Sep 29, 2012

Psychic Twin [2012]



Don’t let the Thompson Twins intro scare you off. ‘Gonna get her’ by Psychic Twin is gonna get you. No doubt about that. Even if a tad poppy I am sure you’ll appreciate it, and definitely dig the gorgeous video.

Sep 27, 2012

Puta De Cava [2012]



Between the foreign textures of surrealism and nostalgia, Puta De Cava synthesizes hypnotic guitar lines and seductive vocal melodies to create an experimental soundscape. The group incorporates psychedelic post-rock and art-rock elements as well as middle eastern influence into the song-writing process. 

Sep 26, 2012

Her & Everything - Soft! The Moon [2012]



H&E is a project spearheaded by Steven Robertson, a young singer/songwriter from Boston, MA. Enrolling at Carnegie Mellon University in 2011, he was forced to split from the popular Boston-area band he had played with and began recording his own music. Along the way he's joined forces with various other artists, developing his own unique style of indie-folk-rock. 

Sep 24, 2012

Teitur - "Home" [THE COPENHAGEN SESSIONS 2012]




Teitur has never been afraid to experiment. In 2009, he told me that he was searching for challenges in music and new things to learn in order to feel closer to his own music. Four Songs is perhaps first and foremost that feeling of being closer.

All four songs have been recorded in Tórshavn on the Faroe Islands in the new Studio Bloch, owned by Teitur’s long time sound engineer, Jonas Bloch Danielsen. And for the first time, Teitur has recorded solo with no backing musicians.

With the opening song and single Home, Teitur has taken full advantage of the recording circumstances. The introless melancholy piano anthem seems to suck the listener right into the small studio built into the surrounding rocks where presumably “Home is the sound of the birds early in the morning”.

Unfortunately, the eerie intensity of Home seeps out the moment the re-recording of Poetry & Aeroplanes (originally recorded as the title song for Teitur’s debut album from 2003) begins. It’s a bit slower and less polished than the original recording but doesn’t really add anything new to the song.

Like Poetry & Aeroplanes,  Jailhouse Gumbo Jones and She lives in the North are guitar based. Both songs, particularly the latter, have a hint of af Nick Drakesque feel but without quite the same intimacy and intensity of Home or of the late Englishman.

Four Songs is an interesting sneak peek into the direction that Teitur could be taking his music next. It’s intimate and warm even with the cold Atlantic tapping on the door. It’s just too bad that three of the four songs are guitar based when he currently sounds more at home at the piano.


Home is the sound of birds early in the morning
Home is the song I always remembered
Home is the memory of my first day in school
Home is the books that I carry around
Home is a alley in a faraway town
Home is the places I’ve been and where I’d like to go

Home
Always gonna feel at home
No matter where I may roam
Always gonna find my way home
No matter how far I’m gone
I’m always gonna feel this longing
No matter where I might stay

Home is a feather curling in the air
Home is flowers in the window sill
Home is all the things she said to me
Home is the photo I never threw away
Home is the smile on my face when I died
Home is the taste of the apple pie

I’ve met a woman, she’s always lived in the same place
She said home is where you’re born and raised
I’ve met a man, he said looking out to the sea
He said home is where you wanna be
I’ve met a girl in some downtown bar
She said I’ll have whatever you’re having
And I asked her how come we never met before?
She said all my life I’ve been trying to get a place of my own

I’m always gonna feel at home
No matter where I may roam
Always gonna find my way back home
No matter how far I’m gone
Always gonna feel this longing
No matter where I might stay

Sep 23, 2012

Woods - Cali in a Cup [2012]


From



Woods offer up their best late-1960s West Coast vibes in the
new Adarsha Benjamin-directed video for "Cali in a Cup".



