Lest we Forget: Magazine's Secondhand Daylight

Magazine were the band formed by Howard Devoto after he left the seminal Buzzcocks. Their second album Secondhand Daylight was much ignored, wrongly. Owing a great deal to earely Roxy Music and Station to Station era Bowie, it spat with a steely grandeur.

Try these:

mp3 Magazine: Back to Nature
mp3 Magazine: Permafrost

Buy Secondhand Daylight here.

The Mountain Goats' Heretic Pride

Much revered, The Mountain Goats have not always had the same effect on me.  I've got to say Heretic Pride has hit the spot.  The higher-fi and the instrumental ornamentation have added, not diluted.

Try these:

mp3 The Mountain Goats: In The Craters of the Moon

mp3 The Mountain Goats: Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident

Buy Heretic Pride here, or download DRM-free here.

Missed it: David Ford

This one went straight under my radar, but like all good sinners I've repented.  The English singer-songwriter tradition, an old-fashioned pop sensibility and some, pure & simple, great songs,  From the most recent Songs for the Road, try these:

mp3 David Ford: I'm Alright Now

mp3 David Ford: St Peter

From the previous I Sincerely Apologized for all the Trouble I've Caused:

mp3 David Ford: Cheer Up ((You miserable fuck)

Buy David Ford here.

Centro-matic & South San Gabriel

Will Johnson is a prolific soul.  Coming next month, Dual Hawks will be released in Europe on April 14th.  You can hear both streamed via their site here.  If you are not familiar with these two units (both led by Johnson), try these:

mp3 Centro-matic: Atlanta

mp3 South San Gabriel: Charred Resentment the Same

Here, live with ex-Drive-by Trucker Jason Isbell

mp3 Centro-matic (with Jason Isbell): Love You Just the Same (live at the Mercury Lounge)

Buy their music here, download DRM-free here.

Lest we Forget: The Weight's Ten Mile Grace

Joseph Plunkett's The Weight are an Athens country band, now based in Brooklyn; their 2004 album Ten Mile Grace is an ignored or never acknowledged gem.  At its best it is country-rock album with echoes of Johnny Cash, Steve Earle or the Stones.  Try these for size:

mp3 The Weight: Hate Myself

mp3 The Weight: Ships

From another, try this:

mp3 The Weight: Black Roses

As far as I can divine, the only stuff available is on emusic, DRM-free here.

The exciting news is that they're up and running again; see their myspace here.

Drive-by Truckers again

Brighter than Creation's Dark has slipped very much into place; if you haven't got it. you're missing out.  To further whet your appetite, here's a couple of live offerings of favourites:

mp3 Drive-by Truckers: The Righteous Path (live at the Belly Up)

mp3 Drive-by Truckers: Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife (Late night with Conan O'Brien)

The video can be seen on Nine Bullets here.

As a bonus, try this outtake from The Dirty South:

mp3 Drive-by Truckers: The Great Car Dealer War 

Buy Brighter than Creation's Dark here, some DRM-free here

Lest we forget: Henry Cow's In Praise of Learning

Have you read The Rotters' Club?  If so, you may believe Henry Cow to be thing of make believe. It was not.  In all sorts of ways prog rock was not my thing; this album disproves the rule:

mp3 Henry Cow: War

mp3 Beautiful as the Moon, Terrible as an Army with Banners

Buy Henry Cow here and download DRM-free here.

Phosphorescent

There's a new Phosphorescent session on Daytrotter here.  if you don't know the band, you could also try this one from Aw Come Aw Aw Wry:

mp3 Phosphorescent: Joe Tex, These Taming Blues

Or from their most recent effort, Pride:

mp3 Phosphorescent: A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise

An earlier Daytrotter session can be be found here.  Buy their music here, and download Drm-free here.

Lest we forget: John Hiatt's Slow Turning

John Hiatt seems to have spent much of hid career under the radar.  If there was one moment where he broke out, it was his greatest album Bring the Family.  Try this:

mp3 John Hiatt: Alone in the Dark

However, the follow up was (as so often) ignored.  A more southern affair was Slow Turning:

mp3 John Hiatt: Slow Turning

mp3 John HIatt: Feels Like Rain

As a bonus, a later track:

mp3 John Hiatt: Crossing Muddy Waters

Buy the artist's music here.

The race: Jeffrey Foucault, Chris LeDoux & Nathan Dalton

It keeps going.  The Republicans are there, but the Democrats keep going.

The latest:

mp3 Chris LeDoux: Song of Wyoming

mp3 Nathan Dalton: The Grey Wolves of Wyoming

And to come:

mp3 Jeffrey Foucault: Crossing Mississippi

Buy the artists' music here, download DRM-free here.

Covertime: Dylan & I'm Not There

With I'm Not There Dylan covers come to the fore once more. Whilst no-one sounds like Dylan, or does Dylan as good, there are still some great ones.  We can all think of some from years ago, but here are a few, hopefully not all well known; starting with two from the movie soundtrack:

mp3 Willie Nelson & Calexico: Senor

mp3 John Doe: Pressing On

A couple of others I am fond of:

mp3 Yo La Tengo: I Threw it all Away

mp3 Page France: I'll Keep it with Mine

mp3 Academy of Chess & Checkers: Girl from the North Country (live)

Buy the artists' music here, download some DRM-free here.

The race, the end? Nanci Griffith, Damien Jurado, Jennifer O'Connor & the good Captain

It's almost time, a couple more for the biggies and a couple of old classics too.

mp3 Damien Jurado: Ohio

mp3 Jennifer O'Connor: Exeter, Rhode Island

mp3 Nanci Griffith: Lone Star State of Mind

mp3 Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band:  Moonlight on Vermont

Buy their music here, & download some DRM-free here.

J. Tillman

Good news.  J. Tillman's Minor Works is now available on emusic DRM-free here.  Something of a sleeper if ever there was one, but well worth the pursuit.

To celebrate, here's one of my favourites: 

mp3 J. Tillman Darling Night

Cancer and Delirium is also on the excellent Yer Bird:

mp3 J. Tillman: Evan and Falls

From I Will Return (which doesn't seem available at the moment, get on with it whoever):

mp3 J. Tillman: Lilac Hem

An Aquarium Drunkard has some new stuff from Vacalindo Territory Blues here.