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All mp3s are posted here with permission from the artists/labels/PR folks, and for a very brief time. If you have any issues with content on this zine please email me; atartytart@gmail.com I'm addicted to my Iphone, darlins'... I'll get back to you.
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Did I mention lately how much I love this band, this record, even this song? Well I still do. And now we’ve got a video to love as well. ‘Nuff said. xoxo Bombadil... Tarpits and Canyonlands … buy the darn thing, you will thank me, I swear it!
*Daytrotter is such a cool place and if there’s any chance that you don’t know about it, you’d best get your behind over there and check it out. This particular version of the song is pretty cool in that it Stuart, the guy who wrote the song and who sings it on the album isn’t there in the studio for this taping and so Bryan sings lead on it and does a great job, if ya ask me. Go read about it over there.
yeah, happy fucking holidays to you too! Grrrrr, nothing can kill your mojo like spending four days with your mother-in-law, eh? See, Thanksgiving exists exactly one month before xmas so that you can get one side of the family out of the way before you get to inflict your side on your spouse. We don’t usually take turns but this year it worked out that way. Got her’s over with this weekend, whew! The actual xmas holiday weekend will be spent civilly as it should …. silently in front of the television, not speaking to one another aside for requests for more popcorn, the occasional snicker at the goofy commercials, the telling of raunchy jokes, or slinging of well-meaning insults at various family members. That’s how we show love in my family, it’s very straight forward and easy. No whining, no passive-aggressive bullshit, no formalities. Gawd, I can’t wait!
In light of my holiday crankiness, I’ve selected some songs that take pot shots at Santa for you. They ease my pain a teensy bit, I’m a vindictive mofo!
Tiny Tim is sorely neglected in the music world, especially by the generation who didn’t grow up seeing him on all the music TV shows of my youth. He was much more than a ukulele player who made up silly songs for fun. Go check out his wiki page and enjoy this great little xmas track. Santa Claus Has Got The AIDS mp3Tiny Tim… from Songs of an Impotent Troubadour (just click on the album title to purchase on Amazon)
And who can’t appreciate a Sonic Youth xmas anti-drug campaign? Santa Don’t Cop Out on Drugs mp3 Sonic Youth… from Just Say Noel (just click on the album title to purchase on Amazon)
I’d be remiss if I didn’t leave you with the taste of blues in your mouth, this day after Thanksgiving. Happy Monday, my darlings! It can only get better from here on out! xoxo Santa Came Home Drunk mp3Clyde Lasley (often wrongly attributed to Clyde Leslie, watch it!) and the Cadillac Baby Specials… on Bummed Out Christmas! (again, click on the album title to purchase on Amazon)
Sigh No More* mp3 Mumford & Sons, Sigh No Morebuy from Rough Trade (sorry, there appears to be no US distributor yet, check itunes for singles downloads, I’ve heard there’s a few out by now, 12/4/09)
Love at first listen, this is the thing I remember about Mumford & Sons I can’t remember if I first heard it on The Waiting Room or over on Matthew’s blog, but the harmonies, the particular timbre of Marcus Mumford’s voice, (which cuts off sharply for emphasis and then breaks so tenderly), yes, the vocals sealed the deal for me with this record. The songs are beautifully written. The lyrics are gorgeous and eloquent and well… lyrical. Classical tales are told on Sigh No More in modern folk styles; this is no album for top 40 radio! Mumford & Sons spin the listener around in a flurry of sound, full of banjo, organ, dobro (a resonator guitar which sounds like a banjo), and double bass.
The twelve tracks of Sigh No More give this quartet plenty of room to show off their considerable talent. A driving beat, whether it be the strum of a guitar or the pluck of the bass, drives Marcus to an insistent crescendo more often than not, but not before pausing for a quiet, harmonic valley where we all catch our breath. It’s a formula that works very well for this band both instrumentally and lyrically. It’s the way many poems are crafted, many stories are told, it comes naturally to this type of thing. And when it all lifts at the end, as in “Awake My Soul” or the title track, “Sigh No More” and most notably, “Dustbowl Dance” I love the joy in it.
