Coast to Coast

Because swapping and discussing music is something they do anyway, every second Friday, Overcast editor Chad Pelley will send the fabulous Nicole Wilson 2 songs by 5 North American bands, and she’ll share her three favourites. You should weigh in with your own picks.

This time it was the last five albums in Chad’s iTunes history, all of which are new (2014).

Sharon Van Etten is from Brooklyn, New York. Fun Fact: despite being a performing musician, she has social anxiety and suffers from anxiety attacks. On her debut, she sings a duet with Zach Condon (of the band Beirut), who also suffers from social anxiety, called “We Are Fine.”

The Wooden Sky are from Toronto. Fun fact: They’re playing here Saturday night at The Rockhouse. You should go.

Andrew Bird is from Illinois. Andrew was trained in the “Suzuki Method” from age four:  it is a method of teaching music, based on the observation that if children can become proficient at languages in the first few years of their life, then they can also become proficient at playing an instrument/music.

The Afghan Whigs are from Cincinnati, Ohio. They were big in the 1990s but disbanded by 2000. More the 15 years later: Bam, they release an album out of nowhere that sounds like nothing that came out this year.

The Far West Hail from all over The States. Singer Lee Briante once posted a late night craigslist ad that consisted of nothing more then the text  “Looking to do something like this Waylon Jennings song.” And the band was born.

[mp3player width=600 height=290 config=coast.xml playlist=coast-1.xml]

Nicole’s top picks:

1) The Wooden Sky – “Saturday Night”
2) Andrew Bird – “So Much Wine, Merry Christmas”
3) Afghan Whigs – “Lost In The Woods”
What about you?