The Jubilant And Warped Farewell

A final list, courtesy Drugstore, in the Year of our Lord 1998.



Drugstore - The Funeral (But Most Of All)(mp3)

From White Magic for Lovers

Also, remember this classic featuring Thom Yorke?

The Young Disciples

Another strong addition to the Eccentric Soul collection, from the classic underground funk & soul authorities at Numero Group...The Young Disciples was a group of solo artists and groups formed by St. Louis musical hero Allen Merry through the South End Community Center to keep kids off the streets and in the studio. Essential.

The Young Disciples Co. - Crumbs From The Table (mp3)
The Debonettes - Tears (mp3)

Vanessa Daou: Zipless

This album cover promises something slinky and sophistocated - something adult, thoroughly grown-up, yet at the same time, dangerous. The music, a deft fusion of jazz and electropop, delivers the steam.

Sunday Afternoons (mp3)
Near the Black Forest (mp3)

Buy at iTunes Music Store

Vanessa Daou

We kissed, as though nothing could fall.

I, I can remember
(I remember)
Standing by the wall
(by the wall)
And the guns shot above our heads
(over our heads)
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall
(nothing could fall)
And the shame was on the other side
Oh we can beat them
for ever and ever
Then we could be heroes
just for one day

David Bowie - Milton Keynes Bowl, UK (FM) 5 August 1990 (mp3s):
Heroes
Modern Love

Will Sheff & A.C. Newman - Lost Coastlines

Spanking new, from the Okkervil River and New Pornographers frontmen, in anticipation of Okkervil River's September 9 release of The Stand Ins (preorder from Jagjaguwar).

Deep Water And Quicksand No Swimming

Talking Heads - Live at Cape Cod Coliseum, Yarmouth, MA 8-20-1983 (mp3s):
Once In A Lifetime
This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)
Genius Of Love (Tom Tom Club)

'TIS that peculiar.

George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love, reimaginings of some of his classics, will be out in sooner than a month. In the song below, his 'Gangsters' include Sly Stone and El Debarge. Yes, that El Debarge (is there another?). Other 'Gangsters' include Rza (true), Carlos Santana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and some of the old P-Funk gang.

George Clinton and His Gangsters Of Love - Ain't That Peculiar (mp3)

Bobby Bare, Jr., Live on KEXP, 8-15-2008

Last Friday, Bobby Bare, Jr. played a live in-studio set for KEXP Whatever your tempo, whatever your pace, he wrests them from you, slows you down and makes you listen. Download the show with interview here (mp3) (via KEXP).

Sonic Youth, 1990

A decade and a half before Rock Band and Guitar Hero were conceived....wish I were there...now.

Sonic Youth - Live at the Palladium, Hollywood, CA, 8-17-1990 (mp3s):

Intro/Tuning
Catholic Block
Mary Christ
Kool Thing
Eric's Trip
Dirty Boots
Tunic
Tom Violence
Mote
Flower
Cinderella's Big Score
Schizophrenia
White Cross
Scooter + Jinx (Encore Break)
Titanium Expose
My Friend Goo > Tuning
Mildred Pierce

Andy of The Comas/Electric Owls: 3 Degrees From The Joker.

Batmania is now inescapable. Today, it got me to thinking about Michelle Williams, which got me to thinking about her ex-boyfriend, The Comas' Andy Herod, and their superior sophomore album, Conductor, an exploration of the demise of Andy and Michelle. I watched the video for Moon Rainbow, thought about the intrinsic sadness of them. And of course, I wondered what The Comas were up to now. Turns out that they're on hiatus, but you'll be able to hear Andy's new project, Electric Owls, when their record is released, hopefully this year. Until then, there are four songs up on their Myspace, and don't you dare leave that site until you've listened to all four.

By the way, look at the song titles: Magic Show, Halloween Mask, Cannibal Superstar, Darken Me - is it me, or might those double as chapters in a Dark Knight movie?

