Do You Know How to Waltz?

Review: Basement Membranes

2010-01-28T10:26:00.004-05:00

True Womanhood is a DC band I've been hyping for a long time. Here is a review of their new record:

Their early, chaotic performances drew comparisons to Sonic Youth, a juxtaposition that never really captured the band's sound, but was nonetheless virtually unavoidable for a period of time. To hear True Womanhood today, upon the release of their debut EP, the moody, ambient Basement Membranes, it would be difficult to ascertain how anyone ever made the comparison.

It seems worth of injecting a bit of band history here. Founding member Ross Kerr, whose noisy, bombastic guitar heroics were incontrovertibly a huge part of the True Womanhood sound, quit last year shortly after their first northeast tour. Rather than attempt to replace Kerr, the band chose to continue as a trio. This necessitated a drastic re-imagining of virtually every song in the band's repertoire. A comparison the versions of "Rubber Buoys" and "Shadow People" in the above-linked post to the ones found on Basement Membranes is telling. Where squalls of angular guitar once dominated, now a more subdued, almost claustrophobic ambiance prevails.

This approach is not always well-suited to the material. The aforementioned two tracks, which seem to have been notched down not only in volume, but also in tempo, feel particularly lethargic. However, tracks like "The Monk" and "Dignitas", which open the record, work quite well. The former, in particular, is gorgeous here, its chorus positively soaring.

As Sonic Youth comparisons once prevailed in reviews of True Womanhood, so do Radiohead comparisons today, and understandably so. Thomas Redmond's vocals really do sound an uncanny amount like Thom Yorke's, and tracks like "Magic Child" and "A Diviner" could almost be outtakes from Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows, respectively. That said, there is more than that going on here as well, and the majority of the tracks bear little overall resemblance to The Greatest Rock Band Since The Beatles.

True Womanhood have accomplished something here that would be an impressive feat for even a much more seasoned band. They have recovered from the loss of a core element of the group's sound and managed to release a strong, coherent set of songs that neither pines for their past nor dispatches with it entirely. I have complete faith that the band's debut full-length, which they have already begun recording with Baltimore studio wizard J. Robbins, will further refine their already-impressive material.

Stream and buy Basement Membranes from Baltimore's Environmental Aesthetics here. Find True Womanhood on Myspace here.

A Brief Exchange on the Viability of Paid Downloads

2010-01-07T11:42:00.001-05:00

Friend: It's like if your office has an Evian water cooler but you go out and buy bottled water anyway.

Me: Well, no. It's more like your office stole another office's water cooler, and you go out and buy bottled water

Wow

2009-10-01T14:43:00.002-05:00

I cannot overstate how good the new Built to Spill is. Seriously. Streaming here at the moment.

A Few Thoughts on Mary Travers

2009-09-17T09:57:00.003-05:00

So... I've come out of my blogging hole to write a bit about the passing of a musician whose music was tremendously important to me. Mary Travers died overnight at the age of 72 after a long battle with leukemia.

Peter Paul and Mary were never cool to like in my lifetime. They were too commercial to be remembered fondly by many folk purists, and most people of my generation remember only their 1971 children's album, Peter Paul and Mommy. That's a mistake, though. They were so popular in 1963 that all three of the albums they'd released to that point were in the top ten simultaneously, a feat matched by relatively few artists in the history of popular music.

They were not prolific songwriters. Other than "Puff the Magic Dragon", most of their best known songs were written by other artists. What they were, however, were skillful arrangers, guitarists, and vocalists who brought pop sensibilities to the storied traditions of folk. My first concert was a Peter Paul and Mary show in Reading, PA, before I entered elementary school. I don't remember very much about it, but my parents tell me that I sang along with every song. Their version of Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Mornin' Rain" is one of my favorite songs of all time, and as I told a friend this morning, the amount of time I spent listening to their records left a mark on my tastes so deep and indelible that I find it hard to fully comprehend.

Though they only rarely performed new material together in my lifetime, I owe a profound musical debt to Mary Travers and her musical partners Noel Paul Stookey and Peter Yarrow. May she rest in peace.

Yo La Tengo's New Record is Good

2009-09-15T22:01:00.001-05:00

Hello again!

Rainy Friday Music

2009-07-17T17:43:00.000-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, Maggot Brain:

A Place to Bury Strangers

2009-06-17T17:06:00.002-05:00

I had the opportunity to check this band out a couple weekends back at the Rock and Roll Hotel in DC. Excellent stuff. Noisy, heavy shoegaze. Sorry for the short post, but hopefully it's better than nothing.

A Quick Note

2009-05-26T17:24:00.002-05:00

Please note that many files of a certain age have vanished. Unfortunately, they are gone. Nothing I can do about it. Sorry.

RIP

2009-05-25T18:13:00.002-05:00

The great Jay Bennett died in his sleep last night. I don't have much to say about this, except that the man was only 45, and I hope this can serve as a reminder to everyone that life is short and that it's important to appreciate what you have. Chicagoist has some great Bennett video.

The Night Air is Cold, The Freeway is Clear

2009-05-20T00:57:00.003-05:00

Here's a couple versions of an obscure relic. Former Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn released his last electric record in 1991. I'd only ever heard the single, "King of the Hill", up until a few weeks ago, when I found an incredibly cheap copy of the album at a used CD store. It's not half bad. It's basically like a lost Tom Petty record from that era. I say that primarily because in addition to the fact that Tom Petty's whole shtick has kind of always been rockified Byrds, this record's got very similar production to classic Petty records, and Mike Campbell and Tom Petty are all the place. Also, like a Tom Petty record, it's a few killer songs plus a lot of pleasant filler. Anyway... here's two versions of the aforementioned single "King of the Hill." The first is the official music video, the second is a Letterman performance. Note how McGuinn looks like Don Henley with a mullet in this period.

Archie Bronson Outfit

2009-05-13T10:57:00.002-05:00

The Archie Bronson Outfit are a pretty cool English band. My favorite song of theirs is a jam called "On the Shore" from their debut, Fur, but that's not online, so here's a pretty good song from their second record, Derdang Derdang. Enjoy.

I've Been Trying to Forgive Billy Corgan for His Recent Actions, but...

2009-04-29T13:01:00.002-05:00

stuff like this sure doesn't make it any easier.

Please Remember Me

2009-04-17T12:15:00.002-05:00

In a random piece of news that made me happy, in the buildup to the release of the new Iron and Wine rarities comp Around the Well (preorder CD or vinyl), Sub Pop is giving away an mp3 of my favorite Iron and Wine song (from which the title of the comp is derived), "The Trapeze Swinger." I think the studio version is a little busy, but it's still an amazing song. If you want to hear a more stripped down version, somewhere way back in an old post (January 07 maybe?) there's a live version from a few years ago, but for the full version, click through below.

Iron and Wine - The Trapeze Swinger

Sometimes I forget how awesome QOTSA is...

2009-04-13T21:39:00.001-05:00

...and then I see something like this and remember.

I Have Been Remiss.

2009-04-09T10:52:00.002-05:00

So, I fail at posting for the last month. Sorry. Trying to get better again. Anyhoo, here is a band I got into a really long time ago: Murder by Death. How long ago, you ask? Well, they were still called Little Joe Gould at the time. I'm not sure Murder by Death is any better of a name, but I suppose that's neither here nor there. Anyway their slightly gothy, slightly country brand of indie rock is music to my ears. Here's a couple old jams:

New Sonic Youth Stream

2009-03-03T12:56:00.001-05:00

Via Newsweek:

Film School

2009-02-20T11:49:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite modern shoegaze bands is San Francisco's Film School. Formed at the turn of the decade, they've been quietly releasing some very good records, most recently 2007's Hideout. Their particular brand of shoegaze incorporates elements of post-rock, which results in a fairly unique turn on an old idea. They don't appear to have any shows planned at present. I'm hoping this means they are working on new material. Fingers crossed. Here's the promo for "Compare" from Hideout, which you should buy at the link above.

YouTube Roundup: Sonic Youth Edition

2009-02-10T14:23:00.003-05:00

I was scoping out some Sonic Youth YouTube videos for my own nefarious purposes, and I thought "hey, why not share?" So, here you go.

"Bull in the Heather", live on Letterman:

Tremendously low video quality, but not awful audio quality of Sonic Youth c. 1983 performing "Early American":

Decent quality German TV version of "Teenage Riot" c. 1996:

Grammy Video

2009-02-09T09:33:00.002-05:00

To follow up on my ramblings below, here are a few video highlights from last night's shindig:

Liveblogging the Grammys (Why not?)

