folk | love shack, baby

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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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Merry Merry Christmas!

Needless to say, please go visit the band’s websites as I post these xmas videos and buy their music. I KNOW some of you out there still haven’t finished your holiday shopping

The Grownup Noise

Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues… one man’s Art Garfunkel is another man’s Hobbit wedding band

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues by subpop …. buy it!

Back from his travels far and wide, Mike brings us his review of Fleet Foxes’ latest effort. It’s nice to have other voices here, and I hope you it gives you all something to talk about, eh?! Look forward to more guest posts from contributing writers. If you’d like to be part of Love Shack, Baby, give me a holler. You don’t need to be here in Chicago, just genuinely love music and care about who’s making it and how, xoxo

Fleet Foxes return with their second full-length album Helplessness Blues, an ornate, densely-layered folk confection bound to give a stomachache to the uninitiated. But the fans who relished the self-titled breakthrough album in 2008 will only find more cause to rejoice in this twelve-track travail through a long playing version of Middle Earth. Too hippie and earnest for the Grizzly Bear crowd, too long-winded for the Maps & Atlases contingent, Fleet Foxes have carved out a unique niche for themselves on the contemporary indie scene as the musical heirs of the precious, manufactured-complexity of Art Garfunkel.

The traditional folk complement of acoustic guitar, mandolin, bass and violin, fills out Helplessness Blues with a homey intimacy reminiscent of your favorite watering hole in the Shire. Fleet Foxes would make a great Hobbit bar band, or even a wedding band — their music champions all the traditional Hobbit values: innocence, devotion, daring to dream. “Grown Ocean” is a galloping, wide-eyed anthem of hope, “In my dream I could hardly contain it/ All my life I will wait to attain it…” Cue the warbling strings, the moony gaze over the windswept plain, the turtledove alighting on a branch. Every Fleet Foxes song could double as the soundtrack to a fantasy-epic cutaway montage.

Who can decipher the opaque mysticism of the Seattle-based band? The disconnected medley “The Shrine/An Argument” presents itself more as a riddle than a pop song. A stiff, nasally chorus announces cryptically, “Green apples hang from my tree/ They belong only to me/ Green apples hang from my green apple tree/ They belong only to (only to me)…” Quite right. Having set the record straight on the fruit issue, a moody violin grounds a frenetic saxophone outro. Powerful stuff – a saxophone hasn’t sounded this good on the end of a pop song since Lou Reed’s “Walk On The Wild Side.” But pasted at the end of the odd green apple trope, though, it comes off as an awkward misfire.

Fans of a less fantastical Fleet Foxes will enjoy the modest appeal of “Someone You’d Admire.” A quiet, reflective number that weaves sweet melodies out of real human (not Hobbitt) heartache and toil. Yes, Beavis & Butthead (or the cast of Jackass) would make winged farting noises over such delicate mewing. But the rest of us have a more refined emotional palate capable of appreciating the finer sentiments. Fleet Foxes is most defensible when they pull from the rich tradition of group-form folk balladry – from Crosby, Stills & Nash to Peter, Paul & Mary – that has proceeded them. “Someone You’d Admire” harks back to the greater compositional restraint of hits from the first album, like “Oliver James” and “He Doesn’t Know Why,” all songs that don’t disdain a hummable melody.

With so little joy to report from Helplessness Blues, dark times have indeed spread over Middle Earth (and we’re not just talking the usual Seattle cloud cover). The good news, however, is that Fleet Foxes hasn’t shed one iota of the talent or ability that made them the indie darlings of 2008. Their core-audience will once again be astonished, reading genius into every extra minute tacked onto a song, every superfluous viola flourish, every nonsensical lyric. But if the indiesphere was hoping that Fleet Foxes, Seattle’s favorite sons, would become general ambassadors of a new “Northwest” sound, it can only expect disappointment. If anything, the band has retreated further into its creative shell with the stony, hyper-mannerisms of Helplessness Blues. Think: Congratulations for nitrous enthusiasts. Another album like this and Fleet Foxes will be exiled to the New Age circuit.

