MP3: Sparklehorse - It's A Wonderful Life
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Monday, February 01, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Bobby Charles
MP3: Bobby Charles - I Must Be In A Good Place Now
Bobby Charles Wiki
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sweetheart Of The Radio: Albums Of The Year 2009 (5 - 1)
MP3: Richmond Fontaine - We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River
Richmond Fontaine On Myspace
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Previously On SOTR: Willy Vlautin
4. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
MP3: Wilco - Solitaire
Wilco on Myspace
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3. Phosphorescent - To Willie
MP3: Phosphorescent - It's Not Supposed To Be That Way
Phosphorescent on Myspace
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Previously on SOTR: Phosphorescent
2. Sharon Van Etten - Because I Was In Love
MP3: Sharon Van Etten - I Wish I Knew
Sharon Van Etten on Myspace
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Previously on SOTR: Sharon Van Etten
1. Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish I Were An Eagle
MP3: Bill Callahan - Faith/Void
Bill Callahan on Myspace
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Previously On SOTR: Bill Callahan
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sweetheart Of The Radio: Albums Of The Year 2009 (10 - 6)
MP3: Castanets - Down The Line, Love
Castanets on Myspace
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Previously On SOTR: Castanets
MP3: Espers -The Road Of Golden Dust
Espers on Myspace
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Previously on SOTR: Espers
MP3: Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
Grizzly Bear On Myspace
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MP3: Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine (courtesy of Secretly Canadian)
Magnolia Electric Co. on Myspace
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Previously On SOTR: Magnolia Electric Co.
MP3: Alela Diane - Age Old Blue
Alela Diane on Myspace
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Previously on SOTR: Alela Diane
Friday, December 25, 2009
Vic Chesnutt
MP3: Vic Chesnutt - Dodge
Vic Chesnutt wiki
Photo Credit: Greg Stewart
Thursday, November 05, 2009
The Funeral
Working on whittling down my list of albums of the decade, there are obviously going to be albums that don't make the list, but which contain individual songs that would make my songs of the decade list if I had the inclination and time to make such a list (I don't).
One such song would be "The Funeral" by Band Of Horses. Taken from their 2007 debut album Everything All The Time, "The Funeral", for me, is a perfectly written, perfectly executed song.
Continuing my recent attempts of writing about covers that I like, this is the perfect place to mention Canadian singer Serena Ryder's paired down version of the "The Funeral", a cover that takes the song somewhere else, while maintaining the essence of this fine composition.
MP3: Band Of Horses - The Funeral (Courtesy of Sub Pop)
MP3: Serena Ryder - The Funeral
Band Of Horses on Myspace
Serena Ryder on Myspace
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Previously on SOTR: All I Want To Do Is Turn Around...
Mountain Man
My favorite new musical discovery is Mountain Man, which is the the best accompaniment I have found for the onset of winter. The band make intimate, harmony based, sad folk songs that are as fragile as the falling leaves outside my window.
Mountain Man is three girls from Vermont, Amelia Meath, Molly Sarle, and Alex Sauser-Monnig, who recorded their self-titled album over the course of two sessions in 2009, one in January and the other in May. The album is available via Bandcamp with a 7" released promised soon via Open Face Records.
MP3: Mountain Man - White Heron
MP3: Mountain Man - Animal Tracks
Mountain Man on Myspace
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Friday, October 30, 2009
Boduf Songs
Boduf Songs is Mat Sweet, a young man from Southampton, England who makes dark, psych tinged, textured folk music.To my ears he sounds like a moodier version of the Elliott Smith of "Needle In The Hay" or "Roman Candle" crossed perhaps with Charalambides or James Yorkston played at half speed.
Boduf Songs eponymous debut album was released on the Kranky label in 2005 after the label came across a CD-R of home recorded demos made by Sweet and were so blown away, decided to release the demos untouched, without any re-recordings. Two albums have followed 2006's Lion Devours the Sun and How Shadows Chase The Balance released in September of last year.
MP3: Boduf Songs - Oh Celebrate Your Vague Words and Coquettish Sovereignty
MP3: Boduf Songs - I Can't See A Thing In Here
Boduf Songs Website
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Arborea
Writing a music blog you get whole load of emails from PR companies and bands who want you to write about their stuff. I try and listen to everything I get sent, but if I am to be honest, I like very little of what I hear. Every once in a while, however, I receive some communications about an artist that I do like, who to my ears sound great and who I am really happy to write about.
Case in point: Arborea, the husband and wife duo, Buck and Shanti Curran, from deep in the Western Maine woodlands who make low key, atmospheric folk music. Their latest album latest House of Sticks was released in February this year and builds on their two previous full length releases with a set of authentic and resonant recordings.
In 2009 Arborea also curated and produced a compilation for the UN World Food Program, entitled Leaves of Life. Highlights of which include contributions form Alela Diane with Mariee Sioux ("The Cuckoo"), Devendra Banhart ("Hotel St. Sebastian (demo)") and Micah Blue Smaldone ("The Clearing").
