Three Newish Bands I've Listened To Lately

By Haas

The Black Keys

This duo from Akron, OH has been around for about five years. Their brand of raw rockin' blues is a breath of fresh air in this crappy rock age of the 00's. They sound like the White Stripes exept more straight forward; and they've been at it for longer than Jack has. I first heard these guys when I was using my little brother's computer and I played the first two songs of their most recent LP, Magic Potion. Those two songs immediately caught my attention. I quickly downloaded the other five albums they've put out and was not disappointed. Their music does have an AC/DC type quality to them, in that many of their songs have the same sound and feel. They range from softly rocking (Act Nice N Gentle) to rockingly rocking (Grown So Ugly) But they all have one thing in common: they rock. Most of them are pretty short, so much so that I was able to fit 23 songs onto one CD that I burned. I recently heard them on 93X, so I guess they are starting to get noticed.

Check these out: 'Stack Shot Billy' on Letterman, 'Your Touch' myspace

Jackie Greene

My hip friend in Chicago turned me onto this guy, but I’m not too sure about him. I’ve looked at his bio and seen that he has a blues background and can rip on the guitar, but I’ve yet to actually hear one of those songs. The songs that I have heard are either really awesome or bad (maybe I’ll like the bad ones more once I hear more of his catalogue). The bad ones sound like the run of the mill dave matthews-john mayer acoustic college rip off music. The good ones are acoustic, but are either bluesier or dylanesque. Jackie is probably not deserving of the mention on AH! since I haven’t heard more than ten songs of his, but his song called “Cry Yourself Dry” is fucking awesome. Anyone who writes a song that good deserves...... well, something more awesome than this blog has to offer.

Check these out: Jackie on Conan, myspace

The Hold Steady

These fellas have been around the block in the music biz. They sound like a pretty standard straight forward rock n' roll band, until you actually hear their songs. The songs are weird. The weirdness starts with front man Craig Finns vocals. He doesn't really sing, but kind of drawls like he's making fun of Bruce Springsteen. The hooks and the riffs are different too - it's kind've hit or miss. But what really gets my attention is their radical lyrics. Although their homebase is in NYC, four of their five members are veterans of the Twin Cities music scene. Many of their lyrics include references to Minnesota and getting high - two of my favorite things! Like this: "Your little hoodrat friend got me high though, we were 17 and stuck up in Osseo" Their album "Boys and Girls in America" was ranked a top ten album of 2006 by Rolling Stone Magazine. I'll admit that I probably never would have heard of this band if it weren't for an article in the sports section of the Strib last fall. You see, The Hold Steady are huge Minnesota Twins fans. They even wrote a Twintastic version of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" that you might hear at the dome this summer. A rock band that loves the Twins? Hell YEAH!

Check these out: Interview with Craig Finn about the Twins, 'Chips Ahoy!', myspace