Music from Corporate America

My girlfriend and I spent a nice afternoon in Barnes & Noble last week, and I thought for a minute they were playing Elliott Smith. Aside from the whispery, double-tracked vocals (everybody does that), the guitars were all “Needle In The Hay” down strokes and the melodies were all chromatic-y and awesome. Of course, it wasn’t Elliott, but the dashing young songwriter Ashton Allen. Give up on that Jose Gonzalez business already and check this guy out. Reminds me a lot of stuff like Slowreader and Morning Recordings, too – really smooth. And great.

Ashton Allen – “Better Than I Know”: mp3
Ashton Allen – “Dewdrops”: mp3

Cruised over to his site, and it turns out the guy is on a whole B&N tour. It never fails.

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Anybody else realize that Radiohead and Wilco are putting out albums this year? This is like the Thrilla In Manilla of rock music. But which one is Joe Frasier?