Whatever it is that Rateliff releases next, I swear on all that has ever been good in the history of always, it will fucking rock.
[ED. NOTE: You guys wanna hear something funny? So this dude in the comments points out that I’ve totally fucked the title here and upon further inspection, yep. Yes, that happened. Let this be a lesson to you: Do not trust a British to translate shit for you. Should have listened to the American!]
Featured here a thousand times, but I cannot say it enough (and I will not stop saying it until every one of you has purchased this album and is in agreement with me), Rateliff is just stunning. Have a gander at two of the best vocalists I’ve heard in the past five years. Have a gander at one of the best songwriters I’ve stumbled upon in the past five years.
From Later…with Jools Holland
**
Nathaniel Rateliff :: Early Spring Till (Live @ Daytrotter) [MP3]
I swear, guy kills it every fucking time.
[2010’s Most Revered is The Hive’s version of a year-end list. Right about now (or meow, if you will) we will highlight the albums, EPs (yes, EPs), and what-have-yous, that made us sit up and listen over the past 365 days.]
Dudes, let me clue you in. This here is a music blog. Yes, I ramble about personal shit and then throw some semi-related tunes at you but in my defense, this is what I know how to do. I can journal; I cannot write a music review. That requires like, college and shit. But because this is a music blog there will be a year-end list. There HAS to be. However, I won’t pretend to be smart enough to analyze what jams and beats and albums were the best across the board in this Year of our Lord, 2010. Again, college. But I can tell you the albums that were most revered in this house over the past year. I will say this: this series will be the most awesome and yet fucked year-end list you’ll find on the internetz. Also, no #10. Get over it.
All that said, we present Folk Hive’s Most Revered of 2010: The only year-end list on the internet that features intelligent input from a five-year old. Let’s hop to it, shall we?
****
[Number NINE :: The War On Drugs Future Weather EP]
I’ve mentioned that ‘Taking the Farm’ was an important song in this house. First, I had a simple love affair with this band’s chosen moniker (oddly enough, I was reading this when I got into War) and then, there was the music. Wagonwheel Blues is still an album that is on consistent rotation around here and though Future Weather is an EP, it is so colossal that it defies that classification. As much as I loved the previous, the new blew that shit right out of the water. It was beautiful and expansive and it burned. In a way, The War On Drugs remind me of the greatness of Petty in his heyday — it’s something that feels like maybe you could put it together with your friends in the garage after a lager or two because it’s that simple but then you really listen and your ass knows better. There’s no way you could insert that emotion into an organ chord and there’s no way you could write and then sing out like Kurt Vile. I mean, shit. He’s Kurt fucking Vile, dudes.
**
The War On Drugs :: Baby Missiles [MP3]
The War On Drugs :: Comin‘ Through [MP3]
BUY Future Weather EP :: WEBSITE :: Secretly Canadian
****
[Number EIGHT :: Peter Wolf Crier Inter-Be]
Perhaps one of the most disappointing moments to me in this past year was learning that the GAYNGS show I had tickets to in Nashville had been canceled. I was not saddened by my inability to see a supergroup in N’ville, per say, but by the fact that not being in that town on that night meant that I would not be in that town for the Peter Wolf Crier show the night prior. “Crutch and Cane” reeled me in early this year and since that time, I have been enamoured with this band. I have spoken of my love for these two men previously and considering that they’re members of the un-bearded sect of society, this is massive in Hive Land. Inter-Be rocked my 2010 and expanded the musical horizons of this avowed folkie. I suspect this album will get considerable play in the new year. And to remedy this year’s sadness, I’ll be seeing them in live in 2011. Also, Moen induces lady boners. LADY BONERS.
**
Peter Wolf Crier :: Down, Down, Down [MP3]
Peter Wolf Crier :: Hard As Nails [MP3]
BUY Inter-Be :: MYSPACE :: Jagjaguwar
****
[Number SEVEN :: Eric & Magill All Those I Know]
All Those I Know hit me like a ton of fucking bricks. Unexpected, storied, and unprecedented in that such a wonderful album was simply given away, it stayed in rotation for weeks. When it was occasionally relegated to the back burner by the Blackbird, Blackbird’s and Arcade Fire’s of the indie world, it was immediately brought to the forefront again with a singular listen. To say that the opening track (after which the album is titled) is massive and fan-fucking-tastic x 10 is an understatement. The rest of the album follows that song’s lead and every tune is an eye-opener.
