The Smudge of Ashen Fluff

Grism - Relentless

2012-01-18T23:56:00.002-05:00

So this is how they rock out in Iowa. Might be worth a trip.

Imperial Teen's Feel the Sound streaming on Spin.com

2012-01-18T18:17:00.000-05:00

If you're like me, you listened to a lot of Imperial Teen in every car you've owned since the 90's. If albums could be called "unputdownable," they would be Imperial Teen albums.

Their new album, Feel the Sound, is streaming at Spin.com.

Click to order from Amazon:

Household

2012-01-17T21:52:00.000-05:00

so much depends
upon

a white flower
vase

glazed with fire
beneath

the incan-
descent light.

<p>&amp;lt;a href="http://household.bandcamp.com/album/items"&amp;gt;Items by Household&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;</p>

Dana Falconberry - Muskegon

2012-01-14T11:19:00.000-05:00

The last thing you need is yet another west coast beach-influenced song.

But this is not that west coast. This is the west coast of Michigan, and the beach is in Muskegon. I took this photo after a short walk through the woods. Though at first glance you might think you would love to be here right now, I squeezed the camera button through a gloved hand in the biting north December chill.

On the opposite dune, there were solitary trails of footprints in the sand.

Dana Falconberry captures the mood here, in her song named after the city.From Dana Falconberry's new EP, Though I Didn't Call It Came.

Kathryn Calder on World Cafe

2012-01-13T07:31:00.002-05:00

The New Pornographers' Kathryn Calder, who fills in beautifully for Neko Case when Neko can't make shows, was on World Cafe this Wednesday. Listen to the interview and performance here.Also, here's the official video for "Turn the Light On," from her latest album, Bright & Vivid.

YO LA TENGO - SUGARCUBE @ LA TRASTIENDA - BUENOS AIRES

2012-01-12T23:46:00.000-05:00

You Never Say Just Who You Are

2012-01-07T10:01:00.000-05:00

The Ettes tore through a live in-studio set at WFMU back in August. It was tough like this:

The Ettes - You Never Say (Live for WFMU's The Cherry Blossom Clinic) (popup)

Wicked Will is a 5 dollar download on Amazon.

Let's All Have a Love-a-Rama

2012-01-02T19:55:00.002-05:00

From the Alabama Music Hall of Fame:

Leon Bass learned to play the guitar and sing when he was 14 years old. Around 1955 or 1956 he traveled to Florence, Alabama and worked with James Joiner's Tune Records recording a couple of songs he had written - "Love-a-Rama" and "Come On Baby." The record never did much on the charts but later became a collector's item and is listed at #250 on Rolling Stone Magazine's 1000 Collector Records Chart. "Love-a-Rama" has been covered by The Country Rockers and Southern Culture on the Skids and was used in the Paramount Pictures movie, Varsity Blue.

50's kink lives! Long live 50's kink!

Leon Bass & The Keystones - Love-a-Rama (mp3 download on 4shared)

From the Oxford American Southern Music CD, "Mississippi," free with the December issue. Also free: For Further Listening, which has a Leon Bass cover of Jerry Lee Lewis.

Arcade Fire Presents Sprawl II

2011-12-16T08:28:00.003-05:00

Arcade Fire are pioneers of interactive music video. First there was The Wilderness Downtown, and now, Sprawl II, which is a little weirder, but in a good way.

The Year of Dangerous Ladies

2011-09-10T01:33:00.000-04:00

Earlier this year, we looked EMA in the eye, as she morphed "butterfly kisses" with sinister wordplay into "20 kisses with a butterfly knife." (mp3)

And now, here, Lana Del Rey's "Blue Jeans" turns images, innocuous alone, into the unsettled emissions of a tortured subconscious.

Nirvana's First Recording - (Rarest Early Live Video!) [Remastered - Pt...

2011-09-10T01:18:00.000-04:00

Gears of War 3 and...Mazzy Star?

2011-09-05T00:31:00.000-04:00

Into Dust turns out to be a swell post-apocalyptic anti-anthem. Genius.

