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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Songs for Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween Ya’ll

For your listening enjoyment, I have quickly put together a few ghost and zombie themed songs for your Halloween.

 

Enjoy and go do something spooky tonight.

Band of Horses:

Is there a Ghost? [download mp3]

 

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes:

(Ghost) Riders in the Sky [download mp3]

 

Say Hi to Your Mom:

I think I’ll be a Good Ghost [download mp3]

 

Skeletons!:

Are You a Zombie? [download mp3]

 

Mr. Kline and the Wizards of Time:

Ghosts! Ghosts! [download mp3]

 

Sufjan Stevens:

They Are Night Zombies! They Are Neighbors!  They Have Come Back from the Dead [download mp3]

Friday, October 30, 2009

Drew Danburry posts a LOT of free music



If you are not familiar with Drew Danburry's unqiue brand of "kickass kindergarten folk pop/sex rock" (his words, not mine) you should.

Recently he posted a large batch of free songs. They include tracks off his upcoming LPs, "Goodnight Dannii" () and "Goodnight Gary" as well as a full brand new EP - Geraniums.

Consider the following Samples.

"Artex died in Truth or Consequences, NM (Single Version)"

"Many Are Cold, but Few Are Frozen"

"Lynette, I Love You""Residents In Orange County ..."

"I'm Pretty Sure This Is Someone Else's Song, But I Couldn't Figure Out Whose So I'm Keeping It!"

"Artex Died In Truth Or Consequences, NM - Live @ Buveur de Lune in Paris, France - Sep 29th 2006 -"

"It Ends With Red, Violet And Orange"

"I'll Only Believe In True Love If Micah Marries Camille"

"At A Stop In St. Regis"


But, above all else, go down load his free Geraniums EP HERE

ALSO - Drew is a standup guy and greatly deserves any donations you can offer. Note that underneath the free downloads section, there is a donation box where you can pay for your downloads.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Stream The Gift of Gab's new album - Escape 2 Mars


For the next couple days you can stream all of The Gift of Gab's new solo LP - Escape 2 Mars.

Take a listen at Gab's Myspace page.


Brendan Benson talks about My Old Familiar Friend






Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Get Up Kids do Daytrotter


the Get Up Kids offered up some great songs on Daytrotter.com
Among other things, they revealed that they wrote and recorded 9 new songs this summer.
Here are the songs they put in the session, along with their explanations. They include a couple new tracks.


1.

Welcome to Daytrotter [download mp3]


2.

Sharin' Stone [download mp3]

- unreleased
Originally written and performed by Vitreous Humor. It appears on their 1998 posthumous release entitled "Posthumous". A really great band that never really got their due but were a big influence on us early on. When we reunited and played a show in Lawrence, KS that we were filming we got Danny Pound (the singer and songwriter from the band) to come on stage and play this song with us. It wasn't until we rehearsed the song with Danny that we learned that the lyric to the chorus was "Smile like you used to...you were stupid and bald". Up until that point we'd been singing along to the song "Smile like you used to...you stupid whore!" There is a big difference there I think. I still don't know what the line means though.

3.

Your Petty Pretty Things [download mp3]

- unreleased
One of the 9 new songs that we wrote and recorded over the summer. Tried to balance the poppy, peppy-ness of it by having the lyrics be pretty dark. We had our friend Wayne Propst come in to do a voice over on the ending. He's a really cool local character with a great gravely voice and an interesting take on life so we just asked him to come in and riff over the ending. All we told him as that the song was about "failure". He came in with an old 15 second cassette that was a loop of William S. Burroughs doing what I would call a self help mantra. Wayne and WIlliam's idea was that whenever you were feeling "a little nuts" you could just listen to this loop instead of going to a shrink. The loop is just William saying "does it seem to be persisting?" over and over and over again. This version only has the Burroughs sample but the version that we recorded over the summer also has Wayne going back and forth with the loop and getting more intense as the song climaxes. It's kinda nuts.


