Band of Horses

So if you haven't heard of Band of Horses by now, you most likely will soon, based purely on what I like to call the "Pitchfork effect." It goes like this: band releases a pretty decent but not terribly ground-breaking debut album, high profile online music magazine gives album more credit than it deserves, music blogs everywhere are forced to reconcile the album's mediocrity with their realization that if the high profile music magazine thought it was amazing, then it must be amazing. Band of Horses' Everything All of the Time is the band/album in our little theoretical. While I wouldn't call it mediocre, it is certainly riding a wave of other people's e-hype, which led to Nuemos being packed on Thursday for the band's CD Release concert. I already let down the two people that have read the blog so far by forgetting my camera, but (thanks to KEXP), I have some tracks (from KEXP studios, I believe) for download:

Band of Horses- "The Great Salt Lake"

Band of Horses- "Part One"

Band of Horses- "Wicked Gil"

Band of Horses- "The Funeral"

Part of the band's appeal is that lead singer Ben Bridwell is extremely likable. The guy plays/squeaks his heart out, and though the band is still a bit rough around the edges, they kept the crowd entertained. When the band opened up for Iron & Wine last year, I remember thinking, "these guys aren't very good right now, but they could be one day." They are on their way right now. They also covered Gram Parson's "Return of the Grievous Angel," which was downright decent. If I can find another copy of the show, I'll put that up for you.

Oh and here is my favorite track from the album, the Shins-esque "Our Swords"