TGIF Hodge Podge – Late Nite Coffee + The Lonely H + Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (x2)
Our regular readers, which we hope is all of you, are probably aware that I have been slightly MIA over the course of the last ten days or so. And if you have really been paying attention, you are also aware that my absence has been due in large part to my recent move to a new condo in Chicago’s wonderful Ukrainian Village neighborhood, just down the street from everyone’s favorite venue The Empty Bottle. I had hoped that today’s Hodge Podge would be the first column written from the comfort of my new home, but unfortunately the Internet gods had other plans for my writing situation this morning. Due to powers beyond my control, my Internet is not being connected until much later this afternoon, so instead of typing from my plush new sofa I am sitting at the 24 hour Starbucks at North and Wells sipping espresso at 1:30 in the morning. And this after a whirlwind day that involved driving across the city with a queen size mattress shoddily bungee corded to the roof of my SUV. As such, you’re on your own for the hottest street festival info this weekend because I will be spending the next three days unpacking, cleaning, and likely building some Ikea furniture and I don’t even want to know about the awesomeness I will likely be missing. On the bright side, I am only one week away from the Pitchfork Festival and a visit from Kevin. And on a side note, if you are reading this and happened to be at the Piper’s Alley Starbucks between the hours of 1:30 and 3:00 AM Friday morning, I was the guy in the grey hat.
The first band up today is one that I have been digging for a while now, like REALLY digging, but for one reason or another never got around to hitting in a proper review. This happens from time to time, more often that I would like actually, usually because we are ears deep in something else and, by the time we get around to it, the album is out and the entire blogosphere has already blown them up. The band in this case is Seattle quartet The Lonely H, and luckily my inbox gave me a great excuse to write about them today. The band has just released a music video for the single “The Singer” from their album Concrete Class that dropped back on June 9th. The video is good, the song is even better, and the album all out kicks ass. The Lonely H is a straight up classic rock band, something that is almost always a winner with me. These guys sound like what The Eagles SHOULD sound like. The theme here is moody Americana rock and roll played with heart and oozing with authenticity. They just don’t make bands like this too often anymore; so don’t sleep on these guys because bands like this are a rarity today. Check the video below as well as a download of “Diggin’ A Hole,” also from Concrete Class.
The Lonely H – “Diggin’ A Hole”
The next track up today just hit my inbox on Thursday, but it was one of those tracks that I knew I was going to love before I even clicked on the mp3. The reason I knew this is because it is the brand new track from an old favorite of mine, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. I will elaborate more on my love of the band’s debut album below, but I must admit that they sort of fell off my radar after that because of a somewhat disappointing sophomore effort. I must say, however, that this new song erases any bad taste that may have been left in my mouth (or, more appropriately, ears) from Pershing. Unfortunately the track, titled “Cardinal Rules,” seems to be a one-off, which means that it does not indicate a new record coming in the near future, but it is a great song to tide me over until that does happen. Fans of SSLYBY will undoubtedly notice that their sound here is a definite departure from their norm, but it works quite well for them. The nifty tidbit on information about this song is that they wrote it for their hometown minor league baseball team, the Springfield (Missouri) Cardinals. I would have never pegged these boys as the type to pull of an arena rock anthem, but by god they have proven me wrong and I can’t get enough of this one.
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – “Cardinal Rules”
For the vault track today I’m going to get insanely lazy on you and go with a classic Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin tune from their amazing debut album, Broom. Back in 1995, Broom was my absolute favorite album in the world for a period of time. I had gotten wise to the band thanks to a few of the indie blogs that I was into at the time and fell in love immediately. They played the genuine brand of indie rock that truly typifies the genre. Many indie bands today fall under hundreds of indistinguishable like noise pop, acid folk, and any other made up bullshit name you can imagine attaching to a sound, but SSLYBY could be described simply and easily as straight up indie rock. When I got hip to them they were still self releasing the record and shipping it from their rental apartment in Missouri. I ordered my copy directly from their website and it arrived a few days later on my doorstep packaged in a padded manila envelope that the band had personally decorated with a Sharpie. I will never forget that about them and to this day it is one of the coolest things I have received from a band. It wasn’t too much later that Polyvinyl snapped them up and re-released Broom on their label. I remember thinking how everyone who bought a copy after that missed out on something really cool. Here is my favorite track from that album, “House Fire.” Ironically I am posting this just as I move into a new house myself, which hopefully does not catch on fire. At least not while I’m living there.
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – “House Fire”
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