This is a re-post from December 2009 – I found myself listening on the way to work again and just had to say that this is a great album and it deserves another spin & post. One of my fondest memories of this album is that I started listening at the end of the year in 2009 and went to a southerly beach vacation on January 1st. While listening to songs like Backyard, Dye Your Hair & Be Safe while at the same time watching the waves come in with just a hush of the sound of them (listening in headphones). It just sticks with me as being pretty much the best thing ever.
~S
~~~
I love finding new music that I was completely oblivious to. Who doesn’t? This time I have found the Louisville “band” The Parade Schedule and it was a very welcome surprise indeed.
The reason I have band in quotes is essentially The Parade Schedule is Matt Kinder with a little help from a rotating list of contributors/friends. The new album “Seeds to be Planted, Trees to be Cut” was just released this December and it is an acoustic folk record at heart that has a lot of heart…you could say. Kinder has a timbre of voice that comforts, it is not a new age indie “off key” voice, but actually a pretty straight forward voice that goes hand in hand with his sombre lyrics and even more solemn guitar strumming. This isn’t your intense finger picking folk style album, it is a drifting and beautifully soothing collection of songs (14 to be exact, more than the average album these days!).
While I originally found it on IODA, I quickly devoured the two tracks below (“Backyard” & “Dye Your Hair”) and immediately hit up eMusic for a copy of the full album. The two tracks included and aforementioned are both cut from the same cloth and could actually be a part 1 and 2 of the same song at first listen. When listening to the remainder of the album, you will be immersed in lo-fi acoustic tracks, with echos of a less twang induced Johnny Cash at times. You might even see a little bit of early Damien Jurado in “Making Away”. Stand out tracks include “Backyard”, “Eight Long Months”, “Be Safe” and “Dancing” as of the first few spins.
“Backyard” (mp3)
“Dye Your Hair” (mp3)
from “Seeds to Be Planted, Trees to Be Cut”
(The Record Machine)
Bonus: “Old” – The Parade Schedule
Visit and purchase The Parade Schedule:
Bonus #2: Live Performance of “Backyard”
~Smansmith
p.s. The above main photo of Matt Kinder has a tag of “My serious band photo” on MySpace, love that about this guy too!