**
Eric & Magill :: All Those I Know [MP3]
Eric & Magill :: Vegetable Gardeners [MP3]
GET All Those I Know :: FACEBOOK
****
[Number SIX :: The Black Keys Brothers]
While I have heard it uttered by serious, life-long Black Keys fans that this album is not their strongest and that the band has sold out (Christ, shut up.), I can tell you as a new Black Keys fan I was in love with this album from that first guitar lick. In my defense, I did not discover the band on a hyped list, I did not hear them first on a commercial and then search them out, nor did I get like, a Verizon phone accompanied by a free download of a Black Keys jam. I heard Dan Auerbach. It was over. While I have not been a fan from the beginning (forgive me Father, for I did not know of this band’s existence), I am now devoted. If Brothers is the sound of someone selling out, then more bands should get on that. Also, Jude probably spent 90% of his time pretending to be Auerbach when I first put this record in rotation.
The Black Keys :: Howlin’ For You [MP3]
The Black Keys :: Everlasting Light [MP3]
****
[Number FIVE :: Megafaun Heretofore]
The discovery of Megafaun in early 2010 turned this year around. It inspired me and opened my ears and heart to a brand of music I had never heard. Casual fans were interested in the association with DeYarmond Edison and Justin Vernon; devoted fans are astounded at the speed with which this band, on its own, manages to race toward the resonance of new so quickly and easily. Every album, mini-album, and live show is an exercise in family and love and the healing powers of music. Heretofore is gospel but it’s an au courant gospel.
Megafaun :: Volunteers [MP3]
Megafaun :: Bonnie’s Song [STREAM]
BUY Heretofore :: WEBSITE
****
[Number FOUR :: Nathaniel Rateliff In Memory of Loss]
My love of Nathaniel Rateliff is nearly unsurpassed. While I will admit that I prefer Rateliff in the real as opposed to in a sound booth, recording a record, I’ll take whatever I can get. I feel the same way about this music as I do your mom — both are awesome. I fucking dare you to listen to a Rateliff Daytrotter session, I dare you to observe a Rateliff wail in video or person, and not tear up. It is his ease and his seeming comfortability with what he’s saying that makes this music so close to perfection. “Early Spring Till” is a masterpiece. Yes dude, I am pressed down. Yes, I am full of that feeling. Yes dude, I like that deep v-neck tee.
Nathaniel Rateliff :: Early Spring Till [MP3]
Nathaniel Rateliff :: Pounds and Pounds (from Daytrotter) [MP3]
BUY In Memory of Loss :: DAYTROTTER :: WEBSITE
****
[Number THREE :: GAYNGS Relayted]
Alright folk, shit is about to get real. And cuss yes, I’m serious. GAYNGS changed my life. This is not an exaggeration. I love The Rosebuds, that’s been said. I love Megafaun and that too has been discussed. I also like to get down with Solid Gold now and then and I sure as shit love Bon Iver, even more than your mother. So naturally, a group composed of those and then some gives me a slightly odd and scientifically unjustified lady chub. Along with the fact that I have to deal with these awkward boners daily is the fact that I am also affected by what is known as Undiagnosed (And Therefore Only Potential, Whatevs) Social Anxiety Disorder. This means concerts and shit of the like are typically out of the question. Hell, going to the local Walmart without my child is out of the question. So it is a testament of my love for GAYNGS (or perhaps more specifically, the parts of its sum) that planned to first travel 800 miles for a show and then when that was canceled, that I traveled 2000 fucking miles for one. Yes, I did that. I drove from the middle of Missouri to Durham, NC for a goddamn Gayngs concert. Let me bullet point this shit for you:
I have not spoken here of the two months of anxiety that nearly crippled me before this trip. I have not spoken of the doubt and the realization that driving like, 17 states away for a concert, was just ludicrous. I have only spoken of my doing that very thing. And looking back, it was one of the sweetest trips of my younger years. I am a GAYNGS devotee for fucking life.
