Jill Sobule kissed a girl first. Let’s get that out of the way. Not only that, she did it in a much better written, far more interesting song rife with innuendo (“we’ll have our pearls), beauty, and introspection. She wasn’t just fucking around a club with a few guys watching, making out to get everybody hot but not feeling anything herself.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, Jill Sobule has been dropped by her record label (but not by her genius producer Don Was), and tells the story on her new record, California Years, an album that is easily as good as any she’s released before, if not better. It’s got passion and humor, gentle guitar, wonderful singing, and everything else you expect from this too-unrecognized pop folkster.

The new record was funded entirely by her fans, who preordered downloads and hard copies (and a ten-thousand-dollar donation got a fan the right to sing on the record–see the song “Mexican Pharmacy”). Of course, this kind of indie financing is possible only from an artist with an established fan base, and Jill’s was largely due to her history of being on a major label, but between this record and Radiohead’s effort on In Rainbows, there’s lots of fodder for executives of small to mid-size labels to get creative. (And are there anything but small to mid-size labels anymore, anyway?)

“God was proud,” she sings on “League of Failures.” Indeed. Here’s a song where she tells the tale, along with my favorite tune on the record. Please buy it. I don’t ask y’all to do that often, but she totally deserves your $$$.

The Donor Song

Spiderman

Bonus Jill!

All the Young Dudes (Mott the Hoople cover)-Jill Sobule and Billy Bragg (direct link). Note: This is the Jill Sobule original “Heroes,” not the Bowie tune.

Heroes-Martin Sexton and Jill Sobule (direct link)

Jackson-Jill Sobule and Warren Zevon

1.  Another fellow covers blogger, Cover Freak, has a collection of  “I Will Survive” covers.  He’s got a lot of good ones, but he’s also missing this great one:

I Will Survive (R.E.M.) (Live) (YSI)

2.  Egg City Radio has a bunch of shows by the brilliant and dead Mitch Hedberg. If you’ve never heard him before, you need to.  One of the funniest standups ever.

3.  All Things Go has a mixtape up.  You’ll find Fleet Foxes, Starfucker, Animal Collective . . . A very good sampler of what’s hot in most of the blogs besides this one.  My blog is sucky and lacks taste.  Go check out what you need to listen to if you wanna be cool.

4.  Passion of the Weiss has an extraordinary post breaking down Jay-Z’s greatest album, Reasonable Doubt, revealing the sample sources.  Truly awesome.

5.  Aquarium Drunkard is giving away Avett Brothers tickets.

6.  Ryan is screening M. Ward’s cover of Roll Over Beethoven.

7.  Oh, and speaking of mixes, Motel De Moka can always be counted on for a nice one.  This post is no different.

The swell folks at Ryan Adams have put together a nifty compliation I like to call “15 Reasons Why The Dead Should Hire Ryan As Their Lead Singer.”  Enjoy.

And if you like what you see here, please make me a buddy on Technocrati, vote for my stuff on Hype, etc.  I’d like to see some traffic increases.  My fragile ego is bruised.

DISC ONE
1. Cold Rain & Snow
w/Phil Lesh & Friends
DATE:  7/16/2005
location:  Red Rocks Amphitheater-Morrison, CO

2. Friend Of The Devil
w/Phil Lesh & Friends
DATE:  7/16/2005
LOCATION:  Red Rocks Amphitheater-Morrison, CO

3. Bird Song
DATE:  6/3/2005
LOCATION:  Northern Lights-Clifton Park, NY

4. Truckin’ >
5. Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad >
6. Not Fade Away
w/Phil Lesh & Friends
DATE:  7/15/2005
LOCATION:  Fillmore Auditorium-Denver, CO

7. He’s Gone
DATE:  7/22/2006
LOCATION:  Norva-Norfolk, VA

8. It Must Have Been The Roses
w/Phil Lesh & Friends
DATE:  7/15/2005
LOCATION:  Fillmore Auditorium-Denver, CO

DISC TWO
1. Wharf Rat
DATE:  7/23/2006
LOCATION:  Charlottesville Pavilion-Charlottesville, VA

2. St. Stephen
w/Phil Lesh & Friends
DATE:  12/29/2005
LOCATION:  Fillmore Auditoium-San Francisco, CA

3. Bertha
w/Phil Lesh & Friends
DATE:  7/16/2005
LOCATION:  Red Rocks Amphitheater-Morrison, CO

4. Franklin’s Tower
DATE:  7/25/2006
LOCATION:  Bijou Theatre-Knoxville, TN

5. China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider
w/Phil Lesh & Friends
DATE:  7/16/2005
LOCATION:  Red Rocks Amphitheater-Morrison, CO

6. Stella Blue
DATE:  10/16/2006
LOCATION:  Muffathalle-Munchen, Germany

7. Ripple
w/Phil Lesh & Friends
DATE:  12/31/2005
LOCATION:  Bill Graham Civic Auditorium-San Francisco, CA

ZIP FILE

BONUS SONG:

Vulture (Tobias Doppleganger Wildlife On One Remix)-Patrick Wolf (YSI)

BONUS SHOUT OUT:

I thought I had the market cornered on Clash boot postings, but Captain’s Dead been known to jump in from time to time, like this one from 1982.  Go check it out.

