Biting Other Blogs is an occasionally occurring feature that will direct your attention to a specific blog post or two that, most likely, I wish I had posted myself. Giving credit where credit is due, I typically wont blab too much, except to encourage you to get up on whatever blog I am highlighting…

Well, I’ll just get right to it. I’ve come upon some of my favorite blogs recently that have pointed me into the direction of some mighty fine new and FREE music. Enjoy.

Check out the new and free record from Golden Bones. The boys over at FPM were kind enough to point this out.

The always reliable blog, A Truer Sound, also did a fine job of busting out an intro. This one was to Duquette Johnson…go get it.

Another blog that not only puts mine to shame, but always seems to show me something I love, just about each time out, Common Folk Meadow, went ahead and did it again. See what he has to say about Uncles.

Liv Tyler by Roadside Graves from Travis Huggett on Vimeo.

• Many blogs have been praising and promoting the new Roadside Graves single, “Liv Tyler”. I want to make sure that you guys know about this tune, in case you haven’t caught it on some other blogs. Can’t wait to catch these boys at SXSW.

LISTEN: Roadside Graves – “Liv Tyler”

• Go to This Mornin’, I’m Born Again for a couple of tunes from a sweet new Austin band, The Happen-Ins. The track, “You’ve Been Bad” is a soulful retro-rock number that contains a pretty righteous groove. Also, look for these folks at SXSW, naturally. 

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Thanks to other blogs, I might never have found out about these guys from Illinois.

Biting Other Blogs is an occasionally occurring feature that will direct your attention to a specific blog post or two that, most likely, I wish I had posted myself. Giving credit where credit is due, I typically wont blab too much, except to encourage you to get up on whatever blog I am highlighting…

If I’ve said it once, I have said it a million times; blogs have taken over the radio’s spot as my source for new music and my place to find out about new bands that I would’ve likely never heard of otherwise. I know a bunch of you feel the same. In that spirit, here are a couple of bands that I’ve been digging that I found out about from a couple of my favorite blogs. Check them out…

• The Captains Dead blog pointed out the indie-pop goodness of Kid, You’ll Move Mountains from Illinois.

• Nine Bullets has long championed the cause of Florida’s Have Gun Will Travel. I finally got around to seeing why that had been the case and I found myself regretting taking so freaking long to do so.

Just in case you haven’t heard this yet, I wanted to point your attention towards a really great, live version of my favorite Sons of Bill song, “Joey’s Arm” (below). This version is actually a free mp3 from their official site and it was recorded on the rainy Sunday from last year’s ACL Fest. That was the day I avoided due to the weather, after being drenched all day on Saturday. Above is a great video from the equally great Music Fog site that features the same song. Enjoy.

LISTEN: Sons of Bill – “Joey’s Arm”, Live from ACL Fest (10/04/2009)

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I was thrilled when word came that Eef Barzelay was getting the Clem Snide (Official / Myspace) gang back together in 2009, after a break of a few years. While Barzelay’s solo work is solid, it just didn’t have the same zip that I have always recognized in the earlier Clem Snide albums. “Moment in the Sun”, from their 2002 EP of the same name, is a great example of the dry wit that defies mere quirk and actually makes a point while being cleverly direct. With that tune, as well as many others from Clem Snide’s catalog, self-importance is called out and questioned in such a frank manner that it’s foolish not to see it their way. That same candid and wryly comedic spirit is quite evident in their latest record, Meat of Life.

Barzelay’s loose, ramshackle vocals are the perfect passenger for the garage-folk vibe Clem Snide continues to throw down with great success. With each raw electric guitar strum, it’s clear that these guys get exactly what they want to be and make no false steps into reinvention, simply for reinvention’s sake. “Wal-Mart Parking Lot” isn’t merely the stand-out track from the new album, but it is another case of Barzelay targeting a pop-culture touchstone to paint a picture that isn’t exactly what it initially seems to be. When you really listen to Meat of Life, it’s likely that you may see that there are varying levels of quirk that can actually seem to be more logical than whimsical. 

LISTEN: “Wal-Mart Parking Lot” – Clem Snide

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