David Bazan - Wolves at the Door

David Bazan has been around the music scene for some time.  He started off in his hometown of Seattle in the early 1990s with the band The Guilty, but was better known as the lead singer and creative force behind Pedro the Lion and also Headphones.

Pedro the Lion in particular were best known as a Christian-themed band.  However Bazan has now publicly lost his faith and his latest music as a solo artist springs directly out of this.  Wolves at the Door http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ0jNuBejog comes from his latest album, Strange Negotiations, and it is a song about blindly trusting those who will offer you the world and then take your money and destroy your family. 

Strong Negotiations is a very strong collection of songs, well worth a listen.  You can do so for free on Bazan's website and download some of his tracks for free.   The video here on Music Truffler is of an excellent live acoustic version of the featured track.



http://www.davidbazan.com/

Xander and the Peace Pirates - I'll Be Here

Xander and The Peace Pirates are currently the resident band at The Cavern in Liverpool on Sunday nights.  I would strongly recommend you check them out if you can.  Before last night I hadn't heard them play, but they were the support band for the wonderful Vintage Trouble and I have to say, they were fantastic.

If you like blues/rock with a little bit of funk thrown in for good measure then this band won't disappoint.  The fact that they have paid their dues at the clubs shows in the way they are able to work the crowd and they have a confident stage presence and excellent musicianship which is important in these days of wannabe pop stars/X Factor and the like.  To get a feel for them, check out the video of I'll Be Here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxYqZO99X28

How about this for name dropping?  They have opened for Bon Jovi (they won the Real Radio Battle of the Bands competition to secure this slot), and have played alongside Keith Richards, Albert Lee, Jeff Beck and Steve Cropper.   Influences are Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bill Withers, Lenny Kravitz and John Mayer.   The band is fronted by Keith Xander "the one-armed wonder" who uses his left hand on the fretboard and a right prosthetic limb with a hook to play the strings.  In a recent newspaper article, his mum has said “Keith is remarkable to watch because he has no right arm and once I said he would never be able play guitar but now he really wipes the floor with everyone else. If there is such a thing as a God-given gift then he has it".

I was standing at the back during last night's gig and hadn't even realised for much of the set that he only had one arm.  You can't tell at all by listening, and all you notice is what a fantastic guitarist he is. What fantastic players they all are, to be fair.

Their latest album, 11, is available to buy on iTunes and Amazon and to listen to via Spotify.  Although great to be able to play their songs at home, it is really no comparison to the excitement created by the band playing live, so get over to The Cavern and see them as soon as possible.

http://xanderandthepeacepirates.com/

Blitzen Trapper - Christmas Is Coming Soon

Blitzen Trapper's Christmas offering is a quiet little number called Christmas Is Coming Soon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL_O_ywujSQ which references small town life and has an unusual take on Santa.


Singer Eric Earley says that the track "is about the real Santa Claus, who we all know lives in southern Oregon in a double wide trailer and drinks too much peppermint schnapps from a straw."

Their recent album, American Goldwing, is one of my top 10 albums of 2011 and I am looking forward to hearing more from these guys next year.  Is it too much to hope for them to tour the UK?  

http://blitzentrapper.net/

David Mead - The Smile of Rachael Ray

Apologies for the lack of music winging its way to you from Truffler over the past couple of weeks.  I have been having broadband problems which resulted in me not being able to listen to or research new music on line.  And now it's nearly Christmas, so I thought it might be an idea to find some Christmas songs which are not only new, but are different to the usual run of the mill types we hear year after year after year after year after year after year..... 

The Smile of Rachael Ray by Nashville based singer songwriter David Mead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJZxBoB2F4 is a rather sad little story song with not a jingle bell in sight.  It comes from David's latest album, Dudes, which was released in November of this year.  He has toured extensively over the years and has opened Joe Jackson, Fountains of Wayne, John Mayer, Ron Sexsmith, Liz Phair and Shelby Lynne.  Considering it is his 7th album, I am ashamed to admit I am not familiar with his music at all, but really must get round to checking some of it out as I rather like this track.

By the way if, like me, you have no idea who Rachael Ray is, I can tell you she is an American celebrity chef.    

http://www.davidmead.com/