1. Easy Does It
2. You Remind Me Of Something (The Glory Goes)
3. So Everyone
4. For Every Field There’s A Mole
5. (Keep Eye On) Other’s Gain
6. You Want That Picture
7. Missing One
8. What’s Missing Is
9. Where Is The Puzzle?
10. Lie Down In The Light
11. Willow Trees Bend
12. I’ll Be Glad
Adrian Crowley - Long Distance Swimmer [2008]
try it
buy it
listen
tracklist:
Track listing:
01. Bless our tiny hearts 2:47
02. These icy waters 4:15
03. Star of the harbour 2:50
04. Temporary residence 3:52
05. Walk on part 3:31
06. Victoria 2:49
07. Harmony row 3:54
08. Theft by starlight 1:35
09. Electric eels 3:34
10. Leaving the party 4:18
11. Brother at sea 3:43
12. Long distance swimmer 5:09
Review:
Cross traditional Irish alt folk with US folk miserabilists such as Smog and the result is this minimal, pared-down, fragile slice of singer-songwriting that no iPod should be without. It may be a style of music that’s ten-a-penny these days, but that only makes artists such as Adrian Crowley, who stand out from the crowd, all the more impressive.
Opening track Bless Our Tiny Hearts is bleak and beautiful, as is the third offering, Star Of The Harbour, both recalling the archetypal forlorn troubadour strumming a lonely guitar on a sea wall as the storm clouds gather. In between, These Icy Waters adds more instruments to the mix to brighten things up a bit.
The songs slip from solo acoustic to more layered offerings with aid where appropriate from musicians including Marja Tuhkanen on violin, the ever-worthwhile James Yorkston on additional vocals, clarinet, concertina and guitar, Sinead Nic Gearailt on harp, Katie Ellis on cello and Thomas Haugh on drums.
Crowley’s helpers never intrude, nor take over completely, simply boosting songs such as Walk On Part to a level above just another offering from a dead-pan bloke with a battered guitar. Here in particular the ability of the additional instruments to echo the cruel waves of a cold sea make the song rather than break it on the underlying rocks. The slow, foreboding strings of Electric Eels also deserve a mention.
Crowley’s real talent shines through on songs such as Temporary Residence (probably the album’s best) and Victoria, which manage to sound sparse and full at the same time while the most rounded songs, such as Harmony Row, sound more sinister than upbeat. The music is cold and bleak, perfect for its midwinter release date. Imagine Nick Cave hosting a wine and cheese New Year’s Eve party in a particularly bleak cove on the Irish coast as the ghost of Nick Drake looks on, an image continued through the instrumental Theft By Starlight’s sonorous piano.
As the album progresses, Leaving The Party is almost cheery by comparison, a song you can at least imagine slow waltzing to, and yet it’s also one of the ones that owes the biggest debt to the darker US alt-folkies, morphing into one of the album’s saddest laments before Crowley’s done. Penultimate track Brother At Sea on the other hand is, genuinely, more upbeat.
This is Crowley’s fourth studio album, following on from 2004’s A Northern Country, 2005’s A Strange Kind, and When You Are Here You Are Family. His music hasn’t changed direction after the relatively long lay-off, but he’s certainly come back no weaker. Think Smog, think Bonnie Prince Billy, think The Decemberists if they didn’t have a sense of humour or, closer to home, Irish troubadours such as Declan O’Rourke.
And then to round it all off, there’s the final, beautiful, fragile, delicate title track. Perfectly balanced, with crashing chords beating in time to the waves against the shore, it would be greedy to ask for a better beginning to the musical treasures 2008 might wash up for us.
highfidelityrecords
Track Listing:
1. Sonido Amazonico (4:17)
2. Primavera en la Selva (4:02)
3. Mi Plato de Barro (2:21)
4. Tres Pasajeros (4:03)
5. The Hungry Song (4:06)
6. El Borrachito (4:53)
7. Pavane (3:46)
8. Six Pieds Sous Terre (3:32)
9. Un Shipibo En España (3:09)
10. Indian Summer (4:57)
11. La Cumbia Del Zapatero (2:41)
12. Popcorn Andino (5:19)
13. Yo No Fui (2:30)
14. Gnosienne no.1 (4:33)
I went to Chicha Libre’s record release party on Friday at Drom in the East Village. It was a great show and well attended. Chicha Libre are a Brooklyn band reviving the original Peruvian Chicha music, a hybrid of Cumbia from Columbia and the electronic instrumentation heard in American Psych Rock bands in the 60’s and 70’s with their electric guitars and farfisa organs. There is also a little french je ne sais quoi thrown in for good measure. The music is eclectic and fun, and is definitely made for dancing. My absolute favorite is their cover of Popcorn by Perry and Kingsley, a favorite song of mine that always makes me grin uncontrollably, hearing it perfectly done in chicha style; it’s infinitely danceable and hilarious at the same time.
Opening for them was another Barbés band, Las Rubias Del Norte, who charmed the crowd with their soothing feminine harmonies, languid guitar, and percussive rhythms providing a striking vintage sound. They perfectly create the feeling of being alone on a tropical beach as the sun beats down, with a perfectly mixed caipirinha and nothing to do but stare out at the beautiful waves and think of what once was and what could have been.
A night of Brooklyn Tropical had hit Manhattan.
