Stephanie Mckay Tells It.

If you can't get enough of that nu-soul sound, but you're dismayed by the small catalog of choices, you'll want to hear Bronx sensation Stephanie McKay Tell It Like It Is on her forthcoming EP. She has a message to put out there, and she sings it like she means it. Check out that bass line on the title track. Listen to the song once and it will own your right brain for half a day.

Stephanie McKay - Tell It like It Is (mp3)

These collaborations are just as priceless:

DJ Spinna - Peace and Quiet (Featuring Stephanie McKay) (mp3)

Roy Hargrove - Forget Regret (Featuring Stephanie McKay) (mp3)

The Hard Tomorrows

Washington, DC's The Hard Tomorrows have made four songs off of their fantastic six-song EP available here. These tracks are instantly likeable, yet enduring. The Hard Tomorrows achieve the trifecta: infectious pop melody, blood-stirring rhythm, and cold steel edge. I'm ready for the full-length.

The Hard Tomorrows mp3s:

Put Yourself Out
Jaywalker
Dear Mary
I Never Write Anyone

Own the EP for a mere $6 including shipping. As the now-defunct Splendid put it,

This fresh-faced Washington, DC-based band has assembled a five song EP that showcases their depth and dynamic talent. Even their packaging (five interchangeable covers featuring simple depictions of tragedy) is on-point.

Raconteurs Live on KCRW

KCRW captured this performance from The Raconteurs, and played it on Morning Becomes Eclectic yesterday. They weren't plugged in, but they were still electric.

The Raconteurs - Live on Morning Becomes Eclectic (Broadcast 8-3-2006) (mp3s):

Broken Boy Soldier
Hands
Yellow Sun
Together
Blue Veins

Own Broken Boy Soldiers.

Smoosh, Live on The Current, 7-31-2006

Your favorite onomatopoetic teenage girl band played three songs on MPR's The Current on Monday.

Smoosh (Live on The Current) (mp3s):

She's Right
This Is Not What We've Become
Find A Way

Buy Free to Stay.

Jim Noir Kicking the Football Around With Naturalists.

See the action in his Eanie Meany video here.

Keep a Souvenir

Monk released the Jeux de Nuit EP this past weekend, and it begins with this manic-depressive tune, in which the band make bipolar = ear candy, even the depressing parts.

Monk - Souvenir (mp3)

You can get it on iTunes.

And from their Mountain album, which you can get here:

Monk - F Word, I Still Love You (mp3)

All You Need are Two Fingers and Massive Beats.

If you only buy one CD next Tuesday, buy two: Winter Women and Holy Ghost Language School, the 2-disc set from the Fiery Furnaces' dude half, Matthew Friedberger. Take these two songs, about...I don't know, something about stockbrokers, a Portuguese widow, the Rifle Brigade with a famous one-armed Col, and the enterprising enlisted man, Little Bill Crib, and his Ladies of the Desert.

Right. Well, the important thing is, nobody, and I mean nobody, can make two adjacent piano keys sound as good as Friedberger can. Here's the school of thought: lay down some massive hemmorhaging beats, or an infectious bass line, and play something random on top of it. Be generous with that most primal form of dissonance - adjacent whole or half-notes. Garnish with some train-of-thought, and voila. Simultaneously Hitchcockian and groovy.


From Winter Women (mp3s):
Big Bill Crib and His Ladies of the Desert
Servant in Distress

From Holy Ghost Language School (mp3):
Azusa St.

REM Live in 85

It's old news by now, but if you haven't heard...this September, EMI is releasing a best-of CD and DVD of REM's early years at I.R.S.

According to MyRem.com:

The CD will be called And I Feel Fine…The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 and will be available in 2 formats: a 21-track single-disc collection of hits and band/fan favorites and a 2-CD Collector's Edition with a second 21-track disc of rarities including alternate takes, demos, previously unreleased mixes, and live recordings of classic R.E.M. The collector's edition will include 11 never-before released tracks. The DVD, When the Light Is Mine The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 Video Collection, includes the music videos from Chronic Town through Document, as well as live television performances and James Herbert’s short film, Left of Reckoning. DVD extras feature early interviews and rare acoustic performances.

It might look something like this:



In anticipation, I'm posting these REM songs, from their performance at the 1985 Werchter Festival, were recorded from an FM broadcast. The sound quality is excellent on all of these, including the cover of CCR's Have You Ever Seen The Rain. For me, these conjure images of the band, with a permed Stipe, in all their glorious thrift store frumpiness (see above). They were the counterculture of the times.

REM (Live at the Werchter Festival, 7-7-1985) (mp3s):

Feeling Gravity's Pull
Driver 8
(Don't Go Back To) Rockville
So. Central Rain
Have You Ever Seen the Rain (CCR Cover)
Can't Get There From Here

By the way, here's a video from that era, recorded from The Tube:



And here's the band playing Country Feedback, with Bill Berry, from a Minus 5 performance earlier this year at the Georgia Theater in Athens:



While I'm at it, here's the full-length version of Nightswimming (from the Parallel DVD), which Chris Martin called the best song ever written:

BAD.ASS.

Here are some BAD.ASS rhythms to carry you into the weekend. Turn it up.

Ray Baretto - Soul Drummers (mp3) (from Acid)

The Hitch-Hikers with The Mighty Popes - Mr. Fortune (mp3) (from Jamaica to Toronto: Soul Funk and Reggae 1967-1974)

William Onyeabor - Body and Soul (mp3) (from Booniay!!: A Compilation of West African Funk)

Say Hi To Your Mom Live at KEXP

Say Hi To Your Mom played live in the KEXP studio yesterday. It was magically delicious.

Say Hi To Your Mom - Live on KEXP, 7-26-2006 (mp3s):

These Fangs
Sweet Sweet Heartkiller
She Just Happens to Hate the Prince of Darkness
Snowcones and Puppies

And since we're on the subject of pets:

Say Hi To Your Mom - Kill the Cat (mp3)

And since we're on the subject of death:



And because I love it:

Say Hi To Your Mom - Pop Music of the Future (mp3)

Download 12 more mp3s here.