Shearwater, 5/5/2008 at Florence Gould

High-quality.


Watch the full concert at baeblemusic.com

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (Live in Rotterdam 7-28-2008)

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings brought pure funk heat to the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam a month ago.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Live at Rotterdam, 7-12-2008 (mp3s):

Make It Good To Me
Fish In My Dish
My Man Is A Mean Man/Little Bit Of My Love
Tell Me
Settling In
100 Days, 100 Nights

(broadcast by Radio 6)

And here's their performance, from the same festival, of Janet Jackson's What Have You Done For Me Lately:

Art Blakey 'Round Midnight

Art Blakey, with, among others, Sonny Stitt on alto and tenor saxophones, Roy Eldridge on trumpet, Thelonious Monk on piano.

100% real.

Art Blakey - 'Round Midnight (Live at the 1972 Monterey Jazz Festival)(mp3)

From Live at the 1972 Monterey Jazz Festival.

Bowerbirds (Live on WOXY 8-4-2008)

The Bowerbirds played an .arresting. live in-studio set for WOXY yesterday.

Listen to/download it here (mp3).

Octopus Glory

I would like to take this moment and declare my continuing love for the Octopus Project, who have revealed a new side of themselves in these empyreal layers of electronics, guitar, organ, and theremin.

The Octopus Project - Wet Gold (mp3)

And the fan video:

Gnarls Again

Here's the rest of the Gnarls Barkley set:

Gnarls Barkley (Live on KCRW 7-25-2008)(mp3s):

1 Going On
2 Neighbors
3 A Little Better
4 Transformer
5 Save My Soul
6 Run
7 Surprise
(Now May I Curse)

Still looking for tickets. Anyone?

Now May I Curse.

If you have extra tickets to Gnarls Barkley at the 9:30 club tomorrow, email me, please. I will buy them from you.

Gnarls Barkley (Live on KCRW 7-25-2008)(mp3s):

1 Going On
2 Neighbors
3 A Little Better
4 Transformer
5 Save My Soul
6 Run
7 Surprise
(Now May I Curse)



You buy The Odd Couple now.

The Go! Team on The Current, 7-30-2008

Yesterday, The Go! Team scintillated The Current's studio with 3 live songs - over ten minutes of blissed out electro-cheer.

The Go! Team - Live on Minnesota Public Radio's The Current, 7-30-2008 (mp3s):

Grip Like A Vise
Doing It Right
Keys To The City

The entire performance is here, including an interview in which we learn that none of the band members were or are currently cheerleaders, and that there are, in fact, no cheerleaders in Britain (the horror!!).

Order Proof of Youth.

Dedication To Pete Johnson

...a mighty fine one, by Memphis Slim.

Memphis Slim - Dedication to Pete Johnson (mp3)

...and here's another touching dedication.

Lead Belly - Big Fat Woman (mp3)


Both from Classic Piano Blues from Smithsonian Folkways.

The Walkmen: You & Me, $5 For 3 Weeks, $5 of Each Sale Goes To Cancer Center

From The Orchard:

The Walkmen released their highly anticipated new album today exclusively on AmieStreet.com as part of the website’s ongoing Download To Make A Difference campaign that launched earlier this month.

You & Me will be sold for a period of three weeks at the special price of $5. For each album purchased AmieStreet.com will donate $5 to a cause of personal significance to The Walkmen.

“All donations go to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in honor of Luca Vasallo, a friend to the band and a current patient who is seven months old and doing a great job fighting a very difficult disease,” said Peter Bauer of The Walkmen. “This is a very good organization that certainly deserves the attention.”

The You & Me exclusive pre-release marks the second major release for AmieStreet.com's Download To Make A Difference campaign, which gives people the chance to support important causes by downloading new music.

The Walkmen’s new album is released by Gigantic Music and marketed and distributed by The Orchard. To download You & Me and give $5 to a great cause go to AmieStreet.com/thewalkmen.

