By Jon Stone | @jwstone

If 2007 hadn’t been so gigantic musically, Band of Horses’ Cease to Begin could have easily been the best album of the year. Nearly every song on the band’s sophomore release is memorable and remains one of my most revisited records. Cease to Begin succeeds because it kept the band’s now-trademark sunny sound of the debut  (2005′s Everything All the Time) but expanded on it with both increased sonic variety and, most importantly, with great, catchy melodies. Need a refresher? How about “Is There a Ghost”. Remember now?

This month the band released Infinite Arms and I wish I could say that it was as consistent. It’s good, quite good, even. You hope, though, when a band jumps off a label like Sub Pop and onto one like Columbia that you won’t be able to hear it on the record. Or, conversely, that you will because an increased budget will mean more time to let things develop and distill. I think you get a bit of this during Infinite Arms‘s lush midsection: “Blue Beard“, “Way Back Home” and “Infinite Arms” stretch out, breathe deep, and will make for perfect, lazy, summer jams this year (“Trudy” a bit later, has this same affect). I’m afraid, however, that the label change in addition to frequent line-up changes over the last few years has left Ben Bridwell and crew playing it safe rather than pushing it forward.

I’m not giving up on this band, though. Like I said earlier, I think this record is, if nothing else, a great summer album. Bridwell’s voice is so good and you can bet it’s going to be pouring out of my front door often this summer while I sit on my porch watching the kids ride bikes and eat a hundred popsicles.

Buy: Band of Horses – Infinite Arms

Here are the Wisconsin and Illinois shows we recommend you take in this week. Check them out below and let us know which ones you’ll be attending or ones you think should really make our list.

Upcoming Shows:

5/31 – Broken Bells + The Morning Benders – Vic Theater (CHICAGO)
5/31 – Hum – Jay Pritzker Pavilion (CHICAGO)
6/2 – Holy F@#% – Mad Planet (MILWAUKEE)
6/2 – Erykah Badu + N*E*R*D + Janelle Monáe – Chicago Theatre (CHICAGO)
6/2 – Invade Rome – Empty Bottle (CHICAGO)
6/3 – Erykah Badu + N*E*R*D + Janelle Monáe – Chicago Theatre (Chicago)
6/3 – Juan MacLean – Moct (MILWAUKEE)
6/3 – The Very Best – Jay Pritzker Pavilion (CHICAGO)
6/4 – The Juan Maclean – Green Dolphin Street (CHICAGO)
6/4 – Mucca Pazza – Museum of Contemporary Art (CHICAGO)
6/4 – She & Him – Verge Fest (MILWAUKEE)
6/4 – The New Loud (CD RELEASE) – Cactus Club (MILWAUKEE)
6/5 – Toro Y Moi – Empty Bottle (CHICAGO)
6/5 – Juniper Tar + Invade Rome + Cold War Kids + Rogue Wave – Verge Fest (MILWAUKEE)
6/5 – The Mother Hips + Juniper Tar – Schubas (CHICAGO)
6/5 – The Hood Internet – Beauty Bar (CHICAGO)
6/5 – Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit + Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons – Subterranean (CHICAGO)

Just Announced:

7/10 – Celebrated Working Man – Concert Cruise (MILWAUKEE)
7/10 – Collection of Colonies of Bees – Concert Cruise (MILWAUKEE)
7/10 – Islands – Memorial Union Terrace (MADISON)
7/15 – Decibully – Concert Cruise (MILWAUKEE)
7/22 – Nathaniel Rateliff – Club Garibaldi (MILWAUKEE)
7/25 – The Parson Redheads – Cactus Club (MILWAUKEE)
8/7 – The Championship – Concert Cruise (MILWAUKEE)
10/1 – Eels – Metro (CHICAGO)
10/2 – Eels – Pabst Theater (MILWAUKEE)

+Bookmark our upcoming shows page for all your concert announcements+

Welcome to the 45th podcast/download I’m co-hosting with Ryan Schleicher at 91.7 WMSE. I know we’ve been MIA for a few weeks. Here’s a mix to throw on for your long-weekend. Enjoy the holiday.

