(Editor's Note: I submitted my dissertation proposal on Sunday. I defend it on Tuesday. I have not checked my internet-based music blog electronic mail for something like a week; I've been deep in the EBP literature, tweaking and polishing the proposal. Spiked in a fancy rhetorical twist courtesy of Steve Forness at the twelfth hour. Oh yeah. I dipped a toe back into music today and a couple of solid cuts stuck. You get those and a celebratory remix. Oh yeah,)
The skinny on The Minor Leagues:
1.) They hail from the Queen City, just like our good friend Kevin. (Two things you didn't know about Cincinnati before right now: (a) it is the playing card manufactory capital of the world; seriously, look at the pack of Bicycles you've got in your kitchen drawer with the take-out menus, and (b) it is the capital of Kentucky.)
2.) There are seven people in the band. This bears mentioning because the song is big (not big in the same way that, say, "Angel of Harlem" is big, but big like an Arcade Fire b-side.).
3.) The bass line in the song below grabs you by the neck at the three second mark. There's also (what appears to be) a glockenspiel in there for good measure. I like both.
4.) They make concept albums. Oh yeah! The album that this single comes from is centered on the frontman's hometown. Listen close to the lyrics and you get (what I assume is) a dose of how the record will treat the town and it's history.
5.) The singer has the goods.
More details here. The record drops in October, which, startlingly, isn't all that far off. More details to follow, I'd imagine.
The Minor Leagues – Ghost Maps
You remember the nineties? Me too. Apparently the dudes in Rona Pano have similar memories. They appear to be fond of those memories. My favorite bit of this sunshiny bit of fuzzy-power pop (past the woo-hoo segments, obviously) come when the singer asks: "Remember last summer, we had fun?" Indeed I do.
Rona Pano – You Stole the Laces from my Shoes
I bought a used copy of Out of the Blue at Music Saves for seven bucks. Worth every penny.
