Line of Best Fit

On The J-45: Rocky Votolato

One of my favorite albums of 2006 was Makers, from Barsuk Records artist, Rocky Votolato.  The album, which is entirely acoustic, is a mix between indie and alt-country.   When I first heard Makers it reminded me of the countryside of Ryan Adams.  If you like the songs that I've posted below, head over to Rocky's page at Barsuk Records and checkout "Portland is Leaving" and "Tinfoil Hats".  While you're there, you can also see the video for "White Daisy Passing".  Do yourself a favor and buy this album.  If you decide to download the album from iTunes, you might also want to pick up his three song EP, Live at Austin City Limits: Music Festival 2006.

Official Site - Myspace Page - Lyrics - iTunes   

Rocky Votolato - White Daisy Passing

Rocky Votolato - Goldfield

Rocky Votolato - Makers

Merry Christmas

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and I hope that you are having a great holiday season.  As a gift to you, I've linked the Secret/Dirty Santa scene from my favorite show, "The Office".  I hope you enjoy it, and have a great Christmas.   

Incubus: Light Grenades

Let me start off by saying that I am a huge Incubus fan.  Their album, Make Yourself, is one of my top ten favorite albums.  If you've ever seen them live, you know what a great band they are.  When the album A Crow Left of the Murder came out, I was really disappointed.  There are songs on it that I grew to like, but as a whole I couldn't get in to it.  When I got Light Grenades, I was hoping for a return to their earlier stuff.  While it doesn't go all the way back to the early days, there's enough to see flashes.  It's not going to pass Make Yourself or Morning View on my favorites list, but it is a solid album.  If you've never really listened to Incubus, I would recommend starting with either Morning View or Make Yourself before getting Light Grenades.  I've posted some of my favorites off the new album.  Enjoy.

Official Site - Myspace Page - Song Lyrics

Incubus - A Kiss To Send Us Off

Incubus - Dig

Incubus - Love Hurts

The O.C. Mix 6: Covering Our Tracks

When I heard that the newest addition to The OC soundtrack series was going to be an album of covers of previous season's songs, I was not too excited.  Being a fan of the previous mixes, I was looking forward to new songs and artists.  I've been listening to the album for the past two weeks, and I have to say that it is really good.  The songs are done in a way that is fresh and not an exact copy of the original.  There are a couple of songs that I skip over, but the album as a whole is really strong.  I've added a couple of my favorite songs below.  If you like what you hear, I recommend you pick this album up.

Band of Horses - The End's Not Near

Syd Matters - Hello Sunshine

Rogue Wave - Debaser

Goldspot - Float On

On the J-45: Sufjan Stevens

I am a huge fan of acoustic music, and I tend to gravitate towards musicians that are really good at it.  The emotion that an artist can express through a simple acoustic song is unmatched.  I plan on featuring my favorite acoustic songs from the artists that I listen to.  The name of the feature is "On the J-45", and that is a reference to my favorite acoustic guitar, the Gibson J-45.

The first artist to be spotlighted is Sufjan Stevens.  He is an incredible singer/songwriter with so many great songs that it was difficult to narrow my picks down to just a few songs.  I'll definitely highlight more of his songs in the future.  The first two songs, "Casimir Pulaski Day" and "Romulus", are my favorites from Sufjan, and since it's Christmas time, I include "Away In A Manger" from his new Christmas album.

Official Site  -  Myspace Page  -  Song Lyrics

Sufjan Stevens - Casimir Pulaski Day

Sufjan Stevens - Romulus

Sufjan Stevens - Away In A Manger

Greg Iles: True Evil

This week, Mississippi's own, Greg Iles released his eleventh book, True Evil.  I was able to pick it up at his book signing and reading that he had at Lemuria Books.  If you ever get a chance to go to one of his signing and readings, I recommend going.  His readings are always entertaining because it's more of a conversation with the people in attendance, than just him reading a few passages from his book.  He's really good about explaining where the ideas or inspiration for his books come from.  Most authors hate answering that question, but Iles does not.  While most book readings are boring, Greg Iles' readings are the exception.

If you've never read any of his books, you should give him a try.  His books are suspense thrillers that once you pick up are hard to put down.  They have all been fast reads.  I also like that most of them are set in the South.  Since Greg grew up in and now lives in Natchez, MS, that has been the setting for most of his books.  The predominant setting for True Evil is in Jackson, MS.  Since I live in the Jackson area, that should make reading this one a little more fun. 

If you're interested in learning more about Greg and his books, check out his website.   Since some of his books have reoccurring characters, it is probably best to read some of them in a certain order.  He has posted a recommended reading order page on his website to help you out.  After I finish reading True Evil, I will give you my opinion on it.  If you would like to buy the book, you can do that by clicking here. 

Line of Best Fit

Welcome to my blog.  I've been reading several of my friend's blogs for the past few months, and thought that it would be fun to start one for myself.  While I'm going to post about different subjects, my main focus will be geared more toward music.  I'm a huge music fan that likes telling other people about music that I'm listening to.  So, I'll be doing a lot of that.  If there's a band or artist that you think I should check out, please post it in the comments or send me an email.

The name of my blog, "Line of Best Fit", is the title of a song by one of my favorite bands, Death Cab For Cutie.  I wanted a name that was music related, and it also just kind of fit as a name for a blog.  If you'd like to hear the song, I've posted it below.  I decided to post the version of the song that appeared on the ep, Home: Volume 5, that was recorded by the lead singer of Death Cab For Cutie, Ben Gibbard, and American Analog Set front man, Andrew Kenny.   The song is also on Death Cab's albums, Something About Airplanes and You Can Play These Songs With Chords.  Enjoy the song, and  I hope you like the blog.

Ben Gibbard & Andrew Kenny - Line of Best Fit