The Walkmen - In The New Year (mp3)

Little Jackie With The Big Sound

Little Jackie recently played a live set for KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. Check out that awesome performance below...

Their debut release, The Stoop, has uncommon bite and wit for a neo-soul album, and yet it feels almost too good to be so smart. They'll be compared to Amy Winehouse, as will all neo-soul groups with female leads, thanks to all the ground that Winehouse broke. But Little Jackie's delivery is quick and sharp, and they're more likely to insert a lyric as a vocal surprise, rather than hesitate on a word, like Amy would. The effect is dizzying and dazzling.

The Stoop easily made my 2008 recommended list.

Little Jackie - Black Barbie (mp3)

51 Live Fiery Furnaces Songs

The Fiery Furnaces will release a double live, 51-track(!) CD (or triple LP, if you prefer) called "Remember" to coincide with their spring tour. There's a lot to "Remember" - over 2 hours of musical invention, the sound of pioneering in progress, and not a note too many. The CD version will come as a limited edition deluxe packaged with coupons for bonus tracks, and the LP will be triple LP gatefold, also with coupon for downloads plus bonus material.

The Fiery Furnaces - Single Again (Live)(mp3)

The Go! Team Free Stuff

If you sign up for the Go! Team's mailing list, you can get an updated batch of digital goodies from their freestuff site, including the Get It Together EP, some remixes, and some song parts that you can fiddle with, including Flashlight Fight with Chuck D. You'll also find a Go! Team remix of Jim Noir and the Polyphonic Spree. This came from the site, too:

The Go! Team - Milk Crisis (Anglo Japanese Version)(mp3)

The Durable Riff

By now you've listened to Beck's Modern Guilt. If you're like me, you might have listened to it repeatedly, and declared it a modern masterpiece, easily the album of the year, perhaps Beck's very best. And you might find yourself wondering where you've heard certain sounds or combinations of sound before, thinking, "That's completely new, but I've heard this other part somewhere before...But where?" Haven't I heard the single repeated acoustic guitar note from Gamma Ray played like that somewhere? From a Frank Black or Pixies song, maybe? And aren't the beats in Replica something that Johnny Greenwood might have composed? Profanity Prayers is certainly an intentionally clipped Radiohead-influenced song, as well, right? Or maybe not. The beats are attributed to Danger Mouse, but do I hear The Zombies in the drums?

Therein lies the genius of Beck. He's his own musical melting pot, soaking up everything - everything: bossa nova, classic soul, acoustic blues, country, metal, the sounds of the dinner table - and he puts the relevant ones in order on his albums. There is always a danger of sprawl. But this time, I think the focus is right on.

And I think I figured out where I heard this riff before.

Beck - Soul Of A Man (mp3)

The Kills - Pull A U (mp3)

Order Beck's Modern Guilt over there to the right, under "The Smudge Recommends."

Pull A U is from The Kills' Keep on Your Mean Side.

Shearwater, Live on WFMU, 7-14-2008

Shearwater played an in-studio set for WFMU's Irene Trudel on Monday. They also gave her a generous amount of interview time. Listen to the entire show here.

Shearwater, Live on WFMU, 7-14-2008 (mp3s)

North Col
Rooks
Leviathan, Bound
I Was A Cloud

Order their latest album, Rook, there to the right under "The Smudge Recommends."

Constantines, Live on KEXP, 7-11-2008

The Constantines played at the Sub Pop 20th anniversary festival last week. Maybe you were lucky enough to be there. For the rest of us, the day before the show, they played a live in-studio set for KEXP.

Constantines - Live at KEXP (7-11-2008) (mp3s):

Trans-Canada
Justice
Young Lions
Little Instruments

The Constantines' latest album is Kensington Heights.

He's Here!

If you wondered why I've been out, it's because Julie and I had a baby boy the day before yesterday. He was 7 lbs, 14 oz, 19 3/4 inches, has black hair, and is way cuter than daddy.

