Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Chijimi EP
10″ EP, companion to his new album, “Beware”.
1. How About Thank You
2. Hey Little
3. Champion
4. Face Him
Bands asking for promotion #5
Following Jotien’s posts, I’ll post some goodies our readers have sent us. They’re all available at Howling Songs. Click the cover for more info/download links. More albums will be available soon, so, if you’re upset because your album isn’t featured in this post, wait some days or please send us an email with some information such as a little text or press release, cover art, download link (check the individual posts for each album and you’ll see what I ask you to send). I hope you understand the fact that we can’t deal with 2 or 3 albums received each day and the process can be reeeeeeeally slow. Sorry.
Eureka Brown – ¡Digitalia!
Lo-fi, psychedelic dream-pop from Illinois
Faggot Rock – Collective Grizzly Bears in Rainbows
“Some people have actually enjoyed the songs we have created so far, so we put together a little EP. It’s all instrumental stuff, ranging from ambient to blues to disco…a little bit of everything!”
København Store – Action, Please!
Post-rock, indie, shoegaze from Italy
Super Furry Animals – Dark Days/Light Years
320 rip.
1. Crazy Naked Girls
2. Mt
3. Moped Eyes
4. Inagural Trams
5. Inconvenience
6. Cardiff In The Sun
7. The Very Best Of Neil Diamond
8. Helium Hearts
9. White Socks/Flip Flops
10. Where Do You Wanna Go?
11. Lliwiau Llachar
12. Pric
Dark Days/Light Years, the ninth studio album by Super Furry Animals, was digitally released at 8pm on 16th March 2009 via the band’s own website (www.superfurry.com) with a physical release following on the 13th of April on Rough Trade Records.
According to a press release from the band the album will be based around riffs and grooves they have been playing for the last few years and will feature only one slow song which “isn’t slow at all”. The statement goes on to claim that the saxophone and lap steel guitar have been consigned to the “banned instrument directive of the SFA board” with drummer Dafydd Ieuan apparently developing a phobia of the latter.”
Longtime sleeve designer Pete Fowler collaborated with Hey Venus! artist Keiichi Tanaami to produce the album’s artwork. The track “Inaugral Trams” includes spoken word German vocals by Franz Ferdinand’s Nick McCarthy. The band have announced that they will broadcast a live show on MySpace featuring songs from the album on the day of its digital release.
The Decemberists – The Hazards Of Love [proper V2 rip]
The Decemberists’ The Hazards Of Love, is the follow-up to the group’s 2006 breakthrough, The Crane Wife, which NPR listeners voted their favorite album of the year. With their fifth full-length album, the Portland-based quintet of Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query and John Moen solidifies its standing as one of the most innovative creative forces in music today.
In an age when singles rule and the death of the album has been pronounced by many, The Decemberists have fashioned an anomaly: a record that demands to be listened to from start to finish and reveals more with each subsequent play. The 17-song suite, recorded with the band’s longtime producer, Tucker Martine, is rooted in ancient language and imagery, yet entirely modern and accessible.
The album began when Meloy – long fascinated by the British folk revival of the 1960s – found a copy of revered vocalist Anne Briggs’s 1966 EP, titled The Hazards of Love. Since there was actually no song with the album’s title, he set out to write one. Soon he was immersed in something much larger than just a new composition.
The Hazards Of Love tells the tale of a woman named Margaret who is ravaged by a shape-shifting animal; her lover, William; a forest queen; and a cold-blooded, lascivious rake, who recounts with spine-tingling ease how he came “to be living so easy and free.” Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark and My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden deliver the lead vocals for the female characters, while My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Robyn Hitchcock and the Spinanes’ Rebecca Gates appear in supporting roles. The range of sounds reflects the characters’ arcs, from the accordion’s singsong lilt in “Isn’t it a Lovely Night?” to the heavy metal thunder of “The Queen’s Rebuke/The Crossing.”
