Hey everyone! I feel mildly guilty about not posting. Actually, I feel really guilty. That whole a capella thing just did not cut it. My schedule has been ridiculously hectic, though, I swear. Spain was fantastic, 1) yes I did encounter the Spanish-indie scene, 2) yes I will post on it, 3) no, not right now. But, let's get straight back to the music, which, thankfully, has not stopped changing while I was gone.
Blogs all over are crazy about
Bishop Allen, an affluent group of talented people straight out of Brooklyn. The group's two core members, Justin Rice (keyboard and vocals) and Christian Rudder (various stringed instruments), are old friends who are supported by a rotating group of other band members.
The band has received great reviews from some pretty credible sources, like NPR, which says that it "has mastered the art of quirky, unassuming pop with a fragile heart", and
Rolling Stone, which calls the band's tracks "
charmed harmonic bliss".
Basically,
Bishop Allen is everything I always wanted
The Shins to be and more. Justin Rice has the perfect voice for the lyric-oriented folk that the group generally produces (Fans of
Bright Eyes will certainly like this group), yet at the same time, there is a more poppy side to be heard as well. Really, the vocals are just... good. Also, the guitar and keyboard melodies are very strong. In other words, these guys know what they are doing.
Their first album,
Charm School came out in May 2003. In 2006, they released an EP every month, with each named after its particularly month.
August, though, is a 14-song live EP. The band just released its sophomore effort,
The Broken String, on July 24th, and now, with more experience and steady members under its belt, it is producing some pretty incredible stuff. I can tell that they've put a lot of work into this disk, and I am definitely buying it ASAP. Speaking of which, you can stream the album from
here, and/or you can buy it and their other CD's from their
website.
I promise that soon, I will begin to post at least fairly regularly. But, for now, enjoy some mp3's. I have selected two of my favorites, ones that I think show off the band's musical ability, but their are so many songs to hear. Look into them. Seriously.
Bishop Allen-
The Same Fire (from
June)
Bishop Allen-
Like Castanets (from
The Broken String)
