How ’bout some good new music?

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I happened upon a couple of tasty nuggets of musical genius today, and these two records are too good to keep to myself.

First off, we have Yim Yames’ “Tribute To” EP, which is streaming in its entirety right here. For those of you not in the know, Yim Yames is the pseudonym of My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James (how cryptic), and this EP is six songs of George Harrison covers.

Since My Morning Jacket is in the top 5 of my favorite current bands, and Mr. Harrison is definitely my favorite Beatle and one of musical idols, I’m probably WAY too excited this exists. But really, it’s very good, because James’/Yames’ reverbed-out vocals lend themselves quite well to “My Sweet Lord,” “The Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll),” and “All Things Must Pass” (all of which are off Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” album, which is the only solo record by any of The Beatles you’ll ever need).

On a slightly more obscure note, I discovered a wonderful indie rock band named The Rural Alberta Advantage this afternoon thanks to a review of their record “Hometowns” (you can hear the entire CD in the top right corner of that link) on the notoriously snarky music web site Pitchfork.

The only reason I started reading the review was because Alberta was in the name of the band and I’m a sucker for anything Canadian, but it turns out this is right up my alley since the album is all about Alberta. There’s songs called “Edmonton” (which, ironically, really is my mom’s hometown), “The Dethbridge In Lethbridge,” and “Frank, AB.” I especially enjoy the last one, because I’ve been through the town of Frank, Alberta a few times, and I’ve always remembered the story of how the small mining town was devastated by a landslide in the early 1900s, and that’s exactly what the song is about.

Sonically, I like this album because The Rural Alberta Advantage sounds very much like Neutral Milk Hotel, with the same yelping lead vocals and overdriven acoustic guitars (I know that doesn’t make sense, but it will when you listen to “The Dethbridge In Lethbridge” and “Luciana”) that made NMH’s “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” one of the great albums of the last 15 years.

One Response to “How ’bout some good new music?”

  1. Scott Erickson

    You might be interested in this fun lounge act performance by TRAA.
    They sound great and give a very entertaining interview. I like the explanation for the naming of the band. Just played The Sunset in Seattle this last weekend. Hopefully they will be back in the fall.
    http://www.woxy.com/music/loungeacts/index.php?id=332

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