Category Archives: Blitzen Trapper

You can’t afford what you take

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I loved Blitzen Trapper. If you’re in Seattle, you are in for a treat tonight as local radio station KEXP puts on a free show at the Mural Amphitheater with today’s INALLCAPS discovery: Throw Me The Statue.

After that, my peeps in Minneapolis will be able to catch them at 7th Street Entry on August 26 as they kick off a fall tour with The Brunettes. That’s right, summer just began but it’s already time to think about fall tours. Time to check out opening bands and discover new music all over again. If you’ve caught Cake in Seattle, you may have seen Throw Me The Statue open for them. If you caught The Shins way back in ’05, you may have seen The Brunettes open.

And if you haven’t caught anyone in awhile, then no time like the present to consult the schedule of your nearest straws-on-the-floor music venue and get on it! You’ll be glad you did. I know you have read our posts about discovering great music in opening bands. Try Pollstar.com to figure out who you are seeing tonight, next week, or next month.

And right now, preview some Throw Me The Statue:

[Download Throw Me The Statue – Noises]

You get lost when you find hope in a feeling

Blah blah blah they use drum machines and a glockenspiel. I have to mention that because everyone else and their wiki points it out and far be it from me to act like I don’t notice. I think the most notable thing about this band is the laid-back but earnest way the music and sincere lyrics are delivered. There is something very respectable about that. In this way, and only in this way, I can compare them to Death Cab for Cutie without worrying that you will think they are another sound-alike band.

Creaturesque is to be released this coming Tuesday, and it’s the second full-length album for the band. Just last year, the album Moonbeams received praise and media attention. Check out the video for “Yucatan Gold” from 2008.

And now you know what to do…

I still dream of runnin’ careless through the snow

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The band is Blitzen Trapper. They’ve been around for awhile, so it’s alright with me if you pretend you’ve known of them all along. Their fourth album is called Furr, and it was released this past September. Rolling Stone said it was one of the best albums of 2008.

SPIN described the band’s music as suitable for “cubicle-penned office drones in desperate need of a vacation.” I may not be cubicle-penned, but desperate doesn’t even begin to describe my need for a vacation. I digress. Speaking of SPIN, I’ve been reading Chuck Klosterman’s Killing Yourself To Live and as I finished chapter 6, something he said about the Allman Brothers gave me the resolution to write this blog. He’d been bashing them on nearly every page thus far, but he made the point that it’s difficult to carry on a conversation during “Ramblin’ Man.”
This is true, isn’t it! And what does that say about a piece of music? Perhaps it’s not a testimony to a work of genius, but if you’re forced to stop and sing along… Wait, what does that mean about the Britney Spears music that I hear at the mall? Do I have to digress again?I bet my boyfriend wishes I was unable to carry on a conversation during any song… I have been known to talk a lot.

I am not the only one making an Allman Brothers connection. Check out what their hometown paper, The Oregonian, had to say about the music:

…showcases an impressive array of alt-country and psych-rock songs that sound a little as though Wilco ate the mushrooms growing in the Allman Brothers cow pasture.

Look, it’s good stuff. It makes me feel like I’m finally old enough to really appreciate Bob Dylan or Tom Petty. In the form of Blitzen Trapper. And that’s cool with me. Check out the title track, Furr.

[Blitzen Trapper – Furr]

I’m shaky at the knees. Would you take me by the arm and settle down upon a farm?