The Deep Dark Woods

HearYa introduced me to the band The Deep Dark Woods with the song Hang Me, Oh Hang Me. I like these alt-country Canadians very much. The rich and compelling vocals include some good harmonies, and the band incorporates the banjo, mandolin, and organ seamlessly, without making a gimmick of them.

I recommend listening to them on their MySpace, streaming nine songs on ReverbNation here, or listening and buying on CD Baby. You can also download two mp3s, including Hang Me courtesy of Berkeley Place here. Better yet, listen to both their self-titled first release and their 2007 disc titled Hang Me, Oh Hang Me on CD Baby and purchase them so maybe they will have enough money to tour near you.

While streaming them, I heard the song River in the Pines just now, and damn these kids are agreeably good.

DDW’s Hang Me is an interpretation of the folk song I’ve Been All Around This World, which was also covered by Jerry Garcia (listen to a clip here) and Bob Dylan. I came to the song last year via a more traditional version by Oliver Buck on the 2007 album Rust Belt Blues (listen and buy here).

Favorite Albums of 2007

I am so incensed by the exclusion of Into the Wild’s soundtrack from year-end lists, I am creating a 2007 best albums list. Everyone else thinks they’re righting the world’s wrongs, too, but so be it.

stellasplice’s favorite albums of 2007:

Boxer ~ The National
MySpace Site Buy

Music for the Motion Picture Into the Wild ~ Eddie Vedder
Buy and Listen

The Shepherd’s Dog ~ Iron & Wine
MySpace Site Buy

Because of the Times ~ Kings of Leon
MySpace Site Buy

Marry Me ~ St. Vincent
MySpace Site Buy

Glory Hope Mountain ~ The Acorn
MySpace Site Buy

Buckle in the Bible Belt ~ Ha Ha Tonka
MySpace Site Buy 

Oh, My Darling ~ Basia Bulat
MySpace Site Buy

Music for the Motion Picture Once ~ Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard
MySpace Site Buy

Rust Belt Blues ~ Oliver Buck
MySpace Site Buy

The Stage Names ~ Okkervil River
MySpace Site Buy

These two were quite good, but I unfairly wanted them to be Wolf Parade and The Shins, respectively, so I never could fall for them wholeheartedly:
Random Spirit Lover ~ Sunset Rubdown
Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? ~ Of Montreal (though it is my fav. Of Montreal disc)

I love the following artists. However good their 2007 discs may have been, they did not measure up to the artists’ previous releases, so they have been relegated to addendum status:
The White Stripes
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
José González
Spoon
The New Pornographers
Beirut (he swallowed up Alaska in Winter, too)
Modest Mouse
The Shins
Elliott Smith
The Polyphonic Spree