Apr 30, 2013

Clem Snide • Fan Chosen Covers 2 • 2013



here's the deal, love clem snide, love covers... so it would make natural sense that this would light up life. It is ok... I miss the fuller sounding clem snide - end of love still one of my favs! This is nice, but simple and at times empty in spirit. Check it out yourselves at BC... 
I wanna thank sensi05 for the discovery of vol II

Apr 28, 2013

Playlists #3


My instalment of playlists from blogs I love continues. Today I want to give props to a great blog called Friends With Both Arms
Every month they release a great playlist from the tunes their site highlights. 
This one is definitely to checkout.

Secret Mountains Mixtape Tracklist
1. Lia Ices-Love is Won
2. The Morning Benders-Mother and Child Reunion (Paul Simon Cover)
3. You’re Jovian-Sentimental Doubt
4. The War on Drugs-A Pile of Tires
5. Vetiver-Sister
6. Swiss Alps-Summershine (The Sea Urchins)
7. Surfer Blood-Anchorage
8. Deep Time-Clouds
9. Heatmiser-See You Later
10. Conner Youngblood-Australia
11. Tame Imapala-Apocalypse Dreams
12. El Perro Del Mar-Change of Heart
13. Twin Steps-Wave of My Emotion
14. Wye Oak-Remember,Above (Daytrotter)
15. Mountain Man-Dog Song
16. Bibio-Lovers’ Carvings
17. JJ-Are you still in Vallda?
18. Bodies of Water-Open Rhythms
19. Grooms-3D Voices
20. The Babies-Breakin The Law

Fort Frances - Harbour - 2013



The past two years have been blurry.
After tucking away in the hills of Maine to 
record their debut album with Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter, Langhorne Slim), the three voices behind Fort Frances found themselves on-stage at festivals around the country, on-screen at Tosh.0 and on the road for tens of thousands of miles.
Now, they're back with the new EP, “Harbour", recorded in Chicago.

Apr 24, 2013

Paperfangs - Past Perfect - 2013



Finland isn’t the first place you’d associate with cutting-edge independent music, but whilst Sigur Ros and Bjork fly the flag for Iceland and First Aid Kit, The Hives and Shout Out Louds represent Sweden, there’s an underground movement in the most easternly Scandanavian country, based around the Soliti label, that’s slowly but surely making waves and bringing Finnish independent music to the attention of those searching for something a little different.

“Past Perfect” is an enchanting album with hints of eighties electronica & elements of early New Order, all packaged around half-spoken half-sung male vocals with occassional female backing.  Whilst “Bathe In Glory” is the most accessible track, there’s also a darker more menacing edge on tracks like “Darkling I Listen” and “Widow’s Song” that gives the album a variety of moods and effect.


Apr 23, 2013

Andy Fitts - Smoky Wilds - 2013



I am currently on a national tour playing bass in the David Bazan band. Other musical adventures centered in Seattle, Washington include and have included Aqueduct, Say Hi, The Banyans, City Light, Thieves of Kailua, Josh Ottum, Rosie Thomas, With Friends Like These, Airport Cathedral and Dear Darling. I love music and I love my friends. I am interested in becoming a better friend to everyone that i know and meet. I am happy eating mexican food everyday and laughing as much as possible. I want to spend the rest of my life learning new things and documenting as many of my experiences as I can in any way that I should. tumblr

Apr 20, 2013

Local Wizards - Supplement - 2013


Check out their tumblr site... Very cool and smooth indie electronica style music.

Indie Covers Twenty


I'm at twenty already... Either I am getting older real fast or I lost my marbles years ago. Here is the 20th instalment of my indie covers posts; I probably have another 20 or so before I start lacking covers from some of our most endearing indie artists.


Apr 19, 2013

Bandcamp Discoveries

Hunting Hat - There are plenty of people younger than you; I'm one of them.


Worries - Halloween Night


teen suicide - haunt me (x 3)



A couple of outstanding songs from our friendly neighbourhood BC bands. These are all on the more mellow side of the scale for sure, but excellent music.

THE BABIES - 2012





There's no job to pay the rent.
There's no love to make it better.
There's no plans,
What'chu doin' later?
Take my hand, alligator.

Life is funny.
Life's a laugh.
Life is lonely.
Yeah, it's a drag.

And what's your name?
How you doin'?
I like your hair.
How do you do it?