More images from the inside. The Electravox—a key element to Chicha Libre’s sound:
Interior panels-a tryptic (José Gregorio{patron saint of Barbés bar}, Amplifier in Cubbyhole, Credits Page with ‘tropical’ foliage from the Brooklyn Amazon)
Chicha Libre and Las Rubias del Norte both play regularly at Barbés in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and I highly recommend you
thisjustin.splendidcorp
*FIRST 100 COPIES COME WITH A LOVELY INDIVIDUALLY PACKAGED, STAMPED
AND HAND NUMBERED BONUS CD FEATURING 4 EXCLUSIVE RE-WORKINGS FROM THE
REMOTE VIEWER!!!!* Following on from last week’s digital sampler, the
Moteer label deliver this gorgeous album from new signings Brael/Tokyo
Bloodworm who combine intricate sound treatments with elements of
dense, reduced shoegaze, lilting pop and breathless drones with an
exquisite attention to detail. The scene is set perfectly on opening
track “Saturn Shine”, slowly coming to life with diffuse vocal
whispers layered in a manner reminiscent of Grouper’s fabulous “Way
Their Crept” album, before distilled, shimmering glockenspiel and
vibraphone make your spine tingle. Stephanie Flood’s vocals finally
emerge from this velvet arrangement with a subdued, almost downcast
undercurrent that provides the track with depth and dimension,
bringing to mind bands like The Cranes or Slowdive merged with the
other-worldly bliss of Japanese home listening from the likes of Piana
or Gutevolk. It’s immeasurably moving, beautiful music. “Golden Mean
Rectangle”, meanwhile, introduces an acoustic guitar to the equation,
with a swirl of instruments and found sounds coming across like
something off the recent Philip Jeck album strummed along to under a
tree in the middle of the desert - intimate and somehow disjointed
music evocative of youth and long, slowly unfolding summers. One of
album’s loveliest moments, however, comes with “Seed” - a fractured
love song taken straight out of the Remote Viewer school of thought,
revolving around melodies frayed and caressed by miniature processes
and aural degradation, the barely audible hum of machines offering an
indefinable backdrop for cascading keys and a stream of words half
spoken, half sung. Brael / Tokyo Bloodworm have provided Moteer with
the most sumptuous and fragile 40 minutes in their catalogue to date -
and another debut we absolutely implore you to discover.
Tracklisting
01 My Jamaican Guy (12″) - Grace Jones
02 Genius of Love (12″) - Tom Tom Club
03 Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) - Talking Heads
04 Sun Is Shining - Lizzy Mercier Descloux
05 Dance Sucker (Francois Kevorkian Mix) - Set the Tone
06 Obsession (The Nassau Mix) - Guy Cuevas
07 Padlock (Larry Levan Mix) - Gwen Guthrie
08 Don’t Stop the Music - Bits & Pieces
09 River Niger - Sly Dunbar
10 You Rented a Space - Cristina
11 Spasticus Autisticus - Ian Dury & The Seven Seas Players
12 Whisper - Chaz Jankel
13 Adventures in Success (Dub Cover) - Will Powers
The brilliant Strut label cement their return after a hiatus of several years with this excellent compilation telling the definitive story of the golden era at Chris Blackwell’s Compass Point Studio in the Bahamas, where the house band The Compass Point All Stars produced some of the most memorable and innovative dance music of the early eighties! The Compass Point All Stars were the mother of all studio bands - After his success with Bob Marley, Island label boss Chris Blackwell was able to assemble his ‘dream team’ of session musicians and was in a position to be able to select some of the world’s best players from across a diverse range of musical genres to create an innovative and unique band which included the premier Jamaican rhythm section of drum and bass duo Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare and percusionist Uziah Sticky Thompson alongside guitarist Mikey Chung. To this backbone, Blackwell added British rock guitarist Barry Reynolds and African keyboard whizz Wally Badarou. The backing band were helmed by the production/engineering genius of Alex Sadkin and Steven Stanley. The Compass Point Allstars’ work with the likes of Grace Jones and Gwen Guthrie produced a distinctive crisp sound unlike anything that had been released before and this great compilation picks the definitive tracks to illustrate the story of the studio and band. Very highly recommended!
~www.soundsoftheuniverse.com
tracklist:
01 Save Your Nails 4:07
02 The Men Of The Mill 5:11
03 Weird Weight 3:47
04 Mt. Career 4:52
05 Carry Your Face 3:42
06 Get Naked 1:36
07 Animal 3:05
08 Shibuya 4:09
09 Ostrich Fight Song 5:26
10 A Slogan 5:24
11 …And We Will Kick All Of Your Teeth Out 5:33
Biographical background
The son of two accountants, Dixon was the creative spark in the family from early on.[citation needed] Growing up in the suburbs of North Vancouver, his parents were extremely supportive of their son’s musical endeavors, allowing him to go on tours with his band for weeks at a time, and often lending him money so he could keep doing so.[citation needed]
Musical projects
d.b.s.
Andy Dixon began playing guitar and singing in the band d.b.s. around the age of twelve in 1992 with band mates Jesse Gander (vocals), Ryan Angus (bass guitar), and Paul Patko (drums). Drawing from influences such as Metallica, and later Jawbreaker, he skanked, then thrashed and finally shredded melodic lines of post-rock/punk bliss. The sound was dominated by a combination of the DIY, ‘raw’ punk interests and vocal stylings of Gander, combined with the metal-driven, artistic vision of Dixon.. The group decided to call it an end in October 2000[citation needed] after over eight years, four full length records, and the release of their final EP, Forget Everything You Know, which, while their last, is widely regarded as their greatest and most mature effort. Forget Everything You Know was released on Dixon’s Ache Records. Gander has said “it was just time”[citation needed] in regards to the reasoning behind the break up. The members remain close both professionally and socially.
The Red Light Sting
Near the end of d.b.s., Dixon, along with future business partner Zoë Verkuylen and friend Gregory Adams of The Self Esteem Project started toying with songs under the name Hooray for Everything. Due to other members leaving the group, the original three took their songs to Paul Patko of d.b.s, who agreed to be their drummer. This change in personnel warranted a change in the band’s name to The Red Light Sting. (They have also called themselves “The No Light Sting”[citation needed] in jest, after a rough tour that led to the breaking of all nine of their spinning red stage lights).
