RSSMix.com Mix ID 7131

MGMT - Electric Feel (Immuzikation Remix Sans MGMT)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:23:01 -0500

in post New Immuzikation! from Sheena Beaston.

Broken Social Scene - Stars And Sons

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:16:02 -0500

in post Bearded Lunch Presents: A Sit-Down with Brendan Canning Pt.2 from Wolves, Hawks and Kites.

MGMT - Electric Feel (Immuzikation Remix)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:15:26 -0500

in post MGMT - Electric Feel (Immuzikation Remix) from Fried my little brain.

Otomo Yoshihide - Giant Robo

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:13:06 -0500

in post Otomo Yoshihide - Giant Robo from Doklands.

Tussle-SF - Eye Contact

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:18:01 -0500

in post neue tne (378): tussle from das klienicum.

Klaxons - Magick (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:17:08 -0500

in post 20/08/2008: ZEROCAST #7 (re-issue) from Le Blog du Baron.

Gossip - Standing In The Way of Control (Soulwax Nite Version)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:16:52 -0500

in post 20/08/2008: ZEROCAST #7 (re-issue) from Le Blog du Baron.

The Rapture - House of Jealous Lovers (Morgan Geist Remix)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:15:52 -0500

in post 20/08/2008: ZEROCAST #7 (re-issue) from Le Blog du Baron.

Amy Winehouse - you know im no good (skeewiff remix)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:15:39 -0500

in post 20/08/2008: ZEROCAST #7 (re-issue) from Le Blog du Baron.

Eurythmics - This City Never Sleeps

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:14:28 -0500

in post This city's hardware from Lend Me Your Ears.

The Knife - Got 2 Let U (Paul Kllman Remix)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:13:52 -0500

in post 20/08/2008: ZEROCAST #7 (re-issue) from Le Blog du Baron.

Au Revoir Simone - Fallen Snow (teenagers remix)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:13:35 -0500

in post 20/08/2008: ZEROCAST #7 (re-issue) from Le Blog du Baron.

Burial - Ghost Hardware

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:13:13 -0500

in post This city's hardware from Lend Me Your Ears.

Justice Vs. Simian - Never Be Alone (Dj Hell's Bavarian Gigolo Mix)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:13:03 -0500

in post 20/08/2008: ZEROCAST #7 (re-issue) from Le Blog du Baron.

Spank Rock - Chilly Will (DJ DiBiase Remix)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:12:17 -0500

in post 20/08/2008: ZEROCAST #7 (re-issue) from Le Blog du Baron.

!!! - Heart Of Hearts (The Brothers Mix)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:11:27 -0500

in post 20/08/2008: ZEROCAST #7 (re-issue) from Le Blog du Baron.

Architecture In Helsinki - Do The Whirlwind (Hot Chip Remix)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:11:13 -0500

in post 20/08/2008: ZEROCAST #7 (re-issue) from Le Blog du Baron.

Pnau - Embrace ft. Ladyhawke (Fred Falke & Miami Horror remix) _128kbps

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:52:50 -0500

in post Digital Millenium Copyright Act from Who The Bloody Hell Are They?.

Solomon Tekaligne - Hulum Zero Zero

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:36:52 -0500

in post FREEING UP CHORDS from Mudd Up!.

Amy Winehouse - Love Is A Losing Game (Live Acoustic Session Version)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:36:28 -0500

in post V Festival - Weston Park 17/08/2008 from to die by your side.

Amy Winehouse - Rehab (Live Acoustic Session Version)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:36:05 -0500

in post V Festival - Weston Park 17/08/2008 from to die by your side.

Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm No Good (Live Acoustic Session Version)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:35:35 -0500

in post V Festival - Weston Park 17/08/2008 from to die by your side.

Sufjan Stevens - Year of the Boar

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:33:12 -0500

in post Nothing but music - the endless post? from Hits In The Car.

Pet Politics - Sunday morning

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:33:07 -0500

in post Nothing but music - the endless post? from Hits In The Car.

The San Marinos - Half A Million

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:32:44 -0500

in post Nothing but music - the endless post? from Hits In The Car.

The Telescopes - Another Sky

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:32:24 -0500

in post Nothing but music - the endless post? from Hits In The Car.

01something - something wrong

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:31:24 -0500

in post Nothing but music - the endless post? from Hits In The Car.

Hari and Aino - Seasons

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:30:37 -0500

in post Nothing but music - the endless post? from Hits In The Car.

Rancid - Knowledge

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:28:10 -0500

in post Rancid - Knowledge (Operation Ivy Cover Live) from The Sound Of Indie. and itunes

Flobots - Handlebars (DJ Shadow remix)

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:27:45 -0500

in post Flobots: Handlebars (DJ Shadow remix) from So Much Silence.

El Tango y sus invitados: Red Garland - The Nearness of You

Caesar Tjalbo

Ike Turner & His Kings Of Rhythm - A Black Man's Soul

Instrumental funk tracks cut by Ike and his band in between touring (recorded in various sessions and cities). Released in 1969, I can't determine if the recordings are from the same year too.
Most songs are really great (Funky Mule!), some sound a bit too tame to my taste. The original 1969 album comes here with 4 bonustracks, the last 3 with Tina. It's not just her voice that was missing, the whole band sounds more mean-muthafucka like.
It's great how the band makes it appear so seemingly easy to create a good funk tune and the three Tina tracks are more proof of what a great duo they were (musically).

