Music
New Music Tuesday: the Happiest Day of the Week
Good morning everyone! Happy Tuesday!
As a music lover, Tuesday is the happiest day of the week because it’s the day that new music is officially released in the US (via Itunes and Amazon).
In case you’re wondering— Wednesday is the second happiest day, because it’s the day that you get to re-listen to every bit of wonderment that you discovered on—you guessed it—Tuesday!
This post is part of a series featuring my top album releases of the week: well-known albums and stuff I’ve dug up through my daily prowling of the interwebs.
Admittedly, I’ve complained a lot this week about the music industry, both the burden of increasingly low barriers to entry and the competition this creates. To succeed, artists need to also serve as a multi-hat, low-overhead business operation, nimbly playing “the booker,” “the tour manager,” “the PR rep,” “the videographer,” “the promoter,” “the web designer,” and a dozen or so other roles that are so incompatible with making art it gives me the willies to think about.
Please understand. I’m not proposing an alternate paradigm. That’s not what this is about. I’m just bringing attention to fact that aside from the sales, the analytics, the publishing, distribution, labels and managers, and on and on at nauseum… under it all, there needs to be room for a wholesome, creative process. And the musician needs to be allowed to honor this creative process, to cocoon and wiggle and thoughtfully grow in a way that manifests and fosters their talent.
Sure, there are plenty of albums made in 3 days in a studio that sound raw and perfect and shouldn’t have been made any other way. Likewise, there are albums for which someone needs to hole themselves up in a cabin in Wisconsin for 2 years. They need to feel the earth and the seasons shifting around them, to have an existence slow and quiet enough to hear the ghosts of their life flirting with their fingernails.
Here’s the truth. Most times, you cannot tell the difference between an album that was made in 3 days and an album that was made in 2 years. (I have favorite albums that I’ll gladly send you from both of these categories.) You CAN however, hear the difference between an album that was allowed to become what it wanted to become and an album that feels like it was, umm, the only word that comes to mind is “chiseled.” Molded and checklisted and clipped to plan. And if you want a “hit song” that’s as formulaicly perfect as a bonsai tree, this is an OK way to go. But music-making. Real, honest, pained and joyful music-making requires space. It requires the freedom to—after all of the air, and water and attention in the world—look wild and unruly. To look like a shriveled, gangly cactus, if that is what makes sense. Because after all, if the artist’s heart feels like that cactus, then amen. Box those 12 songs up and lemme at them. It’s probably a fine, fine creation.
Of course, this is a long rant that has nothing to do with it being Tuesday. I does however, have to do with the top releases of the day.
For the past few weeks, I’ve gotten in the habit of writing full introductions to each body of work. I’ve talked at length about who made it, what it sounds like, how it makes me feel and why you should buy it. However, there are three albums I’m buzzing about today and I’ve a year’s worth of thoughts for each of them. Nine whole drafted pages that I’ve deleted in favor of simply saying:
These albums needed to be made, and they needed to grow in the slow, beautiful way they did. They’re albums to fill yourself with anytime you’re feeling sleepy about this whole, rugged industry and need some propping up. (That last sentence is so true for me that I’m almost tempted to double up on it.)
It’s a medical fact that we feel weary when we don’t get enough oxygen to our brain and heart. This is why we involuntarily yawn: to force-fill our lungs and get air to the parts of the body that need it to keep going. There’s a breathing trick that my mother, a yoga teacher, taught me. To feel more alert, you gasp hearty breaths in rapid sequence, as though you’re starving and can’t get enough of the world around you.
The songs and videos below are like said air. They’re something my body needed, and almost involuntarily, continues to ask for. Flowing through, they make the cogs of my mind spin around and pray together. They make me believe.
Robert Francis: Stranger in the First Place
Here’s Robert Francis talking about the process of writing and making the album:
Cold Specks: I Predict a Graceful Expulsion
I dare for you to watch the video for “Holland” and not be changed. Not to feel like the world is bigger and more violently beautiful than it was when you started watching. Do it. For more about Cold Specks and the song “Holland,” I urge you to read FuelFriend’s impossibly brilliant post about it. (Heather, thanks for writing this with such spirit and eloquence.)
JBM (Jesse Marchant): Stray Ashes
JBM performing new song “Moonwatcher” at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia last week.
Lyrics for Moonwatcher, by JBM:
The wind blew down
Through the cracks of the home
And the frozen sides of it creaked
One day I’d of liked to see you come
Stay the night and fill me warm
With your sunlight
I just don’t feel right
You sift through the trash
They’ve thrown in your lap
You’re sailing past your feelings
But you can’t ignore ‘em
They’ll again come around
I can see you drowning
In your orders assigned
In the falling in line
I wish for you not a window to crack
But for all of the sun and ground
For your feeling well
Stay your leave
The way you’ve turned isn’t real
But I see it in your eyes
When you’re calm
There’s a leap in you
Face the blast
For all that you’ve been
What do you stand to keep
From running out the field?
There’s only one way out
They’ll wonder how it feels
When you wander out
New Music Tuesday: the Happiest Day of the Week
Good morning everyone! Happy Tuesday!
As a music lover, Tuesday is the happiest day of the week because it’s the day that new music is officially released in the US (via Itunes and Amazon).
In case you’re wondering— Wednesday is the second happiest day, because it’s the day that you get to re-listen to every bit of wonderment that you discovered on—you guessed it—Tuesday!
This post is part of a series that features my top album releases of the week: both well-known albums and stuff I’ve dug up through my daily prowling of the interwebs.
