The Loop : Band of Horses - Everything All the Time

Band of Horses - Everything All the Time (2006)

It's become abundantly clear during this month of recollection that much of my music was influenced by the fact that I worked in college radio for four years. The concept of college radio was something relatively foreign to me at the time I started working there, but something I still hold dear as a catalyst not only for broadening my musical horizons, but setting the path of my career. While our station held several formalities sacred, we were just a bunch of music nerds who were lucky enough to have access to some really rad music before anyone else. After working at the labels, I realize that this is often deliberate, as it should be.

One such band was Band of Horses. The funny thing though, is that I was hooked on this band before even hearing a full song. We had ads that we ran every few songs or quick sweepers between songs, sometimes purchased but a lot of times promoting our on air programming. Our music department started putting together new sweepers of records that were added, with quick snippets of the songs. One of those sweepers featured Band of Horses, and the quick yet powerful chorus of "Wicked Gil" ("shut of to all, i'm yoooooooouuuurrrrrsssss") I kept making a mental note to check them out but kept forgetting, as I tend to do. A lot of people mentioned how much they liked even just that small clip, yet I don't know that the song was ever officially added (although I might be wrong)

Finally during one of my many trips to Hoodlums, I saw this record sitting on the top of the shelves and bought it. Not soon enough! Band of Horses is the kind of band that teeters the fine line of being credited with "like, totally changing music" and constantly being compared to their indie counterparts (ie-The Shins, My Morning Jacket, etc) Being on Sub Pop is the best and worst thing they could have done, because while they fit perfectly within that world, they also fell in the shadow as hipsters became more and more saturated with knock offs.

But you know what? This is a great record, no matter how you want to categorize it. They didn't break molds, but they did make a solid set of songs, which clearly reaches it's pinnacle with the exceptional track "The Funeral". Some of my favorite tracks however are the stripped down ones like "I Go to the Barn Because I Like The", and "St. Augustine". I think that's where they dig their feet firmly into the ground of being talented songwriters, in their purest form.

The next album shifted the band slightly as they lost one of the priciple songwriters to starting his own group Grand Archives (which I highly suggest as well) This challenge proved to be met by Cease to Begin, with familiar vocals but a clearly more "rocking" tone. It was obvious where some of the influence had come from Mat in the first record, but how the group bounced back as a strong set of performers to make an even stronger record.

Needless to say, most of us are feeling the pinch for a new Band of Horses record which has been rumored to be in the works and new songs performed live, but no official date yet. I don't know about the rest of you, but this is a band that I am fully anticipating an amazing showing from, because they've proven it from day one with Everything All the Time.

I'd love to throw in a "deeper cut", but damn, you can't deny this song. I was also going to put the official video, but this live one is incredible. Please tour soon!