perfect timing

man, did that early daylight savings time thing confuse the hell out of me this morning.  but the good news is, now if i get a 9-5 job, i can still take the dog out after work and it won't be dark yet.  so that's good.

i think the main purpose of this blog, other than posting free association fiction and babbling about what cds i want to get, is to talk about some of the criminally underexposed musical artists that i love.

which brings us to what i think is my first post about that.  because i happened to reach this artist today in my "alphabetical musical listening project" i've been doing for the past over-a-year.

i can't remember what exactly first got me interested in tom daily.  i know it was related to him being in the smoking popes.  and probably him being on double zero records, which was run by mike felumlee, awesome drummer and message board poster.  that must have helped.  and i know it had something to do with a trip to secondspin, a local used cd shop.  i don't remember if i sought him out or just kinda remembered his name upon seeing it.  but it was pretty cheap, so i picked up one of his albums, The Burlington Northern.

i re-discovered tom daily today.  not that i had totally forgotten about him.  i just wasn't sure what to think as i saw his name come closer and closer on my music listening project.  sure, i had been enjoying the toasters on a nostalgia trip.

but this TD experience was more than nostalgia.  sure, i knew every song and would have likely sung along, had my girlfriend not been in the next room, ready to judge me.  

ooh, maybe it was his smoking popes cover.  one of the finest covers i have ever heard.  even though the popes song ("The First Time") is like a b side or something.  but he makes it brilliant.  but maybe that's where i discovered him.

he's an artist i remember pimping out to friends back then.  back when we all listened to faux-emo bullshit.  tom daily was such a refreshing change from that.  is this where i talk about the music?

people kinda compare him to the elephant 6 collective a lot.  at least from what i read today.  what i will say about him...he sounds midwestern.  his voice is VERY midwestern.  but the musicianship is so fresh.  it's experimental--not unlike the elephant 6 collective--with layers and distortion and sounds that sound so strange yet familiar (especially at this point for me.  now that The Burlington Northern is so comforting, like the gravy my dad makes every thanksgiving, you don't know what's in it but it's delicious and makes you feel all nostalgic), but it's also driving and there are even straight up pop songs.

ok, the reason i called this post "perfect timing" is because his myspace has a free song to download called "Daylight Savings Time."  however, it's a live recording and really not indicative of his greatness.  just know that i planned on posting that song (but you can still get it on his myspace).

but instead, here's perhaps my favorite song of his.

What's It Like - from The Burlington Northern - pick up the cd for $10 at thick records.

more at myspace.com/tomdaily (he actually has quite a few tracks available for free download here)