Gears of War 3 Dust to Dust. Watch more top selected videos about: Video Games, Gears of War

2011-09-04T22:39:00.001-04:00

The Ettes' new video has all the makings of a major blockbuster, except...scenery. But no matter. As director Tom Scharpling suggests, its grandiosity shall match that of your imagination. Then again, this song begs for volume, not scenery, so turn it up. If Michael Bay made a rock song, it might sound something like this. If he made a rock video, on the other hand, it might look a bit different.

The Ettes - Excuse (mp3)

Wicked Will was just released in August.

Next Time, I Won't Make That Mistake Again

2011-09-02T01:19:00.000-04:00

It's well past the time that this town goes to sleep, and the heartbreak in this song is amplified by the surrounding silence.

Meredith Bragg - Next Time (mp3)

from Meredith Bragg's Nest

Half Man, Half Biscuit - National Shite Day (mp3)

2011-09-01T00:02:00.002-04:00

You know what the best thing is about the first day of September? Neither do I. The days are about to get shorter, and next summer is staggeringly distant. Let's celebrate anyway, shall we?

Half Man, Half Biscuit - National Shite Day (mp3)

Male Bonding - Dig You Out (LIVE video)

2011-08-30T22:29:00.002-04:00

The stage is about the size of a D.C. parking space, a few inches clearance from elbow to elbow, and if you're lucky, you can see the Male Bonding drummer when a beer bottle-sized space opens between standing members. You can't make out a single lyric, but you can do a poignancy check later with the headphones. There's not much air in the little room, and every single molecule of it is bouncing around like a pinball. These beautiful clustered moments only happen before bigger stages give a band more room than they know what to do with. May they long live on YouTube.

Endless Now
fuzzes like a bridge. For example: Male Bonding - Bones (mp3)
Download Male Bonding Bones

The Submarines - The Sun Shines At Night (Live Acoustic at Independent Records)

2011-05-02T23:12:00.001-04:00

The Submarines - Live at The Phoenix (video)

2011-05-02T22:01:00.001-04:00

Watch the full video at Baeblemusic.com

TV on the Radio - You - Electric Factory 04/08/2011

2011-04-10T22:34:00.000-04:00

SXSW JackWhite SeasickSteve

2011-03-17T11:04:00.000-04:00

Fang Island - Today (Smashing Pumpkins) (Live Video, Green Music Fest 6-27-10)

2011-03-09T00:03:00.001-05:00

You're going to want to make this thing big.

Flesh Eating Night Dancers

2011-03-01T12:21:00.005-05:00

"Night Dancers" depicts a contemporary belief in Uganda in abesezzi or night dancers. These are humans who become zombies after dark. They are said to strip themselves naked and dance feverishly in the slums or at the edges of the villages, their mouths filled with fire. They feast on the flesh of the recently buried dead. In Tabu-Flo's interpretation, two night dancers are confronted by the community after they eat a corpse. A struggle ensues and the night dancers are vanquished...

-"Hip-hop in Uganda: The Dance in the Night-Time," from The Economist.

ela orleans "light at dawn"

2011-02-11T16:03:00.000-05:00

This is like sultry jazz from right around the corner of consciousness.

Just the thing.

Electric Owls - Magic Show, Live (With Band!!)

2011-02-04T22:40:00.001-05:00

X (John Doe and Exene Cervenka), Live KEXP In-Studio, 12/31/10

2011-02-04T22:03:00.001-05:00

Acoustic. Download or stream (mp3).

St. Vincent - These Days (Jackson Browne/Nico version)

2011-01-28T14:28:00.001-05:00

St. Vincent risks another "these days." Her version stays.

Nada Surf - Enjoy The Silence (Depeche Mode) (video)

2011-01-21T12:43:00.001-05:00

The Octopus Project: ‎"1 song recorded with 1 microphone for 1:11 seconds on 1/11/11 at 1:11pm"

2011-01-11T15:22:00.002-05:00

You are the ones.

