Mike Jones has been giving his readers a lot to listen to. Each day I point my browser to his blog, The Camera As Pen, and find an amazing new band along with some MP3′s. The design of his page is nicely laid out and easy to navigate. Mike was kind enough to answer my questions, so after you check out his blog, read the interview below. Thanks Mike!

In San Diego

Let’s get some general background on you. Where do you live, how long, etc.

I’ve been all over the place but I’ve been in Michigan for the last four years now. This is where my wife grew up and her immediate family is here so it was the natural thing to do for me to move here before we got married. We live very close to Detroit, just north of it. Detroit’s a great music city, obviously. Not only does it birth a lot of great musicians, but we get a lot of them coming through town, as well. So it’s been great being so close to the action. Before I lived here, I was accustomed to having to drive at least 2-3 hours for a show. Now it’s like 15-20 minutes. My concertgoing definitely spiked after the relocation.

I want get an idea of your musical taste evolution if you will. What were some of the first albums/tapes/CD’s you bought?

This has the potential to be tremendously embarrassing. But I’m not going to lie and come up
with something that will make me look a lot cooler. Almost all of my early experiences with music were of the Contemporary Christian variety: Carman, Michael W.Smith, Amy Grant, Petra, White Heart, DeGarmo & Key, Mylon LeFevre & Broken Heart, and finally towards the end there, DC Talk and the Newsboys. These were the first tapes & eventually CDs I owned. I highly recommend that people reading this head over to Pitchfork for Menomena’s Artist List: My Favorite Cassettes (I was allowed to listen to), Age 7-15.

That will give you some great insight into what I was going through. It’s the funniest thing I’ve read in recent memory and possibly my favorite thing Pitchfork has published to date. All I can say is that my standards have come a long, long way.

How about some of the more recent CD’s you’ve purchased?

Recent purchases…well, this past weekend I picked up a few I’d been putting off for a little while: Super Furry Animals’ “Love Kraft”, The Bees’ “Free the Bees”, and Boards of Canada’s “The Campfire Headphase.” I also scored the last copy of Seu Jorge’s “The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions”, to which I must add that I am so glad these songs ended up getting released this way. I also just received Pedro the Lion’s new, limited edition Christmas 7″ which he’s been doing for Suicide Squeeze now for the past three years, I believe. This year’s is God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen w/ Silent Night on the flipside. I haven’t listened to it yet. I like to wait until Christmas Eve to put it on.

Where do you buy the majority of your records? Do you support a particular record store in your area, buy online, and if so, where?

I know it’s not the true “indie” thing to say, but I have to admit that I go the big chain store route for many of my purchases. Borders is a frequent pitstop. It’s on my way home from work and I’m a Borders Rewards card-carrying member. I’m sorry, but with the amount of money I end up spending on music, saving a buck or two here and there adds up quickly. What can I say? I’m a child of the Depression. OK, not really. Anyway, when I can’t find what I’m looking for there, which is probably more than half of the time, I’ll head to downtown Royal Oak’s Neptune Records. They specialize in really obscure electronic stuff, but they carry a lot of the standard indie rock fair, too. And they’re extremely knowledgeable. I also love Insound. Those weekly emails they send out are hilarious, they have great deals all the time, and when you order something, they throw all kinds of other good shit in there, too.

When I started listening to music, there were certain musicians that led me in the path of a lot of other bands. Did you have any similar experiences with bands growing up?

Yeah, I definitely did. I was listening to a lot of grunge and basically anything that was being profiled in Rolling Stone back in the day (R.E.M., The Cranberries, STP, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Blind Melon, etc.). Weezer’s first two albums definitely hit me on some sort of level that no other artists at the time were doing. Same with Nirvana when they did the Unplugged thing for MTV. Also, I still remember the first time I heard Oasis’ “Live Forever” on the radio. It wasn’t long before I was listening to nothing but Britpop: Oasis, Blur, The Charlatans, The Verve, Pulp, Primal Scream, Embrace, etc. All my friends would give me a hard time b/c I was the only one in my circle that was listening to this stuff. I also fell into music of the electronic persuasion while in college, thanks to Daft Punk and Air. My sophomore year of college a guy in my dorm introduced me to Sunny Day Real Estate, right before they got back together. They were definitely another one of those transitional bands that opened me up to a whole world of new music.

Mike and friend Jeremiah.

What are some of your favorite records of all time?

I have so many all-time favorites that it’s hard for me to remember them all whenever I’m asked this question. I guess you could argue that that sort of diminishes the point of choosing all-time favorites, but screw you. I love all these records:

Weezer – The Blue Album & Pinkerton
Oasis – Definitely Maybe
Blind Melon – Soup
ALL Radiohead
Hum – You’d Prefer An Astronaut
Elliott Smith – Either/Or
Air – Moon Safari
The Verve – Urban Hymns
Ride – Nowhere, Tarantula
The Prayer Chain – Mercury
The Lassie Foundation – California
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Slowdive – Souvlaki
Blur – 13
Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of the Bewilderbeast
Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump
Failure – Fantastic Planet
Pedro the Lion – It’s Hard to Find a Friend
Mineral – End Serenading
Sunny Day Real Estate – Diary, LP2 (Pink), How It
Feels to Be Something On
Jeff Buckley – Grace, Sketches for My Sweetheart the
Drunk
Bright Eyes (everything from “Letting Off the
Happiness” and beyond)
The Smiths – The Queen is Dead & Louder Than Bombs
The Cure – Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me & Wish
Death Cab for Cutie – We Have the Facts… & The Photo
Album
Sigur Ros – Agaetis Byrjun
Beck – Sea Change
Spoon – Girls Can Tell
Sufjan Stevens – Greetings from Michigan

