Shane!!!
I was first introduced to the Grand Rapids music scene sometime in the summer of 2007. It was one of the hottest days of the summer, but there was good reason to forget about the heat. Strangely enough, I ended finding great friendships much later on with some of these wonderful people who are two hours west on the mitten (and it turns out there were plenty of coincidental bypasses before), making lovely sounds for your eardrums. Songs from that summer had stuck with me since-- there wasn't always much chance to find that music in hearing, aside from at the occasional house show.
When I heard "Stamp Your Feet" for the very first time, I got that feeling that not everyone is lucky enough to be struck with very often-- not only immediate attraction to the musicality and definite intrigue by the poetic verses-- but a certain sincerity that the unique strain of his voice belts out lines, asserting that he does indeed believe that he can "eat the world," or the anthemic lines of "Stamp Your Feet" ("...I am made of stardust/and I like it...").
I knew I didn't want to only hear that music, it was something that needed to be accessible in every way, to tear into and perhaps hold, and I certainly wasn't alone in my thinking so.
So yes, two years later, Shane Tripp has released an online album! It took a little while, but we all are ever grateful for the time, because everything about this album is to love. Hard copies are supposed to be somewhere in the works, but for right now HERE is where you want to be clickin' and downloadin'.
"Eat the World," "Two Lonely Friends Who Need Each Other," and "I Am a Shareholder"
are songs that I want in my music library for life, just for a heads up on what will really make your ears and face smile.
(and before or after you download, I recommend you go to his Myspace and give that a listen as well).
Happy ears, you will have. Trust me.
(Image credit goes to Andy Howse)