Other songs which don’t follow this path are welcome breaks. “After the Storm” has simple instrumentation and poetic words, making it a perfect ending to this debut record. With so many good songs it was a torturous task to pick one for my top 10 songs list. “White Blank Page” was the clear winner, however. As far as love songs go, this one has such a tremendously good guitar (?) refrain along with memorable these lines:
“Can you lie next to her and give her your heart, your heart?
As well as your body, and can you lie next to her and confess your love, your love?
As well as your folly”
Yes, darlings, if you have any romantic bone in your body you will continue to sigh.
Go to Matthew’s page hereScroll down (I found it online afterall) to see an exclusive video and the nail in the coffin so to speak on how I came to love this song.
Go here to get a free mp3 of Mumford & Sons new single “Sister” by giving them your email address for their mailing list.
*apologies for the mislabeled track on the Hype Machine, if you came here looking for Little Lion Man… I had a badly labeled mp3 file, eek!
Who can resist a little AC/DC at the holiday season? I’m not even a huge fan and I love this song. Seriously, you can not be a tart of my age and have escaped the influence of this awesome band. I’ve tried my damnest to hate on them. That voice just grates, the stage show is just over. the. top! But fuck all, they bring it. No arguing about it. AC/DC bring rock to roll. So, enjoy this rather clean version of a xxxmas song, from 1990, xoxo (apologies for the rather abrupt ending, beggars can’t be choosers ya know)
Well darlings, it’s officially one month until xmas and if you know me, you know that I’m absolutely, insanely amused by wacky xmas songs. So strap in, I’ll try my best to not assault you more than once a day. And do remember that I also have a shit-ton load of albums to get through before I make my year-end list of favorite records of 2009. We’ll mix it up and you’ll easily be able to shield your ears and eyes from the xmas garbage that I call fun, don’t fret! No, I don’t do it for the hit count, tho it does draw people in because really, who doesn’t love a filthy xmas jingle? And yes, I happily steal them from all the dark corners of the ‘net. I’ll give you buy links in return, whenever I can, I promise. So spank me if you disapprove, it’s the only time of year when I really do misbehave
What to start with? Shall we get the most heinous one out of the way? This is NOT SAFE FOR WORK… DO NOT PUT YOUR SPEAKERS ON IN MIXED COMPANY… maybe not in any company, honestly.
Yes, “Rudolph The Deepthroat Reindeer” is everything that is wrong with America. It’s disgusting, homophobic, childish, stereotypically anti-sex, gross, offensive, and cringe-worthy. But there’s throngs of people who seriously need to hear this song every year. I admit that I have a sick, unexplainable desire to listen to it, even as I screw up my face and actually blush in mortified embarrassment at the ridiculously horrible lyrics. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. But hey, let’s get the worst out of our systems now so we can move on to the barking dogs, mewing cats, squealing little girls and oh… the chipmunks! Thankfully you cannot buy this album anymore. Let’s pray they don’t shut me down for even posting this crap.
….. still with me? …….ok, so we need some happy, calm-the-fuck-down music now, right?!? deeeeep breath darlings.
Happy Fucking Holidays mp3 by Starfucker (if you can figure out where to buy this, let me know) they’ve changed their name to Pyramidd now. Go buy one of their albums, they’re a fantastic band! And Rough Trade has a lovely 7″ single, “Medicine” to purchase in white vinyl here. Do it. (you can stream it there too.)
This last track is actually brilliant. It’s electronic, interesting, and lyrically surprising but not horribly offensive. I can imagine playing this one to someone’s parents. OK maybe not to my family but to a family that isn’t so uptight and has a sense of wry humor that I imagine normal people having. I like it, I hope you do to, Pyramidd is going in all sorts of cool directions this year, good on them! Let me know how this goes down and forgive me for the other, eh? It gets much better from here on out, I swear. xoxo
If you’re a musician and have a xmas song, especially a naughty one, send it to me! There’s a drop box over on the left for your convenience. I’d love to include it in my annual xmas celebration here on the Shack!