4.

I'm A Loner Dottie, A Rebel [download mp3]

- original version appears on Something To Write Home About
We originally recorded this song in 1997 for a split 7" with Braid and then again for our "Something To Write Home About" record. I think we recorded it for our live record as well. So, this will be the fourth incarnation of this recording and by far the best.

5.

Overdue [download mp3]

- original version appears on On A Wire
This is one of my favorite songs we've ever written. We didn't really play it very often back in the day so I'm glad to we're bringing it back. I like the way the acoustic guitar sounds through the amp. Jim really likes his own guitar playing. He's a big fan.

New Gift of Gab track - Dreamin (Feat. Del the Funky Homosapien and Brother Ali)

See more at The Gift of Gab's site.

The Gift of Gab - Dreamin (from Escape 2 Mars, Nov. 2) [download mp3]

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Gift of Gab on Tour






The Gift of Gab (of Blackalicious fame) is out on tour with Chali 2na (Jurassic 5) Mr. Lif and Lyrics Born. That's quite the lineup!



11/07 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent 21+
11/08 - San Jose, CA - The Voodoo Lounge 21+
11/10 - Ft. Collins, CO - Aggie theater
11/11 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theater -All Ages
11/12 - Aspen, CO - Belly Up Tavern- All Ages
11/13 - Park City, CO - Harry O's
11/14 - Bozeman, MT - Gallatin County Fairgrounds - All ages
11/15 - Missoula, MT - Wilma Theatre
11/17 - Vancouver, BC - The Biltmore Cabaret
11/18 - Bellingham, WA - The Nightlight
11/19 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
11/20 - Eugene, OR - McDonald Theater
11/21 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
11/23 - Sacramento, CA - Harlow’s

He's touring to support his new solo LP, Escape 2 Mars. Check out the free track El Gifto Magnifico [download mp3]

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Best Albums of 2009: September Edition

Best Albums of 2009

September Edition (a bit late, sorry)

Rather than compiling a huge list at the end of the year, not having enough time to do a good job, and simply throwing something together really fast, I'm going to start compiling my thoughts on albums over the whole year - month by month. Some of these may have actually been released earlier in the year, but are in this months set because this is when I got my hands on them.

1.
J. Tillman
Year in the Kingdom



Two LPs in one year - not too shabby. Tillman's 2nd offering of 2009 is hands down, one of the best indie-acoustic-folk releases in a long time, if not ever. It features his familiar dark, brooding, mellow vocals, quiet guitar strumming, and richly overlain harmonized oooings and aaahings in the background. There are some great string arrangements backing these tracks as well. And, it appears that Tillman has discovered the dulcimer, which adds a unique new texture to his music -giving Year in the Kingdom a distinct feel. Top Tracks are all of them. Seriously. Try these out though: Though I have Wronged You [download mp3] and Earthly Bodies [download mp3] via stereogum.

2.
Joshua James

Build Me This


I wrote quite a lengty review on this album last month as a stand-alone review. It is quite lengthy, so I'll just direct you there. On that review I had originally posted a sample mp3 of Coal War - the albums opening track. Joshua had given me express written permisison to do so, but his record label disagreed and made blogger disable the post TWICE. I took the mp3 down immediately, but they felt it necessary to flag it for abuse a 2nd time (even though the link was gone). Bummer.


3.
Owen
New Leaves


Mike Kinsella's now multi-year solo project, Owen, simply does not disappoint. I can't get enough of his brand of indie-acoustic slowjam! New Leaves is marked by his now very well established noodly acoustic guitar tracking, oft-hesitant vocals, painful lyrics and interspersed lead electric guitar. Reportedly, this album still contains some material recorded in his mother's basement - as per tradition - but clearly features a more well-developed writing and production process than previous releases. It follows in the footsteps of "At Home with Owen" in this regard. Great strings and other backing instrumentaiton abound. Top tracks include New Leaves and A Trenchant Critique [download mp3].


