This is an online music fan zine. Please support music and musicians by going to shows, purchasing CDs, buying a damn T-shirt!
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.
If you like what's up here, it'd be nice to know about it, so leave me some comments, eh? You can always post me love notes and CDs and such at: Love Shack, Baby, PO Box 221235 Chicago, IL 60622 (note new addy)
Tart on Twitter
And you can find PuppetShow at enjoy.the.puppet.show@gmail.com
Yeah, I’m sneaking away from the TV-watching family to post some music for you, my dear readers! Holidays are a mellow affair by me… some chit chat, go to the movies, eat a bunch of food that’s really bad for you, play with the dog. But there’s NO MUSIC, aaack! So I’m getting my fix and giving you one too, xoxo
These all came in my inbox in the past week or so:
Yeah, this is just gorgeous and I regret that I couldn’t get to it until now! You all know how I love Samantha Crain, well she’s done up this John Denver tune, “Cowboy Christmas” and it’s wonderful, I love it! You will too. Banjo, guitar, her voice, all in her unmistakable and original style, this tune has it all.
Christmas For Cowboys mp3
Also this pretty song, the result of a collaboration by Mascot and Gramercy Arms and makes a great B side to “Cowboy Christmas”
This Christmas Time mp3
And from Serious Business Records, we have Higgins, a sextet from NYC with a great funky sound! They have two albums out, the latest, just out this year is Zs (click on the album name to get the purchase link)
Get Your Christmas On! mp3
And here’s a lovely song by Ron Sexsmith of Manchester, “Maybe This Christmas” sent to me by the lovely folk at Stay Loose
Blue Christmas mp3 The Housewives It’ll Be Filthy This Christmas
Candy Cane Withdrawal mp3 Paris Street It’ll Be Filthy This Christmas
Have Yourself A Filthy Little Christmas mp3 And What Will Be Left Of Them? Have Yourself A Filthy Little Christmas
Christmas is Canceled mp3 The Vichy Government Have Yourself A Filthy Little Christmas
Silent Night mp3 Fridge Noises ‘Tis The Season To Be Filthy ….. I have to say, this is maybe my favorite version of this xmas song. It’s just plain WEIRD and WONDERFUL. No, most of you won’t like it at all, and I’m totally ok with that. But that’s why I love it so much. It just puts a smile on my face every time I hear it. It’s kinda like a tripped out donkey or a really good saw player or something, I love the sound of this thing… enjoy!
Well, I’ve arrived back in my hometown and it’s always a sort of head trip to come here… family is kinda cool, especially when I’ve not seen them in so long! We’re all grown up now and joke around a lot and for some reason this year decided to tell naughty secrets to each other, hahah! So I think we’ve all got something juicy on each other (us kids that is) and the missus and I have only been here half a day so far. Well fucking done, I say!
I got into this xxxmas song thing last year because I happened upon this great site, Filthy Little Angels. Well also because I’m a pervy kinda girl, which is no news to you, my darlings. But since certain family members might be new readers of this here blog, I guess I’d better watch it from here on out… uh yeah right. But Filthy Little Angels has been very good to me over the past year and has sent me all sorts of goodies. And what they are perhaps most known for are their fantastic xmas albums. And they’re all for download, for free. So get your cute little patooties over there and check them out. You can download one or two mp3s or a zip file of the whole damn album if that turns you on. Tonight’s selections have come from there.
And well, Merry Christmas Eve if that’s what you celebrate and drink some egg nog for me, eh? And if you’re all by yourself tonight, go find a buddy online, play some raucous xxxmas music and get busy already xoxo
Oh lordy! It’s nearly xmas and I’ve not been feeding you lovelies your daily requisite naughty xmas songs. I checked today, and I’ve got over 2,000 holiday songs in my library! That’s just insane! No excuse then, is there?
Lets Just Fuck For Christmas mp3 Bantam Rooster Surprise Package, The Collector’s Edition
Santa Is A Swinger Now mp3 Candye Kayne The Alternate Root 1st Holiday Samplerfree download here!
