voices that make me melt.

the new augustana album (can't love, can't hurt) is absolutely incredible. i picked it up at graywhale yesterday after seeing an acoustic set from the band. it's just as good on the album as it was acoustic. frontman, dan layus has an amazing voice. the music is simple and calming. i think that i might even like this second album more than the first - all the stars and boulevards. they are different in really good ways. to me the first album was more plain rock and this one has some country sounds thrown in and i've been really into that lately. i'm terrible at explaining music because it all makes great sense in my head but not so much out of it. go pick up this album and take a good listen. because it's worth it. and if you're broke just go listen to their myspace and realize you need to get some ca$h.

favorite songs on can't love, can't hurt: hey now, i still ain't over you, fire, and where love went wrong.

legit in 2007?

we did the math. four times. cause we stink at math (except keni).

4,758 people came out to shows at the cafe in 2007. we kept track.

are we poised to finally achieve some lasting success at the cafe in 2007? before we get too cocky, please consider the following:

• seve vs. evan won't respond to our emails (uzi and ari do though!).

• slowtrain and some of the graywhale's still take our posters down.
  
  
• parents still come out and watch their kids play at the cafe.

• our door girls still get hassled (see: underage).

• we still bomb shows (we had one in 2007 with 6 people, one with 0 and another with 8).

• bands still assume our sound guys don't know what they're doing.

• we still keep an emergency stash of ear plugs because we still have bad bands open shows every once in a while.

to be honest, that's a decent list. gives us something to shoot for. on a serious note, thanks to all of you who show the cafe so much support. you're the reason we keep it open. i mean, we made $18 in 2007 so it's not the money!

number one gun diy

number one gun's new cd, the north pole project is out in stores today. for those of you who are fans of number one gun, i would describe north pole as a really good number one gun album. lead singer jeff schneeweis has alway released quality albums that deal with themes like redemption, never giving up, and hope for the underdog. north pole's themes, style and overall quality align well with number one gun's two previous releases: celebrate mistakes and promises for the imperfect. the best of you and me (track 3) is an impressive deviation from number one gun's standard indie-pop and proof that jeff knows his way around the recording studio. in recent years jeff has made a name for himself producing new bands and got good enough at it that he wrote, played and produced north pole on his own.

you can snag north pole project at any best buy, online at smartpunk or if you live in salt lake city, any graywhale location.

number one gun is also heading out on a two week tour that includes a stop saturday at the cafe with brighten and tooth and nail label mates sever your ties and secret & whisper.

number one gun album release tour with brighten, secret & whisper and sever your ties:

jan 15 - el corazone, seattle
jan 16 - clun impact, tacoma
jan 17 - the domino room (cancelled), bend
jan 18 - northwest nazarene university, nampa
jan 19 - solid ground cafe, salt lake city
jan 21 - the sets, tempe
jan 22 - club karma - victorville
jan 23 - the epicentre - san diego
jan 24 - chain reaction, anaheim
jan 25 - the underground, modesto
jan 26 - club retro, orangevale
jan 27 - the warehouse, carson city
jan 28 - the dome, bakersfield
jan 29 - the starline, fresno
jan 30 - tba, chico

lucky charms

so i snagged radiohead's in/rainbows for free last year when they did the realease online thing. and even though i feel good about my free download, i bought the cd on wednesday from graywhale cd (even though it was really much cheaper at a chain store).

anyway, i would really recommend the purchase. the album art is amazing (as expected) and the cd quality is...cd quality.

and if you're going to go buy it. support something that's not a chain. slowtrain would be a good idea. graywhale is good even though it's a semi-chain (at least the employees are friendly).

From Svergie With Love...Part 1

for some time now, sweden has been quietly creating seriously good indie rock. sure, the hives and the sounds are great and i know everyone can whistle along to peter, bjorn and john but just beyond that you'll find a veritable treasure chest of indie waiting to be listened to (did i really just write "veritable treasure chest?).

and to be fair, paul (cafe sound man currently living in vanuatu-new zealand-australia-japan-china) is the one who really brought my attention to it.

so here's a quick rundown and a few hyper links from now, you'll be as caught up as i am (and there's definitely more to uncover, these are just the bread crumbs at the start of the trail; have fun gretel).

i. loney, dear -emil svanängen is bonafide. he just finished touring with athlete and also with andrew bird. that says enough. his new album "sologne" is out now and available at graywhale (go to the nice one, not the jerk ones) or on itunes.



ii. i'm from barcelona - the upside: tons of friends singing along together. downside: had a song featured this season on grey's anatomy.



iii. the shout out louds - those of you with more money than me probably caught the shout out louds as main support on the interpol show that played in the venue a few weeks ago. for the rest of us though, you'll have to settle for just buying their cd or juicing from your friends' itunes. anyway you get it though, it's good stuff. to be fair, about half is amazing and the other half is just good.



look for part two soon...part two will feature glen hansard & marketa irglova, juvelen, asha ali, and the kissaway trail.