Here are some songs I’ve been grooving on lately from some Gainesville musicians. These songs are available on the Internet for free, so if you like what you hear, please follow the links and support these artists.
“Don’t Wait For Me”- The Boswellians
The Boswellians are a new band in town. They’ve been cutting their teeth at 1982 Bar and the Civic Media Center almost weekly for months, and the constant show experience is helping craft a jazzy, Gershwin-like pop style. Vocalist Amy Lobasso teamed up with pianist Ryan Backman, whose throwback style is a revelation for this music scene. Recently they added Fletcher Yancey and Scott Kauffmann on drums and bass respectively to help round out their sound. This track “Don’t Wait For Me” is from their self-released EP And How!
It is available for download here.
“Look On The Bright Side”- Levek
Levek is a Gainesville band leaving few musical stones unturned. The ambitious group lead by school bus driver David Levesque is traveling down uncharted territory for this town, exploring genres like soul, funk, indie pop and mixing those sounds with Hawaiian and West African influences. Levek is a difficult band to peg and listening to this track will give you some nomenclature-related headaches, but it will also transport you to a world that probably never existed. It’s like listening to the soundtrack to a blacksploitation film while trying to block out the noise of Sade singing in a lounge in Rio De Janeiro. I see big things for this band and I hope Levesque and company keep striving for greatness. You can download the full, 9-track Levek Demo here.
“Sister Prichard”- The Good King
There aren’t a lot of fantastic things coming out of the crop of singer/songwriters in this town. Of all the genres picking up like the indie and experimental scene, this one seems to have taken a step backward…or so I thought. The Good King is the project of James Kaufholz, a music critic and avid blogger. This song in particular reminds me of Sufjan Stevens, Colin Meloy of the Decemberists and Paul Simon getting together to write a song about an apocalyptic minded nun. Like his heroes Kaufholz sets out to tell stories, embracing the narrative side of folk music in a way that few are doing in Gainesville. He’s stripped the personality from himself and placed it into characters and I think it’s precisely that distinction that has won hearts. After all, sometimes we don’t want to hear about someone’s struggles over and over again, but give us a character to get behind and all of the sudden we have a connection. It’s a beautiful thing. You can download the I Will Have Done EPÂ here.