Animal Hospital – Memory
Animal Hospital is Kevin Micka’s one-man musical recording/performance entity. Formed at the tail-end of Micka’s time with Boston band The Common Cold, Animal Hospital slowly began to take on a life of its own in 2004. A self-titled debut CD by Animal Hospital was released on Boston’s Mister Records that year and displayed Micka’s ability as a composer and engineer in communicating his creative expression. Since then, Kevin has consistently toured the United States and completed one 3 week European tour throughout France, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland. Within the last 4 years Micka has continued writing and releasing several additional tracks on various compilations around the world. Animal Hospital has won followers from all corners of the music world, earning himself spots on tours with bands as diverse as Beirut, Neptune, and the tech-grind metal group The Great Redneck Hope (not to mention a recurring role as bumper music on Boston’s NPR station).
During performances, Micka buries himself in a pile of electronics-shelves of effects, mixing consoles, amps and delay units-while patiently constructing a layered nest of loops consisting of live drum beats, guitar chords, scrapes, chucks, chimes, and melodies resulting in anything from more conventional songs to meticulously crafted ambient movements on to full on improvisation.
Long a hidden treasure in Boston recording circles as a freelance recording engineer (for diverse projects such as Neptune, Helms, and Harry and the Potters) and a trusted electronics fix-it man, Micka has approached Animal Hospital over the last four years in the nooks and crannies of his schedule. Over the past year and a half, Kevin has been able to devote more time than ever to writing and recording and it has yielded two new albums’ worth of music – a digital release in January 2009 from the Chicago label – Mutable Sound titled Good or Plenty, Streets and Avenues and a CD release in March 2009 from the New York/Boston label – Barge Recordings titled Memory.
Both new albums were recorded in locations across the U.S. – starting in the bay area, on to an abandoned bank in Wellsburg, WV and concluding in various locations in the Boston Area and Cape Cod. All the material was then mixed at Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket, RI and The Blast Zone in Roxbury, MA and mastered in South Boston at Old Colony. Each album moves at the knowing pace of an exploratory mind and settles comfortably into strange habitats with a sure-footed traveler.
Land of Kush – Against the Day
Sam Shalabi is a musician and composer who has been creating and playing music in Montréal for the better part of 20 years. Unconstrained by genre, Sam’s musical history spans rock, jazz, free music, punk, and most things in-between. A highly truncated list of his projects includes Shalabi Effect, Detention, Molasses, and Nutsak, along with several releases under his own name courtesy Alien8Recordings and Squintfucker Press.
For the past five or so years Shalabi has also been writing and arranging sprawling compositions for large ensembles, the most recurring of which is Land Of Kush, modeled on classical orchestras from late Nasser-era Egypt. Incorporating some 30 Montréal players and vocalists, Kush includes string, brass, woodwinds, guitar, and percussion sections, in addition to electronics and Shalabi’s oud.
In June of 2008, Land Of Kush debuted a new piece as part of Suoni Per Il Popolo, an annual festival that runs in Montréal throughout the month of June. In a capacity-filled Sala Rossa, with the too-large-to-fit-the-stage orchestra spilling off the stage and splayed across the front third of the venue’s floor, Land Of Kush – with Shalabi conducting and playing – delivered a euphoric performance that was widely hailed as a festival highlight.
Shalabi has described earlier hybrid compositional work as “protest music about Arabophobia” (Osama, 2003) after 9/11 and an attempt at modern Arabic pop (Eid, 2008) inspired by an extended stay in Cairo in 2006. Land Of Kush combines both of these impulses, to our ears, while also rallying Sam’s long obsessions with psychedelic music (viz. Shalabi Effect) and epic literary fiction.
Fearing that yet another ephemeral Shalabi masterpiece would be lost to all but a few esoteric live mini-disc recordings, Constellation helped Sam bring the Land Of Kush orchestra into a studio environment to document a proper recording of the work. Gathering a group of extraordinary players as large and busy as this one should be a daunting task, yet Sam did it with ease, not because he’s an organisational genius or is able to financially remunerate anyone, but because musicians genuinely want to work with him.