Another tidbit: My father, a truck driver who frequently pointed out how juvenile and potentially irresponsible I was in making this trip, says, “So, what does this…GAYNGS? Is that what they’re called? GAYNGS?! Jesus, so what do they sound like?”. “Well dad, they’re like a bunch of folk dudes I guess, maybe. Anyway, they make…fuck jams. Fuck jams, dad.” Dad: “WHAT?! So, like Foreigner?”. No dad, not like Foreigner…
GAYNGS :: Last Prom On Earth [MP3]
GAYNGS :: By Your Side (from Daytrotter) [MP3]
BUY Relayted :: WEBSITE :: Jagjaguwar
****
[Number TWO:: Breathe Owl Breathe Magic Central]
No band brought me to more tears this year than Breathe Owl Breathe. Good tears. Tears of happiness and tears that were the sum parts of beautiful music and a sense of humor and seeing my child flabbergasted. I wrote about it. And it was probably the most fulfilling and yet gut-wrenching thing I’ve written about this year. My child and I are involved in a love affair with this band. Magic Central is the first vinyl that he ever owned (it is also the ONLY vinyl he currently owns). Breathe Owl Breathe inspired my five year old to pick up a banjo. And I wouldn’t be all facetious about this next statement but Breathe Owl Breathe made us both better people. The urge to tattoo their lyrics all over my body is strong. Magic Central has the most fitting title of any album this year.
**
Breathe Owl Breathe :: Across the Loch [MP3]
Breathe Owl Breathe :: Swimming [MP3]
BUY Magic Central :: WEBSITE :: Hometapes
****
[Number ONE :: Cotton Jones Tall Hours In The Glowstream]
To understand my love for Cotton Jones and this album is to understand me. I cannot say that I was captivated by this band from Paranoid Cocoon or even prior, the Page France days, as I was simply unaware of their existence. What sadness. But when I discovered Cotton Jones first album (under that moniker) early this year, I was stunned. I was even further flabbergasted when they turned out to be so much more than just a one track band and that’s saying quite a bit considering how great each track is on its own. Cotton Jones soundtracked the aforementioned journey to North Carolina — all 17,020 hours of it. Cotton Jones is my fall back band when I’m in need of a musical bump. “Somehow To Keep It Going” is probably our most loved jam this year. Cotton Jones was my 2010.
Cotton Jones :: Somehow To Keep It Going [MP3]
Cotton Jones :: Ma, It’s A Jungle [MP3]
BUY Tall Hours In The Glowstream :: WEBSITE :: Suicide Squeeze
6am Repeat is a recurring feature here at Folk Hive in which we stream the latest track that plays incessantly in the earbuds when we awake at that hour and imbibe massive amounts of coffee and cigarettes in preparation for the advancing day.
We’ve had this song on constant repeat in the house for 3 days now and I swear, it never gets bad. We HIGHLY recommend Rateliff’s latest album In Memory of Loss, out via Rounder Records (who carries a great roster of artists, by the way, including Mr. Robert Plant himself), right now. Better than the album (we promise) are the two sessions with Rateliff (& The Wheel) over at Daytrotter. In our humble opinion, the Daytrotter sessions far outweigh the actual album in terms of moving the listener far from wherever they happen to be sitting, but ‘Early Spring Til’ is most definitely the stand out track on an album of, well…stand out tracks. Our only complaint? That In Memory of Loss isn’t out on vinyl. We bet that Rateliff wail would rock pretty fuck hard on a turntable.
Nathaniel Rateliff :: Early Spring Til
This is why youtube exists: Mumford & Sons, the ever-amazing and fantastic Nathaniel Rateliff, and Old Crow Medicine Show, performing ‘Wagon Wheel’ at Columbia Hall in Berlin.
folkhive.wordpress.com 