live: Samantha Crain, Frontier Ruckus

It’s Friday! It’s been an eventful week in the eMusic office and I’m excited to share what’s been bringing some extra light (and noise) to this place in the past couple days, which also happens to be the music that’s been dominating my iPod lately, namely Samantha Crain and Frontier Ruckus.

The first was Samantha Crain, a singer/songwriter from Shawnee, Oklahoma, whose sophomore LP You (Understood) was released last week on Ramseur Records. Many of her songs are like snapshots, recollections of specific points in time with certain people, and while in the past she’s often relied on an acoustic guitar, the new set finds her rocking a little harder — it leans more toward folk rock than alt-country. Instruments aside, it’s Crain’s voice that sets her apart from others in her genre, as there’s really no one to compare her to. Some of the eMusic staffers saw her and her band open for First Aid Kit in Brooklyn on Tuesday night, and between her playing a kazoo held in a harmonica holder, the strength of her new tracks, and her overall charm, we were all completely smitten. So, of course we were thrilled to have her in the office Wednesday, where she promptly plopped down on our kitchen floor with her guitar to play a few songs from the new record.

Yesterday, the volume was turned up a few notches by fellow Ramseur act Frontier Ruckus, who played what I’m pretty sure was the loudest kitchen show in eMusic kitchen history. They’re a lyrical Americana/folk-rock band from Michigan and they came to our tiny performance space armed with a guitar, acoustic bass, banjo, snare drum, tambourine, saw and trumpet. I was absurdly excited about this on a personal level, since I went to the same college as most of these dudes and have seen them play more times than I can count; I’m totally biased, so watch the videos below and decide for yourself if you don’t believe me when I say they’re amazing. One eMusic staffer said everyone was “enraptured,” if that says anything. Most talked about afterward was Zach Nichols’s superb saw skills (yesterday he also played trumpet, and at regular gigs plays melodica and horn, too).

Frontman Matt Milia’s songs take place in modern-day suburbia (specifically, metro Detroit), but much of their music sounds like it could be from another time. Their songs are complicated and poetic, and Milia’s voice is quivering and intense. The band’s Ramseur debut, Deadmalls & Nightfalls, is out July 20, and we’ll have it on the site, but in the meantime you can check out these videos and also their first LP, The Orion Songbook. My favorite song on it is “Adirondack Amish Holler,” and I’m sorta embarrassed to admit that when they played it at Southpaw in Brooklyn last night, I had to fight back tears because it made me miss college so much.

OK, enough from me. Check out the videos and let us know if you’re into it! If you like both of them, you might be in luck, as they’re touring together for a little while starting next week (and it’s almost guaranteed that they’ll be performing “Santa Fe” together). Schedules are on both of their MySpace pages.

Samantha Crain, “Get The Fever Out”

Samantha Crain, “We Are The Same”

Frontier Ruckus, “Silverfishes”

Frontier Ruckus, “Springterror” into “Nerves of the Nightmind”