The Avett Brothers Cometh

The Avett Brothers major label debut, I and Love and You, is 18 days away. I'm looking forward to it with cautious optimism. I'm very excited that Rick Rubin produced it, and I think he's getting a hold of them at just the right time; but still I wonder how it's going to sound. As I see it, the biggest challenge they're going to face is the same one that most artists of the folk-rock genre face: making a record that can keep me interested from start to finish. I've heard two tracks from it thus far on the fabulous 1690 AM, both of them sweet, folksy and melodic and very good songs. But if this album doesn't do a good job of featuring their hard edge and obvious punk influence, I think it will be a big disappointment, and their run as a major label recording artist will be pretty brief.

Rick Rubin has his fair share of haters out there, but I am not one of them. Most of the things he's produced are 'Very Good' (The Cult Electric; Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill, Run DMC Raisin' Hell) at a bare minimum, with a good number of things that I would call 'Fucking Brilliant' (Slayer Reign in Blood; Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back), and only a small smattering of efforts that I would classify as "Shit Sandwiches" (Everything the Red Hot Chili Peppers have done since Mother's Milk, the entire System of a Down discography, Danzig 4). In particular, Rubin has shown a knack for bringing out the best in Country and Folk artists. Look, I'm sick of all of the Johnny Cash American Recordings albums too, but think about how much you loved that stuff before the hipsters ruined it. They were great albums. It'll be interesting to see how this shakes out. I'm certain that I and Love and You won't be a 'Shit Sandwich', but it may fail to live up to the band's potential, and that would be a shame.

Below is a clip that I copped from Spin.com. The band talks about its past, and you can hear some clips from a song off the new record called "January Wedding".




That's all for now. This weekend is a relatively big one for music in Atlanta. I'm definitely going to see Son Volt at the Variety tonight, thus foregoing a chance to see The Effigies, who are playing at the Earl. I'm planning on going to see The Howlies at the Earl on Saturday night, as they're just coming off a somewhat lengthy tour and are probably as tighter than a hangman's noose. That and they're just a great fucking band anyways. See you around.