Ears Wide Open: Les Blanks

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Les Blanks’ Americana-infused indie-rock is the stuff of hard riffing and even harder drinking. Their 2008 album “Shoot the Horse” earned a lot of favor in Silver Lake circles, but it’s taken three years for Josh Caldwell, Parker Todd Brooks and Brian Soika (now joined by Keith Waggoner and Jonathan Hylander) to make a follow-up. Now it’s finished; “In Country” [stream] will be out May 3. Edgy guitars, harmonica, saloon piano, attitude, a scorcher in “Mine Eyes” – “In Country” has a little bit of everything. Caldwell and Waggoner have been busy on the side, too. Earlier this year, working under the name Holy Folk with members of Amateurs and Johnny O’Donnell, they released a free four-song EP titled “Heavy Hands.”

||| Live: Les Blanks celebrate their album release with a show Saturday at the Satellite that’s also doubling as the 7-inch release party for indie-rockers Races.

||| Stream: Les Blanks, “Straw Man”:

[audio:http://www.mediafire.com/file/5thfhv2mzlahl22/Les%20Blanks%20-%20Straw%20Man.mp3]

||| Download: Holy Folk, “Kind Hearts (Keep Giving)”

[audio:http://www.mediafire.com/file/hiro3g8qvg22017/Holy%20Folk%20-%20Kind%20Hearts%20%28Keep%20Giving%29.mp3]

||| Also: After the jump, trade your e-mail address for a download of “Straw Man” and “Time Takes Its Own”: