Year In Review, Vol. 10 - Tunnel Motor

This December, to celebrate the music of 2007, I asked a bunch of the artists I’ve featured on PHW over the last 11 months to share their thoughts on the “year that was”. I asked a mix of my favorite local artists, as well as several larger acts, with the hope of having a diverse assortment of reflections on the music that mattered to the artists that mattered to me.
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Better late than never - here’s the final entry in the PHW Year In Review series. Tunnel Motor is a Brooklyn-based rock band and a local favorite of mine. I’ve posted about the band’s fine recorded output twice, I believe, over the past 12 months. They have just recently released an excellent new EP, Substantial Ranch (5 tracks that rock, roll, spit, sway, swear, rip, cut, bleed, and groove), which, like all other Tunnel Motor releases, is available for free download at the label’s website, 80H Records. Tunnel Motor writes catchy, driving Americana styled rock n’ roll - a little bit Guided By Voices, a little bit Mike Cooley-led Drive-By Truckers - and releases their songs for free, with the hope that a fan-base will grow out of respect for a band that obviously isn’t in it for the money.

Here’s what the band sent along as their favorites of the past year:

Best Record by a Band that I Had Not Listened to Prior to 2007:
Magik Markers - BOSS

Best "Grower" Record of 2007 (mild boredom to extreme interest):
Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation

Best Record by a Band that is not quite as good as their last album:
The National - Boxer

Best Record by a Reunited Band:
Dinosaur Jr - Beyond

Best Record by a Band Featuring Members of a Sadly Defunct Great Band
(see band in next item):

Bottomless Pit - Hammer of the Gods

Best Discography of a Band I Had Not Listened to Prior to 2007:
Silkworm

Rick's Pick for Best Local Band of 2007:
Casa De Chihuahua
http://www.myspace.com/casadechihuahuaband

Tunnel Motor in 2008
1) Cut down on the rotating door of the rhythm section (namely the drummer)
2) Record Record #2
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