Music You Might Have Missed

I have some very talented friends and had planned on sharing each of their album releases on Facebook, Twitter, etc, but then had too many things to mention. I figured it would be more meaningful if I put it all together for one nice neat "blog" post. 

So here you go: 

First, the ex-Sherwood bands. The band Sherwood was unarguably awesome, so it's not surprising that the three bands that include Sherwood members (that I know of so far... Joe?) are pretty great.

• Wayfarer

Wayfarer was started by Dan who was the main songwriter in Sherwood.  Their EP "The River" is a beautiful collection of folk/pop type sounding arrangements of old hymns with new melodies.  

http://wayfarerseattle.bandcamp.com/

• The Begging Sea

Sherwood's lead singer Nate created an album funded through Kickstarter and the product was "The Distance".  It feels like Sherwood, mostly because it's Nate singing. It's got some good, fun sounding arrangements and melodies.

 http://thebeggingsea.bandcamp.com/album/the-distance 

• Fialta

I just found out about the group Fialta which features Sherwoodians Mikey and Dave.  Summery sounding with sparse but well composed arrangements.  Dig it.

http://fialtamusic.com/preorder/ 

Ok, now a few friends I know through church connections and happen to both write music based on scripture...

• Brian Moss

My good friend Brian has recently (well... kind of recently) completed his second effort in his "Prayerbook" project with songs based on the Psalms.  Prayerbook 2 covers Psalms 16-30 and it is great great great.  Another personal connection on this one is that my brother Chase helped engineer a few of the recording sessions and did some of the pre-mixing for the album.  This one's not released to the public yet so email Brian and tell him to make it happen ASAP.

http://www.prayerbookproject.com/ 

download prayerbook 1 (Psalms 1-15) FREE: http://prayerbookproject.blogs.com/prayerbook/2008/01/prayerbook-1-is.html

• For The People 

This is a project by my friend Dave who I work with, go to church with, and might just have a cover band we're in together.  His album "All Who Are Weary" has songs based on sections of the book of Genesis.  This is all home recordings and was completely mixed and mastered by Dave himself, but you'd probably never know it (unless you've got ears like Chase).  Some very nice melodies and great storytelling through song.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-who-are-weary/id656698749 

Now for some bands that I don't actually know personally and have some popularity but most folks I know don't know about 'em:

• Reign of Kindo

This band is steadily creeping up into the "favorite bands of all time" category.  Like, with the Beatles.  Seriously--SO good.  They have an album coming out this month which you should unquestionably buy without thinking about it, but I would also recommend starting out with their EP, aptly titled "EP".  Then get each of their other albums too. Now.

 http://www.thereignofkindo.com/

• Boy and Bear

Their 2011 album "Moonfire" is one of my favorite albums of the last several years. Folky, rock awesomeness.  Sounds like Fleet Foxes with more grit. They have a new album coming out soon so catch up on the old stuff if you don't know it.  I've already got tickets to see them in Melbourne in November.

http://www.boyandbearstore.com.au/?gclid=CKr55c_pkrgCFQhLpgodGWAAvA 

Ok, I've written enough so now a list of other great bands that have somewhat recent releases (in no particular order):

• The Lone Bellow 
• http://www.thelonebellow.com/
• Alt-J
• Album on Amazon
• Hey Marseilles.
• Seattle Band!  Singer is a friend of a friend
• http://heymarseilles.com/
• The Cat Empire
• http://thecatempire.com/
• The Civil Wars 
• New album soon
• http://thecivilwars.com/
• Vampire Weekend 
• Yeah, you've probably heard of them... but their new album is SO good
• http://www.vampireweekend.com/
• Leagues
• http://www.leaguesmusic.com/
• Alpine 
• http://alpineband.com/

There is so much good music... it's almost too much.  Good luck, hope this helps.  

-Trav

way too much work to watch this at work...

Noah's Voicemail

Precious Noah...

My last 12 Months of Reading. Any Questions?

Here are the books I've read in the past 12 months in the (approximate) order that I read them. The links will take you to their page on amazon.com.

• The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
• The Greatest Show On Earth by Richard Dawkins
• The Language of God by Francis Collins
• The Lost World of Genesis One by John Walton
• A Million Miles In A Thousand Years by Donald Miller
• e: The Story of a Number by Eli Maor
• The Meal Jesus Gave Us by N.T. Write
• Signature In The Cell by Stephen Meyer
• To Infinity and Beyond by Eli Maor
• O Me of Little Faith by Jason Boyett
• Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman
• Heresy by Alister McGrath
• Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

It's probably been the best year of my life for reading. I attribute it to the Kindle app on my iPhone. Each of these have been very informative and interesting. I'd love to discuss any of them in the comments, in person or whatever.

Read this on facebook (where I assume more people will comment on it--you must be logged in)

Union Pacific Going Under

The (fake) AP is reporting today that the Union Pacific Railroad company is going under and won't last the afternoon. Bummer for anyone who invested anything more than $100.

Also, this is a joke. Maybe I'll put a real blog post up soon.

Bye Bye Sonic Boom

Well, I went down to Fremont, as I so often have, to buy me some music. But when I got there to my dismay I found that my favorite record store, Sonic Boom had closed. I was very upset. Apparently out of the franchise's three locations Fremont was the most expensive to run, and since it was so close to the Ballard location they decided to close one. Why they chose to close the original location I don't know. Even worse, why did they have to close the location that I go to? Why?

I went to the Ballard store, but it just didn't feel like home. I think I'm gonna try the West Seattle Easy Street. We'll see how that goes...