Disclaimer: As much as I try to keep up with things, there are tons of great albums that sneak through the cracks, and I need your help to put a stop to that ridiculousness. If there’s an amazing album that I’ve missed, please send me a link (in the form below this monstrous posting) and I promise I’ll check it out. I’ll also try to talk about it in some fashion, maybe on my “third favorite day,” Saturday.
Without further ado, here’s the list of stuff that is totally worth falling in love with:
Beach House: Bloom
Think of the possessions you had when you were very little: maybe an action figurine, some drawing paper or an epic collection of crayons and pencils. At a young age, this is the extent of our understanding of “ownership.” Our younger selves pay no attention to such substantial items as a house, cars or furniture, and less to how our elders might have acquired them. My six-year-old self used to look at the living room couch and wonder if it had built by dinosaurs and occupied that particular floor space since the beginning of time. Perhaps the orange, cheesy noodles on my plate came from an “orange noodle tree” and the family Subaru was given in trade for a giant GI Joe collection.
One June, when I was 6 or 7, I received my first sand pail; it was yellow, shiny, plastic miracle. And, even at this young age, I can remember the joy in knowing I was the new owner of something important, a tool with which I could carry or build anything in the world. I could I sit on it and instantly declare that I “made a chair.” I could spill sand from its mouth and declare that I “made a castle.” I could gather water and Rhode Island periwinkles and announce that I “made them a home.”
Only in hindsight can I appreciate what an empty pail and beach house meant to my growing, curious mind: a full season for Popsicle drippings and planting watermelon trees in my belly, for staring at cloud animals and feeling as though the whole, blue universe smelled like possibility. More so, the assurance that every morning, the tide would give me a new, sandy slate on which to rewrite the world.
When I was 16, in the span of a sunny 3 months, I experienced my first “real” date, first real love and my first breakup. I remember the beginning: a day at the beach, a sunset perch atop a rocky cliff, feeling too warm to hold someone’s hand but doing so anyway. I remember the sensation that suddenly, this lovely thing that had happened to everyone around me was no longer happening around me, but to me and within me. Finally, I was aware of the size of my heart—an empty, pink landscape that I could fill with whatever and whoever I wanted to. If I had enough time, I could build a castle.
As we age, there are fewer and fewer “firsts.” We have to work harder to marvel at empty spaces, to replicate that tingly-belly feeling that happened to us when the final, closing school bell sounded.
The song “Myth” by Beach House rings through me in this way. It flushes watermelon juice through my veins and makes my hands feel too warm to grab onto anything. It gobs SPF50 on my heart to keep the world from burning it.
Today, I will set “Myth” to repeat and let it play steady through September. When the first leaves begin to turn, I’ll walk this song into the woods and let it play to the forest. I’ll make sure it reverbs warmth through everything threatening to grow old. I’ll fool the pine needles.
Listen to “Myth” by Beach House
Beach House is a Baltimore-based band composed of Alex Scally, Victoria Legrand and Daniel j Franz. Their fourth full-length album Bloom was released this morning.
Ren Harvieu: “Through the Night”
Ren Harvieu is sorcerous. Her voice casts dizziness on my ears and speechlessness everywhere.
Just four months ago, Ren experienced a terrifying near-death accident and doctors declared that she’s never walk again. Laying in the hospital with a metal spine and pins holding her together, Ren received a call from her childhood hero Johnny Marr. He’d heard her songs, wanted to meet her and make music together.
With support from family and friends, Ren recovered enough to record her debut album Through the Night. It became available yesterday in the UK. Ren performed her song “Open Up Your Arms” on Later with Jools Holland earlier this week.
New Music Tuesday: the Happiest Day of the Week
Well, it’s Tuesday again, the happiest day of the week for U.S. music lovers. And, if this were a ‘normal’ Tuesday, the space below would be filled with lengthy verbal applause, music videos, sneak peek tracks, etc. In other words, I’d have something more inspiring to say about the today’s releases than “Hey, two of them have the word ‘magic’ in their titles!”
Today, with apologies, I need to take a brief break from the Tuesday tradition— not because there aren’t great releases today (there ARE), but because I’ve had a fever on/off since Sunday and have the attention span of a Golden Retriever puppy.
And now for The Longest Metaphor Explanation in the History of This Site:
An owner throws a tennis ball, the puppy chases it and runs back immediately, ball in mouth. The owner tosses it again. The puppy (who we’ll call “Bre” for the sake of this story) gets super excited, bounds around all drooley-faced, chanting “Ball! Ball! I love you ball!” The owner throws the tennis ball a third time and the puppy dashes off. It seems like this could go on forever. And yet, halfway through the third retrieval, the puppy discards the ball without warning and begins to wriggle her fluffy belly around in the grass. “Grass! Grass! I love you grass!”
Soon after, she’s picking at some tree bark; she’s peeing on the deck; she’s eating a rock; she’s chasing the shadow of her own ears.
A half hour later, she finds a round, fuzzy, fluorescent green item in the yard. She stares at it with glossy, brown, bewildered eyes. “Hmm, I wonder what this thing does?”
In my lucid moments, I’ve thought a lot about the following lyrics from “How Do I Know” from Brooklyn-based Here We Go Magic.
How do I know I love you?
When I sure like your bread
The way that you tucker and straighten your bed
But how do I know if I love you?
How do I know if I know you?
When you come out clean from the shower
You squeak to the touch and you smell like a flower
How do I know if I know you?…
How do I know if I love you?
When all these things come and go?
