A Nudge in the Right Direction
Editor’s Note: It’s been a busy ‘music news’ day, here is what has my attention…
U2 is following this weeks “No Horizon on the Line” with what Bono describes as a “sister release” titled “Songs of Ascent” later this year. Here’s hoping it’s the pretty sister. [stereogum]
Phish kicks off their reunion tour on Friday and is giving away free high quality downloads of the first three shows. [livephish.com]
Wayne Coyme of The Flaming Lips is not a fan of Arcade Fire. [Rolling Stone]
From the ‘no duh’ file, Daft Punk will be providing the soundtrack to Tron 2.0. [The Yellow Stereo]
Looks like Prince is recycling a few old tracks for his upcoming “LotusFlow3r”, peep the full track list at Prince.org (as it’s already been pulled from Amazon by the Purple Police) [Prince.org]
Finally, our friends at Popdose open the crates and pull out the brilliant remixes of Peter Gabriel‘s “Steam” for White Label Wednesday. [Popdose]
Bonus! I happened to have the underrated “Quiet Steam” version in my collection (which was available on the “Digging in the Dirt” single), now you can add it to your collection…
“Quiet Steam” (mp3) by Peter Gabriel
[audio:03 Quiet Steam.mp3]Now Hear This: Best of the Inbox, Volume I
Editor’s Note: The sheer volume of new music that I get every day is overwhelming at best so in an effort to get the best of it out to you I’ve decided to start the “Now Hear This: Best of the Inbox” series. I’m not sure what the frequency will be yet, but I’ll make every attempt to get a couple of these up a month. Enjoy! – Michael
The Hush Now
Recalling the lush reverb drenched textures of early 90’s shoegaze and retrofitting it with the power pop sensibilities The Hush Now‘s self-titled debut is a solid listen and a must for fans of Guided By Voices. My current favorite track ,the appropriately titled “Subtle Like Bombs”, lulls you in with rich vocal harmonies and mesmerizing guitars only to abruptly end in transition.
Full Album Download: The Hush Now
Links: Official Site | on Last.fm | on MySpace
The Deer Tracks
Swedish duo The Deer Tracks brings quirky electronic pop influenced post rock to the table on their latest release Aurora. The single “127sexfyra” bubbles along over various plinking and plucked chimes and horn beds with whispered vocals.
“127sexfyra” (mp3) by The Deer Tracks
Northern Exposure: The Great Outdoors, “Winter”
Canadian folk-rock collective The Great Outdoors have completed their ambitious project to write, record and release an EP for each season. The three preceding EP’s managed to perfectly capture the tone of each respective season and Winter introduces elements of blues and roots music to the mix to a stunning effect. “The Winter’s Touch” plaintive tenor closes the door and invites you in from the cold as Melisa Devost‘s beautiful voice warms your heart. “The Garbage Man Song” rambles along and features some distinctly Tom Waits influenced moments provided courtesy of guest vocalist Nickle City Slim. “No Bells” swings with a bluesy swagger that pays off with an in your face guitar accompaniment that would otherwise seem out of place. “Edison’s Genius” picks up where the previous track leaves off with its blues-tinged delivery but in place of place of guitars is a horn arrangement that recalls Monk‘s “Abide With Me”. The set wraps with “Snowdrop” a slow burn ballad. Check out “The Garbage Man Song” here and you can catch the rest of the release on the bands MySpace page.The Great Outdoors – “The Garbage Man Song” (mp3)
The Friday Five: February 27, 2009
For those who have not joined in the Friday Five here is all you need to know; each Friday I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have guest, but most of the time it’s just me.
The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The more the merrier!
The Five:
“18 Months” by Kingsbury (from This Place is Coming Down, 2004)
Kingsbury is a brilliant experimental indie rock act out of Orlando, Florida. Intensely personal and emotional it’s hard to imagine that they originate from the “Happiest Place on Earth”. Watch this space for much more on Kingsbury in the coming month.
“Squeeze Me Macaroni” (mp3) by Mr. Bungle (from Mr. Bungle, 1991)
By now the news of Faith No More reuniting has taken every corner of the internet by storm, but I’ll be damned if I would only be more excited if Mike Patton reformed Mr. Bungle.
“Here on Earth/The Opening” (mp3) by Leerone (from Imaginary Biographies, 2007)
I can’t get enough of Leerone‘s quirky piano driven singer-songwriter sharp-tongued pop (which she describes as “The musical equivalent of an ice-cream sundae with a vodka chaser”). She is an incredibly talented artist who goes as far as handwriting every correspondence with humble small-time blog editors (which is deeply appreciated). I expect that we’ll be seeing much more of her in the future.
“O salutaris hostia” by Jan Garbarek & The Hilliard Ensemble (from Officium, 1994)
This record takes the Gregorian Chants that your mother loved in 1994 and added the ‘smooth jazz’ sounds of Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek to a nauseating soothing effect.
“White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foxes (from Fleet Foxes, 2008)
I still do not care much for this record, but if I had to pick a track to listen to it would be this one. The folk-rock revival sound just does not depart enough from the forefathers enough to entice me to listen more, now where’s my copy of “Horse with No Name”…
What’s bringing the weekend home for you?
