Friday, April 30, 2010

Phosphorescent, 'The Mermaid Parade'


Here's a second glimpse into the upcoming Here's To Taking It Easy:

Phosphorescent - 'The Mermaid Parade'

Excellent, but that's almost to be expected from Matt & co. at this point.

You can pre-order the album now and get an instant digital download.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Harlem gets two videos for 'Friendly Ghost'

Official video:



Fan video (by Greg Szmurlo):



(source: Matablog)

Cheap!: Loose Fur, Loose Fur


All you need to know about this one can be summed up in three surnames: Tweedy, O'Rourke, Kotche. If that doesn't sound appealing then you are in the wrong place my friend.

You can buy the LP for $8 for the next week. Order here.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Cheap!: Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Lie Down In The Light


Drag City announced something pretty neat recently. Every week they will pick an item from their catalog and sell it at a reduced price.

This week you can purchase the 2008 album from Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Lie Down In The Light, for only $8. Regardless of the artist or the length of the album, $8 for an LP is a rare thing. And who couldn't use more Will Oldham in their collection? Probably people who listen exclusively to hip-hop.

More info and order link here.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

People of the North, 'Tunnels'


Seems like this 4 track People of the North record is really shouting at me to listen to it. The first promo track 'Tunnels' is entirely instrumental, the percussives are front and center and they have a picture of trees on the cover. Sold.

This song has been floating around the net for a few weeks now, but how about we give it the official hanBrolo stamp of approval? That will help move some units.

People of the North - 'Tunnels'

People of the North are Kid Millions and Bobby Matador, also of Oneida. Deep Tissue is the name of this one and it's out April 27th on Brah Records.

Can't remember the last time a record with trees on the cover steered me wrong.

Sunday Afternoon Coming Down, Vol. 2


Record Store Day and a new Blur song in the same weekend? Excellent.

Blur, 'Fool's Day'


The first new Blur song in eight years is now a free download on their official site (and streaming over at Twenty Four Bit). Haven't heard too much on what other Blurheads think yet but personally I think it's quite excellent and that's all that really matters.

Musically it sounds like Blur. No surprises, which is good as when a group of lads get the ol' band back together to make another song after it's been a bit sometimes there is trouble recapturing the magic and things can turn south.

Lyrically I think it can be taken pretty literally, with Damon describing one of the day's spent in the studio making 'Fool's Day'. If that's the case let's hope when he sings 'We just can't let go' he's hinting at something.

And by 'something' I mean playing a show in Los Angeles.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Happy Record Store Day 2010!


That special time is here again. Welcome to the third annual Record Store Day. Your humble narrator has the fine luck of living in L.A., so he will be hitting up the triumvirate of Amoeba Hollywood, Vacation Vinyl and Origami.

Have a fun time out there and good luck getting everything you are looking for. And no pushing or shoving- let's all be civil to one another. After all, these are only records. Rare, colored, limited edition records.

To the record store!

Friday, April 16, 2010

The Veils, Black Session #251 10.30.2006


There was a point in time when I thought we were only going to get one album out of The Veils. After The Runaway Found there were quiet rumors that the band had parted ways. Thankfully those rumors turned out to be false. Finn Andrews had just assembled a new group of musicians to play with. Now on their third album, these guys are one of the most interesting bands out there today and they are certainly doing their own thing.

This is their Black Session from October of 2006, a month after the release of their second album Nux Vomica. If you don't know The Veils, as I seem to consistently discover people who should know about them but don't, then you should go and track down all three proper albums. You won't be disappointed.

Many highlights are found in the below zip file, but the Nebraska-era Springsteen cover 'State Trooper' always gets me. Seems like that was only in their setlist for this tour.

1. A Birthday Present
2. Jesus For The Jugular
3. One Night On Earth
4. Calliope!
5. State Trooper
6. Nux Vomica
7. Advice For Young Mothers To Be
8. Under The Folding Branches
9. The Wild Son
10. Pan
11. Not Yet
12. More Heat Than Light

Download!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Kurt Vile, 'Invisibility : Nonexistent'


Go ahead and give Kurt Vile the prolific prefix from now on. Not only are he and The Violators working on a fall 2010 follow up to last years excellent Childish Prodigy, but Matador has announced a new 12" EP to be released on May 25th.

Here is a 7 minute plus song (!) from Square Shells EP:

Kurt Vile - 'Invisibility : Nonexistent'

More info and pre-order here.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Tweak Bird, 'A Sun/Ahh Ahh' / 'Stampeado' 7"

  (photo by Gary Copeland)

If you are a close follower of The Brothers Bird than you heard the new song 'A Sun/Ahh Ahh' on their MySpace page a month or two back (although the song is called 'Millions of Suns (Ahhh Ahhh)' over there).

