Friends Like These & Lifter Puller

Friends Like These - 7th Street Queen. Minneapolis band. Good indie rock song with the added bonus of a guest "vocal" by Craig Finn, of dear-departed Lifter Puller, now of The Hold Steady (based in NY). Download it for free from here.

If you aren't familiar with Lifter Puller, I strongly recommend that you check out their great 2nd album, Half Dead + Dynamite, with the caveat that Craig Finn's voice (think Mark E. Smith of The Fall) and his gritty, barfly subject matter may not be for everyone. You can get some Lifter Puller stuff from iTunes, which has their last album (Fiestas + Fiascos) and a best of compilation called Soft Rock. Standouts from the latter include:

- To Live and Die in LBI
- Half Dead and Dynamite
- Mission Viejo
- The Candy Machine and My Girlfriend

I'll be curious to know if anyone else likes Lifter Puller. They were popular around here at the time but in the years since they broke up, they seem to be achieving indie god status. Craig Finn has done a few guest vocal spots, and I recently heard a local rapper cite him as a big influence. Musically, there's nothing rap about them but I can see why rappers might dig his free-association, narrative style.