2009-02-08T20:28:00.047-05:00

Since I am stuck watching this crap anyway at my housemates' behest, I might as well step in with commentary. Starting a bit late.

(8:28) -- Carrie Underwood's guitarist is extremely foxy. Then again, most women with guitars are. Otherwise though, this song is boring the shit out of me.

(8:32) -- Sheryl Crow and Leanne Rimes? Really? I wasn't even aware Leanne Rimes was still making music. Not looking too good.

(8:33) -- I am pulling for the Steeldrivers. I don't really know any of these songs, but that one sounds the most like something I would listen to.

(8:34) -- Of course not. I am not familiar with this song, but what they are playing of it sure sounds schlocky.

(8:42) -- Song of the Year. God I hope it's not the Estelle song. I hate that song. --- Coldplay. Well I guess that's ok. I think they have gotten really full of themselves. But, not a terrible song.

(8:44) -- Kid Rock, what the fuck happened to you? While I never liked dude all that much, this pales in comparison to what he used to have going.

(8:46) -- Annnnnd this performance just took a turn from bad to worse. What the hell is this Sweet Home Alabama thing?

(8:55) -- This is bland but it could be worse. Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus can at least sing, and she can play the guitar, and such. So that's good. Still, the song is kind of... inane.

(8:58) -- I'm okay with Plant and Krauss winning. Their record isn't all it's hyped up to be, but given the alternatives, not a bad choice.

(9:09) -- Cain and Abel reference? Really?

(9:11) -- Stevie Wonder, what the fuck are you doing involving yourself with this performance?

(9:12) -- Oh no, I do not need to see the Jonas Brothers sing "Superstition". And flub a lyric, no less (I think -- sure sounded that way to me).

(9:14) -- Ah, the Blink-182 reunion. With a still semi-damaged Travis Barker.

(9:16) -- This one Coldplay did not deserve. Sorry.

(9:22) -- What is Craig Ferguson doing here? Oh, awkwardly introducing Katy Perry, that almost makes sense.

(9:27) -- I hate this song. Hate it. Hate, hate, hate it. Also note her use of a backing track on the chorus. Shows a lot of faith in her abilities.

(9:30) -- My vote goes to Adele ---- wait for it, it will not be her.

... shit, I'm wrong. Sweet. Girlfriend can sing, at least.

(9:37) -- Morgan Freeman! Yes! Wait, you consider Kenny Chesney a friend? Really? And what is this shlock?

(9:40) -- What a weird combination of people presenting. Herbie is looking good eh? Allison Krauss and Plant win again for Record of the Year. I guess I'm ok with that.

(9:48) -- Queen Latifah presents lifetime achievement to Dean Martin? Weird. M.I.A. is SO PREGNANT. This cannot be healthy. And we have Kanye, Lil' Wayne, Jay-Z and T.I. Damn that was tight.

(9:54) -- Kate Beckinsale looks really, really good. Wow. And introducing Sir Paul. Bomb.

(9:56) -- ... and this is surprisingly not an awful performance of "I Saw Her Standing There". Dave Grohl is pounding the drums a bit too hard, but that's okay. It's what he does. Epic guitar solo.

(10:05) -- Jack Black. Yes. Please give this to James Taylor or Paul McCartney. Really? Fucking John Mayer? Fuck that guy.

(10:07) -- Jay Mohr even bombs at the Grammys. What the fuck.

(10:10) -- This song is a lot better the way it's being performed here than the studio version they played earlier.

(10:11) -- and Adele. Cool with that too.

(10:19) -- Gwyneth -- what are you thinking with that dress girl? I mean. Not to be fashion bitch here, but ... oh well, whatever, Radiohead with the USC marching band, so there's that.

(10:21) -- This is kind of awesome. I was skeptical, but. Kind of awesome.

(10:28) -- Samuel L. Jackson really is in everything, huh?

(10:31) -- This J.T./T.I. jam is pretty tight. No further comments, really, but I'm enjoying it.

(10:35) -- Most boring part of the night. Blah blah blah, pat selves on the back, Obama won Grammys, lets steal his "yes we can" line, etc etc, stop talking, I'm bored, so bored.

(10:37) -- "The whole world watched as change was ushered in"? Really?

(10:38) -- Is that Jamie Foxx? Weird. (Edit: No, apparently not. Whoops...)

(10:41) -- Motown always brightens my day.

(10:47) -- Shocked, simply shocked(!) that Josh Groban loves Neil Diamond. I never got Neil Diamond, even from the ironic viewpoint. Still don't. Was crap, is crap.

(10:51) -- Have to admit that I never was all that into these dead people montages either. Everyone appears on screen for like 3-5 seconds, what's even the point?

(10:54) -- BB, I love you. John Mayer, what are you doing here? I admit my ignorance, but who are the other two?

(11:02) -- Gary Sinise? Whaaaa? Allen Toussaint, Robin Thicke and Lil Wayne? That's insane. And awesome. Insanely awesome?

(11:06) -- And the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. And Terrence Blanchard. Wow. Awesome.

(11:09) -- Really scraping the bottom of the presenter barrel now. Will.i.am and T-Pain? Seriously. Lil Wayne better win Best Rap Album. For real.

(11:10) -- And Wayne wins. Awesome.

(11:18) -- Zooey Deschanel. Yes. OMG, I love her. Why you gotta marry Ben Gibbard? Whyyy?

(11:19) -- Plant and Krauss sound really good together here. T-Bone Burnett, your hair is terrible.

(11:20) -- Things just took a turn for the worse. This rock stuff is not really working for anyone. I know, I just said that about Robert fucking Plant, but it's unfortunately true.

(11:22) -- Green Day. Hah. If I were still in High School I'd be SO STOKED right now. How did they get to do Album of the Year, seriously? I am pulling for In Rainbows, definitely.

(11:24) -- And showing just how out of touch the Academy remains, it goes to Plant and Krauss. That record was not nearly as good as In Rainbows according to just about any measure I can think of.

Alright I need to go to bed. That was... an experience. I'll probably never do it again, but it was fun to do once.

Loving Takes This Course

2009-02-03T10:40:00.002-05:00

Kath Bloom is a Connecticut-based underground folk/singer-songwriter. She recorded a bunch of music in the 1970s which went largely unnoticed until experiencing a renaissance in recent years. A new tribute record, Loving Takes this Course, will be released on the Aussie label Chapter Music in April. The record contains tracks by a number of indie-rock heavyweights, including Bill Callahan (smog), Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon), Devendra Banhart, Scout Niblett, and Meg Baird, among others. You can check out Devendra and Baird's tracks @ Naturalismo and Kozelek's track (also available on his recently-released Finally compilation) at his Myspace.

Here are a couple YouTube videos (neither official). Sadly, her voice has not aged all that well, as the second video shows:

Random Video

2009-02-02T15:40:00.001-05:00

...because Lynyrd Skynard has spent entirely too much time at the top of the blog at this point.

In Memoriam

2009-01-29T13:47:00.002-05:00

In honor of the recently-deceased Billy Powell, longtime keyboardist for southern rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd, I decided to put up a Skynyrd video. It's strange the extent to which Skynyrd are derided in hip circles, given the virtually undeniable appeal of their catalog. Much as I disagree with their "southern pride" pandering and posturing, their songs were just flat-out good. Period. Yes, even "Freebird".

Having said that, here is a lesser-known Skynyrd track taped off the band's 1975 Old Gray Whistle Test performance called "Every Mother's Son." It's a bit quiet, you may need to turn up your speakers to hear it properly, but it's an interesting clip of the band in its prime.

Rest in peace, Billy Powell.

The Upside of the Tanking Music Industry

2009-01-28T12:20:00.003-05:00

...is that it's primarily the majors that are tanking, which is finally allowing the indie labels to get their stuff on the charts and to a more mainstream audience. This week we have Andrew Bird (Fat Possum), Animal Collective (Paw Tracks), and Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar) all in the Billboard Top 20. I wish I had bothered to write down my prediction that this was what the internet would eventually do to music five years ago when I made it, but oh well. At least we get to enjoy the music.

(via P-fork)

Animal Collective

2009-01-25T23:51:00.002-05:00

Merriweather Post Pavilion is every bit as good as everyone is saying it is. I know, normally Pitchfork is wrong about everything, but even a broken clock full of monkeys writes Hamlet twice a day, right?