You can’t stand them together in a neat little row?
So how do I know, how do I know, how do I know?
Surely, this song was written about a person; a person who does things like eating bread, and showering, and walking about. But, since I’m straight off a lengthy email correspondence on the subject of “song love,” I’m going to take a little creative freedom with the meaning of these lyrics. Please give me some rope…
Music journalists listen to A TON of music. It’s exhausting, and admittedly, at times, enough to make me want to just power my ears down for a couple days and “accidentally” leave my laptop some place I can’t find it. When I choose to write about a song—one song, out of the hundred I may have listened to that week— it’s because I’ve fallen in love with it. Maybe not head over heels every time, but certainly a noteworthy crush. This crush is a prerequisite for any words to appear, let alone a full post.
In select, very special instances, there’s such extreme love that words or documentation are a disservice. Like the crush in “How Do I Know,” it’s simply unquantifiable. There is no method for stacking the reasons why last week, I listened to a single track for 5 full hours every morning; for why I spent ½ of my waking energy with the same lovely best friend. There just isn’t.
There’s a pile of songs released today that plenty of well-meaning people have told me I should love. And, let’s say about another 5 albums that MOG, Spotify and FB advertising have swept my way. Today, I’ve listened to the better part of ALL of these. I write “the better part” simply because there were A LOT of tennis balls and tree shadows that were vying for my attention. To all of these songs: “I’m glad you were made. And, even if I don’t quite hear the reasons why, I’m glad you’re making my friends happy.”
To the select group of songs below, I say, “For whatever reason, you have been, and will continue to be perfect to me. When I trudged home and hung my coat after this long, feverish day, I wanted so badly to shut out the world. And yet, in my weariness, I still wanted you be with me… So, thank you for being the “sounds” I needed, at the moment when I felt like cursing off all sounds. Thank you for being the words I needed, when I was tired of every syllable. Thank you for being the warmth I needed when the blankets and tea weren’t enough.”
“Big Apple,” by Shayna & The Catch
I’ve been waiting to own this song since I heard it live at SXSW 2011. That’s all I’m sayin’
How Do I Know, by Here We Go Magic
“Blood Mary (Nerve Endings)” by Silversun Pickups
“Two Angels” by S.Carey
New Music Tuesday: the Happiest Day of the Week
Good morning everyone! Happy Tuesday!
As a music lover, Tuesday is the happiest day of the week because it’s the day that new music is officially released in the US (via Itunes and Amazon).
In case you’re wondering— Wednesday is the second happiest day, because it’s the day that you get to re-listen to every bit of wonderment that you discovered on — you guessed it — Tuesday!
This post is part of a weekly series that features my top album releases of the week, both well-known albums and stuff I’ve dug up through my daily prowling of the interwebs.
Disclaimer: As much as I try to keep up with things, there are tons of great albums that sneak through the cracks, and I need your help to put a stop to that ridiculousness. If there’s an amazing album that I’ve missed, please send me a link (in the form below this monstrous posting) and I promise I’ll check it out. I’ll also try to talk about it in some fashion, maybe on my “third favorite day,” Saturday.
Without further ado, here’s the list of stuff that is totally worth falling in love with:
Hope For Agoldensummer: Life Inside the Body
Hope For Agoldensummer is an Athens, Georgia-based indie-folk trio composed of sisters Claire & Page Campbell, and bandmate / engineer Suny Lyons. Their debut album Life Inside the Body comes out today.
I discovered this band through Bruce @ SomeVelvet earlier in the year and immediately began searching the internet for more information about them. The first eight times I typed their band name into the search bar, I did so incorrectly. As a former Communications major, I’m incapable of morphing three words into one frankenstein creation. To do so, I literally have to place a sweater or similar barrier over the space key and then whistle loudly enough to distract my left temporal lobe from normal function (just kidding. I totally can’t whistle.)
At the end of the end of my search, I found “Daniel Bloom,” a song that feels as dusty and hopeful as an August lantern light; fragile as a lover’s face, or the last golden, flicker of oil. This song has beautiful, heavy eyes and a simplicity that makes me want to write the rest of this post using only tiny, undercase letters.
after the tenth listen, it occurred to me that in the splendid, folky, universe of this song, it’s possible that all summers are, in fact, golden. hmm… i write, once again, “agoldensummer” feeling very formal, as though i’m calling the season by it’s first and last name.
just for extra practice, I write “iloveyou.”
Here’s a short performance of “Hold Me Close,” followed by “Daniel Bloom”
Daniel Bloom Lyrics:
this is a love letter because we all need them
and they come. they come so rarely
i want to know can i love you the same
as before my heart strayed out of loneliness
oh and my days are too long
oh and my nights are too serious
daniel won’t you come by my school
daniel won’t you come by my school
I want to educate you
I want to educate you
mister bloom, i’ve made some room
in my mind for thoughts of you
how i like the way your hair does curl
like the way the leaves do twirl
as they fall through our hands
oh daniel
oh daniel
oh damn i will hold out
hold out
hold out
oh will you come for me
oh will you come for me
Rufus Wainwright: Out of the Game
Rufus Wainwright‘s 7th studio album, Out of the Game comes out today via Polydor. The album, produced by Mark Ronson, features his sister Martha Wainwright, drummer Andy Burrows, members of the Dap-Kings, Sean Lennon and Wilco’s Nels Cline. The project has already received such notorious press that in late 2011, several publications declared Out of the Game on their advanced lists of “most anticipated releases for 2012.” Woah!