El Tango y sus invitados: Dinah Washington - For Those In Love

El Tango y sus invitados: Benny Goodman - Beny Goodman Sextet

Informacion del CD

El Tango y sus invitados: Diana Krall Studio 104(Live)

El Tango y sus invitados: Chet Baker - In Tokyo

El Tango y sus invitados: Brownie McGhee - The Folkways Years (1945-1959)

Caesar Tjalbo

Soul: The Dial Records Southern Soul Story

White country music publisher Buddy Killen met talented but unsuccessful black singer Joe Tex in 1961 in Nashville. The idea to merge the best of R&B and country into "country soul" required a new record label: Dial (not the jazz label). No success until 1964 but then they hit pay dirt with 'Hold What You've Got'.
The Dial records story is largely the story of Joe Tex but this CD features other great artists aswell: Bobby Marchan, Clarence Reid, Len Wade and Clarence "Frogman" Henry (tracklist).
Joe Tex died in 1982 and the label was sold in 1989 and that was the end of Dial.
The music's from 1962 to 1974, quite diverse with all the different artists. Booklet and sleeve excellent with info on the label and each artist and many pictures.

Caesar Tjalbo

Bettye LaVette - Take Another Piece Of My Heart

More Bettye, the grande dame with the golden throat. Recordings from 1969 and 1970 for SSS International and Silver Fox records, made with the Dixie Flyers.
Most of the tracks (tracklist on Amazon) were released on single, contrary to the Atlantic sessions of Child of the Seventies, the chronological follow up on this set. A few unreleased songs and 2 duets with Hank Ballard. Great stuff but that goes for all her stuff, check the archives all the way back to January for more Bettye.

A Flag Of Blood And Lipstick: Dusty In Memphis - DUSTY SPRINGFIELD

A Flag Of Blood And Lipstick: Dusty In Memphis - DUSTY SPRINGFIELD

Despite its status as a classic record, Dusty in Memphis had less than auspicious beginnings. By 1968 La Springfield had scored a string of chart successes with what she called 'big ballady things' and her decision to make an album in Memphis, home of hard edged R 'n' B grooves, was viewed with puzzlement by many.

Caesar Tjalbo

Paint It Black

"From Jazz to Soul 'n' Funk to Blaxploitation", the Manifesto Of Groove vol. 5. Tracklist.
Blaxploitation, soul-jazz and jazz-funk: searching for the origins of hip hop on this volume.
Superb serie: musical selection, booklet and package.

El Tango y sus invitados: Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Max Roach - Money Jungle [Expanded Edition]

Caesar Tjalbo

The Shadows - Complete Singles As & Bs 1959 - 1980

The Shadows started out as the backing band of Cliff Richard, once a good rocker and popular teen-idol. Having gained recognition and fame on their own, the Shadows were on the frontier of British popular music and scored an impressive string of hits. Their influence on music in general and guitarplaying in particular is immense, Eric Clapton is good but Hank B. Marvin is god!
You'd probably expect only instrumentals and the majority is but Hank Marvin and Bruce Welsh could sing too and display it on a number of songs. Next to vocal experiments you can hear many guitar effects and studio dubs, all done tastefully though.
They continued to a breakup in 1968 and had some reunions in the 1970's, with sometimes a more contemporary sound, disco-like. A few songs later they split up with label EMI in 1980 and that's the end of this box set.
The booklet describes the Shadows career briefly and contains a lengthy section with descriptions of each song and it's context. A few pictures.

Back On The Road

Back On The Road

EDDIE COCHRAN - Greatest Hits

01. C'mon Everybody
02. Something Else
03. Cut Across Shorty
04. Summertime Blues
05. Twenty Flight Rock
06. Completely Sweet
07. Three Steps To Heaven
08. Skinny Jim
09. Teenage Heaven
10. Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie
11. Pretty Girl
12. Boll Weevil Song
13. Do You Wanna Dance
14. Nervous Breakdown
15. Lonely
16. Sweetie Pie
17. Thinkin' About You (with Bob Denton)
18. Pink-Peg Slacks
19. Teres
20. Money Honey

Caesar Tjalbo

Soul: You Better Believe It!

"Rare & modern soul gems from the vaults of Atlantic, Atco Cotillion, Reprise and Warner Bros. 1967 - 1978".
Seventies soul is a little slicker than it's 60's variety (all tracks but 3 from 1970 or later, Aretha, Archie and Dynells added for better sales?). See the tracklist as ultimate inspiration to get this CD. Atlantic et al sit on an incredible mountain of soul recordings so the quality of their output doesn't have to be bad and isn't with this CD (or it's volume 2, perhaps tomorrow). Good bunch of songs, compilation (and notes) by Richard Searling.
Booklet has short info on each track and release notes, the whole text is more 'EMI like' than of 'Ace quality', if you catch my drift.

BLUES TOWN (The City Of Blues)

BLUES TOWN (The City Of Blues)

OTIS CLAY
Live
Label: Movie Play
Covers: Yes
Format: mp3 (192kbps)
Ripped: EAC
Size: 102 MB
Born: Feb 11, 1942 in Waxhaw, MS

El Tango y sus invitados: Lee Ritenour - Alive in L.A.

360Grauss -Free MP3 - Blues

360Grauss -Free MP3 - Blues

Nina Simone - Ultimate

dreams less sweet: Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers

dreams less sweet: Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers

Live in Stockholm 1959

The Basement...

The Basement makes some straight up toe tapping music. They're from Ireland so inevitably will garner comparisons to Hothouse Flowers and Van Morrison as well as requisite mentions that point towards early U2 and Dylan Thomas. But really they just play a fun brand of blue eyed soul that leans just a little towards pickin' and grinnin' Americana. They're pushing a 5 song EP called The Basement EP on Zealous Records with a full length due in the "spring" (that's nebulous label talk for "we're not sure").