Their sound was predominantly post-hardcore, wavering somewhat to noise core. Adams, the vocalist, ranged his style from screaming to soft singing. Verkuylen played a Roland Juno-60 keyboard as a rhythm instrument, often playing off key notes and dissonant riffs. Dixon took his melodic guitar lines further and further as the band moved from . Though Dixon was the leading creative force behind the group, Adams has been quoted as saying in Discorder that when they were together, “the songs write themselves”.[1]
After four years, The Red Light Sting disbanded, holding their last shows in Seattle and Vancouver in early September 2004. They released two EP’s—And Our Love is Soaking in It and Rub ‘Em Out—as well as a split LP with Hot Hot Heat. Their final release Hands Up, Tiger, a ten song LP which came out less than a month before the band split up.
Early solo work
It was at this time that Dixon realized the potential of his computer as a musical medium, something he had already been doing in his spare time: he produced a record under the moniker of The Epidemic on Ache Records. This solo debut saw Dixon “combining an indie rock sensibility with vague electronic flashes and jilting experimentation with arrangements”.[2]
In an interview with Discorder, Dixon explained that he needed to take time off from playing in a band, something which he had been doing since he was twelve. Instead he focused his efforts on his record label, Ache Records, and his solo music project, now called Secret Mommy.
Secret Mommy
His first full length album as Secret Mommy, Babies That Hunt, was released on Orthlorng Musork of San Francisco, a label know for their “laptop musicians” and “electro-punk” artists.[citation needed] He released his first full length Secret Mommy record before the final Red Light Sting album was released. On the opening song of the final Red Light Sting record, We Put the Hot Tub in the Back of a Truck, there is a Secret Mommy-like breakdown.
The second full-length, Mammal Class, was released later in the same year on Ache Records. Mammal Class includes samples of P!nk, Mary J. Blige, Andrew W.K., Britney Spears, Shania Twain, Justin Timberlake, Arab on Radar, as well as some more unconventional sounds: elephants, frogs, pigs, French educational records, balloons, eating noises.
For his third release, Dixon used samples from a trip to Hawaii, known as the Hawaii 5.0 EP (playing on the popular show Hawaii 5-0, but adding the period between the five and the zero in order to make the connection to technology, commonly used in reference to version numbers, e.g. v1.2 or v4.0). The five tracks (hence 5.0) on this record feature a cut from the 50 Cent song “P.I.M.P.”, including the steel drums heard at the beginning of the song. The Dixon track is respelled to say “S-E-C-R-E-T-M-O-DoubleM-Y”, out of the available sounds 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg provide. In this way he is mimicking the name dropping “hype factor” of hip hop by way of a hip-hop icon.
Making use of hand made hidden condenser microphones Dixon compiled recordings for his third full-length record Very Rec. All of the sounds recorded by Dixon for this effort were in places of recreation such as tennis courts, a swimming pool, a soccer field, a yoga studio, an ice rink, a squash court, a dance studio, a dojo, a daycare, a weight room and a basketball court. This style of sampling from the natural world, the world around us may sometimes be referred to as “organic sounds”.
The Wisdom EP, release on Sublight Records in September 2006, is the fifth Secret Mommy release, composed entirely of sounds made during an operation where Andy had his wisdom teeth removed.
Plays is the most recent Secret Mommy release, a full length put out by Ache Records, which was made to “showcase [Dixon's] experience as a guitarist, songwriter, and lyricist”[1]. It was recorded at The Hive in Vancouver.
Other musical projects
Andy plays guitar and piano, and sings in a group called Winning [2], with Paul Patko (who played with Andy in d.b.s. and The Red Light Sting) on drums and percussion. Their debut album, This Is an Ad for Cigarettes, was released 20 March 2007 by Ache Records [3]. Andy played with The Secret Mommy Quintet, consisting of many people involved in the production of Plays, during the first day of Music Waste 2007.
Andy was also a member of Tights with Tyr and Todd from The Winks. Their only release is a split they did with the Winks in 2006 on Drip Audio Records.
Ache Records
While Andy Dixon is an extremely active member of the Vancouver, British Columbia music and art scenes, Ache Records may be his greatest legacy. Dixon claims[citation needed] to have put every penny he has made back into the label to release more records. The most well known releases to date are probably their Death from Above 1979 albums, and the “Divorce Series” split 7″ records, which feature artists who break away from their typical genres.
Ache Records has released albums by Hot Hot Heat, Radio Berlin, Femme Fatale, Death from Above 1979, and Konono N°1, among others.
Discography
The following are solo albums released by Dixon.
I Am Compltley Oprationa l (as The Epidemic) – Ache Records, 2001
Babies That Hunt (as Secret Mommy) – Orthlorng Musork, 2003
Mammal Class (as Secret Mommy) – Orthlorng Musork, Ache, 2003
Hawaii 5.0 EP (as Secret Mommy) – Ache, 2004
Very Rec (as Secret Mommy) – Ache, 2005
The Wisdom EP (as Secret Mommy) – Sublight Records, 2006
Plays (as Secret Mommy) – Ache, Reluctant Recordings (Double LP), Powershovel (Japan), 2007
The Mice of Mt. Career (as Andy Dixon) – Ache, 2008
The Verve//Remixed series began in the spring of 2002 with the release of the unprecedented album featuring the world’s most talented and sought after DJ’s remixing the great vocalists of jazz. The series has been highly regarded by tastemakers and critics alike. A groove rooted in soul winds its way through remixes of tracks by the likes of Roy Ayers, James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, and more.