Here’s a video preview for “Out of the Game,” featuring Helena Bonham Carter. Ahem, those last 3 words should be more than enough to get you to click on this. That woman has irresistible swagger.
Reptar: Body Faucet
Athens, Georgia-based Reptar releases their debut full-length album Body Faucet today via Vagrant Records. Start to finish, it’s a sunny punk, electro, psychedelic, Island and Afro-beat wonderland— maybe even another planet. No joke.
Before you click on “Sebastian” (below) let me just warn you that this track caused quite a “rager” during my drive home yesterday. Somehow, just 2 minutes into both the song and my daily commute, I was surrounded by imaginary streamers, bongos, maracas, finger paints and, honestly, the most colorful rum concoctions I’ve ever seen! As far as imaginary parties go, this one was a dizzy, fluorescent affair, and it stripped the long workday so thoroughly from my mind that I wondered if it had happened in the first place.
Do it NOW.
Additional Links:
Band profile by Project Rhythm Seed
Sea of Bees: Orangefarben
New York-based Sea of Bees, aka: Julie Ann Bee, releases her second full-length record Orangefarben today. A fan of her work since 2010, it wasn’t until this morning that I started pondering the metaphorical relevance of her moniker. Yes, her music is swarming at times, even lyrically stinging, but it’s the concept of a sea that really intrigues me.
Julie is one voice, and the sole instrumentalist in this work. And yet she makes music that swells, that sweeps powerfully and carries you away with it. One person, indeed, but a grand emotional orchestrator, the maker of tidals.
In nearly every song, there is a quiet, sparkling quality to her opening lines. The layering happens organically, expertly. Synthesizers rise, piano keys fill, and bass lines float and surge. And at once, there’s dark matter all around you; you’re swimming in something both exquisite and crippling.
“Orangefarben, the second Sea of Bees full-length, is a beautiful and striving work that finds the young songwriter applying the same intrepid lyrical spirit that marked Ravens to an unblinking exploration of the unfolding and dissolution of her first love.” —Sea os Bees’ biography
Listen to “Wizbot,” my most-listened-to track from her first release:
Watch the video for new track “Broke”
If you’ve read/listened to this point in the post: Congratulations. Your Tuesday is officially going to be EXTRA happy.
If for any reason, you’re not happy enough yet or are still in the mood to procrastinate, go check out:
Father John Misty’s Fear Fun
Norah Jones’ latest album: Little Broken Hearts
Santigold’s Master of My Make Believe
Nick Waterhouse’ Time’s All Gone
New Music Tuesday: the Happiest Day of the Week
Good morning everyone! Happy Tuesday!
As a music lover, Tuesday is the happiest day of the week because it’s the day that new music is officially released in the US (via Itunes and Amazon).
In case you’re wondering— Wednesday is the second happiest day, because it’s the day that you get to re-listen to every bit of wonderment that you discovered on — you guessed it — Tuesday!
This post is part of a weekly series that features my top album releases of the week, both well-known albums and stuff I’ve dug up through my daily prowling of the interwebs.
Disclaimer: As much as I try to keep up with things, there are tons of great albums that sneak through the cracks, and I need your help to put a stop to that ridiculousness. If there’s an amazing album that I’ve missed, please send me a link (in the form below this monstrous posting) and I promise I’ll check it out. I’ll also try to talk about it in some fashion, maybe on my “third favorite day,” Saturday.
Without further ado, here’s the list of stuff that is totally worth falling in love with:
Communion: New Faces
Very rarely, there is a creation that holds merit simply because it is comprised of magnificent, unquestionably perfect parts. If you’ve ever had a S’more then you’ve been an active participant in this believe system.
There’s little I can say about this album aside from “don’t read the New Faces track listing if you’re in a quiet room right now because you will surely yell some joyous obscenity, and then perhaps also pee yourself a little bit.” It features beloved tracks from Ben Howard, Gotye, Michael Kiwanuka, Matt Corby and more, as well as the recording debut of UK-based Bear’s Den!
My advice: just go buy it. It’s better than pancetta-wrapped-bacon which is then wrapped in more bacon.
“Communion is record label that was born in the Summer of 2006 at London’s Notting Hill Arts Club. Founded by Ben Lovett (Mumford and Sons), former Cherbourg bassist Kevin Jones, and acclaimed producer Ian Grimble, it quickly grew into a flourishing community of musicians and fans alike, providing a first independent platform for the freshest young artists on London’s circuit and beyond.” — Communion Music
Tracklist:
Michael Kiwanuka – Tell Me A Tale
Julia Stone – Let’s Forget All The Things That We Say
Joe Banfi – Olive Green
Gabriel and the Hounds – What Good Would That Do?
Daughter – Love
3 Blind Wolves – Emily Rose
Ben Howard – Three Tree Town
Keaton Henson – To Your Health
Lucy Rose – Middle of the Bed
Matt Corby – Kings and Queens, Beggars and Thieves
Boy and Bear – Milk and Sticks
Jocie Adams - Bed of Notions
Dan Croll – Marion
The Apache Relay – American Nomad (Communion version)
James Vincent McMorrow – Hear The Noise That Moves So Soft And Low
David McCaffery – Stars
Nathaniel Rateliff – Just For Me But I Thought Of You
Will Nott – Won’t Go Back
Bear’s Den – Pompeii
Gotye – Bronte
Watch Ben Howard playing “Three Tree Town,” as filmed by Life in Motion:
Additional Links:
For the many reasons why Ben Howard is worth loving (and other awesomeness), visit MusicIsMyFirstLanguage
Clock Opera: Ways to Forget
Today, London-based indie-electro-rock band Clock Opera releases their long-awaited full-length debut album Ways to Forget. To their credit and disadvantage, Clock Opera is nearly impossible to categorize. So eclectic and cinematic are their live shows that neither my pulse nor my body can decide where to land. Flustered, I alternate between hurling around the room, sweating into the percussive slurry, and swaying serenely, letting Guy Connelly’s falsetto wash over/through me. At their last show, my limbs were so unable to compromise that I just ended up standing still, arms ticking and jaw dropped. A fully immobilizing, multi-sensical flood of magic. Yummm…
Just to cap things off, allow me to say, in my most alarming outdoor voice: “I AM SO STUPIDLY EXCITED about this record!!!” This is just the start of my Clock Opera fawning / yapping. I promise.