A Study in the Evolution of Jason Molina, Part I (1997-2002)

2009-01-19T02:24:00.000-05:00

I've always wanted to do this post, but I could never get enough legal music to do it. Until iLike happened, that is. Jason Molina, aka Songs:Ohia, aka Magnolia Electric Co., has been putting out at least one release a year pretty much every year since 1997. In that relatively short time, his sound has evolved hugely. This post will attempt to outline that change, with a player at the bottom showcasing all of the songs discussed. I've been working on it all week, it's probably the most effort I've ever put into anything online, so I hope somebody appreciates it.

The first official full-length release of Molina's music was the self-titled Songs:Ohia, aka "The Black Album". This is an extremely spare record; all of Molina's releases under the Songs:Ohia moniker were somewhat spartan, but this one especially so. Most of the instrumentation is Molina's powerful tenor voice and tenor guitar, sometimes backed by bass and drums. The highlight here is definitely "Cabwaylingo", which survived in setlists up until at least 2001, when it would reappear on Mi Sei Apparso Come Una Fantasma (more on that later).

That release was closely followed by Hecla & Griper and Impala. While the former did not reflect much of a stylistic shift, only adding slightly more instrumentation and slightly higher recording fidelity, the latter did. It began to incorporate organ and keyboard-based elements, and also showcased a broader range of song styles. It's one of my favorite Molina releases, and my favorite song from it is the excellent opener, "An Ace Unable to Change".

1999 saw the release of two more records; the extremely limited and rare The Ghost, recorded direct to boombox in one day, and the traditional release Axxess and Ace. Of these two, the latter is probably the more interesting record. Stylistically, it represents something of a move away from the sound of Impala and back toward the style of Hecla and Griper. While I tend to find these arrangements a little blase in some ways, the record is brimming with great songs, to the point where I couldn't quite make myself narrow it down to one. Included below, you will find "How to Be Perfect Men" (one of the first Songs:Ohia songs I ever heard) and "Love Leaves Its Abusers".

And then, things got weird. 2000 was an insanely productive year for Jason Molina, encompassing the release of three Songs:Ohia full lengths: Protection Spells, The Lioness, and Ghost Tropic. Protection Spells signaled the shape of things to come, consisting of nine entirely improvised songs recorded during several Songs:Ohia tours. This was followed by The Lioness, which was the first Songs:Ohia release not to exclusively feature tenor guitar. It also marked a move back in the direction of Impala, containing substantial amounts of keyboard and a broader array of songs. But Ghost Tropic was the real shocker. This record moved in the direction of ambient electronics and cohesive albums. It's not one of my favorite Molina records, but it's certainly no slouch, either. From The Lioness, I've included "Back on Top", which may not be representative, but is a personal favorite. From Ghost Tropic, I've included "Body Burned Away".

2001, on the other hand, was not a particularly productive year. A 7", a Travels in Constants EP, but nothing too noteworthy. However, that pause in productivity was worth it, because 2002 saw the release of my absolute favorite Songs:Ohia record, Didn't It Rain. Originally intended to be recorded by Steve Albini, it ended up being recorded by Edan Cohen at Philadelphia's Soundgun Studios. I've included two tracks from this, "Ring the Bell" and "Blue Chicago Moon", but really every song on this record is amazing.

As this is the end of the Songs:Ohia era of Molina's career, I am gonna snip the post here and do the post-2002 output in a later post.

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You Will Go to Mykonos

2009-01-18T23:30:00.004-05:00

I did not watch this live, because who watches SNL anymore, but here's a great video of Fleet Foxes doing Mykonos:

The Believer

2009-01-12T15:57:00.004-05:00

I've been a big fan of the alt-country genre for a long time, ever since I first heard Wilco many moons ago, and I've been on a kick again lately. One of my more recent "discoveries" (e.g. things everyone else knew about but I did not) has been Rhett Miller (mostly as a solo artist, though Old 97s are good too).

His record The Believer is really quite excellent. It's a bit like Ryan Adams, a bit like the Billy Bragg/Wilco Mermaid Avenue records, and a bit of its own thing altogether. Mr. Miller was on tour in December, so in this part of the country at least, it will probably be awhile until he's around again. Anyway, check out a couple sweet samples from The Believer in the player below.

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Youtube Roundup IV (In Which Dolph Lundgren Kills Apollo Creed)

2009-01-12T01:52:00.002-05:00

Here are some more videos for your enjoyment. I seem to be posting real regular-like right now. We'll see how long I can keep that up.

First up is something I found just this week, an actual live performance of my favorite My Bloody Valentine song, "Soft as Snow" from Isn't Anything, shot at the University of London in 1989. The audio is a little hard to make out due to the absurd volumes MBV play at, but it's still a pretty cool artifact:

Second is Sonic Youth performing in Spain c. 1995. The video is not split even though it contains two separate, non-consecutive songs. The second is one of my favorite SY songs, the opening track off EVOL, "Tom Violence." (The first is "Candle", off of Daydream Nation). View:

Finally, here's a track my friend Patrick sent me of Public Image Ltd. performing "Careering" on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1980. Really groundbreaking stuff:

Anyway, all for now.

The New Year

2009-01-09T13:03:00.005-05:00

Apropos of the events of eight days ago, the excellent Touch & Go band The New Year, featuring former members of Bedhead and Codeine, have released a new music video. When I saw them on tour a couple months ago, I was thoroughly impressed. Weirdly enough, Will Johnson of Centro-matic was also involved in that lineup; I don't know if that's going to be an ongoing thing or not. As long as it doesn't distract from Centro-matic, it's a-OK with me. Without further ado, the video:

EDIT: Effing eff, Pitchfork's embedded media doesn't fit in my frames and I can't get it to resize. View it here.

Bonus content: Appropriately-sized live version on YouTube.

Johnny Marr on Musicianship

2009-01-08T01:34:00.002-05:00

My friend Simon, (whom, I should note, writes one of the more unique music blogs I am aware of, the venerable Fretbored), recently pointed me to a really excellent commentary published in the British newspaper The Independent. The piece, culled from a Johnny Marr lecture at the University of Salford, discusses the role of outsiders in music culture, and how very little (if any) music of lasting value comes from within the "system" (as it were). As a musician myself, I think there's a lot of valuable insight in the piece, and I highly recommend it.

I LIKE TRAINS is Easily One of the Worst Band Names Ever, But...

2009-01-06T09:46:00.002-05:00

...they are still a pretty great band. And it's much better than the former way of writing it (iLiKETRAiNS), which reminded me more than a little of something my mom's sixth grade students would do.

The Leeds-based quintet plays dark, slightly goth-y post-rock that sounds sort of like Nick Cave fronting a cross between Explosions in the Sky and El Cielo-era Dredg. Their lyrics follow a narrative structure, sometimes telling a historical story, as in first clip appended to this post, "Spencer Perceval", which tells the story of the only assasination in history of a British Prime Minister. This is a live in-studio version performed for British television.

Second up is a fan-shot live video, with much poorer-quality audio and video, but worth seeing nonetheless. The song is "A Rook House for Bobby" (the "Bobby" in question being the late mentally unstable chess champion Bobby Fischer). Another excellent song.

I LIKE TRAINS do not make any of their music available for mp3 download, and for that reason, you will not find any appended to this post. If you know of somewhere I can get a legal mp3 version of one of their songs, leave a comment and I will post it.

Obligatory Best of 2008 Post, Slightly Late

2009-01-05T11:16:00.002-05:00

An OK year for music. Not spectacular, but not awful. Here are my picks, in no particular order (except where otherwise noted):

Sun Kil Moon - April
Hands down my favorite record of 2008. All Mark Kozelek fans had been waiting for this record for five years, and it did not disappoint. Perhaps not quite as consistent as Ghosts of the Great Highway, but still truly superlative. Deep, room-filling music to dream melancholy dreams to.

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
I was pleasantly surprised by this record. "Indie folk", if you'll forgive my use of the term, is a movement I would like to see remain prominent indefinitely.

Beach House - Devotion
An absolutely excellent record. Ethereal dream-pop/nu-gaze. Actually lived up to the hype behind it.

Portishead - Third
Who would have thought that 11 years on, we would get a new Portishead record? And that it wouldn't be a trip-hop record? And that it would still be great anyway?

Shearwater - Rook
I first heard Shearwater totally by accident when they opened up for Magnolia Electric Co. last year. I was incredibly impressed then, and still am now. It doesn't quite match Palo Santo, but it doesn't need to in order to be a really good record.

Lykke Li - Youth Novels
Given the volume of hype behind this record and the people who were hyping it, I actually avoided listening to it for awhile, assuming I would hate it. My mistake. I caught a track on WXPN a couple months ago and liked it, and subsequently found that the whole record is very much worth a listen.

Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
Randy Newman can do very little wrong in my book. I didn't much care for "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country", but the record is nonetheless great, and he comes out with new material so infrequently that it's hard not to love anything he does see fit to release.

Juana Molina - Un Dia
I saw Juana Molina open up for Jose Gonzalez at the World Cafe Live in Philly a couple years ago. I was impressed then, and I remain impressed now. Looped up, experimental world-folk with elements of electronica.

Byrne and Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Not the record anybody expected these two to make, but still excellent, especially considering it effectively came out of nowhere. Electro-gospel pop music. Joyous.

My Brightest Diamond - A Thousand Shark's Teeth
This one was a bit of a surprise as well. I knew absolutely nothing about this record, but earlier MBD showed up on one of my Pandora stations one day, and I was favorably impressed, so I checked out more music, and remained favorably impressed. Ethereal, occasionally chilling, and wholly original.

Fun Fact I Just Learned

2009-01-02T13:00:00.003-05:00

I guess Blogger isn't the only who got a DMCA notice on the American Pie post, as my file hosting site has also mysteriously suspended my account. Pending resolution of that situation, none of the mp3s will work. Sorry.

UPDATE: Apparently the old mp3s do work (or at least, all the ones that worked before work), I just can't add any new ones at the moment.

YouTube, Vol. III

2009-01-01T18:37:00.003-05:00

Another round of this nonsense. Computer is dead so I don't even have any of my mp3s to post if I wanted to.

First up is Bon Iver's "Flume", as performed live at a radio station called The Current, whose videos I have posted more than once.

Next up, a pretty good video of "God Bless Our Dead Marines" by A Silver Mt Zion.

Finally, a great version of "Stare at the Sky" by Idaho from the Knitting Factory in the mid 90s. Evidently taped by a gentleman who was filming for Low. Really excellent.

True Womanhood

2008-12-18T14:13:00.000-05:00

My favorite band in DC right now is True Womanhood. Though they only settled into a lineup this year, they've made pretty serious waves in a short amount of time. They've been name-dropped by Thurston Moore, depicted in a show writeup on Pitchfork, and have been playing 3+ DC shows a month, all of which are reasonably well-attended.

Because of some "no wave" associations and the aforementioned Thurston Moore name drop, everybody and their mother seems to want to compare them to Sonic Youth. This comparison is okay; you can certainly hear some Sonic Youth influences on certain songs, and they have a female bassist, but that's about the extent of it. I also hear substantial amounts of shoegaze and dream-pop influences in what they are doing, but ultimately, their sound is uniquely their own.

They are a captivating live band, although not in the traditional sense. Less jumping around and sweet-talking the crowd, more strange instruments and weird noises soaked in heavy reverb. I've seen them about three times now, and I've always enjoyed it. I was originally going to chop up their WMUC set from a few weeks ago for this post, but since a) the sound quality is subpar, and b) I have realized that I am never going to do that, here are a couple sweet videos recorded by All Our Noise instead.

AON Sessions: True Womanhood, "Rubber Buoys" from All Our Noise on Vimeo.

AON Sessions: True Womanhood, "Shadow People" from All Our Noise on Vimeo.

My First DMCA Notice (Hooray!)

2008-12-11T18:10:00.001-05:00

I got a DMCA notice for the Don McLean post. While I'm pretty sure live, unreleased material is somewhere between fair game and a legal gray area, I have no interest in fighting this, and Blogger has deleted the post, so that's where this will have to end. Sorry.

Friends, Rocking

2008-12-11T11:16:00.002-05:00

I went to see a bunch of DC bands I know at DC9 last night. The highlight of the evening definitely came at the end of The Spiritual Machine's set, when members of Ra Ra Rasputin and Exactly joined them for a cover of "Crosseyed and Painless". The audio's not perfect, but this should give you some idea. Courtesy Make Some Noise.

The Spiritual Machine, Ra Ra Rasputin and Friends - Crosseyed and Painless (live at DC9) from Jason Mogavero on Vimeo.

I Post More On Hiatus Than Not, Apparently

2008-12-03T18:30:00.002-05:00

Greatest cover ever. Buy it here or here or here.

Song for Today

2008-11-04T09:41:00.000-05:00

VOTE!!!

Now back to your regularly scheduled hiatus.

Hiatus, the Sequel

2008-10-25T17:55:00.002-05:00

Sorry y'all. Posting is going to be occasional (not that it wasn't already) until Christmas, maybe until January. The current format simply isn't something I can keep up with, and while I know what I want to do for a revised format, I'm not going to have the money to do what I want to do until then. Stay tuned...

Pending

2008-09-12T01:12:00.004-05:00

I actually have a new post written, and ideas for several more, but I have to chop up a half hour mp3 into individual songs, and I haven't had time to do it yet. I'm on my way back, I swear.

Update: So, this isn't going all that well. I have had no time to chop up those mp3s and I can't find the CD I want to rip other mp3s off of... Sooner or later, it will happen, though.

Awesome

2008-08-14T16:54:00.003-05:00

More real posts soon I promise, but this should brighten up your day. Dr. Dog in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA, playing a free show for about a thousand people:

HT: Philebrity.

My Bad

2008-07-20T01:03:00.004-05:00

So, I've been pretty terrible about posting lately. If you know me well enough that this is any consolation, it's mostly because I've been having a really great time enjoying the DC summer at my current house and playing with bands.

Anyway, mea culpa aside, this is going to be a bit of a lame post, in that it doesn't have any downloadable content. I have mentioned Damien Jurado on this blog before, but not since I went to see him last month. First of all, he's well worth seeing, an excellent performer, albeit with a less-than-commanding stage presence. Secondly, here's a couple of good performance from Fuel TV of new songs. Enjoy.

Damien Jurado on Fuel TV

Frippertronics

2008-06-18T18:17:00.003-05:00

I have indirectly mentioned Robert Fripp on this blog before, in the context of the ever-excellent King Crimson (see here). However, I have never really posted on the man himself, which is a mistake I seek to correct with this post.

Fripp founded King Crimson in the late 1960s, and their debut In the Court of the Crimson King is arguably the best of the first generation of prog records. It's best known for "21st Century Schizoid Man", with its almost Sabbath-y riffing, but there's a lot more to it than that.

Fripp went on to restructure King Crimson many more times, my favorite being the longest lived lineup of Fripp on guitar, Adrian Belew on guitar and vocals, Tony Levin on Chapman Stick, and Bill Bruford on drums. That is the lineup you see in the video in the aforementioned previous post.

However, Fripp has done a lot more than that. He founded a guitar school, invented a tuning, and started a label, among other things. He was also an early rock experimenter with tape loops and developed a system he called Frippertronics. Very ambient, textural stuff that I enjoy a great deal. Appended to this post is a Frippertronics performance from a 1993 show at Allentown's Red Door Cafe (which I wasn't even aware hosted music, and I grew up half an hour from there. Go figure.) Enjoy.

Robert Fripp - Frippertronics (live 9/2/93)

A Funny Thing Happened Thursday Night

2008-06-07T12:24:00.002-05:00

So I tried out the open mic at Dahlak, an Eritrean restaurant on U St here in DC, on Thursday. Pretty good open mic, incidentally; a surprising amount of talent relative to the size of the venue. Anyway, toward the end of the night, the host coerces Jesse Elliott of These United States into playing a short set. He is joined by Randy Scopes, formerly of Washington Social Club, drumming along on a guitar case. I wish I could say I had a picture, but I cameraphoned it and am, at the moment, without a way of transferring said photo to my computer. I'm going to go ahead and leach KEXP for an mp3 here...

These United States - First Sight

See also: These United States, Daytrotter Session.

Hey Bo Diddley

2008-06-02T19:58:00.001-05:00

RIP.

Sorry

2008-05-27T22:31:00.000-05:00

Back soon

New Format: All Tom Rush, All the Time

2008-05-03T15:44:00.003-05:00

Not really though. I've been pretty busy, but I am trying to force posts to the extent possible anyway. This one again has no mp3s, I promise more will come. I previously posted on Tom Rush here, but this is a more extensive examination of his covers via YouTube videos.

First up: "Urge for Going," a Joni Mitchell cover. Much as I love Joni, this version is really the ultimate, as far as I'm concerned. I've always felt that her version has a little too much pep for what is a deeply sad and dark song. The appended version is from a live performance in Massachusetts last fall.

Next: a much younger, hippier Rush, from the Festival Express DVD, doing "Child's Song", written by Canadian songwriter Murray McLaughlin. Also excellent.