Tapes 'n Tapes, live at MPR 7-21-2006

The blogs have gushed 'n gushed about Tapes 'n Tapes. Last week, the band returned the favor on MPR, confessing their debt to mp3 blogs in an interview for The Current.

From this story:

"With the Internet, and with a blog that people go back to, it's really easy to keep things fresh in people's minds," Willett says. "It'd be like, 'Oh yeah, there's that band again.' And then as you hop from blog to blog and you see, 'Oh they're talking about it too, there must be something going on.' And what's funny is, in my post I even said if I were Pitchfork, this would be my best new music. And then a couple months later it was best new music in Pitchfork."

Here's the in-studio performance:

Tapes 'n Tapes (Live on Minnesota Public Radio, 7-21-2006)(mp3s):

Jakov's Suite
Cowbell
Insistor

Get The Loon.

Camera Obscura, Live on KEXP

The new Camera Obscura album was the most-played last week at WXYC, and for several weeks now, the band has been on the Hype Machine's "most blogged about list." They've been less Obscura than Common-a. For good reason. The album is very good, and their live shows have been getting raves. Here they are in an intimate setting, live at the KEXP studio.

Camera Obscura (Live on KEXP, 7-20-2006) (mp3s):

The False Contender
Tears for Affairs
Dory Previn
Let's Get Out of This Country

Own Let's Get Out of This Country.

Golden Smog, Live on The Current

Half of Golden Smog (Gary Louris of the Jayhawks and Kraig Jarret Johnson of Run Westy Run) played a short in-studio set on Minnesota Public Radio's The Current last Thursday.

Chills.

Golden Smog (Live on The Current, 7-20-2006) (mp3s):

Beautiful Mind
Gone
Think About Yourself

Own the excellent Another Fine Day

D X S !

I was going to post Camera Obscura's KCRW in-studio performance from yesterday. BUT since there are scores, even hundreds, of Camera Obscura mp3s on the blogs already (they're one of the Hype Machine's "Most Blogged" artists) (which, by the way, is an evil category) (I digress), I'm going to post the polar opposite of indie pop: the undainty Death By Sexy.

"Polar opposite" is a really poor comparison, though. Let's try that again. If your everyday indie pop is a Starbucks Frappucino, then Death By Sexy is a day-old mug of grounds. If indie pop is Werther's Originals hard candy, then Death By Sexy are Pop Rocks. Tons more flavor, and a lot more shocking. Maybe a little less staying power, but difficult the future is to see. Wait, one more. If indie pop is a Power Ranger, then Death By Sexy is...yeah baby, CHUCK NORRIS.

In three words: harder, faster, louder. With that, I can erase the two paragraphs above.

A very wise man once said "Sometimes you just gotta rock." If you squint really hard nad look up on the mountaintop, you'll see that old sage with earbuds - no, scratch that - earbuds are for wusses. You'll see that feller weighed down with enormous, hideous, fully head-encapsulating headphones, rocking out to some Death By Sexy, enlightened by the racket that emanates from a mere two men, two voices, one guitar, one drumset, and cowbell.

Death By Sexy - You and Me Are Gonna Get It On (mp3)
Death By Sexy - Blow My Mind (mp3)

Death By Sexy are playing tonight at DC9, and their EP release show is at the Black Cat on August 11. Be a man and get yourself a copy.

Have some candy.

I found these over the weekend.

Bow Wow Wow - Live in Boston, 18 Jan 1983 (mp3s):

I Want Candy
C-30, C-60, C-90, Go!
Radio G-String
Louis Quatorze

Math Is Useful In Real Life.

Math the Band brings its quirky manic laptop pop to WMUC's Indiepopalooza at the University of Maryland next Tuesday. They're playing with another band I've been enjoying lately - the Tasty Habits. More on them later this week.

For now, study your Math.

Math the Band mp3s:

My Algebra Teacher (sold heroin)
Red Sweater (Aquabats cover)
I Bet You Five Dollars I Have Married More People Than You Have
Wear Wolf Fever
Clouds Are Clams

Get more here.

The Submarines on KCRW

The Submarines are a husband & wife team that broke up, wrote some songs, reconciled, and now play them together. Something like that. You can read more about their history at other sites - it's good page-filler. What matters to me is that their songs shimmer. Maybe a little too much for some tastes--but many of the groups that seek harmonic perfection and surrender to the melodies they're compelled to record have been accused of making music that is "too pretty" or "overproduced." Too pretty works for my ears.

The Submarines - Live on KCRW's MBE (7-12-2006)(mp3):

Vote
Brighter Discontent
This Conversation
Modern Inventions
Ready or Not
Peace and Hate
Darkest Things Parts 1 & 2

World Party on MPR

World Party performed in the MPR studio on Monday. From minnesota.publicradio.org:

St. Paul, Minn. — World Party fell apart after leader Karl Wallinger was struck down by an aneurysm that left him unable to speak. Wallinger's manager and mentor, Steve Fargnoli died of cancer and World Party ended its long time record deal with Chrysalis Records.

After several years of rehabilitation, Wallinger put the group back together, and re-mastered and packaged "Dumbing Up" on his own label Seaview Records (the recording only received a partial UK release in 2000.)

These guys are not only playing like they mean it--they're playing like they love it.

World Party - Live on MPR (The Current) (7-10-2006) (mp3s):

Is It Like Today?
What Does It Mean?
Sweet Soul Dream

Get World Party CDs.

TVOTRXFM

A very kind person e-mailed these to me last week. Thank you, sir, for sharing them.

TV On the Radio (Live on XFM) (mp3s):

Staring at the Sun
Dreams
Poppy
Dirty Whirlwind
Blues From Down Here
Province

Own Return to Cookie Mountain.

Jim Noir mixes Sebastien Tellier.

