Music Worth Listening To Vol. 1

As was mentioned in our First Podcast "Secret Origins" I am a musician. I take music pretty seriously. I am an admitted music snob. I can easily get on here and rip on what I feel is wrong with music, but I don't think that is what people want to hear. I think more people would be interested in hearing what I think is right with music. So in this column I will offer up some bands, people and albums I think are worth a listen. Hopefully you have never heard of them and you will agree with me that these acts are "Music Worth Listening To"

If you know me, you may know I am a huge fan of Ben Folds Five. I actually cried when I heard they broke up. Robert Sledge is the person that inspired me to start playing the bass to begin with. Everyone knows that Ben went on to have a successful solo career (including doing some tracks for Over the Hedge), but what about the other members? Well, former BFF drummer Darren Jessee's new band Hotel Lights is poised to release their second full length album, titled "Firecracker People", on August 19th of this year. Jessee strays far from the near punk rock energy of Ben Folds Five with Hotel Lights and offer us a very mellow experience. The lyrics always seem to bleed emotion and personal experience with an empathy that will be peaceful to most despite being almost melancholy at times. The newest album even offers up a song that will be familiar to some fans in "Amelia Bright," which was actually performed live with Ben Folds Five and can be heard on some bootleg recordings of some of their last shows. Now is the time to check out this band.


"A.M. Slow Golden Hit" from Hotel Lights' self-titled Album

The second band I would like to bring to your attention is another band with a sophomore album set to release on the 19th, Brothers and Sisters. On a fluke, I first saw this band on tour with ...And They Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. The show was overall pretty much shit with the exception of Trail of Dead and the very first opening act, Brothers and Sisters. Brothers and Sisters was very out of place with the rest of the lineup, but in a beautiful juxtaposed way. They had this very "Beach Boys meet The Mamas and the Papas in Nashville one night to record an album" sound. Here is this rather large, at least by today's rock band standards, group of people on stage led by a dude with long hair, a beard and a poncho. My attention was piqued and I was not let down. The sound on their first album is a little rough at times, but those rough patches are completely out-shined by the more frequent moments of sheer brilliance. Tracks from their new album "Fortunately" are showing the same brilliance that originally caught my ear, only this time with a clearly more streamlined and polished sound.


"One Night" from Brothers and Sisters' self-titled Album

At the very least, visit both these bands Myspace pages to hear some free tunes;
Hotel Lights' Myspace : Hotel Lights' Official Website
Brothers and Sisters' Myspace : Brothers and Sisters' Official Website