MP3: Arborea - Beirut
MP3: Arborea - Dark Is The Night (In The Wind)
Arborea on Myspace
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
Townes
Recently while set on shuffle, my iPod keeps playing tracks from the Steve Earle album Townes, which in turn keeps reminding me of how much I love the songwriting of Townes Van Zandt.
Earle, who famously proclaimed "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table, in my cowboy boots, and say that”, recorded Townes as a tribute to his mentor and friend, and the album features fifteen Van Zandt originals and contains some really interesting arrangements of some of the great songwriters best loved songs.
MP3: Townes Van Zandt - Colorado Girl
MP3: Steve Earle - Colorado Girl
MP3: Townes Van Zandt - No Place To Fall
MP3: Steve Earle - No Place To Fall
Townes Van Zandt on Myspace
Steve Earle on Myspace
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Previously On SOTR: Townes Van Zandt
Previously on SOTR: Heartworn Highways
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sufjan Stevens
I have had a problem with Sufjan Stevens music over the past few years. I quite liked Michigan and I loved Seven Swans, but I began to lose interest shortly after. It is not that I thought what he was doing was bad, it's just that what he was doing failed to click with me and my interests waned. Well, now my interest has been rekindled by a chance listen to his new record The BQE.
The BQE, described in the label blurb as "a cinematic suite inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Hula-Hoop" was commissioned by Brooklyn Academy of Music and takes the form as an experimental in multi-media extravaganza. The quite sublime musical piece was conceived as the soundtrack to a 16mm/8mm film by Stevens which is available on DVD as part of the release. The BQE package also includes a 40 page book, a stereoscopic image reel and a comic book.
MP3: Sufjan Stevens - Movement I - In The Countenance Of Kings
MP3: Sufjan Stevens - Movement VI — Isorhythmic Night Dance with Interchanges (Courtesy Of Asthmatic Kitty)
Sufjan Stevens on Myspace
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Little Wings - Sandy Babe
I don't know how I missed this, but I did. Back in July, Marriage Records gave away a new track from Little Wings called "Sandy Babe". Kyle Field from Little Wings is one of my favorite songwriters working today.
Sadly the track seems to be a one off as Little Wings are not on the Marriage Records list of Records That Are On Their Way. Good news though that a new Privacy record is!
MP3: Little Wings - Sandy Babe (Courtesy of Marriage Records)
Little Wings Website
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Previously on SOTR: Little Wings
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Nico's Afraid
Drawing a line between my two most recent posts and following on from last weeks look at covers of Donovan's "Colours", it feels like the perfect opportunity to look at the original and cover of one of my favorite songs ever, "Afraid" by Nico.
Originally released on her 1970 album Desertshore, Nico's graceful, tender, piano led ballad always stood out for me on the otherwise experimental avant-garde album. My cover of choice is by Espers and is taken from their 2005 covers record The Weed Tree. Espers' version perfectly re-imagining "Afraid" as a folk song for guitar and cello.
MP3: Nico - Afraid
MP3: Espers - Afraid
Espers on Myspace
Nico Website
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Previously On SOTR: Espers
Previously On SOTR: Nico - Chelsea Girls
Joe Boyd
My recent enjoyment of the new Epsers album got me listening to the first couple of Fairport Convention albums, which in turn got me revisiting many of my favorite albums of the same era, which also constitute much of the production work of Joe Boyd.
For those unfamiliar with Boyd, I cannot recommend highly enough his memoir "White Bicycles: Making Music in the the 1960s" which follows Boyd's journey from tour manager in the early sixties, overseeing tours for the likes of Muddy Waters, Mississippi John Hurt, Stan Getz and others; to his work at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 where he supervised Bob Dylan’s electric debut; to him founding the influential UFO club in London in 1966; through to his work as a record producer for Pink Floyd, Nick Drake and Fairport Convention, amongst many.
Under the moniker of his production company Witchseason productions, Boyd was instrumental in launching the careers of Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and The Incredible String Band. His production credits also include Pink Floyd, Nico, Vashti Bunyan (Just Another Diamond Day), John & Beverley Martyn, Fotheringay and R.E.M.(Fables of the Reconstruction), amongst others.
"White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s" was published in 2006 and was accompanied by a 'soundtrack' with the same name. Both essential reading and listening.
MP3: Nick Drake - Time Has Told Me
MP3: Fairport Convention - Autopsy
MP3: Incredible String Band - Chinese White
Joe Boyd Website
Support The Artist. Buy.Buy.Buy.
Previously On SOTR: Vashti Bunyan - Just Another Diamond Day
Previously On SOTR: Nick Drake
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Espers
I have recently been enjoying the new album from Philadelphia's premiere psych-folk practitioners Espers.
Since forming in 2002 as a trio consisting of Greg Weeks, Meg Baird and Brooke Sietinsons (and shortly after, expanded to a sextet including Otto Hauser, Helena Espvall and Chris Smith), Espers have created a legacy for themselves as one of the major players in the psych-folk revival or recent years.