I’ve been following this little group from Edinburgh for quite some time now and yet I’ve not written about them here yet. (Unfortunately, that’s a sentence you’re going to read a few times this season before the new year!) But here goes! You all know how I troll over at Matthew’s blog, Song, by Toad and it’s there that I’ve met some really amazing musician friends. One such person is Bart Owl who has become forevermore cemented in my mind as local “bandwhore” because it really does seem that he’s in just about every indie band in that damn town!
The group that perhaps is closest to his heart (correct me if I’m wrong here, Bart) is eagleowl.
And this wonderful, lo-fi, folk band has just this month released a 7″ single… well, they’re launching it in December but we’ve all heard it by now. It’s perfectly, exactly, wondrously, what eagleowl is all about: stepping back, taking one’s time, having a breather, listening to what’s going on in a quiet room with those you really do wish to hear. It’s full of rich contrabass (which I always mistake for a cello), violin, guitar, mandolin, melodica and all the layers of sad-drawn out vocals that draw me to Scottish music. eagleowl is not some mamby-pamby, reedy thin, excuse for not being able to rock out, however. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that they play this thoughtful kind of music because they lack the talent to do something you think of as “loud.” On the contrary, eagleowl’s version of folk has a real backbone to it; it stands up tall and respectfully grants you it’s time. Clarissa’s vocals are clear and solid, to match the instrumentation, not to hide behind it. And the harmonies she makes with Bart’s brooding voice are more than beautiful. I’m simply smitten.
How apropos that this single is about winter? I crack a smile just typing that out because it’s all so bleak and at the same time so warm and poignant. You know that feeling you get when you’re inside next to a warm fire and looking out the window over the bare fields? I grew up in the country, I remember that well. Yes, I love this single, I’m aching to hear the new LP. And if you didn’t get a copy of their debut For The Thoughts You Never Had, shame on you! They sold out. It’s gone! (I bet you can still get mp3s tho.) Here’s all the details you need:
The “Sleep The Winter” 7” single will be launched with a show at The Bowery
(2 Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9SU) on Friday, December 11th. Doors open at
7.30, entry is £5, and early arrival is strongly advised, so’s not to miss the amazing
special guests.
From December 14th the single will be available from select independent record
stores, and to order via eagleowl’s website and via Kilterschmilter
“Sleep The Winter” is the first release from brand new musical operation Kilter – a new
project for long-time live music propagators Tracer Trails.
The single is due to be followed in the new year by eagleowl’s second EP.
Well bend me over and spank me hard! I totally forgot to tell you about Filthy Little Angel’sFifth Birthday celebration for the month of November and now it’s almost over. I suck. Well… there’s a little bit of time left. So head over there and check out their artists, some of whom you might have seen on these pages! I’ve discovered some wonderful music there, musicians that have started out at FLA and have moved onto bigger labels and musicians that write some amazing, experimental stuff, musicians that make music you’ll not hear anywhere else! I’ve written about: Hyperbubble, The Lovely Eggs, Projekt A-Ko, The Vichy Government, and Slideshow Freak. All of them I found on FLA.
I first found FLA last year around this time when I was scouring the web for naughty xmas songs. There’s some really good ones there! Since then I’ve had a few interactions with Darren and he’s proven to be a lovely person and a top-notch PR rep for the artists over at his site. You will find everything from electronica to rock n’ roll to twee, pretty pop to screeching punk. Please check them out and take advantage of their “free download” section but more than that, go to their store and support the artists they have gathered under their Filthy Little Angels umbrella.