Finally, Tom Rush, Emmylou Harris and David Bromberg covering Townes Van Zandt's classic "Pancho and Lefty" from a show in 1983.

A Musical History Lesson

2008-04-20T12:18:00.001-05:00

About spirituals, slave songs, and the pentatonic scale. (HT: Andrew Sullivan)

I Heard It Was You

2008-04-16T22:23:00.002-05:00

The Soft Drugs are pretty awesome, although it occurs to me that somehow they never got their own post. Lost in the shuffle I guess. They were mentioned in my previous post about their founder and leader, one TW Walsh, (himself a former member of Pedro the Lion and a Truckstop/My Pal God solo artist). Their In Moderation EP is available under a Creative Commons license on their website. Evidently an album is coming forthwith, which I am pretty excited for. See this studio video:

This is more of an FYI post than an "MP3 is attached" post, since Mr. Walsh has done us all the great and gracious favor of posting and hosting the band's recent set on Boston's WMBR, the MIT campus station. Well worth a listen. Go here to check it out.

You Keep on Waking Me

2008-04-15T22:31:00.002-05:00

So I realize this bumps the proportion of Bazan-related posts on the front page up to a semi-excessive level, but I would be remiss if I did not point you to YouTube user brianjbean's impressive collection of early Pedro the Lion-related videos. Here's an excellent example (and something of a live rarity): "Almost There" from the Whole EP, performed solo with drum machine. (No screaming, but still a great version, and with an early draft of the lyrics).

In Lincoln Park, the Dark was Turning

2008-04-04T18:01:00.003-05:00

Phil Ochs was a brilliant American folk songwriter. At his best, he was every bit the lyricist Dylan or Cohen was, and that is no exaggeration. Ochs came up in the Greenwich Village scene with Dylan, Joan Baez, Tom Paxton, and all the others. His first big break was 1963's Newport Folk Festival. He went on to release three records on Elektra in the mid-sixties, including the three classic war protests "Talking Vietnam Blues", "Draft Dodger Rag", and "I Ain't Marching Anymore".

He then moved to A&M, where he released four albums that were frankly kind of terrible. There are some great songs on them, but are filled with some horrifically gaudy post-Sgt. Pepper "pop" arrangements that have not aged well. Seek out the original version of "Crucifixion" if you want a good sense of what I'm referring to. (Incidentally, it's one of the best songs ever written, I think, lyrically. Here is a partial clip:

Attempts at mainstreaming his sound on A&M didn't work, unfortunately, and Ochs eventually succumbed to addiction and depression and killed himself in 1976. Music is worse for it.

One great posthumous release is Rhino's There and Now, recorded in Vancouver in 1969. The following track, "William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed" originally appeared on Rehearsals for Retirement, Ochs's second-to-last release, as a piano track. The live version is a medley with "Where Were You in Chicago?".

Phil Ochs - Where Were You in Chicago?/William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed

Hilarity Ensues

2008-03-27T22:08:00.003-05:00

I've been holding onto this one for a long time. Really I have. Perhaps the single funniest, and simultaneously the single saddest, track I can even think of. I first heard this as a freshman in college some five years ago, and I have always known it would find its way into a blog post some rainy day. Well, ladies and gentlemen, today is that day.

I give you the Macho Man Randy Savage's anti-Hulk Hogan battle rap, "Be a Man." This would have been alarming if it had been released when Hogan and Savage were at their peaks when I was young, but note the 2003 release date. And the lyrics speak for themselves. Wow. Snap into a Slim Jim:

Macho Man Randy Savage - "Be a Man"

April (The Album)

2008-03-19T21:29:00.004-05:00

Exciting news: the new Sun Kil Moon record is streaming through tomorrow on the band's Myspace. It's very, very good. A personal favorite is "Lucky Man", but it's all pretty good. Touring now, see the official site for more details.

What a Cruel God We've Got

2008-03-05T19:29:00.003-05:00

I have made no secret on this site in the past of my love for David Bazan and his various projects. By my count, I have seen various configurations of he and Pedro the Lion more times than any other artist (5, I think). Needless to say, I'm a fan.

A thread on the pedrothelion.org forums reminded me of a Pedro the Lion rarity of sorts, that being what is technically the last Pedro the Lion song ever recorded, the electric guitar version of "The Devil is Beating His Wife", which became "Cold Beer and Cigarettes" on the Fewer Moving Parts EP (which was recently re-released on Barsuk). In some ways, I like it better than the EP version. For your listening pleasure, here it is:

Pedro the Lion - The Devil is Beating His Wife (electric version)

Bazan is also on tour right now, with three shows coming up next month opening for another one of my favorite musicians, Mark Kozelek. Dates are available on either of the artists' websites.

You've Got the Perfect Disguise and You're Looking Okay

2008-02-26T21:05:00.005-05:00

As far as a lot of people are concerned, The Moon and Antarctica is the ultimate in Modest Mouse. I'm not entirely sure I agree (I'm a Lonesome Crowded West man myself), but there's no denying that it's a great record. It's mighty hard to argue with a song like "The Stars are Projectors." But that's not what that post is about, mostly because I can't find a version of it I feel comfortable posting.

However, I do have a pretty clean version of one of the record's other great songs, the opener, "3rd Planet". This was done for KVRX, the student station at UT-Austin. One time I went scavenging in their archives and found all sorts of great stuff; this MM set was one of the highlights. Can't quite figure the date, but I would guess 2000-ish. It's not quite on par with the album version but it's a) legal and b) still pretty good. You should buy the album anyway. Enjoy.

Modest Mouse - 3rd Planet (live on KVRX)

And Now That I'm in Your Shadow

2008-02-18T16:16:00.003-05:00

I have heard good things about Damien Jurado for a long time, but for some reason, I never really made much of an effort to check out his music until recently. I had no idea what I was missing. Simply put, Jurado is a great songwriter with a unique voice and a range of stylistic abilities. Probably my favorite record of his of the ones I've heard to date is 2006's And Now That I'm in Your Shadow, available on Secretly Canadian.

The record is mostly acoustic, with singer-songwriter, folk, and traces of country influences. Here is the title track, a slow, brooding number of the sort that regular readers of this blog will know I tend to favor.

Damien Jurado - And Now That I'm in Your Shadow

Jurado was just on tour in Europe, and has no further dates scheduled for the time being. I'm hoping for some east coast dates at some point, as I'd like to check out his live show myself.

YouTube Roundup II

2008-02-15T21:57:00.004-05:00

This was supposed to be a regular feature, but then I got lazy.

First up, King Crimson circa 1982 on The Old Grey Whistle Test:

Next, the ever-awesome Ted Leo rocking an acoustic "Me and Mia", which is a fantastic song even stripped to its barest elements:

And, much like last time, a video shot live at the Current, which is even better than the one I posted last time around. Low, performing "Murderer". The live version is much better than the studio version (and I like the studio version).

I Know There's Pain Inside that Truth

2008-02-13T21:18:00.002-05:00

From about 13-17 years old, Our Lady Peace were one of my favorite bands. Those of you only familiar with their output over the last five plus years might wonder why I wouldn't keep that to myself. However, prior to guitarist Mike Turner's departure during the recording of Bob Rock-produced pop atrocity Gravity, they were one of the most innovative bands in mainstream rock.

Consider "Clumsy", their first single to receive significant US radio play, (at least as best as I can remember). Stylistically, it's not that far removed from a lot of post-grunge pop-rock. However, it certainly has some weird touches. The spooky piano intro and somewhat violent lyrics, for instance. And it's a great, great song.

Or consider "Happiness is Not a Fish that You Can Catch", their followup, when they really came into their own. The nearly atonal guitar solo on "One Many Army", the pop breakout hit "Is Anybody Home?" (strangely enough), drumming by late jazz legend Elvin Jones on "Stealing Babies." Great songs, all.

In fact, they were good up through Gravity. Even that had some good songs, despite the lame Bob "Black Album" Rock (over)production. But that was certainly the beginning of the end.

Anyway, here is a drastically different alternate live take on "Julia", from their first record, Naveed. I've had this for years, and I don't think it's super well circulated, but it's definitely worth a listen.

Our Lady Peace - Naveed (alternate live version)

We Tried to Reach Beyond the Emptiness, but Neither One Knew How

2008-01-01T15:43:00.000-05:00

Here's a little seasonal depression / New Years-related music for you. Somehow I totally missed this, but the great songwriter Dan Fogelberg died a couple weeks back of prostate cancer. My father is a big fan of Fogelberg's work, so I first heard his music when I was very young. He is best known for the classic "Same Old Lang Syne," which it turns out was about 99% a true story. It's a song about two former lovers who meet in a grocery store and remember what they loved about one another, basically. It's an incredibly powerful song, partly because of its melody, which is based on Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

Here are a couple good versions of it I yanked from YouTube. This first one is a fairly recent solo performance. He takes some liberties with the melody in the chorus that I can't say I love in this one, but it has the advantage of being played on a real piano.

