell you how great they are.

The Lumineers

The Lumineers are an upcoming band with a strong roots feel. Their story is quite interesting going from New York to Denver and as a band they straddle the line between the roots and the post "Mumford and Sons, mandolin and tweed jackets are so in" world but their music is good none the less. You can stream the album on their website. They are actually playing Dublin in October supporting The Civil Wars. "Dead Sea" is my favourite track of theirs. I already posted it on the Facebook but it's worth posting again, it's that lovely.

Branden Barnett

Brendan Benson has a new album out but instead of mentioning that (because everyone is talking about it) I thought I would mention Branden Barnett. Not too dissimilar from Mr. Benson, Mr. Barnett sings of girls, life and the rigid nature of pop song structures. The new album is called "Verse, Chorus, Curse". It's available on Bandcamp for $5. That's bout the cost of a sausage sandwich here.

Musikanto

In my opinion Musikanto made the best album of 2011 in "Sky of Dresses". I thought the songs were amazing; I'm not usually a lyrics man. Generally I tend to ignore them for the melody but Musikanto did the opposite to me on this collection of songs. His distinctive voice can take getting used to but once you adapt, prepare to have you ears melted (but in a soft, melted butter on toast sort of way). My descriptions of the music wouldn't do it justice so I'll let you decide for yourself. The reason I'm mentioning him now is that he is about to embark on a European tour. Hopefully he'll get a day out in Ireland. The official site is where you can stream the whole album and/or buy it.

Assembly of Dust

And lastly to Assembly of Dust. I've decided to finish this series off with one of my favourite songs of all time. That is not an understatement. For the day that's in it and the weather that's about, this song is perfect. Assembly of Dust are a long time going band formed by Reid Genauer after Strangefolk broke up. The band's music has been labelled jam music before because their songs tend to go on for a while and are heavy on instrumentation and improvisation but surely that is the sign of a great band. Releasing their second album as a live recorded piece probably didn't dissuade anybody from giving them that label. Anyway back to the track. Speculator comes from that album. In my opinion, it's the greatest song to listen to on a sunny day ever recorded (just surpassing Bill Withers). It's a song, I think about song writing and looking for inspiration and the fact that a song can come from the simplest of things; walking on a summers evening. There is a live version below which includes a little Neil Young tribute in the middle. To hear the original album version, go to here. Buy the album, put it on your Ipod and go for a walk in the sunshine. You'll appreciate it all the better.