Richmond Fontaine
For you alt-country fans.
I'm a big fan of those pithy one-line reviews. The one I read in NME magazine for Richmond Fontaine is that "they out Son-Volt Son Volt". It's true.
Twangy vocals and slide guitars, most songs have unhappy endings about people holding onto some small hope, but with the exception of album "The Fitzgerald", the tunes have an upbeat tempo and don't devolve into the musical slit-your-wrists depression of, say, a Clem Snide or the lethargy of a Willard Grant Conspiracy. R.F. makes my top ten favorite in any genre.
I received their new album "We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River" as a birthday present from myself. Wow. It blew me away. I wasn't so crazy about their previous album "Thirteen Cities" and was nervous perhaps this latest album would sound equally uninspired. Not even close. I'll have to give "We Used to Think" some time to settle in, but at the moment, it's quickly becoming my first or second favorite. But there are some tough contenders.
Here are my favorites...
"Post to Wire"
-This is the one I recommend getting first. It's my favorite of their discography. I used to play this album when bartending on a slow night and without fail it would bring life to the bar, people would settle in for the night instead of the one-and-done they were planning on having before looking for a bar with more life. Nice mix of uptempo foot-tappers and cerebral stare-into-your-beer ballads. Can't recommend this album strongly enough.
"Winnemucca"
-Another great album, and this one is available on emusic. Heavier on the sorrow filled tunes and leans into some heavier guitar fuzz on this album. One song in particular brilliantly tells the story from the point of view of a man whose brother is driving him through his small town on the way to the prison to check in for the first day of his sentence. Not so much a bar album as a driving around aimlessly one. This album was kinda my theme music for living in Champaign, IL for a year and a half; it just fit in with the dirt of the farms and the brick of the streets and the old street lamps and warehouses and hundred year old buildings. Buy this album.
Next up...
"The Fitzgerald"
-A depressing album that leaves a person grasping for any small imagery of hope. I was already a huge R.F. when I picked this album up, and I found it hard to take. It has grown on me, for sure. Sort of a early morning dead of winter type album. Mostly sad quiet tunes about sad quiet people. I recommend this album only if you're really into that kind of Clem Snide type audio depressant. I enjoy the album, but I don't listen to it as frequently as their others.
"We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like the River"
-Their latest, released in 2009, and maybe their best. This album has more life to it than any of their previous albums, picking up both the volume and the tempo. One song brings in some horns beautifully, recalling some of Calexico's better tunes. This album feels shorter than some others like "Post to Wire" and "Winnemucca" which have an epic journey pace to them, but that might be one of its strengths. "We Used to Think" had me sitting up in my chair with a big ol' smile on my face several times. It's always rewarding when a favorite band puts out a new favorite album.
Here's their band site, which has some free mp3 downloads from several albums for you to try...
(Okay, their site looks a bit different to me. I'm gonna give you two links, one which is their main site and another which is also one of theirs but has a place for you to download)
http://richmondfontaine.bandcamp.com/album/we-used-to-think-the-freeway-sounded-like-a-river
http://blog.richmondfontaine.com/?page_id=110
And here's their myspace...
http://www.myspace.com/richmondfontaine
And here's lala...
http://www.lala.com/#search/richmond%20fontaine
I'm a big fan of those pithy one-line reviews. The one I read in NME magazine for Richmond Fontaine is that "they out Son-Volt Son Volt". It's true.
Twangy vocals and slide guitars, most songs have unhappy endings about people holding onto some small hope, but with the exception of album "The Fitzgerald", the tunes have an upbeat tempo and don't devolve into the musical slit-your-wrists depression of, say, a Clem Snide or the lethargy of a Willard Grant Conspiracy. R.F. makes my top ten favorite in any genre.
I received their new album "We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River" as a birthday present from myself. Wow. It blew me away. I wasn't so crazy about their previous album "Thirteen Cities" and was nervous perhaps this latest album would sound equally uninspired. Not even close. I'll have to give "We Used to Think" some time to settle in, but at the moment, it's quickly becoming my first or second favorite. But there are some tough contenders.
Here are my favorites...
"Post to Wire"
-This is the one I recommend getting first. It's my favorite of their discography. I used to play this album when bartending on a slow night and without fail it would bring life to the bar, people would settle in for the night instead of the one-and-done they were planning on having before looking for a bar with more life. Nice mix of uptempo foot-tappers and cerebral stare-into-your-beer ballads. Can't recommend this album strongly enough.
"Winnemucca"
-Another great album, and this one is available on emusic. Heavier on the sorrow filled tunes and leans into some heavier guitar fuzz on this album. One song in particular brilliantly tells the story from the point of view of a man whose brother is driving him through his small town on the way to the prison to check in for the first day of his sentence. Not so much a bar album as a driving around aimlessly one. This album was kinda my theme music for living in Champaign, IL for a year and a half; it just fit in with the dirt of the farms and the brick of the streets and the old street lamps and warehouses and hundred year old buildings. Buy this album.
Next up...
"The Fitzgerald"
-A depressing album that leaves a person grasping for any small imagery of hope. I was already a huge R.F. when I picked this album up, and I found it hard to take. It has grown on me, for sure. Sort of a early morning dead of winter type album. Mostly sad quiet tunes about sad quiet people. I recommend this album only if you're really into that kind of Clem Snide type audio depressant. I enjoy the album, but I don't listen to it as frequently as their others.
"We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like the River"
-Their latest, released in 2009, and maybe their best. This album has more life to it than any of their previous albums, picking up both the volume and the tempo. One song brings in some horns beautifully, recalling some of Calexico's better tunes. This album feels shorter than some others like "Post to Wire" and "Winnemucca" which have an epic journey pace to them, but that might be one of its strengths. "We Used to Think" had me sitting up in my chair with a big ol' smile on my face several times. It's always rewarding when a favorite band puts out a new favorite album.
Here's their band site, which has some free mp3 downloads from several albums for you to try...
(Okay, their site looks a bit different to me. I'm gonna give you two links, one which is their main site and another which is also one of theirs but has a place for you to download)
http://richmondfontaine.bandcamp.com/album/we-used-to-think-the-freeway-sounded-like-a-river
http://blog.richmondfontaine.com/?page_id=110
And here's their myspace...
http://www.myspace.com/richmondfontaine
And here's lala...
http://www.lala.com/#search/richmond%20fontaine
Comments
"The High Country"
I'm streaming it now on their bandcamp page...
http://richmondfontaine.bandcamp.com/album/the-high-country