Inspired by and named after the Thomas Pynchon’s novel Against the Day, the music is broken into five sections, named for the book’s chapters. The three primary movements are centred around solo vocalists (Jason Grimmer, Molly Sweeney, Radwan Moumneh) who composed their own lyrics for the piece. In between vocal performances, Shalabi gives the orchestra ample opportunity to strut its stuff, including solos and long instrumental passages that display Sam’s unique balance of composition and ‘expository’ or improvisational instruction.
Against The Day is a complex, intense, but accessible hour of hybrid, genre-defying music. The marriage of middle-eastern, north African and western modes and influences yields a recording that evades categorization. Constellation is proud to be releasing this new work by one of Montréal’s most challenging and prolific musical iconoclasts.
Tracklist
- The Light Over The Ranges
- Iceland Spur
- Bilocations
- Against The Day
- Rue du Départ
Personnel
Gordon Allen: trumpet
Thierry Amar: acoustic bass
Steven Balogh: electric bass
Michel Bonneau: congas, percussion
Nicholas Caloia: cello
Howard Chackowicz: drums
Pat Conan: drums
Marie Davidson: voice
Xarah Dion: electronics, keyboards
Will Eizlini: percussion
Eric Fillion: drums
Rebecca Foon: cello
Dave Gossage: flutes
Jason Grimmer: voice, lyrics
Gen Heistek: viola
Norsola Johnson cello
Philippe Lauzier: alto saxophone
Elizabeth Lima: clarinet, voice
Radwan Moumneh: voice, lyrics
Anthony Seck: lap steel guitar
Jason Sharp: baritone sax
Gavin Sheehan: electric guitar
Josh Stevenson: electronics, E.M.S synth
Molly Sweeney: voice and lyrics
Nathan Ward: rocks, objects, percussion
Yahya Zitan: darbouka
Josh Zubot: violin
Osama Shalabi: oud
Buy from Constellation Records ~ Download
VA – Pictures Of You (A Tribute To The Cure)
Speaking on a spoken word introduction that features on the
CD, The Cure frontman Robert Smith said, When I started out
with The Cure we didnt have many songs. We often ended
rehearsals playing other peoples stuff. We tried pop, rock,
psychedelica, rockabilly, reggae and punk favourites. Banging
our way through them was a lot of fun. It was also very
instructive.
NME editor Conor McNicholas added: When we started asking
bands and artists if they wanted to take part in the CD,
people couldnt say Yes quick enough. It proves not only how
influential The Cure are, but also how strong their songs are,
as they easily stood up to be reinterpreted.
Artist: VA
Title: Pictures Of You (A Tribute To The Cure)
Label: NME
Genre: Alternative
Bitrate: 183kbit av.
Time: 00:54:28
Size: 76.01 mb
Rip Date: 2009-03-01
Str Date: 2009-02-25
Track List:
——
1. The Cure – Introduction 2:53
2. Mystery Jets & Esser – In Between Days 5:38
3. Lostprophets – Boys Dont Cry 2:34
4. Marmaduke Duke – Friday Im In Love 2:46
5. Dinosaur Jr – Just Like Heaven 2:53
6. The Big Pink – Love Song 5:51
7. Editors – Lullaby 4:18
8. British Sea Power – A Forest 3:48
9. The Dandy Warhols – Primary 4:14
10. The Get Up Kids – Close To Me 3:25
11. The Futureheads – The Lovecats 2:34
12. Art Brut – Catch 3:23
13. Metronomy – Facination Street 3:16
14. Alkaline Trio – Cut Here 4:02
15. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly – In Between Days 2:53
FAITH NO MORE
Faith No More has always stood out as some sort of unique beast; part dog, part cat–its music almost as schizophrenic as the personalities of its members. When it all worked, it worked really well, even if the chemistry was always volatile. Throughout our 17years of existence, the mental and physical energy required to sustain this creature was considerable and relentless. Though amicable enough, when we finally split, we all followed paths seemingly destined to opposite ends of the universe.
Yet during the entire 10 years that have passed since our decision to break up we’ve experienced constant rumors and requests from fans and promoters alike. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, none of us kept in regular touch, much less to discuss any possibilities of getting together.
What’s changed is that this year, for the first time, we’ve all decided to sit down together and talk about it. And what we’ve discovered is that time has afforded us enough distance to look back on our years together through a clearer lens and made us realize that through all the hard work, the music still sounds good, and we are beginning to appreciate the fact that we might have actually done something right.
