Signed Colin Meloy Sings Live Vinyl LP for sale

I have a signed Colin Meloy Sings Live vinyl LP on ebay. Bid away!!!


Only 100 of the pressing was signed / autographed by Colin Meloy.

The LP is brand new - never been played. The shrink wrap is open only where Colin signed it in black Sharpie.

Meloy's 2006 solo acoustic tour is documented on Colin Meloy Sings Live!, which Kill Rock Stars will release April 8 on CD and Jealous Butcher will release on gatefold double LP.

Included on Sings Live! are songs from Meloy's first band, Tarkio, as well as cuts from every Decemberists full-length pre-The Crane Wife. There is also a tune from the 2006 EP Picaresqueties, two previously unreleased originals ("Dracula's Daughter" and "Wonder"), bits of covers of songs by the Smiths, R.E.M., Pink Floyd, and Fleetwood Mac, and a traditional folk song in debt to Shirley Collins' arrangement.

Squished in between all these goodies are stage banter interludes.

Tracklist:
01 Devil's Elbow
02 We Both Go Down Together
03 Evoking a Campfire Singalong [banter]
04 The Gymnast, High Above the Ground
05 Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect / Dreams
06 Dracula's Daughter [previously unreleased]
07 Wonder [previously unreleased]
08 A Brief Introduction to Shirley Collins [banter]
09 Barbara Allen
10 The Engine Driver
11 On the Bus Mall
12 A Skull, a Ship, and a Sheep [banter]
13 California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade / Ask
14 The Bachelor and the Bride
15 A Cautionary Song
16 Red Right Ankle
17 Bandit Queen

Death Cab For Cutie Plays Whirly Ball

This might be even better than Gibbard's Just Jazzin' video on April Fools!

Here's some Death Cab for Cutie to purchase



Or, hows about some Postal Service?



Or solo Ben Gibbard?

Initial Thoughts Album Review #4 - Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum end

Initial Thoughts Album Review #4

Unpretentious album reviews that forgo the big words, analogies and obscure music-references to simply voice some initial thoughts and gut reactions.

Sigur Rós

Með suð í eyrum við spilum end

I have been listening to this all day long and I am very excited about it. I have been a fan of most of Sigur Rós's previous work (especially Takk and Agaetis byrjun), but their albums were never the ones that I listened to all of the time. If they came on while my iPod was on shuffle, I would often hit next. It is therefor with much excitement that I say that Með suð í eyrum við spilum end will not suffer a similar next-ed fate. The album is much more organic feeling - lots of acoustic guitar, lots of strings. The signature cello-bowed hyper-reverbed electric guitar is still present, but not in its previous place of prominence. This album is phenomenal. Standout tracks for me have been Góðan daginn and Ára bátur. Við spilum endalaust, Suð í eyrum and Gobbledigook are also strong contenders for favorite tracks. While I wouldn't say their previous LPs have been "unlistenable" this album is significantly more listenable.

As luck would have it, the boys from Iceland will be playing live in Omaha tomorrow night. I would be there, but it is my wife and my 4 year anniversary AND she is about to pop with our 1st child. I thought that having the resounding distorted-reverb of Iceland's greatest musical export (sorry Bjork) induce labor would be a pretty awesome story. For some reason, the Mrs. didn't think that would be as great as I thought. Oh well. I'll be content simply listening to Með suð í eyrum við spilum end another few hundred times.


New Thoughts After a Couple More Listens

I think that this album seems more listenable because the songs seem to be more tightly focused. Also, many of them more closely follow a traditional verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus format (or some variation thereof). Key examples are inní mér syngur vitleysingur and við spilum endalaust. Don't get me wrong, the album still has plenty of more lengthy, and pensively wandering moments (festival), but much of it follows more traceable (though not necessarily predictable) melodies and trajectories. This lends to a more balanced album. It is excellent for both the casual or shuffle-induced listen as well as the headphones-on-deeply-focused-on-every-nuance-in-the-music listening sessions. I reiterate that the substitution of distorted-reverb-cello-bowed guitar with the more organic strings and horns gives the album a much more earthy tone. The omnipresent harmonic vocal oooo-ooooings of the band also help augment the emptiness left by the absent cello-bowed guitar. Wow. I like this album more and more with every listen!