1. Cry Me a River - Truth & Soul (remix, featuring Dinah Washington)
2. Gimme Some - Mike Mangini (remix, featuring Nina Simone)
3. There Was a Time - Kenny Dope (remix, featuring James Brown)
4. California Soul - Diplo (remix, featuring Marlena Shaw)
5. Take Care of Business - Pilooski (remix, featuring Nina Simone)
6. Bim Bom - Psapp (remix, featuring Astrud Gilberto)
7. Everybody Loves the Sunshine - 9th Wonder (remix, featuring Roy Ayers)
8. Tenderly - Mocky (remix, featuring Anita O’Day)
9. Dilo Como Yo - Antibalas (remix, featuring Patato & Totico)
10. Evil Ways - Karriem Higgins (remix, featuring Willie Bobo)
11. Tea For Two - Chris Shaw (remix, featuring Sarah Vaughan)
12. I Get a Kick Out of You - The Cinematic Orchestra (remix, featuring Ella Fitzgerald)
tracklist:
1 Tales Of Trust 2:23
2 Cruise Waikiki 3:06
3 Booboomca 4:37
4 Noh Song 3:14
5 Virgin Forest 4:05
6 Turn The Page 2:48
7 Blow Back 1:06
8 On The A-Train 1:55
9 Get Over It 1:53
10 Rounded By A Dream 3:11
11 Second Side Of The Record 3:48
12 Ducksucker 3:35
13 Walking Dead 3:37
14 Higher Love 4:41
15 Heavy Dream Rotation 1:56
16 Sissi 2008 2:04
17 Watch Your Step 0:45
18 Phantomgesicht 3:05
19 Easy Goodbye 3:54
Weekend Edition Saturday, April 26, 2008 - The music of German DJ Pit Baumgartner — a.k.a. De Phazz — is a bit hard to categorize. Calling it “jazz with a turntable,” De Phazz samples and remixes music he finds just about anywhere, from Ella Fitzgerald hits to 10 cent flea market records. The outcome is both surprising and seamless.
Baumgartner plays a hybrid of electronic dance music and jazz while touring with his band and recording albums, but most of the time he works as a remixer — most notably for the Verve Remix Series — reworking classic songs by Ella Fitzgerald, Kurtis Blow and Boy George.
Baumgartner describes himself as more of a musical collage artist than composer or instrumentalist. “It’s a collage thing. I love to bring things together that normally don’t fit.” he explains. “My music, it joins you while you are doing something. It gives you space to not listen to it immediately or constantly. But if you listen to it constantly and deeper, you should have some little pearls to find.”
The artist’s latest album is Tales of Trust, a solo effort that gave Baumgartner the freedom to move beyond the live band format. He says experimenting with the song dictates how it will turn out. “At a certain point the song gives you the direction. The song tells you ‘listen I need a trumpet’ or ‘I don’t need nothing, I’m an instrumental song’ and then it goes by itself.”
It’s those combinations that Baumgartner finds most interesting. He says, “I don’t think that somebody really invents new music. I don’t think that’s possible. There’s so much music — in the train, the supermarket and the airport. I can’t really tell you, ‘Am I composing this or did I hear this just two days before somewhere?’”
www.npr.org
tracklist:
01 L.O.V.E. And You & I (Jazzanova)
02 Held Him First (Deyampert)
03 Ain’t no Dream (No Use Introduction) (Jazzanova / Meitz)
04 No Use / Another New Day (Jazzanova)
05 Rej (Âme)
06 (I Got) Somebody New (Georg Levin)
07 Midnight Marauders (Joe Dukie & DJ Fitchie)
08 Run / Fedimes Flight (Micatone / Jazzanova)
09 Silent Distance (Clara Hill)
10 Atlantic (Thief)
11 Boom Clicky Boom Klack (Jazzanova)
12 Africa (Meitz)
13 How To Find Royal Jelly (Lost Scrolls Of Hamaric)
Berlin label Sonar Kollektiv celebrate their tenth birthday by becoming a 15-member supergroup for a new album ‘Guaranteed Niceness’.
The SKO features various artists from the label fronted by a core group of six vocalists including Esther Cowens from Greenissimo, Wilson Michaels, Georg Levin from Wahoo, Lisa Bassenge from Nylon and Micatone, Sascha Gottschalk from Thief and Clara Hill. Behind the front row there are four string players, three brass players and a rhythm section led and arranged by Volker Meitz.
‘Guanteed Niceness’ consists of new tracks as well as live versions of cuts from the Sonar Kollektiv back catalogue, including Âme’s ‘Rej’, George Levin’s ‘(I Got) Somebody New’ and a handful of Jazzanova tracks.
tracklist:
01. Don’t Forget Sister
02. This Is Your Life
03. Song We Sang Away
04. Wasted
05. I’ll Be
06. Heart Attack
07. Killer B
08. Annie
09. Cinema Tonight/Interlude
10. Actions Are Actions
11. Save Yourself
(Sony) Epic Records and Los Angeles based band, Low Vs. Diamond, are proud to announce that iTunes has chosen the quintet as one of their favorite up-and-coming bands of 2008. As part of their “Next Big Thing” program, iTunes will offer fans an opportunity to purchase the band’s upcoming self-titled album months before its release this summer.
An uncompromising powerful record full of cinematic tracks, LOW VS. DIAMOND will be available via iTunes beginning April 1st. A band The Sun, NME, The Los Angeles Times, Paste Magazine and Time Out London all praised as a band to watch in 2008, will spend most of the year on the road including a stop at the first annual Pemberton Festival in Vancouver, Canada this July.
Low Vs. Diamond has created an album full of romantic songs that build to stadium worthy choruses and soar with nostalgic sounding chords that grab you instantly. With its undeniable melodies and chugging backbeats, The Los Angeles Times applauded the band for “standing precipitously between overwrought melancholy and chimey hopefulness, avoiding both excesses… the band’s music plays to an optimism that stops short of outright glee.”
http://www.myspace.com/ez3kielmyspace
tracklist:
Tracklisting:
1 Adamantium (5:27)
2 Volfoni’s Revenge (7:24)
3 Spit On The Ashes (5:48)
4 Coal Flake (1:38)
5 The Wedding (5:01)
6 Break Or Die (6:04)
7 Alignment (5:51)
8 Lull (3:21)
9 Firedamp (1:21)
10 The Montagues And The Capulets (4:28)
11 Wagma (5:58)
tracklist:
1. Never Knew Your Name
2. Something About Your Love
3. I Love You and Buddha Too
4. Fighter Girl
5. Your New Man
6. Memphis, Tennesse
7. Going Back To New Orleans
8. How Deep Is That River
9. Soldier Boy
10. My Perfect Lover
11. In Your City
“
Singer/songwriter Mason Jennings is one of the best-kept secrets in pop music. He was hand-picked by music supervisor Randall Poster to perform two Dylan songs, “The Times They Are a-Changin’” and “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” in Todd Haynes’ acclaimed I’m Not There, both on the soundtrack album, and lip-synched by Christian Bale in the movie.