I'll catch up on the emails and promos over the next couple of weeks, between naps.

Meanwhile, here's some Belle and Sebastian...the first song goes out to Julie.

Belle & Sebastian - Anything You Do (Badfinger)(Live on KEXP 3-25-2006)(mp3)
Belle & Sebastian - She's Losing It (Live on KEXP 3-25-2006)(mp3)

To do something in return for this beautiful gift, I'm microlending at Kiva. If you're feeling generous, do the same and let me know!

Brotherman

I just got the latest from Numero, the genius soul miners of the dustbin. This time, it's the soundtrack to Brotherman, a blaxploitation film that was cancelled just before it was to be released in 1975. According to Numero:

Prior to the script being finished, the producers commissioned an original soundtrack to be performed by The Final Solution, a fledgling vocal group from Chicago’s west side. The ten-song album draws deeply from Curtis Mayfield’s well, certainly, but the proof in the pudding is Carl Wolfolk’s unique guitar style – a combination of flamenco and funk – that stabs around the four part harmonies.

...

Dragged around for 30 years by songwriter and arranger Wolfolk, the tapes of his life’s work have finally been mixed, and the soundtrack album has been augmented to include two orchestrated instrumentals intended for the film.

The riff-lick-riff guitar sequences in this song are unbelievably good:

Final Solution - Brotherman (mp3)

From the Brotherman OST.

Superstar Revisited

Fresh off of the success of Sonic Youth's inspired cover, originally recorded in the early 90's, but resurrected in an important scene in Juno, Dallas, Texas' Shock of Pleasure give The Carpenters' Superstar a different sort of treatment.

Shock of Pleasure - Superstar (The Carpenters) (mp3)

From their forthcoming album, It's About Time.

Normalcy or Lackthereof

...I'll take Lackthereof every time. Menomena's drummer is Lackthereof's brainchild, and if this song is an indication, he imported all the inventiveness of his other band and plugged it into his new project's music. Your Anchor is out on Barsuk on 22 July, and here's a rhythmic orgasm of a song from it:

Lackthereof - Last November (mp3)

Order Your Anchor.

Bring Us Back, Kirsten.

Kirsten Price is a fresh face and a formidable voice on the now-unstoppable nu-soul train. The NY-based singer looks like Jennifer Connelly and sounds like Joss Stone or Xtina. In this song, she hits that spot, the one somewhere deep inside you that you forgot about, with a vocal melody that makes you realize that you've been deprived, and you now feel a thirst that you didn't before.

Kirsten Price - Bring Me Back (mp3)

Download

Soul Messages From Dimona

More rare, totally unexpected soul from Numero, this time from Dimona, Israel. You read it right. From the online release notes:

Between 1975-1981, a group of American ex-pats took their native sounds of Detroit and Chicago and intermingled them with the messages of the Black Hebrew culture. The results are a heavenly mix of spiritual soul and jazz with an undercurrent of gospel psychedelia.

True...

Sons of the Kingdom - Modernization (mp3)
The Spirit of Israel - A Place To Be (mp3)

Order Soul Messages From Dimona here.

Blue Giant, Live on KEXP 6-27-2008

Blue Giant is not an oblong object that you might receive in the mail in plain brown packaging. Blue Giant is a band, featuring the members of Viva Voce, named after a type of intensely luminous star that is so hot and dense, it burns itself out after a brief lifespan in a climactic end as a supernova.

The band will be releasing an EP and recording an LP, as well as touring, "in the short future," according to Kevin Robinson, as interviewed in the Portland Mercury. More details on the full-length once I get them.

For now, here's a preview of their live show - they played four songs for KEXP last Friday. Keep your eyes open for this band. They're going to be something to see.

Blue Giant - Live on KEXP 6-27-2008 (mp3s):

When Will The Sun Shine?
Target Heart
Blue Sunshine
Hell Or High Water

Shearwater, Live on The Current, 6-25-2008

Shearwater played these three intense songs for Minnesota Public Radio's The Current last week.