Stream the new Sigur Rós Album - með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

Just because you can't pronounce it, doesn't mean its not amazing.

For those of you that have been living under rocks for the last few days, you can stream the entire new Sigur Rós album! After my first listen, I think it might be my favorite LP of theirs yet.

Click Below!

Death Cab Possesses Jimmy Kimmel's Heart

Here's some Death Cab for Cutie to purchase



Or, hows about some Postal Service?



Or solo Ben Gibbard?

Weezer does it Again

I have a complicated love-hate relationship with Weezer. However, their videos are almost always great. The new one for Pork and Beans is classic. Classic I tell you!

Death Cab Documentary

Open Windows
A 25 minute clip on the making of the new Death Cab album

Here's some Death Cab for Cutie to purchase



Or, hows about some Postal Service?



Or solo Ben Gibbard?

Death Cab for Cutie- Bixby Canyon Bridge Video

A great in studio taping Death Cab for Cutie playing Narrow Stairs' lead-off track, Bixby Canyon Bridge.

Bixby Canyon Bridge

Here's some Death Cab for Cutie to purchase



Or, hows about some Postal Service?



Or solo Ben Gibbard?

Common Market - His Eminence Explained

Last week I posted a Common Market track as part of my ongoing "Regional Acts that Should be Huge" series. Just today, RA Scion posted a lengthy post explaining the lyrics of His Eminence. Its some deep stuff - his father committing suicide when he was 6 . . . yikes. This still stands as my favorite track on the new EP. Check it out.

Add them to your collection!




Also, consider their associated act Blue Scholars (same DJ, different MC)

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs [album review]

Initial Thoughts Album Review # 3
Unpretentious album reviews that forgo the big words, analogies and obscure music-references to simply voice some initial thoughts and gut reactions.

I have long suspected that professional music review writers are idiots. It appears that my suspicions were warranted. Everything I have read about the new Death Cab for Cutie album, Narrow Stairs, goes on an on about how weird, raw or daring the new LP was. Now that I have had my first full listen, I disagree. Ben and the boys have stated in various interviews that this album is a little less polished than Plans because they recorded a lot of it in relatively few takes with minimal tweaking afterwards. This, I can hear. However, I don't see the album as too much of a departure for the band. I hear elements of much of their previous work. I don't get why all those early reviews were saying that this album was so different and would either garner widespread acclaim or alienate DCFC's entire fan base. What garbage! The album is great and it sounds very much like a DCFC album. Maybe some reviewers just needed something to talk about. I suspect that some of them had only listened to the album first single, I Will Possess your Heart, and little else.

In any case - the album sounds great.

Here's some Death Cab for Cutie to purchase



Or, hows about some Postal Service?



Or solo Ben Gibbard?

Sigur Ros in the Studio - new video

Regional Acts that SHOULD be huge - Common Market

I am all on-board for Pacific Northwest Hip-Hop.

Honestly - growing up in the promised land (Bellingham, Washington) I new there was a good music scene in the area, but was unable to catch many live shows due to the utter paucity of all-age venues. How tragic! Death Cab for Cutie was playing some of their first shows while I was in town, but I never caught them live. Yes, I have strolled Railroad and Holly, and still do every time I go back, but I regret that I never caught them live during those nascent years.

Now that I am far removed from the NW, it appears that all age venues abound and the local/regional music scene is as strong as ever.

One group that I am particularly excited about is Common Market. Made up of the Kentucky-raised(fried?) MC "RA Scion" and Blue Scholars DJ Sabzi, they blew me (and many others - including KRS ONE) away with their self-titled debut album in 2006. RA Scion already had a couple of solo efforts under his belt and Sabzi had received critical acclaim with his Blue Scholars project with MC Geologic.

Both members of the Baha'i faith, RA Scion and Sabzi market a brand of socially and spiritually conscious hip-hop. Just wait - it gets better . . . . they have new releases coming out soon!

