Blitzen Trapper

Blitzen Trapper are easy-going guys. You just ask them if they want to play a little acoustic performance for a videoblog they have never heard of, and ten minutes later you are in the middle of doing it, with flying cartons of milk and clapping spoons around you (Two Gallant's Adam Stephens joining them on both songs). Spontaneity seems to describe their music as well. Since 2003 they have recorded three albums and released them without a label. In 2007, however, the famous Seattle-label Sub Pop became interested in the six guys from Portland, Oregon and their experimental folk music with a range from melodic campfire singalongs to noisy southern rock. Thus, officially their DIY-days are gone since they have signed to Sub Pop. But they probably won’t lose their unpretentious spirit, and that’s exactly what makes Blitzen Trapper songs so surprising. They rarely work like normal pop songs, because there are so many little details in it you maybe won’t notice upon first listen, like those softly wailing slide guitars. So it’s only fair that the Rolling Stone magazine voted Blitzen Trapper’s song “Wild Mountain Nation” #98 of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.