The Thermals - Now We Can See

An Interview with Ben of the band Arizona - part 1 from Dave Allen on Vimeo.

You may have noticed a dearth of new posts from me recently but I have a good excuse - Pop Asheville. Pop Asheville is an annual music festival and conference that takes place in Asheville, North Carolina and I believe this was their third year. This small but vibrant town in the NW of the state has a music festival that reminds me of the early days of SXSW and also of a smaller Portland-like music scene. Anyway I was invited to give the keynote speech this year. I spent an hour reminding the musicians in attendance that they are no longer in the music business, they are in the T-shirt business and they all seemed to agree. The music industry is not hurting, it’s the cd business that is in decline.

I’ll be writing later about the festival after I have gathered my thoughts. What I do want to say today is that I discovered a wonderful band while I was there. Arizona. There were many great bands performing over the weekend but Arizona stood head and shoulders above the crowded field. Perhaps it was just my own sense of the decline of standards in rock music that always leaves me pessimistic but I was shocked at how good these guys were playing live. The next day I had the honor of interviewing their lead singer Benjamin. It turned out to be a lengthy video so I will offer it up in parts. Part 2 will follow real soon.

Benjamin Morris Wigler, the self-described ‘Keith Richard Dreyfuss’ of rock, has much to say. And he says it very well and wittily too. Worth a watch. Listen as Ben talks about his four year old tub of urine that he collected from his stoned friends to load into super soakers to be used to hose down a local child molester. Listen to him sing a beautiful song a cappella and then talk about Dream Theater, Tool and Radiohead.

Arizona - Heath from the album Glowing Bird. Buy it here.

M Ward - Never Had Nobody Like You [feat. Zooey Deschanel]

From M Ward’s upcoming album ‘Hold Time.’

Via Stereogum.

Watch M Ward’s ‘Hold Time’ video here.

Little Hunks

This is the final 2008 Pampelmoose edition of the New Music Hour on Portland’s 94.7FM. Tonight will be the last show of the year and it’s time to take stock of all the great music that I’ve been able to play from Portland’s vibrant music scene. I have 14 songs tonight from some of Portland’s finest. They are by no means ranked in any order, nor are they songs necessarily from ‘08 releases, just a selection from many songs that I could have played. The choice was difficult but having room for only 14 bands forced my hand. To those that didn’t make the list be assured that in ‘09 you will be played on the show and maybe the list will be longer next year and I can accommodate more bands…just keep the great music coming.

And as always, if you like what you hear you can click on the Amazon banner below and support the bands and labels by buying their music.

Hockey - Song Away
Starfucker - Holly
Little Hunks - Came To Party
Lackthereof - The Columbia
Holy Sons - The Feral Kid
Peter Broderick - With The Notes In My Ears
The Mint Chicks - 2010
Red Fang - Reverse Thunder
The Shaky Hands - We Are Young
James Low - American Dream
The Wherewithals - The Point
Bark Hide and Horn - Change It
Loch Lomond - Blue Lead Fence
Microfilm - Fox And His Friends

Stream or download all the previous Pampelmoose 94.7FM shows here.

Here we are at the end of another year, in fact almost the end of a new decade, and the musicians of the world continue to turn out amazing work. The CD industry continues to slump and digital sales are not filling the gap, yet amazingly I am able to play on average 26 new songs over 2 hours on my twice weekly radio show here in Portland. It’s an honor to be able to expose brand new music from artists old and newly discovered to both my blog readers and my listening audience too.

Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit Are The Very Best

So how does one come up with a smart list of hot bands? Who is deserving, and why? Well its never easy..I just went back through all the music submissions for just one week and extrapolated the numbers out over a year - in 2008 so far I have been sent, on average, 6,134 MP3s and 1,304 CDs. That’s a lot of music, [especially as I'm the main writer for Pampelmoose,] and creates lots of decision making every day as I try and filter the good stuff on behalf you the reader or the radio listener.

In a nutshell, I came up with this list based simply on which artist’s work stirred me the most as I listened to it as dispassionately as possible. To some it won’t make sense, to others it will because they understand the eclectic nature of my blog and radio show. Others still will be outraged that I didn’t include their favorite band and others will decry me as a self-serving-know-nothing music snob [this has happened in the past, sort of makes me proud] but its all water off a duck’s back at this point.

The Very Best represent to me all that is possible in music. Back in October when I first received the mixtape I was thrilled. I was equally thrilled to find today that Scott Plagenhoef at Pitchfork gave the mixtape a great review and how he shares my findings of their music ….”Mwamwaya and Radioclit are open here to everything from South Africa’s marabi and kwaito music to Hans Zimmer scores to French and American hip-hop to Michael Jackson– and in most cases, it’s the tracks that lean furthest away from the familiar that work best. The regal “Sister Betina”, BLK JKS collaboration “Salota”, and Radioclit productions “Funa Funa” and “Kada Manja” are as immediately likable as the rest of the mix.”
And in a moment of headiness created by listening to the mixes I wrote of how this mashing of cultures even beyond music may engender a more peaceful global society - Fighting Terror via Art, Supper, Double Club and Sapeurs.

Here’s the top ten winners, in order this year:

01. The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit Are The Very Best [Mixtape]
Available for free here.
02. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig!!!
Buy Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! here
03. Nightmares On Wax - Thought So…
Buy Thought So.. here
04. Susanna - Flower of Evil
Buy Flower of Evil here
05. Dead Confederate - Wrecking Ball
Buy Wrecking Ball here
06. Brightblack Morning Light - Motion To Rejoin
Buy Motion To Rejoin here
07. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology
Buy Cardinology here
08. Booka Shade - The Sun & The Neon Light
Buy The Sun & The Neon Light here
09. Ume - Sunshower EP
Buy Sunshower EP here
10. The Happy Hollows - Imaginary EP
Buy Imaginary EP here

Check out a track from each artist here:

The Very Best - Kamphopo
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Nightmares On Wax - 195lbs
Susanna - Jailbreak
Dead Confederate - Goner
Brightblack Morning Light - Hologram Buffalo
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Magick
Booka Shade - Dusty Boots
Ume - The Conductor
The Happy Hollows - Tambourine