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#19 – Son Volt – American Central Dust

My initial interest in most of the albums I’ve been exposed to this year comes from listening to 88.5 XPN, the sole reason why I’ve even been exposed to this much new music (and not experiencing the usual 5 year lag time I’m accustomed to). My introduction to Son Volt’s American Central Dust was the single, Down To The Wire, a mellow, medium-tempo example of how I view and why I enjoy the alt-country genre. With its wistful lyrics, it’s certainly not going to leave you with an overwhelming feeling of joy, but it didn’t have me feel like I was digging my own grave. Intrigued, I decided to check out the rest of what Son Volt had to offer. As it turns out, every other album that has lured me in with a strong single has had a strong second act to back it up - save this one. The rest of the album churns away with a lethargic and tedious pace. Most of the songs will make you envision the background music you hear in a movie bar scene, the one where a dusty jukebox croon’s to a sordid lot of broken men, all sitting alone at individual tables staring at half-empty bottles of beer. When the Wheels Don’t Move adds a bit of distorted guitar to the mix, desperately trying to breath some life into the collection, but by time this track roles around you’ve probably fallen asleep or changed to a different band. Guilty of having done this many times while attempting to listen to this album, American Central Dust earns a spot at the bottom of my list. Far removed from the rest of what I’ve listened to this year, it’s the only album I actually didn’t like.

- Highlights -
Down to the Wire

- Lowlights -
Everything Else

1. Merriweather Post Pavilion- Animal Collective
2. Veckatimest- Grizzly Bear
3. Hospice- The Antlers
4. Monsters of Folk- Monsters of Folk
5. Gather, Form, And Fly- Megafaun
6. American Central Dust- Son Volt
7. Mantis- Umphrey's McGee
8. Born on Flag Day- Deer Tick
9. Fall Be Kind (EP)- Animal Collective
10. I And Love And You- The Avett Brothers
11. Bitte Orca- Dirty Projectors
12. Embryonic- The Flaming Lips
13. Wilco (the album)- Wilco
14. Noble Beast- Andrew Bird
15. Dark Was the Night (Compilation)- Various Artists
16. Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King- Dave Matthews Band
17. Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free- Akron/Family
18. Outer South- Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
19. Man on the Moon: The End of the Day- Kid Cudi
20. One Fast Move Or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur- Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard
21. The Ecstatic- Mos Def
22. Joy- Phish
23. Backspacer- Pearl Jam
24. Them Crooked Vultures- Them Crooked Vultures
25. Hold Time- M. Ward
26. Horehound- The Dead Weather
27. Together Through Life- Bob Dylan
28. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix- Phoenix
29. Roadhouse Sun- Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses
30. Back and Fourth- Pete Yorn
31. Live at the Olympia- R.E.M.
32. Winterland 1977: The Complete Recordings (Box Set)- Grateful Dead
33. White Lies For Dark Times- Ben Harper and The Relentless7
34. Upper Air- Bowerbirds
35. Humbug- Arctic Monkeys

1 – The Black Crowes – Before The Frost…Until The Freeze
2 – Gov’t Mule – By A Thread
3 – Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels
4 – The Derek Trucks Band – Already Free
5 – Clara Luzia – The Ground Below
6 – Miranda Lee Richards – Light of X
7 – Vic Chesnutt – Dark Developments
8 – Simple Minds – Graffiti Soul
9 – Tortoise – Beacons of Ancestorship
10 – Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
11 – Son Volt – American Central Dust
12 – Sonic Youth – The Eternal
13 – Patterson Hood – Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs)
14 – Magnolia Electric Co. – Josephine
15 – Portugal.The Man – The Satanic Satanist
16 – Ozric Tentacles – The Yumyum Tree
17 – The Bottle Rockets – Lean Forward
18 – The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
19 – Ben Allison – Think Free
20 – Bill Frisell – Disfarmer
21 – Phish – Joy
22 – Simon Finn – Rats Laugh Mice Sing
23 – Cross Canadian Ragweed – Happiness & All the Other Things
24 – Blue Rodeo – The Things We Left Behind
25 – Branford Marsalis Quartet – Metamorphosen
26 – Levon Helm – Electric Dirt
27 – Kris Kristofferson – Closer to the Bone
28 – Sister Hazel – Release
29 – Sons Of Bill – One Town Away
30 – The Felice Brothers – The Mix Tape
31 – Robert Cray – This Time
32 – Tinsley Ellis – Speak No Evil
33 – Dave Matthews Band – Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King
34 – Luther Dickinson/The Sons Of Mudboy – Onward And Upward
35 – 3rd World Electric – Kilimanjaro Secret Brew
36 – Marissa Nadler – Little Hells
37 – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Speed of Life
38 – Iron & Wine – Around The Well
39 – Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
40 – Frontier Folk Nebraska – Pearls
41 – Bon Iver – Bloodbank (EP)
42 – Willard Grand Conspiracy – Let The Lead Fly
43 – Urban Sevdah – Urban Sevdah
44 - Tomasz Stańko Quintet – Dark Eyes
45 - Éric Le Lann - Le Lann, Kikosky, Foster, Weiss
46 – Portico Quartet – Black & White Sessions
47 – John Zorn – Femina
48 – Sumru Ağıryürüyen – Issız
49 – Birsen Tezer – Cihan
50 – Neil Young – Fork In The Road
51 - Ryan Bingham - Roadhouse Sun