Back Door Santa mp3 Clarence Carter Original Soul Christmas….. buy it
Rockin In My Stocking mp3 Grub Dog Mitchell The Alternate Root 1st Holiday Samplerfree download here!
Come On Santa Let’s Have A Ball mp3 Kay Martin and her Bodyguards I know what he wants for Christmas
Hard On mp3Withered Hand Good News …. buy it! (I just checked, it’s fucking SOLD OUT!! so check back, they’ll have more. Way to fucking GO, DAN!!!!!)
The time has finally come. The pushin has come to shove…And I’m going against my own word and making a numbered list. And here’s why: The Hype Machine is compiling lists as they did last year, for a big, gigantic, general list of favorite music of 2009. Now being an educated woman, I know that data is useless if it is not ordered and placed in an hierarchical fashion. So, know that theoretically I am not in favor of placing any one artist or album above another. That’s just ridiculous. How could I possibly say that I love Ice Palace slightly more than Pure Reason Revolution? Those two albums are like apples and oranges. I listen to far too wide a spectrum of music to make a comprehensive list in any sensible order, really. But, it is necessary in the name of science. So…. here is my list. And it is generally ordered as to how much I listened to these fantastic records. Now that says a lot more about me than about them, doesn’t it? xoxo
Withered HandGood News … buy it There’s a very simple reason I love this album and listen to it again and again. I fell in love with the honesty of it, the way it speaks to exactly where I am and where I’ve been and maybe even where I’m going. Dan Willson just does something that very few other singer/songwriters can do and that something is to simply lay bare what is not easy to tell. See my more thorough review here (scroll down).
And, albums/bands that I sooooo wish I had spent more, and had more time for this year! There’s always those few that slip through your fingertips, you never get to them fast enough nor spend enough time on them. But these are all wonderful and I know I’ll be listening to them well into 2010.
[This is the third in a series of guest reviews by my good friend Puppet Show, who has thankfully given in to my begging and agreed to help me out. News of this band came to me from the awesome blog, ninebullets.net and I sent Pup this album for review. Needless to say, he took to it like a pig to shit. I had a feeling he would, it's a great record and one that I completely recommend for your last minute holiday shopping! xoxo]
When it comes to music I can be rather fickle as Tart can attest to. I have to like the music I see, if I don’t, then I won’t listen to it. Yes you read that correctly, I have to like the music I see. That might seem unusual to some people but it is something that I think I have grown up with, a sense of vision in the music I listen to. If I can’t envision a song, or the sounds can’t take me to a place that I have never been before in my head, then I probably won’t like it. How many vanilla wrappers do you want to see before the vanilla wrappers get boring.
Take Truckstop Coffee, not only is it a name with a visual behind it, but it pretty much takes you to where the music begins, with a cup of truck stop Coffee. This rock four piece out of Lake Worth, Florida has a knack for telling stories. Every song I listened to was devoid of fluff or filler, and it took me somewhere. The sound is an old friend and drinking buddy at an old watering hole where you would sit, drink whiskey, and talk.
For Dear Life is 12 stories of life experiences that you may have never lived but after listening to this album you will think like you did. “Gas Tank,” a favorite of mine, is a song about trying to escape. “And your friends they’re all your biggest fans, except when they’re pouring sugar in your gas tank” These lyrics took me back to a time in my life when all I had was the desire to escape where I came from. But everyone I knew cheered me on and held me back, I love that song now. “Mrs.Grady” is an absolutely somber song of war, but the way it is played and sung, I feel like I am there. Truckstop Coffee has an uncanny way of bringing you into their music in a way that you don’t want to leave, each song makes me want the next and the next. For Dear Life is an array of mini stories written on a master level.
This band is a bottle of bourbon as I look out on the Blue Ridge mountains from my back porch. It’s what good, old music should be: raw stripped down and able to take you somewhere in your head as you listen. This sophomore album, For Dear Life, has made my Top 3 for 2009. Go listen, and see what I mean.