The original version of La Ritournelle (which is French, bien sur, for "The Ritournelle") was on Sébastien Tellier's Politics, released in 2004. It tricks you into thinking it's an instrumental track - a good one - and then after four minutes, the vocals appear, along with the light funk. It's worth the wait, and the wait is worth it.

Sébastien Tellier - La Ritournelle (Original Edit)(mp3)


I recently professed my admiration for Jim Noir. Here's his mix:

Sébastien Tellier - La Ritournelle (Jim Noir Mix) (mp3)

The Coup - Live on MPR

The Coup played on Minnesota Public Radio last month. The entire performance with interview is available on their website. They helped thousands of Minnesotans reach a higher level of understanding, and perhaps changed a few attitudes. Or maybe they just made the folks around the Twin Cities shake their Twin Cheeks.

The Coup - Live on MPR 6-2-06 (mp3s)

ShowYoAss
Laugh, Love, F**k
Five Million Ways to Kill a CEO/Gunsmoke

Hotter Reggae

Darker Than Blue: Soul from Jamdown (1973-1980) features 18 scorching tracks of Jamaican reggae bands covering American soul, funk, and rap. One listen to Ken Boothe's cover of Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine, and you're hooked; one listen to Welton Irie's Hotter Reggae Music, in which Rapper's Delight pops up from out of nowhere, and you're buying.

Welton Irie - Hotter Reggae Music (mp3)
Ken Boothe - Ain't No Sunshine (mp3)

The Good Titles Blues

Some of my favorite song titles are from early blues songs. They just don't make titles like they used to, do they? These tracks are from Joe Hill Louis: The Complete Sun Recordings, available on emusic.com.

I can imagine a White Stripes cover of When I'm Gone (She Treat Me Mean and Evil), can't you? And the spoken word rambling on Gotta Let You Go...love it!

Joe Hill Louis mp3s:

She May Be Yours (But She Comes to See Me Sometimes)(Version 2)
Gotta Let You Go (Nappy Headed Woman)
When I'm Gone (She Treat Me Mean and Evil)

Guster - Live on KCRW, 6-30-06

Guster played a lengthy, crowd-pleasing set on KCRW last week. Well, okay, there was no crowd. But if there were, I promise everyone would have been pleased.

Let me post the bonus non-KCRW performance live track first:
(Nothing but) Flowers (Talking Heads cover) - From Guster on Ice

Guster - Live on KCRW, 6-30-06 (mp3s):

One Man Wrecking Machine
Satellite
Jesus on the Radio
Two of Us (Beatles cover)
Lightning Rod
Rise and Shine
The Captain
Amsterdam

The Black Heart Procession - Live on KEXP 6-30-06

The Black Heart Procession played four songs on KEXP yesterday. Prepare to be entranced and harrowed. Their spell has no cure.

The Black Heart Procession (Live on KEXP 6-30-06) (mp3s):

Not Just Words
The Letter
To Bring You Back
The Spell

Own The Spell.

The Long Winters - Putting the Days to Bed

The Long Winters' Putting the Days to Bed has been growing on me for weeks now, and I wish I knew why. There's something about John Roderick's voice that is instantly familiar, but I can't nail it down exactly. Maybe it's in the way he skips and holds syllables to break the constraints of verse, to blur the distance between lines and give an intimate, sincere feel. Or it might be the way the instruments meld together and build smoothly into synchronized climaxes. Then again, it could just be because Roderick's delivery just reminds me of Counting Crows' Adam Duritz at his most passionate.

One of these days I might nail it. For now, it doesn't matter. It's a fantastic album that keeps me company on long drives, and I'll just enjoy it whether there's anyone pulling levers behind the curtain or not.

The Long Winters mp3s (from Putting the Days to Bed)

Hindsight
Clouds
Pushover

Latin Soul Orchestra

Look no further for the perfect weekend driving music.

If you let me love you for a while
Whoah, baby, I'll give you my chile
If you let me love you for a while
Whoah, baby, I'll make you smile

Latin Soul Orchestra - Let Me Love You (mp3)
Latin Soul Orchestra - Puerto Rico Illama (mp3)

From Latin Soul Orchestra

Jim Noir - Tower of Love

Let me get this out of the way: Jim Noir's Tower of Love is the most ear-pleasing album of the year. Let me get this out of the way as well: It has been out (in Britain) since last year. The Barsuk American release, which contains two extra tracks, is going to send it over the tipping point, in the same way that the Postal Service's Give Up exploded after it pretty much sat there like unopened junk mail for about a year, or the way Arcade Fire's Funeral caught fire after the Pitchfork review. Yeah, it's like that.

The opening track, "My Patch," immediately reveals his Brian Wilsonesque tendencies, with short piano and vocal pulses harmonizing underneath the repeating "If you ever step on my patch, I'll bring you down, bring you down." After a short pause, the beats come in to give the song the feel of a light remix of a Beach Boys song. But the thing that tops it all off is what sounds like a children's guitar, all out of tune, with no sustain, which doesn't diminish its shine, but adds a certain innocence and brings the song even closer to perfection. It's like he built a lush song around a recording of the first time you ever tried to play guitar.

I Me You I'm Your (mp3) keeps the melodic momentum, but the acoustic guitar slyly strums itself into prominence. The vocal harmonies are spellbinding.

The Key of C is, again, melodic showboating, but Noir knows when to interrupt the ecstacy with the tone of an old music box, and how to heighten it with the unexpected electric guitar, heavy on the wah. Crazy, man.

You'll see other reviews calling these songs sunshine-y, bright, shimmery, luminous, bubblegum, psychedelic summery pop and whatnot, but don't buy into that so fast. Noir, after all, is French for Black. My Patch seems to be a self-pitying lament about personal isolationism. Computer Song might be about the failings of technology, but it might also be about the inherent unreliability in everything. In Key of C, he sings "I want to be/in the key of C/It's easier to play it." Something so familiar, so stable, something that the singer can't be because he wavers.