Heavily influenced by british folk music of the late sixties and early seventies, including Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Trees and Mellow Candle, the music on Espers' three full length albums (Espers (2004), II (2006) & III (2009)) doesn't hide its debt to these influences, but never falls into the realm of mere pastiche or copy; Espers have their own identity and sound that has grown and expanded with each release, with III perhaps their most fully realized album to date.
MP3:
MP3:
MP3: Espers - Caroline (courtesy of Drag City)
Espers on Myspace
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Friday, October 16, 2009
Devendra Banhart - 'Walillamdzi' Video
Devendra Banhart, Walillamdzi. Directed by Lauren Dukoff
Devendra Banhart on Myspace
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Previously on SOTR: Lauren Dukoff's Family
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Donovan's Colours
When I first started writing this blog I posted a feature called 'Friday Is For Covers' with a vague hope of starting a regular series highlighting cover versions of various songs that I dig.
For one reason or another this never really took off, but my fascination with covers continues - specifically the different ways that songs are re-interpreted and given new meanings or new directions by different artist.
Donovan's "Colours" is the perfect case in point. Originally released as a single by Donovan in 1965, the songs simple folk style proved popular with the music buying public, reaching #4 in the UK singles charts.
Aside from Donovan's various arrangements of "Colours" recorded throughout his career, two versions of the song spark my imagination and bring something new to this simple yet enduring composition. The first being Van Dyke Parks' 1968 instrumental adaption entitled, appropriately enough, "Donovan's Colours". Available on Park's first album Song Cycle. The second, "Variations on 'Colours'" by Kevin Barker's Currituck Co. Also an instrumental cover, this version relies heavily on finger picked acoustic guitar and what sounds like a xylophone, and sits stylistically somewhere between the Donovan original and Park's version.
MP3: Donovan - Colours
MP3: Van Dyke Parks - Donovan's Colours
MP3: Currituck Co. - Variations on 'Colours'
Donovan on Myspace
Van Dyke Parks on Myspace
Currituck Co. on Myspace
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Previously on SOTR: Donovan
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Magnolia Electric Co.
I have always had a degree trouble with the work of Jason Molina. From Songs: Ohia through to Magnolia Electric Co. I have wanted to love his stuff, but aside form the odd track here and there, something has always prevented me form really connecting with his work.
I just seem to have a problem sitting down and listening to his music for sustained periods...until now... Josephine the new album by Magnolia Electric Co. connects with something in me in a more consistent way than anything I have previously heard from Jason Molina. I guess sometimes things just happen that way. Sometimes it takes a while.
Josephine is a beautiful record about loss, heartbreak, regret and hope.
MP3: Magnolia Electric Co. - The Rock Of Ages
MP3: Magnolia Electric Co. - Shenandoah
MP3: Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine (courtesy of Secretly Canadian)
Magnolia Electric Co. on Myspace
Support The Artist. Buy.Buy.Buy.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Vashti Bunyan - Just Another Diamond Day
In the mid sixties, Vashti Bunyan was 'discovered' by the then Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who signed her to a recording contract at Decca records and gave her an original Jagger/Richards composition to record, this led to her recording for both Columbia and Intermediate records, however after little success Bunyan decided to leave the music business and city life behind and head for a remote Scottish island in a horse-drawn wagon in search of an artistic commune established by Donovan.
It was during this journey north that she wrote the beautiful folk lullabies which would later make up Just Another Diamond Day. By the time she'd made it to her destination, she found that the commune had never gotten off the ground, and no one was left. Upon her returned to London, Bunyan was urged by the legendary producer Joe Boyd (who had already produced Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, and The Incredible String Band) to record the songs she had amassed on her journeys and make an album for his Witchseason Productions company.
The recording sessions for Just Another Diamond Day took place in December 1969 in London with the help of string arranger Robert Kirby (who also worked with Nick Drake on his first two albums), Simon Nicol & Dave Swarbrick (Fairport Convention) and Robin Williamson (The Incredible String Band). The album was released in late 1970 to little attention and feeling like a failure for the second time Bunyan once again abandoned music in favor of other journeys and a life of obscurity.
Over the subsequent decades Just Another Diamond Day started to receive attention from record collectors and music fans, but things really started to change in 2000 when the album was first released on CD and Vashti started to receive the attention that she deserved, most notably from a new generation of musicians including Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and Animal Collective with whom she recorded an EP entitled Prospect Hummer.
In in 2005, Vashti Bunyan recorded and released her second album, Lookaftering, 35 years after Just Another Diamond Day was released. The album was well received by both critics and fans and featured many of her growing army of followers including Banhart, Newsom, Kevin Barker of Currituck Co and Otto Hauser of Espers.
MP3: Vashti Bunyan - Diamond Day
MP3: Vashti Bunyan - Swallow Song
Vashti Bunyan on Myspace
Support The Artist. Buy.Buy.Buy.
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