Big Ditch Road (RIYL The Silos, Alejandro Escovedo, Giant Sand)

It’s strange for me to post this on An Aquarium Drunkard as it was originally intended for my blog Songs:Illinois. But it was hard to sit and watch this blog go unupdated for more than a week as Justin continues his travels. He’ll be back soon with the goodies but for now enjoy the music of Big Ditch.


Why must we compare one band to another? I guess it’s the easiest and fastest way to get at a bands core sound. To say a band sounds like the Silos should conjure up a typical lineup of guitar, bass, drums and a semi-gravelly voiced singer espousing heartfelt and sadly romantic lyrics. Big Ditch Road sounds like The Silos. In particualar the lead singer sounds remarkably like The Silos lead singer Walter Salas Humara. So the next question is why do we need to have bands that sound like other bands? And I guess the answer to that one is that sometimes the original band no longer lives up to it’s initial appealing sound, after a decade or so songs start to sound the same and themes are all but used up.

Big Ditch Road is like starting anew with the Silos back in 1987. The song “Saint Lonesome” could have come right off The Silos stunning debut record Cuba. Instead it’s off the debut by Big Ditch Road called Suicide Note Reader’s Companion. Released in the first part of 2006 on the excellent little Minneapolis label Electone Records, SNRC made a very small splash in a very large pool. The ever expanding ripples from that initial splash have reached me and now you.

DOWNLOAD:
MP3: Ghosts
MP3: Saint Lonesome