The second one is older, from 1991. It's a little truer to the album version, but is played on a cheesy electric piano that I can't say I'm a big fan of.

David Broderick

2007-12-27T21:24:00.000-05:00

My e-quaintance (ha!) David Broderick asked me to give his band a shout-out here, and so I shall. He's a few years younger than me and his recordings sound a lot better than mine. And he sings better too. So, I'll give props where props are due. Plus, I really dig his song "Give a Hand." You'd think I'd have some more info on this matter, but you'd be wrong. Here is what I do know: he lives in Denton, Texas and isn't touring right now. You can check out his music on MySpace here. Anyway, enjoy.

Yes, There Is Something You Can Send Back to Me

2007-12-26T23:37:00.000-05:00

I am a big fan of Ida. I have posted about this fact before here. Just like the last time I posted, there isn't much going on with them as far as I can tell. They had a new song in Esopus magazine a few months back. I didn't hear it, but it happened. They also played some shows in NY back in November, but nothing much since then. No word on a new record for the time being.

Anyway, the other day I was poking around to see if I could find any covers of "Boots of Spanish Leather", because I've been listening to a lot of Times They Are A'Changin' lately. It's a wonderful cover, too. I'm not sure why they decided not to divide the verses up between them, since the lyrics are in the voice of a man and a woman, but nonetheless. Some very nice harmony, singing, and playing. Seems to be from this tribute album, which is apparently out of print. Anyway, enjoy.

Ida - Boots of Spanish Leather

Peace on Earth

2007-12-23T22:05:00.000-05:00

I should mention that Caleb of It's Hard to Find a Friend has an excellent Christmas compilation up. Benefits charity, too. Buy it here.

It's Already Over in October, Already at Christmas Every Year

2007-12-16T23:07:00.000-05:00

Jackson C. Frank's story is perhaps the most tragic in the history of music. Huge statement, I know, but it's pretty hard to even believe once you've read it. He released exactly one full-length record, which has been in and out of print since the mid 60s. The most famous track from it is "Blues Run the Game", which was covered by Simon and Garfunkel, who were friends of Frank's. He recorded some more material in the 90s, but his voice was pretty shot and his various health problems were beginning to catch up with him.

Knowledge of his music has gone by the wayside to some extent, which is a shame, because it's really very good. Even the later stuff has some highlights, including, for example, the excellent "October", which is appended to this post. If you can buy Blues Run the Game, which is a retrospective including Frank's eponymous debut and pretty much every other recording he ever made, I would recommend you do.

Jackson C. Frank - October

Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?

2007-12-09T12:26:00.000-05:00

So, I went to see Ted Leo last night at the 930 Club. Some will recall that this is my second time seeing the Pharmacists this year, although the first was under somewhat different circumstances.

Anyway, it was great to get to see a full length show finally. I admit that I am not familiar enough with anything since Hearts of Oak to provide anything approaching an accurate setlist, but I can mention some highlights. There were a couple classic DC punk covers that brought the rock (Government Issue I recognized, the other one (the encore) I did not.) There was the cover of Daft Punk's "One More Time" that ended "Little Dawn," which is a favorite Leo song of mine anyway. There was getting to see a live performance of my absolute favorite Pharmacists song, "Parallel or Together." Oh, and there was that classic Hearts of Oak gem, "Where Have All the Rudeboys Gone?", dedicated to opener Ris Paul Ric (who also put on a pretty good show -- the other opener, Kathleen Young, was unspeakably awful).

Great show, overall.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Where Have All the Rudeboys Gone?

It Tolls for Me

2007-11-26T22:34:00.000-05:00

I heart Joanna Newsom. Seriously, with her harps and her Steve Albini production and her Van Dyke Parks string arrangements, and her warbling voice. She also is dating Bill Callahan (smog), which is pretty cool, as well. I do wish she performed more frequently. Alas, not so much.

Here is the big solo centerpiece of Ys, the amazing "Sawdust and Diamonds." Enjoy.

Joanna Newsom - Sawdust and Diamonds

Yes, lame short post, I know. Tired. But going to stick with posting this time. Also, here is a good Joanna fansite.

And Life Goes On and On and On

2007-11-17T00:03:00.000-05:00

I have been really digging the Magnetic Fields again lately, in particular 69 Love Songs. They are actually on tour this winter, which would doubtless be an amazing show, were they playing anywhere near DC, where I am currently living. Stephin Merritt's work has, unfortunately, gotten spottier over the years, but then, there are more good songs on 69 Love Songs than many artists write in their entire careers, so perhaps it is forgivable.

Merritt and his labels don't seem to be big on making downloads available, so I hope I don't get any threatening letters as a result of this, but here is one of my favorite tracks from 69 Love Songs. Enjoy.

The Magnetic Fields - I Don't Want to Get Over You

Jana McCall

2007-11-14T21:12:00.000-05:00

Pandora really is a delightful little invention, isn't it? I find it really helps me turn up the most interesting obscure stuff, sometimes so obscure it's hard to obtain any information about it. Case in point: Jana McCall. I can tell you approximately three things about Jana McCall. 1) She played bass in an obscure grunge band called Dickless. 2) She put out two albums on Up Records, one in 1998 and one in 2002. 3) She has a MySpace with a newer, non-album track on it. That's about it.

If I had to take a stab at describing her music, I'd say it's sort of like if you crossed pre-You are Free Cat Power with Codeine-type grunge. That doesn't quite capture it, but it'd be hard to get closer on the basis of comparisons alone. Sad, slow-to-mid tempo, female vocals, good stuff. If she still plays shows, or even puts out records, I can't find any information about it.

Here are two tracks from the Up Records site, where you can also buy her albums. They are actually not my favorite songs of hers, but they are pretty good:

Jana McCall - Bloodlines
Jana McCall - Today

...And, We're Back

2007-11-14T21:07:00.001-05:00

After a longer-than-intended hiatus, I have returned. Hopefully no more disruptions for awhile now. I am preparing a post right now; it should be up by the weekend, if not sooner. Hopefully tonight.

New(-ish) Neil Young

2007-09-19T16:00:00.000-05:00

Neil Young made the long-unreleased track "Ordinary People" available for radio play last week. It will appear on the forthcoming Chrome Dreams II, which promises to be awesome. I am convinced that this is a vintage recording with some modern dubs (or maybe no modern dubs at all), but nonetheless, it's probably the best thing to appear on a Neil Young record since the early nineties. This is hosted on Rolling Stone's site, so the link may die eventually. Let me know in the comments if that happens.

Neil Young - Ordinary People

Better Late Than Never

2007-09-05T01:07:00.000-05:00

Here are my Primavera Sound photos, featuring, in order: Dirty Three, Slint, Smashing Pumpkins, Death Vessel, Portastatic, Brightblack Morning Light, Black Mountain, Blonde Redhead, Spiritualized, Modest Mouse, Low, Built to Spill, Kimya Dawson, Oakley Hall, Ted Leo, Mum, Pelican, Isis, Sonic Youth, and Wilco.

Bounce to Disk

2007-08-13T22:32:00.000-05:00

TW Walsh, ex-Pedro the Lion member, solo musician, and leader of The Soft Drugs, has a new webzine up called Bounce to Disk about recording music. I still am not entirely moved and transitioned yet, so we are still in spare post mode, but hey, check that out awhile if it interests you.

Yeah, This Again

2007-08-09T06:35:00.000-05:00

So, I am in the process of moving and starting a new job. I am finding it hard to update this thing with the regularity I would like. It'll get there though.

Saa Magni

2007-07-31T22:03:00.000-05:00

Perhaps my favorite "world music" artist, as awful and broad a term that is, is the Malian singer Oumou Sangare. Her music is descended from the traditional music of the Wassoulou region. Her debut sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Africa, and she rose to international prominence with the help of the late, great Ali Farka Toure following that album. Appended to this post is the song which introduced me to her music, the excellent "Saa Magni" from her second album, Ko Sira. Enjoy.

Oumou Sangare - Saa Magni

Music and the Human Mind

2007-07-25T16:46:00.000-05:00

I read an interesting interview in Salon today with Joseph LeDoux, an NYU neuroscience researcher, discussing the importance of music in shaping identity and memory. Oh, plus he plays nerd-rock.