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Aimee Mann – The Forgotten Arm

This album was ranked in my top 10 for the year for a long time. There is really no big reason for the fall to 19, other than I’d found a lot more albums that I’ve listened to a lot more. This is the type of album that I can listen to all the way through. I doubt it will be showing up on many people’s lists or if many people on the “indie rock” scene even listen to Aimee Mann, but I think this is her best work.

What the critics say:

Metacritic.com – 67/100
Pitchfork – [7.4]

Enter coupon code: muzzle05 for a 10% discount!!!

You can see the rest of my 2005 favorites (so far) by clicking here.

BAZAN, CHESNUTT, EITZEL & JOHNSON

David Bazan (of Pedro The Lion), Vic Chesnutt, Mark Eitzel (formerly of American Music Club) and Will Johnson (of Centro-matic)…a night of indie song-writing genius.

A portion of the proceeds to benefit the Keep Wisconsin Warm Fund–an energy assistance program for low-income families.

2/16
$12 + $1 fee / $14 at the door
9:00 PM Saturday All Ages
at Orpheum Stage Door

—thanks to Pete for the heads-up!

Before Austin City Limits this year, Janet from Out The Other previewed every single act that was going to be there. A huge feat, she did an excellent job. When not posting on her blog she is also a DJ for WRVU, and writes for the NashvilleZine. I’d like to thank Janet for her time in answering my questions. Check out her site, and check out the interview below.

Let’s get some general background on you. You are currently living in Nashville, correct?

Yup, I’ve been a southerner for about two and a half years now. I moved to Nashville with my sister when she and I simultaneously graduated from our respective colleges in 2003, and thought it would be a great idea to move together to a random city – without money, friends or jobs. Before that I went to college in Boston, and I’m originally from Rochester, NY.

I want get an idea of your musical taste evolution if you will. What were some of the first albums/tapes/CD’s you bought?

My parents got me started on the road to great music – my mom has impeccable taste and when I was a kid she introduced me to acts like Talking Heads, Van Morrison, Paul Simon, Grateful Dead, and Dire Straits. Once I branched out on my own, the first real tape I remember owning was Toad the Wet Sprocket’s Fear. My first CD was an Easter gift – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis. Rusted Root’s When I Woke also helped start my collection.

Where do you buy the majority of your records? Do you support a particular record store in your area, buy online, and if so, where?

I’m fortunate enough these days to get a lot of free music from bands and record labels – and in turn I like to buy from the band or label when I can. But in terms of stores, I’m a big fan of Grimey’s here in Nashville. They carry a lot of great independent-only stuff, they have amazing in-store performances, and they have a fantastic venue downstairs called the Basement.

When I started listening to music, there were certain musicians that led me in the path of a lot of other bands. Did you have any similar experiences with bands growing up?

Definitely Talking Heads… that’s actually how I got into Rusted Root, which was my favorite band for a long time. My mother heard a concert promo on the radio and thought the lead singer, Mike Glabicki, sounded like David Byrne, so she picked up their album – and she, my sister and I all instantly fell in love. I went on a pretty long singer-songwriter kick for a while, and I think David Gray started me on that one…. But I would say that more than musicians, people tended to lead me down the path of a lot of bands. The progress of my musical taste from high school to college can be partially charted by who I was hanging out with, or what boy I liked.

What are some of your favorite records of all time?

Oh, the inevitable tough one. Graceland by Paul Simon, Moondance by Van Morrison, Dulcinea by Toad the Wet Sprocket, When I Woke by Rusted Root, and Bring it On by Gomez are probably the five I’d take to an island with me today. Ask me tomorrow and I’ll have changed my mind.

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Here are a few of the photos I took from last nights show at the Congress Theatre in Chicago.

Calexico really impressed everyone last night.

Sounded the best in the balcony.

Sam and Sara Beam on ‘Hickory’

In The Reins w/Salvador Duran

Great harmonies on ‘Dead Man’s Will’

Troubled Hubble -Making Beds In A Burning House

It’s always a shame when a good band calls it quits, which is what Troubled Hubble did in September of this year. I guess the only good thing about it is they left behind a pretty awesome “swan song” record before they rode off into the horizon.

I don’t know how many times I’ve listened to “Making Beds In A Burning House,” but each time, I hear something totally new and fresh. I am constantly finding a new reason to love this album, and I’m sure 5 years from now if I could redo my Top albums of 2005, this one would probably be the biggest gainer. Oh yeah, and the cover art is pretty sweet too!

If you haven’t heard of this album, I’ve posted an MP3 for you to check out. Buy their album, you’ll thank me later.

Troubled Hubble – Ear Nose & Throat MP3

What the critics say:

Tiny Mix Tapes – 3/5
Pitchfork – [6.8]

Enter coupon code: muzzle05 for a 10% discount!!!

You can see the rest of my 2005 favorites (so far) by clicking here.