Meanwhile we find ourselves at a moment in time with zero label obligations, still young and strong enough to deliver a kickass set, with enthusiasm to not only revisit our past but possibly add something to the present. And so with this we’ve decided to hold our collective breaths and jump off this cliff….
BACK, GOD FORBID, INTO THE MONKEY CAGE!!!We can only hope that the experience of playing together again will yield results erratic and unpredictable enough to live up to the legacy of FNM.
Who know where this will end or what it will bring up…only the future knows. But we are about to find out!FAITH NO MORE are:
Mike Bordin, Roddy Bottum, Bill Gould, Jon Hudson and Mike Patton
http://rapidshare.com/files/202536568/Faith_No_More_-_We_Care_A_Lot.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/202540723/Faith_No_More_-_1987_-_Introduce_Yourself.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/202553275/Faith_No_More-The_Real_Thing-1989.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/202545942/Faith_No_More_-_Angel_Dust_MFSL__V0_.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/202560168/Faith_No_More_-_King_For_A_Day_Fool_For_A_Lifetime.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/202568451/Faith_No_More_-_Album_Of_The_Year.rar
All links are v0 rips.
Black Lips – 200 Million Thousand
V0 link, reup: http://rapidshare.com/files/202519627/v0lips.rar
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
Aquaparque – É Isso Aí
Aquaparque is an experimental band from Santo Tirso, Portugal (best place in the world IMO) – check them if you like Black Dice, Animal Collective, etc. Buy it from the link below or directly from the band:
€12 + shipping costs
aquaparque.pt@hotmail.com
Buy ~ Download (.wma, but sounds good) ~ Myspace
Prefuse 73 – Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian
Guillermo Scott Herren (aka Prefuse 73) is nothing if not proven. It’s hard to think of a name that carries as much weight in both hip-hop and avant-rock circles as Prefuse 73, who in the past year alone has been asked to remix TV On The Radio, Pelican, BLK JKS and Cornelius, not to mention his early collaborations with School of Seven Bells and Battles. These interactions have clearly helped to shape the evolving Prefuse 73 sonic aesthetic, which has expanded to include Herren’s twisted visions of prog-rock, “machine funk” and global psychedelia.
For Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian, Herren rejected the idea of straight digital recording and instead went the much more intensive route of recording to analog Ampex tape, giving the album the sound of a lost tape of exploratory studio musicians from the not-too-distant past. In addition to the recording process, Ampexian also differs in its composition, existing as a tapestry of tracks of varying lengths and moods, albeit with a remarkable linear flow and, of course, unmatched rhythmic bump.
Everything She Touched… will be out on April 14th.
Artist: Prefuse 73
Title: Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian
Country: USA
Release Date: 2009.04.14
Genre: Electronica / Abstract / IDM
LABEL: Warp Records
QUALiTY: V0 VBR kbps / 44,1kHz / joint-stereo
01 Periodic Measurements of Infrequent Smiles
02 Hairy Faces (Stress)
03 Parachute Panador
04 NoNo
05 Punish
06 Half Up Front
07 Sexual Fantasy Scale
08 DEC. Machine Funk All ERA’s
09 Get Em High
10 Ampexian Tribe of a Lesser Time
11 When Is a Good Time?
12 Fountains of Spring
13 Whipcream Eyepatch
14 Regalo
15 Rubber Stems
16 Oh Is It
17 Four Reels Collide
18 Fringertip Trajectories
19 Violent Bathroom Exchange
20 Natures Uplifting Revenge
21 Yuletide
22 Simple Loop Choir
23 No Lights Still Rock [feat. Dimlite]
24 Gaslamp Killer Feedback Text
25 Digan Lo
26 Preparation’s Kids Choir
27 Pitch Pipe
28 Periodic Measurements of Infrequent Frowns
29 Formal Dedications
Bell Orchestre – As Seen Through Windows
Drawing its six members from diverse musical backgrounds, Bell Orchestre has come together to form one of the most cohesive and intuitive bands making music today. It’s as if the group as a whole has
tapped into a very particular, very distinct energy: like that of an approaching storm. To say they are aninstrumental band is like saying El Greco was just a painter, or Frank Gehry just builds museums: it fails to capture their essence.