Right now you can purchase Black Patch War, an EP gearing us up for the September release of the full length EP Tobacco Road - both out on artist-run Massline Media.

So - go buy them, listen, enjoy. These guys are great. I hope they break it big.

Also - enjoy this sample track from Black Patch War

Common Market - His Eminence.mp3

Add them to your collection!




Also, consider their associated act Blue Scholars (same DJ, different MC)

Concert Review: Grand Archives at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, 1 May 2008

Since when do good bands come to Lincoln, Nebraska! I have lived here for 4 years, and so far have seen only a handful wander through - never to return! OK, enough exclamation points. On Thursday night, David Bazan and Grand Archives came and played a free concert on UNL campus. Bazan was good, but the room was ill-suited acoustically for his set. Furthermore, I am more familiar with his early Pedro the Lion days, and didn't recognize many of the songs. This said, he was sporting a nice sports jacket.

Grand Archives took the stage around 9:15 and played a great set. Here is the set list:

1. Miniature Birds
2. Orange
   
3. Index Moon
4. Swan Matches
5. George Kaminski
6. A Setting Sun
   
7. Sleepdriving
8. Southern Glass Home
9. Torn Blue Foam Couch
10. Crime Window

Once they got the band EQ'd and balanced correctly a few songs into the set, they cruised through them and sounded really good. 3 guitars all jamming at once, 4 of the 5 band members singing harmonies. The music was very layered. And, when, in Torn Blue Foam Couch, the LP features some great horn parts, the band substituted by yelling "Ba Ba Ba Da Da." Great touch! Another highlight was their version of Southern Glass Home - a great track which didn't make it onto the LP. In the middle, they transitioned into a cover of the Bee Gee's "I started a joke," then the Zombie's "Care of Cell 44," and then a 3rd cover which I didn't know. Very funny. Great harmonies. Some of my friends who came, but were unfamiliar with the band compared their vocal harmonies to Simon and Garfunkel or the Beach Boys. I think the band should take that as a compliment.

I have high hopes for this band. Their self-titled LP has a lot of high points, but also a few mediocre points. I hope that their upcoming Southern Glass Home EP (which according to the band on Thursday, was going to feature the title track plus a few new ones), and subsequent sophomore LP effort takes off where those high-points direct.

Below are some videos I took at the show. We recently got a new camera, and I wanted to test it out. The lighting and acoustics weren't the best, but the videos turned out fairly well.

forgive my amateur cameraman-ship (I know, thats not a word)

Miniature Birds


Index Moon


Swan Matches


George Kaminski


A Setting Sun


Sleepdriving


Torn Blue Foam Couch


Crime Window

Do the Panic video - new Phantom Planet

2 new Death Cab tracks premiered on Daytrotter

I'm sure many of you have already heard, but Death Cab for Cutie just did a session for Daytrotter, and they played 2 new tracks of their upcoming Narrow Stairs LP. Give'm a listen.

Cath.mp3 - from Narrow Stairs

Talking Bird.mp3 - From Narrow Stairs

Here's some Death Cab for Cutie to purchase



Or, hows about some Postal Service?



Or solo Ben Gibbard?

New Mike Doughty "Fort Hood" video

Let the Sun Shine in . . .

New R.E.M. Hollow Man Video

Heads up! Theres a new video up for R.E.M.'s Hollow Man.

Check it out HERE

More Vinyl Acquisitions

Mike Doughty – Haughty Melodic

Owen – At Home with Owen

R.E.M. – So Much Younger Then [live 1981 bootleg] *FOR SALE*

Saves the Day – Under the Boards [limited edition green vinyl] *FOR SALE – STILL SEALED*

 

For my full collection click HERE

New Death Cab for Cutie video - I will Possess Your Heart

Here's some Death Cab for Cutie to purchase



Or, hows about some Postal Service?



Or solo Ben Gibbard?

Phantom Planet on Kimmel

What says ye? I liked the original version of Do the Panic from Negatives better (with its reference to seeing Judge Reinholdt at the screening for Teen Wolf). Does that make me a snob. Yes, but I'm ok with that. I guess the new version is ok too.