Hey, blogosphere! I missed you! Likewise, I am sure. I spent the last week or so in a variety of places, most notably rural Ohio. Needless to say, not so fun. Some Guy and I have finally overcome the kind of apathy that is just potent enough to stop a guy from posting anything on his little corner of the internet for a whole week! We're here to make that right as rain.
To do this, I am bringing you a little slice of the Canadian woods with the Rural Alberta Advantage, or, RAA as they sometime call themselves. Some of you know I like indie rock, and some of you know I like folk punk. What RAA does, much to my delight, is find a happy medium between the two. The bands (for all intents and purposes) debut album, Hometowns is a sonic pizza. The doughy crust is baked from the persistent, yet never overpowering drum beats. The sweet, tomatoey sauce is the mashed up pulp of guitar hooks cleverly woven under delicious and melty lyrical cheese.
Silly analogies aside, I really enjoyed Hometowns. For me, the biggest success on the album was "Don't Haunt This Place", a track featuring expertly done male/female vocal harmonies (this may or may not be a recurring theme, recently. Deal with it.), a classical string section, and some of the craziest drumming you'll hear this side of "Stomp!"
Though I feel like a shit for having to identify it, the low point of Hometowns has got to be "Sleep All Day". Though only featuring drums, a tambourine and a synthesized piano, Sleep All Day is clearly the least... involved track on the album. This is actually saying a lot. It's by no means an awful track, worthy of skipping every time through. I just think it could have used... something. Anything! I'm certainly no expert, as always.
Basically, RAA takes great things from indie rock and folk punk, and sticks them into a pizza, I guess. So if you like your pizza cooked this way, or any way close to this, go for it! I doubt you'll be disappointed. If you are, I am truly sorry, it was never my intention! This album download link comes very, very, VERY highly recommended from me.
We got asked to take down the link by the bands record company, Saddle Records. They were neat enough to provide us with some free tracks to share, though, so here are "Don't Haunt This Place" and "Frank, AB". Being completely honest, this record is worth the 9 or so dollars it'll cost you on iTunes or whatever, or even a hard copy from the record company, itself, found here. Thanks for understanding, loyal listeners!
P.S., I think I'll be starting a twitter thingy for the blog, since the people who follow me get pissed when I self promote new posts. Traffic is traffic, though!
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