• Indie,  Punk,  Rock

    Ford Pier goes Organ Farming

    Ford Pier

    If you’re north of the border in Toronto or Vancouver, you may be familiar with Ford Pier. Ford plays a variety of instruments, and has played with a load of different bands up in Canada…the Hard Rubber Orchestra, the Buttless Chaps (yes!), the Sadies, the Rheostatics, and many others. He was actually a member of Vancouver punk legends D.O.A. in one of their incarnations in the 90’s.

    I got a hold of Ford’s new EP, Organ Farming. While he plays most everything you hear by himself, also playing on the EP are members of Fembots, the Weakerthans, and the Ron Sexsmith Band.

    This EP was released electronically on June 5th. Later this year, he’ll release a full length album entitled Adventurism.

    Take a listen to Ford’s punk-indie blend.

    Ford Pier Maybe It Came At the Wrong Time (mp3) – from Organ Farming (Six Shooter Records)

    Ford Pier’s MySpace

  • Indie,  Rock n' Folk

    Forecast for Tuesday: Sky Blue Sky

    wilco
    Kevin Nealon, far right, has apparently donned hipster eyewear and joined wilco!

    For my favorite artists, I’m still a “have it / hold it” kind of guy when it comes to new albums. I have the need and desire to venture out to my local record store (can I still call it that?), pay my money down, and walk out with the new CD in hand.

    Wilco is one of those artists for me. I’ve even shown some restraint in this digital age of album leaks and streaming previews, and avoided listening to their new album, Sky Blue Sky. I’ve only heard “What Light” and “Side With the Seeds”.

    Like a lot of you, I like the butterflies in my stomach when I finally get through the plastic wrap, pull off those annoying little tabs, extract the CD, and insert it into my car’s CD player. Weird to think, but even CD’s feel old school these days, much like albums did when CD’s took over my life in the late 80’s.

    So yeah, I’m a bit excited to listen to Sky Blue Sky all the way through. So if you can’t make it to the local record store, and you want that CD in hand, go ahead and pick ’em up here.

    Buy the Expanded Edition (CD/DVD):

    Buy the CD:

  • Indie

    A new Mac and some good Blow

    Da Blow

    PC or Mac? As my Dell PC (c. 2004) began to slow down a bit, and the 80 gig hard drive neared its capacity, it was time to start the search for my new computer. For once, it was a calculated decision, quite unlike the impulse trips to Best Buy “for a quick look”, only to walk out with a new PC 45 minutes later. This upcoming computer will be my fourth since 1997, not too bad in computer years I guess.

    So this time around, I’ve decided to jump across the great divide and go with a Mac for the first time. An iMac, to be precise. 20 inch screen. 500 gig hard drive. A gig of memory. It should be shipping tomorrow. The anticipation builds… a new era! My wife said she’s way more excited about the steam cleanin’ vacuum that’s on its way from Costco. I – I just don’t get that.

    So thanks to my friend Jim for being the answer man for all my Mac vs. PC questions. I’m pretty pumped about this if you can’t tell already. Thing is, I haven’t found a Mac owner who hasn’t raved about them. And they’re just – so – damn – cool! Sleek, slick, simple.

    So on to some music. The Blow is the brainchild of Portland, Oregon based performance artist Khaela Maricich and Jona Bechtolt. Artsy fartsy indie rockin’ performance artists – with a good beat. And the kids can dance to it.

    The BlowParantheses (mp3)

    The Blow’s Official Site | MySpace

    Buy their latest, Paper Television:

  • Indie,  Rock

    I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

    Yo La Tengo

    Certain albums can draw you to them simply based on the title.

    ‘I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass’.

    Magic, isn’t it? I just picked this latest Yo La Tengo album up from eMusic (screaming deal). I still make the utmost effort to listen to albums all the way through, like a lot of you I’m sure. Even in the download age, where it’s easy to cherry pick songs from iTunes and eMusic, I think it’s still important to buy the artist’s full release of work, like they intend you to hear it. All tracks, in sequence. Many times, it’s not so easy, whether due to time constraints, just not being “into it”, or if it’s quickly reached a magnitude of major suckitude. Well, long story short, this is one of those albums that carries you along on a journey, from beginning to end. I found it impossible to stop listening.

    And it’s this song, the 10 minute opener with another classic Yo La Tengo title, that draws you in with it’s infectious and alluring groove.

    Yo La Tengo: Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind (mp3) – from I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

    The only other Yo La album I have is 1997’s I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One, which I also really enjoy. If anyone out there has recommendations for other good Yo La albums, speak up below.

    Yo La Tengo’s Official Site

  • Indie,  Rock

    Pandora offers up Destroyer

    Dan Bejar

    Have any of you checked out Pandora? I first read about it in Time Magazine several months back. It’s a site based on a project called the “Music Genome Project”. You basically start by typing in an artist you want to hear. It plays a tune by that artist, then goes off on its own and finds music it thinks you will like. You give the tunes a thumbs up or thumbs down as you go, and Pandora keeps offering up selections based on what you like. It’s pretty cool to play around with. I punched in The Boss, and it eventually played this Destroyer tune for me.