Listen to the performance with interview here.

Rook (mp3)
Leviathan, Bound (mp3)
North Col (mp3)

Also, check out more of Shearwater in Minnesota here & here.

Order Shearwater's Rook by clicking on the album cover to the right under "The Smudge Recommends."

Music by The Kills. Body by GISELE BÜNDCHEN.

Order the Kills' album by clicking on the album cover over there to the right, under "The Smudge Recommends."

R.E.M. Live on Austin City Limits 5-24-2008 - The rest of the show.

Here's the remainder of the show I posted half of yesterday.

Living Well Is The Best Revenge (mp3)
Man-Sized Wreath (mp3)
Drive
Accelerate (mp3)
Hollow Man (mp3)
Electrolite
Houston (mp3)
Supernatural Superserious
Bad Day
Losing My Religion (mp3)
I'm Gonna DJ
Horse To Water (mp3)
Until The Day Is Done (mp3)
Man On The Moon

R.E.M. Austin City Limits (PBS) 5-24-2008 Highlights

R.E.M.'s Austin City Limits performance aired on PBS a month ago. They sounded fantastic as usual, coming through the TV wire.

Here are a few highlights from the set:

Living Well Is The Best Revenge
Man-Sized Wreath
Drive (mp3)
Accelerate
Hollow Man
Electrolite (mp3)
Houston
Supernatural Superserious (mp3)
Bad Day (mp3)
Losing My Religion
I'm Gonna DJ (mp3)
Horse To Water
Until The Day Is Done
Man On The Moon (mp3)

Natalia Clavier's Sweet Nectar

If you're into the electro-bossa/electro-folk of Bebel Gilberto, Cibelle, and Juana Molina, and if you, like me, love to pop in some Federico Aubele to slow down a frantic day, then you'll be thrilled with Natalia Clavier's Nectar, which oozes sophistocated sensuality. All of the songs are winners, electronic-accented grooves grounded with just the right guitar & piano chords, sexy rhythms, and a voice with a smooth purity that you just don't hear any more. She goes from angelic to devious, from passionate to playful, just like that, and you're blissfully lost before you realize what she's done to you. It's like listening to Astrud, if she were recording today in Washington, D.C. with Thievery Corporation's Eric Hilton.

But here's a mystery: Why does her name come up empty on The Hype Machine?? Is it because she's filed under Jazz? Are we guilty of monoculture, are we staying in our lanes too much, and are the lanes getting smaller? I don't know. Like I said, it's a mystery.

Cross the lines with Natalia:

Natalia Clavier - El Arbol (mp3)
Natalia Clavier - Azul (mp3)

Death Cab For Cutie - Live KCRW 6-23-2008

I forgot to record this. I've been slacking. Here's the video, anyway.

Martha Wainwright, Live on Morning Becomes Eclectic, 6-20-2008

Shearwater, Live at the Black Cat DC, 6-15-2008

The blood in Shearwater's live songs flows hotter and quicker than that in the studio versions. Here are the first four songs from their Black Cat performance this week, as broadcast by NPR for Live In Concert. Listen to the entire performance from NPR, with an interview with the band at the end, while it's still up, here (mp3).

Shearwater - Live @ the Black Cat, 6-15-2008 (mp3s):

Nibelungen (Nico cover)
Red Sea, Black Sea
Leviathan, Bound
Rooks

Shearwater's latest release is Rook.

U2 - Boy, October, & War Remastered Deluxe Edition Details

BOY OCTOBER WAR WITH FULL TRACKLIST

U2's first three albums have been re-mastered and will be released by Universal on July 22nd.

Following the re-mastered release of The Joshua Tree last year, Edge has overseen a similar re-mastering of Boy (1980), October (1981) and War (1983), all of which have been re-mastered from the original audio tapes.

