The best Heartless Bastards post, ever

From my home state of Ohio come the Heartless Bastards, a band still currently active (although, for my money, past their "sell by date").....they did turn out a pair of pretty decent semi-hard/semi garage-ish unique albums that I enjoy a good bit, pretty sure they were never recognized much outside of Ohio, but they were (here) pretty well recognized as a solid alt-rock act.

Formed in the early 2000's by vocalist/guitarist/pianist Erika Wennerstrom, they were (locally) notable for some very rootsy blues/country/back to basics live shows, 205 saw the release of theyvery good and underappreciated "Stairs and Elevators" (made at least MY Top Twenty album list of that year).....a good, fairly stripped mdown set with some good tracks such as "Gray" and "Pass and Fail".....nothing spectacular here, but in the right mood, this is some really good stuff.

Album #2, "All This Time", is something of a mellower affair, it still is not bad at all.....I am betting that MOST of you (outside Ohio) are 100% unfamilar with them, please let me know what you think. (I use this term alot) They aren't going to the rock n roll Hall of Fame, but they did release these two highly enjoyable albums in their short run.

The band is/has always been Wennerstrom's thing, the other personnel as been rotated in an out, so basically, the focus is on her, and shw is quite talented. The third album, "The Mountain",IS NOT a favorite of mine, but to their (her?) credit they did TOTALLY reinvent their sound, this is basically a country album (a genre I'm not a fan of) featuring violin/banjo etc.......if you like this type of thing, this is a fairly esoteric, quirky, and surprising effort, I can see people (some people) LOVING it......doesn't really get it done for me.

Now,just from snooping around, I see they have a "new" album, "Arrow", from 2012.....I have not heard it, BUT I will put it up since it is quite readilly available. I'll listen to it tomorrow, Im guessing (and ONLY guessing) mthat it further expands on the country-ish direction the band took with "The Mountain".

I DO have two super-rarities, since they were a "local" act, they twice appeared on WOXY's "Lounge Acts", I have both appearances, quite good and if by any remote chance you are a fan of them, these will be like gold to you, focussing on the earlier albums and showing off their (considerable) live chops.

As I say so often, I try to keep things a LITTLE diverse, I wouldn't want to pigeonhole my blog into NOTHING but stoner-metal or classic 1970's punk for example. I have NO IDEA why I opted for this band today, I bet it's been 2-3 years since I even listened to "Stairs and Elevators" or "All This TIme", but I remember I enjoy them a good bit......see what you think. If you like them, check out the later albums, and especially, if you like them, check out the WOXY appearances, they are quite good.

I suppose that tomorrow I will need to turn the amps back up to "11"......not sure what, just yet, but I won't make you go TOO long without your needed fix of riff-o-rama!

STAIRS AND ELEVATORS-01 Gray/02 Onions/03 New Resolution/04 My Maker/05 Runnin'/06 Autonomy/07 Pass and Fail/08 TheWill Song/09 Swamp Song/10 Done Got Old/11 Piano Song/12 Lazy

ALL THIS TIME-01 Into the Open/02 Searching For the Ghosts/03 Finding Solutions/04 All This Time/05 Brazen/06 I Swallowed a Dragonfly/07 Blue Day/08 Valley of Debris/09 No Pointing Arrows/10 Come a Long Way

THE MOUNTAIN-01 The Mountain/02 Could Be So Happy/03 Early In the Morning/04 Hold Your Head High/05 Out at Sea/06 Nothing Seems the Same/07 Wide Awake/08 So Quiet/09 Had to Go/10 Witchypoo/11 Sway

ARROW-01 Marathon/02 Parted Ways/03 Got To have Rock N Roll/04 Only For You/05 Simple Feeling/06 Skin and Bone/07 ARrow Killed the Beast/08 Late in the Night/09 Low Low Low/10 Down in the Canyon

WOXY LOUNGE ACTS #1-Unsplit Tracks

WOXY LOUNGE ACTS #2-Unsplit Tracks


Links will be up when they are up, ya know......please leave a comment if you have the time and are of the mind to.

Please always remember, too, seriously, I REALLY love all you folks and you are the reason I do this each day......thanks for reading/listening/commenting/whatever.