This blog started because friends would ask me what I was listening to so I just started keeping track online. Well, more often than that, I would get psyched about a band and email a bunch of friends about them. I haven’t been exposed to as much new music lately, but I did have an experience reminiscent of that recently with Portland’s A Weather (myspace).

Their whispery and often breathtakingly gorgeous folk reminds me of P:ano’s magnificent debut When It’s Dark and It’s Summer (previously). Both their album Cove and the EP Feather Test are really solid and worth checking out. Their music is reminiscent of a fair amount of music I’ve heard before but that’s not to say it doesn’t stand on it’s own.

A Weather – Spiders, Snakes (mp3)

A Weather – Oh My Stars (mp3)

You can buy Cove (and their previous EP) at amazon. Slowcoustic has a lovely tune by A Weather’s Sarah Winchester along with some A Weather tunes.

Rural Alberta Advantage by ipickmynose

“Wow” “…wow. That was … great.”

I was backstage at the Bottom of the Hill for the ipickmynose presents show with the Rural Alberta Advantage. It was just me, Nils and a guy named Travis from KALX–Amy and Paul had gone back to their hotel to change. Travis had asked Nils to do a quick acoustic song to accompany the interview they just did and after a brief misstart Nils stunned me with a version of “In the Summertime.” He finished and after a long pause I could barely choke out a compliment.

the Rural Alberta Advantage – In the Summertime (acoustic) (mp3, for KALX)

If you like this you should also check out the solo piano version of the song on the RAA’s daytrotter session. And, of course, I highly recommend buying the original version if you don’t have it yet.

Nils from the Rural Alberta Advantage at the Bottom of the Hill