In many ways, Bell Orchestre is the sum of not only its parts, but the sum of its influences and inspirations. Among those influences can be listed such diverse artists as Lee “Scratch” Perry, Arvo Pärt, The Penguin Café Orchestra, and Talk Talk. But like all great artists, Bell Orchestre have taken their disparate inspirations and processed and transformed them into their own work, so that it no longer sounds like a collection of influences; it sounds like nothing other than Bell Orchestre.
Bell Orchestre has been known to retreat into the woods to make and write music together. From a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts, to the forests of Quebec and Vermont, and back to their hometown of Montreal: the specifics of time and place, the elemental forces at work outside, and those forces that exist inside, all come into play within Bell Orchestre’s musical process. And while this music could be made by no one else, at no other time in history, it defies easy categorization and becomes universal and timeless.
As Seen Through Windows, Bell Orchestre’s second release, was recorded with John McEntire at his Soma Electronic Music Studios. The result is at once fierce and beautiful, delicate and dirty. McEntire’s extensive studio knowledge and attention to craft provided Bell Orchestre with a kind of bridge, spanning the diversity of their sound to create a richly layered and sonically expansive recording; a recording that closely mirrors Bell Orchestre’s very process of making music. Opening with the distressed sound of muted and distorted horns, strings and drums—an almost monstrous sound, the album effortlessly shifts into an elaborate and soaring movement, sometimes edging close to fragility, sometimes on the verge of exploding, but never once faltering nor threatening to lose its way. The experience of listening to Bell Orchestre, whether live or recorded, is almost that of experiencing a form of synaethesia: the result is a collage-like construction of not just sound, but visual elements as well. From a herd of elephants to that approaching storm on the horizon, from a quiet forest in the country to ice forming on a city street, from watching vapour trails disappear in the sky to watching the changing light of dusk through a window. The result then is not so much cinematic as it is evocative: Bell Orchestre have not just written the music to the film, they have, by some sort of alchemy or magic, created an invisible film that only comes to life in the listening.
Bell Orchestre is: Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire) – upright bass/keyboard/percussion; Sarah Neufeld (Arcade Fire) – violin; Stefan Schneider (The Luyas) – drums/percussion; Pietro Amato (Torngat, The Luyas) – French horn/electronics; Kaveh Nabatian – trumpet/melodica; and, Mike Feuerstack (Snailhouse) – lap steel guitar. For their 2009 tour dates the band will be joined by Colin Stetson (The Sway Machinery) – Clarinets, French horn, trumpet and bass saxophone. In 2006, their debut CD, Recording a Tape the Colour of the Light was nominated for a JUNO award in the category of Best Instrumental Album. Also in 2006, the band collaborated and performed with Edouard Lock, founder/choreographer of LA LA LA Human Steps, in celebration of the legendary dance company’s 25th anniversary. Bell Orchestre has toured extensively, playing as far a field as Lithuania and Dawson City, Yukon. As Seen Through Windows is distributed internationally by the Arts & Crafts record label.
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
Elvis Perkins – Elvis Perkins In Dearland
XL Recordings is pleased to announce the forthcoming release from Elvis Perkins in Dearland. The album, self-titled, will be released on March 10, 2009. This album is the debut album for the band and at the same time is the follow up to Perkins’ first release, the critically acclaimed Ash Wednesday.
Elvis Perkins in Dearland’s new eponymous album feels very much like the second line to his exquisitely melancholic and much-hailed solo debut Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday gained Elvis a dedicated and reverent following for its nuanced meditations on death and grief — many moments on that first record felt as if the listener had tip-toed into the intimate confines of a private elegy, enveloped in that wondrous, old-soul quality of Elvis’ voice.