And it's not fair
That you're taken.
And it's unfair
That you're spoken for.

Life is funny.
Life's a laugh.
Life is lonely.
It's a drag.

And I don't care.
You're not a traitor.
I'll take the stairs,
Not the elevator.

North Star by Graveface Records & Curiosities - Weary Engine Blues - 2013


Tribute to Jason Molina

From William Schaff:

"Back in January of this year, I received a message from a friend of Jason's, Tara Samaha. Like so many of us were, she was concerned. She was concerned for his safety, mental and physical health after receiving an alarming email. She felt he needed a map to help him through these troubled times and then asked that I make him one. I did. Sadly we were never able to land a concrete address for Jason, where we knew he would get the map. I know that he had lost things important to him over the past few years, for various reasons, so I wanted to be sure this got into his hands, and no one else. That said -- sadly -- the map was never delivered to him" graveface

Apr 18, 2013

Wintercoats - Heartful - 2013


(name your price)

So subtle, so simple, so beautiful - my body is melting into my chair... More... Repeat... Again... wow!


Apr 16, 2013

Nights - Whisper - 2013



Nights seamlessly shift between dream-pop and heavier melodic rock with shimmery and fuzzy textures molded around finely crafted songwriting that's complete with poignant & introspective lyrics


Apr 14, 2013

Submission: Sally - We Are In A Car - 2012



Well, times change, thus so must I... This is my first submission and a dandy!
Sally describes the band as Sally is a songwriter. A terribly hurt, terribly hopeful, terribly romantic young woman who chronicles her (mis)adventures in love through catchy sad and happy songs. She is also a compulsive doodler, is often nauseous, and loves cats. She wants you to experience her life through her songs.


We Are In a Car is indie pop at its' best; compelling delivery, shinny guitar rhythms, lovely at time and grungy at others. Overall a nice little EP that will have you hitting repeat on a couple of the tracks. Go pick it up for free at BC... 
Free Indie Pop of a Sunday slumber.

Apr 10, 2013

Summer - Winter - 2013




National Public Radio (NPR): Terry O’Hara has a voice that has some of the faltering facets of Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, while at times channeling the intimacy of the late Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse)...Alone is Yes floats through ten lovely folk songs that sound like they were recorded in a spaceship. 

The Globe: The album has a soothing, spacey sound, similar to a sedated Radiohead. Constant echoes and disjointed melodies laden with loaded pauses lull the listener into a calm, yet melancholy, stupor. 

Apr 7, 2013

Three Lakes


Really nice indie pop from Italy, subtle melodies surrounding deadpan vocals... Those Italians love to share, pick it up for free @ BandCamp


Uncle T is a special person who usually introduces people to good music during their childhood. This record is for him and for all the good uncles that keep educating nephews to music listening. I hope to be an Uncle T too one day... 


Songs for Walter

When it comes to family, many of us keep things close to our chests. But rather than keeping his kin hidden in a old dusty photo album, Songs For Walter’s Laurie Hulme is more likely to be found making a song about them. In particular his late grandfather Walter. One listen to the Songs For Walter EP and what you’ll hear is a stunning memoir of one extraordinary fellow and his strangely wonderful world...

But make no mistake; this is not simply a nostalgia trip. Equally inspired by Lou Reed and John Cale’s “Songs For Drella” the two releases of the EP is a personal musical anecdote exuding the kind of rawness to only come from a self-produced release. “I really love lo-fi stuff, there’s something so much more honest about it,” explains Laurie. “What you lose in quality you gain in character.”
And that’s what really sets Songs For Walter apart. This EP has bags of character. Each song stands up on its own but together creates a legacy reflecting a Bill Callahan/Smog-like balance of sincerity and absurdity, The Spinto Band in reflective mode, or perhaps new kid on the blogs, fellow one-man bedroom outfit Youth Lagoon.

Quote :
“Songs that you feel have always been with you and remind you of all your favourite memories…life changing” – Jacob Graham ‘The Drums

Los Rusos Hijos de Puta - Hola - 2013




Some crazy punk-pop from Argentina - raw music for the masses...

Apr 6, 2013

The Postal Service Auditions


Excellent Fun...




You can spend all the time and money in the world trying to craft the perfect pop-music scenario, but sometimes the stars have to align all by themselves. Even though early on the members of The Postal Service jokingly referred to Such Great Heights as “the hit” on their debut album, Give Up, there’s no way anyone could have predicted the eventual impact made by a mail-order album designed in a pair of West Coast bedrooms.