Esperi... "My Tear Dissolved The View" ... (and sounds like hope to me)

Esperi is Chris Lee-Marr, from Scotland, go to his bandcamp page and check him out. I think this is beautiful, and as life is getting to be more beautiful I think it’s high time we have some music around here. My three day weekend was filled with friends and bands and good times with myself and my dog (oh that sounds filthy, stop going there! ha!) no, really. I’m loving my new job, it’s wonderful being treated like a grownup and feeling like I’ll get to stay there until August. What happens next, who knows? But for now, I look forward to going to work and to eventually getting out of this apartment. Hope is a beautiful thing. I hear that in these songs. Thank you, Chris. xoxo

Nice things happen while you're away...we're made SoundCloud's Blog of the Week

Two cool things happened this week: I got a job (well, two jobs really) and this little blog got recognized by some really cool people in the music blogging world. Well, this was a really lovely surprise! Love Shack, Baby has been made SoundCloud’s Blog of the Week over on their Tumblr. I had exchanged a few emails with Michelle, describing how I used the free service and how bands had reached out to me with their music using SoundCloud. Little did I know that I was in the running for their Blog of the Week feature! Hop on over there to read me blathering on about my blogging history and why I chose the type of music I do and how I think artists should promote themselves. I talk a little about the following: my special internet friends, one to whom I owe the very origins of this blog (Puppet Show), some Scottish bloggers who I didn’t mention by name either, but should have, The Waiting Room (source of all good music), some tunes I’m currently listening to from abroad, and a few Chicago bands I love. Not all of my submitted SoundCloud links made it to their blog (I’m sure they were limited by space, my damn answers were long enough!) So I’ve included them all here for you And thank you, SoundCloud people, that’s a lovely honor to be included! xoxo

(The kind folks at SoundCloud were also kind enough to upgrade me for a bit to test out their cool widgety players, what do you think of them? Oh and scroll all the way down to that last player, I didn’t include this track in my email to Michelle, but I so should have! This one is for you, Colin! xo)

(edit: oops, the track I pick has been removed! sorry! well, it was tUnE-yArDs’ “Sunlight” from her 2009 LP Bird-Brains. buy it here.)

Monday.... it's just Monday with Arborea, Kitty the Lion, and Israel Cannan

Arborea, popped in my mailbox last night. Her lovely, ethereal voice with the bare guitar behind her is a nice way to ease into your work week, eh? I’m giving you just the bare bones today, just music… have at it!

by cat stevens photography

Blue Crystal Fire by Arborea

Kitty the Lion comes to me from one of my favorite tweeters, Lauren. This is all terribly Scottish, buckle up! It’s also very fun, play it again late in the day, it’ll lighten you up.

Kitty The Lion – Gutted by laurenrazavi

I’m an especially bad blogger today, Monday’s drag on for a lot of us, so maybe this will say it for us. I think Israel Cannan sounds an awful lot like Birdlips on this song and that’s not a bad thing at all. It’s interesting how a young man from New South Wales and one from Charlottesville, VA manage to capture the same kind of thing.

Letting Go – Israel Cannan by sgcmedia

Withered Hand sign to Absolutely Kosher, and is reported to be on the way to the US!

You know I love this Withered Hand guy, Dan Wilson. His album, Good News was my top pick for 2009 for many reasons, some sentimental… I sort of fell for someone to the sounds of this record and it will always remind me of him, and some purely rational… I think Dan’s voice is beautiful and interesting and evocative and his songwriting topnotch. The things Dan writes about are everyday subjects that any of us who live in this post-industrial, alienated, anomic society can relate to, in other words, we’re lonely sorts who search for meaning from our past and hope to connect with other fools like us. Dan has been fortunate enough to connect with some other beautiful people like Neil Pennycook and Chris Bryant (vocals/banjo/guitars, of Meursault) and Bart Owl (what does he not play/do? of eagleowl) and Hannah Shephard (cello), Alun Thomas (drums, of The Leg) and others. Not to say that he couldn’t do it on his own, but I’m glad he’s found such good company! What results is a remarkable concoction of “anti-folk” melodies and lyrics which even people who declare they don’t care for folk music find themselves grinning about. Some of it is disturbing, most of it is endearing, all of it is uniquely personal and that is exactly what captures us. xoxo

