It’s hard to imagine that just a few short months ago we were enjoying sunny summer days. 2011 was my best year yet, having achieved a few milestones: four and a half years running FensePost, riding my bike from Seattle to Portland and logging over 1,000 total on those two wheels between January and December, enjoying life with the love of my life (Andi), and a few defining mindset changes that put the two of us on a path to minimalism and frugality.

The Lovely Sparrows have a way of putting together words and music that make the band one of today’s leading folk-rock and folk-pop artists. With Tall Cedars of Lebanon, the Sparrows continue the trend they began as early as their debut EP, Pulling Up Floors, Pouring On (New) Paint. The musicianship remains just as tight and focused as was on Bury The Cynics. But Tall Cedars isn’t without its difference from the band’s prior work.

I entered the studio at about 9:35pm, meeting up with Stuarto, who has the time slot before mine. A quick interview about 15 minutes before my show, another few songs, and I was up. It was requested that I attempt a transition, and as indie music is my theme, and world music is his, I figured I’d kick things off with an oldie, but goodie: “The Gulag Orkestar” by Beirut.

When I compiled my original Best Of 2008 list last December, it was a snow day. The sky dropped about a foot, maybe a foot and a half of fluffy white stuff and we lowly sub-compact drivers could go nowhere. Between ranking albums and locating album art, I took a stroll around town with my camera. The above image comes from that trek. Overall, I was pretty happy with last year’s list but, in revisiting all the albums from 2008, I now see quite a few …

Originally recorded in 1974 by Big Star, Alex Chilton’s “Take Care” wasn’t released until 1978 on their Third/Sister Lovers LP. In 2003, Yo La Tengo included a rendition of track on their album Summer Sun. Finally, in 2009, The Lovely Sparrows laid down their version of Yo La Tengo’s version while recording demos for their upcoming sophomore release. A video was made.

Once again Austin delivers, this time with the recent release of The Lovely Sparrows‘ Pulling Up Floors, Pouring On (New) Paint on Abandoned Love Records. And with this five-song debut EP, the Texas town continues to pump out quality artists. The Lovely Sparrows take folk music in a new direction, adding a unique abundance of percussion and a few non-traditional instruments, like the flute. I raved about “Chemicals Change” when I wrote the feature article on The Lovely Sparrows, and the rest of the EP continues with more cymbal heavy, …

Written by Fense
The Lovely Sparrows (MySpace) embark on an exciting journey with Bury The Cynics, and while they loose much of the excessive percussion I loved so much on their EP, they replace it with heightened production value and an array of additional instruments. Or, rather, the additional instruments are brought to the foreground and allowed to shine.

Written by Fense
Spin recently took the exclusive debut of The Lovely Sparrows’ (MySpace) video for “Year Of The Dog” and I initially found it astonishing that they related the Sparrows to Neutral Milk Hotel—I mean, The Lovely Sparrows are distinctly folk-pop and while NMH included some of these traits in their music, the emphasis was almost always on the pop.