Tour Details
Jan 8 2010 9:00P Orlando Brewing Co – PETE SOLO Orlando, Florida
Jan 15 2010 9:00P Propaganda w/ The Most Beautiful Losers, Matt Woods Lake Worth, Florida
Jan 16 2010 9:00P New World Brewery w/ Will Quinlan, The Most Beautiful Losers, and Matt Woods Ybor City, FL
Jan 17 2010 9:00P Will’s Pub w/ Thomas Wynn, Most Beautiful Losers, Matt Woods Orlando, Florida
Jan 21 2010 8:00P Bodega Blue – Pete Solo Vero Beach, Florida
Jan 23 2010 8:00P 4620 Reinvented w/ Matt Woods, The Most Beautiful Losers Knoxville, Tennessee
Jan 27 2010 8:00P P&H Cafe Memphis, Tennessee
Jan 29 2010 9:30P Live Wire Savannah, Georgia
Jan 30 2010 8:00P The Atlantic w/ Ninja Gun Gainesville, Florida
Feb 14 2010 8:00P Sadie Rene’s w/ The Most Beautful Losers, Gunt Punchers, Matt Woods Canton, Ohio
Sea Dragon-Shaped mp3 Coo & Howl Water Came And Cooled Us All …. buy it!
Do you need a quick pressie for someone who likes the kind of music that they can turn on and just sit back and soak in on a lazy Saturday afternoon? Well, have I got the thing for you! Someone slipped this name to me a few weeks ago and even though I’m trying to NOT listen to anything new until I’ve finished my lists, damnit, I can’t help it. Coo & Howl do exactly what their band name says. How fucking cool is that?!? They have a little EP out on Amie St (where you pay the going rate, per song or per album, according to popularity, so get in there now before the price goes up!) called Water Came And Cooled Us All. It’s full of really smooth electric guitar sounds fused with other modern bits that evoke that melodic, mellow feel of some of my heroes from the 7os, Cat Stevens, Nick Drake, Bread. At the same time, Coo & Howl completely innovate whatever genre my feeble brain wants to box them into. A little bluesy (ah that guitar is sweet!), a bit folksy (especially the so soft vocals), totally experimental, Coo & Howl have captured my attention away from just about everything today. This is acoustic music that is beautiful played at a nice mellow volume, in your living room, or equally good played loud in your ear with headphones. Don’t miss the small parts. Don’t fail to be surprised where it suddenly drops off or where the timing changes all over the place in “Big Blue Heron, Parts 1-3.”
Coo & Howl played their first show on Dec. 4. in Somerville, MA. They have 17 friends on MySpace. This thing is just getting started folks. Get in on the ground floor of what is going to be an amazing project. Each of them: Christian Cundari, Ben Didsbury, Matt Dodge, Daniel Madri, and Matt Savage, have played in various other bands before. This new collaboration is surely inspired! Look for their next recording, and for live shows this winter.
Oh, so many lists this time of year! One of my favorite ones is over at the Contrast Podcast and you all should go check it out because it truly does reflect a very wide array of opinions from all over the bloggersphere and beyond. There were scores of folk who cast their votes, not just bloggers, listeners too. And Tim, our fearless leader, has compiled it all and collected intros for each and every song on the list. I doubt you’ll find a more diverse one out there, honestly. (and in the coming weeks you’ll soon hear my introduction for a special track that I love) xoxo
Matt from Jadiid sent me their new album the moment it was finished. I listened to it. It was good. And then I sat it down and buried it under a pile of this and that and never reviewed it. Well that Matt is a diligent person and he checked back a few times, I told him to keep bugging me about it because I knew I wanted to get to this, and wow! am I glad.