Ummm… I may or may not have run up to Guy Connelly in the middle of 8th street in Austin and stopped traffic just to tell him, like a flipping loon, how much I appreciate his music. Ahem.
Here is forthcoming track “Once and For All”
The track listing:
1. Once and for All
2. Lesson No. 7
3. 11th Hour
4. Man Made
5. Belongings
6. White Noise
7. A Piece of String
8. The Lost Buoys
9. Move to the Mountains
10. Fail Better
Here is Clock Opera performing on the BBC Stage:
Additional Links:
Album review by ContactMusic
Read about “Clock Operation,” a recent interactive contest, through which the band set out to create a brand new song comprised entirely from fan-submitted sound clips.
Sarah Jaffe: The Body Wins
Today, Denton, TX-based songwriter Sarah Jaffe releases The Body Wins, an album that features some potentially controversial sonic departures in its composition and production. Fans familiar with her contemplative and ornate folk music, as heard on “The Way Sound Leaves a Room,” “Even Born Again” and Suburban Nature,” will hear unusually vivid bass and percussion (live and programmed) and a darker overall feel. I haven’t yet had the chance to immerse myself in her new sound, but will let y’all know when I do. If anyone’s up for a tasty discussion about this, hit me up on Facebook.
“In the first single from The Body Wins, “Glorified High,” Jaffe and [producer John] Congleton bounce back and forth between spare, restrained verses peppered with undulating drum loops and a chorus densely layered with crackly, overdriven bass and chirping synthesizers. There’s a moment in each of the verses where Jaffe’s voice hovers in the same range as a fluttering, looped sound, to the point where the two sound almost indistinguishable. Even when up to her neck in new and unfamiliar sounds, Jaffe settles in and makes herself at home.” —NPR’s album profile
Here is preview track “Glorified High”
For comparison, here is Jaffe playing “Clementine,” one of my most listened to songs of, oh, let’s just say “every year.”
Jack White: Blunderbuss
Jack White, the creative wunderkind behind such bands as The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, is ranked #17 on Rolling Stone‘s list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” His debut solo album Blunderbuss comes out today. Yippee!
Of course his US tour is already sold out, but if you want to hear the new album live, you can tune into his live streaming concert this Friday at 8pm EST. It’s directed by Gary Oldman (say what?) and will be the first installment in the third season of American Express’ “Unstaged” series, which pairs top musical acts with renowned filmmakers. Learn more here.
Here is ”Love Interruption,” the album’s lead single
Greg Laswell: Landline
New York-based songwriter Greg Laswell releases Landline today, an album that taps the vocal and creative power of Sia, Elizabeth Ziman (of Elizabeth and the Catapult), Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson. Hearing his preview track “Come Back Down” which he released to the blogosphere a few weeks ago, I was surprised and very impressed by how his sound has evolved since 2010′s Take a Bow. The unofficial master of sweeping, wildly romantic ballads (many of which have found homes on Grey’s Anatomy finales), Laswell presents a happier urgency on this preview. I’m quite curious to see how composition-visionary Sia comes through. Thoughts?
Here’s “Come Back Down,” a song featuring the lovely Sara Bareilles:
Electric Guest: Mondo
Los Angeles-based indie rock band Electric Guest releases Mondo today — a soulful, bluesey, infectious and at times, meditative accomplishment. (And, did I mention that it was produced by Danger Mouse? Yep, this is definitely one to own.)
Although a relatively new band, Electric Guest is riding an impressive wave of internet and radio buzz right now; last I checked, they were #13 on KCRW’s Top 50, they played a slew of showcases at SXSW and did a residency at LA’s Echo Club.
New track “American Daydream:
Video for their new single “The Head I Hold”
The Flaming Lips: The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends
Oh, The Flaming Lips— you spacey, lovable, genius freaks. Fresh off a year of experimental collaborative EPs with artists such as Yoko Ono and Neon Indian (to name a few), you’re taking the world for another splendiferous, trippy ride. If all Lips albums are parties, which they are, The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, released this morning, is a fucking extravaganza, with cameos of artists who can only stylistically coexist within this fuzzy, boundary-plowing world: Nick Cave, Chris Martin (of Coldplay), Erykah Badu, Yoko Oko, Ke$ha, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Jim James and Bon Iver. Are you drooling yet?
Listen to “You Must Be Upgraded” with Ke$ha:
Listen to Ashes in the Air, with Bon Iver
The Staves: Motherlode (EP)
UK-based trio The Staves are a celestial wonder. When they sing, I expect to find honey milk in my veins and stars dashing across whatever ceiling I’m looking up at. Their Motherlode EP is out today and it’s as downey and stunning as anything I’ve heard in recent years. Bad news is that it’s just 3 songs. Good news is that it’s just 3 songs, so you can go and buy it for the price of a latte, or other type of beverage that won’t fuel you quite as beautifully.
