Joseph Arthur - Bag is HOT

It appears that Mr. Arthur is following in the footsteps of Ryan Adams these days. Earlier this year he stated that he'd be releasing 4 EPs and a full length LP all by the time fall hits us. He's held up to that statement so far, but now he's taken it a step further with Bag is HOT. Check it out here.

Basically, he's taking the same approach Ryan has in the past by recording and releasing everything he ever does for the listening pleasure (and pain) of the fans. Now I should clarify this by saying that Jo's material here is significantly better than Ryan's rap or death metal fake-bands, but I get a little leery whenever an artist is releasing SO much material without any real editing taking place. There's reasons to have b-sides and unreleased tracks and it's usually because they aren't very good. Here's what the man himself has to say on his new project:

“’Bag is hot’…like fresh popcorn for all the kids to grab,” says Joseph. “Digital hands eating the digital popcorn. This project is fun and doesn’t have to be precious, but it’s hard not to take it seriously and really work on it. It’s not, ‘Bag is getting a little lukewarm - Bag is hot! It’s gonna be slang soon!”

Lonely Astronaut Records could be releasing the first installment of ‘Bag Is Hot’ sometime before 2009.

Now, after listening to some of these tracks I'll say that Joseph has some quality work here. It's a bit aggravating sifting through everything on the tumblr since most of it is random pictures, but once you've found a song you'll usually be rewarded for your patience. Here's all the songs (and dates they were posted to make it a bit easier to find) I've been able to locate:

"Straw Dogs" (5/11/08)
"One By One" (5/9/08)
“I’m In Your Life” (5/8/08)
“Fading” (5/5/08)
“Still Life Honey Rose” (5/4/08)
“Burning Wheel” (5/1/08)
“Father’s Eyes” (4/29/08)
“So Far Away” (4/27/08)
“If Yer Afraid” (4/24/08)
“My Eyes Follow You” (4/23/08)
“Blast Off” (4/22/08)
“Dark Forces” (4/21/08)
“Lovely Cost” (4/21/08)

I recommend subscribing to the RSS stream, it makes it a LOT easier to navigate through all the posts since most of the non-music posts are titled as such. Not that the photos aren't interesting and all, but it can take a while to get through it all if you just want to hear some music.

Oh yeah, and he's on tour. If he's coming near you it's an absolute-must-attend concert:

JOSEPH ARTHUR TOUR DATES (solo / acoustic unless otherwise noted)
June 11 Newcastle, UK - Cluny
June 12 Nottingham, UK - Maze
June 15 Manchester, UK - Night & Day
June 16 Glasgow, UK - King Tuts
June 17 Birmingham, UK - Glee Club
June 19 London, UK - Union Chapel
July 4 Montreal, QC - Club Soda
July 9 Boston, MA - Paradise
July 10 Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live
July 11 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom (JA & the Lonely Astronauts)
July 12 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell’s (solo)
July 15 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
July 18 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
July 21 Portland, OR - Doug Fir
July 22 Seattle, WA - Triple Door
July 24 Vancouver, BC - The Media Club
July 26 Guelph, ON - Hillside Festival

Sadly, he's not coming anywhere near me. I can't really blame him since the last two times he came to Salt Lake only me, Stu and 10 other people showed up. Damn Utahns.

Anyways, here's a few MP3s from this whole Bag is Hot adventure. I'm really diggin' Straw Dogs right now, but the songs range from the "acoustic style" JA to the "spacey style" JA. There should be something here for everyone.

[mp3] Straw Dogs
[mp3] I'm In Your Life

Buy some Joseph Arthur: Amazon | iTunes
Visit him online: Official | Myspace | Tumblr (Bag is Hot)