A jet plane and a big idea

Happy Sunday All. The much anticipated Avett Brothers concert was last night and it was an absolute blast. They put on one of the better lives performances I've ever seen, I can't wait to see them again in May. The setlist was a perfect balance of fast and slow, old and new. Highlights included "Salina", "Please Pardon Yourself" and "At The Beach".

It was the first time I had been to HOB and I was very impressed with the venue. I assumed it would be highly commercialized due to the fact that it's a chain, but it was a pretty intimate setting that had lots of character and charm.

Also, while out apartment shopping with Defrances yesterday, we stumbled across a little place called McNulty's Bier Markt in Ohio City. If you live in Cleveland, you must plan a visit to this bar immediately. If you don't live in Cleveland, you must plan a visit to this bar immediately. They have something like 367 beers on their menu and had a bunch of really good IPA's on tap. We also got some delicious steamed mussels. Peruse their website and you'll see that it's actually pretty affordable. Pete, this is where I'm taking you for your first beer back in the states.

That's it for now, I look forward to telling you all about someone other than the Avett Brothers this week.

Avett Bros Part Tres, two days away!

Today's Avett Bros session will cover key tracks from 2007's Emotionalism. This best song off this album is "Salina", solely because of the nod to my hometown of Cleveland, OH. Some of the better upbeat songs on the album are "Will You Return", "Go To Sleep" and "Pretty Girl from San Diego". Slower but equally awesome songs are "I Would Be Sad" and "Living of Love".

Day Off

I had the day off and still forgot to post about the Avett's. Instead, I'll post the song I'm listening to now, "Yankee Bayonet" by the Decemberists. If you don't own The Crane Wife, buy it. NOW! (Only $6.99, you won't regret buying it. trust me)

Avett part two

Sorry in advance for making this post short, but I'm exhausted. A few jams from the Avett's Carolina Jubilee that I really like are "Pretty Girl from Locust", "Sorry Man", and "I Killed Sally's Lover". These songs are much more country than those on Mignonette.

Also, my friend Lauren told me about a band that's similar to the Avett Brothers, called the Felice Brothers. I've checked out a bit of their stuff, and she was dead on when she said they sounded a lot like Bob Dylan. More to come tomorrow.

Also, huge shout out to Brooke Bockelman. Thanks to the cutest darn TFA'er California has ever seen (sorry Sabo), this guy will be going to see the Avett Bro's again in Columbus in May... FOR FREE. Muchas gracias Bockelman!

Avett Bros

Hey all- I'm back again after a fun weekend in Columbus. I'm going to try and do something new this week so hopefully the few of you who read this will like it. Feel free to leave some feedback.

Throughout the week I'll be giving out tid bits of information and some vital songs for you guys to listen to from a band I'm really psyched to see this Saturday. This band has recently been getting the respect that they've deserved since they released their first LP in 2002. This band teamed up with Rick Rubin, most famous for bringing rap to the mainstream, on it's first major label release, 2009's I and Love and You. The band is the Avett Brothers, a three piece band that I'd describe as a mix between Charlie Daniels Band and Coldplay.

Today I'm going to talk about my favorite Avett Brother album, 2004's Mignonette. This album, their third, is a perfect blend between the country twang and indie rock. Some of the more country songs on the album include "Signs", "Nothing Short of Thankful", and my favorite cut, "Please Pardon Yourself". All of these songs are pretty heavy on the banjo but still have a sentimental singer song writer vibe to them that reminds me a bit of some of John Mayer's better work. If you're more interested in acoustic love songs then check out "Swept Away", "New Love Song" or "One Line Wonder". For more upbeat songs, tune into "At the Beach" or "Pretty Girl from Cedar Lane"(sidenote to follow). Sorry if I overwhelmed you with links on this post, but I absolutely love this album and I want to get as much of this material out there as possible. Realistically, you should just buy the album and listen to it on repeat.

Sidenote: Something that I find really witty and cool about The Avett Brothers is there "pretty girl" songs. These albums are about girls they know, presumably current or former love interests. Instead of addressing the girls by name, they just give them a description in the song title. On every album they released before I and Love and You, they had at least one pretty girl song.

More Avett Bros and pretty girl songs to follow tomorrow.

Dog Days Are Over

I'm back again to tell y'all about some tasty tunes. Sorry about the gap between posts, I was in Chicago over the weekend visiting my sister and grandparents.

This week's jam is "Dog Days Are Over" by Florence and the Machine. I first heard Florence and the Machine's cover of Cold War Kid's "Hospital Beds", but didn't listen to any of their original material until my friend Lindsay mentioned it to me a couple months ago. I've had their album, Lungs, in heavy rotation on my iPod ever since. Florence has an amazing voice and is hot to boot. Other songs worth a whirl include "You've Got The Love" and "Rabbit Heart", but my favorite off the album "I'm Not Calling You A Liar"

If you like Florence and the Machine, you might also want to listen to Bat for Lashes (lead singer is also very sexy) and Cold War Kids.

Look for a post later in the week focusing on Hot Chip's new album. Until then, enjoy one of this interesting bands epic songs from 2008's Made in the Dark.

Broken Bells, Part 2

"The High Road" has been chosen as the iTunes single of the week and can be downloaded for free here.