I’ve listened to It’s Ok, Be Anxious at least 20 times now and it’s fast becoming a real favorite. Eleven tracks that give me all the highs and lows I need, that’s what this record holds. They describe themselves as being soul-infused folk and that hits nail on head. From the smallest sounds of brush on cymbal to Matt’s vocals hitting that solid, mellow, high point where your brain just says “ahhh,” this record is lush. The guitarwork is not overly fussy, it’s the vocals and the lyrics that stand out. But I love how the guitars weave in and out of each other, and how the bass, played sparingly, strikes decisively. However, it’s that tinny piano, and that high-pitched shimmer of guitar that fades out into the ether, featured on a few tracks that I look for when I hear this album. That is, when I’m not simply singing along.
My darlings over at Knox Rd have a nice review and a mp3s of “Something To Follow” and “Blue On Blue.” You’ll find that they love it as much as I do. Pick up this album, it’s excellent, it’s a wonderful first LP by this Chicago band, and it’s gonna make your holidays so much less stressful, I swear it. xoxo
(right now you can only get CDs from the band, but links for Amazon and itunes are on their way! email them in the meantime, it’s jadiid at gmail)
… and some fine Scottish bloggers award their top albums of 2009. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you The Scottish Bloggers and Music Sites Award 2009′, a.k.a., the ‘Scottish BAMS Award 2009‘
The following folks contributed to voting:
17 Seconds, AyeTunes, Dear Scotland, Earz Mag, Elba Sessions, Glasgow Podcart, Hooligans Lament, Jim Gellatly, JocknRoll, Jockrock, Kowalskiy, Last Years Girl, Love Shack Baby, Manic Pop Thrills, My Portiswasp Says, Off the Beaten Tracks, The Popcop, Products of a Gaseous Brain, Song By Toad, The Daily Growl, The Spill, The Steinberg Principle, The Vinyl Villain and Under the Radar.
Each of us submitted our top ten albums of 2009. Some of those names you will recognize as commenters and friends here in the Shack. The whole thing was put on by Lloyd of Peenko.com and he compiled the votes to determine that the winner is……..
2. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
3. De Rosa – Prevention
4. King Creosote – Flick the V’s
5. Withered Hand – Good News
6. The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead
7. We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls
8. Beerjacket – Animosity
9. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
9. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
11. My Latest Novel – Deaths and Entrances
11. Malcolm Middleton – Waxing Gibbous
13. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – s/t
14. You Already Know – s/
14. Broken Records – Until the Earth Begins to Part
16. The XX – s/t
17. The Antlers – Hospice
18. Sufjan Stevens – The BQE
18. And So I Watch You From Afar
20. Wilco – The Album
The Phantom Band has this to say: “This makes us feel very honoured because the opinion of people out there giving opinions is what matters most, rather than the financially influenced press. It always amazes me that people would take it upon themselves to go out and champion a band or an album or a band for no material gain, but it gives me faith in human nature. Blogs and reviews have been the only advertising we’ve ever had. Apart from all those people who got online and promoted us, we’d like to thank those little almost-stale doughnuts you get in big tubs from Sainsburys for keeping us fat during the recording. We obviously also have our Producer Paul Savage and the wonderful people at Chemikal Underground to thank for letting us do what we want. These guys are the quiet heroes of Scottish music for sure.”
It really was an honor to be part of this project, and to see that more than a few of my top ten made the list. All those who participated were more than kind to allow me to be involved, being the only one on this side of the pond. My love for Scottish music really owes a debt to Matthew of Song, by Toad and to JC, the Vinyl Villain who both introduced me to some fine artists, and continue to heavily influence my taste. They’ve also been lovely to share to all their friends I have found on their blogs and in their comments sections.
Happy Holidays! I’ll be posting my own list of most-listened to albums of 2009 shortly. xoxo
Yeah, I’m sneaking away from the TV-watching family to post some music for you, my dear readers! Holidays are a mellow affair by me… some chit chat, go to the movies, eat a bunch of food that’s really bad for you, play with the dog. But there’s NO MUSIC, aaack! So I’m getting my fix and giving you one too, xoxo
xoxo
Africa mp3
Join the Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign!