Radio Free MP3: The Dead Trees, Mean Creek, Fast 'N' Bulbous, And Clare & The Reasons

"Rayna" - The Dead Trees
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Sometimes a piece of music takes its own time to be found out. Often an album or a song will have to be listened too numerous times before I find myself praising it. Sometimes an album I initially hated becomes one of my favorites after revisiting it. Music has a way of changing in our own perspectives. Sometimes this takes years.

Or sometimes I just love a song from the moment I first hear it. "Rayna" is one of those songs." It explodes out of the speakers with a ripping old-style country rock jam-band groove. Six straight listens in and I can't stop playing it. Take note lovers of excellent song-writing, groovers of the jam, and fans of the rock-and-roll freakout, The Dead Trees are ready knock the hairs off your chin, and the pants off of your shakin' booty.

Be sure to check out their website, MySpace and their tour.

"Strange Man" - Mean Creek
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A quiet growl of guitar, the slow mists of percussion settle in like a fog. More guitars begin a jangly beat. Then the voice. "Strange Man" starts like a group of strangers humming their own tune only to join on the street, creating a rock song as solid as the ground they walk upon.

Hailing from Boston, Mean Creek formed in 2006 and started a valiant attempt to resurrect that cities prominence from the 1990s with alternative rock from bands like the Pixies, the Lemonheads, and Buffalo Tom. You can certainly hear those influences here with the lush, jangled pop melodies mixed with a darker, harder edge.

 You can stream more of their most recent album, The Sky (Or The Underground) on their MySpace page.

"Woe is Me Bop" - Fast 'N' Bulbous
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I fully admit I don't understand jazz. People who love it tend to speak in two tones 1) hushed as to represent its utter holiness 2) with exuberant excited noises to prove how utterly better than everything else out there the genre is. Both tend to act like if you don't get it, you should stop bothering them and go back to McDonalds and Toby Keith. Maybe that's a little prejudiced, but a lot of jazz fans do seem to get all elitists about it.

Article Author: Mat Brewster

Mat Brewster is a periodic ex-pat wondering if he'll ever find a home. You can find him musing on pop culture, and obsessing over concert bootlegs at The Midnight Cafe.

Visit Mat Brewster's author page — Mat Brewster's Blog