Craig Finn, the always engaging front man for The Hold Steady, has earned a reputation for his clever, witty and wordy story songs he’s crafted across his band’s four must-listen
Over the last few years the Virgin Mobile Festival has established itself as one of the premiere East Coast festivals, bringing both big name arena acts and more indie-oriented bands
If you’ve been a fan of HT for awhile you know about our love for the National Pastime. With spring in the air (although it did snow in NYC the
There haven’t been many bands over the last few years that have consistently hit the road as hard and as often as the Dave Matthews Band. The perennial road warriors
[youtube]FY3V4ObYRsA[/youtube] The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
Earlier this week the HT Staff picked their favorite albums of ’08, when we gathered Around The Barbecue. To continue on our year-end house cleaning, we’ve got another list. Back in early July I dropped my Top 6 Of The First 6 list, and since we’re not ones for traditional Top Ten around these parts I figured I’d revisit that format to round out the year’s releases.
The second half of the year saw releases from a number of my favorite artists, many of which made it on this list. So let’s get to my favorite six albums that were released in the last six months of 2008…
6. Blind Pilot – 3 Rounds and a Sound
This album was a late discovery for me – despite its July release. I literally picked it up several weeks back after hearing it mentioned on NPR during All Songs Considered’s Year In Music show and haven’t been able to stop listening to it since. Blind Pilot have taken the White Stripes/Black Keys minimalist band model of guitarist and drummer and unplugged it – though live they play with a nine-piece band. The Portland, OR duo’s debut is chocked full of strummy, lush indie-folk that would provide the perfect Sunday morning soundtrack and has helped to cement the Pacific Northwest’s stronghold on producing some of the best albums of the year.
READ ON for Some Dude’s top five releases of the second half of ’08…
The Marquee Theater has that effect of making a Friday night seem like a Tuesday for most bands, but Art Brut and The Hold Steady knew they have a job to do. As Finn said at the end of the show, “there is so much joy in doing what we do,” – you almost had to believe him.
f there’s one thing you can’t knock the Hold Steady for – it’s being sloppy. Booking arguably the “best bar band in America” on a Saturday night in a small rock club, things are bound to get rowdy. The Paste Magazine cover boys were in the midst of the fifth night of their spring/summer tour, having made the six-hour voyage east from San Diego to Phoenix’s sweaty Brickhouse.
On the surface, with iPods selling in the millions, downloads becoming more and more accessible, and even the actual coining of the moniker, 'The MySpace Generation,' 2006 may appear to be a relatively quiet year for the album. But taken as a whole, it was actually another solid year for LP releases. Sure, there were less blockbusters and a few too many prematurely hyped 'next best thing' mp3s, but when we sat down to go over the piles of CDs, there were more than enough quality titles that had to be reluctantly voted off the island. What we ended up with was a list that offered a little bit of everything – a blurring of genres and styles, featuring artists who created definitive statements – easily identifiable as 2006, but timeless all the same.
Autumn is in full-force right now as the days are quickly getting shorter and colder. But before the bustling of the holiday season arrives, take a minute to catch up on some tunes from the last couple of months. Sweden is in this fall as several bands from this country have peaked through into the States. The Shins make a return to form, and some new artists on the verge will appease. So, drink some cider and bundle up–it’s time to give your i-Pod some fuel.
