The 2012 Calgary Folk Music Festival is fast approaching and the line up this year is one you will not want to miss. This years festival will run from July 26th - 29th on Calgary's beautiful Prince's Island Park. Below are some artists you should definitely check out if you end up going to the festival. Check out the Full Lineup on the Artist Page.
Beirut
Blackie & the Rodeo Kings
Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires
Iron & Wine
Chris Isaak
Leeroy Stagger & the Wildflowers
Jeff Mangum
Dan Mangan
The Rural Alberta Advantage
Rae Spoon
Serena Ryder
Whitehorse
Check out The Head and the Heart, performing Cats and Dogs and Coeur D'Alene at Folk Fest last year:
Hello everyone, I thought I would try something new today with the blog. A segment tentatively called "Is's and Ought to be's". In this segment I will talk about the most anticipated albums of the month and what is the albums that lived up to the hype and what was ought to be a great album, but yet, did not live up to the hype for me at least. This is not a ranking of albums or telling you what you should or shouldn't listen to you, simply what I have enjoyed in the past month and what let me down. Enjoy and please feel free to provide feedback.
The Is's:
The Decemberists - The King is Dead
After the last two albums I was left questioning the progressive style The Decemberists were taking, it didn't feel natural to me. However, with the January release of the The King is Dead they return to what they do best. Album highlights include "Don't Carry It All", "January Hymn", "June Hymn" and "This Is Why We Fight". This is my most listened to album of new year and my "Is of the Month" and something I would definitely recommend giving a listen to.
As Bryce mentioned a must have for any hardcore fan of Matt Mays. This iTunes Session has Matt Mays, a guitar and piano playing a stripped down versions some of his best written song such as "Chase the Light", "Terminal Romance", "City of Lakes" and "Cocaine Cowgirl".
Cold War Kids' latest effort Mine Is Yours may not be as critical well received as albums in their past. Nonetheless, working with the producer that brought us Kings of Leon's Only By The Night has taken CWK in a different direction that resulted in a very enjoyable album. Highlights: "Mine is Yours", "Out of the Wilderness", and "Skip the Charades".
Don't Get Me Wrong, I am a huge fan of I&W and did enjoyed parts of this album. However the album as whole did not live up to my expectations. I appreciate that Sam Bean has ventured away from the whispering style on this album but the songs on this album did not make the same impact that Iron & Wine have done in the past. Overall, this is not a bad album by any means and I recommend that you check it out or at least listen to "Walking Far From Home", "Tree By The River" and "Half Moon".
In the case of Mission Bell, I think Amos Lee is a victim of his own songwriting. His self titled album features some of the most amazing songwriting I have ever heard, such as "Arms of a Woman", "Colors", and "Seen It All Before". Mission Bell was a strong effort and decent album but just couldn't match his efforts of past. However "El Camino", "Violin", and "Learned A Lot" are worth a good listen.
Admittedly I didn't have high expectation for Um, Uh Oh in the first place but I was hoping this could be the underdog of the month and Say Hi would really surprise me with an interesting album. Didn't happen, anyway a couple decent tracks of the album include "Dots on Maps" and "Devils".
So I hope this helped you with sifting through the vast amount of music that is released each month and maybe gave you something new to listen to. Remember this just my opinion, and if I didn't like an album you did or miss one you thought was great then let me know because here at Blue Sloth we are simply just trying to spread the word.
In light of Iron and Wines new album Kiss Eachother Clean being released here is a La Blogotheque take away show (which they do so well) of the song Tree By The River. His last two new albums have been taking different directions than his previous home released EPs and studio LPs by incorporating different sounds and new instruments. It is also nice to hear Sam Beam really use his voice in a couple songs rather than just whispering the whole way through the album.
Check out the tracks below and make sure to go get the album.
Sam Beam and Iron and Wine recently played a set over at the NPR studios and showcased their new album which is going to be released on January 25th from front to back. You can check out the set right HERE. You also have the option of downloading the set as an audio file. Enjoy everyone.
Iron & Wine release another new single from the upcoming Kiss Each Other Clean album. Head over to Iron & Wine's website HERE to grab "Tree By The River" which adds to my already increasing anticipation for Kiss Each Other Clean.
These days when you summon a bunch of great artist together to make a collaboration it is rare that the finished product is a good album. 2009's Dark Was The Night, spearheaded by Aaron and Bryce Dessner from The National featuring artists such as Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, Spoon, Iron & Wine, Feist and Andrew Bird is not only a great album but a great humanitarian effort. Dark Was The Night proceeds have contributed over a million dollars to non-profit charities.
Have a listen to Yeasayer's "Tightrope", The Books with Jose Gonzalez's "Cello Song" and Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner's "Big Red Machine". If you like what you here, go and BUY this one, either through iTunes, Amazon or your local record store.
"Walking Far From Home", the first single from Iron and Wine's Kiss Yourself Clean was released last Friday and the track is already climbing up my top 25 most played. Have listen below.
One of my personal favorites, the ingenious folk group Iron and Wine are getting set to drop their new album, Kiss Each Other Clean. This is their first studio album in almost three years! Check out the art work above, and the trailer below for Kiss Each Other Clean, which drops January 25. Also the first single, "Walking Far From Home" will be release November 26th, on mini-record store day, so go buy it or check in on November 30th for the digital version.
