The State Lottery - When The Night Comes

Of all the great records that I got from If You Make It in the last couple years, the debut record from The State Lottery was definitely one of the best. Cities We're Not From was a great slice of post-college indie rock based in rock of the classic variety, but in an entirely genuine fashion. The mixed gender franchise knocked it out of the park. The new record, When The Night Comes (which I'm ashamed to find escaped my radar when it came out last fucking Fall), ups the horn, and by proxy Springsteen, factor in the proceedings. Niki McUmber wields the brass for The State Lottery and kills pretty much every track she blows on. I'm pretty sure she's the female on Future Selves, and if that is the case, she may very well be MVP of the franchise.

And what a franchise it is. The Springsteen seed has grown anew in the gardens of The Hold Steady and Jason Anderson in recent history with good results. There is the companion hackneyed minstrel crap like The Asslight Anthem, but most of those that have drank of the Bruce juice have done so in a pleasing fashion. When TSL aren't making the big rock ala Springsteen and keep the horn at bay, they rock in a pleasant The Riot Before meets Superchunk sort of way that is pretty top-notch. I blew it and missed their set last week, but while you are taking the time to grab When The Night Comes over at If You Make It, check out the live footage from the Ridgewood show. Maybe think about dropping some coin for their good works. You can get vinyl over at Salinas. As the band members are spread to the four corner of the US, I would expect future shows are going to be scarce, but keep an eye here at the TSL web presence and hope they get back on the road or in the studio soon.

R

Little Lungs - Hoist Me Up

Regular JS-NYC readers (this means you, Mom) may recall my being kinda lukewarm about Little Lungs, then catching feelings for them pretty hard after one of their live shows. Well, after only a half-year of slacking, I managed to come up with a copy of their record. Yowza! I am now officially all about Little Lungs. Split between Jersey and Brooklyn, the trio really does a great job of catching their lightning in a bottle on Hoist Me Up. It's a great recording, especially with the vocals. Neither Angie nor Jackie is in any danger of being mistaken for Mahalia Jackson, but they are great to listen to, alone or together. There's a healthy dose of Lemuria / Potboiler end of the If You Make It vibe about the proceedings, as well as some early 90s North Carolina. Rarely is this a bad thing, and Little Lungs do no injustice to the pairing. I can't say enough good things about Little Lungs or Hoist Me Up. Buy it immediately from the good folk of Salinas Records. Here's a link.

R

If You Make It demos, part five: The State Lottery

Yowza! Now here's a great fucking record. And let me point out from the onset that it's free. Evidently the parties that comprise The State Lottery are scattered between the outer boroughs of our fair city and the charmingly bucolic town of Detroit, Michigan. If the separation is what's keeping me from seeing The State Lottery live, I may have to personally sponsor a reunion. 

The State Lottery sound like a band that's moving out the back end of their punk phase into a more roots rock direction. Don't get me wrong, it's going to be a long time before anyone confuses The State Lottery with The Jayhawks, but you can hear the band champing at the bit to evolve. That said, there's nothing to complain about on Cities We're Not From. The faster stuff sounds like Potboiler or maybe early Buffalo Tom. It's a little cleaner than Birdbrain or records of that caliber, but whoever's writing the songs in The State Lottery is showing all the signs of being as much of a threat. Really. I'm not saying that The State Lottery are as good as Buffalo Tom were at this stage in the game, but I'm already salivating at the prospect of the next recording.

Get the record for free here. Leave a damn donation already.

You can buy it on vinyl (colored too, nerd) from the good folk of Salinas here

Stay tuned for more The State Lottery info and check out the web presence here.

R