Good Winter

Here it goes again...

We've been inundated with snow in Northeastern Ohio so I decided to make a post dedicated to the cold darkness that is winter in Cleveland. Lately I've been listening a lot to Justin Vernon's latest effort, Volcano Choir's Unmap. Vernon burst onto the scene under the moniker Bon Iver, which is French for good winter. (Sorry for his misspelling of hiver, Peter) He recorded the tremendously depressing For Emma, Forever Ago in his father's cabin in Northern Wisconsin by himself in the dead of winter. The most well known track off Bon Iver's debut is "Skinny Love", but Peter Gabriel's cover of Bon Iver's "Flume" is also worth a listen.

After finding success on his own, Vernon teamed up with members of Collections of Colonies of Bees to form Volcano Choir. I really enjoy the first tune off the album, "Husks and Shells". The raw guitar definitely steals the show on this song.Vernon's falsetto voice is off pitch just enough as he makes indistinguishable noises that play as a back drop to the repetitive guitar riff. The most mainstream song on this album is probably "Island, IS". This album is more of listen as I read, study or fall asleep as opposed to getting pumped up to go out for a night of heavy drinking.

Another winter song I wanted to tell you about is Ra Ra Riot's "Winter '05". This song is off the band's 2008 near flawless effort, The Rhumb Line. This band is an interesting mix of power pop and classical music. They rely heavily on the feminine vocals of their male lead singer and their electric piano, but mix in a violin and an acoustic bass. I believe their best song to date is "Too Too Too Fast" or the Kate Bush cover, "Suspended in Gaffa". The creative mind behind much of their debut album was their drummer, the late John Ryan Pike. Pike wrote the haunting song "Ghost Under Rocks" and ended up drowning shortly after. It'll be interesting to see the direction they take in the future.

If you like Ra Ra Riot, check out The Virgins and Phoenix.

Just a side note here but how sweet is that electric version of an acoustic bass in the Winter '05 video? That's the first time I've ever seen anything like that. I'm sure Jocelyn will get a kick out of it. Also, Pete and Defrances both sent me some tracks today that I'm really looking forward to listening to. I'll let you guys know what I think.

Until next time....

Broken Bells

So I know that the blog is titled Jam of the week and that I just made my first post two days ago, but this is my blog and I can post when I want to! I want to let you, the three people who read this, know about a new band coming out.

Broken Bells is a collaboration between DJ Danger Mouse, of Grey Album and Gnarls Barkley fame, and James Mercer, lead singer of The Shins. Although it sounds like a really strange pairing, everything I have heard from the duo so far sounds really good. The first single is "The High Road", an interesting mix of hip-hop/video game beats with James' ridiculous vocals.

Also worth checking out is the band's website. It's pretty interactive and a lot of fun to play around with. I don't want to say too much because I want you to actually click on the link and check it out for yourselves!

Anyways, their debut self-titled album comes out on March 9. I think I'm going to voice my distaste for releasing the album a week AFTER my birthday to the band and see if they wouldn't mind moving the release up a week. I'll let you know how it goes.

In unrelated news, I'm pretty psyched that the Saints won the Super Bowl. I went down to New Orleans in 2008 and really enjoyed the city and their jovial citizens. I felt a strong connection to the city because my family and I were in the Caribbean when tropical storm Katrina rolled through. Little did we know as we sat through the rain for two straight days that the storm would go on to destroy one of the most historic cities in America. Not only does New Orleans have the best jazz music, food, and best party scene in America, they now have the best football team to boot. Congrats!

Thanks for reading guys and check back later in the week for a new post.

Intro

Hey all,
I had the idea to start a blog about music the other day as I was driving home from Cincinnati. While driving, I came across a song that I hadn't heard in awhile and immediately thought of my friend Dan who said he was in search of new music. I realized that I try to get my friends to listen to new music that I've been enjoying in hopes that they enjoy it as well and I often forget to tell some people about bands they might like. This blog will be my way of getting the music out to those who are interested. I'll try to post pictures and links to the bands and songs that I list on here to make it user friendly, but be patient as I'm new to this whole blogging thing.

The jam of the week is derived from a couple of friends from Ohio State, Herm and Allison. Herm the Jew was my roommate for two years and a neighbor for another year. He likes to make fun of the fact that I have a new favorite band weekly. Allison finds it peculiar that any song that I like, I consider my jam. She believes that one is entitled to claim only one song as "my jam". So hear goes my first jam of the week.

Lately I've been listening a lot to the new Vampire Weekend album, "Contra". I first started listening to Vampire Weekend a couple years ago after reading about them in The Rolling Stone. Their self titled debut album was nothing like I had ever heard before. This genre bending group of graduates from Columbia College mix punk, power pop and western African beats to form a unique sound that is all their own.

The album, "Vampire Weekend" remains one of my favorites of all time and although their latest album isn't on the same level, it's still getting heavy rotation from this guy. My favorite jam on this album is Run. It's one of the most upbeat cuts off the album and most resembles their first album that I enjoyed so much.

If you enjoy Vampire Weekend, I'd suggest checking out Foreign Born, Discovery and The Very Best.

That's about it for now. Feel free to leave comments.

Oh, and buy Contra.