The Sheepdogs - 3 album discography

If you like:
CCR
The Doors
Van Morrison
Steve Miller band

Skip this one if you don't like:
Classic rock
Blues rock



The Sheepdogs is a modern day classic rock throwback.  It's an old fashioned bluesy rock band, though there are hints of modern influences, especially in the first album.  But for the most part, the sound has remained constant over three albums and sets a retro tone reminiscent of old school Canadian and American southern/blues rock bands.
The guitarist, Leot Hanson, sounds like something you'd hear from Steve Miller Band.  The vocalist would fit in alongside their fellow countrymen CCR.  Overall, the band also has some similar styles as Van Morrison and The Doors, too. 
The vocals are a big part of their retro sound.  It almost sounds like singer Ewan Currie uses old equipment to match their old sound.  They might use other lo-fi techniques (using digital methods to give it an older sound), or it might just be his voice alone.  The rest of the band, including bassist Ryan Gullen and drummer Sam Corbett, frequently provide back up vocals.

Combine all of that, and a focus on melody, harmony and groove, and it makes for a great sound. 



Trying to Grow 2007

While it's still primarily classic rock sounding, there are a couple songs that sound more like post-punk Brit rock than anything else.  "Hang on to Yourself", for one, is catchy and the backup vocals repeat the same line throughout.  Even the theme (keep your love to yourself) seems Brit pop.  "You Never Listen" also has this style, especially in the guitar playing.  While it's not that far off of their main style, it shows that they can pull from other influences.

The best song on this album is "Heading Down".  It's a classic sounding rock song with a choppy piano.  Check here to listen.

"Tonight" shows a more haunting, gloomy side.  It also has quite the picking guitar solo in the middle.  Similarly, "Shine On" is a slower classic rock melody with a psychedelic tint, especially in the guitar solo.  It reminds me of the Animals' song "House of the Rising Sun" with the mournful singing.




Learn and Burn 2010

This is their best album by far and is packed with jamming songs.  It starts out with "The One You Belong To", a good song for listeners who like a strong guitar.
It blends into "Please Don't Lead Me On".  Here, the modern Brit sound from the last album has been replaced by a slight Beatles style, though still heavily framed by their North American influences.

"I Don't Know" is straight up old fashioned rock.  It's a contender for their best song overall, and has a CCR influence.  "I Don't Get By" is also a great song, it features swooning guitar and a picked guitar, giving it a western sound.
There is influence from The Doors in this album, noticeably in "Learn and Burn", which is a mellow smooth song.  "Right On" might also demonstrate some of their influence.

"Southern Dreaming" is a lighthearted song with electric guitar picking.  The vocals are scarce on this song and it makes for a good feeling song."Rollo Tomasi" is their Van Morrison influenced song.  While his voice is nowhere near as suave as Morrison's, the horns and piano create a classy sound.

"Catfish 2 Boogaloo" is a more rocking, jamming song.  I'm putting this song up because, while there are better songs on this album, this track will appeal to just about anyone.

The Sheepdogs 2012

Their latest, self titled, album stays consistent with the previous one.  One major difference is in the guitars.  They use more distortion and so it sometimes has a newer feel to it.  "Feeling Good" is a great song that features some of the distortion.  Overall, even though the first couple of albums featured numerous guitar solos, they just seem more prominent in this album.

"Alright Ok" is a good song that is more traditional rock.  Similarly, "The Way it Is" hits just a little harder than most of their songs.

Some of the songs show a heavy blues influence, such as "Ewan's Blues" and "Is Your Dream Worth Dying For?"
I can hear some of The Rolling Stones in "While We're Young".

Obviously they have a long history of rock n roll to draw from, and they stay true to their roots while maintaining a new sound.

Check out this music video for "Feeling Good", apparently inspired by the movie Team America.

Wakarusa 2014 - 3 of 3

This is, without a doubt, the best festival lineup I have ever seen.  Without further ado, here is the final lineup release for Wakarusa 2014.