Each album will be released in physical and digital formats; as a standard single disc, a deluxe double version including a disc of b-sides, live tracks and rarities, and an LP version pressed on 180gm virgin vinyl

The packaging on all three titles has been restored and expanded, with new liner notes for each record, previously unseen photos and full lyrics.

The full tracklistings and format information is as listed;


BOY

Standard format:

A single CD with re-mastered audio and restored packaging.
Includes a 16 page booklet featuring previously unseen photos, full lyrics and new liner notes by Paul Morley

Tracklisting:
1. I Will Follow 2. Twilight 3. An Cat Dubh 4. Into The Heart 5. Out Of Control 6. Stories For Boys 7. The Ocean 8. A Day Without Me 9. Another Time, Another Place 10. The Electric Co. 11. Shadows And Tall Trees.

Deluxe format:

A standard CD (as above) and a bonus CD.
Bonus CD includes b-sides, live tracks and rarities.
Also includes a 32 page booklet with previously unseen photos, full lyrics, new liner notes by Paul Morley, and explanatory notes on the bonus material by The Edge.

Tracklisting:
1. I Will Follow (Previously Unreleased Mix) 2. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock 3. Touch 4. Speed Of Life (Previously Unreleased Track) 5. Saturday Night (Previously Unreleased Track) 6. Things To Make And Do 7. Out Of Control 8. Boy-Girl 9. Stories For Boys 10. Another Day 11. Twilight 12. Boy-Girl (Live at The Marquee, London) 13. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (Live at The Marquee, London - Previously Unreleased Version) 14. Cartoon World (Live at The National Stadium, Dublin - Previously Unreleased Track)


Vinyl format:

A single album re-mastered version on 180gram vinyl with restored packaging.

Tracklisting:
Side One 1. I Will Follow 2. Twilight 3. An Cat Dubh 4. Into The Heart 5. Out Of Control
Side Two 1. Stories For Boys 2. The Ocean 3. A Day Without Me 4. Another Time, Another Place 5. The Electric Co. 6. Shadows And Tall Trees.


OCTOBER

Standard format:

A single CD with re-mastered audio and restored packaging.
Includes a 16 page booklet featuring previously unseen photos, full lyrics and new liner notes by Neil McCormick.

Tracklisting:
1. Gloria 2. I Fall Down 3. I Threw A Brick Through A Window 4. Rejoice 5. Fire 6. Tomorrow 7. October 8. With A Shout 9. Stranger In A Strange Land 10. Scarlet 11. Is That All

Deluxe format:

A standard CD (as above) and a bonus CD.
Bonus CD includes b-sides, live tracks and rarities.
Also includes a 32 page booklet with previously unseen photos, full lyrics, new liner notes by Neil McCormick, and explanatory notes on the bonus material by The Edge.

Tracklisting:
1. Gloria (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 2. I Fall Down (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 3. I Threw A Brick Through A Window (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 4. Fire (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 5. October (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 6. With A Shout (Richard Skinner BBC Session) 7. Scarlet (Richard Skinner BBC Session) 8. I Threw A Brick Through A Window (Richard Skinner BBC Session) 9. A Celebration 10. J. Swallo 11. Trash, Trampoline And The Party Girl 12. I Will Follow (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston) 13. The Ocean (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston) 14. The Cry/Electric Co. (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston) 15. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston) 16. I Will Follow (Live From Hattem, Netherlands) 17. Tomorrow (Bono & Adam Clayton, Common Ground Remix)

Vinyl format:

A single album re-mastered version on 180gram vinyl with restored packaging.

Tracklisting:
Side One 1. Gloria 2. I Fall Down 3. I Threw A Brick Through A Window 4. Rejoice 5. Fire
Side Two 1. Tomorrow 2. October 3. With A Shout 4. Stranger In A Strange Land 5. Scarlet 6. Is That All?