1. How did you get into 29? Moe.
looking for stuff like Phishbut studio work

2. What was the first song you ever heard by 22? Infected Mushroom
"Bust A Move" and it's still awesome

3. What’s your favorite lyric by 33? Broken Social Scene
Fire eye'd boy give'em all the slip If your gonna come , you better make it quick, Fire eye'd boy giv'em all the slip.

4. What is your favorite album by 49?The Jimi Hendrix Experience
A Band of Gypsy's live, the war sounds he conjures with his guitar are worthy of worship

5. How many albums by 13 do you own? My Morning Jacket
none yet, but Evil Urges is near the top of my to buy list

6. What is your favorite song by 50?Trey Anastasio
defiantly Shinefrom the same titled cd, pure acoustic pop goodness

7. Is there a song by 39 that makes you sad?Black Label Society
they tend to make me more angry than sad....

8. What is your favorite album by 15?The Black Keys
Rubber Factory without a doubt, so many classic songs

9. What is your favorite song by 5? Led Zeppelin
probablyGoing to California

10. Is there a song by 6 that makes you happy? Arch Enemy
knowing there are amazing female death metal vocalists make me pretty happy but a song? not so much

11. What is your favorite album by 40? Ratatat
Classics, which it most defiantly is, techno on guitars is awesome!

12. What is your favorite song by 10? Lamb of God
Now You've Got Something to Die For, apocalyptic, we count the days!

13. What is a good memory you have involving 30? Mogwai
getting blissed out to Acid Food from Mr. Beast

14. What is your favorite song by 38? Sage Francis
Going Back To Rehab, animal tranquilizers!

15. Is there a song by 19 that makes you happy?Killswitch Engage
Rose of Sharyn puts a grin on my face usually

16. How many times have you seen 25 live? Kyuss
none, and I doubt I ever will,Josh Homme doesn't seem open to a reunion

17. What is the first song you ever heard by 23? Pantera
Cowboys From Hell, and nothing was ever the same

18. What is your favorite album by 11? The Doors
The Soft Parade, it has my favourite Doorssong, Runnin' Blue19. Who is a favorite member of 1?Rich Robinson
He can play everything from drunken Stonesrock, to Allman Brothers stoner southern boogies to straight up country acoustic rock

20. Have you ever seen 14 live? Slightly Stoopid
not yet but i hope to someday

21. What is a good memory involving 27?Po' Girl
playing them for a friend of mine and rerealising how great they are

22. What is your favorite song by 16?Warren Zevon
Join Me In L.A., the acoustic version with harmonica

23. What is the first song you ever heard by 47? North Mississippi Allstars
i don't remember, they've always just been there

24. What is your favorite album by 18? Tegan and Sara
I think it's their newest one but time will tell

25. What is your favorite song by 21?The Velvet Underground
i can get it down to five i think, Heroin, I'm Waiting For The Man, White Light/White Heat, Temptations Inside Your Heart, All Tomorrow's Parties

26. What is the first song you ever heard by 26? Air
something from their first album

27. What is your favorite album by 3? The Byrds
one of their first three i can't choose

28. What is you favorite song by 2? The Electric Prunes
Smokestack Lightning from Stockholm 67

29. What was the first song you ever heard by 32? Broken Social Scene
i don't remember

30. What is your favorite song by 8? Black Sabbath
again, i can narrow it down to 5, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Killing Yourself To Live, War Pigs, Paranoid, Sweet Leaf