Here's the video for their very catchy song Do You Think You're Moving On

As well as one for I Just Caught A Face

The Broken West...

I may be hopping on the band wagon here (I haven't really checked to see how many other "alternative media outlets" have talked about these guys) but damn this new record from The Broken West is good. It's called I Can't Go On I'll Go On and is as fine an example of power pop sweetness as I've heard in awhile. I've gotta go all the way back to The California Oranges Souvenirs to remember a record with such a consistent ability to make my cynical ass grin.

Here's a Broken West video:

Have a good weekend. Hey look, it's raining in San Francisco. "bout time.

Racing Paper Planes...

If Tract Records isn't on your radar you should really make it a habit to check the site regularly or to get on their email list. They've got a quality roster and do some pretty cool things with their 4 way split EPs that I mentioned a week or so ago. Much like Turn Records, another small label favorite, Tract Records is clearly in it to fight the good fight. By that I mean to champion music they believe in, create community, and hopefully break even.

Here's the latest singles from the folks at Tract:

Racing Paper Planes - In Company of Ghosts.

Oh My but it's just getting silly...

No tunes today. But some interesting things to think about.

Thing #1. Ok, so does anyone else think that perhaps the Boston Police Department has gone just a little bit over the top on the whole guerilla marketing campaign mistaken for a bomb thing? I suppose I understand on some level why it might cause a panic, but the official reaction to this whole thing is totally absurd. Some choice words: the stunt was "outrageous" (The Mayor), "unconscionable" (Police commissioner), "a product of corporate greed" (The Mayor again). But here's my personal favorite: from US Assistant Attorney General John Grossman, "Assistant Attorney General John Grossman called the light boards "bomblike" devices and said that if they had been explosive they could have damaged infrastructure and transportation in the city." Hey guess what John? My car could be a "bomb like" device except that it's not. So, John, what's a "bomblike" device? Maybe something with a battery and wires and lights? Uh oh, don't set down your PSP on the subway. And those blinky lights on bicycles? Fuck me you terrorist bikers, your evil reign must end right now.

Of course all this simply means that the guerilla marketing campaign was a huge fucking smashing success. Now everyone know what a Mooninite is and at least some of them will watch the show.

So the guys who put up the lighted Mooninites are being cited for "placing a hoax device that causes panic". Well, it wasn't a hoax and the people who caused the panic were our valued officials. It just goes to show you what a little creativity and imagination will get you these days. In other interesting news a Super Bowl advertiser has pulled their ad from the game broadcast due to the fact that they feared it might cause panic. The ad involved a simulated alien invasion. I'm just kidding.

In order to keep this thing music related you guys need to check out iConcertCal. It's an add on to iTunes that searches your music library, compares it to a concert touring schedule and then gives you a calendar of when bands in your iTunes will be playing in your town. Pretty cool.

iConcertCal

Berg Sans Nipple...

More weird and good from our friends at Team Love. I don't know squat about Berg Sans Nipple aside from what my ears have told me. And they've told me that Berg Sans Nipple projects an odd confluence of electronica, percussion, rock and pop that ends up soundinng like Apostle of Hustle on mushrooms playing in a vineyard of Pinot Noir grapes. I think they're french. They've got an EP called Along The Quai that came out on Jan. 23rd and seems to possess the ability to light a fire of buzz on par with Funeral if given the chance. Good odd stuff, takes a few listens to digest but then blossoms into a full fledged jaw dropper.

1 from Along The Quai:

Mystic Song

The Broken Family Band...

The Broken Family Band are a group of cheeky brits doing their damnedest to tackle to uniquely American idiom of countrified rock. They do a pretty good job. Of course it's far from authentic, but the very notion of authentic in today's musically global world gets progressively more and more laughable with each passing day that I wonder why I even mentioned it. The Broken Family Band plays a brand of country rock very similar to what The Dying Californian does. It's a slight twang generously coated with indie rock guitars and a grand melody. There's nothing terribly ground breaking here, but when it's done well it's very satisfying. The video for the song "It's All Over" is an example of "done well". It's got the slow build to crashing crescendo, a slow tightening of tensions that's as good as a well executed hand job. The video itself is a pretty entertaining construct. The visuals are taken from a silent movie in which two complete strangers were asked to sit in a room and stare at each other without speaking for an hour.

Enjoy.

A written word...

Watching Young Couples with an Old Girlfriend On Sunday Morning

How mild these young men seem to me now
with their baggy shorts and clouds of musk, as if younger brothers of the
women they escort in tight black leather, bangs and tattoos, cute little
toughies, so Louise Brooks annealed

in MTV, headed off for huevos rancheros
and the Sunday Times at some chic, crowded dive. I don't recall it at all this
way, do you ? How sweetly complected and confident they look, their faces
unclouded by the rages

and abandoned, tearful couplings of the night before, the drunkenness, beast savor and
remorse. Or do I recoil from their youthfulness and health ? Oh, not recoil, just fail to see
ourselves. And yet, this tenderness between us that remains

was mortared first with something dark, something feral, we still refuse, we still refuse to name.

-by August Kleinzahler

New Pernice Video...

Super low budget for a great song.

Pink Nasty...

Sorry but I've beens skiing. Now I'm back all limbs in tact. Have you heard any of the new Pink Nasty Mold The Gold? Very good record. You'll be surprised. Here's something to watch and listen to:

Stories...