The Octopus Project - 1 song recorded with 1 microphone for 1:11 seconds on 1/11/11 at 1:11pm (mp3)

Nneka - Live on KEXP, 23 Oct 10 (mp3)

2010-12-16T09:50:00.004-05:00

Thanks to the internets, there are endless choices of streaming live performances to enjoy, but thanks to the very same internets, the ears can tire from so much noise that sounds so alike. A few months ago, Nneka played an in-studio at KEXP. It stands above the noise.

Nneka - Live on KEXP, 23 Oct 10 (mp3)

Glee Cast (Chris Colfer and Darren Criss) - Baby, It's Cold Outside

2010-12-16T09:21:00.003-05:00

Don we now....This is sure to keep those cockles warm. It's time to reconsider your "gayest Christmas songs" rankings (also time to update the holiday playlist!).

Girl Talk - This Is The Remix

2010-12-15T11:49:00.001-05:00

And so it is.

Gap Band - Humpin'

2010-12-15T11:47:00.001-05:00

'Tis Wednesday.

The White Stripes - Devil's Haircut (Beck)(live video)

2010-12-10T12:01:00.003-05:00

I wonder what a limited edition two-tone 45 of this would fetch on eBay.

This also exists. There's no video, but who'd have thought...YouTube can actually be good for the imagination.

Menomena - WNYC In-Studio Performance 10-4-2010

2010-10-05T15:47:00.002-04:00

Also, stream or download an extra song performed off-air, at WNYC.

Menomena - WNYC In-Studio Performance 10-4-2010 (mp3)

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Free Dylan Demo

2010-10-04T15:47:00.002-04:00

From the forthcoming Witmark Demos, today only, on Amazon.com. Download it here.

The Witmark Demos will be released on CD and in a vinyl box set, along with The Original Mono Recordings, on October 19th. Also, if you preorder from the
Dylan store on Amazon, you get a bonus live CD.

Heretics - Echoes (Klaxons cover)

2010-10-02T09:49:00.002-04:00

The UK's Heretics are unsigned, but my spidey-sense tells me they won't be for long.

Klaxons - 9-20-2010 at Bowery Electric, Live Acoustic

2010-10-02T09:29:00.004-04:00

I haven't considered how pretty Klaxons' 'Echoes' would sound sonically stripped. Here it is, live, with a few other tunes and interview.

'Surfing the Void,' by the way, holds up all the way through.

Male Bonding Live Brooklyn

2010-10-02T09:12:00.002-04:00

Male Bonding explodes, as Male Bonding tends to do.

PREMIERE: White Sea - Mountaineer

2010-10-02T09:09:00.000-04:00

Morgan Kibby of M83 is White Sea, and she reassures you in this musical dreamscape that it's all just a teen dream. Too bad we're not teens anymore.

PREMIERE: White Sea - Mountaineer

Cara Salimando - Your Ex-Lover Is Dead (Stars cover)

2010-09-08T10:43:00.001-04:00

Cara is really young, but she's still convincing. I believe her.

The English Beat, Live from Bumbershoot on KEXP, 9-6-2010

2010-09-08T01:38:00.002-04:00

I'll Take You There, I Confess, Save It For Later, Never You Done That, Tenderness, Mirror In the Bathroom. 40 minutes that you need, trust me. via KEXP.

The English Beat, Live from Bumbershoot on KEXP, 9-6-2010 (mp3)

Sonic Youth 930 Club 1988. Seriously.

2010-09-08T01:21:00.001-04:00

Ridiculous.

Cat Power, Nude As The News (Live Vid with Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley on drums)

2010-06-27T01:20:00.002-04:00

As posted a few moments ago on Sonic Youth's Faceboook Wall.

"Nude as the News" is from What Would the Community Think(1996)

Joanna Newsom, Live at Sixth and I Synagogue, 23 March

2010-05-27T08:32:00.003-04:00

Joanna Newsom recently played at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, and you can listen to and download the entire performance from NPR's Live Concerts.

Her new album is Have One on Me.

Jonsi - Live on MPR's The Current.

2010-05-16T09:39:00.003-04:00

DEFINITELY check out this live in-studio by Jonsi for 89.3's The Current. Wherever you are, or whatever you are doing, it is just the thing.

He performed "Stars in Stillwater," "Go Do," and "Around Us." Headphones absolutely required.