And now, his sixth full-length album, In the Ever, is being released on Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records, after the chart-topping performer personally recruited him for the label.
“I’ve known Jack for a long time,” says the affable Jennings, who was born in Honolulu, moved with his family to Pittsburgh when he was two, then dropped out of high school at 16 to relocate to his current Twin Cities home. “We did an outdoor show together at a tiny college in Minnesota about six years ago. We toured for about two months and became good friends. He told me, if I ever wanted to record for his label, he’d love to have me. It seemed to make sense that this would be a good time to do it.”
Coming off his 2006 major-label bow, Boneclouds, for Modest Mouse leader Isaac Brock’s Epic-distributed Glacial Pace label, Jennings retreated to a studio in the woods, where he set himself up with a laptop and two microphones. The title comes from his son talking about where he came from before he was born, “Ya know dad, when I was in the Ever?”
“It was pretty raw, but fun, because that’s how I grew up working,” says Jennings about the recording process for In the Ever. “I wanted to do it quickly in a childlike way. I’d write songs in the morning, record them in the afternoon and finish them up by night.”
In the Ever continues Jennings’ spiritual journey, informed by his love of influences like Leadbelly, Mississippi John Hurt, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash’s American recordings and Led Zeppelin, his favorite band of all time. “I just wanted to make sure it’s not re-enacted music,” he says. “I have no use for being a retro artist. I want to understand my past and come from something, but move forward at the same time.”
According to Jennings, the songs on the new album can be interpreted about an individual or the longing for God, as in the opening “Never Knew Your Name,” which juxtaposes the harsh earthly aspects of the lyrics with the comfort of transcendence. “If the house is on fire/You’re gonna run for the door/If the door is on fire/You’re gonna kneel on the floor/You get down low/You learn to love the flame/I’ve been loving you forever, but I never knew your name.” His music has its roots in ancient folk tales updated for the modern world.
“Every human being is put in that position,” he explains, “where you must learn to love the very things that threaten you.”
“Something About Your Love” could be an outtake from Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush, while “I Love You and Buddha, Too,” with a vocal cameo by Jack Johnson expresses Jennings’ basic idea of the oneness of all religions. “I don’t believe anybody is on the outside, or excluded,” he says. “We’re all a part of things.”
“Going Back to New Orleans” segues from the tragedy of Katrina to the invasion of Iraq, with a chugging locomotive sound created by “blowing the same note on four different harmonicas at random times.”
“How Deep Is That River” outlines Jennings’ crisis of faith and looking for reasons to believe. “I feel kind of uneasy because I haven’t found any answers,” admits Mason. “Part of the journey for me is becoming more comfortable with not having the answers. That ambiguity is really hard for me.” “It’s been a slow growth, but extremely fun for me,” he says. “For me, it’s about expanding and working from a place of joy. If I can enjoy what I do, and make new art that inspires me, everything will work out for the best.” –This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
This is a documentary about The National by French filmmaker Vincent Moon, who followed the group during the creation of their acclaimed 2007 release, “Boxer”. It’s an insightful and beautiful glimpse into the band’s creative process. The DVD is packaged with a separate disc, “The Virginia EP”, which contains twelve tracks of demos, a cover, live versions, a radio session, and b-sides.
1) YOU’VE DONE IT AGAIN, VIRGINIA* (previously unreleased)
2) SANTA CLARA† (UK B-side)
3) BLANK SLATE (Uk B-side)
4) TALL SAINT (demo)
*with Sufjan Stevens / †with Marla Hansen | recorded + mixed By Peter Katis
at Tarquin Studios, Bridgeport Ct | vocals recorded by Brandon Reid in Brooklyn NY | piano recorded by Bennett Paster at Benny’s Wash ‘N Dry, Brooklyn NY
5) WITHOUT PERMISSION (unreleased cover)
Written by Caroline Martin (Copyright Control)
recorded + mixed by Oliver Straus at Mission Sound Recording, Brooklyn NY
6) FOREVER AFTER DAYS (demo)
Home recording by Aaron + Bryce Dessner, Brooklyn, NY
7) REST OF YEARS (demo)
recorded + mixed by Peter Katis at Tarquin Studios, Bridgeport, Ct
Vocals: Matt Berninger + Carin Besser | recorded at home, Brooklyn NY
8) SLOW SHOW (demo)
home recording by Aaron Dessner, Brooklyn, NY
9) LUCKY YOU (daytrotter session)
the complete session can be found at www.daytrotter.com
10) MANSION ON THE HILL (live cover)
written by Bruce Springsteen (Ascap) | recorded live at the winter garden, NYC by Ed Haber at the opening of The New York Guitar Festival, January 14, 2006
11) FAKE EMPIRE (live)
12) ABOUT TODAY (live)
recorded November 12, 2007 by Stef Van Alsenoy at Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium for Studio Brussel Radio | www.abconcerts.be
with: Marc Meeuwissen: trombone / Tom Verschooren: trombone / Jon Birdsong: cornet
tracklist:
1. Lue Kartalta
2. Painovoima Valoa
3. Ruususuu
4. Rubiinilasia
5. Lahtolaulu
6. Maapahkinapuu
7. Mooste
8. Jouhet
9. Vuoren Laelle
About Lau Nau
Nukkuu (Finnish for Sleeps) is the long awaited sophomore album by celebrated Finnish femme folk fave Lau Nau. Nukkuu is psychedelic, abstract & emotionally captivating. Nukkuu is an album of changes. In the years since her debut album Kuutarha, Laura became a mother, moved to the Finnish countryside and took valuable time to carve out a space for her enchanted art in the new found tranquility of her remote surroundings. Conceived in tight attics & vacant dens on off hours when her young son Nuutti was fast asleep, this is an intimately crafted 9 song collection that unfolds like dreamlike musical ribbons for the senses and delivers the listener to a place of unhurried contentedness. NUKKUU (LOCUST111 / in Finland FONAL ) WILL BE IN STORES MAY 13, 2008
Lau Nau is free spirited Finnish artist Laura Naukkarinen. Since the release of her celebrated debut full length Kuutarha on Chicago’s Locust Music in 2005, Lau Nau has enjoyed considerable recognition for her intimate & playful blend of ethnic tinged folk songs with curious & intuitive sounds conjured from familiar and exotic sound sources.
