Vacation's Almost Over

Back soon. Enjoy some summer songs for now.

The Red Collar Company: "Bring on the Summer"
(from Rockin' the Blocks compilation 2005.)
You might could still get a copy of the Rockin' the Blocks CD if you bug the folks at Downtown Durham. This was an early incarnation of Red Collar -- Jason plays a mean harmonica!

Work Clothes: "Fort Bragg Summers"
(from These Are the Shoes We Wear 2005. Buy it. Web site.)

Chris Stamey (with Yo La Tengo): "The Summer Sun"
(from V.O.T.E. 2004 Buy it.)

NC Bands at SXSW

The web site for Austin's SXSW music festival lets you sort showcase artists by home town, so here's a list of the North Carolina bands that'll be playing. Loyal readers will recognize a number of Oak Room favorites, including the Rosebuds, the Comas, and the Moaners.

I think I'll spend the rest of the week checking out the bands I haven't heard yet and reporting back. In the meantime, here's some tidbits to get you started.

• I wanted to link to Chris Stamey's "14 Shades of Green" a long time ago, but Yep Roc took it off their web site. Happily, SXSW has it up. This is far and away my favorite song from last year's Travels in the South -- just enough jangle to make dBs fans happy.
  MP3: "14 Shades of Green"
  (from Chris Stamey, Travels in the South, Yep Roc 2004. Buy it here or download it here.)
• Here's a nice tune from Roman Candle, originally more of a shoegazer kind of band that's moving in an alt country direction, as I mentioned back here.
MP3: "The Wee Hours Review"
(I guess this is from their forthcoming album, a redone version of 2002's Get Pop.)

• Bluegrass band Chatham County Line has a new album out today. I'm looking forward to hearing it. SXSW features a track from their 2003 self-titled album.
  MP3: "Closing Town"
  (from Chatham County Line, Chatham County Line, Yep Roc 2003. Buy it here or download it here.)
• 
• I've never bothered to talk about Tift Merritt -- it's not like she needs the publicity; she was nominated for a Grammy, for crying out loud -- but her newest album Tamborine is great, adding some soul to her country/folk. You can stream some of her music at her web site.
• No audio for this, but the SXSW shows and forthcoming album bringing together Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockrell couldn't be anything but incredible.
• For a look at some of the other bands that will be playing at SXSW, check out the really well-done music blog See You In The Pit. They did the Comas just the other day.Great content and a slick design. Hey, ladies, if you haven't taken a look at the Rosebuds yet, give them a try!

And yet again still more with the Stamey-related stuff

Badgerminor's got another post over at Orbis Quintus with some fine old-school Triangle-related rock. Check out two tracks each from the dB's and Let's Active. (And compare, if you wish, the studio version of "Black and White" with the live version I linked to back here.)

Yet again with the Chris Stamey related music

Check out this post at the fine (semi-)music blog Orbis Quintus for a couple of songs from the Sneakers, the short-lived 1970's band that united a pre-dB's Chris Stamey and a pre-Let's Active Mitch Easter. They were produced by Don Dixon, who had played in Arrogance (a band that I'll get around to posting about sooner or later) and went on to produce, among others, R.E.M. (as did Easter). Great early power-pop.

Vote Baby Vote

"Early Voting Sets Record" (Raleigh News & Observer)*

And part of that was me yesterday afternoon. Glad to have it over with -- the next week is going to make me sick, I'm afraid. In honor of all these folks doing their civic duty, and to continue the Chris Stamey theme that's been running for the last week, here's a get-out-the-vote PSA that Chris recorded with Yo La Tengo.

MP3: "V-O-T-E Vote" (Chris Stamey & Yo La Tengo)
(Thanks to Kingblind for the pointer to this.)

*May require registration. Bugmenot.com if you don't want to bother.

West Coast Greetings

Much to my astonishment, people seem to be continuing to look in on this thing while I'm gone -- not a huge amount of traffic, but a steady trickle. In hope of enticing at least a few to come back later, I thought I'd drop one quick up date while I'm on the road (currently in San Francisco -- what a beautiful day!).

Chris Stamey is a key figure in the Triangle music scene, partly as a musician, partly as producer for a wide range of acts. He started out working with a young Mitch Easter in Winston-Salem, then was a member of the dB's, perhaps the classic almost-made-it-big NC band. In addition to a post-dBs solo musical career, he's produced records by national acts including Yo La Tengo and Alejandro Escovedo, as well as producing and mentoring many local bands, including the Caitlin Cary album I'm Staying Out which I've mentioned a few times (full post on Caitlin coming eventually), Whiskeytown, Thad Cockerell, and Chatham County Line.

MP3: "The Sound You Hear"
(from Travels in the South, Yep Roc 2004. Buy or download)
Well, dammit, I only discovered just now that Yep Roc has changed the sample MP3 they have up for this album. I had hoped to point you to "14 Shades of Green," which was the first thing I heard from this album, and is still the clear standout for me. The other songs are OK, they just tend to be a bit more pure pop, like this one, whereas "Shades of Green" has a little more edge and energy to it. Seek it out, even if this isn't quite your thing.

I don't mean to dog this track too much, I'm just disappointed the other one's not available. To make it up to you, here's a little live dB's from back in the day.

MP3: "pH Factor"
(Live at the Metro, Chicago, December 1984)
A nifty surfy instrumental number.

This has taken way longer than I'd intended (the things I do for nearly 10 readers a day...), but let me quickly thank Last Sound of Summer for blogrolling me. I've added that fairly eclectic music blog to my links list, as well as Big Rock Candy Mountain, a fine Chicago-based blog that's been working the twang angle somewhat lately. (Confidential to the proprietor of that blog -- if you want to link to me, you don't even have to ask...)

Gotta go now. See y'all next week.