Order Go.

Arcade Fire: Suburbs/Month of May single (vinyl) out June 1, available for pre-order

2010-05-16T09:34:00.002-04:00

I just pre-ordered my copy of Suburbs/Month of May
on Amazon.com.

Arcade Fire Status Update: "Finishing up pressing our new 12""

2010-05-16T09:18:00.003-04:00

Arcade Fire Howdy y'all - Just finishing up pressing our new 12". Should be in stores in the next couple of weeks. God willing.
Good luck with finals.

See you this summer!

AF

http://amzn.to/amaq3p

Suburbs/Month of May
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Ramona Falls - Too Little Too Late (video)

2010-05-14T13:13:00.005-04:00

"Russia," the second video from Ramona Falls' debut album, Intuit.

You just have to know when to let go.

Owen Pallett In Concert From Webster Hall

2010-04-29T23:34:00.003-04:00

Full stream up on NPR.org. The encore closes with Mariah Carey's "Fantasy."

Beach House, Live on The Current, 4-6-2010

2010-04-08T19:41:00.002-04:00

The duo performs Norway, Real Love, and Ten Mile Stereo. In the interview, they discuss the songwriting process, album people versus singles people, the virtues of the "slow burn," and song sequencing.

Teen Dream [CD + DVD] is still among the best albums of the year so far.

Electric Owls - A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off (Magnetic Fields)

2010-03-30T09:00:00.002-04:00

Here's a rare look at Electric Owls, who covered a Magnetic Fields classic recently. Electric Owls, The Comas' Andy Herod's current project, have been showing up here and there, but there is no tour schedule, and their page on the Vagrant site is gone. Let's hope they stick around for a while. Ain't Too Bright was great stuff, and Andy is captivating live.

Electric Owls - A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off (Magnetic Fields)(mp3)

Senryu - Inklings

2010-03-29T10:15:00.000-04:00

Knoxville's Senryu are releasing Inkling on April 13th. Ariel Saldivar, who performed with Polyphonic Spree and Broken Social Scene, sings on this one. Spare-lush-spare is the new loud-quiet-loud, and this title track holds out until about the three minute mark. I'm perfectly happy with the charm and simplicity of its beginning, and the song would be just fine without blooming into sonic multilayers, but I'm not complaining. That minute colors the song jubilant.

Senryu - Inklings (mp3)

Listen to more Senryu here.

Sebastian Blanck feat. Carolyn Polachek - Thunder

2010-03-28T21:49:00.002-04:00

This is from Sebastian Blanck's forthcoming Alibi Coast, out June 22nd. The warm fingerpicking signals spring. I has a melancholic brightness, like a firefly in a jar, or the afterimage of a candle. It's one of those songs that begs for similes, and campfires. Sign me up.

Sebastian Blanck "Thunder" feat. Caroline Polachek by rare book room records

St. Vincent - Your Lips Are Red (Live @ Black Cat DC)

2010-03-28T01:34:00.000-04:00

Sonic Youth - Pay No Mind (Beck)(youtube stream)

2010-03-17T00:33:00.002-04:00

Just a quick reminder. Record Store Day is not forever from now. Time to start scoping future rarities.

And here's a reminder of how MTV used to be, with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore skillfully extracting Beck's deepest philosophies and insights before the Mellow Gold release date.

Charlotte Gainsbourg - Trick Pony (Live on Letterman, 1-22-2010)

2010-01-28T00:46:00.002-05:00

Complete with werewolf.

Cowboy Junkies with Vic Chesnutt - Postcard Blues.

2010-01-08T12:21:00.000-05:00

R.I.P. Vic Chesnutt. Not everyone noticed on Christmas day, but those of us that did felt it, and maybe even more now that the holiday haze has cleared away. May you float weightlessly and write unconstrained in heaven.

Cowboy Junkies with Vic Chesnutt - Postcard Blues (mp3)

From Cowboy Junkies' Trinity Revisited [CD/DVD].

Vic Chesnutt Store

Dex & Cat, Love Letters.