WAR

Standard format:

A single CD with re-mastered audio and restored packaging.
Includes a 16 page booklet featuring previously unseen photos, full lyrics and new liner notes by Niall Stokes.

Tracklisting:
1. Sunday Bloody Sunday 2. Seconds 3. New Year's Day 4. Like A Song 5. Drowning Man 6. The Refugee 7. Two Hearts Beat As One 8. Red Light 9. Surrender 10. "40"


Deluxe format:

A standard CD (as above) and a bonus CD.
Bonus CD includes b-sides, live tracks and rarities.
Also includes a 32 page booklet with previously unseen photos, full lyrics, new liner notes by Niall Stokes, and explanatory notes on the bonus material by The Edge.

Tracklisting:
1. Endless Deep 2. Angels Too Tied To The Ground (Previously Unreleased Track) 3. New Year's Day (7" single edit) 4. New Year's Day (USA Remix) 5. New Year's Day (Ferry Corsten Extended Vocal Mix) 6. New Year's Day (Ferry Corsten Vocal Radio Mix) 7. Two Hearts Beat As One (Long Mix) 8. Two Hearts Beat As One (USA Remix) 9. Two Hearts Beat As One (Club Version) 10. Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete The Chop)


Vinyl format:

A single album re-mastered version on 180gram vinyl with restored packaging.

Tracklisting:
Side One 1. Sunday Bloody Sunday 2. Seconds 3. New Year's Day 4. Like A Song... 5. Drowning Man
Side Two 1. The Refugee 2. Two Hearts Beat As One 3. Red Light 4. Surrender 5. "40"

A Capella On Daptone

We knew Daptone Records was bold, leading a lively soul resurgence with invigorating bands like Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings. Now Daptone is also daring, taking an admirable risk in releasing Como Now, a record of live a capella gospel performances recorded in Mt. Mariah Church in Como, Mississippi, on July 22, 2006. I love it for the sound, the soul, and the audacity. The first song here, Send Me, I'll Go, captures that independent spirit perfectly.

The Voices of Como - Send Me, I'll Go (mp3)
The Voices of Como - It's Alright (mp3)

Eccentric Soul: Tragar & Note Labels

Numero strikes with another staggeringly excellent compilation of rare soul, funk, and disco funk, with their 2-disc Eccentric Soul: The Tragar & Note Labels. Each of their collections is filled with little soul discoveries, and this one holds up as well as the rest.

Eula Cooper - Shake Daddy Shake (mp3)
Nathan Wilkes - Strange Feeling (mp3)

The Verve's new album drops August 19th.

Yes, that The Verve, formerly Verve, with Richard Ashcroft et al. You've been wondering about the release date, and that's all the details I have.

Sophie & Eisenheim

This is the music that accompanied the love scene between Eisenheim and Sophie, before she rides back to the castle to meet a seemingly grim fate.

Philip Glass - Sophie (mp3), from The Illusionist

The Visual Album Review #1, Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista

Figure in static.

mp3s from Paavoharju's Laulu Laakson Kukista (highly recommended):

Kevätrumpu
Tyttö tanssii

Iron & Wine, Live on The Current, 6-11-2008

..."Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee."

Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said,

"Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

- Job 1:18-21 (King James Version)

Iron & Wine - Live on Minnesota Public Radio's The Current, 6-11-2008 (mp3s):

Peace Beneath The City
Naked As We Came
He Lays In The Rain

Listen to the performance properly, with interview, here.

Also:


Buy The Shepherd's Dog.
(Naked As We Came is from Our Endless Numbered Days, and is also on the In Good Company soundtrack.)

Miles in Winter

Miles Davis Quintet (Stadhalle, Karlsruhe, Germany)- I Fall In Love Too Easily (mp3)

It was 97 degrees Fahrenheit today. This song was recorded in Germany in the winter of 1967. Doesn't get much cooler.

