Laboriously Yours

I've been thinking about throwing up a few mp3s, just a little five-spot, for a while now. Just as a service to you, the reader, who might still use this site as an indispensable resource for rockist recordings. No more ado:

Alejandro Escovedo - "All the Young Dudes" (Mott the Hoople cover)
My dad once made me a mix with this on it. It's a live take, and the cover comes pretty natural for Escovedo, who has the range to pull off punk, glam, country, Latin folk, and glam-country-punk-Latin folk too.

The Beanstalk Library - "Elephantitis"
Just interviewed these guys for the DCist. Their album's got real promise, and they're probably the most classically-oriented power-pop group I've heard in DC so far. Show at DC9 on Sept 11.

Jukebox the Ghost - "Hold It In"
I think I've talked about these fellows before as well. They're also from DC, I think GW students, but their EP has a lot of variety -- spunky, piano-led melodies and their guitarist has a post-punk edge, kinda.

Travis - "Writing to Reach You"
Used to love Travis. That second album, The Man Who, really is great. The first and third ones are okay, and I dropped out after that. Would've caught their 9:30 Club show this summer but it was $40. Which seems like a lot. I did see them once, back at Bogart's in Cincinnati when I was in high school. My dad took me -- kind of my first real 'rock club' show. Had the time of my life, but in hindsight, I really hope Pops didn't have to shell out $40 bucks a ticket.

Ride - "Time of Her Time"
A classic power-pop cut just to reassure our fans out there. I noticed also that Some Velvet Blog has a cool power pop post with some Rainbow Quartz bands I wasn't terribly familiar with. But since the Rainbow Quartz prominently features bands that refuse to let their drummers play with more than a hi-hat while simultaneously recording songs titled "No Escape from the Infinite", I am obligated to approve. Anyway, this song is from British shoegazer/powerpop/Creation Records band Ride. No more introduction -- just a fine, almost breezy tune from their very accessible release Going Blank Again.