I’m absolutely thrilled that he’s signed to Absolutely Kosher Records! Please visit his bandcamp pages and transmit a few of your dollars his way, if only so that I’ll finally get to meet this man who wrote these gorgeous songs for me to be giddy over. (cause I’m a selfish bitch!)

This is a remix that I’ve not heard until just now. I’m not quite sure about it yet either. What do you think?

Don’t forget these earlier releases, they’re wonderful… raw and wild.

(Friday)Folks you should know by now: Cheyenne Marie Mize, Jenny Gillespie, Chloe Charles, Kim Taylor, Carl Hauk and Silvermoths

Friend by Cheyenne Marie Mize from Crash Avenue on Vimeo.

“Friend” is the adventurous video debut from Cheyenne Marie Mize. Shot in her home of Louisville, Ky., “Friend” features giant puppets courtesy of Sean Hennessey and Squallis Puppeteers, cameos from her friends and collaborators Wax Fang, and the ornate ambiance of The Rathskeller Room in Louisville’s famed Seelbach Hilton Hotel. Directed by Mike Fitzer and Produced by Sara Whittaker of the Bisig Impact Group.

Cheyenne’s debut Before Lately will be out October 12th, 2010 via sonaBLAST! Records. Check her out on bandcamp.com

Jenny Gillispie’s new album, Kindred is out now and this Chicagoan enlisted the aid of Austin, TX producer, Darwin Smith to bring us something unique and lyrical. You can stream the whole thing on her bandcamp page and decide for yourself just how much you really want this, (hint, you’ll want it.) Jenny Gillespie – In the Garden by CrashAvenue

And this gorgeous EP by Torontonian, Chloe Charles, Little Green Bud, came out a few days ago and is completely Tart-approved. I think you’ll like her voice and more than that her style of singing, the way she puts it all together in a sort of Joni Mitchell way that’s informed by everything current with today’s feel for this genre of music. Click here to buy it!

Chloe Charles – Soon on a Snowflake by CrashAvenue

Kim Taylor has that more traditionally understood singer/songwriter sound, maybe our modern Carole King (?) and there are just so many times in my week that I really want/need this. “Lost and Found” is especially one of those songs that I know I’ll be singing loudly in my car on some rainy day this Autumn. It’s nice to hear an album and foresee the place it will fit into in your life. I know Kim’s gotten a lot of good press lately, let’s not hold that against her, eh?

Kim Taylor – Lost And Found by CrashAvenue

Carl Hauck is a young guy from Chicago who’s name I’ve been hearing for a few months now and who I’ve yet to hear play, live. I just missed him the other night, damnit! But here’s his single, off his forthcoming album of the same name, Windjammer… pre-order it here. I’m gonna catch him soon and when I get ahold of his album you will hear all about it.

And last but certainly not least! This I just discovered from a fellow blogger friend, who’s also in a band and sheepishly snuck this little mp3 out to me, all coy and all. It’s gorgeous, and once again, I’m desperately jealous of you Londoners! Do go and hear Silvermoths as this little snippet is only a taste of the dulcet tones they are capable of. It’s a Kate Bush cover, and the female vocals are so piquant and bright. The instrumentation also deserves comment, it’s truly artfully done, very accomplished they are, it shows. I couldn’t have left you on a softer, sweeter note for the weekend, m’dears xoxo

Army Dreamers (Kate Bush cover) mp3 Silvermoths (b side of their new single, “Superhero”
Superhero by Silvermoths

Last Night Billy Bragg Bearhugged Me

The Milkman of Human Kindness (live) mp3 Billy Bragg, Live at Arenbergschouwburg, 2008 (thank you Internet Archive!)