Kuutarha made many year end best of lists and achieved recognition as an “important record” (Dusted), a “tremendously powerful statement” (Brainwashed) that “begs to become many a listener’s point of fixation, source of meditation and object of adoration” (lost at sea). In their 8.0 review, Pitchfork praised lau nau’s unique combination of edginess and warmth on Kuutarha: “(Lau Nau) manages to take a million-and-one risks while keeping things subtle, understated, aesthetically intriguing and emotionally resonant”. Stop Smiling magazine praised the album for its ”natural beauty, isolation and mystery” and the Chicago Reader called the album “diverse and exotic, with a dying-campfire vibe” echoing a generally held sentiment among critics and fans alike that with Kuutarha, Lau Nau had tapped into something uniquely foreign yet emotionally rich, vital and rewarding.
In May 2008, Lau Nau’s long awaited follow up, Nukkuu, sees release on Locust. A part of a continuum of sorts, Nukkuu, travels the outer pathways of sound similar to those heard on Kuutarha yet Nukkuu is unavoidably enriched by Lau Nau’s own life changes in the years between the two records. Naukkarinen became a mother and moved her family to Finland’s remote countryside and with new distance and new devotion in life, her musical world underwent its own subtle shifts. The beauty, mystery and daring of her debut are traits that run through the main veins of Nukkuu but there is an almost unavoidable sense of contentedness amidst the tide of musical abstraction that brings the listener one step closer to her interior sound world. The release of Nukkuu will be supported by extensive performing in Europe in the Spring and Summer 2008 and a North American tour this Fall.
As a live performer, Lau Nau has enjoyed opportunities to perform in a wide array of venues from small informal spots like Massachusetts’s Montague Bookmill & Westers Gallery on Kemiö Island, Finland to larger spaces like Stockholm’s Kulturhuset, New York’s Anthology Film Archives, the Contemporary Art Centers in Glasgow, Brussels & Castelló and the Avanto festival in Helsinki. In recent years, her rare and special live shows have earned her a special place among a legion of fans. This was further cemented when a Lau Nau performance during her 2005 North American tour was counted among The Wire magazine’s “60 Concerts that shook the world” in its February, 2007 issue.
Naukkarinen has been an active presence in the Finnish underground for the last decade playing in groups like Kiila, Hertta Lussu Ässä, Päivänsäde, Avarus and the Anaksimandros, organizing concerts, publishing a magazine and running a handful of small labels starting with POK and , more recently, the Peippo label. Her musical activities spread far beyond her recorded work and permeate almost every aspect of her private and public life from her participation in multimedia events to her workshops teaching music to young children throughout Europe.
Over the past five years, Lau Nau has participated in several spontaneously improvised live film scores to classic avant-garde films including Vertov’s Man With a Movie Camera, Christensen’s Haxan and Dreyer’s La Passion de Joan d’Arc for the Turku Film Archive, Anthology Film Archives (New York) and Bio Rex (Helsinki) and Tromso Stumfilmdager (Norway). In 2007, the improvised score for Haxan was used as the accompanying soundtrack to the Swedish Film Institute’s DVD release of this legendary film. Her music was used in a prestigious Magnum Photo essay “No Whisper, No Sigh” alongside fellow Finnish musicians Islaja, Kuupuu and avant-garde legend John Cage in 2006. In 2008/2009, her music will appear as the backdrop to an exhibition by Japanese photographer Moriyama Daido.
Lau Nau lives with her partner, Antti Tolvi, and their young son Nuutti in the remote countryside on Kemiö island.