2010-01-07T12:05:00.000-05:00

Chan Marshall sings with Flat Duo Jets' Dex Romweber in this great classic song of longing, "Love Letters," from the Dex Romweber Duo's Ruins of Berlin. It might have been done best by Ketty Lester, see the video below, but the warm tone color in Chan's voice is perfect for yearning.

Dex Romweber Duo, featuring Cat Power - Love Letters (mp3)

Will Kimbrough - Goodnight Moon

2010-01-06T09:18:00.000-05:00

Some of the Oxford American magazine's Southern Music compilations are fetching ridiculous sums. I saw one of the comps, I don't remember from which year, for over $120 on Amazon.com. Crazy, since they're free with a $15 subscription. I have several of the compilations, and I get a more mileage out of them than an old rusty pickup. The last song on the 6th CD in the series is a lingering and proper farewell: a musical version of the classic children's book that has been read to you in dim, flickering light.

Will Kimbrough - Goodnight Moon (mp3)

The song is also available on Will Kimbrough's 2000 album, This.

Boy Eats Drum Machine

2010-01-05T10:09:00.000-05:00

Hoop + Wire is the forthcoming (early March) release from Boy Eats Drum Machine, the brainchild of Jonny Ragel, the prolific composer from a basement in the landlocked nation of Portland. Here he takes straight progressions, preserves them, and yet disjoints them with stop-and-go syncopated rhythms and echoes. Stumbling hasn't been this charming since They Might Be Giants. Plus, there's something about the solo ethic that makes the music feel personal and real, like a home cooked meal by a grandma versus a chef's specialty prepared by a disciplined team. The critics-be-damned, this is how I like to make my dish mentality. Who doesn't relate to that?

Boy Eats Drum Machine - Hoop & Wire (mp3)

Mp3 Blogging is Therapeutic, And So Is This.

2010-01-04T09:19:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I think of music bloggers as warped Seussian Hortons, holding out fuzzy pink flowers to imagined masses, insisting that here, right here on this little pink fuzzy, is something that exists and might enchant you and color your world if you will just have a listen. Meanwhile, the imagined masses seek out the things that they already know and love, too busy to stop at every snotty trunk-gripped flower that is rudely shoved in front of their faces.

So I've been busy with new challenges, neglecting the community of Who-ville, though like the tree that fell in the forest, I didn't really make a noise anyway.

Although my studies are only about to intensify, I still have my own ears, and I can at least try to remind myself that I exist. And so I'm going to start posting again, for no other reason than "It feels good."

Here's a little pink flower with Marie "Queenie" Lyons. She was a soul singer in the 60's, who worked with the great James Brown (R.I.P.), and made one LP and a few 45's. After Soul Fever was released in 1970, she disappeared. But unlike "The Smudge of Ashen Fluff," she made a noise.

Marie "Queenie" Lyons - See And Don't See (mp3)

Also listen to "A Minute of His Good Time" and "We'll Cry Together" on Sir Shambling's Deep Soul Heaven.

2009-12-16T15:26:00.001-05:00

...& the second best video is Charlotte Gainsbourg with Beck.

Charlotte Gainsbourg - Heaven Can Wait from Charlotte Gainsbourg on Vimeo.

Ramona Falls - I Say Fever (video)

2009-12-16T15:18:00.002-05:00

The video for Ramona Falls' "I Say Fever" is my favorite of the year. Maybe all time.

Daniel Johnston - You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

2009-12-16T14:52:00.002-05:00

Here's Daniel Johnston doing the Beatles from this year's Austin City Limits. If you can imagine there's a heaven, that's where John Lennon is also covering Daniel Johnston songs.

Daniel Johnston - Live at Austin City Limits (10-2-2009)(mp3s):
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (Beatles)
Speedy Motorcycle

Daniel Johnston's latest album is Is and Always Was.

Free Songs From 4AD

2009-12-16T13:02:00.002-05:00

Elliott Smith - Cecilia/Amanda

2009-12-15T12:30:00.002-05:00

Kill Rock Stars is reissuing Elliott Smith's Roman Candle and From A Basement On A Hill in April of next year. Roman Candle will also be released on vinyl for the first time in the U.S.

