On a recent NPR podcast, former Sleater-Kinney guitarist and current fulltime music blogger Carrie Brownstein described this band as the Grateful Dead meets Pavement. Any good cynic would love to scoff and poke holes in that high praise, but I have to say that’s not too far off — just take a listen to the title track of their latest album Wild Mountain Nation and you’ll see what she’s talking about…
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Not bad, right? Not bad at all. They even have a song called “Wild Mtn. Jam,” which is a weird backwater, bluegrass inspired ditty. Who says we have to leave the world of garlic grilled cheese behind?
I know what you’re saying though, “How do they sound live?” I’m glad you asked — you can check out this in-studio performance for KEXP and find out for yourself. Come on, be proactive, it’s good for you.
Blitzen Trapper is also on the bill at this year’s Langerado music festival, so I guess other people see the connection too. BT just announced a full tour, too:
02-22 Seattle, WA – University of Washington #
02-28 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill *
02-29 Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour *!
03-01 San Diego, CA – Casbah *
03-02 Phoenix, AZ – Modified *
03-04 Denton, TX – Hailey’s *
03-05 Houston, TX – Walter’s on Washington *
03-06 Hattiesburg, MS – Thirsty Hippo %
03-07 Tallahassee, FL – The Beta Bar *
03-08 Everglades National Park, FL – Langerado Festival
03-09 Jacksonville, FL – The Eclipse *
03-11 Birmingham, AL – BottleTree *
03-13 Austin, TX – Yard Dog Gallery (Schubas SXSW party)
03-14 Austin, TX – SXSW
03-15 Austin, TX – SXSW
03-16 Norman, OK – The Opolis *
03-17 Columbia, MO – Mojo’s *$
03-19 Nashville, TN – Exit In *
03-20 Atlanta, GA – Drunken Unicorn *
03-21 Columbia, SC – New Brookland Tavern *
03-22 Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle *
03-23 Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506 *
03-25 Washington, DC – Black Cat *
03-26 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s *
03-27 Cambridge, MA – Middle East *
03-29 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
03-30 Worcester, MA – Clark University *
04-01 Montreal, Quebec – La Salla Rossa *
04-02 Toronto, Ontario – El Mocambo *
04-03 Buffalo, NY – Mohawk Place *
04-04 Cleveland, OH – The Grog Shop *
04-05 Detroit, MI – The Magic Stick *
04-06 Chicago, IL – Schubas *
04-08 Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon *
04-09 Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry *
04-10 Grinnell, IA – Grinnell College *
04-11 Omaha, NE – The Slowdown *
04-12 Lawrence, KS – Jackpot *
04-14 Denver, CO – Hi-Dive *
04-15 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge *
04-17 Vancouver, British Columbia – Media Club *
04-18 Seattle, WA – Neumo’s *
04-19 Portland, OR – Holocene *
# with Menomena
* with Fleet Foxes
! with Grand Archives
% with Beach House, Papercuts
$ with Mahjongg
24 Responses
you cannot stop post jam, you can only hope to contain it.
Jim James slung me some bunk molly at RFK in ’92. That’s why I hate that band. Blitzen Trapper? Pritty good. Prit-tay…prit-tay…prit……tay good.
Post jam?
That’s when I add the peanut butter.
Blitzen Trapper may not be a jamband, but their spring tour sure as shit looks like they might be. That’s a lot of fucking dates.
When I saw these guys last year they put on a pretty good show. But the band to watch in the this category for 2008 is Howlin’ Rain. They signed to American Recordings and are set to release their second disc soon.
i liked the post and the band very much and don’t have time today to write any type of formal response, but just to clarify a few things (since Ace asked me to do this)
1) very well written article!
2) post-jam should have a dash like post-grunge or early spellings of post-punk before it became part of modern vernacular and was rebranded postpunk (sorry I just finished a grammar lesson from my boss)
3) I never said Wilco was post-jam…they influenced the post-jam bands
4) I said the Slip, JFJO, the duo were post-jam and all those guys did Phish/Dead tour
5) i did say fans of wilco are post-jam kidz and that article justifies by claim
6) Jim James was influenced by the dead…in fact he told us his fav. song was “Candyman” which ain’t no “Truckin” radio hit that one could cite when we did the Garcia tribute thing in 05
Well put Mike. Thanks for weighing in. I blame Ace for the dash error my first draft had it as Post-Jam.
I blame George Bush. He has final say.
I read an article that Jim James said his favorite band was Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Does that make them post-muppet?
MMJ are definately post-Muppet. In fact, their drummer Patrick looks more like Animal than almost any drummer I’ve ever seen….that and I once heard Jim James play Kermit’s Rainbow Connection song on a banjo at Lollapalooza
We have a winner! Thanks Danfun.
ace, is that how you thank jambands.com for them including your opinion in their ‘experts’ year-end lists? Scoffing at one of their young and brightest music writers? haha.
also, how can there really ever be a ‘post-gam’ generation/genre when the music never stops man?
Don’t anyone go get any crazy ideas now…I’ve already purchased post-jam.com.
regardless of what we call it, aren’t we supposed to be on the Panda Bear bandwagon now?
Blitzen Trapper is the best band in the land. That may be hyperbole, but it’s how I feel right now. Listening to Furr off their album Furr due out tomorrow…..wait….that’s now today for us east coasters. So necessary. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94872218
(also, on that list of tunes, tell me it doesn’t sound like Bob Dylan’s backing band on that track is MMW. Such a heady sound).
mirc mırc mirç
thanks guys for everything i like it
thanks for everything i like it
i like it.
thanks for everything.
thanks for everything i like it.