We are good humored people. Never have we minded being the object of the Coen Brothers’ playful derision. We don’t even care that New York and Los Angeles have a hard time placing us on the map. Nor do the country bumpkin Midwestern jokes get too far under our skin. In fact, the people of Minneapolis, MN are well versed in the ways of the breezy, the ebullient, and the lighthearted. We love a good bit of sarcasm and a health dose of irony. When my favorite local band Halloween, Alaska (MySpace) included a cover of LL Cool J’s “I Cant Live Without My Radio” on their sophomore release Too Tall To Hide, I was expecting it to be at least a bit disingenuous. Now I can’t help but thinking the interpretation is completely sincere and unaffected – and I challenge you to disagree with me after hearing it. Add it to the list, already a mile long, of why I love James Diers and crew.
Although I dug a couple of years into the archives for this track, the band is nearly finished with their third album – which is sure to meet as much critical acclaim as have the others.
(Halloween, Alaska coverage on Come Pick Me Up)

[BUY] Halloween Alaska – Champagne Downtown on CD | Vinyl | iTunes

Halloween Alaska – I Can’t Live Without My Radio

http://vimeo.com/4566190

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When Tim asked me to participate as a guest blogger in the Home and Away series, I had a few questions I needed to unravel. Even though I just waxed poetic about my hometown, I am currently living in London. So, in the spirit of picking something further removed from where I lay my head, I wanted to highlight Glasgow’s Three Blind Wolves (MySpace). Their debut, the Sound of the Storm, is a tempered bit of alt-country and stands in sharp contrast to the band’s blistering headlining set at the Communion Music Christmas Party a couple of weeks back. Frontman Ross Clark was pretty much made for the stage.
I am over the moon about them, really. I wish I could tell you more, but they render me inarticulate. The new single “Echo on the Night Train” is, I hope, a precursor to a fantastic full length.
(Three Blind Wolves coverage on Come Pick me Up)

[BUY] Three Blind Wolves on iTunes

Three Blind Wolves – Echo On The Night Train

Blogger Picks Home & Away is our way of showcasing 12 of the best music bloggers around as we move towards 2011, and getting out of them a favourite band from their home town alongside a more international act they would like to hear more from. This post was written by Lizzy Jones from Come Pick Me Up which has stayed on my must read list since 2005 with a mass of great musical discoveries from Lizzy jumping back and forth Minnesota and London.