Lucero that much further west

2003 Tiger Style

i know that i’m lacking in the more recently released department as far as to what i am listening to right now, but often times you discover these shiny jewels that somehow slipped past your radar when they were originally released, or often end up on your list of “need to check out” and somehow fall by the wayside until someone wises you up. This is a perfect example of the one that almost got away, and i’m damn glad it didn’t. Nothing groundbreaking on this record, just graveled voice, punked-up country rock, with great sounding guitars and no shortage of songs about girls.”mine tonight”, “tears don’t matter much”, “hate and jealousy”, and “when you decided to leave” are standouts in my book, maybe because they get a little personal, but don’t get me wrong, That Much Further West is a solid listen from start to finish.

Vietnam vietnam

2007 Kemado Records

Former Austinite Michael William has found his place with musical soul-mate Joshua Garret, and with Mike Patrick and Ivan Sunshine providing the rhythm, Vietnam is worth a listen if you are feeling like a slow burn with lyrical content that is both poetic and dark at times. Envision when Dylan went electric with The Jesus and Mary Chain backing him up as the band, and maybe throw in a little Velvet Underground for spice.

Neutral Milk Hotel “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”

1998 Merge Records

In the current Golden Age of the singer songwriter, Jeff Mangum was poised to solidify his spot as one of the writers for us to expect years of lyrical jelly jam incorporated with quirky ecletic musical composition that would keep us smiling and taping our feet well into the future, and yet he has just faded into the history books within the minds of those affected few who still hold these songs close to our hearts. Where are you Jeff, and why did you leave? Maybe i’m just not looking in the right places.

and a few to break procession

Relatively Conscious Records 2006

I’m willing to bet that no one out there in web land reading this page knows who these guys are, but also am willing to bet that a good portion of you will have heard something about this band over the next year or so. Typically i’m not a fan of this type of music, unless it is done well , and these guys do it very well and on some level may have peaked with this one recording,but lets hope not, for if this a precursor to what these guys are capable of, I can’t wait for what is in store for the future. I can’t think of a band that with their first full length self-supported effort has accomplished producing a recording so epic, so complete, so kick you in the teeth/punch you in the gut with solid technical guitar driven rock, balanced with soothing breaks,floating melodies and lyrics that break your heart with the understanding of the pain and suffering seemingly put into this masterpiece, especially with the ending trilogy of songs that close out the record. I highly recommend this record to anyone who is a fan of tool, trail of dead, explosions in the sky, at the drive-in, or just plain good heavy guitar driven, yet beautifully technical rock music.

if you are interested in these guys check them out at http://www.myspace.com/andafewtobreak

or e-mail us at sonicitchmusic@austin.rr.com