Live download: The Drams 6-11-05 Twangfest, St. Louis

The band in uniform (black t-shirt and jeans)

This is one of the Drams first few shows ever and it's the best recording of them I've heard (I've listened to a few of their shows up on archive.org (http://www.archive.org/details/TheDramsMusic) but was unimpressed with the sound quality. The sound quality of this show is quite good and I love the mix). While the band's debut album Jubilee Dive is very produced - overproduced in my opinion - this show presents the much rawer live sound of the band. Which I like. Considering the band had only played a few shows when this show was recorded, they're tight and play this set with a lot of force. The show is strong all the way through with the highlight clearly being Des Moines - the guitar solo part is The Drams at their best (and that's pretty damn good). And even though I'm usually 100% behind the blow-the-roof-off-the-place closing songs, the mellow closer "When You're Tired" works well here.



Yeah, the file by file download is a pain I know. But that's the limit of my tech-geekery. If there's any problems downloading or playing them let me know. Enjoy.




track 1 - hummalong: http://www.sendspace.com/file/vlp167



track 2 - fireflies: http://www.sendspace.com/file/51e2ru



track 3 - truth lies low: http://www.sendspace.com/file/37dl32



track 4 - september's high: http://www.sendspace.com/file/vcm0kt



track 5 - shortsighted: http://www.sendspace.com/file/iia23a






track 6 - you won't forget: http://www.sendspace.com/file/hwei88






track 7 - des moines: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ryez48






track 8 - unhinged: http://www.sendspace.com/file/8brh0a




track 9: when you're tired: http://www.sendspace.com/file/r1m1hj



For anyone who thinks I'm posting this show with blatant disregard of all copyright laws, I assume I'm not since the go-ahead was given to archive.org to host Drams shows:



"I, Brent Best, erstwhile comandant and general leader in all manners spiritual and managerial for the band The Drams, hereby grant my permission for performances by said band to be archived and made available on Archive.org.



brent"



But if the band/management ain't down with this just let me know and I'll take 'em down right quick.

Band You Should Hear: Grainbelt

The band: Grainbelt

The music: alt-country/rock/cowpunk

Hometown: Albany, NY

www.myspace.com/therealgrainbelt

http://www.thegrainbelt.com/

I'm happy to present Grainbelt, who are a hometown band for me. Rising from the ashes of the Albany alt-country/cowpunk institution Coal Palace Kings, Grainbelt balance a fair degree of twang with straight-up bar rock. These guys have guitars, a slight drawl, and above all else, the right attitude (what do I mean by that? It's hard to describe - hopefully it'll come through in the songs below). Audiophile I ain't, but the sound quality of their debut album is pretty poor. The drums sound particularly weak. And the band could certainly sound more "tight". However, these four tracks rise above all that shit and have been getting a good deal of play around here lately.

"The Drugs Don't Seem to Be Working" - Great, rocking track. This song epitomizes the style of music that Tallboy revolves around.

"On the Road" - Great broken-down-van/band on the road song (singer/guitarist Howe Glassman's forte.) The band slowly ratchets up the tempo and "jam" out the end of this one, which is cool.

track 4 and 5 - straight up, slower alt-country songs. In a good way.

Grainbelt

Band you should hear: The Reducers

The band: The Reducers
The music: driving, high energy rock and roll with English punk undertones
Hometown: New London, Conn

[note: This band veers a bit from the overall Southern-flavored vibe of most bands on this blog, but I've included them because they meet the #1 criteria here at Tallboy: they rock. ]

www.myspace.com/thereducers

http://www.thereducers.com/

I had never heard of The Reducers when I got an email from someone I didn't know saying they were great. And they were playing in my town in 2 days. This dude's overview of the band mentioned that they have been together since 1978 and it has been the same 4 guys since the band's inception. I was like, "They still have the same drummer they had in 1978? That's amazing." I went. They played. Fists were pumped. Beer was spilled. Sweat was sweated. Four 50-year old dudes rocked out like they were in their 20s. As I rode my bike home from the show late that night I thought, "If I hear one more music critic hipster motherfucker with his arty eyeglasses and messenger bag claim that 'Rock is dead' I'm gonna bust him in the chops!"

I'm interested in people's reaction to these guys - leave a comment or email me.

The Reducers

Download: Slobberbone live podcast

In honor of the 2 Slobberbone reunion shows that went down this weekend in Texas (which I had no chance in hell of attending living in NY), I'm posting this 27 minute live Slobberbone podcast. It was compiled by their record label I think and most of it is...well...kinda bland. The first 4 tracks are straight-forward songs and unexciting versions at that (Trust Jesus, Sister Beams, Trust Jesus (again - but this time a poorer quality version. Hey New West Records: fire the intern that put this thing together. Dummy.), and Billy Pritchard. But it's the last song, "Can't Stay Sober" that you should hear. It starts at 19:35 if you just want to skip ahead. Very rocking. I just love the whole pick-scratching thing. Download it here:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/80wcks

Any word about those shows this weekend?