100 Words on “Live from Daryl’s House”
“It was just one of those light bulb moments…” is how Daryl Hall describes the thought behind his web series Live from Daryl’s House. Inviting everyone from electrofunk duo Chromeo to guitar virtuoso Monte Montgomery up to his house in Connecticut to hang out, talk shop and sit in with “T-Bone” Wolk and the band all the while filming it for the most intimate and fun web series I’ve seen. John Oates even makes a couple of appearances in the monthly program. More than lip service, the series shows the soul shared in putting musicians in room to “just play.”
Highlights: Daryl Hall w/Chromeo – “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)”
Daryl Hall w/Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes – “The Queen and I”
Links: Official Site | on MySpace | on iTunes
The Friday Five: February 20, 2009
Short list today, we’ll return to ‘normal’ next week…
For those who have not joined in the Friday Five here is all you need to know; each Friday I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have guest, but most of the time it’s just me.
The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The more the merrier!
The Five:
“Ribbons” (mp3) – The Sisters of Mercy (from Vision Thing, 1990)
“Vocab” – Fugees (from Blunted on Reality, 1994)
“Walk on the Wild Side” (mp3) – Lou Reed (from Transformer, 1972)
“Lovers Forever” – Brothers Johnson (from Out of Control, 1984)
“Fields of Coal” – …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (from The Century of Self, 2009)
Tag! You’re it!
The Friday Five: February 13, 2009
The best laid plans… I had intended on launching the new (and improved) format, but alas time and life got in the way, next week I promise the new look (and a new take) on the Friday Five… until then here’s this weeks all to brief five!
For those who have not joined in the Friday Five here is all you need to know; each Friday I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have guest, but most of the time it’s just me.
The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The more the merrier!
The Five:
“All Night Long (All Night)” – Lionel Ritchie (from Can’t Slow Down)
“I Know” – The Derek Trucks Band (from Already Free)
“Fopp” – The Ohio Players (from Honey)
“I Don’t Care” – Fall Out Boy (from Folie à Deux)
“Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” – AC/DC (from Back in Black)
What’s playing in your neck of the woods?
Live: My Brightest Diamond Live at Le Poisson Rouge
My Brightest Diamond, “From the Top of the World” (Video)
Shara Worden‘s voice is nothing short of truly amazing, add to it a string quartet and you’ve got a recipe for something astounding. Recorded back in December you can view the full concert at Baeblmusic.
Buy A Thousand Shark’s Teeth: Amazon | iTunes
Links: Official Site | on Last.fm | on MySpace
The Friday Five: February 6, 2009
52 Weeks, 261 Songs and a full year later ‘The Friday Five’ is officially a year old. It has been consistently one of our most popular features and for that I want to thank the folks that take the time every week to play along. The coming weeks will bring a slight facelift to the five as well as a few guest spots. This week we’ve got a short but sweet list…
For those who have not joined in the Friday Five here is all you need to know; each Friday I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have guest, but most of the time it’s just me.
The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The more the merrier!
The Five:
“Rich Girl” (mp3) – Hall & Oates (from Greatest Hits: Rock ‘n Soul, Part 1)
Hall & Oates never fails to bring a smile to my face.
“1999” – Prince (from Purple Storm in the Coachella Valley)
Live from Prince‘s headline set at last years Coachella festival.
“The Brainsong” (mp3) – Fury in the Slaughterhouse (from Mono)
I never really understood why Fury in the Slaughterhouse wasn’t huge in the states. Has anyone else ever heard of this band, or am I the only one?
“Footprints” – A Tribe Called Quest (from People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm)
Kicking off with a sample of the Stevie Wonder‘s “Sir Duke” this is real hip-hop. Q-Tip is in perfect form spitting a wicked rhyme as only he can over the bouncy funk track.
“Losing a Whole Year” – Third Eye Blind (from Third Eye Blind)
I’ve found out that there is a new genre definition for all the alternative bands of the mid-90’s that we all love (or love to hate), it’s called Post-Grunge…
Tag! You’re it!
The Friday Five: January 30, 2009
If you’ve been working for the weekend, well you are in luck because it’s just about that time. That’s right, it’s Friday and it’s time to kick back hit the shuffle button and let the music take us where it will. Today we’re firing up iTunes to battle the post-lunch dip!
For those who have not joined in the Friday Five here is all you need to know; each Friday I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have guest, but most of the time it’s just me.
The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The more the merrier!
The Five:
“Both Hands” (mp3) – Ani DiFranco (from Living in Clip)
Perhaps one of Ani‘s most iconic tunes presented here in orchestral form. Recorded live with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Doc Severinsen, in a good set of headphones you can feel the ebb and flow and airiness of the performance and the way the arena responds.
“Slave to the Grind” – Skid Row (from Slave to the Grind)
I firmly stand behind my theory that Sebastian Bach is the one of the best rock vocalists of the 90’s. Not my favorite track from this record, but a good kick in the ass nonetheless.
“Day Old Hate” – City and Colour (from Sometimes)
This entire record is a faultless accompaniment to a cloudy day. Dallas Green‘s delivery is effortless and heart-wrenching.
“Dance, Dance” – Fall Out Boy (from From Under the Cork Tree)
I’m fully willing to admit to this ‘guilty pleasure’. I love me some Fall Out Boy.
“Climbing Up the Love Tree” (mp3) – Francis Dunnery (from Fearless)
While the (clearly) 90’s production on this track reveals its age this song, and record for that matter, has been a mainstay of my collection for the last 15 years.
Okay, I’ve shown you mine, now show me yours!