Now Souterrain Transmissions is allowing you to aquire a 7" of the track with a song called 'Stampeado'on the flip side.

Tweak Bird - 'A Sun/Ahh Ahh':



Can't spot a pre-order link yet but it's scheduled for a May 10th release. More info here.

More Tweak Bros. action here.

Now how bout some more details on that full length, hmmmmmmmm?

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Sunday Afternoon Coming Down, Vol. 1


Hazy, breezy Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles. Might descend from the tree house into the backyard garden and do some reading.

Record Store Day 2010: Dum Dum Girls / Male Bonding Split 7"


Few buzz bands can ever live up to the heaping of praise that they receive from the hipsterati blogger elite. And who can expect them to in the literal overnight success story that is the internet, where they are being listed as 'rising / band to watch / best new music / quit your day job / highly recommended / in heavy rotation' in multiple places in the same day? Sure it's exciting the first week but then you realize you have to actually play well and there are expectations to live up to. And this is a very fickle crowd you have as a captive audience. They have a blog and can post to it from their iPhone.

So far so good for Sub Pop's Dum Dum Girls. They weathered the initial year long next best thing assault and actually delivered a full length that you might not be shy about sliding on the ol' hi-fi in front of your gathering of friends five years from now. So with this in mind you might want to consider adding their Record Store Day split with Male Bonding to your list of must haves. Fascinating that the songs here are 'Pay For Me / Before It's Gone' which can sum up both the releases you'll find on Record Store Day as well as the 'here today, gone tomorrow' nature of the eternally marching hype parade.

Speaking of hype- Male Bonding (Sub Pop, also) have been on the receiving end of some of that recently. Despite being from the UK the jury is still out on them for me. Hopefully this split will help with the convincing.

If you are lucky enough to live in Los Angeles you can see both bands perform on Record Store Day (this Saturday) at Origami Vinyl.

You've already watched this video for 'Jail La La' several times, but what the hell. Watch it again:



Male Bonding - 'Years Not Long (Live on the Beeb)'

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Gold Panda, 'You'


Gold Panda isn't chillwave, but his new song 'You' delivers what most artists from that genre can't for me: a confident beat. It's not wistful or nostalgic or hazy. It's current and assured and clear.

Gold Panda is from London and he makes electronic music so of course I think he's top notch. Minotaur Shock has remixed this track which makes a ton of sense as they appear kindred spirits.

Purchase here.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

The Smiths, Live at The Haçienda 1983

You may or may not have heard of a Manchester band called The Smiths. They were active from 1982 through 1987 and achieved moderate success and received some good write ups in local newspapers. Once the band decided to call it quits the guitarist went on to perform in influential indie outfits such as Johnny Marr + The Healers, Modest Mouse and The Cribs while the singer worked on his charisma and managed to get a gig as the front person of The Morrissey Band. Some members gave up music and decided to pursue litigation as a career path.

Anyways, here are some songs from the first and only show The Smiths ever played. Maybe one day people will discover them and create horrible covers of their songs. Maybe someday.

1. Handsome Devil
2. These Things Take Time
3. Hand In Glove
4. What Difference Does It Make?
5. Reel Around The Fountain
6. Accept Yourself
7. Wonderful Woman

Download.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Lawrence Arabia, 'Apple Pie Bed'

Couple of months back I rediscovered the joys of John Lennon's post-Beatles albums. Don't worry- I'm not about to announce that I think Lawrence Arabia is a modern day Lennon. But I would be telling a lie if I said that when I listened to 'Apple Pie Bed' it didn't sound comfortably reminiscent to my time spent with Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey. I'd also be fibbing if I told you that I'm not completely addicted to this song.

New Zealander James Milne is Lawrence Arabia. He's been a part of some bands you may have heard of (Brunettes, The Ruby Suns). He has two albums out. Not sure why he just landed on my radar now but I'm glad he did.

Lawrence Arabia - 'Apple Pie Bed'





His latest album is called Chant Darling and was released last year on Bella Union.

Record Store Day 2010: Wilco, Kicking Television 4LP Box set

With last years vinyl repressings of A.M., Being There and Summerteeth Wilco fans should now have no problem acquiring a complete collection. What's that? You're missing something? Oh right! Kicking Television, their 2005 live album that has never been released on wax.