Here’s the video for title track “Motherlode”
If you’ve read/listened to this point in the post: Congratulations. Your Tuesday is officially going to be EXTRA happy.
If for any reason, you’re not happy enough yet or are still in the mood to procrastinate, go check out:
The Great Despiser, from Joe Pug
Ed Sheeran’s 4-song collaboration with Yelawolf: The Slumdon Bridge
Buddy’s Campfire EP , which I foolishly overlooked in last week’s post
A Minor Bird, from Sucre (of Eisley)
Mama, from Emily Wells
I’ve Been Lucky A Hundred Times
I’m a social creature. I’m also a hibernating creature. I’ve been told that a lot of creative people exhibit this duality.
Lately, this behavior has experienced glaring extremes, ping-ponging between the blessed in-bed-at-3am-up-at-7am social stretch that was SXSW, and the quiet, detoxifying feel of my blue-walled home.
I still haven’t written about any of my experiences from Austin. Every one of them is worthy of the page, they just haven’t gotten there yet. I digest joy slowly.
On rare occasion, I experience something beautiful and can process/share it almost instantly, like eating ginger pastries and having them announce themselves later through your pores. What an amazing process, for so many parts of the body to agree; perfuming the skin with evidence of the beautiful things running around underneath it.
I’ve often thought about what it’d be like if the mind and heart could also work in this manner. What if I could listen to Dizzy Gillespie on headphones and passerbies could sense all the secrets trumpeting around my brain? Wafting from my ear: the smell of some crushed peanuts from the floor of the Apollo Theater, circa 1939.
I could sit silently next to my best friend and somehow transmit all the gratitude too large to find its way into words.
Later, I could drench myself so completely in this song that wherever you are as you’re reading this, you’d just know.
Tonight, I’m making a numbered, mental list of all the times in the last month I’ve been lucky; each time life has somehow happened more beautifully than it ever needed to. This song is atop the list, because it’s free and it didn’t have to be.
Go download it and marvel. Clasp your mind around the words (below) and let them saturate the parts that need saturating.
Lucky A Hundred Times, by Kalispell
Sighing at the cold bedside
Brother won’t you tell me when it feels like flying
Darling, gladly
I’ve been lucky a hundred times
Walking out, whispering pines
Free enough to drown in a fear of life
Dying slowly
I’ve been lucky a hundred times
Glowing from a television mind
Honesty has currency that feels like lying
Go then proudly
I’ve been lucky a hundred times
Staring down a cold street light
Darling won’t you tell me when it’s in the right
Your goodbyes had me
I’ve been lucky a hundred times
Kalispell is the work of Shane Leonard, with the genius, collaborative support of Ben Lester (AA Bondy, S. Carey) and Kevin Rowe (The Barley Jacks). Shane lives in Eau Claire, WI. He has shared the stage with such favorites as Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Megafaun and Caroline Smith and the Goodnight Sleeps.
His debut full-length album comes out on May 17, 2012. I’ll remind you again later.
New Music Tuesday: the Happiest Day of the Week
Good morning everyone! Happy Tuesday!
As a music lover, Tuesday is the happiest day of the week because it’s the day that new music is officially released in the US (via Itunes and Amazon).
In case you’re wondering— Wednesday is the second happiest day, because it’s the day that you get to re-listen to every bit of wonderment that you discovered on — you guessed it — Tuesday!
This post is the first of a weekly series that will feature my top album releases of the week, both well-known albums and stuff I’ve dug up through my daily prowling of the interwebs.
DisclaimerL As much as I try to keep up with things, there are tons of great albums that sneak through the cracks, and I need your help to put a stop to that ridiculousness. If there’s an amazing album that I’ve missed, please send me a link (in the form below this monstrous posting) and I promise I’ll check it out. I’ll also try to talk about it in some fashion, maybe on my “third favorite day,” Saturday.
Without further ado, here’s the list of stuff that is totally worth falling in love with:
Paul Thomas Saunders: Descartes Highlands
Paul Thomas Saunders makes hymns for stargazing, for cool midnights with bare knees and the smell of bonfire on your shoulders. It’s for dreaming into the wild, sprawling galaxy that exists above our heads and within them.
Yesterday, April 16, Paul Thomas released one of the most magical song collections I’ve heard all year: a EP called Descartes Highlands.
For the price of your email address, you can go to his site and get a free download of “Let the Carousel Play You & I,” a lullaby I’ve had on repeat all week. It feels like buds of wisteria being fanned across you… kinda smells like that too. Unless I’ve full of nonsense, hopefully that statement will make sense when you hear it.
And because you’re awesome (trust me, if you’re reading this, you are), here’s a full stream of the EP
Loudon Wainwright III: Older Than My Old Man Now
This morning, 65-year-old, Grammy award-winning songwriter Loudon Wainwright III released his 22nd album entitled Older Than My Old Man Now. According to Paste Magazine, the album was a true family collaboration, and features vocal/instrumental contributions from Loudon’s children (Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche and Lexie Kelly Wainwright), as well as his other ex-wife Ritamarie Kelly.
