2006-12-06

The Joggers


First, a word to other bloggers / podcasters: Steve Albini wrote a famous piece on the problem with the music industry, basically making people crawl through a long pit of caca. That's how I feel after looking for a new file host for the mp3s on this blog. I was going to try and stay all-free and was going with fileden.com, which has now been unaccessible for several days, delaying the two of my one-two punch. I won't often hawk products or services, usually nothing but music, but let me throw a big shout out to Liberated Syndication. After wading through a shit-storm of spam and bad deals and geeks with computers in their bedroom setting up "file hosting", and the inherent problems with anything free (can't just get your money back, heh), I must say the deal these guys have is the best. They specialize in media and podcast hosting, and for five bucks a month you get 100MB a month (that's right - your previous month is archived on a slightly slower server, but kept FOREVER, and you get a NEW 100MB every month) plus UNLIMITED BANDWIDTH! If they can keep this up, it should easily become a favorite hosting spot for mp3 & vid blogs, and again, after weighing a buttload of alternatives, this is one bandwagon I jump on gladly. So basically, I'm going to leave the previous Christmas Mix on fileden.com so it should be the only limited-time offering from this blog. All mp3 links from here on out should work as long as this blog is alive!

And now that I'm all set, if you are one of the three people to still be reading this in the early stages of the blog, let me now at the outset promise I will post at least once a week. No matter what, even if it's just diggin out an old classic or some new bootleg, I will post something (hopefully new to you) every week.



Now, on with the music. I can't promise the music here will always be brand-new, but I can promise it will be good. Usually really good. And in the case of Portland's Joggers, if you pay attention and sometimes give it some time, I can promise that it will be great. It's sometimes hard to pin down favorite bands, but the Joggers' talent is so awe-inspiring, their depth so mind-boggling, their voice so unique yet rocking, that I can say without hesitation that they are my favorite current band. They are simply the band I've been looking for. But don't take my word for it, that's what this blog is for! A lot of mp3s from the two official Joggers releases have appeared on blogs, so I'm only going to put up a song from each of those just in case you're unfamiliar with them and aren't one of the Joggers hounds here for the rarer stuff.



First off is the Cajun Gems, an offshoot of the Joggers featuring singer/guitarist/songwriter Ben Whitesides and bassist Darrell Bourque. It's like a much folkier Joggers, with banjo and pickin', and it is available exclusively from the band for eight bucks. Listen to the two songs here and go to the Cajun Gems site and listen to those as well, and realise that there is a total of 22 of these gems on the disk! This is the one indie DIY recording you absolutely positively have to have in your collection!





The Joggers' first release (not rhino picture, see bottom of post) was self-titled and contained eight songs. It is now completely out of print and very hard to find. Four of these songs later appeared on "Solid Guild" and the song "Devil Wears Earplugs" appeared on the Startime Records comp. I'm putting up two of the unreleased songs, and leaving one to still give completists something to strive for. [edit: see below]a Joggers flier - not an album




And here's one from the first and second albums, which again you can cut out the middle man and buy from the band themselves!




Don't forget to check out their Myspace page for their straight-up cover of the Yes classic "Long Distance Runaround". The Joggers are currently at work on their third album, leaving 0.032% of this country's population in breathless anticipation.



This is hilarious... This post is over two and a half months old, my second ever, and someone just now asks about the whole tracklist that I should have put up to begin with, [see comments] and I suddenly realize what I dumbass I am. I never claimed otherwise, only to be a dumbass with good musical taste! There aren't four songs from the Joggers first s/t album on "Solid Guild", there are only three, therefor there were actually two songs from the s/t album (released in 2002) that I didn't post. I should smoke only after I'm done with posting... anyways, out of sheer embarassment, and out of the realization that I paid a lot for this and even if a copy comes up again you might not win it, and because it's totally out of print, here's the last two remaining tracks, so putting together the three ("3") remaining tracks from "Solid Guild" and the song from the Startime Records comp will let you assemble the whole thing.


Joggers "First Straw"

Joggers "Cabin Fever"


Edit (again): The Joggers first s/t album mentioned above is now for sale exclusively through their website! along with the even rarer Stateside EP, so I'm taking down these songs, but check out the Joggers Merch page for both the LP and EP and even more mp3s.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, thanks for all the rarities and info, I'll be coming back here often :) me>>(http://www.last.fm/user/h_black) & the joggers (http://www.last.fm/group/The+Joggers). keep it up.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the Joggers. I'd never heard these old tracks! Just out of curiousity, is the fourth unreleased track you didn't post "No Dice"?

funeralpudding said...

Nope, "No Dice" is a new one. The only other unreleased track on the Joggers s/t (that I didn't post) is called "Cabin Fever"

Anonymous said...

Wow! I'm glad I caught this post before the mp3s disappeared. Never heard these 2 early songs before. Can you post the track order of the original 8 song release?

funeralpudding said...

sure! I probably should have posted the tracklist before, I remember when I was bidding on this on ebay I couldn't find much info on it, including tracklist... I'll edit the post and put it there. And thanks for thanks!

also... these mp3s (and most on the blog) should be good for the life of the blog, so tell your friends!

Anonymous said...

Hey, thanks for the quick response. What year was this released? I can't seem to Google any info about it. Also, aren't only 3 of these on Solid Guild? I don't think I've ever heard "The First Straw" either (unless it was renamed or something). Thanks again, these guys might be my current favorite too - I definitely feel your "band I've been looking for" sentiment.

funeralpudding said...

I'm usually really bad with song titles, but it didn't take me more than a second to go, "wait, 'First Straw' isn't on 'Solid Guild'"... even after answering the above question about the missing track(s) I failed to catch my own goof. Good eyes, here's your prize...

Anonymous said...

Haha, I didn't want to come right out and ask you to post the remaining mp3s, so I figured I'd just badger you with questions until it was your only option to do so. Anyway, in all seriousness, much appreciated. I would surely buy it if I could find it.
-Sean

drumbschool said...

'birds' was released in 2002. In 2001 Stateside(our lamer-named original incarnation) self released the 'One Timer' EP.Even more out of print than 'birds'.Glad to hear people seeking out the oldies. Try to find a way to post some stuff, but i'm not very tech-savvy.
stay gold

funeralpudding said...

What the hell are you doing posting here - you're supposed to be so busy with the new album that you can't make it to sxsw! ;)