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

How have I seriously not written anything about the latest Drag The River record Bad At Breaking Up? I mean, I love this band. Okay, here’s a few quick words for you to read as you listen to the songs below and head over to Suburban Home Records to get a copy for yourself.

Drag The River is/was a Colorado based alt-country band that just happened to be somewhat of an ex-punk supergroup (featuring current or former members of All, Armchair Martian, Hot Rod Circuit, The Nobodys, and Pinhead Circus). I guess they sorta broke up a few years ago but continue to play shows and release records in one form or another with singer/songwriters Jon Snodgrass and Chad Price as the two principal members. Anyhow, Bad At Breaking Up is Drag The River’s second album since their break up and is a collection of b-sides and 7” tracks and a bit slower and mellower than past Drag The River albums, but is equally full of songs about booze and women and equally as great (and maybe even better for those slow-paced contemplative summer nights on the porch). Yeah, Drag The River rules.

So have a beer and wait for your package from Suburban Home Records to arrive. You won’t be disappointed.

MP3 | Drag The River – Re-Rangement Bad At Breaking Up
MP3 | Drag The River – Having A Party Bad At Breaking Up