Something Like Sound

I have a confession: I still haven’t seen Tennis, the group that everyone and their mom is talking about. They’ve garnered a lot of attention on national blogs, in local newspapers, and even went on the road for a brief stint this summer. The sail-rock group (consisting of husband-and-wife duo Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley) released a pair of 7″s full of shimmery, sea-voyage-inspired tunes which quickly sold out. While everyone will have to wait until tomorrow to see them open for STRFKR at Hi-Dive, their Daytrotter session went up today.

Joyful noisemakers Paper Bird also stopped by the Rock Island, IL Daytrotter studios earlier this summer. Their session went up a couple weeks back and features a delightful sampling of songs from their recently released full-length When The River Took Flight. They’ll be playing a handful of local dates over the next few weeks in addition to a Texas tour in late October.

Click for more Tennis | Paper Bird | Daytrotter

There’s something unique about the midwest. Driving through Rock Island, IL a few weeks ago I was half tempted to track down the Daytrotter studio and sneak a peek at how they do what they do. What they do, of course, is record bands on analog tape in one take, then post the whole thing online as a free download.

Last week I decided to go for a drive. Taking a state highway to the south of Chicago, I drove through woods and small towns as the golden-orange sun set in the west. Over the radio the subtle sounds of the new Nathaniel Rateliff record drifted through the car. It was the perfect harmony.

It makes sense (at least to me) that Rateliff is one of the new sweethearts at Daytrotter. He recently toured as part of their Barnstormer concert series and today they released his encore session.

Furthermore, I agree with their assessment of Rateliff’s new album. “In Memory of Loss is a debut album that can destroy you – its beauty just too much to handle.”

Download the new Daytrotter session | Download the old one

I recall seeing a little blurb on The Wheel’s MySpace a few months back that mentioned something about doing a Daytrotter session. Well, today is the day that the session dropped and it’s quite good. Take a listen for yourself and be sure to catch them live at the Bluebird on December 12 as part of Gigbot & Radio 1190′s 3rd Annual Variety Show.

I have often expressed my appreciation for music-session-blog Daytrotter. They’ve done what I could only imagine doing: recording the best up-and-coming artists from a wide swath of the modern independent music using old-fashioned full-band recording techniques.

Yesterday’s session features 6 songs (available for free download, just click on the photo above) from former Hot Water Music singer Chuck Ragan. Earlier this summer we had the chance to see Chuck open for Lucero at the Bluebird, and as I remember Chuck gave one of the most intense folk performances I’ve ever seen.

I thought I’d also take the time to share some of my other favorite Daytrotter sessions here too. Click on the images to go the respective sessions.

Andy Hull

Andrew Bird

Annuals

Bon Iver

Cryptacize

Death Cab For Cutie

Dinosaur Jr.

John Ralston

Kevin Devine

Langhorne Slim

Michael Zapruder

Minus The Bear

Limbeck

The Mountain Goats

The New Frontiers

The National

Pepi Ginsberg

Ra Ra Riot

The Silent Years

The Snake The Cross The Crown

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

These United States

Vampire Weekend

Young Coyotes

This is just a link to the great music blog Daytrotter, which is also featuring Young Coyotes this week, be sure to check out the session with free mp3 downloads! (Click the image to go there)