The Light Was On But It Was Dim, Revolver's Been Turned Over, and Now It's Ready Once Again, The Radio is Playing Crimson and Clover

(Elliott Smith, Baby Britain)

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everybody. In keeping with the festivity of this joyous occasion (and just to make sure this blog doesn't become a vehicle solely for Lost and Top Chef ramblings), I've decided to write about some of the new music I've been listening to lately. (I know that doesn't seem very festive, but I have a strange interpretation of some holidays. A few years ago, I joined a gym on Martin Luther King Day.)

A buddy of mine at work gave me about 4G worth of music a few months ago, and I've been slowly digesting my favorites. Most of the bands are ones I hadn't heard of at the time, which automatically makes them cool, however, some of these albums are at least a few years old already, which makes me decidedly less cool. I've also posted a song or two for each of the bands, so you can consider this your indie music sampler, courtesy of the good folks here at Deep Chrome Canyons (i.e., me). Most of this music is on the mellow side, so if you're looking to get your socks rocked off, you should look elsewhere.

Ambulance LTD (Ambulance LTD)
Ambulance LTD put out their self-titled first album 7 years ago, and they have already changed over most of the band at least once, which makes me a little late in getting around to listening to them. I dig their laid back sound, and I appreciate that you can hear the Velvet Underground's influence, especially on "Primitive (the Way I Treat You)".

By the way, and this is almost entirely irrelevant, but I just finished reading a book called "Please Kill Me: An Uncensored Oral History of Punk," and although it ended rather abruptly without covering anything in the past 25 years (and barely even getting into the 1980s at all), it was a really great account of the late 1960s-early 1980s punk scene. It focused heavily on the Velvet Underground, MC5, Television, Patti Smith, the Heartbreakers, the New York Dolls, and Iggy and the Stooges, with not enough coverage on the Ramones, and not NEARLY enough coverage on The Clash or the Sex Pistols.

Anyway, it's basically sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I mean, it's a cliche for a reason, right? Everybody was shooting up, and everybody was sleeping with everybody, men, women, it didn't matter. And I kind of figured that it was a very free-spirited era, but I was fairly shocked by some of the accounts, especially some of the stories about Lou Reed. Dude was a freak.

Ambulance LTD - Primitive (the Way I Treat You)
Ambulance LTD - Michigan
Buy Ambulance LTD on Amazon.com

Beach House (Beach House)
I was excited to get ahold of Beach House's first album (also self-titled, also a few years old) after reading about them in The Big Takeover, which happens to be the best music magazine I have ever laid my eyes on (subscribe for 2 years for only $20!!). This magazine, which I've been a devoted reader of for about 3 years now, has introduced me to a host of new music, including The Decemberists, who are one of my favorites. So, when I read a feature or an interview of theirs about a band I've never heard of, I tend to give it a lot of weight, and more often than not, it's worth a small investment to be able to give a listen. Luckily, this was in the trove of music I got from Louie, so my investment was unnecessary.

They're MUCH more mellow than I was execting, though to be fair, I was reading a review about their new album (released in February of this year), and I haven't heard that one yet. I like it, but it's not something I could listen to over and over again, for fear that I'd slip right into a coma. One thing I like about them is that they have a female singer. I really dig a rock band with a female singer. And I'm not talking about "chick music" like the Indigo Girls or Tori Amos (who I also like). I'm talking about chicks who rock, like Ann Wilson of Heart, Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney, and Beth Gibbons of Portishead. Now, Beach House isn't anywhere near the thunderstorm of rock like Heart or Sleater-Kinney, but Victoria Legrand's Nico-inspired vocals (and I promise I'm going to stop referencing the Velvet Underground) really blend well with their slow, sometimes eerie keyboard-based songs. Give them a listen, it's free. If you don't like it, you can turn it off. (Oh, and they don't start off all of their songs by counting, but these two happen to do that.)

Beach House - Apple Orchard
Beach House - Heart and Lungs
Buy Beach House on Amazon.com

The Dexateens (Lost and Found)
This is not one of the albums from my friend's stash. This one I downloaded a few months ago, legally, of course, and you can do so yourself right here from the band's website if you like what's below! The Dexateens are probably the hardest rocking band I'm writing about tonight. They're a throwback to classic rock, with a Southern edge. Sort of like, two parts Skynyrd, one part Faces (Yeah, Rod Stewart used to be a badass. Hard to believe nowadays, but it was definitely true.).

Lost and Found is the fourth album for this Tuscaloosa, Alabama, based group. They've been around for 10 years, currently on Birmingham-based label Skybucket Records. I'm going to have to check out some of their other acts, because this album is right up my alley. Hopefully they'll be in the ATL soon, because this band seems like they'd be awesome to see live.

This album is probably the reason for this entire post, because after I first downloaded it and listened to it back in February (or March?), I considered writing about it, but I just hadn't fully digested it yet, and I wasn't sure if there was really enough to say. I mean, I love music, and I love writing about music, but I'm no Lester Bangs. Anyway, after getting all this other music from my buddy awhile back, and listening to a bunch of it enough to get a feel for what I liked, I decided I'd revive my idea of writing about the Dexateens, but expand it into this longer, more comprehensive idea of writing a little bit about a bunch of bands. And since Amanda's still in New Orleans until tomorrow night, and I've got nothing but time to have a few beers, grill some hamburgers, and listen to music, I figured I'd put that time to good use.

The Dexateens - Lost and Found
The Dexateens - Enough of Nothing

Great Lake Swimmers (Ongiara)
Sort of a "Band of Horses lite," Great Lake Swimmers are one of Canada's great exports, along with Steve Nash and maple syrup. Oh, how I love the maple syrup. Any band that can pull off prominently featuring a banjo is alright in my book. They're folky, sort of Sufjan Stevens-esque, which I love, but without the very strange storytelling. They also have a bit of Neil Young in them, which is probably a prerequisite for any up and coming Canadian rock band. This album (their third) came out in 2007, and truthfully, if I'd heard it last year, it probably would have cracked my top 10 for the year. "Changing Colours" is a beautiful, beautiful song - probably my favorite from this album. This is also a very mellow album, but not quite as mellow as Beach House. More folky-mellow, whereas Beach House was more sleeping-pills-induced-mellow. Both are good, but in different ways.

Great Lake Swimmers - Your Rocky Spine
Great Lake Swimmers - Changing Colours
Buy Onigara on Amazon.com

I'd planned to write about a few more bands (Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, Jamie Lidell, to name a few, though I probably won't get around to it anytime soon, because I already did my favorites of the bunch), but I'm getting kind of tired, so I'm going to go watch the Spurs/Hornets game. I've been living the bachelor life all weekend, and I've got one more night to lie on the couch with a Rolling Rock and watch basketball, so I'm gonna take advantage.