The Pomegranates 2008 debut, “Everything is Alive,” was a fantastic indie/art pop record that begged the question: Can they do it again? The answer is, decidedly, yes. “Everybody Come Outside!” is even better than the first album: It’s got more energy, for one thing. The opener/title track features shouted harmonies, afro-beat, and a wonderful display of their you-go-then-I-go shared vocal styles. For another thing, the production is cleaner and really allows each of the talented bandmembers to breathe. “Beachcomber,” for example, is a showcase for the bassplayer. Or perhaps I should say bassplayers, because it appears that each member of the roster plays multiple instruments, and several are credited with basswork. “This Land Used to Be…” has a little loud/soft interplay and shows the vocal range enabled by letting each of its members sing various verses. It also uses vocal effects that occasionally make it sound like Band of
Horses—good company to keep. The band can do quiet, too, like the ironically titled, “Piano,” a brief acoustic guitar ditty seeking the attention of a loved one. It’s hauntingly simple, like a lullaby, and it’s not even corny when the seagulls start making noises at the end. That’s not an easy feat to pull off. Many of the songs are long-form, too. The most extreme example: The epic, 12 minute closing track, “Acoustic,” which is simply extraordinary. Shoegazers take note: This is what your genre is capable of. Now try to surpass it.

But most of all, what makes “Everybody Come Outside!” a superior album is that it hangs together, demanding a start-to-finish listen. Each song builds on the one before it, and of all the songs here, not one is a dog. Can’t wait for the next one.

Corriander

Older stuff:

We Could’ve Escaped, But No One Was Interested

Whom/Who

Tour Dates w/ Wye Oak (Merge Records)!
04/15/09 Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox
04/16/09 Cinncinnati, OH @ Southgate House
04/17/09 Chicago, IL @ Hideout
04/18/09 Carleton, MN @ Basement
04/19/09 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
04/20/09 Iowa City, IA @ Public Space One
04/21/09 Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room
04/22/09 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
04/23/09 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Ct.
04/24/09 Boise, ID @ Neurolux
04/25/09 Kennewick, WA @ The Red Room
04/26/09 Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
04/27/09 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
04/29/09 San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
04/30/09 Los Angeles, CA @ Silverlake Lounge
05/01/09 Pheonix, AZ @ Trunk Space
05/04/09 Norman, OK @ Opolis
05/05/09 Ft. Worth, TX @ TBD
05/06/09 Austin, TX @ Mohawk
05/09/09 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
05/10/09 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
05/11/09 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
05/12/09 Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
05/13/09 New York City, NY @ Mercury Lounge
05/14/09 Cambridge, MA @ TT the Bears
05/15/09 New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine
05/16/09 Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery
06/15/09 07:30:00 PM Newport, KY @ The Southgate House w/Ted Leo

Fans of the dreamy, grungy psychedelia that was The Stone Roses will recognize “Elephant Stone” as a song title, and though there similarities, the five-piece by the same name is hardly a tribute band.  The debut album from Montreal’s Elephant Stone is a wonderful trip, a collection of creamy, gentle pop songs that sounds a heck of a lot like the sum of its talented parts: Bandleader Rishi Dhir is formerly of The High Dials, and he’s brought along with him his sitar and members The Besnard Lakes and The Dears.  And, yes, a little Stone Roses for good measure.  These are songs Dhir wrote for The High Dials over the past years, but he’s chosen to release them here, recorded the way he wants to do it.  Well worth the wait.

The Seven Seas

Bonus Cover:

Every Breath You Take-The Police (YSI)

New York’s Gladshot is perfectly named: Their music is clean pop with shiny harmonies and choruses that are instantly familiar, and they’ve already done shows with a diverse group of artists who appeal the college music set, like Head Automatica, Michelle Shocked, and The Antlers. I’m listening to their latest record, and I’m amazed that these guys haven’t been picked up by more blogs—or even by a network TV show for the scene where the two impossibly attractive thirtysomethings do something cute and stupid together like eat from both ends of the same hotdog or throw snowballs at their crabby-but-loveable boss.

Nice lyrics, sunny pop, and spot-on production by John “The Hold Steady” Agnello, this is a band you should have heard about before now. It’s got potential all-ages appeal. In fact, the only critique I’d offer is that it should have been released in June. Right before summer.

For fans of: Stars, Bananarama, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and even The Monkees.

All I Want Is You

He Was Gone

Fabulous Friends