Adam wrote..

>I've just joined the list after reading digests for a while through a 
>friend here in Australia (hi Mike). It looks like a good place to be and i 
>look forward to learning >about lots of great music out there. I'm a huge 
>fan of the independant labels out there.

Hey Adam..

I'll chime in here and say welcome. Glad you liked the Supahip record... we 
did have a great time with it, and we're both really proud of it. It's a lot 
of fun and i hope that when people hear it that they like it as much as we 
do.

I think the CvS album is great too. I think Chris is a legendary figure in 
independent guitar pop.. he's consistently good and i think his records are 
compulsory listening for anyone who has an interest in this sort of music we 
like... he manages to bridge that gap between jangly guitar pop and 
expressive singer/songwriter stuff, sounding distinctly like CvS in the 
process, something i've been inspired by for sure.

I just got the John Hoskinson album as well... having my first listens over 
the last day or so. Indeed, great stuff.. maybe a little too clean in the 
production stakes for my liking, but the writing and performing are 
fantastic, with a lot of great moments. I look forward to hearing it more 
over the next few days.

I also just picked up, finally, the most recent Steve Ward (ex Cherry 
Twister) album. Why haven't people been talking about this record? What a 
beautiful piece of work... definitely more mellow than Cherry Twister, and a 
logical, mature follow up to Opening Night. Beautiful pedal steel and 
orchestration throughout, with the superb production we've come to expect 
from him. I guess in a pinch you could compare this to Beck's Sea Change, 
though that's very general... it's distinctly Steve... but there feels like 
a few nods to Mike Nesmith's work with the First National Band as well, 
which i loved. I'm now disappointed i waited so long!

Also... i picked up from Not Lame the album by The Sketches. Every once in a 
while Bruce will say something is reminiscent of me, and i find that 
hilarious. This time i went and listened to the samples and they sounded 
great. So i picked the album up and i think it's great. (i don't think it 
sounds LIKE me, but we are mining from the same pool). Lots of great 
guitars, and the singer Charlie Bernardo has a great voice. I guess i could 
say it's almost a guitar pop Maroon 5, but a little less accessible, a 
little more interesting, and Charlie's voice doesn't grate as much as the 
Maroon 5/Kara's Flowers guys does. Really good production on this one too.. 
great vocal, guitar and drum sounds. And this one seems to be totally 
independent.

Lastly... Pugwash has a new album either just released or about to be 
released. I've only had a flick through, but it sounds like a great follow 
up to Earworm, which is one of my faves from the last few years. Some people 
just do all the right things stylistically.. Pugwash are one of those bands 
to me..

>For example, an Australian band called Lazy Susan are a band that i think 
>many on the list would love.

Ironically... i just did some overdub work on their new album, which won't 
be out til next year. But these guys are GREAT.. the real deal for sure!

And i'm scratching my head about the new Big Star album as well. Apart from 
a few songs, i'm finding it almost unlistenable... Yikes!!

MC