There are still plenty of private moments on Elvis Perkins in Dearland, but Elvis is now joined by a talented trio of friends that toured with him in support of Ash Wednesday. Along with Elvis on guitar and lead vocals, Elvis Perkins in Dearland is Brigham Brough (upright bass, saxophone, vocals), Wyndham Boylan-Garnett (pump organ, guitar, harmonium, trombone, vocals), and Nick Kinsey (drums, percussion, banjo, clarinet, vocals). Many of the new songs on Elvis Perkins in Dearland were honed on the road by the four bandmates, whose natural ease with one another allowed them to constantly experiment with arrangements on the fly.
Produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Chris Shaw (Public Enemy, Bob Dylan, Ween) and Elvis Perkins In Dearland, the album was recorded in Upstate New York in the latter part of 2008. Shaw recorded and mixed the album as well.
“On this new record we wanted to capture the spirit of our performances,” drummer Nick Kinsey said. “The challenge was to get down that spontaneity.” Perkins says, “This album is faster and younger than Ash Wednesday. Being in a studio with three other creatives instead of just one was a new thing for me. It takes four times as long to decide everything… but in the end, this kind of interplay made for much good.”
Tracklist
————
1. Shampoo
2. Hey
3. Hours Last Stand
4. I Heard Your Voice in Dresden
5. Send My Fond Regards to Lonelyville
6. I’ll Be Arriving
7. Chains, Chains, Chains
8. Doomsday
9. 123 Goodbye
10. How’s Forever Been Baby
Sonic Youth – Sensational Fix
These 4-tracks are included as two 7 inch records in the soon to be released book from Sonic Youth, titled Sensational Fix. They are previously unreleased tracks from each member of the band. Here’s a bit more info about the publication:
The iconic postpunk band Sonic Youth is best known for blurring musical genres and transcending the boundaries of rock guitar. Its members–Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley–have also, over the course of 27 years since they first started playing together, more quietly engaged in multidisciplinary solo efforts and collaborations with visual artists, filmmakers, designers and other musicians. “What we’re doing is always inventing itself. I have no terminology for it,” according to Moore. The comprehensive 784-page volume –which includes two 7-inch records with unpublished songs by each member, album covers, band portraits and documentary photos, many of which have never been published before–is a must for fans and anyone seeking to connect the dots between New York’s various cultural scenes. It features writings by band members and contributions by a host of other luminaries, including Richard Hell, Mike Kelley, Jutta Koether, Alan Licht, Lydia Lunch and John Miller.”
Tracks:
——–
01 Rats
02 Song for Reverse Karaoke
03 Aerosol
04 Ivan
…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead – The Century of Self
UPDATE: v2 rip from what.cd
128kbps rip.
streaming/buy
myspace
Black Lips – 200 Million Thousand
KTU – Quiver
KTU (pronounced “K2″) is now a trio (Trey Gunn, Kimmo Pohjonen, Pat Mastelotto) following the departure of Samuli Kosminen in 2007. The new album Quiver was recorded at The Zone studios, Dripping Springs, Texas in 2007 and 2008, production by KTU. Additional recordings were made in Seattle and Helsinki. The album was mixed by KTU and Petri Majuri at Seawolf Studios, Helsinki in autumn 2008 with additional mixes of three pieces by Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree) at No Man’s Land Studios, UK. All music was composed by the various band members and arranged by KTU. Samuli Kosminen provided additional percussives and sounds.
The Deep Dark Woods – Winter Hours
“Winter Hours”, The Deep Dark Woods’ sophomore release on Black Hen Music, is an album full of raw emotion, sadness, beautiful vocals and harmonies, new sounds, and well thought out arrangements. Working with Juno award winning producer/musician Steve Dawson at Vancouver’s famed recording studio “The Factory”, they managed to bring out an energy that the new songs deserved, recording the album live off the floor. What was created represents a collection of their best songs yet, the ever changing sound of the band, and a step forward from their touted first release “Hang Me, oh Hang Me”, which was nominated for Best Roots Album at the Western Canadian Music Awards this year.