Until then, they're celebrating by offering up the previously unreleased Cecilia/Amanda (mp3) as a free download, which was "recorded at Jackpot! Recording Studio in 1997 by Larry Crane. An earlier version of this song was initially written and recorded by Elliott's high school band, Stranger Than Fiction, and was known as "Time is Ours Now". "Cecilia/Amanda" is a reworking of that song with almost completely different lyrics."

Also, the entire Elliott Smith back catalog is on sale at http://www.buyolympia.com/killrockstars/

Meat Puppets, Live on KEXP, 9-23-2009

2009-10-26T14:25:00.000-04:00

As someone we know once introduced them, "These are the brothers Meat Puppets. We're big fans of theirs."

Meat Puppets - Live, Acoustic, on KEXP 9-23-2009 (mp3 podcast)

Rain Machine (TVOTR's Kyp Malone), Live on The Current

2009-10-26T12:11:00.000-04:00

Rain Machine, Live in The Current Studios, October 16, 2009 (audio stream).

Without Love (There Is Nothing)

2009-10-26T08:30:00.000-04:00

Nothing, I said.

Oscar Toney, Jr. - Without Love (There Is Nothing)(mp3)

Thank you, Oscar Toney, Jr., for the lift.

From Take Me To The River: A Southern Soul Story 1961-1977, which has 74 more songs like it.

Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar - Live on KCRW, 10-23-2009 (video)

2009-10-26T00:39:00.003-04:00

Video is up for Friday's KCRW in-studio. Watch the gents, on guitar and on Kerouac.

Ramona Falls - The Darkest Day (Live in a Paris Apartment)(Video)

2009-10-23T23:45:00.003-04:00

Also: Ramona Falls - Russia (Live on KEXP, August 28th)(mp3)

Live October Streams & Downloads From Yo La Tengo, Dinosaur Jr, The Gossip

2009-10-13T23:33:00.003-04:00

I'm a little behind here, and I'm cursing my courseload for taking me away from it.

I'll be posting when I find rare moments to breathe.

For now, check out very recent performances from Yo La Tengo (The Current, 10-7-2009), The Gossip (scorching!) at the 9:30 Club on the same day (NPR Live Concerts)(download mp3), and Dinosaur Jr., more like Dinosaur Sr. these days, but with a 3-Marshall stack show, still heavy and dissonant as a teenager, also an NPR Live Concert at the 9:30, (October 8th)(download mp3).

The Swimmers - A Hundred Hearts

2009-10-01T08:45:00.003-04:00

I listen to this, and I can see the exploits of a complicated girl play out in a video that doesn't exist. Let me dream. Music Video, where have you gone?

The Swimmers - A Hundred Hearts (mp3)

From The Swimmers' People Are Soft, out Nov. 3.

Roseanne Cash + Neko Case

2009-10-01T08:24:00.002-04:00

Roseanne Cash's forthcoming album, The List, features collaborators Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Rufus Wainwright and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, and is streaming in its entirety on NPR Exclusive First Listen. Satisfied Mind, an iTunes exclusive, includes guest vocals from Neko Case.

Lhasa - Fool's Gold

2009-09-23T00:17:00.004-04:00

There's only one Margo Timmins, I know that, and thank heaven for her. If there could be two, though, Lhasa De Sela would be the other one. This atmospheric country strum would have fit nicely on The Trinity Sessions.

Lhasa de Sela - Fool's Gold (mp3)

From Lhasa De Sela's Lhasa, just released last week.

Screaming Females - Bell

2009-09-21T23:14:00.002-04:00

Screaming Females are some touring maniacs. Brutal for them, and brutally brilliant for us. Catch them if you can...they might be playing your street.

Screaming Females - Bell (mp3)

From Power Move, released this April.

Screamale insanity:

Bebel Gilberto - Chica Chica Boom Chic

2009-09-17T23:48:00.002-04:00

Bebel Gilberto - Chica Chica Boom Chic (mp3)

Bebel Gilberto's new album, All in One, will be released September 29 via Verve Forecast.

