The album I find myself reaching for on a regular basis these days is (seasonally appropriate) “Feeling the Fall” the first full-length effort from Portland-based indie rockers, The Village Green.
The music press describes the band as Brit-Pop. While I hear strains of that music in The Village Green, they’re more rockin’ that that. The reason I keep going back to their disc is because the songs on “Feeling the Fall” are often playing in my head. The band’s mix of smart lyrics and guitar-rock is awfully catchy.
The Sasquatch Festival’s writeup provides a nice intro to the band:
Let’s not mince words. It’s not a “safe” choice to name your band after The Kinks’ 1968 pop masterpiece, “The Village Green Preservation Society.” Yet, upon hearing the Portland, Ore., power-pop combo’s ebullient melodies, spot-on harmonies and ample supplies of deadbeat-dandy charm, even the most jaded journalists, those with the most tightly folded arms in the room, must begrudgingly admit that these very up and comers are worthy of growing crowds, noticeable local radio airplay and even their chosen moniker. And though we live in an era when backlash can set in before any actual success has been achieved, it took only a song-and-a-half before I, a model contributor to a notoriously snarky alternative weekly, turned to my +1 and uttered those rarely heard words, “These guys are actually really good.”
Yes, they are “actually really good.”
For those interested in how they roll, the band kept a tour diary of their latest national jaunt. Mostly writetn by Jeremy, it’s pretty funny in places.
Some of my other favorites albums at the moment include: “A Blessing and A Curse” by Drive-By Truckers; “Z” by My Morning Jacket; “Tell Me” by Catfish Haven; “Songlines” by Derek Trucks Band; “Mobilize” by Grant Lee Phillips; “Haughty Melodic” by Mike Doughty; “Tanglewood Numbers” by Silver Jews; “Gimme Fiction” by Spoon; “Rubber Factory” by The Black Keys; “The Crane Wife” by The Decemberists; and “Love and Distance” by The Helio Sequence.