"For their seventh album, Bend Beyond, Woods got dark. It’s not that they weren’t dark before—when you really get in there and listen, Jeremy Earl is singing about some heavy stuff, but it’s hidden under his gorgeous falsetto and sometimes obtuse lyrics. On Bend Beyond, though, Earl and company fully embrace that darkness. Album opener “Bend Beyond,” has long been a jammy live staple, but here it’s compact and tight with a stuttered guitar line and a world-ending collision of instruments. Meanwhile “Is It Honest” jangles along happily until you notice Earl is in a more destructive zone than the bright music initially suggests, singing It’s so fucking hard to see as both a form of comfort and an act of despair. Instrumentally, Bend Beyond is certainly the most full Woods record yet, guitars weave and bubble across peppy drumming, but lyrically Earl is at his most direct and spare. While previous albums sounded like they went directly from Earl’s brain to tape with minimal outside interference, Bend Beyond is lush and full-bodied, the work of a band in perfect, heavy harmony. Listening to the record as a whole, it feels like the most daring leap Woods has made yet: It captures the band’s live intensity, but keeps the intimate sadness that made them so great in the first place."- Sam Hockley-Smith

Sep 22, 2012

‘LEONARD COHEN CONSOLES NICK CAVE’


Australian artist Ben Smith’s “The Influence. Leonard Cohen consoles Nick Cave” depicts, with both wit and affection, the two melancholic bards as guru and student, father and son, ventriloquist and dummy, sharing the blood of Jesus and the fruit of knowledge.

Sep 21, 2012

Leonard Cohen - Happy 78th [2012]


A young Leonard Cohen explores the roots of his poetry with CBC-TV host Adrienne Clarkson. In this excerpt from Take 30, Cohen rejects the notion of artistic posterity and says, Im not interested in an insurance plan for my work. From 1966...

A Lanky Swede - Soon, Soon, Soon [2012]






Sep 18, 2012

Neil Halstead - Wittgenstein's Arm [2012]

Lachine Sculptures [2012]






With a collection of more than 50 monumental sculptures, the Musée plein air de Lachine is one of Canada’s largest contemporary sculpture garden. Visit on foot or by bike and discover major works by artists such as André Fournelle, Michel Goulet, David Moore and Bill Vazan. 

Cat Power - Cherokee [2012]



Sep 17, 2012

Stars - Le Nord [2012]




Despite ending sourly, The North is a welcome return to form. Stars have long been titans of indie-rock, releasing several great albums, now including this one. If this album is any indication, The Five Ghosts was simply an unfortunate misstep, but perhaps a necessary excursion. They got the sullen, quiet album out of their systems, and returned with full force. Now let’s dance.

The Mountain Goats




New Album HERE


"Transcendental Youth is full of songs about people who madly, stupidly, blessedly won’t stop surviving, no matter who gives up on them.
I can report that it is a very good album and has many more instruments on it than his early cassette tapes, including Peter Hughes on bass, Jon Wurster on drums, and, for the first time, a full horn section. And all of this makes a very joyous noise."

Sep 12, 2012

Miles Kurosky - Dog in the Burning Building [2010]




For Miles Kurosky, former leader of indie rock heroes Beulah, the nearly six years since the demise of the San Francisco-based band have been the best and worst of times. The best: Miles married the woman he met during the final Beulah tour, wrote the most personal and sophisticated music of his career, and recorded his first-ever solo album, The Desert of Shallow Effects.



Her Space Holiday - "The Heartbreak Moment" [2010]



I used to think that being alone would somehow simplify my life
But I really know myself and I know I'm going miss tonight
Talking on the telephone or having all the postage paid
Will never make me feel as good as walking on those river banks

Laughing like two little kids sitting in the back of class
The only thing that's on my mind is how to make this moment last
So I pulled my camera out and aimed it at your smiling face
All the while we hear the sound of our time ticking away

I used to think that being in love would somehow complicate my life
But I really know my heart and I can hear yours beat with mine
Pounding on piano keys and strumming those old copper strings
Will always make me feel like you're standing right there next to me

Singing like two little kids waiting for the rain to pass
The only thing that's on my mind is how to make this moment last
So I pulled my feelings out and left them in your travel case
All the while we hear the sound of our time ticking away

If I was a rich man I would bring my friends along
We'd move up to the mountains and record a hundred songs
But since my wallet's empty and I have these lines to sing
Just know that I will see you all when I close my eyes and dream