On this album, Bebel has collaborated with Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse), Didi Gutman (Brazilian Girls), Carlinhos Brown (Caetano Veloso), Daniel Jobim (grandson of Antonio Carlos Jobim), and John King (the Dust Brothers).

This song, which and feels like something from one of the Verve Remixed series, is percussion-heavy, playful, and sexy. But isn't anything sung by a Brazilian in Portuguese the latter two?

M. Ward - Live at the 9:30 Club, D.C., 7-30-2009

2009-09-15T02:00:00.004-04:00

M. Ward's 9:30 Club show is available for download (mp3) and streaming, courtesy NPR Live Concerts.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

2009-09-14T08:52:00.002-04:00

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Higher Than The Stars (Saint Etienne Visits Lord Spank remix)(mp3)

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart will be releasing a full, five track EP of all-new material on 9 November 2009 on Fortuna POP!

Voices

2009-09-11T18:45:00.002-04:00

Voices, loved and idealized
of those who have died, or of those
lost for us like the dead.

Sometimes they speak to us in dreams;
sometimes deep in thought the mind hears them.

And with their sound for a moment return
sounds from our life's first poetry--
like music at night, distant, fading away.

- C.P. Cavafy

Haroula Rose - The Leaving Song

2009-09-04T08:04:00.002-04:00

Haroula Rose, a world traveler originally from Chicago, demonstrates in The Leaving Song that vocal twang in country songs is optional, even desirable. Infused with warmth and longing, the song pulls at the heart without a speck of sentimentality.

Haroula Rose - The Leaving Song (mp3)

Haroula Rose

From the Someday EP. Haroula Rose is recording her debut full-length, in Athens, Georgia, this fall.

Blind Boy Grunt (Bob Dylan) - Dreadful Day

2009-09-02T00:32:00.002-04:00

May I have your attention for a minute. And 4 seconds.

Blind Boy Grunt (Bob Dylan) - Dreadful Day (mp3)

From Vol. 6-Broadside Ballads: Broadside Reunion

The Strokes - NYC Cops (Live, 12-21-2000); NYC Cops (Live with Jack White, video)

2009-08-31T23:39:00.002-04:00

The Strokes - NYC Cops (Live on WFMU's The Cherry Blossom Clinic, 12-21-2000)(mp3)

setlist:
Alone Together
NYC Cops
Soma
Barely Legal
Modern Age
Last Night
Take it or Leave it
New Song

If you're reading this, you have access to the internet, and therefore know that Julian Casablancas will be releasing a solo album, Phrazes For The Young, soon.

GusGus - Add This Song (video)

2009-08-31T23:13:00.003-04:00

This is from GusGus' "24/7" out on 9-14, and it features all the obligatory elements of modern video: a sexy nurse, a sinister doctor, blurred frontal nudity, necrophilia, and face licking. Somehow, it all seems okay here.

Add This Song

Sesame Street Martians Find A Raaaay-deeeoooh

2009-08-28T12:51:00.002-04:00

Here's me listening to advance promos.

Tarantino on soundtracks and strangling.

2009-08-28T11:03:00.002-04:00

Quentin Tarantino, from a recent interview on NPR.

...oddly enough, I've always - I've never actually seen "The Alamo" itself, actually. So I don't really have the association of "Green Leaves of Summer" as being "The Alamo" theme. Oddly enough, I grew up watching kung fu movies. They would use the theme "Green Leaves of Summer" in a lot of needle drops in kung fu movies a lot. So I was actually more familiar with it in a Bruce Lai(ph) movie than I was actually from the John Wayne film...

But what happened was I came across, I found this really fantastic used record store in Japan, and I bought all these different records and different 45s, and one of the 45s was just, it had the theme, "Green Leaves of Summer," the theme to "The Alamo" on one side, and then on the flip side was a theme to, the theme to "The Magnificent Seven.

...

So it's like a combination of the opposable thumbs, it's the combination of the brain and the thought process and the will to do it. I mean, boa constrictors suffocate people, but they don't strangle them. And you know, you can kill somebody with a knife. You can do all these kinds of things that are up close and personal, but you really have to bring your strength, and really - you have to really be committed to actually strangle the life out of somebody, to crush their larynx and just squeeze every drop of life out of them.

