Lance has been heard on a few radio stations on the east coast and also at CBGB’s NYC gallery. I think he has a great sound. His voice is warming, and his guitar is soothing, but being from Nashville he puts in a southern sound at the same time, and that makes it interesting.
This CD doesn't get old because the sound keeps changing. It took four years to make and started in 1998 as a band project, but the band split during the process, then he began recording as a solo artist from that point, you can hear the bands influence on "oh baby oh". During the recording process his girlfriend was murdered while studying abroad. While it took him a while to recover from that, when he began recording again his style had changed. And you can hear as the cd progresses. It was an interesting recording process bringing in all kinds of musicians to pitch in.
Most of the recording was done only in three takes or less, except for track 3, falling again. Often it was the first take. On track five the song “By Right”, is a poem by his departed lover. Lance really just wanted to go out and see what happened, so he put recording gear in the car, it was winter time and he drove downtown. He was gonna speak the poem on a street corner, but a fellow that he knew came up and said “Hey can I sing too?” Lance said “I guess so, but I don’t have a melody for this or a guitar.” So the man ran in someone’s house there on the street and grabbed an old acoustic guitar and they just did it there on the spot. The whooshing you hear is late night traffic.
I also took a listen to the 7" that Lance Whalen (playing “Out of Tune Love Song”) split with Andrew English (playing “My Sweet One”). Even though they only play one song each, I think it came out great. Lance said they had a lot of fun recording on an old 4 track at his home, and making vintage clothes to raise money to make the record and do radio promo. Check out lancewhalen.com to find out how to get a copy of this album and his 7”. 

MiGGs (from San Francisco, CA) is a fortunate band, fortunate because they are making it to the top. Being on tours such as the “Virgin College Mega Tour” and opening for bands like Cake, Gomez, Kid Rock, and Aerosmith. Their first album sold ten thousand copies without a record label to back them up! The band has recently signed on with 33rd street records.

I love the music on this CD, but I also love how they made it. The album was recorded in parts, as they wanted to do it themselfs at first (just like “Anyway”, the first album). But after realizing that they wanted to get more out of the recording, they turned to Gavin MacKillop (Goo Goo Dolls, Barenaked Ladies, Sugarcult), his people said NO, and so they where going to go with Ken Lewis. At the last minute Gavin called back and told them he would work with them. So they canceled the flight to NY and went to LA to record with Gavin. The album took about a month because Gavin is crazy in the best way and showed the guys how the tracks lay down and work together. After Gavin got sick and couldn’t work for a month (while MiGGs was just twiddling their fingers) the band went on to write “Suddenly Wonderful,” ”Maybe,” and ”Perfect.” They decided to record the three songs with and old friend and renowned studio guy, JC Convertino. Soon after, Gavin was ready to mix and finish the album. The band is glad they waited until early ‘05 instead of the big holiday season (when a lot of bigger bands release albums).
Needless to say the album is about insomnia. Since they wrote most of the songs suffering from insomnia, in the late nights and early mornings. If you listen to all fourteen tracks you will get a feel of it. Ten p.m. is “Suddenly Wonderful,” anything can happen at five a.m. so “Maybe” is the song for that. MiGGs isn’t trying to teach you or change the world with their lyrics, instead they want to connect with you and how you are feeling and thinking. They are just guys writing about relationships with parents, girls, friends, and band-mates, it’s all in there.
You can buy both MiGG’s albums on iTunes and some Tower Records locations, but always at towerrecords.com

Heima - In 2006 Sigur Ros toured the world returning home to IceLand so play a series of free unannounced shows to make the dvd Heima that means At Home. This DVD was filmed in 16 locations on IceLand, showing the beauty of the island and the people that live there. This is a 97 minute documentary with songs from all four Sigur Ros albums Hljómalind / Starálfur, Heim, Hvarf-Heim, and one new song titled "Heima" along with unreleased material.

This DVD starts out with a live performance and shows us how they are live in concert, extremely creative and interesting way of lighting on the stage. Then playing is a series of places through the island, in houses, outside and venues. I think the places they picked to play makes their music mean even that much more and add more passion to their music. This DVD has some of the best cinematography i've seen, with very unique shots and really shows the beauty of IceLand.

If you have never heard of Sigur Ros let me try and tell you a little about their music. SR is a band from Reykjavík, IceLand and They have a mellow sound but sometimes can pick up and get pretty energetic. The lead Voc Jón Þór Birgisson has a very unique sound to his voice and singing. The bands timing is beyond exceptional, perfect, and is something to look for when watching this DVD. This band is made up of truly talented musicians, in this DVD they all switch around from the piano, to the guitar to the drums, and to me being able to have diversity in your musical talent impressive me.

This band is not for everyone, it is not for the musically bland or the people that only like a band because they do back flips on stage and spit fire balls.

This band is defiantly one of the most amazing bands I've ever heard. GO buy this DVD, check them out, go listen,

www.sigurros.com
http://www.myspace.com/sigurros

Please watch this DVD trailor's for the Heima DVD
-

Sigur Rós - Deluxe Edition DVD Trailer