31. How many times have you seen 17 live?Snow Patrol
once, in Winnipeg,Silversun Pickups opened for them, their bus got broken into while they were there

32. Is there a song by 44 that makes you happy? Danko Jones
all of them get me moving but never happy, they are fairly misogynist

33. What is your favorite album by 12? Son Volt
Okemah and the Melody of Riot, it's go the most kick ass rock songs

34. What is the worst song by 45?Immortal Technique
i've never really heard a bad song of his

35. What was the first song you ever heard by 34? Down
Bury Me in Smoke

36. What is your favorite album by 48? Yeah Yeah Yeahs
TheIs Is EP

37. How many times have you seen 42 live? Queens of the Stone Age
never, don't really want to either

38. What is your favorite song by 36?Swollen Members
every song from their first album

39. What was the first song you ever heard by 28? Incubus
Wish You Where Here, that song is forever stuck in time

40. What is your favorite album by 7?Dan Bern
all of them are equally brilliant

41. Is there a song by 31 that makes you happy? The Replacements
Taking a Ride always does

42. What is your favorite album by 41?Death Cab for Cutie
Transatlantacism, just before they blew up

43. What is your favorite song by 24? MF DOOM
the beat labeled Red #40

44. What is a good memory you have involving 46? Slayer
rocking out, thats all i do when i listen to slayer

45. What is your favorite song by 35? The Watchmen
the remix toStereo (Remix)

46. Is there a song by 9 that makes you happy? Elliot Smith
even though the song's about suicide,L.A. always makes me happy

47. What is your favorite album by 4?Led Zeppelin
holy shit man that's an impossible choice

48. Who is a favorite member of 37? Fear Factory
Dino Cezares is a guitar monster

49. What is the first song you ever heard by 43?Jefferson Airplane
White Rabbit probably

50. How many albums do you own by 20? Shawn Mullins
the library had his latest one, does that count?

Last.fm Top Artists
Two familiar faces are tied for #1 this week, as George Strait and Miranda Lambert both have 24 listeners. Alan Jackson is one behind to end up at #3, and the group of artists at #4 with 21 listeners includes Taylor Swift, Patty Loveless, Keith Urban and Johnny Cash. For Swift and Urban, it’s the best showing for either of them in quite some time. Perhaps Swift’s release of a recycled old album with a few new songs, photos and videos brought a few additional fans out of the woodwork. Joe Nichols makes a strong showing as well, with 17 listeners putting him at #17. Lorrie Morgan, despite the fact that Amazon was giving away her new album for spare change and pocket lint, ended up with 11 listeners, actually one down from last week. Lyle Lovett, who was the beneficiary of a similar bargain with his new album, had 10 listeners, an increase for him. Hayes Carll ended up at #21 with 16 listeners, the best of the Americana bunch, with Steve Earle (13) trailing.

Last.fm Top Albums
There is still a sizable gap between Revolution, with 18 listeners, and the rest of the field. Fearless (impossible to tell if it’s the Regular, Platinum or Karaoke version – yes, there is a karaoke version) came in at #2 with 13. Brad Paisley was next with American Saturday Night (12). Again, the grouping at #4 has a little something for everyone. There’s Justin Townes Earle’s Midnight At The Movies for the Americana fans, Lee Ann Womack’s Call Me Crazy and Strait’s It Just Comes Natural for mainstream fans, and Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts for American Idol fans. Play On made it up to #16 despite not being released until tomorrow, so that’s bound to have a big showing in next week’s charts. Elsewhere, as further proof that you can get good stuff for free, the T For Texas T From Tennessee sampler that’s available as a free download from Amazon had 6 listeners.

Last.fm Top Singles
We have a dethroning, as Lady Antebellum has the #1 track, with “Need You Now” having 9 listeners. It’s still a Lambert-centric Top 10, with “Dead Flowers,” “The House That Built Me” and “White Liar” all having 8 listeners, but the cracks are showing. The non-Ran tracks in the rest of the Top 10 include Kellie Pickler’s “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You,” Underwood’s “Cowboy Casanova,” Eli Young Band’s “When it Rains,” and David Nail’s “Red Light.” Any Top 10 with a Kellie Pickler song in it is pretty special already, but “Casanova” puts it over the top. Morgan’s classic covers album has six listeners, and their favorites included “Wine Me Up,” “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” and “Cry.”

