I’ll be honest. I’m not 100% sure what to say about the latest CD from California psychedelic folk act, Vanish Valley. I suppose the term “psychedelic folk” says plenty and I do think it’s rather accurate in this case. The one thing I would add, however, is that I feel like that term gives the impression that this is an abstract work, and therefore, perhaps a tad inaccessible. I find that to be quite the contrary, to reality, however. While there are many types of “California Music”, this record really makes me wish I was stumbling around the various valleys and canyons of SoCal, for some reason. It’s like and audio-hallucinogenic.

LISTEN: “Become the Night” – Vanish Valley

LISTEN: “Bad Things” – Vanish Valley

This is likely not going to be a shock to anyone, but the SubPop label has done just fine for itself since the end of the grunge era that it helped usher in, all those years ago. In fact, they’ve been every bit as effective at releasing the finest indie albums, as other notable labels such as Matador, even.

A recent release of the label’s is another indie-gem. Originating from Long Beach, CA, Avi Buffalo (Official / Myspace) is the brain child of Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg. Their song, “What’s In It For”, from their self-titled record, is another in a recent line of bright, sunny indie nuggets, that fit in nicely with offerings from Local Natives, Dr. Dog and Morning Benders. Enjoy.

LISTEN: “Whats In It For” – Avi Buffalo

It’s been a while since I mentioned the current kings of Dallas-area honky-tonks, 1100 Springs. The fact is, these boys are much more than simply great local players. They’ve become quite the draw all over the state and other parts of the country, as well.

Straight-up country is their stock in trade. It isn’t stained with rocking red dirt; it’s just good ol’ barroom, hard-core country music. Having Zane Williams on the bill is also a great reason to catch this show.

Wanna see these boys play on their home turf for free? The fine folks at The Granada Theater in Dallas have given us a pair of tix to give away to a lucky Gobb Knob reader! By the way, a recent show of theirs at this very venue was sold-out, so I wouldn’t wait to get your tix at the door. Get them here, if you don’t win ‘em.

Be the first to email me at kelly@thegobblersknob.com with the words I LOVE 1100! in the subject line and you’ll be the winner!

OK, I’ll admit it. I’ve been a tad down on “roots rock”, “alt.country”, “cow punk”, “Red dirt” or whatever you may want to call the genre that has historically scratched my musical itch. Perhaps I’ve just listened to too much of that brand and I’ve become a bit bored. Perhaps the influx of great indie-rock albums of recent times has also helped me not pay as much attention to the style that has dominated the pages of this here blog for so long now. Regardless, I’ve been awakened, it seems. Hello, The Avery Set (Official / Myspace).

Originating in Michigan, and now rocking in Nashville, this country-rock quartet that mixes in a bit of folk just pushes my buttons. Overall, their album, Returning to Steam, reminds me a whole hell of a lot of last year’s fantastic Sons of Bill record, One Town Away.

Hopefully, this record is my gateway, back into some solid roots rock goodness.

LISTEN: “Wandering Shoes” – The Avery Set

Man, it’s kinda annoying when you’re watching a movie, hear a kick-ass song during one of the scenes and say, “O.K., I gotta check that out when I get home and see if I can figure out who that song is from.“?? It used to be much more annoying, pre-internet, but now, it’s generally easy to figure out who plays what song, as long as you have a few, key pieces of info for a decent google search.

The other night I was watching Ben Stiller’s latest foray into artsy and moody indie; the pretty solid,Greenberg. While the majority of the soundtrack is made up of James Murphy’s score (doing some very non-LCD Soundsystem stuff), there was a song that captured me, in particular, and alas, it wasn’t one of Murphy’s new creations. After a bit of Binging and Googling, I discovered that the tune in question was “Strange”, by Boston-area trio Galaxie 500.

The kicker is, Galaxie 500 is no more. Hell, they haven’t been together since 1991, and have since gone on to other projects, namely Luna and Daman & Naomi. Regardless, I am really digging the trio’s accessible take on slowcore and folky shoegaze. Specifically, I’ve been rocking their 1989 record, On Fire. Fans of Bedhead and even Mazzy Star will find something to enjoy here. If you’re like me and aren’t familiar with this relic of a band, please, do yourself a favor and get up on it.

Here’s a great article/history of the band, from Pitchfork.

First of all, let me apologize for not having posted so much in the past couple of weeks. Changes at the day job, increased assignments from my new freelance gigs and moving the fam to a new address have made for a weird couple of weeks. You may only visit the Gobb Knob once in a blue moon, so you may not have noticed my slower posting pace, but, if you’re a regular visitor and wondered what was going on, wel, I’m more or less back. Thanks for sticking around!

Now residing in Austin, the former lead man of deadboy and The Elephantmen is back with more solo-work. Dax Riggs new album, Say Goodnight To The World will be out next month, but the lead single has been released for our listening pleasure. Solid, fuzzy, and slightly spacey, it’s clear to see that Riggs isn’t into half-assing it or looking to make this a sort of side-project step child.

LISTEN: “No One Will Be A Stranger” – Dax Riggs

Stepping out from behind the grinning, grizzly shadow of Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters guitarist, Chris Shiflett and his band, The Dead Peasants lets their penchant for fist pumping, country rock shine with his upcoming, self-titled album, to be released in July.

LISTEN: Chris Shiflett – “Get Along”

Go. Here. Stream. New. Song.

I try to give you folks a nicely mixed bag of sounds on here (even if I do tend to lean heavily towards the country/folk/americana realm). With that said, I am truly excited about the new release from the legendary Tom Petty. Mojo will be out on June 15th. This album has Petty jamming with his band, the equally legendary Heartbreakers, and the fact is, they can still bring it.

It was in 1995 when I caught Petty (with the Jayhawks opening) for one of my very first big-time rock shows. His Wildflowers album, and even their greatest hits collection, were riding high (pun intended) on the charts and hopefully, the new one will as well. What I have heard so far is pretty sweet and shows that Petty, Campbell, Tench and the rest of the gang haven’t seen fit to slow down or become complacent with just being aging rockers.

A while back I dubbed Rodney Parker’s last album as “Country with Muscle”. Well, he and the gang have a new disc, The Apology, coming out and will be celebrating that release at the one and only Granada Theater on June 10.

As usual, a stellar bill will roll out throughout the evening to help the proceedings. None other than Adam Hood and Southern Drive will be playing as well, to help celebrate. For what it’s worth, I really really enjoyed Southern Drive’s latest album as well.

Well, go on, go get your tix here. They’ll also be running some serious specials and their food…and BEER!