Settin' the Woods on Fire: This Week's Charts

This is a weekly feature in which I post on AWT the top albums and debuts in the airplay charts from Americana Music Assoc., XM Cross Country and FMQB Non-Commercial Adult Alternative chart. Links to all of these charts are found to the right in the AWT favorite links list.

Americana Music Association - Airplay Week of July 16th
1) Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
2) Kelly Willis - Translated from Love
3) Marty Stuart - Anthology of Duets
4) Jimmy Lafave - Cimmaron Manifesto
5) Adrienne Young - Room to Grow
6) Sarah Borges and The Broken Singles - Diamonds in the Dark
7) Amy Lavere - Anchors and Anvils
8) Son Volt - The Search
9) Gurf Morlix - Diamonds to Dust
10) Doug Spatz - The One Who's Leaving
Debuts
35) Jason Isbell - Sirens of the Ditch
37) Terri Hendrix - The Spiritual Kind
40) Walt Wilkins & the Mystiqueros - Diamonds in the Sun

XM Ch.12 Cross Country - Cross Checking week of July 16th
1) Gurf Morlix - Diamond to Dust
2) Jed and Kelley - Song to Take Home
3) Various Artists - Anchored in Love
4) The Basement - Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs
5) Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers - No More Beautiful World
6) Jimmy Lafave - Cimmaron Manifesto
7) Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadors - Trailercana
8) Swampdawamp - Swampdawamp
9) Pete Berwick - Aint No Train Outta Nashville
10) Jason Isbell - Sirens of the Ditch
Debuts
None

FMQB AAA Non-Commercial - Airplay Week of July 16th
1) Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
2) Suzanne Vega - Beauty and Crime
3) Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
4) Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
5) Crowded House - Time on Earth
6) White Stripes - Icky Thump
7) Feist - The Reminder
8) Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
9) Sarah Borges and The Broken Singles - Diamonds in the Dark
10) R.Thompson - Sweet Warrior
Debuts
25)Interpol - Our Love to Admire
26) Polyphonic Spree- The Fragile Army
29) Lori McKenna - Unglamorous
30) Kelly Willis - Translated from Love

The Basement - Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs

The Basement generated a lot of hype among the UK press before they released their first album. Early singles hinted at something special and they generated quite a following among fans. For some reason the buzz has been a little slower to build in the US, but they have released their first US CD on Zealous Records, Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs. A recent article in No Depression should help also. The album is an instant classic mixing Americana influenced Roots Rock with British influenced Pop. The songs by the Irish born Liverpool based quartet are infectious. The album bridges a gap between their British and Irish upbringing and Americana Twang. It is evocative of the way Gram Parsons tried to fuse rock and country in his day. In fact you could alter Gram’s description of his own music slightly and call it “Cosmic British-American Music.”

The album starts out with the Alt-Country of “Do You Think Your Moving On.” Other songs like “Summertimes” have more of a Pop style. The Basement is influenced by Old 97s as can be heard on 2 tracks in particular, “When Tomorrow Comes” sounds like Satellite Rides Pop, while “Just a Dream” is redolent of earlier Old 97s. One of the band’s key attributes is the ability to sound upbeat even when using melancholy lyrics.

Check out some of their music:
http://www.zealousrecords.com/thebasementplayer/index.html

This review also appears on: http://twangville.com