Here’s the title track for his new album, as performed live on Sound Check:
Older Than My Old Man Now
Track list:
1. The Here & the Now
2. In C
3 Older Than My Old Man Now
4. Double Lifetime
5. Date Line
6. All in a Family
7. My Meds
8. Interlude
9. Over the Hill
10. Ghost Blues
11. I Remember Sex
12. Somebody Else
13. The Days That We Die
14. 10
15. Something’s Out to Get Me
Additional Links:
Stream the album for the month of April via NPR’s First Listen Series
Horse Feathers: Cynic’s New Year
Just this morning, Portland-based Indie Folk-Pop quartet Horse Feathers released Cynic’s New Year, a much awaited follow up to 2010′s Thistled Spring, which has been on repeat in my car, ipod, spotify (umm, you get the idea) ever since its release. Horse Feathers makes music that instills in you a sudden desire to drive to nearest field and let the grass speak to your hands; then, get back in your car and drive all around this great country of ours, filling your head with stories of “how good life it” from the kind of people who made it that way— salty, plaid-shirted, broad-smiled, simple-living folks for whom Daylights Savings Time actually means something.
In three week’s time, I’ll be seeing them live (hooray), so please stay tuned to the Facebook Page for videos and pictures.
Here is their new song “Fit Against the Country”
To the best of my ability, here are the lyrics:
Common weather comes with a name
And our knees our hands got the shakes
Cause when our backs about to break
We won’t howl out or cry
We know we feel we try
In the middle of an everlasting fight
Every night we all go to the house we’ll never own
Every night we are tired, we’ve been worked to the bone
Nearly every day, we earn a lower wage
To tell you what we were made of, or a wage is we’re paid
It’s a hard country we’ve made
Here we are, far beyond our means
Learnin how to trade love for things
Theres a debt we cant pay
What kind of life’s lived this way.
See our hands they praise
Telling us we are to pray
Nearly every day it was a darker kind of way
The color we all knewthis world
The deepest shade of gray
Chorus:
Every night we all go to a house we’ll never own
Every night we are tired, we’ve been worked to the bone
Nearly every day, we earn a lower wage
To tell you what we were made of, or a wage is what we’re paid
It’s a hard country we’ve made
We won’t howl out or cry
We know we feel that we try
What kind of life’s lived this way?
See our hands they praise
If you liked Horse Feathers, I’d urge you to also check out the following:
A ful album stream via NPR’s Listen First series
Music Savage’s recent Spring Mix, featuring “Fit Against the Country,” and other songs that are just as lovely, or more so.
Songs for the Day’s Music Mix from last December, featuring a cover that Horse Feathers did of Nirvana’s “Drain You.”
Harper Blynn: Busy Hands
Harper Blynn, one of my favorite New York pop-rock bands (also quite possible my favorite group of New Yorkers, period), released Busy Hands yesterday— an album that miraculously, they’re giving away for FREE on their website. (Say what??!)
As you’ll learn from upcoming posts, this year’s SXSW had several (ok, hundreds of) phenomenal, cosmic-alignment sort of moments. However, one of my most favorite of them was standing outside the door of Harper Blynn’s official showcase at St. David’s Sanctuary and watching people walk out with shocked, ecstatic grins, shouting a whole range of profanity and wiping the gloss from their disbelieving eyes. Seriously, it’s no coincidence that their album-release tour is already sold out.
Some praise for their last album Loneliest Generation:
‘”If pop hooks were Monopoly money, this foursome would be buying hotels on Park Place by now.” —Time Out New York
“On their debut record Loneliest Generation, Harper Blynn takes a giant step beyond their contemporaries, and moves into a category all their own… In a crowded Brooklyn indie scene hell-bent on placing vanity above content and substance, Harper Blynn offer up simple, no-frills songcraft with an unassuming modesty and a self-confidence that is refreshing, invigorating and downright hypnotic.”
—Absolutepunk
Listen to their preview track “Busy Hands, Empty Hearts”
Umm, what time is it? Why, it’s Beyonce Time. (No, that’s not actually a real thing. Whatever. Get on your dancing shoes and prep your inner diva. Go ahead, you know you want to.) Here’s Harper Blynn’s spectacular cover of “Halo.”
Additional Links:
The lovely and generous people at Paste are offering a free album stream all week! Huzzah! Go get some.
Dry the River: Shallow Bed
London-based indie folk-rock band Dry the River, one of my favorite music discoveries of 2011, released the MUCH-anticipated (wow, I’ve been drooling over this all year) album Shallow Bed today. Developing a tremendous grassroots following after playing a string of New York shows in late 2011, and then selling out London’s renowned Scala, the band went on to sweep the blogosphere after SXSW and be featured in an interview / live performance on NPR.
Yippee! Shout their name from every rooftop (or, umm, Google Reader). Some bands are so good that even after much deliberation, I can’t find acceptable words to describe them. You should probably just click below to see what I mean.
“You can see why people get confused: this five-piece band has all the hallmarks of the latest folk sensation: elemental name, beards, acoustic guitars, even a violinist. But what sets Dry the River apart is a background in hardcore and post-punk bands, hence the tattoos, lyrics that read like a Steinbeck novel and a sonic palette that sweeps from gentle to giant like an incoming storm.