I like to write. I'm not particularly adept at it and spend too little time editing (especially here) but I get an emotional satisfaction from simply trying to move an idea from my head to the page. I'm not good at opening myself up emotionally, I could go on and on about why I think that is but at the end of the day, that's simply who am I. Some people are very good at living as an open wound, vulnerable and giving of their emotional selves. This is good, I think. It certainly takes a lot of the difficulty out of managing personal relationships. It's easier to deal with an open book then a brick wall.

Ok where am I going with this. While this is obviously a completely non-music related post it is about the only other thing as engaging as music. That thing, for me, is stories. The act of telling others about parts of our lives, bits and pieces that are funny, sad, scary, unsettling, uncomfortable, is such a basic human connection that I think we forget that it is incredibly freeing and empowering.

Now for the part with the link. If you live in NYC maybe you're already familiar with The Moth, a not-for-profit storytelling organization, I just recently got wind of it and think that's pretty fucking cool.

If you have time during your day listen to some of the stories on the site. When you're done write something down, or better tell it to someone else.

Stories told at The Moth

Track A Tiger...

Ok, I think I'm more or less recovered from my bout with the plague. Appetite returning, strength back up, feeling human again. Very nice.

Today's catchy diddy comes via Track A Tiger which doesn't win point for best band name but does charm with a jangly indie rock sound that's sweetened up nicely with boy/girl harmonies. The band sounds very tight, very together, well rehearsed and in possession of some really good melodies. The songs make me think of Trembling Blue Stars and Slow Dazzle. This particular track, notable for the reverb laden guitar line, sounds like a touch of summer to me. Something we're all in need of at this mid-winter juncture.

Track A Tiger - All These Accidents

Fountains of Wayne on Pitchfork...

This 3.0 review of Fountains of Wayne's Traffic And Weather is thoroughly misguided that it provoked me to write. I'd like to ask pitchfork to please stop intellectualizing music until there's nothing left but bland ideas that the band, in all likelihood, didn't even intend. It's just this attitude that leads indie rock shows to be hands jammed in pockets nerd fests. God forbid you shake your ass or yell something stupid like, "it's time to rock, motherfucker!!" That would break that aura of uber cool that so many spend so much time cultivating.

Traffic And Weather isn't high art. It is a collection of great pop songs full of hook and wry lyricism. Sit back, enjoy, roll the windows down and stop thinking to fucking much.

Man, thank God that Christgau got it right

The Rosebuds...

The Rosebuds got my attention with Birds Make Good Neighbors which was a pretty compelling mix of reverb drenched pop songs that mixed bittersweet lyrics with boy/girl harmonies. It was damn good.

On April 10 Merge Records will release The Rosebuds' Night Of The Furies, an album inspired by the mythological creatures. In fact to a large degree the lyrical content of Night of the Furies is a recounting of the "furies" myth. Now if you recall from your freshman Greek 101 class the Furies were three monsterous women charged with keeping everyone in line. The punished all those that violated sensible societal codes like, you dont' kill your mom or dad, be nice to strangers, keep your word, etc. The Rosebuds inject this myth with a classic love story that acts as a structure for the bands' exploration of romantic tension, love and betrayal. According to the band there is a narrative arc through the album's nine songs. I can't recount the story as yet, but a few more listens...

The most arresting thing about Night of the Furies is the Rosebuds new attachment to beat and bass. In many aspects this a dance record begging for additional remixing by James Murphy or Diplo. The beats run deep in a way the Birds Make Good Neighbors only hinted at. A song like "Get Up Get Out" is straight up disco, and that's not a bad thing. There's still pleny of hook and melody, particularly in keyboard runs and synth licks. The guitar is just a layer this time around, supporting the songs, usually buried below the surface of the mix, popping up now and again with ringing chime, but the muscle of the melody is left to the vocals and the keyboards.

It's an excellent effort that separates itself from the band's earlier work not in the interest of simply being different or contrarian, but in a logical exploration of where they can push their talents.

from Night of the Furies:

Cemetery Lawns

Today, some reading...

Everybody and their Uncle Hank has something to say about file sharing and its link to the demise or resurgence of music today. Personally, I usually ignore all articles because I'm just sick of hearing about it. But today I read a piece on file sharing by Okkervil River's Will Sheff. I've interviewed Sheff and like him. It goes without saying that I think Okkervil is one of the finest bands playing today. So this one I read. It's well thought out and touches many of the points, concerning both the state of music and the necessary evil of file sharing, that I find myself pondering to some degree. I've included the link and the text.

The Link

The Text:

Over the nine-odd years that we in Okkervil River have been trying to
make a living playing music, I've developed a kind of love/hate
relationship with the world of file-sharing. The first good job I ever
had was at the website Audiogalaxy.com, where I drew a respectable
salary for writing music reviews and editorials as a kind of
not-very-convincing camouflage for what was at the time one of the
world's largest file-sharing networks. At the time, my attitude about
file-sharing was that it didn't particularly hurt artists most of
whom were being ripped off by their labels anyway (it's a little known
fact that very few musicians actually make any money off of record
sales) rather, it helped spread the word about their music to people
who, if they liked it enough, would buy the CD. I felt that the party
who genuinely had cause to be frightened of file-sharing weren't the
tiny little indie bands but the colossal major labels; if you put out
a Britney Spears CD with only one good song on it, I figured, people
would just steal the one song and no one would buy the CD. When
feeling grand usually after one or two of the free 20 oz. Mountain
Dews available in our office kitchen fridge and a few rounds at the
Nerf hoop I'd imagine a new and digitally reinvigorated world in
which sales of major-label behemoths like Britney and Creed would
plummet, in which major labels would topple, in which culture would be
reinvented as a kind of meritocracy where anyone with artistic
ambitions could draw a decent living by setting up a PayPal tip-jar on
their little corner of the internet. Don't laugh you thought that, too.