4.
A.A. Bondy
When the Devil's Loose

I have just recently gotten into A.A. Bondy. The new album is good, but some of the alt-county production turned me off. I think I liked his 2007 American Hearts a lot more. I do appreciate his gravely vox though. Mmm Mmm. Loves me some good 'ol fashioned gravely vox!


5.
Volcano Choir
Unmap



I have been a fan of Pele, and their later reincarnaiton as Collections of Colonies of Bees for quite a while. Avant-garde, experimental, noodly-guitar rock. When I heard they teamed up with Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon to form Volcano Choir, I was intruiged. I'm not a huge bon Iver fan, but his falsetto vox prove a great addition to the experimental Wisconsinites' sound. In deed, many of the lyrics are indiscernable anyways, and his voice serves as another layer of instrumentation. Very nicely done boys. Top tracks include Island, IS [download mp3] and Still.


6.
Grand Archives
Keep in Mind Frankenstein



Grand Archives' 2008 self-titled LP still stands as one of my favorites. It set the standard pretty high for their sophomore release. Even with mediocre expectations, however, Keep in Mind Frankenstein is disappointing. There are a few good tracks, but much of the album is simply boring. Dig That Crazy Grave is a travesty of alt-country devolution/digression. According to their label profile at subpop.com, they originally recorded a much more raucous album, but scrapped it, wrote this one on the spot, and recorded it. I think I would like to hear the more raucous one. The redeemable tracks are Topsy's Revenge, Silver among the Gold [download mp3] and Witchy Park/Tomorrow Will.
















Running LP List

  1. J. Tillman - Year in the Kingdom (September)
  2. Joshua James - Build me This (September)
  3. J. Tillman - Vacilando Territory Blues (January)
  4. Brendan Benson - My Old Familiar Friend (August)
  5. fun. - Aim and Ignite (August)
  6. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (May)
  7. Shark Speed - Sea Sick Music (April)
  8. Owen - New Leaves (September)
  9. Say Hi - Oohs & Aahs (February)
  10. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast (January)
  11. Iron & Wine - Around the Well (May)
  12. David Bazan - Curse Your Branches (August)
  13. Before Braille - Spring Cleaning (June + July)
  14. Art for Starters - Drugs Made / Drugs Ruined (April)
  15. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love (March)
  16. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South (May)
  17. Fruit Bats - The Ruminant Band (August)
  18. The Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels (March)
  19. A.A. Bondy - When the Devil's Loose (September)
  20. Volcano Choir - Unmap (September)
  21. Mos Def - The Ecstatic (June + July)
  22. Dent May and his Magnificent Ukuele - The Good Feeling Music of Dent May (March)
  23. Jeremy Enigk - OK Bear (May)
  24. Coconut Records - Davy (January)
  25. Jimmy Eat World - Clarity Live (April)
  26. Iain Archer - To the Pine Roots (April)
  27. The Appleseed Cast - Sagarmatha (February)
  28. John Vanderslice - Romanian Names (May)
  29. Peter, Bjorn and John - Living Thing (March)
  30. Jonsi and Alex - Rice Boy Sleeps (June + July)
  31. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (May)
  32. Grand Archives - Keep in Mind Frankenstein (September)
  33. Lateef the Truth Speaker - Truth is Love Mixtape (April)
  34. Vetiver - Tight Knit (March)
  35. General Elektriks - Good City for Dreamers (February)
  36. Dark was the Night compilation (April)
  37. Ben Kweller - Changing Horses (January)


Running EP List

  1. Common Market - The Winter's End (March)
  2. Death Cab for Cutie - Open Door (March)
  3. Owen - The Seaside (August)
  4. Joshua James - Sing Songs (May)
  5. Andrew Bird - Fitz and the Dizzyspells (August)
  6. The Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice - Moon Colony Blood Bath (April)
  7. Blue Scholars - OOF! (August)