The String Cheese Incident
Wakarusa has a lot of big name festival bands this year, and one of the biggest of all is The String Cheese Incident.  It's quite impressive that we'll get to see this band that announced their retirement seven years ago.  Luckily for us, they've continued to play a few festival shows each summer.  True musicians can never just walk away from their legacy.  This bluegrassy jam band has been playing for awhile and they leave an awestruck crowd in their wake.  Many say they are the best live band to see, so I'm excited for my first chance to catch SCI.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
It's been fun watching this group's rise over the last few years.  This band creates a unique gospel rock sound.  They feature Alex Ebert (no one in the band is actually named Edward)  and Jade Castrino, a folky duo that compliment each other well.  They're capable of creating catchy folk pop songs or surreal haunting melodies.  They're rather hipstery, but you don't have to be embarrassed to like this band.

Infected Mushrooms
This Israeli duo has been around for awhile, well known in the scene but never really famous like some new DJs have become.  They're primarily dubstep, but they've been around longer than the dubstep movement, so there is a wide range of influences.  One of the guys even does vocals for some of their songs, giving them an occasional industrial rock sound.  But they won't shy away from throwing down some raving trance either.  I've kind of forgotten about these guys, and now that I've revisited them, I remember how much I used to like their music.  This will be one of the big electronic shows on the mountain this year, so check them out beforehand.

Adventure Club
This is a technopop group, unique for being more of a dubstep based technopop where most groups like this are more of trance style.  At first, I thought the singer was part of the group, due to similar vocals in some of their songs. But then I heard Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, so it appears that they primarily mix a lot of indie pop songs, mostly with female singers.

EOTO
This is sort of an experimental electronic group was born out of what was supposed to be the end of The String Cheese Incident.  They've played a ridiculously large number of shows after SCI went into their slowdown.  It's some decent, slightly down tempo music, but it doesn't do a whole lot for me.  I can see where they're coming from, but at the same time I wonder how popular these guys would really be if it wasn't for their predecessor. 

3LAU
3LAU is a trance DJ that mixes pop songs.  His style is the definition of trance, in my mind, though he does experiment with some technique that is more often found in womp.  If you're a fan of radio pop music, you'll recognize some Miley and Britney in there.

Claude VonStroke
This is a minimilist DJ, he makes music that is sort of experimental.  He uses a lot of steady high pitched beats that are almost MIDI beats.

Vintage Trouble
A southern rock band.  The singer has silky smooth voice to the point that he's practically an R&B singer.  But it works pretty well.  They throw some blues in there too.

The Werks
Smooth dreamy electro jams, not unlike STS9 but perhaps more a little less electro and a little more chill rock-heavier on the guitar, occasional vocals mixed in with jams.

Minnesota
This is a sweet melodic, slightly psychedelic mixture.  It seems like a mixture of trance and bass, going back and forth between the two styles.  A unique mixture that he's brought here to Lincoln with many live performances.

Black Joe Lewis
Black Joe Lewis is a dirty southern rock band with some horns and a singer with a rough screamy voice.  On some songs they have a touch of funk, others have a touch of rockabilly.  Overall a lively sound.

Reignwolf
A more traditional southern rock sound, but the guitars are heavier than any of the other bands on this list.  This gives it a driving, hard rock sound.

J Roddy Walston and The Business
These guys are a indie rock band with some folk and southern influences.  The music is upbeat and light while the lyrics are a bit darker.  The combination sets up a mood that they're reckless and paying the price for it, but life is more fun that way.  Check them out, you'll know right away if you like it.

Poolside
This is a discoy technopop, but a different sort of technopop - it's easy listening and relaxing.  Groovy and has a heavy jam band influence as well

The Dirty Guv'nahs
Another talented rock band.  This one has more of a classic rock sound.  A touch of southern rock but really just more of a contemporary rock band.  They have faster based rock songs and a few ballads.  For instruments, they employ a violin and steel guitar.

Nahko and Medicine for the People
Before Wakarusa started releasing their lineup, I was going to create a full blog for these guys.  Nahko makes a Hawaiian tropical music that is close to being reggae, but not quite.  There are some other unique influences as well.  A Native American sound permeates some of their songs, others have a shamanistic tint.  His accent is soothing and uplifting.  It works very well with his style of socially conscience music.  This band will certainly become more popular very soon, you can mark my words on that one.