I'm Walking the Line; I'm Visiting Houses in Motion

2007-07-23T17:28:00.000-05:00

Some dude posted some live Talking Heads circa 1980 on YouTube. Pretty sick. 1980-1 is definitely my favorite era of live Heads. It's well represented on the second disc of the classic The Name of This Band is Talking Heads, which Rhino reissued a couple years back. Everyone should own that record. Here's a highlight:

Maniac, Slow Down

2007-07-17T18:57:00.000-05:00

My previous post (scroll down) about the Stereogum OK Computer tribute reminded me of a personal favorite from that album. The cover from the tribute is a little bit so-so, I think. The original song is not legitimately available online, so I can't post it. However, I do have a really sweet live version from the 2006 Boston show, as recorded by Bradley at Bradley's Almanac. Live versions are something of a rarity as far as this song is concerned, so enjoy.

Radiohead - The Tourist (Live Boston 2006)

PS. I realize my posts have all been short and superficial lately. Sorry. We'll get there.

From the Rooftop, We Can See the Moon Rise High Above the Clouds

2007-07-14T12:07:00.000-05:00

Oh man. I forgot about Ida. What a cool band. They are sort of like a little bit jazzier version of Low. Really good stuff. I unfortunately don't have any real interesting stories to go behind them. Oh, I guess the fact that Liz Mitchell was once in a duo with Lisa Loeb, and that both of Ida's primaries appear on Loeb's hit "Stay." I guess that's something. They aren't touring right now, and their website has been "in progress" for like a year, but their MySpace seems to be kept fairly up to date. Here is the excellent "Late Blues," from their most recent album, 2005's Heart Like a River.

Ida - Late Blues

Lazy Post

2007-07-13T00:28:00.001-05:00

It's definitely a little hit and miss at times, but you should probably check out Stereogum's OK Computer tribute, if for no other reason than that it contains the debut recording of David Bazan (ex-Pedro the Lion)'s new band, Black Cloud. They do "Let Down", a song that previously appeared on the best Pedro the Lion record ever, their 2004 Tour EP.

Early Day Miners

2007-07-09T17:51:00.000-05:00

I started messing around with Pandora again the other day. One of the first tracks to come up was this jam, by Bloomington-based Early Day Miners. I really dug it, and I have enjoyed several of the other tracks. They are on Secretly Canadian, which bodes well for them. Here is a video. (There's also an mp3 coming further down).

Unfortunately, they have few dates scheduled in the near future: one in their hometown, and one in Kentucky. Doesn't help me much. Anyway, here is the song that came up on Pandora. Enjoy.

Early Day Miners - All Harm

Come With Me, My Love, Into the Sea, the Sea of Love

2007-07-08T22:57:00.000-05:00

I heart Cat Power, aka Chan Marshall. She is a gorgeous brunette, she has pretty much the sexiest voice ever, and she's kind of crazy. My type, in other words. Awhile ago I found a copy of her KVRX set from a few years ago. It's a short solo set of mostly covers. It's very good. If you poke around you can find the whole thing elsewhere, so I am only going to post one track. This is a cover of a song originally recorded by Phil Phillips, and also later recorded by the Honeydrippers and Tom Waits. It's short, but good.

Cat Power - Sea of Love (@ KVRX)

Fourth of July

2007-07-03T18:17:00.000-05:00

Bending the rules a little bit to have a timely song here. To be fair, they are on hiatus. I refer to Azure Ray, the excellent Saddle Creek duo consisting of Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor. I hate to say it, but I feel a little bit like both of their solo output proves that Azure Ray was more than the sum of its parts. Oh well. I saw Maria Taylor a couple years ago on the 11:11 tour where Denver Dalley was playing in her touring band; that was awesome. I wish her solo records sounded more like that. Anyway, this is from their debut, and the title fits.

Azure Ray - Fourth of July

Smashing Pumpkins' Zeitgeist Has Leaked

2007-06-30T20:58:00.000-05:00

I am not going to post it here, I am not that stupid. I like my blog, you know, running. I will point out to you though that a number of the major torrent sites have it now, including a certain successor to Suprnova (RIP) whose name may or may not mean "small nova". I will post my thoughts later.

UPDATE:
I like it. I don't know why Doomsday Clock is one of the prerelease songs. It's not one of the better songs on the album. I would say about three quarters of the tracks are just good straight up rock songs. The production leaves something to be desired, but what can you do. Feel free to post your comments on it.

Be Mine Until You're Reminded of Something Better

2007-06-28T17:37:00.000-05:00

Songs:Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. I already posted about them back in April here. I am a big fan of all of Jason Molina's work, and I just found out about the forthcoming Magnolia Electric Co. Sojourner boxed set. (I am almost a month late, I realize, but such is life). They are, as usual, on tour. Right now, they are finishing up some dates in Austria, Germany, and Norway. There are three Australian dates in August, and then a huge coast-to-coast US tour from late August through early October in support of Sojourner.

I am going to put up an old-school classic from Axxess and Ace. You will probably not hear this on the aforementioned tour, as Molina rarely plays anything older than the Magnolia Electric Co (self-titled) album.

Songs:Ohia - How to Be Perfect Men

UPDATE: I just remembered this; I thought some people might want it. There is an extensive archive of live MEC shows on their official site at this link.

There Were Ghosts in the Eyes of All the Boys You Sent Away

2007-06-27T17:33:00.001-05:00

UPDATE (4/1): Can somebody clue me in to why I am suddenly getting hundreds of hits on this post in the comments please?

I am not a big Bruce Springsteen fan, in general. Nebraska, yes; Seeger Sessions was also pretty good, and I cover "Dancing in the Dark" sometimes. Nonetheless, I wouldn't count myself as a fan. The version of "Thunder Road", as he wrote it, is a great example of why. The song is desperate and sad; yet he plays it as a tinkling piano ballad in a major key. This is especially unfortunate, since it's maybe the best lyric in the entire Springsteen oeuvre.

For that reason, I was pleased to hear the Tortoise / Bonnie "Prince" Billy version that was released on The Brave and the Bold a couple years ago. The synth is, arguably, a little over the top, but in general, I think this one gets the feeling right. Tortoise is on tour until July 8, Billy is not, at the moment.

Tortoise and Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Thunder Road

Edit the Sad Parts

2007-06-24T17:00:00.000-05:00

I used to have a thorough obsession with Modest Mouse. It has subsided somewhat in recent years, as neither of the last two really grabbed me in the way their earlier work did. (I should note, however, that I am not in the "Modest Mouse suck now they sold out OMG" camp.) Plus, I have seen them live four times, and they put on two of the best and two of the worst shows I have ever seen, and that sort of inconsistency didn't help either.

Nonetheless, I was digging around on my hard drive the other day and remembered one of their early gems, one only available on imports since Interstate 8 went out of print many moons ago. I refer to "Edit the Sad Parts." Cool song, somewhat reminiscent of "Broke" from Interstate 8 / Building Nothing out of Something. I always thought the title was pretty great, given the lyrical content, as well. Anyway, since it's no longer commercially available, I am working under the assumption it is legit to post it. Modest Mouse are on tour, but are playing mostly outdoor venues, and they fucking suck in outdoor venues so I wouldn't recommend going.

Modest Mouse - Edit the Sad Parts

Primavera Sound Part III

2007-06-20T21:20:00.000-05:00

We also went down to the festival pretty early on Saturday. We went to see Kimya Dawson (ex-Moldy Peaches) in Auditori first thing. She was a funny lady with kind of cool, if not overwhelmingly awesome, songs. It was a very upbeat set, and it was nice to see somebody not taking things as seriously as most of the bands were. Ted Leo was next up. It's funny that I lived in the DC area for four years, and never got around to seeing Ted Leo until I had graduated, on another continent. He made a big show of "La Costa Brava", for what should be obvious reasons, given the locale.

There was nothing I was too stoked on for quite awhile after Leo's set. I went to see Pelican, because I am into similar bands (see the posts on Tides and Jesu, for example), and people often rave about the, but I was pretty underwhelmed. They have no sense of melody, compared to most post-rock and post-metal, in my humble opinion. They were also playing on equipment borrowed from Isis, I don't know if that affected things or not. Isis, on the other hand, were awesome. I was somewhat disappointed to leave their set early, but I had stake out a good spot for what turned out to be the most awesome set of the weekend: Sonic Youth performing Daydream Nation in its entirety.

