Today, energetic, catchy garage-rock band NE-HI released their second album Offers via Grand Jury. To give you some insight into the music that inspires the band, bassist James Weir put together this playlist. Give it a listen and have a great weekend!
– Dave Lucas, Talkhouse Marketing Manager
“Talk About the Passion” – R.E.M.
Our guitarist Mikey handed me this R.E.M. tape called Eponymous a few years back and it’s been in rotation for me ever since. This is just an amazing stripped-down track from their early catalog that has a really memorable chorus and started my love affair with the band.
“Last Train” – Allen Toussaint
I went down to New Orleans with my girlfriend at the time about two years ago today. I wasn’t super familiar with the music culture down there until then. I’ll never forget driving through the French Quarter listening to this track. Toussaint has been a staple ever since.
“Everybody Daylight” – Brightblack Morning Light
A good friend from L.A. turned me on to this group and originally told me they recorded their record in a mud hut using only solar power. That’s probably not true, but it sure sounds like it. Great driving song.
“Baby” – Donnie and Joe Emerson
Maybe the ultimate romantic mixtape song? These dudes recorded when they were like seventeen on their dad’s farm. Their dad actually invested in a recording studio for them because he believed in their music so much. If you don’t know the story, the record didn’t get much traction until Light in the Attic records re-issued it a few years back and now hipsters everywhere get the chance to make out to this timeless track.
“Rescue” – Echo and the Bunnymen
Our first year as a band we got asked to play a Halloween party as another band and we chose Echo and the Bunnymen. We learned four of their songs in about thirty minutes right before the show and it turned out, umm, pretty awful! Although we botched their classics, they remain one of our biggest influences.
“Unsatisfied” – The Replacements
This is probably in my top twenty songs of all time. I have so many memories driving around my hometown in Minnesota blasting this in my ’96 Honda Civic. One of the first things I heard that blended melodic guitar with unbridled punk energy and hooky simple lyrics that still resonate today. Minnesota pride!
“Windows” – Angel Olsen
The drumming, her voice, the production. We went to school down the street from a coffee shop she worked at and I had always seen her around Chicago, but never heard her music ’til recently. One of the best making music today.
“Like a Ship” – Pastor T.L. Barrett
Our recording engineer, Dave Vettraino, turned me on to this track during a conversation we were having about Chicago soul. It’s mindblowingly good! He used a youth choir and some really loud blown-out tambourines to make one of the best gospel songs I’ve ever heard.
“Woghenei” – Hailu Mergia
Last year, I saw a movie called Broken Flowers by one of my favorite directors Jim Jarmusch. The majority of the score is done by a very famous Ethiopian jazz musician named Mulatu Astatke. I had the chance to see one of his contemporaries, Hailu Mergia, play in Chicago a couple of months back. This gentleman was a cab driver in New York for fifteen years until a label called Awesome Tapes from Africa re-issued his recordings from the ’70s. He’s on tour now and killing it; check him out.
“Two Fish and an Elephant” – Khruangbin
Best, and maybe only American band making what they call, “new Thai-funk”? They put out an incredible mostly instrumental record last year. Listen up!