Calexico – “Close Behind” / Delta Spirit – “Scarecrow” / Vic Chesnutt – “New Town” / The Tallest Man On Earth – “You’re Going Back” / First Aid Kit – “In The Morning” / Teenage Fanclub – “Baby Lee” / Beck’s Record Club (Liars, St. Vincent & Os Mutantes) – “Need You Tonight” / Call Me Lightning – “Bronze Hell” / Pavement – “Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence” / Roadside Graves – “Far & Wide” / Dan Bern – “The Golden Voice of Vin Scully” / Ryan Adams – “My Winding Wheel” / The Parson Redheads – “Punctual As Usual”

Listen:

Download/Listen: Muzzle of Bees + 91.7 WMSE Podcast :: Volume 45
++
Subscribe: Muzzle of Bees + 91.7 WMSE Podcast

It’s hard to believe two years have passed since we first shared Mumford & Sons with you. Since that time their popularity has soared behind a fantastic new album, Sigh No More. We regrettably missed their recent show at Lincoln Hall with The Middle East, but hope to have the good fortune of catching them live soon.

Buy: Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More

Most will recognize/remember Sam Quinn as one half of the now defunct band, the everybodyfields. We were big fans. Sometimes a band break up isn’t the end of the world. In the case of the everybodyfields, its dissolve has resulted in equally great solo outputs from Jill Andrews and Sam Quinn this year.

Quinn’s album, The Fake That Sunk A Thousand Ships has been in near constant rotation since arriving two weeks ago. Quinn’s music embodies a timeless quality in that what you’re hearing could have easily been heard on the AM dial decades ago. Fans of Whiskeytown and pre-metal Ryan Adams will definitely want to add this album to their collection.

Sam Quinn opens for Megafaun at Club Garibaldi in Milwaukee on Tuesday, June 15th. Tickets are $10 and on sale now.

Buy: Sam Quinn – Fake That Sunk a Thousand Ships
++
MP3: Sam Quinn – “Suite Motown”
MP3: Sam Quinn – “Gun”

(Sad Songs & Waltzes is a recurring feature on Muzzle of Bees, where artists share their favorite sad songs. Previous contributors include Damien Jurado, Kasey Anderson and Will Phalen.)

Send in the Clowns – Sad Song of the Year
(1973, Stephen Sondheim)

By John Gleason | Roadside Graves

I believe it was midway through the seventh listen in a row to this song that my wife said, “I thought you hate clowns”.

Everyone hates clowns. At least that’s how it seems when I share my own personal fears with others. I have a recurring dream where I’m being chased by an average sized clown in the dark. He always catches up and then as I turn my head over my right shoulder he lifts his foot towards me and it immediately inflates in size and crushes me. Wake up. Then back to sleep.

Doctors foolishly frame pictures of them to relieve a child’s stress level, but could easily be blamed for creating this fear. When I think of a doctor’s room the first two images I have are needles and clowns. If you don’t hate clowns someday you will.

Clowns have every intention of cheering you up. Yet to imagine who is behind the make-up just depresses me. The unappreciated work that must go into putting on a face, picking out an outfit, and walking proudly in those shoes is tragic and obscene. These are the clowns arriving in this sad song. Arriving too late, if at all.

Sad songs bring the listless to the dance floor. The acne boys smile.

In the winter it’s Townes Van Zandt and Leonard Cohen and a bowl of soup.

Lately though it’s been this song, Send in the Clowns, specifically the Judy Collins version even though Mark Kozelek does it better I prefer Judy’s as it brings out the middle aged woman in me. I cried once while watching a Fleetwood Mac concert on VH1, Lindsey was singing and Stevie quietly came up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder for the duration of the song. Each year I become obsessed with a song (Kiss Me Deadly being a close second this year), but I’m a poor listener as I tend to not pay attention to what the song means and I could care less about what the chords are. I simply play it repeatedly because of how it makes me feel. Send in the Clowns tells me it’s ok to be a failure, to have regrets, to shake at the big sweeping decisions.

Man, I’ve been in bands since I was 15, I’ll be 33 next week and there are many nights where I’m a failure. And I have no intention of quitting. How do you continue? Well, you listen to Send in the Clowns, drink heavily, and consider yourself fortunate if someone is sleeping next to you.

Be it artistic or personal people seek approval. Praise is rare. Simple and honest recognition goes along way. The narrator in the song seems to have carried his/her life on the success or failure of a career and only at the end when no one is there does it seem to have an impact. When we are old will we be satisfied on how we treated our family and friends? Or will we wake up to the son of a bitch we really were. “I thought that you’d want what I’d want, sorry my dear”

Buy: The Very Best of Judy Collins | Roadside Graves – You Won’t Be Happy With Me
++
MP3: Judy Collins – “Send In The Clowns”
MP3: Mark Kozelek – “Send In The Clowns”
MP3: Roadside Graves – “Far and Wide”
MP3: Roadside Graves – “Liv Tyler”