About a year later, the RIAA finally came gunning for Audiogalaxy and
shut us down. The dot-com crash hit, and everyone started wondering
where the money was. I was taken into the special room at my offices
the one with the big, soft leatherette couches, the one reserved for
hiring and firing and fired. I loaded a box with my belongings and a
pair of stolen Sony headphones and drove home from the gutted
Audiogalaxy offices. A couple of weeks later I cast my lot with
Okkervil River, and I headed out on my first major tour. I've spent
more than half of the intervening five years on the road. After tour
upon tour of paying more for gas than we were making at the shows, of
skipping meals, of asking people in the sparse crowds we drew if any
of them had available floor space where we could spend the night, I've
finally managed to make it pay enough so that I draw roughly the same
salary as a clerk at a 7-11. I use that comparison solely
descriptively, as I couldn't be possibly be happier to be making a
living doing what I love. At the same time, with no health insurance
and no house and no idea how long my "music career" will last, it's
kind of become everything I have. I try to use that fact as reason to
throw all of my energy and my care into every single thing that I do;
as a result, my attitude about file-sharing has become more
complicated now that it has a direct impact on my life.

I'm not sure if file-sharing impacts our sales enough for it to hurt
us. Sometimes I suspect that it does other times I'm glad people get
a chance to be exposed to our music. I do know that there's a
subscription-based service called Sound Scan that all industry
professionals labels, booking agents, promoters, publicists look
at regularly. Sound Scan estimates how many records you've sold in
stores and over the internet, and it is used to determine how "big"
you are. If you're angling to have the opening slot on a lucrative
tour or trying to get signed to a new label and someone takes a look
at your Sound Scan numbers and doesn't like them, it's over. That's an
aspect of file-sharing that I'm not sure people take into account. In
any case, I honestly don't care quite as much about the commercial
implications of file-sharing because they're basically out of my
control and I guess that inside I still do take the view that
file-sharing can be radically empowering to fans and that I can trust
those same fans to buy the records.

My real concerns with file-sharing are primarily aesthetic.

There's a story by Jorge Lus Borges called "The Library of Babel." It
describes a fantastical library composed of an apparently infinite
number of identical rooms. Each room contains 1,050 books. Printed on
the pages are words whose lettering and order are apparently random.
Because the library is complete, among the gibberish it also contains
every book that is possible, every book that could ever be written. It
also contains every imaginable variation of every book possible,
whether that variation is off by thousands of letters or by a single
comma. Borges adds that it must contain, somewhere, a book that
explains the meaning and origin of the library itself just as it
contains thousands of variations of that book, true and false. He
writes, "When it was proclaimed that the Library contained all books,
the first impression was one of extravagant happiness. All men felt
themselves to be the masters of an intact and secret treasureAs was
natural, this inordinate hope was followed by an excessive depression."

The internet with its glut not only of information but of
misinformation, and of information that is only slightly correct, or
only slightly incorrect fills me with this same weird mixture of
happiness and depression. I sometimes feel drowned in information,
deadened by it. How many hundreds of bored hours have you spent
mechanically poring through web pages not knowing what you're looking
for, or knowing what you're looking for but not feeling satisfied when
you find it? You hunger but you're not filled. Everything is freely
available on the internet, and is accordingly made inestimably
valuable and utterly value-less.

When I was a kid, I'd listen to the same records over and over and
over again, as if I was under a spell. The record would end and I'd
flip it over again, doing absolutely nothing, letting the music wash
over me. My favorite record albums become like a totem for me, their
big fat beautiful gatefolds worked as a shield against the loud,
crashing, crushing world. I would have laid down my life and died in
defense of a record like Tonight's the Night or Astral Weeks. I felt
that those records had, in some ways, saved my life. These days, with
all the choice in the world, it's hard for me find the attention span
for a single album. I put my iPod on shuffle and skip impatiently to
the next song before each one's over. I don't even know what I'm
looking for.

Because my work is the most important thing in the world to me, I
sometimes feel uncomfortable about it existing freely in the digital
Library of Babel, these songs that I worked so hard writing and
revising and rehearsing and recording and mixing (and re-mixing) and
mastering (and re-mastering) shucked off the album and thrown up on
the internet in hissy and brittle low-resolution versions with no kind
of sequence or order, mixed in with odd leaked tracks and some sub-par
live versions. In a world overstuffed with stimuli and choking on
information, I feel like a musical album should have a kind of purity
and a kind of wholeness, that every aspect of an album from the
sequencing to the artwork even down to the typesetting should feels
labored over and loved, and that the finished product should feel like
a gift.

At the same time, I am a very ardent supporter of the way in which the
internet empowers fans. I truly believe that the internet allows fans
to connect with and participate in art in a way that's far more
meaningful than it's been for decades, in a way that's more akin to
the way folk music worked in the 1920's and for hundreds of years
beforehand. Anyone who has ever been to a perfect rock show by their
favorite band in a small venue can testify to the circuit of energy
that is created at those shows between the audience and the band, to
the way that energy washes up onstage from the crowd and is radiated
back out again from the performers, to the way that it becomes less
about an artist and an audience and it becomes entirely about a
singular unrepeatable shared moment between a group of people. That's
why I go to shows, and that's why I play music myself.

