[Davey]

I've been listening a lot recently to a cool little record from the band The Hotel Alexis called Goliath, I'm On Your Side. Think it came out early last year, kind of a mix of the low key fractured pop and folk sound of Sparklehorse and Califone and Mercury Rev. Also reminds me some of the band Tracker, especially the excellent Polk with its dusty, quirky soundscapes. Gets a bit addictive when it all comes together, feels like my soundtrack right now...

It rained on your army
in that soft, soft war
and I’m not sorry
anymore

Will she come willing
or should I drag her down
we'll make a killing
anyhow

She comes in and
it’s all I need right now
lights on the highway
darkness in town
in town

The Wire - the axis of Hotel Alexis

Also a bit like the Radar Bros from the great And the Surrounding Mountains. Like a lot of music I've been listening to in the last few years, they all share a little bit of the Band mixed up with Brian Eno, kind of a rustic ambient Americana sound. Can hardly get enough of that sound these days, especially when it's mixed up with some Neil Young and the Crazy Horses, and some of that Tom Waits' junkyard percussion and bone bangin' like Califone when Brian Deck is on the kit ... anyway DLeeWebb and I have traded a lot of posts and recommendations back and forth on these pages, about bands like this, so alway interested in recs from others. Quirky, folky stuff, but with some cool ambient textures. Holopaw, Ugly Casanova, Iron & Wine, and others like that from modern times, but any era is fine with me.

 

[jonnyhambone]

well now, I certainly am a fan of all those sounds...though I don't know Hotel A. or Tracker. I'll always talk up Akron/Family's first s/t release...their subsequent stuff I like bits of but they never really revisted the mystery and subtlety of this one. If you've seen them live, you know that the drummer is to be reckoned with and should be paid attention to...

Sun Kil Moon - Tiny Cities is an excellant album. Recorded great, I think, (only have it on vinyl). All Modest Mouse-penned tunes reimagined and acoustic by Mark Kozelak (the RedHouse Painters guy).
Midlake could be a great band in this field but you've gotta be a fan of the AM radio-sound ala' Fleetwood Mac and Bread. Me, I listen to the early 70's Linda Ronstadt albums and LOVE Tusk, so I'm a sucka for these guys.

I think you're already an Old Canes fan, Davey, so that might be a gimmie, and a bit more ol' timey than what we're talkin' here but still....

the first two acoustic tracks from Nick Cave's B-Sides release (Deanna and Mercy Seat)...oh man, are these Awesome renditions of these tunes!

 

[goosemeister]

for more fractured pop/folk music, you may want to try out bon iver and phosphorescent. phosphorescent especially has moments of profound genius. go from "wolves" to "at death, a proclamation" to "cocaine lights." great lake swimmers is definitely more mellow and clean than the bands already mentioned save, perhaps, midlake. i would call the band neither "dusty" nor "quirky." nonetheless, they are caught somewhere between pop and folk. micah p. hinson can be "dusty." he's an honest singer and his personal life has definitely been "quirky."

 

[Davey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonnyhambone /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'll always talk up Akron/Family's first s/t release...their subsequent stuff I like bits of but they never really revisted the mystery and subtlety of this one. ...I think you're already an Old Canes fan, Davey, so that might be a gimmie, and a bit more ol' timey than what we're talkin' here but still...Sun Kil Moon ...the first two acoustic tracks from Nick Cave's B-Sides release (Deanna and Mercy Seat)...oh man, are these Awesome renditions of these tunes!

I only have the latest from Akron/Family and honestly don't like it overall a lot, but some of it is great, so might have to follow your advice. Agree on all the rest, that Old Canes is a treat, and Mercy Seat is an amazing song. Johnny Cash did a pretty fine version too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by goosemeister for more fractured pop/folk music, you may want to try out bon iver and phosphorescent....micah p. hinson can be "dusty."

Don't know Phosphorescent but I do have the latest Bon Iver on preorder (being reissued by a real label later this month) and big fan of Micah's Gospel of Progress, which not too surprisingly does connect closely with most of what jonnyhambone just said. Hmmm, you guys are pretty good

BTW hambone, that Tracker record is pretty cool. The guy is John Askew, and some friends recruited from other indie bands like Death Cab for Cutie. Like I mentioned, along the lines of Califone, which means my favorite type of music these days, but it's a much smaller record label and hence not nearly as well distributed. Still very well done. He has a real vision. Kind of like Grandaddy with the warm analog sound, and some quirky moments too. They do a very nice cover of Brian Eno's instrumental "Somber Reptiles" too. A little Wilco mixed with a little Beck and the Mercury Rev and all the rest. Similar landscape photo type cover to the Radar Bros. album I mentioned, except a desert drive in this case. Both seem to somewhat fit the music. Nice review of it at AMG.