The Wire, Feb 07: 60 concerts (of all time) that shook the world: “The best set came from Lau Nau, the trio led by Laura Naukkarinen. Visibly pregnant, Naukkarinen gently strummed and bowed her stringed tools with soft precision, like a snake shedding its skin. Her spiralling songs were the most enchanting parts of an evening full of indoor campfires. Together, she and her Finnish comrades flipped the concept of the house show on its head, making a cosy indoor nook feel like the great outdoors.” (-Marc Masters about the show in Philadelphia, 2005)
Read and see more at:
www.haamu.com/launau
www.locustmusic.com
www.fonal.com
from Boomkat:
It’s hard to pin down precisely what it is that’s so alluring about Finland’s hugely acclaimed Paavoharju, but the consensus seems to have been that their remarkable debut album “Yha Hamaraa” quite simply managed to marry a myriad disjointed influences and sound sources without ever sounding like it was trying too hard. If you’ve never heard the music of Paavoharju, prepare yourself for one of life’s more considerable and uncontained pleasures. They are a band who take in influence from the “Radio India” style shortwave pop transmissions of the Sublime Frequencies label, freak folk, Europop, modern classical, plunderphonics, choral, devotional, experimental and multicoloured music of almost every description imaginable - and yet they embody a specific sound that’s unmistakably their own. Their aforementioned debut “Yha Hamaraa” made such an impact when it first came out that it seemed to unify music critics and the buying public from all ends of the musical spectrum, worshipped by chin-stroking journalists and passers by alike - one of those records that you could play almost anywhere and guarantee people would virtually queue to ask who it was by and where they could buy it. Their long awaited follow-up “Laulu Laakson Kukista” does that remarkable thing and doesn’t disappoint. The scope and energy here is once again impossible to contain - opening with drone washes, de-tuned music box tones and vocals degraded by worn down analogue tape, it sounds like a day in the park, a far away ice cream van, an orchestra rehearsing and Fennesz doing a soundcheck all at the same time. From there we go to “Kevätrumpu” - an absolutely genius generic jamboree that sounds like Kylie Minogue playing with a backing band that’s half Finnish folk and half Bolywood session band, recorded to a four-track recorder that’s been thrown into the sea and discovered 20 years later by some fortunate anthropologist. Heck, there are even some Autechre-style rhythmic distortions towards the end of the track - you just couldn’t make it up, and it sounds SO good. Next - “Tuoksu Tarttuu Meihin” takes in some far away solo piano and quietly malfunctioning distortion pedals in a Tim Hecker meets Akira Rabelais sort of fashion, while “Ursulan Uni” sounds like a cross between Isan and Philip Jeck - and is just utterly beautiful. It’s virtually impossible to sum up the sheer brilliance and scope of this schizophrenic yet brilliantly coherent album, it shimmers with all the excitement and knowledge of a seemingly endless stream of influence and once again manages to sound unlike anything you’ll have ever heard before in your life. And believe us when we say that recommendations really don’t come much higher than that. An utterly Essential Purchase.
Tracklist:
Tracks
1 Yana
2 Trees
3 Roz
4 Tube
5 Arkos
6 Kramer
7 Tiger
8 Estrilia 7.
9 Merging
10 Symbiosis
11 Japon
12 The Boat
Saraswa is the recording name of 25 year old English ex-pat Matthew Smawfield, currently resident in Ankara, Turkey. Due to the nature of his parents’ work, Smawfield spent his formative years in countries as far-flung as India, Indonesia, Fiji and Malawi. There is a definite hint of the influence of those places in his music, but Yana is a long way from an exercise in ‘ethnic tourism’.
The name Saraswa comes from the Hindu Goddess of creativity and music, Saraswati, and means “one who flows”. It’s a fairly apt moniker, because there is a kind of fluidity to this music, with piano glissandi weaving in and out of some quite beautiful, vaguely oriental backdrops. Some of the pieces are redolent of Brian Eno’s short ambient works as featured on Music For Films and Another Green World, but occasionally a track, such as “Japon”, will build into a controlled crescendo of fuzzed guitar.
Yana is a completely instrumental affair, largely dominated by the piano, although some tracks have other instruments pushed to the fore. Unlike many records of its ilk, the keyboard is used for more than just laying down glacially paced chord sequences. There are some quite complex looped melody lines. The pace varies from gentle ambience to a sprightly skittishness. Few of the pieces last longer than four minutes, and none outstay their welcome. For me, the pick of the tracks include the aforementioned “Japon”, the fragile Satie-esque tones of “Arkos”, and “The Boat” – an epic closer which starts with a dancing piano sequence, builds to a glitchy, fuzztoned central passage before elegantly recovering its composure and making a dignified, pretty exit.
There are no current plans for Yana to be given a full physical release, but it should be available shortly via iTunes, Napster and the usual suspects as an official download, complete with artwork. I highly recommend it.
I’ve been both eagerly and nervously waiting for this record for a long time, two years since Bring It Back came out. I have loved all their work, even though it has changed over the eight/nine years their music has been distributed. If you don’t already know, Mates of State is a successful indie pop duo from the married couple, Kori Gardner (keys, vox) and Jason Hammel (drums, vox). In the recent months, Kori has decided to forgo the organ which we have all loved; it’s quite a sorrow. She still works with a microKORG, a keyboard, but on this record, the clean sound from the classic piano has a bigger showing, and just less prominent use of the KORG in general. The album is different from their recent few albums, with all that in mind. If you are a casual fan looking for a duplicate Bring It Back effort, you shouldn’t bother. However, if you love MoS with all your heart, you won’t be disappointed. They’re always looking to innovate and make music that pleases themselves. There is actually a guitar line on this album! It’s so weird haha; the record is a bit more sedate and less dancey than the last one, but it’s still good (are they capable of making a truly bad album??).
I have only listened to this album once, actually finishing up the last song as I type. I’m just incredibly glad that it didn’t immediately disappoint, like the feelings I had with last year’s Clap Your Hands Say Yeah/Architecture in Helsinki, and I’m sure it’s only going to keep on growing on me.
The record is due out in 9 days.
Their fifth full-length. They ain’t no amateurs.
1. Get Better
2. Now
3. My Only Offer
4. The Re-Arranger
5. Jigsaw
6. Blue and Gold Print
7. Help Help
8. You Are Free
9. Great Dane
10. Lullaby Haze
Track List
1. Great DJ 3:23
2. That’s Not My Name 5:12
3. Fruit Machine 2:54
4. Traffic Light 2:59
5. Shut Up and Let Me Go 2:52
6. Keep Your Head 3:23
7. Be The One 2:58
8. We Walk 4:05
9. Impacilla Carpisung 3:41
10. We Started Nothing 6:22
By not making their minds up as to what sort of a band they want to present themselves as, The Ting Tings come unstuck on their debut album by treading a middle ground between dizzying toxic pop and dirty, scratchy indie. We Started Nothing is a lot of gloss short of being a full-blown glitzy behemoth a la all those Timbaland- and Pharrell-collaborating divas, and too clean to mix it up with the likes of the similarly structured but infinitely sexier The Kills. It’s a flat-sounding exercise in maximising a limited palette of inspiration, fleshed-out in a way that finds its few highlights suffocated by banal repetition and amateurish compositional ability.