By the same token, those same great shows don't always sound the same
when you run a line out from the soundboard into a minidisk player and
put it up online. For one thing, soundboard tapes are notoriously bad;
everything that's supposed to resonate through the air like drums
and amps gets lost, while everything that's miked or going direct
sounds dry and ten times louder. Similarly, all those other ineffable
things that resonate through the air those things that are the
reason we go to rock shows in the first place simply can't be
captured through a line-out on a soundboard. I've heard a lot of the
Okkervil bootlegs out there; some of them sound great and some of them
make me wince. I don't mind that they're out there and I encourage
bootlegging, but sometimes it's painful for me to contemplate how
there are hours and hours of terrible-sounding Okkervil River music
readily available on the internet.

We're going on tour again in the fall and we'll probably be playing
some new songs. I love sharing new songs and refining them live in
front of people. However, I'm going to save some of the new songs for
our next recording session in spite of the fact that we could use
the rehearsal for the simple reason that I don't want them to be
heard first in versions that are inferior because we're still working
through them and they're poorly from soundboards. I'm not at all
asking that you don't record and share shows; rather, I myself am
going to try to choose some songs that I'm okay having shared in early
versions.

Just as long as when the album comes out you don't do that thing on
the message board where you go, "hrumph, I much prefer the earlier
version better, by the way. I find so much more pure the version from
Madison where Will's guitar is out of tune and he's so wasted that he
forgets half the words and then apologizes and starts the song over.
And then he forgets them again." --

Have Fun, I'm not...

Junior Senior. It helps sometimes.

Malajube...

Malajube got some critical love last year for their album Trompe-L'Oeil but never reached the buzzy heights of, say, Arcade Fire or Broken Social Scene to name just two of the many Canadian bands that have been owning the indie scene during the last three years. It's too bad that Malajube hasn't gotten the same attention because they're easily as good if not better than many of the buzziest or the buzzy buzz buzz bands. Maybe it's because they sing in French. I know that probably puts off must indie rock kids like subtitles in movies put off 12 year olds. But give Malajube a listen and a chance and they'll blow your socks off. You'll find yourself thinking why didn't I hear about these guys last year? Oh wait they're not singing in English. That puts me off. It all makes sense now. But it's so good. I must continue to listen, put aside petty intellectual arguments about the need to understand the lyrics to get the full effect. Must get French to English dictionary.

Some videos from Malajube:

Montreal -40

Pate Filo

Fille a Plumes

Le Metronome

Shipwreck...

Shipwreck, which is a fairly straight forward rock outfit that turns it up and shakes some ass at ya should not be confused with this band called Shipwreck who are, I'm sure, very nice young men and women but are Jesus obsessed and for a variety of reasons I just can't go there. I don't like the policies and couldn't work for that company. Anyway Shipwreck the secular. Now this band I can get behind: muscular guitar work, palpable passion, a little new wave kitsch, those mysterious elements that make rock and roll, it's all there. They're also keen on releasing lots of EPS, I like that, fits my attention span.

Lots of music from Shipwreck:

point yourself here for the complete list

A couple of highlights:

A Walk In The Woods

Orpan

WOW!!!....

Have you seen this? Brilliant and odd.

basically Modest Mouse...

I like Modest Mouse OK, my wife really likes them a lot. I enjoyed the last record even when "Float On" became as prevalent as Salvation Army bells around Christmas. I must say the new single from the upcoming We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank is kinda killer. In order for you to enjoy the clever and witty video that accompanies the song I'm linking to MTV's Subterranean Blog because they got it. I don't endorse MTV in general but I totally geeked on Subterranean when it was called 120 Minutes. In fact I think I'd have to cite 120 Minutes as a major influence in my youthful move away from Bruce Springsteen and Men At Work and towards Madness, The Specials, and Squirell Bait. OK, I've assuaged my misguided guilt to some degree. Now follow the link because the video has a maritime theme and I love the sea.

Bill Callahan...

In April Drag City will release the first solo album by Bill Callahan entitled Woke On A Whaleheart. You may only know Mr. Callahan from his day job which is being the primary mover and songwriter for Smog. This of course begs the question, why a "solo" record and not another Smog record. This is splitting hairs which need not be split, especially when Woke On A Whaleheart is no less then some of Callahan's most dramatic and wonderful work yet.

Callahan, no matter what guise he's playing under, has always been brave enough to follow his muse no matter where it might lead him. Fortunately, he's always had the artistic freedom to explore genre, to find a voice, and to develop artistically. This is a rarity in today's music world. If Woke On A Whaleheart is where all the experimentation has lead, then there should be an insistence that musicians once again be allowed to fully engage in their craft unhindered by the petty demands of the market.

Callahan's body of work should be should be an American treasure in the same way that Raymond Carver's short stories should be lauded as one of finest cultural jewels, uniquely American and powerfully aware of its environment. It is in this sense, one of cultural value, that Woke On A Whaleheart takes on an aura of an artistic high water mark for Callahan.

As on all of Callahan's projects his deep baritone and it's languorous delivery anchor each song. The songs feel expansive musically, touching on gospel, country, rock, each song filled with subtle changes and slowly building layers. The album is near impossible to pigeonhole as a genre. It simply seems stamped as American, a look both backward and forward at our cultural tectonics and the slowly evolving chasms and collisions that make it fascinating.