Nick Perito - Green Leaves of Summer (mp3)

From the Inglourious Basterds soundtrack.

The Red Channels - Afshin Waltz

2009-08-27T00:22:00.002-04:00

Yes, "waltz," but this dance is far from the ballroom, in a post-apocalyptic circus, a dance among the detritus, in rags for a dress, with a dead dog for a judge. The song resonates beautifully over the fallout. But maybe that's just me.

The Red Channels - Afshin Waltz (mp3)

From The Red Channels' Ghetto Cooking, released this Tuesday.

Sean Bones & Merida Rose (video), Norah Jones (mp3) - Turn Them

2009-08-26T01:31:00.005-04:00

It's like they say: location, location, location.

SEAN BONES turn them from sam fleischner on Vimeo.

Of course now I can't listen to this song without accompanying imagery, but that's not such a bad thing.

Sean Bones & Norah Jones - Turn Them (mp3)

From Rings

The Polyphonic Spree - Damage Control & other new demos

2009-08-25T01:17:00.004-04:00

I met The Spree's Tim DeLaughter and Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent, at Reagan National Airport in Alexandria, VA, a few years ago, and they seemed like incredibly nice people after a long trip from San Antonio. Tim signed a Harp magazine on the cover photo of PJ Harvey for me. Since then I've been fond of them, so I was delighted to see that Tim is blogging. Mp3 blogging, no less.

Here's yesterday's demo of Damage Control (mp3). This, and several other mp3 goodies, are posted on The Fragile Army blog, along with Delaughter's insight, artwork, and photographs.

Beck - Modern Guilt Acoustic - Replica

2009-08-25T01:11:00.002-04:00

Jessica Dobson, a.k.a. Deep Sea Diver, is on guitar and backing vocals on the left screen. Fact: The original Modern Guilt album would have been even better with her it on it.

Modern Guilt Acoustic "Replica" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Beck with Record Club - Black Angel's Death Song (Velvet Underground & Nico)

2009-08-20T15:56:00.000-04:00

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico "Black Angel's Death Song" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Cracker performs on The Current, 8-20-2009

2009-08-20T11:24:00.000-04:00

The Octopus Project - Wet Gold (Live Video, Ft Worth, TX 2-28-2008)

2009-08-19T12:15:00.003-04:00

Stay with it until the end for hot theremin action.

Wet Gold is on The Octopus Project's Golden Beds EP, which was released a few weeks ago.

Ramona Falls' Intuit is out today.

2009-08-18T17:00:00.002-04:00

Don't get it? The study cover art for a while:

Still not getting it? Maybe it's not meant to be got. But you should get the new Ramona Falls album. It's a contender for my favorite of the year. Get Intuit Stream the album here.

Beck - Modern Guilt Acoustic - Walls

2009-08-17T14:15:00.000-04:00

Modern Guilt Acoustic "Walls" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Thom Yorke & Beck - I'm Set Free (Velvet Underground)(Live)

2009-08-16T16:49:00.002-04:00

Download/listen here, via Rollo & Grady.

Arctic Monkeys - Take It Or Leave It (The Strokes)

2009-08-16T15:49:00.001-04:00

The Arctic Monkeys do The Strokes. There's an analogy in there somewhere. Via Chromewaves.

Florence & The Machine Boss Cover

2009-08-14T15:49:00.002-04:00

Florence & The Machine - I'm Going Down (Springsteen)(mp3)(Live with Kid Harpoon, BBC6 Music Session, 6-7-07)

Florence & The Machine bring out the sadness in this Born In The U.S.A. classic. As upbeat and anthemic as that album was, it has some of Springsteen's most devastating songs.

Beck with Record Club - I'll Be Your Mirror (Velvet Underground & Nico)

2009-08-13T14:37:00.003-04:00

This has been one of my favorite songs for a long time, and I was prepared to be a little disappointed, anticipating some sort of bastardization. The Primitives did it well back in the 80's. Beck and Record Club did it well, just now.

Goodbye Les Paul.

2009-08-13T14:10:00.002-04:00

Farewell to a true creative revolutionary.