Its reception on a critical level can’t be aided by ‘That’s Not My Name’, an appalling pre-LP single in the context of what else is on offer here, essentially a five-minute intro to a much bigger song that never emerges. Better is the only other standalone to date, ‘Great DJ’, a sweet and sour stroll through the mundane weekend excesses of regional revellers a not-so-super club short of ever having a night of their lives, which begins these ten tracks. When vocalist Katie White keeps her lyrics playfully nonsensical there’s a definite charm to her – the album’s opener is a neat enough example of this, nagging “ah-ah-ah”s burrowing the song into the listener’s skull. Less brilliant is when she’s getting bitchy: “Shut Up And Let Me Go” (as heard on ads for iPods), among this record’s better-arranged pieces as it presents a funk-infused guitar line or two to the fore, suffers from White’s unconvincing tough-gal attitude.
Unlike the relationship between Crystal Castles’ Alice Glass and Ethan Kath, where the female singer plays only a supporting role on the band’s similarly-hyped debut record, White and comparable ‘guy at the back’ Jules De Martino share a relatively equal billing here, and both showcase strengths. De Martino handles production duties decently, and although the final mix has been tidied by stateside hired hand Dave Sardy you’ve got to show the backroom half of The Ting Tings some respect for guiding this project through ‘til (near enough) completion himself; clearly it’s something he very much believes in. White’s an ever present across the ten songs, and while her contributions vary in terms of effectiveness her appearances lend We Started Nothing necessary cohesion. Her most-striking shrieks irk, but when she softens her sometimes shrill tones down somewhat you get the impression there’s a pop princess inside her super-trendy exterior desperate to be heard.
The pair come together vocally a handful of times on We Started Nothing, ‘Be The One’ an endearingly simplistic indie-pop head-nodder in the vein of early-era Cardigans; elsewhere, ‘We Walk’ is a lush ballad in hiding that’s too scared to show its true spots for fear it’ll be laughed out of town by cool-as indie types, its incessant cowbell effects eventually tiring the attention despite the album’s most heartfelt vocal from White. ‘Traffic Light’ is almost jazzy of structure, and makes for an enjoyable diversion from the hammered-home percussion evident on the majority of these songs.
But these glimpses of something unexpected are few and far between, much of We Started Nothing tonally muddled into a weird new form of MOR: cool for five minutes amongst the fashionable crowd but unlikely to reach audiences beyond those fascinated with the hot and happening. There’s not enough meat to these bones to tempt fans of the biggest female pop stars around, and by seemingly resisting the call to add a little excess to proceedings The Ting Tings have accidentally constructed their own glass ceiling. How high is it, exactly? I don’t know, but they’re likely to strike it soon unless they raise their game on a swift-turnaround second LP.
Words: Tony Robert Whyte
drownedinsound
tracklist:
1. Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?
2. Waymore’s Blues
3. I Recall a Gypsy Woman
4. High Time (You Quit Your Low Down Ways)
5. I’ve Been a Long Time Leaving (I’ll Be a Long Time Gone)
6. Let’s All Help The Cowboys (Sing The Blues)
7. The Door Is Always Open
8. Let’s Turn Back The Years
9. She’s Looking Good
10. Dreaming My Dreams With You
11. Bob Wills Is Still The King
An album version of the 33 1/3 series of books is an intriguing concept. Still, a straight-ahead cover of a classic album could go horribly wrong, but Chuck Prophet and company seem to have approached this with the right amount respect and irreverence. He adds his own laid-back, worn vocals and sliding psychedelic guitar to some already fantastic songs, updating “Waymore’s Blues” for a more weary and cynical world. Co-conspirator Stephanie Finch contributes an excellent version of “Let’s All Help The Cowboys (Sing The Blues)”. It won’t replace your copy of Dreaming My Dreams, but it may make you go back and appreciate it again.
quickcritmusic
Tracklist:
01 If The Ravens Leave
02 The Cricket Laced Midnight
03 Town Of 85 Lights
04 Leave The Secret There Forever
05 The Life Of The Fields
06 Factory Records
07 I’ve Realized
08 Snow And Feathers
09 Elsinore
10 A Distant Piano On A Foggy Night
In their 1980’s pomp both The Wake and The Field Mice made wistful innocent-sounding music which promised romance and melancholy in equal measure. So when members of both bands chose to collaborate as The Occasional Keepers in 2005, Bobby Wratten, Caesar and Caroline Allen duly delivered an album of music for sensitive souls. The follow-up is dispatched in much the same manner with a smattering of light electronica again bringing their style bang up to date.
As an opening ‘If The Ravens Leave’ sums up all that was good about both bands; the happy/sad tune delivered by Wratten’s always comforting tones. ”Town Of 85 Lights’ and ‘I’ve Realized’ are essentially a return to The Wake circa 1990 when they moved from Factory to Sarah Records; their music becoming lighter yet not nearl as vital as before. No quite as light as the Allen-sung ‘The Life Of The Fields, though, which is as tender as a snowflake.
In a further nod to their pasts, there’s time for an ambient/experimental homage to Factory Records whilst ‘Snow And Feathers’ has a definite Durutti Column influence. Yet the real highlight for me is ‘Leave The Secret There Forever’; everything about it is subtle and beautiful from the insistent bass and the light guitar jangle to the shimmering keyboards and Wratten’s confiding vocals. It beats the similarly dreamlike ‘Elsinore’ in to a close second. Taken as a whole, ‘True North’ stays true to the musicians’ pasts and proves that - even though they’ve embraced modern production techniques - their music can still be heartfelt and touching.
Further Listening:
The Wake, The Field Mice, Trembling Blue Stars, Northern Picture Library
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