Thankfully Record Store Day can remedy that. For the first time Kicking Television will be available on vinyl. Further from that it will come in a nice box set spread across 4 records. Even further- the 4th record will include 7 songs that didn't find their way onto the original release. At $65 this might seem pretty steep but the RSD site has it listed as being limited to 1,000 copies. If this holds to be true you can consider buying this early as saving yourself money. Just envision your future self scouring eBay a year from now and shelling out over $100 for this thing.

Songs exclusive to vinyl release:

Another Man's Done Gone

How to Fight Loneliness

Theologians

Kamera

Just a Kid

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

I'm a Wheel

More info here.

Monday, April 5, 2010

S U R V I V E, 'Lunar Eclipse'

Huge pat on the back to the people who run the Transparent blog for introducing me to S U R V I V E from Austin, TX. Not even going to bother explaining how this song sounds or play the ridiculous adjective game here. What I will say is 'Lunar Eclipse' is one of the best electro jams I've heard in quite a while. I've listened to it three times in a row now.

S U R V I V E - 'Lunar Eclipse':



The tracks up on their Myspace page are just as good.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

10 Years Later: The Avalanches, Since I Left You

It dawned on me the other day that Since I Left You, The Avalanches sprawling debut album, is approaching its 10 year birthday in November. For some reason this was a hard concept for me to understand. Probably because the aughts was the first decade for me that really flew by. I still think of 2000 as being just a couple of years ago. But when you realistically think about where you were then and how the world was, it starts to be put into perspective. For me, I was still living in upstate New York and was a good five months away from being able to order my first legal alcoholic drink. For America, we were still trying to figure out who was going to be our next president three weeks after the election. For the world, it meant still being able to bring regular sized shampoo with you on your plane. We had just calmed down from our biggest worry at the time, Y2K. Radiohead fans were frantically downloading Kid A off of Napster. There was no such thing as an iPod.

The point of all of this is that almost ten years later, we are still waiting for the follow up from our Melbourne friends. Details of a new album have been trickling out every year starting in 2005. You most likely know the story by now, but you can read the synopsis of the trials and tribulations of album number two here.

Since I Left You could be considered one of the earliest successful mash up records, a more subtle (and more original) version of what Girl Talk would start doing in 2002. Which is probably a key reason why we are still waiting for new music. The album is famously quoted as being comprised of around 3,500 samples, a bunch of which assumedly remained uncleared upon release. Something that is much harder to get away with in the year 2010. In fact the update last year was that the group were in the midst of this process. The last new details given were in January of this year that an October release was being anticipated. I think we all can agree that as long as we don't have to wait another 10 years, it will be worth it.







Delve deeper into the samples here.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

The Hundred in the Hands, 'Ghosts'

Brooklyn duo and recent Warp signees The Hundred in the Hands have a new EP, This Desert, set for release on May 18th. New song 'Ghosts' below. This should fit like a glove for anyone who digs female fronted electro-pop.

Lonely Galaxy, 'Have A Heart'

'Have A Heart' is the song J. Spaceman would have written if he were coming up in the bedroom pop scene. There's been a bunch of music released over the past couple of years that waves the 'studio apartment vs. recording studio' flag proudly, but it appears as if Harry Granger Howell is taking it in another direction. A welcome change.





For more visit this page.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Band of Horses, Live on KEXP 04.16.06

Ahhh, the beauty of the internet. When I first heard comparisons made between Band of Horses and the hallowed My Morning Jacket* I immediately downloaded some mp3's, checked the tour dates and went and saw them open up for Earlimart at the King King a couple of days later. That was March of 2006. These songs were recorded a couple of weeks later:

Band of Horses, Live on KEXP 04.16.06

1. The Great Salt Lake
2. Part One
3. Wicked Gil
4. The Funeral

Download

While the MMJ reference gives a hint of how Band of Horses first sounded to many, repeated listens of Everything All the Time quickly showed that they were in fact their own band with their own unique sound which has evolved over time. Yesterday, almost four years to the day later, they gave everyone a glimpse of what to expect from their third album. Proof that they continue to tweak their sound while still being Band of Horses.











* Yes- I continue to be a huge MMJ fan even after Evil Urges. That record was criminally misunderstood.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

65DaysOfStatic, 'Crash Tactics'


Sheffield instrumental quartet 65DaysOfStatic have a new album on the way and a new song to listen to. Slow intro, but it sure does build into something fantastic by the end. Kind of makes you want all post-rock to have Richard D James type beats to it, eh?

65DaysOfStatic, 'Crash Tactics':



We Were Exploding Anyway is the name of the record and it's out in a couple of weeks. Thanks to Drowned In Sound for the tip on this one.