It’s been 10 years since the little project that could from Seattelite Ben Gibbard (aka Death Cab For Cutie’s frontman) and Angeleno Jimmy Tamborello (Dntel, Figurine) emerged from seemingly nowhere and began to burrow into the ears of anyone who came into contact with the band’s infectious electro-pop. To celebrate, Sub Pop is reissuing The Postal Service’s sole album, and including in the multi-disc set 15 bonus tracks, including two brand new songs, “A Tattered Line of String” and “Turn Around.” On top of that, the band is back together: The Postal Service will hit the road for a long-overdue victory lap, giving most fans their first (and last—seriously, don’t ask) chance to see the group in person.


Of course, the band’s music was more than just electro-pop, and the force with which Jimmy and Ben captured the indie-rock zeitgeist of the early aughts made them more of a phenomenon than just a regular old band. That such artists as Ben Folds, Amanda Palmer, Streetlight Manifesto, and Confide have covered “Such Great Heights” is a testament to both the song’s magical spark and its melodic inclusivity. The band’s sound is such a touchstone that “Postal Service-esque” has become a generally accepted musical adjective. And it goes way beyond Owl City.

While it was impossible to anticipate how massive Give Up would become, it was obvious in 2003 that these guys had made something special. Ten years on it’s amazing to know that so many people have come to agree.

Apr 2, 2013

Papa M Playlist - 2013


As one of the Kentucky demi-gods who made Slint's 'Spiderland' - an album so
emotionally taxing that the band was, allegedly, subsequently admitted to a local mental
asylum - Dave Pajo's place at the pinnacle of lo-fi's Mount Olympus is
already guaranteed.


Dave Pajo has recently discovered a desire to sing - something he'd managed
to avoid for 1999's dreamlike 'Live From A Shark Cage' - and on 'Whatever,
Mortal', his deadpan tones make Leonard Cohen sound like Mariah Carey.


That Pajo barely sings only brings out the sly unease that lies beneath the
surface of his songs. There's something unnervingly fragile about the naïve
melodies of 'Many Splendoured Thing' and the dour 'Sabotage' - like Syd
Barrett, Roky Eriksson or Skip Spence, Pajo's is a brilliance that teeters
on the brink of genuine illness.


In Papa M's strange internal world, men stand guard over gravestones,
vultures circle and love is forever two steps out of reach. This is country
music to a degree, but undermined by a strange psychedelic undercurrent
absent in the likes of Bonnie Prince Billy and Smog.


It's wild an uneven stuff and as Pajo dips his finger into the darker
corners of folk music, he's leaving the normal world far behind. For the
few, the brave and the geeky, a thing of monstrous beauty. nme

On tour with YYY

Apr 1, 2013

The Smiths - The World Won't Listen


The album was conceived as a collection of the singles and their B-sides from 1985 and 1986. Additionally, the scrapped single "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" (which was passed over for "Shoplifters of the World Unite") and the near-single "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" (a single candidate from The Queen Is Dead that was passed over in favour of "Bigmouth Strikes Again") were included.
The title reflects Morrissey's frustration with the fact that mainstream radio and record buyers still weren't paying attention to the band. As the album included many non-album cuts and single versions, it remains a fan favourite. The music press was critical, however, labelling the album "inessential".
The compilation was rendered largely superfluous only three months after its release when Rough Trade decided to release the similar but extended US-intended compilation Louder Than Bombs domestically. This was primarily done to save the consumer from paying high import prices. However, The World Won't Listen has some songs (or different versions of songs) that do not appear on Louder Than Bombs: "Money Changes Everything", "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side", "Stretch Out and Wait" (different version), "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore", and "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" (different version).
The last line is the title of the only song on The World Won't Listen which was previously unreleased, the word 'maybe' being used because the song had appeared on bootlegs and test pressings prior to its official release, and thus some more attentive fans would have had it.
After WEA acquired the Smiths' back catalogue in 1992, all Smiths albums were re-released at mid price, including The World Won't Listen, which was expanded to include a cover of "Golden Lights" and the original Rough Trade cassette edition bonus track "Money Changes Everything" (the "Bigmouth Strikes Again" B-side, also later released on the deluxe edition of The Sound of The Smiths).

CYHSY demos


A bunch of CYHSY demos - some gems to be heard