Billboard Country Songs
It took 18 weeks, but Zac Brown Band’s “Toes” made it to #1, giving the band two #1s and a #2 to start its major-label career. The other big jump in the Top 5 was that “Welcome To The Future” moved from #4 to #2. Toby Keith leaped from #55 to #39 with “Cryin’ For Me (Wayman’s Song), and Strait’s “Twang” jumped from #30 to #24. “Backwoods” by Justin Moore moved from #50 to #42, because it’s been almost 10 minutes since a song about country living was a hit. Thank God “Southern Voice” keeps moving up the charts, up to #16 this week, because the country radio audience will be experiencing withdrawals.

Billboard Country Albums
While the single continues to gain airplay, Tim McGraw debuted at #1 with Southern Voice (the album), which made it to #2 on the Billboard Top 200. Swift will likely have her one-week stay at #2 before Fearless, or at least some version of it, goes back to #1. Revolution stays in the Top 5, moving from #4 to #5, and Lady Antebellum moves from #7 to #6 after 80 weeks on the chart. It’s the second-longest tenure for any album on the charts. Lyle Lovett debuted at #8 with Natural Forces, ensuring that the Top 10 has at least one artist that makes the Taylor Swift fans say, “Who?” Keep On Loving You by Reba McEntire moved up from #16 to #13 and was the sales gainer for the week. The other notable debut was Bomshel’s Fight Like a Girl. Actually, any record that gets released by Curb Records and isn’t a greatest hits package is a notable debut.

Americana Music Association Chart
Robert Earl Keen made it to #1 with The Rose Hotel, with its 405 spins putting it at 2,234 total spins since its release. Lovett, Keen’s college roommate, moved up to #4 from #8. Corb Lund’s Losin’ Lately Gambler moved from #19 to #12, and his success will hopefully mean that the next time I see him live, there will be more than 20 people in the room. Son Volt’s American Central Dust moves back from #33 to #37, but its 5,629 total spins make it the most played record in the Top 40. The Mississippi Sheiks, an early era blues-type band from the 1930s, have earned a tribute album, which debuted at #28. Things About Comin’ My Way includes contributions from Carolina Chocolate Drops, Danny Barnes, Bruce Cockburn and North Mississippi All Stars, among others.

Freebie of the Week
The Bee's Knees is a quartet from Worcester, Mass. The band’s influences on its Myspace page range from The Byrds and Carl Perkins to International Submarine Band and Paul Westerberg. Despite the fact that they misspell Bill Monroe’s name, that probably puts them in the Americana realm. They have several songs available on Last.fm for download. Check out “Kristi,” “Dear Carpenter” and “Down The Line” in particular.

Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) und Jay Farrar (Son Volt) haben sich zusammen getan, um im Rahmen des Dokumentationsfilms um das Leben und Werk des amerikanischen Schriftstellers und Poeten Jack Kerouac, 12 tiefgreifende Songs zu schreiben. Die Texte aller Songs entspringen aus Kerouacs letztem Buch von 1961 "Big Sur".

Jack Kerouac, Mitbegründer der Beat Generation, gehörte zu den wichtigsten literarischen Einflussgebern in der Alternative Szene. Schon 1997 gab es ein Spoken Word Tribute mit vielen bekannten Vorlesern, wie zum Beispiel Michael Stipe, Steven Tyler, Eddie Vedder, Johnny Depp oder Patti Smith. "Kerouac – Kicks Joy Darkness" wurde damals, genauso wie jetzt "One Fast Move Or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur", von Jim Sampas produziert. Diesmal steht aber nicht das Spoken Word im Vordergrund...

Weiter geht es hier!


Trailer zur Doku:

In alphabetical order by artist:

You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette - from the album Jagged Little Pill


This Ain't A Love Song - Bon Jovi - from the album These Days


This Hard Land - Bruce Springsteen


Mama África - Chico César - from the album Aos Vivos


A Change of Seasons - Dream Theater - from the EP A Change of Seasons


Dislocated Day - Porcupine Tree - from the album The Sky Moves Sideways


Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead - from the album The Bends


1979 - The Smashing Pumpkins - from the album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness


Tear Stained Eye - Son Volt - from the album Trace


Rivers of Babylon - Steve Earle - from the album Train a Comin'

Packed house, non-smoking, song after song, rockin and rollin, hot hot heat, encore. What else do we need. The show was incredible. I liked this band going into it, and I LOVE this band now. If you're not familiar with Son Volt, be sure to check them out: Son Volt