Noisetrade Music: Andrew Belle

Noise Trade, it is a service for artists to put out their music for their fans. In return for an email address and helps promote their music with a tweet or a facebook message prompt. You also have the option of leaving a "tip" for the artist as well. It is a little more forceful than bandcamp but doesn't quite have the large array (mostly singer/songwriters) of artists on it. However, I think this service is one that should be highlighted so I'd like to point you towards some albums that are for "free" this month but I encourage you to leave a tip or find a way to support the artist. Get tunes after the jump.

Music for Mom

My mom and me differ on our choices of music in a big way. She likes sugary sweet pop music, the kind you find on the radio or anything the Boston Globe music reviews tell her to buy, and I have taste that reaches a little wider than that (thank god). I might have thrown a Katy Perry CD in the trash recently. My mom likes to ask me if I have ever realized that all my music sounds the same and I like to ask her if she has had her hearing checked recently. Among the complaints I receive from her about my music is that it is too whiny, too much noise, too much rock, the bass gives her a headache, and most often that it is too depressing. So this year I am working on a list of what music I could possibly buy for my mom that we can both agree on, maybe you'll find something for yours.

Brooke Fraser - Flags  [BUY]
Listen to "Something in the Water". It's hard not to love this one.

Josh Ritter - So Runs The World Away [BUY]
Ritter is one of my all time favorites. This is an album that manages to surprise me with something new each time I listen to it. His lyrics are pure magic, the kind that will hit you at just the right moment and leave you speechless.

Listen to: The Curse (via Whale in a Cubicle)

Elizabeth & The Catapult - Other Side of Zero [BUY]
I haven't actually gotten into this one yet, but their last album, Taller Children, was fantastic and one we both liked, so I don't expect to be let down.


Listen to: You & Me 

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - I Learned The Hard Way [BUY]
My mom loves this music, I think it reminds her of when she was young listening to her Motown records. Why she hasn't bought it yet is quite the mystery.

Listen to: I learned the hard way

The Head and the Heart - The Head and the Heart [BUY]
No secret here, this is one of my top five albums of the year. I could listen to it for months and never tire of it. The foot stomping harmonizing choruses will hopefully get my Mom's attention.

Listen To: Sounds Like Hallelujah (via The dadada)

Lissie - Catching a Tiger [BUY]
People say the album wasn't as good as her EP led them to believe and Lissie seemed to be forgotten in the later half of the year. But frankly, I think it is a solid pop album with a great Nashville kind of sound to it. The album is worth it just for "Record Collector" (which I already know my mom likes), "Little Lovin'", and "Everywhere I Go", all top notch songs. Listen to Everywhere I Go below.

Brett Shady - The Devil to Pay [BUY]
I love this album but it could be a bit of a stretch for my mom. She likes country hits but this is neither country nor pop, but some distant cousin of the two. Sometimes my mom has to hear something 10 times before she realizes she likes it, so I might have to condition her to like it. As for me, one listen to "Angels, Ghosts & Demons" and I was hooked.

Listen to: Angels, Ghosts & Demons

Andrew Belle - The Ladder [BUY]
This one is your typical singer/songwriter poppy album by up and comer, ten of tenn member, Andrew Belle. I really like the ten of Tenn artists but I'm still grinding through this one, none of the songs really pop out at me. But it is something I think my mom would really enjoy.

Listen to: The Ladder (via untitled records)

Wilco - You and I

As usual I had Monday morning posting issues. I can't find videos for most of the Ten out of Tenn album. I am obsessed with K.S. Rhoads' album, Dead Language as well as all of the other musicians he has worked with. But damn you, youtube, there are no decent videos to show you (or at least not the ones I want). I urge you all to check out the Ten out of Tenn albums (ten awesome musicians working in Nashville up to volume 3), and then come back here and blog about the ones you like, if you are lucky enough to find decent videos. There is lots to discover when you get into the singer/songwriter/helper-outers of Nashville. There is a large backlog of artists I have from Nashville that I have been waiting to get to write about when the mood strikes me and when videos are available. Also check out the local Nashville radio station, Lightning 100, that brings a lot of the artist in like Trent Dabbs, Andrew Belle, Erin McCarley, Katie Herzig, Butterfly Boucher, the list goes on.

Anyways, in all of this mess and youtube stress this morning I somehow worked my way back to a favorite band. And was shocked to find out that somehow in the excitement that was the European summer of '09, I totally missed the fact that Wilco released a new album, Wilco (the album). It is really great, I don't think they have ever had one bad album. Compared to their other albums like my favorite, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, it is less experimental and inventive. But it is still a really well done album, the piano and string compositions flow well throughout the album and are up to Wilco standards. There is just nothing new or exciting that pops out at you, not that it is a bad thing at all. I really like Everlasting Everything, You Never Know, and especially I'll Fight because for some reason it reminds me of Jeff saying "I would die for your honor." But here they are with Feist on Letterman.