From Miles Davis Quintet: Winter In Europe 1967

Take The Farm

Two albums I'm dying to hear NOW: Beck's Modern Guilt (whenever it comes out), and after hearing the single below, The War On Drugs' forthcoming album, Wagonwheel Blues. out next Tuesday from Secretly Canadian. The guitar voice in this song is wholly original - nothing technically groundbreaking - just a novel personality, and it's been a long time since I've felt this refreshed by the six-string electric.

The War On Drugs - Taking The Farm (mp3)

The New World Government.

What better way to get your mystical world-consciousness on and display your sense of universal convergence than through screaming guitar psychedelia circa the Beatles on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Apollo Sunshine make this noise, somewhere in the grand scheme of things:

Apollo Sunshine - 666 - The Coming Of The New World Government (mp3)

Shall Noise Upon is out August 5th.

Joan As Police Woman, live on WNYC's Soundcheck, 6-2-2008

The woman and her piano in studio, arresting the masses.

Joan As Police Woman - Live on WNYC, 6-2-2008 (mp3s):

To Be Loved
To Survive

Listen to the entire performance with interview.

Also:
To Be Loved (album version)(mp3)

To Survive is out June 10th.

REM - Let Me In - Albany, NY U.S. - June 20, 1995

I remember seeing another performance of this tragic carnival of a song, R.E.M.'s exploration of self-isolation, with a video of something like a rolling fireball on a giant screen as a backdrop, and Kurt Cobain's Jag-Stang in the unlikely hands of Mike Mills, seemingly playing all by itself, as Stipe sings "I can't see all the birds look down and laugh at me, clumsy, crawling out of my skin."



...and an mp3 of Let Me In from an FM broadcast:

R.E.M. - Let Me In (Live, National Bowl, Milton Keynes, UK 7-30-1995) (mp3)

R.E.M. - Fall On Me (Live, National Bowl, Milton Keynes, UK 7-30-1995) (mp3)

The Cure - Just Like Heaven, Live on the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards

Classic performance. I remember being blown away by this the day it was broadcast.

Rachel Haught

If you like Bjork and have fond memories of Kate Bush, check out NYC's Rachel Haught. She has that unsettling innocence, and delivers electronically spiced dark lullabies like a playful deviant. She pushes the boundaries and explores the edges, driving her music away from the comfortable places we're used to. There are only a few songs to listen to, all on her myspace, and they left me yearning for more.

Rachel Haught - The Stars (mp3)
Rachel Haught - To Shanghai (mp3)

Death Cab For Cutie, Live In-Studio for MPR's The Current

As announced yesterday, Death Cab For Cutie performed for Minnesota Public Radio's The Current today. Listen to the entire impeccable performance with interview here.

Death Cab For Cutie - Live on The Current (mp3s):

Phone Booth
Talking Bird
I Will Possess Your Heart

Get Narrow Stairs.

The Raconteurs at the 9:30, 27 May 2008

This is so Zep. If you haven't listened to the show yet, do (stream it here). The guitars wail like Cerberus unleashed whilst on a starvation diet. The licks are hot wet tongues that wrap around you and pull you toward the gaping mouth of swallowed tormented souls. It's like that - I lie not. Here are two songs from the show.

The Raconteurs - Live at the 9:30 Club, 5-27-2008 (mp3s):

Consoler of the Lonely
Keep It Clean (Charlie Jordan)

hobogirl923 captured video of Keep It Clean when the tall person in front of her wasn't in her way:



We highly recommend Consolers Of The Lonely.

Death Cab For Cutie, Live In-Studio on The Current, Tomorrow

From The Current's myspace:

Death Cab For Cutie will be in the studio with Mary Lucia this Monday at 5pm on 89.

3 The Current! They're stopping by to play us some tunes and for an interview before their show at the Orpheum over in Minneapolis!

If you miss the instudio... you can always catch up online at thecurrent. org!

May the Death Cab be with you.

Never Doubt My Commitment To Sparkle Motion.

This is where I went to high school.

Our pep rallies weren't like this.