    Destroyer was created as a solo project by Vancouver’s Dan Bejar in the mid-90’s. His releases have garnered many comparisons to early 70’s Bowie. This tune comes from a 2001 release. A nice tune with very interesting lyrics… “No man has ever hung from the rafters of a second home.” And the song is named after a book publisher. U-nique.

    Destroyer: Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Sea of Tears) [mp3] – from Streethawk – A Seduction

    Destroyer’s Web Site.

    Check out Pandora.

    Here’s what the interface looks like (from when I was rockin’ the Cameo Radio)…

    pandora

  • Indie,  Roots Rock

    Rocking the Seine with Calexico

    null

    Some fine Frenchman recorded Calexico at the Rock en Seine music festival in St. Cloude, France yesterday afternoon. Originally from Tucson, these boys bleed the sound of the southwest through their music… South-spaghetti-western, Mariachi mavens of the indie music world.

    They kicked off the festival with this short but suh-weet set.

    Calexico
    Rock en Seine
    Domaine National De St-Cloud, France
    August 25th, 2006

    1. Frontera/Trigger
    2. Lost In Space
    3. Roka
    4. Deep Down
    5. Minas De Cobre
    6. Not Even Stevie Nicks
    7. Alone Again Or
    8. Letter To Bowie Knife
    9. Crystal Frontier

    calexico

  • Indie

    Biking with the Fambly Cat

    jason lytle

    Whatever happened to the music video? I don’t know, maybe I’m just getting older, but I do know that you have a better chance of winning the lottery than seeing one on MTV or VH-1. Yeah I know, we have MTV2, VH-1 Hits, and Fuse and so on, but it’s rare that I’ll see any contemporary video that captures my interest (now Vh-1 Classic, that’s another story!).

    That is, until I caught the new Grandaddy video for “Where I’m Anymore” (online of course). It’s back to basics weirdness, Jason Lytle on a bicycle, riding along in a grove of trees and a typical American suburban neighborhood, singing his song with in inanimate cat (the Fambly Cat, I assume).

    It’s sort of indicative of the current state of Grandaddy, all that’s left is Jason. He just finished up a short promotional tour with some in store acoustic performances and radio interviews. From what I understood from his WOXY interview, he’s heading back to his new home in Montana to live the quiet life. ‘Just Like the Fambly Cat’ is sadly Grandaddy’s swan song, but I’d bet Jason will be soaking up some inspiration out there in the Big Sky Country and it won’t be too long before we hear his melodic, poetic tech-organic-space tunes again….

    It’s downright depressing to me that Grandaddy is no longer. I only saw them live once, opening for Elliott Smith in the early 00’s (once again, I think). I never saw a full show. Will I ever? No Fambly Cat touring? What gives?

    Buy Just Like the Fambly Cat

    The Ickmusic Fambly Cat (Jefe)

    jefe the cat
  • Country Rock,  Indie

    Gone for Good

    James Mercer

    Here’s a great live version of a great indie-country song (indiecow? countrindie?), sung by a great singer, James Mercer of the Shins. Do enjoy.

    James Mercer: Gone for Good (mp3) – live 07 Jan 2004 – studio version comes from Chutes too Narrow

  • Indie

    Riding on a Tortoise down Thunder Road

    bonnie prince billy

    This one’s been all over the mp3 blogs over the last few weeks, but as I always say, it’s my blog and i’ll post if I want to…

    I’m always curious to hear new interpretations of Springsteen tunes. I posted one of my favorites, Patty Griffin’s version of “Stolen Car”, a while back. And The Mavericks do a good job on “All that Heaven Will Allow”. So I was alerted through a Glide Magazine review that “Thunder Road” was covered on a new release by Tortoise and Bonnie “Prince” Billy. When I see “Bonnie Prince Billy”, I picture a 50 or 60-something rastafarian reggae dude. Not sure where I conjure up that image from. It turns out BPB is Will Oldham, who looks more like a Civil War Union soldier than a member of the Wailers. BPB is a Louisville, Kentucky native who has also recorded under the names Palace Songs, Palace Brothers and Palace Music (as well as his own name).

    Tortoise looks interesting: they “revolutionized American indie rock in the mid-’90s by playing down tried-and-true punk and rock & roll influences, emphasizing instead the incorporation of a variety of left-field music genres from the past 20 years, including Krautrock, dub, avant-garde jazz, classical minimalism, ambient and space music, film music, and British electronica.” (from All Music).

    As you can tell by my thorough analysis, I’m not that plugged into the indie scene. You can get that thorough analysis at about a billion other mp3 blogs. Anyhoo, I’ll have to give these guys a more thorough listen. But I do claims dibs on all things Bruce, and as for this version of “Thunder Road”, they definitely give it a complete reworking. I like the instrumentation and the overall feel; a very unique take on the song.

    Tortoise and Bonnie “Prince” Billy: Thunder Road (mp3) – from The Brave and the Bold, an album of covers.