The timeless sound of the aptly named “The Deep Dark Woods” belongs to the depressing winters of the north. Pulsing with human warmth, these original songs echo through the lonesome night. Ryan Boldt’s plainspoken lyrics offer a strong but gentle tone which understates poetry, oftentimes as startling as hot blood in fresh snow. Despite the dark themes, the heaviness never overwhelms the music’s playfulness. An utterly fun rhythm section, brilliant guitar work, and eerily rich harmonies drive the songs. One could easily be forgiven for mistaking their songs as treasures of decades past, as The Deep Dark Woods approach their instruments with studied respect for the honoured traditions of the shadowy side of roots music.
Once again this album showcases The Deep Dark Woods versatility, sifting through different sounds and styles that are melded together. From songs like Farewell and How Can I Try which are older than band itself to Polly which was written out of the blue while all 4 members were jamming. Major highlights of the album are current fan favorites at shows The Winter Hours, and The Gallows, where The Birds on the Bridge, and the album’s single All the Money I Had Is Gone show a very strong personal side. The album features only one full out rock song, Two Time Loser, a departure from their previous album, which has given the DDW a chance to explore other facets of their sound. When First Into This Country is a traditional English folk song while you can hear definite r & b influences in the epic Sun Never Shines. In spite of these contrasts, the songs manage to be united by the warmth of their vocal harmonies, moody guitar tones and lumbering rhythm section.
Junior Boys – Begone Dull Care
Canadian duo Junior Boys are set to release their third collaboration, Begone Dull Care, in the U.S. on April 7. The record will first be released in Canada on March 24 through the pair’s label, Domino.
Junior Boys spent 2008 recording the album, mostly from two different continents. Jeremy Greenspan still resides in Canada, while Matthew Didemus relocated to Germany. “Hazel” will be the first single off Begone and it will be released on both 12″ vinyl and as a download.
Begone Dull Care’s title is a reference to a short film by the pioneering Oscar-winning Scottish-Canadian animator and electronic composer, Norman McLaren, who was a big influence on the conception and creation of this album.
Junior Boys will tour Europe for a few dates during early March before heading West to the U.S. and Canada for a six-week tour, starting March 28 in Toronto.
tracklist:
1. Parallel Lines
2. Work
3. Bits And Pieces
4. Dull To Pause
5. Hazel
6. Sneak A Picture
7. The Animator
8. What It’s For
Starsailor – All The Plans
The 4th longplayer from James Walsh & Co., which, according to
James, is closer in spirit to the first album – its got real
soul to it. Weve gone more for the emotional, tugging at the
heartstrings approach. We went off on a bit of a rock tangent
on the last album It was good fun but its time to get back to
our roots
Artist: Starsailor
Title: All The Plans
Label: Virgin
Genre: Rock
Bitrate: 198kbit av.
Time: 00:41:53
Size: 62.81 mb
Rip Date: 2009-01-29
Str Date: 2009-03-09
Track List:
——
1. Tell Me Its Not Over 3:23
2. Boy In Waiting 2:31
3. The Thames 3:14
4. All The Plans 4:11
5. Neon Sky 5:19
6. You Never Get What You Deserve 4:17
7. Hurts Too Much 3:41
8. Stars And Stripes 4:33
9. Change My Mind 3:28
10. Listen Up 4:19
11. Safe At Home 2:57
Beirut – March of the Zapotec/Realpeople Holland
After the widely acclaimed 2007 album The Flying Club Cup, which hit many album of the year lists including the NME, Uncut, Q, The Sun and The Telegraph, the extremely talented young songwriter and musician Zach Condon returns with his third record under the guise of Beirut. The full-length album entitled March Of The Zapotec is comprised of two EPs. The first, and album namesake, is a foray into Mexican folk music with the help of an obscure small-town Mexican funeral band. The second is Holland, a bedroom electro-synth pop wonder, originally an idea for Zach s previous incarnation before Beirut, when he went by the name of Realpeople. For the past year, Beirut has alternated between touring and writing new material, Zach recording in any style that struck his fancy. Some early discussions about doing some soundtrack recording for a film being shot in Mexico morphed into a new idea… What about hiring a local Mexican band to help record some songs based on new material? After finding the band through a friend s mother, hiring a translator, and catching a plane