I will see you Joseph with that child light in your eyes
Standing in the moonlight staring up at all the stars
We'll be with Piana as she plays those organ keys
And we'll all become kids again and laugh out loud until our hearts are free

Just her and him
Her and him and me

Sep 10, 2012

Elbow - One Day Like This [2008]




Drinking in the morning sun
Blinking in the morning sun
Shaking off the heavy one
Heavy like a loaded gun

What made me behave that way?
Using words I never say
I can only think it must be love
Oh, anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day

Someone tell me how I feel
It's silly wrong but vivid right
Oh, kiss me like the final meal
Yeah, kiss me like we die tonight

Cause holy cow, I love your eyes
And only now I see the light
Yeah, lying with me half awake
Oh, anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day

When my face is chamois-creased
If you think I'll wink, I did
Laugh politely at repeats
Yeah, kiss me when my lips are thin

Cause holy cow, I love your eyes
And only now I see you like
Yeah, lying with me half awake
Stumbling over what to say
Well, anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day

Throw those curtains wide!
One day like this a year'd you see me right
Throw those curtains wide!
One day like this a year'd we'll sing it right

New Food Blog [2012]


I started up a new blog that will feature the foods I eat, cook, buy, use, read about, touch, lick, chew, wash, cut, BBQ... and oh so much more!
If you like food join me on my Food Campaign

Sep 8, 2012

Around We Go! [2012]




I took the littles to a fun park, only to go on the merry-go-round a million times.
Still feeling dizzy!

ICARUS HIMSELF "On Your Side" [2011]




Career Culture is a tale of discovery, though it’s not necessarily the one you’d expect. The album’s arch was intended to portray Whetro’s journey from the lonely confines of Indiana’s industrial wasteland to the greener grasses of creativity, marriage and Madison, Wisc.; but his saga loses traction when paired up against his band’s own self-discovery that fuses both. Their sound is undeniably muscular and propulsive, but on Career Culture they litter enough lightweight moving parts to keep things from becoming too cumbersome. 

Icarus Himself - "Digging Holes" [2010]


Icarus Himself had always been an outlet for individual exploration. Initially conceived as a solo project for National Beekeepers Society’s Nick Whetro, the guitarist eventually left and disbanded his old group to focus solely on producing his brand of sample-laden guitar rock.

Sep 6, 2012

SMILE SMILE - SOMEBODY ELSE (LIVE ACOUSTIC ENCORE)


Ryan says, "I don't think a video has ever captured the "spirit" of our band more accurately."
What do you think?

Life In Film - Needles & Pins [2012]




Life In Film are one of our long time recommended bands. They are a four-piece from London consisting of Samuel Fry, Micky Osment, Edward Ibbotsonand Dominic Sennétt.
The band have self-released a couple of songs in the past few years. On August 20th they finally released their debut EP Needles & Pins, the title track of which is available as a free download from the soundcloud player at the bottom of this post.

Here We Go Magic - "Hard To Be Close" [2012, Official Video]


Here We Go Magic - "Hard To Be Close" off their album 'A Different Ship.' 

Sep 5, 2012

MY SECRET WINDOWS - When I Was Young [2012]




Angel Olsen - Half Way Home - 2012




Angel Olsen - Acrobat (Official Music Video)


The work of Angel Olsen is entirely her own: a raw, glowing sound that stands out now just as much as it did in 2010. It's an emotional stew with Angel's robust voice up front, bold and engaging, coming out of the background, aching to be heard. With the help of Emmett Kelly (The Cairo Gang) behind the board and playing throughout the songs, Half Way Home is a natural progression showcasing the wondrous sounds of a songwriter with such a voice that is rarely found.

Sep 4, 2012

Pixies' Covers Vol. II [2012]


Enjoy Vol. II

Velouria Weezer
Tame Local H
Allison Eve 6
Cactus Nathan Gepper
Letter To Memphis Ice Cream
Gigantic Animal Husbandry
Silver (club mix) Mike DiSanto
Blown Away Avelimp
I've Been Tired New Retros
Monkey Gone to Heaven Elk City
Motorway to Roswell KNife and Fork
Where Is My Mind John P. Strohm