The quality of the songs on Tower of Love doesn't waver, though. The rest of the CD is as brilliant as the tracks posted here. They'll find their way to a large audience.

Tower of Love is due out 8 Aug 06. Sign up for the pre-release here.

Mp3s that move me.

I don't need to say much about this. It's a moving alternate take of Dylan's Outlaw Blues, recorded in mid-January 1965 (the original version is on Bringing It All Back Home).

Dylan - Outlaw Blues (alternate take) (mp3)


Speaking of "moving:"

Slide your bo-tay
Next to mine
Sugar's running
Up and down my spine

You cannot resist: Chicken Lips - Bad Skin (DJ Kicks) (mp3) (from DJ Kicks: The Exclusives)

The Modern Mixtape

...sadly, might be a CD of mashups. Not exactly the stuff of a Thurston Moore or Kurt Cobain mixtape.

But sometimes mashups can be wicked fun.

Years ago, my friends and I played this "Name That Tune" kind of game on road trips. We'd hit the "seek" button on the stereo, and the first person that named the artist and song got a point. Country and classical didn't count. You can't listen to Girl Talk without playing that game. In the two tracks below, you'll hear Black Eyed Peas, Paula Abdul, Kansas' Carry On My Wayward Son, Smokey Robinson, Smashing Pumpkins, Young M.C., Laid Back's Don't Ride the White Horse, Fleetwood Mac...you get the idea. If GT were a poster, it would be a photomosaic.

Both are from Girl Talk's new CD, Night Ripper. It's a hell of a lot of fun. Gregg Gillis (aka Girl Talk) thanks 164 artists in his liner notes. I dare you not to peek.


Girl Talk - Overtime (mp3)
Girl Talk - Give and Go (mp3)

Bottleneck Friday

The archive seems to be down.

When it comes back up again, here's some dusty old bottleneck blues for a sweltering Friday afternoon. Grab an ice-cold lemonade or iced tea, pop open the guitar case, and let that six-string breathe.

Casey Bill Weldon - Back Door Blues (mp3)
Casey Bill Weldon - Hitch Me To Your Buggy and Drive Me Like a Mule (mp3)
Kokomo Arnold - Feels So Good (mp3)
.

From Bottleneck Guitar Trendsetters of the 1930s.

Groping for Luna at the Hexenhaus

First...

Lunafied, the digital-only Luna covers compilation, is out now. It will hold me over until the new Dean & Britta album comes out early next year.

Luna - Outdoor Miner (Wire) (mp3)

By the way, they put up a cover of Adam Green's "We're Not Supposed to Be Lovers" up on their myspace a couple of weeks ago. And check out the e-card for the Tell Me Do You Miss Me DVD.


and Second...

A short quiz:

Hexenhaus (mp3), a gorgeous cello-decorated song by Michigan band Canada, has as its subject the following:

A) A thrash metal band from Sweden.
B) Hexenhaus: Der Swingerclub, in Germany.
C) A witch's cottage.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above.


Hexenhaus

Their Beige Stationwagon (mp3) is equally beautiful.

Power + Pop

Guitar speedwork in the form of rapidly arpeggiated ascending chords, yeah, been there, done that, don't need to hear it anymore, right? Right. But when it's done with electronic blips instead of guitar, in a song that blows up into a sonic orgy with heavy beats, like a hard Death From Above remix that happens to be neither Death From Above, nor remixed, then it's something worth listening to.

What Made Milwaukee Famous - I Decide (mp3)

-from Trying to Never Catch Up, soon available for preorder at Barsuk.


Speaking of Barsuk, Viva Voce do not fuck around. Well, they do at first, with the EZ piano for beginners, but they get serious at about the 1:30 mark.

Viva Voce - We Do Not Fuck Around (mp3)

-from Get Yr Blood Sucked Out

Jose Gonzalez, Live on MBE, 6-15-2006

Jose Gonzalez played these songs in the KCRW studio last Thursday, but I like to imagine him playing them in my living room.

Jose Gonzalez (Live on MBE, 6-15-2006)(mp3s):

Deadweight on Velveteen
Slow Moves
Sensing Owls
All You Deliver
Stay in the Shade
Lovestain
Suggestions
Crosses
Hints
Hand On Your Heart

Own Veneer.


Watch the stunning video for the heartbreaking "Hand On Your Heart" here (quicktime).

Sonic Youth, Live at the 9:30 Club, 6-15-2006

As a Sonic Youth fan for twenty-something years, I've become used to being confounded by the piercing anarchic tangents of their live shows. They're not a band to give the audience exactly what they're looking for, because they know what the audience needs. So it was kind of weird to hear people calling out their favorite songs from the SY catalog, as though that might influence what they play next. Who expects a best-of-SY show to happen, ever? These guys have always been about pushing forward, not reminiscing, and creating, rather than chasing, the zeitgeist.

At last Thursday's early 9:30 Club show, fans got what they probably never imagined from a Sonic Youth show - clarity. The show was straightforward and accessible, complete with two near-lullabys ("Lights Out" and "Or"), and audible lyrics. There wasn't a wrinkled brow in the room. Thurston even teased the crowd at one point, asking if we wanted it louder, faster--"Do you want total violence?", and then introduced the mellow, inspiring "Rapture."

Don't get me wrong. "Drunken Butterfly," "100%," and "Incinerate" all reminded us that Thurston Moore might be the greatest of guitar gods, who creates a tension that nobody--nobody else can approach. He still has great hair, and his six-foot-something silhouette has more presence and is more imposing than Lincoln's ghost. When he stands at the edge of the stage in the platonic ideal of a guitar stance, he's not a band member - he's a damn superhero.

No, the violence was still there. It was simply a violence that you could understand. Violence for pop fans.

These mp3s are not from the NPR stream, which you can listen to here. They're from another recording.

Sonic Youth (Live at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC)(mp3s):

Do You Believe in Rapture?
Drunken Butterfly
Incinerate
Pink Steam
Lights Out
100%

Buy Rather Ripped.

