The Elected Discography
| Blake Sennett "The Senate" (unreleased) |
| 2003 (cdr made by Blake) |
| 1. "Track 1" (title unknown) 2. 7 September 2003 3. Greetings in Braille 4. My Baby's a Dick 5. A Time for Emily 6. Don't Get Your Hopes Up 7. Waves 8. The Miles 'Til Home 9. Go On (original mix) 10. C'mon, Mom 11. A Response to Greed 12. Don't Blow It |
| This is an early version of Me First that Blake gave
to friends and sent
to various labels when looking for a record deal in the spring of 2003. He had been using the name
The Senate (a play on his last name, and the rotating line-up he thought the
band would have) until he learned of another band already having that name,
causing him to adopt the similarly political moniker, The Elected.
There's no artwork, just simple homemade packaging. All the tracks listed on
the back just go by "Track 1," "Track 2," "Track 3," etc. instead of actual
titles. The CD is pretty much the same as the official Sub Pop release that came out a year or so later (Yes, the song "7 September 2003" was actually recorded before that date!). The only apparent differences are the inclusion of a weird intro track (which was mostly cut from the album, edited down from about 3 minutes to about 30 seconds), and the absence of "British Columbia" (which Blake added after signing with Sub Pop). Also, there's a minor difference in the song "Go On": the electronica glitch thing in the middle isn't there (a slight remix of sorts, done later by Jimmy Tamborello). |
| Availability: An actual copy is extremely rare to find (though one somehow popped up at a thrift store once!). But mp3s of the 2 exclusive tracks can be found online. |
| Me First |
| 2004, Sub Pop Records (CD and LP) |
| 1. 7 September 2003 2. Greetings in Braille 3. My Baby's a Dick 4. A Time for Emily 5. Don't Get Your Hopes Up 6. Waves 7. The Miles 'Til Home 8. Go On 9. C'mon, Mom 10. A Response to Greed 11. Don't Blow It 12. British Columbia |
| Released February 3, 2004. The song
"Greetings in Braille" had been planned to be a Rilo Kiley song originally.
There is an advace promo cd that has the same music, but different packaging. One
minor difference there is that track 6 is called "Waves (The Time That
You're Awake)".. the subtitle was dropped on the regular release. The cd
itself is green, it came with no cover, and the back includes a small bio
and picture of the band. (picture) Here's
the mini bio: |
| Availability: in print. (Amazon) |
| Sun, Sun, Sun |
| 2006, Sub Pop Records (CD and LP) |
| 1. Clouds Parting (8:14 am) 2. Would You Come With Me 3. Fireflies in a Steel Mill 4. Not Going Home 5. It Was Love 6. Sun, Sun, Sun 7. Did Me Good 8. The Bank and Trust 9. Old Times 10. Desiree 11. I'll Be Your Man 12. Beautiful Rainbow 13. Biggest Star 14. At Home (Time Unknown) |
| Released January 24, 2006. The vinyl version features an alternate
cover (picture). The rope-strong, luminous follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2004 debut, "Me First". Recorded while singer/songwriter Blake Sennett was on tour with his other band, Rilo Kiley, the album is propelled by the kind of unsettled, exploratory impetus that's only native to the American open road. While portions of the album were recorded in studios, Sennett recorded and produced the majority of his creations in environments he was passing through. The dichotomy between feeling completely at home and at the same time homeless on the road fuels Sennett's biting, reflective lyricism and grand, sweeping compositions. |
| Availability: in print. (Amazon) |
| Sun, Sun, Sun bonus CD |
| 2006, Sub Pop Records (promo cdr) |
| 1. I Don't Care 2. Not Me 3. For You |
| This bonus CDR was given to those who pre-ordered Sun, Sun, Sun from the Sub Pop website. It includes three otherwise unreleased tracks. Very simple packaging: a plain disc in a cardboard sleeve with an Elected sticker on it, plus a separate slip of paper with the tracklist printed on it (Tracks 1 and 2 were mistakenly switched on the tracklist). |
| Availability: Pretty hard to find. Keep an eye on eBay. You can probably find mp3s online if you look around. Blake has said that these songs may see wide release one of these days, perhaps as b-sides or iTunes exclusives, I'm guessing. |
| Bury Me In My Rings |
| 2011, Vagrant |
| 1. Born To Love
You 2. Babyface 3. Look At Me Now 4. Jailbird 5. Go For The Throat 6. This Will Be Worth It 7. Trip Round The World 8. When I’m Gone 9. Who Are You 10. Have You Been Cheated 11. See The Light 12. Time Is Coming |
