Can You See the Sunset? » acoustic

Jeff Caudill – Always On 10th Anniversary Trailer

Eric — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 02:31:48 +0000

So everyone’s favorite former Gameface frontman Jeff Caudill is releasing an all acoustic reworking of Gameface’s Always On for the 10th anniversary of the album. It comes out in May but until then you can just watch the trailer below.

Kristia Moya & Dead Ringer

Eric — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 01:19:54 +0000

Recently I’ve been a little smitten with the music of Kristia Moya. I first heard of her from Kim and well… Kristia fronts the band Dead Ringer, a pop-punk band from New Jersey that doesn’t sound totally dissimilar to Discount. Their 3 song demo (available for free download) is really good and had gotten quite a few spins around here as have Kristia’s solo acoustic cover songs where she covers the likes of Kid Dynamite, Jawbreaker, Polar Bear Club, and more. Still my single favorite song that Kristia has done is her cover of Lifetime’s “Young, Loud, and Scotty” from the Just A Quiet Evening compilation (available for only $5 here).

In short, everything she does (acoustic or fronting Dead Ringer) is really good. She’s also got a boatload of videos on YouTube including more covers of stuff like Off With Their Heads, Dear Landlord, and Lemuria. I can’t get enough.

MP3:
Dead Ringer - Coffee & The Music Industry
Dead Ringer - Twenty One
Dead Ringer - Waiting List
Kristia Moya - Fuck U Turn (Kid Dynamite Cover)

Hanalei – One Big Night

Eric — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 03:59:48 +0000

On this third full-length, Hanalei is (now again) the acoustic solo project of Brian Moss (The Wunder Years, The Ghost, Olehole) where he sometimes plays along with a laptop but sometimes alone. I actually met Brian (once) when my old band Allister played with the Wunder Years at some shithole in Colorado Springs in 1999. I never guessed that he would make a record like this. At times gentle, restrained, and beautiful, and other times raw and demo-like, but always oddly and wonderfully affecting. You might not like this album (though that would be kinda strange since it’s really great) but I love it. One Big Night is essentially simple singer/songwriter stuff that (like stuff from all the good ones) is much more than that. One of my favorites of 2010 for sure. RIYL: Matt Skiba, Denison Witmer, etc…

MP3:
Hanalei - Keep Digging
Hanalei - Moth To The Flame

Jeff Caudill – Had To Be There EP

Eric — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:31:58 +0000

Everyone that reads this blog should know that I’m a big Jeff Caudill fan and if you don’t then you haven’t been paying attention and I need to ask, “What are you even doing here?” How’s that for disclosure? Anyhow, last year Jeff released the full-length Try To Be Here and has “officially” followed that up (now) with this acoustic EP, Had To Be There. The EP features an acoustic version of “My Star” (originally on Gameface’s stellar 1999 album Every Last Time) that’s got some neato mandolin added, what Jeff called a “back porch” version of “Remember The Time,” and his Floormodel tune “The Reason Why I Still Live Here” done in a way that sounds more fitting for Jeff. “Song For a Princess” is about Jeff’s daughter and a song that (as a father to two girls) makes me smile more than a little and “Let Go” is a better-than-fantastic cover of that Frou Frou song from the movie Garden State. It’s truly amazing just how great a singer, performer, and songwriter Jeff Caudill is. He makes everything sound like gold. Buy his records.

MP3:
Jeff Caudill - My Star

Micah Schnabel – When The Stage Lights Go Dim

Eric — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:05:45 +0000

I’ve been a fan of the Columbus, Ohio band Two Cow Garage for a few years now and, thus, was excited (but apprehensive) at the prospect of the band’s frontman, Micah Schnabel, releasing his solo debut this year. We all know how solo records can turn out, right? Anyhow, the record is called When The Stage Lights Go Dim and it is, for the most part, a stripped-down album featuring little more than Schnabel’s distinctive raspy vocals and acoustic guitar. There are some strings and female backing vocals here and there, but you never forget that it’s really about just a guy, his guitar, and stories about life on the road and about loves lost. It’s a more intimate listen to a songwriter that simply needs to be heard. Schnabel’s performances on When The Stage Lights Go Dim are (at times) almost unnerving as his scarred vocals bleed out the words he sings. He may have a limited vocal range but he uses every last bit of what he has. There’s a bit of a Westerberg feel (at times) that’s probably made more apparent by Schnabel’s slowed-down cover of The Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait,” which puts bit of a new spin on a great song. With room noise, microphone hiss, and missed notes, When The Stage Lights Go Dim in beautifully flawed and imperfect. It sounds like nothing more than a glorified demo, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Suburban Home will be re-releasing this in 2010.

MP3:
Micah Schnabel - American Static
Micah Schnabel - Can't Hardly Wait

BONUS MP3:
The Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait
Justin Townes Earle - Can't Hardly Wait

Jeff Caudill – Every Last Song

Eric — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:35:40 +0000

Every time I get a message on Twitter or an email from Jeff Caudill I still get a little giddy. He’s such a nice and down to earth “regular” guy, but I’ve been a fan of Gamface (and now his solo stuff) since I was in high school some 13+ years ago so it’s understandable, right? Anyhow, Jeff sent me a copy of his (at least for now) unreleased CD of demos, home recordings, covers, and other miscellaneous tracks and it (as I expected it would be) is great. Caudill has the ability to turn just about any song into his own and his voice is warm and inviting with a slight raspiness when he pushes it. It give me chills. Caudill is an earnest singer/songwriter that (for all his huge talents) might as well be a guy from the neighborhood; the music is comfortable and sounds like it was recorded by an old friend. And while this CD isn’t available commercially, you should certainly pick up Jeff’s last album Try To Be Here and be on the lookout for a Jeff Caudill acoustic EP later this fall. Enjoy the songs below.

MP3 | Jeff Caudill – Building (Sensefield cover) Every Last Song
MP3 | Jeff Caudill – The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (Postal Service cover) Every Last Song
MP3 | Jeff Caudill – Ache (Jawbreaker cover) Every Last Song

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Mike Hale – Lives Like Mine

Eric — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:02:20 +0000

Mike Hale’s excellent solo release Lives Like Mine is the perfect example of an album that I passed on for way too long. Hale is the frontman for In The Red and was formerly in the great Gainesville punk band Gunmoll, this album was released by the wonderful folks at Suburban Home, and was (gasp!) made available as a free download. Tell me how I missed the boat on this for so long? I dunno.

But now that I’ve found Lives Like Mine all I can say is that I’m thoroughly and totally impressed. The music is essentially just acoustic-based singer/songwriter stuff but actually way more than that. It’s played very quietly and very slowly in contrast to Hale’s other projects and might (on the surface) seem to lack any real punch, but wait! The album is gorgeously simple and hauntingly downtrodden in both the tone of the music and the lyrics. It is an album of intimate and sad songs that flows so well from start to finish it’s difficult to not get wrapped up in listening and forget about what you were doing beforehand. Boring? No way. The addition of a lonely piano and some beautiful harmony vocals from Allyson Seconds on a few songs is just icing on the cake.

Lives Like Mine is (without a doubt) one of the finest releases of 2009 and also one of the most captivating. When playing the album for my wife, she immediately said she loved it. My advice to you out there is simple; if Suburban Home releases a record, no matter what the genre, it is almost certainly going to be good. Go pick this up on some beautiful vinyl now!

MP3 | Mike Hale – Lives Like Mine Lives Like Mine
MP3 | Mike Hale – Red Tide Lives Like Mine