These were taken by my friend Randy:


playlist

Camp Radio

I love the name of this band. It's ambiguous, and requires interpretation. Expectations of their music change as your ideas of their name change. Maybe they sound like some sort of strange, warped folk band who sing about zombies. Or maybe they're a lo-fi pop band who sing of comforting things as the fire crackles. The possibilities go on, maybe you could suggest a few.

What surprised me when I finally played the songs is the muscle. These songs grab you and yank you around. They've got confidence and momentum. The guitar hooks and the driving beat are perfect for the drive home after a late concert.

But I'm still trying to figure out the name.

Camp Radio mp3s from their self-titled debut:

Landing Strip
Cons at the New Moon
The Julie Rationale

Psapp on MBE

Pitchfork gave the new Psapp CD a 7.0, which is not bad--at the very least, it's psychologically an order of magnitude higher than a 6.9. The reviewer blames technology and production in muffling the "well-constructed" songs and singer Galia Durant's "knowing, confident, sly, and sexy" voice. Wonder how he would rate the in-studio Morning Becomes Eclectic performance, without all the production and laptops. Pitchfork says the music on The Only Thing I Ever Wanted "cries out for warmth and space." I think the music gets both in these live songs, maybe even enough to break the 7.9 Pitchfork barrier.

Psapp - Live on KCRW's MBE (6-14-2006)(mp3s)

Tricycle
Needle & Thread
Curuncula
The Words
About Fun
Hi
King Kong
Rear Moth

Own The Only Thing I Ever Wanted

Juana Molina on MBE

Juana Molina's in-studio performance at KCRW is hypnotic, repetitious, and psychedelic at times, and I could listen to the set from here into the weekend without food or drink. It disorients and grounds the listener simultaneously; her songs touch both the spirit and the bones. Take Salvese Quien Pueda. It begins what could almost pass for Tibetan chant, then she sings a stunning folk song over the repeating chant loops, and eventually electronic hums replace the vocal ones. This one song is easily one of the best in-studio performances of the year.

Juana Molina (Live on KCRW, 13 June 2006)(mp3s):
Un Beso Llega
El Desconfiado
La Verdad
Quiero
Sólvese Quien Pueda

Buy Son.

Cibelle & Devendra Heart NY

I confess that I didn't even open this video for Cibelle & Devendra Banhart's London, London when someone sent me the link. I mean, I posted the mp3 and said nice things about the album way back here. Isn't the music enough? It is, but today I got a titanic message from the same person with gargantuan widescreen screen shots of the video, and being the audiovisual creature that I am, I opened the vid. It's fun. Cibelle and Devendra really bring you into their stroll and dance. Definitely watch it. Besides, the song is brilliant. And Crammed says:

London, London is Cibelle and Devendra's playful rendition of a song written by major Brazilian artist (and co-founder of the Tropicalia movement) Caetano Veloso while he was living in forced exile in London during the early '70s.

There are more videos by Cibelle here, as well as vids from Bebel Gilberto, Konono No. 1, and from the Congotronics 2 comp.

And then there's this:

Cibelle - About a Girl (Nirvana Cover) (mp3) (From the About a Girl EP)

Own The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves.

KT Live on MPR

Singer-songwriter K.T. Tunstall performed these songs live in studio for Minnesota Public Radio last week. From the MPR news story, "It might sound like she brought along a band to play 'Black Horse and the Cherry Tree' with her, but it is just her, a guitar and some loop pedals." And there she is with the loop pedal again on "Suddenly I See," singing her own background vocals. It's like Final Fantasy meets the Lilith Fair. Hmmm...

K.T. Tunstall (Live on The Current, 6-6-2006) (mp3s):
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree
Suddenly I See

Straight, No Avant-

Sonic Youth play these songs straight, no experimentation. They're damn near radio-friendly. Not quite, but damn near. These are at least as good as the album versions.

Sonic Youth - Incinerate (Live) (mp3)
Sonic Youth - Rapture (mp3)

Motorcity Roots

These motown covers are from Jamaica Jazz's Motorcity Roots. They're not your everyday motown covers--they're a unique blend of jazz and reggae, and they preserve the energy of the originals.

Jamaica Jazz - War (mp3)
Jamaica Jazz - Tears of a Clown (mp3)

The Lady Has Spoken

...or actually, rapped, in Seattle, yesterday, with The Streets. Wish I were there.
Lady Sovereign - Public Warning (Live on KEXP) (mp3)


At least I'm seeing Sonic Youth next week at the 9:30. Rather Ripped is my favorite CD of the year so far. Check out this SY interview with Mike D, where you will learn crucial information about the new songs. For instance, Mike D cleverly coaxes Thurston to disclose that the song Rapture is not "a concerted attempt to get involved with the Christian Rock movement, which is very popular;" its agenda is to get us all to unite in some sort of faith-based insanity.

More Live PJ

I know I just posted some live PJ Harvey the other day, but I didn't know that I was going to have these songs today. They're too good not to post.

PJ Harvey, live at Hay-on-Wye (mp3s):

New Song (Unknown Title)
Dress

Epic Viva Voce

Anita Lotta Guitar

That's right, epic (eight minutes and twenty-one seconds epic), hard, and noisy. Anti-twee. This Viva Voce chews up and swallows the old one, like Saturn devouring his child. It's made for amps and stacks, not earbuds. I could go on and on and on, but instead, I'll let them do that for you.

Viva Voce - So Many Miles (mp3)

So Many Miles is from Get Yr Blood Sucked Out, due out September 12. Info on pre-ordering available here.

and a little something extra:

Micah P. Hinson & Viva Voce - Pleasant Street (mp3)

Death Metal Visits Conan

The Eagles of Death Metal kicked ass on Conan this April. The two drummer, two drumset set was too much. It was ecstacy, it was euphoria, it was bliss. It didn't have Jack Black, like the best damn video on earth this year does, but I'll still take a DVD of the live performance over the vid.

