• Our favorite SoPo troubalords, Fire on Fire , continue to rack up praise on the Web and beyond. The latest: their self-titled Young God EP received a grade-A from The Onion AV Club ; they were a recent “Band to Watch” on the influential blog Stereogum ; and a song of the day pick on the luminous mp3 blog, Said the Gramophone . Not to be outdone, one of FoF’s umpteen offshoots, Big Blood , made the “Best of 2007” list of WFMU (freeform radio out of Jersey City) DJ Liz Berg, who also posted a lengthy December 3 entry about them on her blog, which is naturally followed by adoring comments and rumors of a South Portland secession. The duo are also on a mix of the year’s best songs on the prominent DIY site Tiny Mix Tapes . Big Blood are playing at the Meg Perry Center on January 7.
• Jason Spooner and his bandmates have been hustling lately, pushing the new album to radio (by the way, we heard “Black and Blue” on WCLZ recently, and it was “from the new music file,” with no mention of it being local — this is progress). It’s working. The Flame You Follow nailed #30 on the Roots Music Report ’s Americana chart and “Black and Blue” hit #2 on the national Mediabase chart, which tracks independent releases (a tune by little old band Radiohead was #2). Further, you can catch the band on WMVY’s Fresh Produce CD, the Greetings from Area Code 207 equivalent on Martha’s Vineyard. There’s also a track there from Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.
•Five Foot Ficus are in the studio with Pete Morse up at his Busted Barn . Look for a new album by June.
• Arborea , the new folkies featured in last week’s column, will have a new disc out on Kning Disk by March or so. If you’re in the big city this January, listen for an interview the couple did with Spinning on Air host David Garland on WNYC .
