Wednesday, July 23, 2008

New music in the fam

It's almost 3 in the morning and I can't sleep, so I thought that instead of watching a pointless History Channel documentary on biological weapons I'd let you all know about the latest additions to the family music box.

I have three cousins who are building places for themselves in the music industry. The most visible one at this point is Jon Peter Lewis. His latest album was released yesterday, and I can't tell if I'm biased because he's my cousin or not, but I love it. Seriously, it's great. I've listened to it in its entirety twice already, and I've owned it less than 12 hours. I get to perform with Jon every once in a while, and it gets more fun every time.
Click here to see Jon's website and to buy the album.

Next we have Josh Hancock, who goes by Josh 86, and has a great ska band called Black Square. He's one of the more important musical figures in the rock&roll scene in Hawaii right now. That may not seem like a big deal, but if you think about how separated Hawaii is from the mainland, it might as well still be its own country, and there's tons of music happening every night in the Hawaiian nation. If there's a concert going on, chances are that Josh has something to do with it, whether performing or promoting. Black Square's album Onward came out earlier this month. Imagine if The Ramones and Neil Young and 311 had formed a ska band - you'd get something like Black Square.
Click here to preview & buy the album.


Then there's Blake Mills, most recently of a really great band called Simon Dawes. Their latest album was released in 2006, but most of you probably haven't heard it, so it might as well be brand new. I have to say in all honesty that my love for this album has absolutely no bias. I'd listen to this album just as often if The Monkees had released it. It's simply brilliant. Blake's guitar playing is absolutely phenomenal. In a couple days he'll be touring New Zealand, Australia and Japan with another cool group called Band of Horses. Check out his brilliant playing and songwriting Here.


Maybe someday I'll make some music as cool as all of theirs. Until then, enjoy.

-Ben

5 comments:

Sarah said...

What about your girl cousins?

Sarah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sarah said...

So, I'm up at 4:30 am searching for broadcasting or writing jobs with radio stations and I find this gem:

Podcast of Jon Peter Lewis on B98.7 FM

WhatUp, Jon! You sound good.

This must have been recent? Also, Shawn Stevens talks to an unseen, unheard, mysterious "Ben."

Sarah said...

Also introducing my girl cousins:

Ali

Kim

and Schmath

cookie said...

Ya, what about your girl cousins?