NOVEMBER RELEASE SCHEDULE
09 The International Karate Plus / The Favours
10 The Violets / The Swear
11 The Fairies Band / The Vichy Government
12 The Boyfriends / The Long Blondes
13 Mynx / Alice and the Enemies
14 ShiSho / Hyperbubble
15 The Vichy Government / Gay Against You
16 Captain Polaroid / Beacons
17 The Fairies Band / The Peeptoes
18 The Art Goblins / Billy Ruffian
19 The New Royal Family / Keith TOTP
20 Projekt A-ko / Horowitz
21 The Sexual Hot Bitches / The Lovely Eggs
22 Esiotrot / Tiger MCs
23 Kissing Kalina EP
30 Slideshow Freak EP
Maps & Atlases blew my mind at Lincoln Hall last Wednesday! And Apteka did the same Thursday night! Oh lordy! I’ve been trying to catch these two local bands for months now and I’ve finally been rewarded with two evenings of mind-blowing indie-rock goodness. Chicago is fertile ground for a certain garage rock sound, I can’t really describe it but if you’re a music freak you know a Chicago band when you hear one. If you go way back to the 80s and remember the Replacements, you’ll know what I mean. There’s a Midwestern, middle-class, kind of grit to the music that gets hewed out of this town. Now, neither of these two bands exactly sounds garage-y like that but I’ll argue that the roots of their sound grow from that same dirt. Sure, they take rock and roll in completely different directions, but it’s raw and edgy in both cases, and wonderfully so.
Maps & Atlases have most recently been on tour with the Ra Ra Riot. They’ve received fantabulous reviews from Pitchfork, NME, everyone who’s anyone in Chicago and everyone who’s ever seen them play. You can see some gorgeous pictures taken the night of their show at Lincoln Hall here, by Julius Ryan. They’re working on their first full length record and it is one of the most anticipated albums of 2010.
Somehow I missed the fact that they had completed an EP since Trees, Swallows, Houses, which I’ve been devouring lately. You and Me and the Mountain came out So I had a lot of catching up to do. Their hour long set was made up of equal parts material from both those EPs as well as new stuff of the soon to be released LP. Even though I had a good idea of what to expect, the energy from the crowd coupled with the pure joy and appreciation of the band as they bounced off everyone around them made the evening particularly awesome. I tried to think of another word for that, I know my UK friends tease us for saying everything is awesome, but damnit, it was! Dave said thank you after almost every song as if he were truly surprised at the overwhelmingly positive response. I can’t stop smiling even now as I type this up because not only is the music positive and busy with everything that is alive about life itself, but the band is also just so incredibly buzzing with frenetic goodness. Is that over the top? Perhaps, but that’s what I felt from that night, from that crowd, from that roomful of hyped-up, blaring music. Deal with it.
Apteka has been on my radar for about six months, even though I only recently posted about them. As I tweeted, I fell for them on the opening chord I heard at the Bottom Lounge. I know it’s uncool to describe a band as “power rock” and it’s not exactly what they are, so think of that but add a heavy dose of just beautiful, sawing, guitar and lots of reverb. I think it’s the best combination of the parts of shoegaze that I love (solid sound that you lose yourself in) and some really heavy rock guitar and drum with tripped out vocals. Yeah, this is what old folks call “head banging” music but it’s more complicated and versatile than that as well. I’m just going to have to keep plugging this band until they get more gigs and get this collection of demos together into an LP because I simply can’t stop listening to it. There’s tons of potential here. The drummer is amazing, energetic and in sync with the rest of his bandmates in the way that most guitarists wish their drummers were. The lead guitarist, (why do I never get names at these gigs?) played some amazing and yet also scaled back to just the right point, solos and deftly gave out some heavy rock grinding chords as well as that beautiful smooth, My Bloody Valentine-like saw/slide. Vocally, Apteka has a great sound, and I was happy to hear that the live show superseded the recording. If anything, the lead singer could hold back a bit, his voice is very strong and well-trained for this kind of music. And well, I saved my favorite for last. Because seriously, watching Apteka renewed my love affair with bass players. The bass lines in this record are all over the place and watching him play live I saw why. To keep up with the energy of an ambitious lead guitarist and a powerful singer, not to mention their simply stunning drummer, this bass player really did seek to stand out. I couldn’t say that these guys were competing in this band, for attention or space, but damn… they each carve out a place. And watching that bassist move across the fret, that was gorgeous. Go see Apteka, keep your wits about you and don’t do too much head banging because you’re gonna wanna see just how they create this magic, I promise xoxo
Undone mp3 Medeski, Martin, and Wood Radiolarians III
You know I’ve been listening to MMW for only about a year now, and from the moment they hit my ears, I’ve been craving the opportunity to hear all this jazz-rock wildness live. In most things, this tart gets her way. And Saturday night, as the crowd roared (absolutely roared!) their welcome, Medeski, Martin and Wood took the stage. It was all madness from there on out. I could give you my usual metaphors and flowery language, and frankly music like this deserves that, but the lasting impression of this show was just one of breathlessness. Even when they toned it all down and play slowly, giving drummer Billy Martin a moment to wipe the sweat from his face, I found myself all tensed up and excited still. The opening number must have lasted fifteen minutes, building and crashing and warming up the crowd. Did I already mention they were absolutely roaring? The House of Blues knows a thing or two about selling the bar. And the atmosphere was very party-hearty.