Eagles of Death Metal - I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News) (Live on Conan 4-28-2006)(mp3)

Here they are playing the same song on Letterman (sorry, only one drummer here).

See you in July.

I heart Georgie James.

I heart Camera Obscura.

They're touring together next month. I tremble with anticipation.

You know what's special about all this? The Georgie James mp3s I posted will be gone before opening night. The night that young lovers start to dance to a novel groove is the night before they search the Hype Machine for the Georgie James, only to find broken links, and having to resort to faint memories of strong melodies. I'll be in the crowd, smiling at those young lovers. Beautiful, isn't it?

Good thing the band is recording again this month, and with luck, you'll have a record in your hands while the leaves are still green.

Georgie James - Need Your Needs (mp3) (from Demos at Dance Place)

By the way, check out this Q & Not U You Tube video, with the less sexy half of Georgie James on the drums. It's sickeningly good. Ah, memories.

Jose Gonzales (Live on Conan)

Here's Jose Gonzales' cover of The Knife's Heartbeats, as performed on Conan a couple of months ago. It's beautiful, and you're going to love it.

Jose Gonzales - Heartbeats (Live on Conan 3-29-2006) (mp3)

Lord. Lord. Lord.

We post like we eat: a little bit of everything.

To achieve balance after yesterday's disturbing Nick Cave cover, here is some aged gospel. If this actually sounds creepier than the Cave...well, that would be ironic, wouldn't it.

Two Gospel Keys - Can't No Grave Hold My Body Down (mp3)

Professor Alex Bradford - Lord, Lord, Lord (mp3)

8606

The Q Magazine Best of 86/06 Compilation has been well posted. It features the Editors' version of Orange Crush, Franz Ferdinand's take on What Are You Waiting For, and the track that led hordes of teenie-boppers to the mag racks: the Sugababes' cover of Arctic Monkeys' I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor.

These two tracks are the reasons I've got the comp in heavy rotation:

Richard Hawley - Some Candy Talking (Jesus and Mary Chain) (mp3)
Nick Cave - Disco 2000 (Pulp) (mp3)

Call me crazy, but I prefer Richard Hawley's version to the original Jesus and Mary Chain song. It's more sinister. You hear the longing in his voice, and he convinces you that he relishes his subject. You believe him.

PJ Harvey, Early FM Performances

What did you think of the new PJ Harvey DVD? If you saw it, I assume you're a fan, and if you're a fan, you probably love it, and you might already have these live songs, all of them among my favorite PJ Harvey tunes.

PJ Harvey - Live on 99.1 WHFS Just Passin' Thru, Bethesda, MD 12-2-1992 (mp3s):
Dress (acoustic)
Highway 61 Revisited (acoustic) (Dylan cover)

PJ Harvey - Live on 88.5 WXPN World Cafe, Philadelphia, 2-22-1995 (mp3s):
Meet Ze Monsta
C'Mon Billy
The Dancer

Love and Dancing for the Headbanger

This tender "love" tune runs a little long for a Coachwhips song, clocking in at a whopping 2:12:

Guess I'm Falling In Love (The Velvets)(mp3)


And here's their "dance" song, which lasts less than two minutes, because at that point you collapse on the floor.

Mid-Tempo Violent Dancer (mp3)


Own the Coachwhips' farewell disc, Double Death

Craptastic!

...maybe this way they won't notice the song...

The two craptastic songs that American Idol 5 finalists Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee performed Tuesday night were, unbelievably, the best two songs in a pool of 150 possibilities...

Taylor’s first single, “Do I Make You Proud,” was written by Tracy Ackerman, while Harry Sommerdahl, Hanne Sorvag, and Tim Baxter wrote “My Destiny.” All five deserve eternal scorn and shame, or at least membership in the Diane Warren Hall of Mediocre Pop Songs.

-from Realityblurred.com

It took 3 people to write that hallmark card of a song for Mcphee? Flabbergasting. My dear Katharine, you were done wrong.

The Ditty Bops, Live on KCRW, 5-24-2006

This is how The Ditty Bops roll.

The Ditty Bops performed an album's worth of songs for KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic yesterday. Load these up on the iPod along with Moon on the Freeway, strap it on, and mount your non-motorized two-wheeler, because you're going for a ride with The Ditty Bops on their cross-country bicycle tour. They discuss the tour in their interview with Nic Harcourt.

The Ditty Bops, Live on KCRW, 5-24-2006 (mp3s):

Moon Over The Freeway
It's The Girl (Cover Of Rogers Sisters)
Growing Upside Down
Aluminum Can
It's A Shame
In The City
Nosy Neighbor
Walk Or Ride
Your Head's Too Big

Going to That City

Sister O.M. Terrell looks like a sweet old lady, but plays like she sold her soul.

These gospel songs are all spirit and no polish. Just what you needed after hearing those two godawful American Idol closing songs last night. That, or self-immolation.

Sister O.M. Terrell - Life is a Problem (mp3)
Sister O.M. Terrell - I'm Going to That City (mp3)
Two Gospel Keys - Every Man Got to Lay Down and Die (mp3)

From Country Gospel, 1946-1953

Heironymus Bosch is dead, too.

When I got my Mae Shi DVD, Lock the Skull, Load the Gun, in the mail, I wondered what kind of videos would go with their spastic basement rock. The answer? Spastic videos.

According to their e-card,

They ask every visually-minded friend they’ve made in the past decade to direct a video. The magic begins. Burn My Eye creator Virgil Porter and On/On Switch head honcho Dan Belyusar bring "Takoma the Dolphin is AWOL" to life using stop motion and a bathtub full of toys. Pat McHale turns "Body 2" into an animated Maurice Sendak-inspired werewolf story. Chris Levitus weaves "One Mississippi" into a live-action futuro-Renaissance fairytale of botched suicide. Somehow, everyone gets on the same page, and a strange hour-long tapestry is woven. There are ballerinas, motorcycle goths, Help!-era Richard Lester goofiness, and lots of monsters – prehistoric birds, vampires, wolfmen, serial killers, haunted bunnies, hungry cartoon dogs and killer bats. There were 33 tracks on Terrorbird and there are 32 videos collected here...

