Trials & Errors

A live album from these indie southern trucker rockers lead by former Songs:Ohia frontman Jason Molina. Songs:Ohia released an album called Magnolia Electric Company in 2003 and now that’s what the band is called (sort of like Microphones->Mt. Eerie). A fairly clean recording but there’s plenty of grit and dirt in the playing; this sounds like the sort of thing you’d hear on a Saturday night in a truck stop. Molina’s voice warbles and falters in its characteristic way and he’s not afraid to sing over almost no backing. Some Songs: Ohia favs on here, some soon-to-be Magnolia Electric Co. favs and some that will only appear here. Generally, songs start out pretty tame and build near the end.
-Adrian
My picks: 1, 3, 4, 6, 9 FCC on 1
1. (5:51) FCC (“shit” at 2:25 left). sparse verses, strong choruses and elsewhere. great chorus. ends about 0:20 left.
2. (5:50) soft beginning. pretty countryish backing. doesn’t get too raucous. ends about 0:30 left.
3. (8:49). plodding drums/ guitar beginning. ends about 0:25 left.
4. (9:13) a S:O fav. med-slow paced. starts pretty tame, mostly Molina’s voice. nice build/ tension. ends with about 0:35 left.
5. (8:20) med tempo. lots of solo. song ends about 1:00 left
6. (6:00) a S:O fav. the originally was sparse, this is not.
7. (6:38) a S:O fav. starts fairly sparse. this continues from 6. starts really quiet and really comes in with the song about 0:30 in, ends with about 0:35 left.
8. (6:21) trumpet! a little more up-tempo (but not much), not as much build as others. ends with about 0:54 left
9. (7:11), starts soft. trumpet again! pretty sparse until the last couple minutes and builds to full pretty suddenly. fake ending! ends for real about 0:28 left.
10. (7:58) pretty full from the beginning. ends with about 0:50 left.