Mid-Year Champeen

My mid-year nominee for Album of the Year is unquestionably Grand Champeen's dial T for this.

This morning I just took the rare step--post kids, job, and ipod--of listening to the whole album all the way through. There's hardly a dud on the record. Indie alt-country rock at its finest.

I first noticed Champeen when they were featured on a album of Elvis Costello covers, where they ripped through No Action. (Loyal listeners heard their version of that Elvis classic on THLS 2003.) I bought a full album at that time and was disappointed at how uneven their music was.

No longer. dial T is one of the most consistent set of fast driving (can't say hard driving with all those hooks) 2:40 songs I have heard in years. Although they are aptly compared to the Replacements and Soul Asylum, there is something bigger/older in this records. I can't quite place it, but there is something of the harmonies, song structures, and low tech production that stimulates the Byrds Beatles Who Monkey's part of my admittedly addled musical brain.

Champeen are reputed to tear it up on stage. Listeners will have little doubt of that fact.

Champeen's web presence also reflects a generational (speaking in web time) shift. Their self-named website is completely out of date, and essentially acts as a referral to their myspace page.

At myspace, you can hear them, and find out that their only scheduled show is at the Hole in the Wall, tonight.