Check out the madness: there are 4 videos streaming on their e-card.

And here's some mp3 madness, from Terrorbird:

Chop 2
Heironymus Bosch is a Dead Man

John Ritter Died.

Last year, NPR named three albums the Best New Music of 2005: LCD Soundsystem, Innaway, and Don Lennon's Routine.

NPR Reviewer John Brady said, "Lennon’s a clever, understated conversationalist who gives us a wry account of his likes and dislikes, obsessions and aversions. It helps that he has a great ear for a pop hook and a light but sure hand with a melody."

That's great, but Lennon had me at "John Ritter died."...He had me at "John Ritter died." The only other person who could start a song with this verse, and turn it into what might be a penetrating song that questions the meaning of a life's work, is Lou Reed.

From Last Comic Standing (mp3):

John Ritter died
Two days ago
I saw a montage of his life's work
On some entertainment show

He Created a Monster (mp3) is a blissful pop charmer with irresistable chord progressions and a synth hook that you'll be humming all day.

Stream Reunion here.

Buy it here.

Gomez Live on KCRW

Gomez have recently performed in several radio studios, including KEXP and Minnesota's The Current (links to the right). Let's hope that radio is as friendly to Gomez as their music is to the radio. On their latest release, How We Operate, Gomez is as accessible as they're going to get. Here's their KCRW performance from last Friday.

Gomez - Live, KCRW (5-19-2006)(mp3s):

Notice
See the World
How We Operate
Hamoa Beach
girlshapedlovedrug
Chasing Ghosts With Alcohol

Bobby Bare Sr. and Jr., Live on KEXP

From Static On The Radio:

When asked what exactly got him back into the studio to record his first album in over 20 years, Bobby Bare’s answer is simple. “Bobby Jr.” he laughs with laid-back Nashville drawl. Even though the classic country crooner had to be coaxed out of retirement, his re-emergence with The Moon Was Blue was one of the most celebrated events in country music last year.

After accumulating several decades of hits and transforming country music along with artists like Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, Bare left the scene in the ‘80s as Nashville become more and more corporate oriented. “I didn’t want to spend my time making records that weren’t going to go anywhere,” he says. “You put out an album that’s brilliant, and you can’t get it played. All they want are tracks.”

These live Bobby Bare gems aren't "tracks." They're real, reverent, relevant. It's a shame that you have to turn away from the country stations to hear country music, but though it's a quieter heartbeat, it still has one. You hear it in these live songs, and you hear it in the stories. The entire performance, including the interview, should be up on KEXP soon.

Bobby Bare, Sr (with Bobby Bare, Jr.): Live at KEXP, 5-18-2006 (mp3s):

The Streets of Baltimore
Detroit City
Are You Sincere
Everybody's Talkin'
My Heart Cries For You

Buy The Moon Was Blue.

Playful song titles and album covers

...beg for frolicsome music, and when it's jazz, you want it to be loose, yet accessible. Y'know what? Today, I feel frolicsome, loose, and accessible.
So have some Happy Apple jazz with me.

from Please Refrain From Fronting:

You & Mattel vs. Me & Coleco (mp3)
Koala Bear Wearing a T-Shirt With Your Corporate Logo

from Body Popping, Moon Walking, Top Rocking:

Tang: The Astronaut's Drink of Desire (mp3)

Tell Mommy You Want a Sip of HLAK

Having listened to the atmospheric pop acrobatics of Head Like a Kite's Random Portraits of the Home Movie, one wonders how good they sound live. Could they pull all that off live?

If last week's performance at the KEXP studio is an indication, the answer is a resounding yes.

Head Like a Kite (Live, KEXP 5-11-2006)(mp3s):

Words of a Friend
A Dime and a Cigarette
Tell Mommy You Want a Sip of Beer
Noise at the Circus

...and one track from the album:

Injecting 10 ccs of Temptation (mp3)

Distance Running for Music Lovers

Middle Distance Runner’s debut album, Plane in Flames, opens with a smile. Naturally (mp3) begins as all breezy melody and beat, catchy as hell, but just when it draws the ear into its lite comforts like any other standard indie pop clap-along record, MDR drops this lyric: “I/I hope she’s got a husband/I hope that he is coming/to find me out and tear out both/my eyes.” And that’s when you really start to listen, and it will hold you enthralled until the very last note.

Out of Here (mp3) sounds like it was born in the space between Pablo Honey and The Bends. The lead guitar caresses, then engulfs you a la Johnny Greenwood, and when lead singer Stephen Kilroy belts “Something’s gotta give/Before it all goes cold/Before it all caves in,” it’s with all the urgency of a more personal, less political Thom Yorke. You feel that early 90's chill when he cries “You are my way out of here.” Yeah, I know, Radiohead comparisons are trite, but just listen.

And if that's a little too much gravity for you, try this soul-stirring rock song with cowbell & banjo, called Shoot the Shit (mp3).

You’re going to hear a lot more of this D.C. area quintet once Plane in Flames hits stores on the 27th of this month. Get it for a mere 5 bucks at their CD release show at IOTA.

Download more at their Myspace.

Film School, Live on KEXP

Last week, Film School played a live set at the KEXP studio. Barely.

According to the frequently updated KEXP blog:

Apparently, they were running late and sure enough… they got pulled over by the cops for speeding! Figures, right?!?! They explained that they were on their way to KEXP to play a live set and the cop said something like, “KEXP? I listen to KEXP… MOVE ALONG!” They got off, no ticket!

The Smudge thanks the cop for not excessively delaying them. This post would not exist without you.

Film School - Live on KEXP (10 May 06) (mp3s):

Pitfalls
Breet
Sick of Shame
11:11

By the way, there is an exclusive in-studio performance from 2004 available here.