down to Oaxaca, Zach made his way out to the tiny weaver village of Teotitlan del Valle, where he met the nineteen members of The Jimenez Band. Combined, these two EPs in the shape of an album represent the totality of Zach Condon’s work over the past year. It is further testament towards the inventiveness and intimacy he creates as Beirut, a band which started as one person sounding like twelve and has developed over the past few years to distinguish itself with a particular style and sound. No matter what inspirations jumpstart one song to the next, the undercurrent that continues to emerge is the realization that Zach Condon is indeed a singular artist creating his very own vision of the world s sound. And whether he’s being inspired by Balkan folk, French chanteuse, Mexican troubadour, ’80s synth pop or ’90s house, the common thread remains Zach’s ability to make a simple melody sound both artistically unique and endlessly familiar. March of the Zapotec marks the continuing emergence of a musician who has only shown an inkling of where he is headed. And while the road may be long, every stop along the way is filled with its own treats. – amazon.co.uk
buy ~ link removed as requested ~ myspace
Bishop Allen – Grrr…
Grrr… CD / LP (DOC010, released: 03/10/09)
Bishop Allen builds upon the extraordinary first years of their career with Grrr…, which Dead Oceans will release March 10, 2009. The band fronted by Justin Rice and Christian Rudder is best known for making and self-releasing an EP each month for an entire year, then reworking some of the best songs for a highly acclaimed label debut (The Broken String). The rigorous EP project, and the extensive touring that has followed it, have allowed Bishop Allen to hone their craft: writing, performing and recording music.The resulting album, Grrr…, reveals that after five years of comparisons to other artists–Jonathan Richman, The Kinks, Bright Eyes, Spoon, etc., in rave reviews from Rolling Stone, SPIN, Entertainment Weekly and many others–Bishop Allen has developed an artistry and sound that are unmistakably their own. One thing that distinguishes Bishop Allen’s music is the quality of the writing. Rice’s literate lyrics, which The Los Angeles Times has praised for their “poetic insight,” have a universality that has made them resonant to listeners of all ages and earned them champions ranging from the young comic actor Michael Cera to the National Public Radio host Scott Simon.
Each of the 13 tracks comprising Grrr…is a succinct composition, and yet the album also coheres seamlessly as a cycle of song. The melody and/or rhythm of one track is often contiguous with the next. As always, Rice and Rudder are responsible not only for the writing, but the lion’s share of the playing and the recording: the guitars, pianos, marimbas, ukeleles and vocals. And, as before, Darbie Nowatka shares in the singing. Otherwise, the album features contributions from a number of their friends: drums and percussion by Michael Tapper, horns by Jon Natchez and Kelly Pratt, and strings by Daniel Hart. Bryce Goggin (Pavement, The Apples in Stereo, Luna, Sebadoh) offered the band some invaluable production tips and, at his famed Trout Recording studio in Brooklyn, recorded the drums and mixed the album.
Grrr…is Bishop Allen’s second album for Dead Oceans. The first, The Broken String, contains songs to which big crowds sing along in gigs across North America and Europe. The band’s following has also been augmented by songs from The Broken String being featured in a Sony digital camera commercial that aired repeatedly on network television (”Click, Click, Click, Click”) and, most recently, in the blockbuster film Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist; Bishop Allen performs the song “Middle Management” in a key scene.
Outside of Bishop Allen, Rice and Rudder are both accomplished actors. Rice starred in their friend Andrew Bujalski’s immensely acclaimed recent film, Mutual Appreciation, while Rudder starred in Bujalski’s prior work, Funny Ha Ha. Rice is featured in numerous upcoming films, including Let Them Chirp Awhile, which will be released theatrically in December 2008.
Tracklist:
Dimmer
The Lion & the Teacup
South China Moon
Dirt on Your New Shoes
Oklahoma
The Ancient Commonsense of Things
True or False
Rooftop Brawl
Shanghaied
Don’t Hide Away
Cue the Elephants
The Magpie
Tiger, Tiger
Release date: 10 March 09 on Dead Oceans ~ Download (google it if you want the album that bad, we can’t post Dead Oceans’ records here) ~ Myspace
Vetiver – Tight Knit
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