I climbed up to the upper balcony to catch a good stage view. It’s not easy being a shorty in a crowd like that, and luckily this venue is made for people like me. Peering down at the trio, I could trace how John Medeski (often labeled an octopus for his skill at handling so many keyboards in an elaborate setup) not only hit the keys but also the melodica, to my delight! You KNOW it’s gettin good when the melodica comes out. No, I cannot tell you the titles of anything they played, well…. I did hear quite a bit from the Radiolarian series, and therefore I know I heard some “Riffin Ed” and some “Flat Tires” as well as “Chantes Des Femmes” and so much more…
You must go over here and read Radio Free Chicago’s interview with Chris Wood, his bass playing was/is truly a masterpiece. When he switched to upright bass the audience went a little crazy, and I watched him carefully go from plucking to bowing to thumping and knocking and just abusing the hell outta that instrument in such a lovely manner. I have to admit, that was a highlight of the show for me.
Well, that and one other bit that perhaps only I appreciate because I’m just one of those quirky little people. The transitions between songs, the moments when the band has to accommodate someone changing out instruments, or taking a moment to catch a drink, or simply to just change up the pace, those transitions are flawless. After nearly 20 years playing together, MMW have perfected the art of easing from one song to the next and they do so in some unique little ways. At times Billy will reach over for a rattle or shaker or both. Or turn all the way round and tackle his metal disks with a small mallet. There were so many noise-makers on his table of goodies, and he used them all in various ways along with John and Chris to set the tone for the next piece. It was simply fascinating each time it happened and I found myself paying as much or more attention to this between-song or slow moment as I did to the fast, jazz flurry of truly inspired music that dominated the evening. And of course, there were the drum solos. I need to see them again, I’ll tell you more when I can stop shaking my head in amazement and disbelief and breathe more deeply. It was gorgeous, m’dears, xoxo
Their three record set is repackaged for holiday release with some real nice goodies, including live tracks that I’ve heard and that are truly beautifully, improvisational. Go directly to the band or to Amazon to check out Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set for that music lover you’re buying for this season.
Remember that cool band I told you about All Of Us/None Of Us? Back in March they sent me their EP Arcane and Able and it wow’d me. The guitar solos were hot and searing. I said they had a lot of potential and I’m still looking forward to their new EP (anticipated for January). This little single is released separately from that project and it hit my mailbox yesterday.
When I say it “hit” me I mean it. If you’ve already started the player you know what I’m saying. There’s no slow build on this one. Eric Ray’s guitar attacks your ears right from the start and that’s what I love about All Of Us/None Of Us. The contrast between that discordant guitar opening and R Tyck’s R&B vocals makes you sit up and listen. If this is any indication of what is to come from them, then their new EP is gonna be awesome. They continue to innovate and stretch their sound, it’s wonderful to see a band grow. Make sure you go see their MySpace page and see what they’ve been up to and pick up a copy of their EP Arcane and Ablehere
(just click on the album title to purchase on Amazon)
(just click on the album title to purchase on Amazon)
(again, click on the album title to purchase on Amazon)
on Amazon
to check out Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set for that music lover you’re buying for this season.
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