Holy hell was that awesome. Seriously, I don't even know how to sum up in words how awesome that was. Then, after we had made our way through the auditory orgasm that is "Eliminator Jr", SY left the stage shortly before encoring with some selections from Rather Ripped, which I love. After that was Wilco's set, which the drunken crowd talked loudly through, but who really, really impressed me. Nels Cline is a fucking monster on the guitar. And with that, my time in Barcelona drew to a close. Awesome. Best show ever.

Ted Leo - The Sons of Cain

Primavera Sound, Part II

2007-06-19T20:24:00.000-05:00

Friday was a big day at the festival. We came over pretty early. We didn't know anything about Death Vessel, only caught the end of the set, and he was pretty great. Awesome voice, good songs. After that I watched some of Brightblack Morning Light, who really impressed me. I hadn't been familiar with their work either, but their sort of psychedelic blues was really a breath of fresh air. I am a convert.

The next thing I got to see was Blonde Redhead. They were fucking great. I think everyone, including me, was stunned at just how great they were, in fact. When they were done, we went to stand in line for Spiritualized Acoustic Mainlines in Auditori, which was the sweet indoor venue setup. Spiritualized were absolutely amazing. Seriously, you should do your best to see them if you ever get the opportunity.

The late night lineup on Friday was pretty great on paper. Modest Mouse, however, put on the worst set of the four times that I have seen them. The setlist was terrible, the sound was terrible, there was tons of unintentional microphonic feedback. Just, not good. Really great version of "Doin the Cockroach." Fortunately, Low played really well; a lot of songs from the new album (many of which are better live than on the record, even though I like the record). Built to Spill also suffered with a lot of sound problems, but they eventually got fixed, and they put on a great set, which went til about 4 am, after which I went home.

Part Three will come faster than Part Two did.

Death Vessel - Deep in the Horchata

I Lied

2007-06-17T21:57:00.001-05:00

Soon though.

Updates

2007-06-15T13:27:00.001-05:00

Are coming this weekend. Really.

Primavera Sound Part 1

2007-06-03T00:20:00.000-05:00

This weekend I had the great fortune to attend Barcelona's Primavera Sound Festival, to which I alluded in several of the previous entries. As also mentioned before, these posts won't be getting my pictures until I am done traveling sometime after the ninth, as I don't have the cable for my digicam with me (D'oh). I am going to write as much as I can before I have to head to the airport now, and then will pick up where I left off whenever I get a chance.

Thursday night, things started off less than perfectly when I learned a little bit more about the venue logistics. While the Parc del Forum is in Barcelona proper, it is way out in no man's land, and took a little over a half hour by Metro to reach from my hostel. Upon arrival, I learned that everyone had to wait in one queue for wristbands (approximately a 35 minute lineup). Before I could get into that, I first had to do will call, which was another half an hour or so. Instead of having plenty of time to see Dirty Three's entire set, as I'd hoped, I only in about a third of the way through. They did put on a great show though. I was converted, at least.

The next big event of the night was Slint performing Spiderland in its entirity. Now, I already was fortunate enough to see Slint on the reunion tour a couple years ago, so I only watched about half before I went over to the main stage to stake out a spot for the Pumpkins, but the part of the Slint set I saw was pretty fantastic. A friend was still calling it his second-favorite show of the entire festival at its conclusion this evening.

The final point, and indeed the one that sold my ticket, was to see the reconstituted Smashing Pumpkins perform. Granted, with no Iha, D'arcy, or even Auf der Maur, one might question to what extent Billy Corgan even should be calling it the Pumpkins, but there you have it. This set was great. It was very hit-centric, perhaps more so than I would have even liked, touching on all five singles from Mellon Collie; "Cherub Rock", "Today", and "Disarm" from Siamese Dream, and "Stand Inside Your Love" from Machina. Fortunately, they went deeper than that, pulling out at least one (maybe two, I forget) cuts from Gish, encoring with "Muzzle," and playing a bunch of the new material.

At this point, you are probably wondering how the new material is. On the whole, it is good. At least one of the new songs kind of sucks, but the other four or so were in the range of above average to downright awesome. "Tarantula," the leaked single, is probably the strongest of the new stuff they played. Corgan was back to his weird outfits, which in this case resembled a very shiny version of a priest's robe. All in all I was very impressed. The only weak link, imho, is the new guitarist, whose playing is competent, but kind of dull.

More later...

FYI

2007-05-31T07:55:00.000-05:00

So the Primavera Sound entries will unfortunately be sans pictures for about 9 days, as in my hasty packing, I brought my camera but not my USB cable. It starts in about four hours. I'm stoked.

The Malls are the Soon-to-be Ghost Towns

2007-05-23T14:46:00.000-05:00

I will be in various parts of Europe from tonight until the second week of June. I will try to post about Primavera Sound Festival when I'm in Barcelona, though I make no promises. Otherwise, posting will resume when I get back.

Don Peris

2007-05-14T14:02:00.000-05:00

Don Peris, in addition to being a founding member of the Innocence Mission, the Lancaster PA-based group that had a few minor chart singles in the late 80s / early 90s, also has a couple solo albums. I recently heard one of them for the first time and was very much impressed. I am still kind of busy, too busy to give a lengthy post (and I am trying to cut my post sizes down on everything but my absolute favorite bands, anyway), but thought people might like this. It's an unreleased track of his called "Blossom of May." Very pretty acoustic piece. Have at it:

Don Peris - Blossom of May

Sweet Beliefs

2007-05-12T05:02:00.000-05:00

Cyann and Ben, despite the name, are actually a quartet based in France. They used to be on Gooom, now they are on Ever Records. You might have heard of them because they are on the last M83 album, if that is your sort of thing. Regardless, their most recent record, Sweet Beliefs (which is actually not that recent) is something I recently stumbled across on Pandora, and it's worth checking out.

Again, I am in my finals week hell here, so I am going to go for less talk and more rock (well, loosely defined "rock", anyway). This is the title track from that record.

Cyann and Ben - Sweet Beliefs

Helvetia

2007-05-05T12:06:00.000-05:00

Helvetia (pronounced Hel-wait-zia) are an excellent rock band from the Pacific Northwest. I first had the pleasure of hearing them as openers for Built to Spill and Camper van Beethoven at the 930 Club back in the fall, an excellent show which is available as a stream via NPR here, although Helvetia's set is absent. They sound a little bit like Built to Spill, especially on their older material, but equally as much like some other things I haven't quite pinned down yet.

Their great misfortune is that their former label, The Static Cult, effectively folded. The label's site says that all future releases will be limited editions, which would put a damper on any band trying to actually, you know, succeed. Right now it appears they are working with Up Records, which isn't a bad place to be, given that label's historic ties to Built to Spill and numerous other great bands.

One of the other great reasons it seemed time to do a post on them is that I can provide you with a whole bunch of music without having to upload any. Their MySpace has four tracks from the forthcoming The Acrobats, all downloadable. You can also get a couple of older tracks here. Give it a listen.

Crunch Time

2007-05-03T00:19:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I am finishing up my last year of undergrad at the moment. I hope you will bear with me if the posting runs a little dry between now and the 20th. Forthcoming at the end of the month though: blogging Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona. Word.

YouTube Roundup

2007-04-27T12:01:00.001-05:00

This is a new feature I am working on where I will periodically post three or four cool/weird YouTube clips I have stumbled across of interesting performances.

Emily Haines of Metric performing one of my favorite Neil Young songs at a radio gig. She makes the questionable choice of singing the harmony notes as the melody at a few points, but overall, it captures the feel of the original very well.

Mark Kozelek (of Red House Painters / Sun Kil Moon) performing one of his most recent songs, "Moorestown." The dude who edited the video failed to cut out the end of "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" at the beginning of the video, but be patient, this song is amazing.

I have been trying to post about this band for awhile but can't find their album or mp3s of it. They are called Pale Pacific, and this song, "Sucker Punch", is fucking great. The beginning is cut off, but it's better than the other video of this song where the audio clips constantly.

More on Leonard Cohen

2007-04-25T21:50:00.000-05:00

Though I hate to admit it, I still get a lot of my music buzz and news from Pitchfork. I agree with them no more than half of the time, but they are better organized than just about anyone, unfortunately.

Good of them, then, to point out that yesterday marked the Columbia/Legacy reissue of Leonard Cohen's first three albums. They also point to some pretty good YouTube clips. The astute will recall that I recently blogged about Cohen here.

Stranger Song, Live on British TV in 1967:

P.S. - Somebody recently pointed out to me that while Sendspace has a much cleaner interface than MegaUpload, they also kill the downloads a lot faster. For the time being, until I get some server space, I am going to go back to MegaUpload, to which I have reuploaded the mp3 from the Cohen post.