| New album. for more info, http://musicremedy.com/t/the-elected/album/bury-me-in-my-rings-10728.html |
| Availability: stay tuned |
| various artists Compilations with songs from The
Elected upon them Patient Zero (2004 Sub Pop sampler CD) w/ "Greetings in Braille" (from Me First) Lagniappe: A Saddle Creek Benefit for Hurricane Katrina (2005 Saddle Creek CD) w/ "San Francisco via Chicago Blues" (unavailable elsewhere) Music 2 Drive 2 (2006 promo sampler CD) w/ "Not Going Home" (from Sun, Sun, Sun) Acquired Taste (2006 Sub Pop DVD) w/ "Not Going Home" (video) Terminal Sales Vol. 2: This Delicious (2006 Sub Pop sampler CD) w/ "The Bank and Trust" (from Sun, Sun, Sun) |
| Television
shows with songs by The Elected used within them How I Met Your Mother - Episode 24: The Scorpion and the Toad (First Aired: September 25, 2006) w/ "It Was Love" What About Brian - Episode 7: What About the Wedding... (First Aired: October 16, 2006) w/ "Not Going Home" (Played during final scene with Brian running through the streets trying to stop a wedding.) Men in Trees - Episode 7: Ladies Frist (First Aired: October 20, 2006) w/ "Fireflies in a Steel Mill" |
| other non-Rilo Kiley Blake Sennett
appearances Blake's first band, The Caustic Truth, released a few 7" singles and an album (I think) in the mid 90s. They are quite hard to find now. If anyone has any of them and can give me more info, please contact me. They were apparently a goth band and Blake was the drummer. Pierre de Reeder (Rilo Kiley) was also in the band. Blake was an actor when he was younger, and he had at least a couple music-related roles, including (I think) playing in bands in an episode of Third Rock From The Sun ("Tricky Dick") and Unhappily Ever After ("Rock 'n' Roll"). See IMDB for Blake's other screen credits. Blake did the score to the 2001 film Don's Plum. Because of a crazy lawsuit, the movie was never released in the US, but is available most everywhere else. The score was lo-fi, and apparently used stuff like accordions. There are at least two versions of this movie. The re-edited version is the one with Blake's score (it's the version without the production numbers on the bottom). This version also contains the Rilo Kiley tunes "Always" (in the background for a minute) and "Go Ahead" (featured at the end), plus the film's opening theme performed by Blake called "We're Alive". Jenny and Blake make appearances at the beginning of the Bright Eyes album Lifted or The Story is in the Soil Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002) on the track "Big Picture". Blake has also joined Bright Eyes on stage a handful of times. Plus he contributed a little to a 2002 Christmas album from Saddle Creek Records / Bright Eyes titled A Christmas Album. The CD, a benefit for the Nebraska AIDS Project, is available from Saddle Creek's website. I believe Blake plays bass on the song "Blue Christmas" and perhaps another. Blake also helped write the song "Bessa" on Tilly and the Wall's Wild Like Children (2004). Though you might not be able to tell by listening, both Jenny and Blake contributed to the song "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?", a satire of the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which was released as a single on October 11, 2005 by an all-star cast of alt rock artists and more under the name The North American Hallowe'en Prevention Initiative (NAHPI). Like its inspiration, it's a charity song, with all proceeds donated to UNICEF. According to the official press release, the song "stems from a frustration with other benefit songs' misguided, somewhat patronizing attitude, and Western-centric worldview." Blake has occasionally guested on stage with other bands. If the mood strikes, he has even been known to sit in on drums live for bands he's friendly with, including Eisley and Jake Bellows. Reports had said Blake was to be featured on the upcoming album of remixes/covers/interpretations by Stars called Do You Trust Your Friends, apparently doing a remix of "Calendar Girl" with Feist on vocals. The CD was announced back in July 2006, but was held up till spring of 2007 for some reason, and when it finally came out, there was no trace of the Blake/Feist collaboration. Not sure whatever happened with that. Blake has recently worked as producer or engineer for a few bands in recent years, such as Grand Ole Party and The Honorary Title. |
Please email me with
any additions, corrections, or whatever. Thanks.
( page updated:
February 21, 2011 )