The Pimps of Joytime
This is a funky band, sort of a throwback of groovier times, but they also use some electronic elements.  The groove is supplemented with some hip hop that will find favor even with people who don't like that genre.

Keys N Krates
More chipmunk trap?  This is an electronic style that uses a lot of odd sound effects.  Notably, the voices are all distorted to sound high pitched.

Ott
Ott produces music that can be both ambient and intense.  Sometimes it's a slowed down psychedelic trance style, but he'll throw in just a little bit of womp.  Nothing like dubstep, but just enough to make his music a little more potent.  And for good measure, there's some tribal/worldly sounds thrown in as well.

Wick-it the Instigator
This is a hard hitting style of drum and bass, it's wompy and a little industrial.  Fans of Bassnectar will find some good tracks from this guy.

Dopapod
 Groovy jam band sound, a little bit of electronica from the keyboards, but more oldschool than anything.  Although a few times they get full on electronic.

Aaron Behren and the Midnight Stroll
Aaron Behren is the singer from Ghostland Observatory.  I can't find much else besides one song on soundcloud.  It's a weird rock song.  Better than most of Ghostland, but no where near as good as their best songs.  Apparently his former band is on hiatus, but they have said they will be back.

The Funk Hunters
This is a group of DJs that mix a lot of really funky music.  Sometimes their music is borderline electro jam, but they're mixing the music, so it can also have a little bit of womp to it.  The grooviest DJs that I've heard.

Fort Knox 5
Fort Knox 5 is another DJ funk group, but they also play shows with a band.  They have a wide range of remixes and styles, from reggae to worldly to hip hop.  Their range and instrumentals probably puts these guys ahead of The Funk Hunters.  They're a little less womp and more hip hop, and they do it very well.

Stickybuds
This is some dubstep that is more dub than...step.  By which I mean there is a big focus on reggae style music within his electronic beats.  Some of his tracks mix old funky songs.  He seems to do a lot of collaborations which tend to be a bit more glitchy. 

Mike Love
Traditional reggae, choppy beat, old school keyboards.  Any fan of reggae will appreciate his simple style.

Air Dubai
Air Dubai is a alternative hip hop group from Denver.  They seem a bit out of place on the Waka lineup; they're decent sounding, but it seems like something you'd hear on the 90's alternative station.  It's like a poppier version of The Flobots, though they're a lot more versatile. 

Twiddle
This is some watered down ska/reggae, more alternative, a little bit of funk.  The guy has a unique singing voice.  Choppy tropical beats and a hell of a guitar player gets pretty funky at times.

The Weeks
A post grunge alternative band, also reminds me of the 90s.  Could also be described as indie rock.  Calm singing in the verses so that he can tell a story, with louder, raging choruses.  The band has some similarities with Murder by Death, and the singer has the same accent/style as the singer from Bare Naked Ladies

The Ben Miller Band
I always get this band confused with someone else and assume they're a Jack Johnson wannabe.  But they're not.   They are actually deserving of a much higher spot on the lineup, because these guys are awesome.  Their southern rock sound mixes a little grunge and the singer's voice puts just a hint of sarcasm in his words.  Listen to them, you'll be glad you did.

SuperVision
Hip hop mixing DJ,  heavy on the synth.  Tracks without lyrics are almost psychedelic. Pretty lights label

Freddy Todd
A hard hitting DJ, a little more industrial.  Heavy bass, but doesn't have a lot of style

Space Capone
Pure disco throwback.  Groovy tunes and a superfly singer will swing it.  If you want to relive the 60s at Waka, make sure you hit up this show.

The Tarlatans
These guys have a rustic rock sound.  A little gritty, but mellow at the same time. 

Atlas Road Crew
Folky country band.  The guitars are a little too heavy to be called traditional country.

Coyote Union
Alternative country rock.  All the way at the bottom of the list, yet they still have some catchy songs.