Ravishing Ramsey

While mingling with my friends at Toad's Place in New Haven last November, waiting for Band of Horses to take the stage, I remember being lulled into the gorgeous guitar work of Tyler Ramsey. No one expected to see a good opening act at a club that can barely hold a couple hundred people, but Mr. Ramsey proved this theory wrong. Standing beneath his huge frame in front of the club, it seemed as though he was playing a child's guitar as his hands stretched across six or seven frets. His drum machine, used simply as a bass drum metronome, was the perfect touch. As his set came to an end it was time for Band of Horses to perform, but Ramsey never left the stage...Band of Horses must have seen the same Big Friendly Giant that my friends and I saw. Ramsey is now an official member of Band of Horses, but he will also be the opening act for their upcoming tour. I suggest that everyone heads over to Daytrotter and checks out his set; it's ravishing.

Oh, Dear

The Dears, the ever-changing band out of Montreal, Quebec, has never reached the stature which they deserve. Their newest album, Missiles, has received mixed reviews from critics, but this can be expected when a band loses five-sevenths of its members while amidst recording an album. The Dears, led by husban-and-wife team Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak, still found a way to produce an album that balances the apocalyptic artistry of No Cities Left with the emotional directness of Gang of Losers. For those who enjoy TV On The Radio and the OK Computer-era Radiohead.

The Dears - Disclaimer

Forest Fire's Survival

Following in the footsteps of Radiohead's In Rainbows, Forest Fire is allowing people to download their debut album Survival for free here. The band based out of Brooklyn (even though several members call the west coast home) recorded their album over the course of eight months in Brooklyn and Portland, Oregon with obsolete recording technology and a maximum of five takes per song and have produced a great album on the rising Catbird record label.

Forest Fire - Fortune Teller
Forest Fire - Survival

Who cares when it was "officially" released?

The controversy over the official release date of Radiohead's In Rainbows has caused discrepancies in peoples Top Albums of 2007/2008. The band released the album for digital download on 10 October 2007, but the hard copy wasn't available to North American customers until 1 January 2008.
You want my opinion? Who cares? Whether the album was released in 2007 or 2008 doesn't matter because either way it is one of the best, if not the best album, of the past two years. So stop arguing about when it was released and lets all enjoy the great gift that god gave us with not only In Rainbows, but Radiohead in general.