“We wanted to record the bulk of it to tape, to use analogue stuff in favour of computer wizardry where possible, but without it sounding like an old folk record. I think we tried to preserve the fragility and honesty of the more stripped down tracks, but still get the intensity of the live show across too – to marry those two aspects of our music without it sounding incongruous…I’d be pleased if people felt that it’s not just another indie folk record,” says [singer, Peter] Liddle. “I think we’ve agonised over every note of it. It has some hooks and big melodies but it’s contemplative and considered too.” Dry the River have laid the groundwork for a stellar year in 2012. Don’t call them the next great folk band. Just call them the next great band, full stop.” —Dry the River’s biography
Watch the video for Dry the River’s smashing track “New Ceremony”
Check out my favorite track off their last EP “No Rest”
Boots Factor: At the Distillery (EP)
Brooklyn-based rock project Barc/Factor (a side project of Boots Factor) will unveil their debut EP At the Distillery today. I’m a big fan of Boots Factor so I’m intrigued by the idea of a side project. Yipppee! Not much is known about the new sound but I promise to write more if something surfaces.
For now, enjoy this sampler of Boots Factor:
Nearly every day, I post short announcements for new albums that I believe are worth listening to. So, if you’re curious about cool albums from earlier in the year, head on over here where you can sort through the full list of announcements, search albums by release date, and other fun activities.
All Spots to Black: In Plain Sight
For as long as I knew I wanted to start a music publication, I knew that I wanted this song to be the feature of my first public post. For those many months, I’ve been writing the accompanying text in my head, and somehow today as I type this out, all of the drafted thoughts feel wrong. Something about flickering piano keys, about a mournful, sliding guitar line, about the exquisite contemplation that sweeps through me every time I listen, an ode to the life and presence of every note. However, ultimately, this is a song about absence. It’s about desperate blank canvases and longing for something untouchable, even if it’s right in front of you.
It is human nature to fill— our calendars, our homes, our planet, our bank accounts, our bellies, our ears, our hearts. Emptiness is uncomfortable, even in quarter-note stretches. When forced into silence, our ears feel as though they’ve been tossed from the highest circus pole and are free falling, waiting for something trusty to grab onto. Even when we are as sure of what the next note will be as we are of what the ground will feel like to our plummeting feet — we need.
Between the perfect words, between the electric surges and each dripping melody, this song is rife with empty spaces. It is rife with the joke of pulling something flawless from just beyond one’s grasp: the beat, the lyric and the girl.
There is magic in hearing a song and saying to yourself, with absolute certainty “there is no other way that this could have been made. It must be exactly as it is.” “In Plain Sight” is one of the best examples of this feeling. There is no other way to feel the starkness of separation than to fall in love with something and then listen as it disappears. A flash of beauty and bewilderment, and again please.
“Her eyes dodge, they’re so big.
One look and you’ve lost the night
But you can’t touch and you can’t reach
She’s there, in plain sight
And she’s too fluid, she’s too fast
How can you capture that?
You never had a chance
In hindsight”
All Spots to Black is a Los Angeles-based project led by Phil Krohnengold, with the lovely and brilliant support of Lucas Cheadle (Lucinda Williams, Michelle Shocked), drummer Al Sgro (Gary Jules, Alexi Murdoch) and the incredible singer / songwriter Holly Conlan.
Design the Cover Art for Your Favorite Song? Yes, Please.
“Secret 7″ is a project which aims to rekindle some of the excitement for sleeve art in the digital era by exploring how a track would be interpreted by an array of brilliant artists.” An open competition, Secret 7 offers artists (painters, illustrators, graphic designers) an opportunity to design vinyl covers for some of the biggest and most buzzed musicians throughout the world; each design existing as a visual answer to “how does this song make me feel?” and, “how do I convey everything that I love about it in a 7×7″ block?”
If you ask a thousand enthusiastic listeners about what should be on the cover of an album, you’ll probably get a thousand different, equally valid ideas. And this is exactly what happened.
Devised by the brilliant minds at Talenthouse and Universal music, the competition attracted the musical talents of The Cure, Florence & The Machine, Bombay Bicycle Club, CSS, DJ Shadow, Noah & The Whale and Ben Howard (see below for music samples from each of these hosts), each of whom contributed one single as a design launchpad. On an ongoing basis, Talenthouse’s platform welcomes creative talents to participate in design challenges / contents, such as designing merchandise for a national event, creating a music video for a famous artist or remixing a well known track. The incentive for winning is grand, immediate exposure and a tremendous resume builder; plus, the event, band or advertiser gets the rare advantage of having a multitude of “pitches” to choose from. Everyone wins. It’s a fantastic concept, and the Secret 7 project truly highlights this while bringing fresh excitement to the synergy between music and printed art.
Over the past few months, thousands of cover-designers have submitted 7×7 designs for their chosen song. And, on Record Store Day (April 21, 2012), 700 of the best works will be displayed and auctioned off at the Idea Generation Gallery, with proceeds to benefit The Teenage Cancer Trust. To add an extra creative surprise, no one at the gallery will know which work belongs to which song, so all design work will be open to interpretation!
After the gallery opening, cover winners will be chosen by the public via Facebook and Twitter. (Don’t worry, I’ll remind you about this when the time comes!)
Discover more about the project on Facebook and their website.
Now it’s your turn! Listen to some of the music from Secret 7 hosts and see where your imagination/curiosity lead you. When the song ends, what’s the image that’s left in your mind? And, if you had to, how would you represent it on a 7×7 page?
The Cure: Friday, I’m in Love:
Bombay Bicycle Club: Lights Out, Words Gone
CSS: City Grrrl
Ben Howard: Black Flies
Noah & The Whale: Old Joy
Florence and The Machine: If Only For a Night
Free Music from CSLSW & I Break Horses
Philly’s CSLSX and Swedish avant garde shoegazers I Break Horses recently collaborated on the swarming, cinematic track “Violent Sea.” It’s a a ethereal, endless rise that you have to have in your ears. Go download it for FREE and let me know what you think!