Lyrically, again much like Ray Carver, Callahan understands the power of simply placing a word within a sentence, a lyric, a line. He's a master of brevity and the power that it can wield when used correctly. So much is said in small moments, carefully crafted. Unlike Carver Callahan doesn't have a particular affection for the suburban relationships that Carver seemed near obsessed with chronicling in their various states of disrepair and disintegration. The world of Woke On A Whaleheart is more pastoral, as if he's embodying a small town's pace and attitude.

It's an excellent album that only gets better with each listen.

1 song from Woke On A Whaleheart:

Sycamore

Death has become me...

not really it just feels like it. I've been felled by some terrible bird/porcupine flu combo. Trust me it sucks. I don't ever get sick. I think the last time was like six years ago, which means I should amend my prior statement to "I only get sick every six years". But I do it right. Fever, chills, the whole nine yards. I think I'm getting better.

Now it's been both a blessing and a curse that my 7 year old daughter has been sick at the same time as me. I now have seen every episode of Spongebob Squarepants (that could construed as either a blessing or a curse), I actually like a show called Avatar, and may stick my foot in a garbage disposable in order to get out of ever watching another episode of Jimmy Neutron. One cool thing I did discover was a show called Jack's Big Music Show. It's a kids music show hosted by a couple of puppets (I think they're dogs) who sing catchy songs about their various predicaments and plans. Very entertaining. But the really cool thing are the short videos and guest stars the creators have throughout the show. Very catchy pop songs that make sick kids and dads happy. And then, get this, I find that Andrew Bird guested on the show as Dr. Stringz and performed one of the catchiest songs ever. Here it is:

Just fantastic. Makes me even hungrier for the new Bird record. Ok. That's about all I can manage.

Manchester Orchestra...

I'm blown away. At last a record that grabs my attention and holds it. I've listened to Manchester Orchestra's I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child incessantly for the last week.

First things first: Manchester Orchestra is from Atlanta, GA. And their kids. By kids I mean they're all around 19 or so, kids to a man of my advanced age. That youthful energy is palpable on I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child, it infuses the record with purpose in a way. It's most certainly a musical statement produced by the passions of youth. There are odes to broken hearts and weightier issues of deceased parents, real heart on the sleeve stuff that might make you want to hurl accusations like "emo" at the band, but don't be too hasty. There's something far more imaginitive and inventive going on than your garden variety cookie cutter emo rock schlock here. Does it not rock? Why yes it does rock. Does it not get quiet and emotional? Why yes it does get quiet and introspective. But the album does both these things in unexpected ways, or at least in ways as unexpected as you can get within the confines of rock and pop songs. It's emo with imagination, emo that resents the tag and wants you to show you why. It's The Weakerthans without the politics. The Shins with no shine and more guts.

I'll admit that at times it's totally overblown. But that's what youth does, youth makes big weighty pronoucements and acts like it knows everything. When you get older you realize that you didn't know everything at 20 or 21 or even 25, and there's a hell of a lot more subtlety and hair splitting in the world than you realized. But that kind of stuff comes later in life, right now for Manchester Orchestra life is an open wound that bleeds music. It sounds pretty killer.

1 from I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child:

The Neighborhood Is Bleeding

OH MY GOD...

The best part is that the narrator gets as fired up to yell, "UFO Porno!!!", as the Spanish language announcers for soccer games are about yelling, "GOAL!!"

It's Been a while...

hasn't it. Let's see April 3rd was my last post and today is June 27th that means the last time I posted, in internet years, was 2,569 years ago. A good friend convinced me that people actually read this thing and that, perhaps, they deserve some degree of explication. So here I am. I don't think that this means the posts will start flowing again, it just means that maybe I need to get this off my chest.

I'm having a tough time right now. I've been having a tough time for quite a few months. I'm struggling. My job/business is fine. I have a wonderful daughter. But at some point over the last 4 years I really lost touch with someone who is really important to me. It's been a challenging stare into the mirror of late. I've learned a lot and I'm not happy with much of it. At the same time I'm quite aware that what's happened in my life is a 50/50 proposition. Nothing gets as fucked up as it is now without two people willingly jogging down the sweet sweet path of self destruction.

You can probably hear me editing myself as you read this. I have no interest right now in washing my dirty laundry public. Trust me, there are all sorts of folks in all manner of corners of the internet (also known as the www and "the web") who would love to sink their teeth into my story. They can't have it. At least not right now. At least not until I've reached the other side of all this. Until then I will be intentionally vague and you'll just have to deal.

So what's this horse shit got to do with music? Well, it does and it doesn't. One thing I discovered about myself is that I'm really good at hiding from things. I hid from my deep inner heart, that place of maximum vulnerability where you're really alive, by pretending that it didn't exist. I used drugs, sex, and, yes, rock n' roll to assist my delusion. The first two should be obvious, the third not so much. I got to a point where my obsessive blog reading, downloading, unmanageable levels of consumption (I swear I've downloaded stuff like, a year and a half ago from emusic that I haven't even listened to yet, ), self imposed guilt about posting, mental gymnastics regarding my supposed self-importance in this self-important obsessed Music World 2.0 game we're all playing, that you're playing right now. It all just got to a point where it seemed like I was obsessing on something because it was a distraction from what was really going on in my head and my heart. I was ignoring things that were orders of magnitude more important than whatever my next post was going to be and how many hits I was getting.

Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm the kind of guy that gets carried away. Maybe everyone else out there reading Pitchfork and Stylus and Brooklyn Vegan and trying to find obscure Arcade Fire tracks is normal and I'm not. I'm happy to take that criticism because ultimately the finger I'm pointing only points at me and at my life. For now I'm desperately trying to find perspective. I'm trying hard to get through what has been and will continue to be the most difficult time of my life. It all will pass one way or another and then I'll wake up one day hear a song and think "that's just plain and simple a great tune, other people need to hear it". I'll post something on that day. Otherwise, thanks for your thoughts (if you're thinking about some random guy you don't know with some very unspecified life issues) and for reading. And thanks for asking about me. That's really meant a lot.

Peace,

Pete

Assorted Musicoloy & Pernicious Apologizing...

The old up keep of the blog has been lacking lately, but I've been feeling a bit beaten down. Work is busy as a beaver in the redwoods which is a blessing and a curse, the personal life is mangled at best and is naturally draining emotionally, physically. Everything (= life) makes the management of a music blog rather low on the priority scale. I did manage to catch a show last week at The Hotel Utah. It was the wonderous Our Lady of the Highway with the much blogged about (I'm guilty here because I think he's great) Adam Arcuragi and a Washington Dc area band called These United States. A really great bill. All the bands produced some really stunning music. The highlight was during Arcuragi's set when he was backed by the other bands on his final song. It was clear there was a real affection between all the players. This heartfelt camaraderie produced such an effusive outbreak of music that as the whole gang leaned into Arcuragi's chorus of "oh lord, come and take me home" I swear the room was filled with a light the color of rose. An excellent night of music. Catch Arcuragi if you're able he puts on an excellent show and is touring all over the place at the moment.

I was unfamiliar with These United States but was suitably impressed with their country inflected take on 70's AM rock. Oft times gentle and melancholy, other times more forceful and insistent in their melodies. They're like a hoedown held at on AA meeting or a barn dance in a decrepit urban warehouse or a shindig with slide guitars on a sinking boat.

some songs from These United States:

The Business

Kings And Aces

El Tango y sus invitados: Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - What Now My Love

Msica do Bem: Ella Fitzgerald - Misty Blue

Msica do Bem: Ella Fitzgerald - Misty Blue

Ella Fitzgerald - Misty Blue

01-Misty Blue---02:33
02-Walking In The Sunshine---02:34
03-It's Only Love---03:08
04-Evil On Your Mind---02:22
05-I Taught Him Everything He Knows---02:49
06-Don't Let That Doorknob Hit You---02:29
07-Turn The World Around (The Other Way)---02:49
08-The Chokin' Kind---02:05
09-Born To Lose---03:21
10-This Gun Don't Care---02:49
11-Don't Touch Me---02:55

Msica do Bem: VA. Ultimate Diva Collection

Msica do Bem: VA. Ultimate Diva Collection

VA. Ultimate Diva Collection: The Diva Series

01 Ella Fitzgerald - How High The Moon
02 Sarah Vaughan - Lulaby Of Birdland
03 Dinah Washington - Teach Me Tonight
04 Billie Holiday - Body And Soul
05 Carmen McRae - You Took Advantage Of Me
06 Anita ODay - Peel Me A Grape
07 Blossom Dearie - Someone To Watch Over Me
08 Nina Simone - Love Me Or Leave Me
09 Shirley Horn - Come Dance With Me
10 Gloria Lynne - Im Gonna Laugh You Right Out Of My Life
11 Astrud Gilberto - Fly Me To The Moon
12 Peggy Lee - I Dont Know Enough About You
13 Etta James - A Sunday Kind Of Love
14 Natalie Cole - Its Crazy
15 Helen Merrill - Youd Be So Nice To Come Home To
16 Ernestine Anderson - It Dont Mean A Thing
+
17 Abbey Lincoln - Dont Explain
18 Betty Carter - Open The Door
19 Deborah Brown - Just Friends
20 Diana Krall - The Look Of Love
21 Lizz Wright - Walk With Me Lord

Blues: A Msica do Diabo (...devil's music...): A lendria sesso de gravaes do Delta!!!

Blues: A Msica do Diabo (...devil's music...): A lendria sesso de gravaes do Delta!!!: "A lendria sesso de gravaes do Delta!!!
SON HOUSE, CHARLIE PATTON, WILLIE BROWN & LOUISE JOHNSON
(2003) The Legendary Delt Blues Session
Recording date: 1930
Label: P-Vine Japan
Covers: No
Format: OGG VORBIS (128kbps)
Ripped: Jet Audio Plus"

Caesar Tjalbo

Fontella Bass - The Very Best Of

"The very best of" is arguable but it's good stuff for sure. This album is one of those cute 'Chess' digipacks with good linernotes, pictures and great selection of music all for a decent price. It's also 'just' the Chess music, so you won't find colaborations with the Turners or her later work with hubby Lester Bowie with The Art Ensemble Of Chicago.
We all know Fontella Bass for her smash hit Rescue Me, the Chess attempt to break Motown's monopoly on hit parade success. Rescue Me also became a source of trouble as Bass didn't get credits for co-authoring the song and ultimately left the label, without ever parallelling that success.
What this compilation proves is that Fontella Bass is a lot greater and more versatile than I thought, knowing only 2, maybe 3 songs, the same ones you always find on cheap soul/60's compilations. She knows her way with jazz, soul and blues and turns all this into something to her own advantage.
You'll get 25 tracks of which the last 3 are duets with Bobby McClure.
Universal / Island 2006

Blues: A Msica do Diabo (...devil's music...)

Blues: A Msica do Diabo (...devil's music...): "JOSH WHITE
Nascimento: 11 de Fevereiro de 1914, em Greenville, South Carolina
Morte: 05 de Setembro de 1969, em Manhaset, New York."