20101015

The Violet Burning

I used to be a huge Violet Burning fan, pretty much throughout the 90's. Their self-tiled album released in 1996 was one of my favorites from that decade and 1998's Plastic & Elastic was also very good. Michael Pritzl is a good song-writer and performer, but honestly his albums are only as good as his surrounding cast. When he as Andy Prickett playing guitar with him, they are phenomenal. I saw them live with Prickett many times  in the early 2000's and the shows were outstanding. Well, starting with 2003's This is the Moment, the band went on rapid decline and everything they have done since is just boring. Until now; maybe. They sent out an email link yesterday, where I discovered this:


the violet burning from the violet burning on Vimeo.

They have a new 3CD set coming out at the end of this year, all new material, and I am intrigued.

20101012

People Get Ready (ex-This Beautiful Mess)

New album from People Get Ready became available today on Bandcamp. Cost is 7.99 Euro, which is $11.35. If you are unaware, it is almost exactly the same band as This Beautiful Mess (honestly they just changed their name). Sounds very similar, just a little more high-energy. This could easily be the best band in the Netherlands. Their best work is This Beautiful Mess' Temper the Wind to the Shorn Lamb, which is pretty much impossible to find online. I don't even know a single place you can buy it digitally in the US. (check iTunes if you are in Europe).

While you are at it, check out Brown Feather Sparrow and The Spirit That Guides Us, which share members with People Get Ready. It is pretty hard to find any of this music cheap, as the CDs you have to import from Europe. The Spirit That Guides Us has a few albums on emusic, including their best. For Brown Feather Sparrow, the cheapest and easiest route is by far iTunes in the US and elsewhere.

<a href="http://peoplegetready.bandcamp.com/album/people-get-ready">People Get Ready by People Get Ready</a>

20101006

Blue Like Jazz and Steve Taylor



And while you are at it, listen to some Steve Taylor:


I think we need to have a Kickstarter to fund a new Steve Taylor album! Nothing against his directing (which is awesome), but I prefer his music.