BRAK!

This is a request, which we don't normally do, but I think I speak for all of us when I say that what the world really needs now is more Brak. If he were our world leader, I guarantee that we'd be Rocking For Brak, and nobody would be ashamed to be from the same home planet.

So Highway 40 is for confessed mp3 blog addict Lori, whose signature was this:

In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of
pleasures.

~Kahlil Gibran

The world needs a little more of that, too.

Brak - I'll Tell Me Ma (with the Chieftains)(mp3)
Highway 40 (with Freddie Prinze Jr.)(mp3)

Return of the Rentals

Matt Sharp recently told Pitchfork that The Rentals are recording a new album. According to their website:

WE ARE EXTREMELY EXCITED AND HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THE UNEXPECTED AND TRUE RETURN OF THE RENTALS. THE BAND IS CURRENTLY IN LOS ANGELES WRITING, REHEARSING, AND PREPARING TO RECORD THEIR 3rd STUDIO ALBUM.

THE SPECULATION IS THAT THE NEW ALBUM IS LIKELY TO BE COMPLETED AND READY FOR RELEASE IN 2007. IN THE MEANWHILE, WHILE WE WAIT WITH GREAT ANTICIPATION FOR THE NEW MUSIC, THIS WEB-SITE WILL DEDICATE ITSELF TO SHOWING THE FIRST EVER COMPLETE RETROSPECTIVE ON THE RENTALS.

THERE WILL BE NEARLY DAILY UPDATES WITH TOTALLY NEW AND EXCLUSIVE INFORMATION ON THE RENTALS, SO STAY TUNED AND WELCOME ABOARD.

Also available on their website: Tegan and Sara - Walking With a Ghost (Rentals Remix) (mp3)

Georgie We Adore Ye

No, it's not a lame blog post title - it's called internal rhyme, folks. It's all poetic and whatnot.

Anyway.

It has been a long week (mp3). The office is drab. Maybe it needs more lights (mp3). Or maybe the world just needs more Georgie James. I think I've said something like that before.

Songs are from Demos at Dance Place, available at their live shows.

Minus 5 Plus Michael, Mike, and Bill, on a Maddening Loop

This version of "Country Feedback," the haunting slow jangle from R.E.M.'s out of time, was played at a Minus 5 concert at the Georgia Theater in Athens, GA. It features Michael Stipe on vocals, Mike Mills on keyboards, Peter Buck on guitar, and Bill Berry on bass.

Let me rephrase that:

BILL BERRY is on bass, Stipe sings, Mills is on the keys, and Buck on the guitar.

You have to get past two minutes of crowd noise & chat, but then there it is.

REM - Country Feedback (Live in Athens, 1 Apr 2006) (mp3)

And here are a couple of covers by the Minus 5 at the same show:

The Ballad of John and Yoko (Beatles cover, live in Athens, 1 Apr 2006) (mp3)

Don't Be Denied (Neil Young cover, live in Athens, 1 Apr 2006) (mp3)

All songs taken from this torrent of the entire show.

We love you, Bill.


One of these things doesn't belong here...

Thelonious Cures

Sometimes, when I'm ill, all I can bear to listen to is jazz or classical. I've been ill the last couple of days, and this is way better than vitamin C:

It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) (mp3)
Sophisticated Lady (mp3)

From Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington.

Checking on Beck

Every once in a while you have to check in on the Beck website, to see what the boombox has to offer. Like this gem:

Beck - Salt In The Wound (mp3)

And every so often you have to check the dimeadozen for Beck torrents, like the one that had these shit-hot live songs. He's a lightning storm in these, pulling energy & spirit out of his gut.

Beck - Sessions from West 54th, 1997 (mp3s):

Novacane
Asshole
One Foot In The Grave

Cibelle, My Belle

What do you get when you cross modern bossa chanteuse Cibelle with your favorite freak folksters, Devendra Banhart and Seu Jorge? Freak folka nova? Electrobossafolk? Call it what you want, but recognize that these songs successfully blend bossa nova, electronica, and freak folk, and exceed the sum of their parts to become sexy, danceable, and mystical. I'll take this blend of acoustics and electronics over laptop-folk every time.

Cibelle mp3s, with Devendra Banhart and Seu Jorge, from the stunning Shine of Dried Electric Leaves:

London, London (feat. Devendra Banhart)
Arrête Là, Menina (feat. Seu Jorge)

Secret Machines, Live on KCRW 5-3-2006

The Secret Machines epically rocked the KCRW studio yesterday. They're not afraid to play long, yet their songs are taut and intense. This performance is just the thing for those who are growing weary of quaint little pop ditties.

Secret Machines, Live on KCRW 5-3-2006 (mp3s):

Alone Jealous & Stoned/Road Leads
Lightning Blue Eyes
Faded Lines/Daddy's In The Doldrums/Nowhere Again

Buy Ten Silver Drops.

Irving Live on KEXP

Irving played four songs from their latest release, Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers, in a live in-studio synth-heavy set on KEXP yesterday afternoon. Prepare to move your feet.

Irving - Live on KEXP, 5-2-06 (mp3s)

Situation
She's Not Shy
Jen, Nothing Matters To Me
If You Say Jump, I Will Say No

Slacking

Sometimes you just don't feel like writing.

But the maddening urge to post remains.

Richard Bona/Lokua Kanza/Gerald ToTo - Help Me (mp3)

Toots & The Maytals - Monkey Man (mp3)

The Comas Picture Disc 7"

The Comas recently put up three solid mp3s from their Sit and Spin release, "Bumblebee / Shining Eyes/1:30." You can get them here. They're tagged as Track 1, 2, and 3, though, which is sad, because nobody will see the Vagrantesque title "You Got The Bumblebee, I Got The Stinger" on the Hype Machine.

I corrected the ID3s here, if you prefer to get them that way:

The Comas mp3s, from 7" Picture Disc:

You Got The Bumblebee, I Got The Stinger
One Million Shining Eyes
1:30