Uh yeah… so sometimes I’m not exactly the calm, intelligent music reviewer Tart you all know and maybe (?) like. Sometimes I’m a ridiculously, hand-wringing, babbling, about-to-cry, crazed fan who’s stood in line for 20 minutes to meet her musical hero for the first time. And then it’s my turn and god knows what I said, something about “Milkman of Human Kindness” being a magical song, and introducing him to my gurl, and then some more babbling on about politics and some crazy sociological term thrown in for good measure, and I’m sure I was about to break down because he just grabbed me and said, “Can I just give you a great big bear hug?” and oh I dunno… every time I think about it now I get a little teary-eyed. And he didn’t let go for the longest time.

And so that’s the 20 year-old girl who’s met her hero. And here’s why it means what it does: I was sitting in my dorm room, on the floor next to my boom box, it was 1984. Some guy in one of my classes had made me a mix tape, the old fashioned kind, a real cassette tape. And on it was this song, from Life’s a Riot with Spy Vs Spy which he must have got as an import at a real record shop. There wasn’t an internet back then, kiddos.

I loved that song, still do. And from that point on I sought out everything Billy Bragg did. I followed his life, his politics, and his music. We grew up together, he being only 7 years older than me. Later when I met the guy of my dreams, I played his albums for him, we fell in love to his music and argued politics to it. I turned that guy into a quasi Socialist over those lyrics. And a few years later, I met my gurl and fell in love with her and argued politics over this same music and turned her into a real Socialist (see the theme here?) and I played her “The Milkman of Human Kindness,” running into the bedroom to pounce on her and say, “Can’t you just imagine him writing this song and saying to his girl – this is it, isn’t it?!” Because when you wake up with someone you love and put that music on, it IS it. It’s exactly how you feel. Well, it’s exactly how I feel, ok. Luckily she agreed.

There’s a lot more to his music than that. There’s other love songs, the sad ones. There’s “The Price I Pay,” which he sang last night. And “Tank Park Salute” which reminds me now of Tom who’s dad’s passing we talked about so much in reference to it . He sang those two last night too and yes, the tears streamed down my face. And there’s so many songs we used when we worked in labor union reform (didn’t know I used to wear that hat, did ya?!) Yeah, you can’t be a real-life Socialist and get away without a healthy dose of Mr. Bragg’s labor songs. But more recently there was his wonderful work with Wilco on Mermaid Ave., the resurrection of Woody Guthrie’s songs, songs that were only lyrics from his archives. And two years ago there was Mr. Love & Justice, which has a theme he’s continued to spread: faith in (the) people to keep on keeping on in fight against social injustices like racism, homophobia, economic inequality and xenophobia. It’s not up to some Messianic political leader to change society and make it as we want, it’s up to us, each of us in our own way, to contribute to that effort. It’s a fitting message on September 11th. And that’s always been the message of Socialism if you actually read Marx and stay away from the ways he’s been realized in history (mostly.) So, going to a Billy Bragg concert is always a bit like going to Socialist church, the closest thing we come to “religion” I guess. We walk away feeling like we’ve built each other up, we’ve reminded each other of how much each of us has to offer to this effort to make our piece of the world a place we want to continue living in. It’s only corny if you’ve never been there. xoxo

P.S. He sounded better than ever last night! Seriously, I’ve never heard him sing so well… as my gurl says, “you don’t go to a Billy Bragg concert for the singing, duh.” But I’d not say that about last night.

Some quiet folk covers for your Sunday.... Chris Hickey and Sally Dworsky

Beautiful Struggle mp3 (Borrowers cover) written by Mark Addison, performed by Chris Hickey and see the nice write up of him over on Fingertips

I’m on my way over to North Coast Fest again today, it was awesome yesterday! Grace Potter and The Nocturnals were the highlight of my day. And while I know being outside in such lovely weather is supposed to make a person happy, it only makes me cranky. I’m weird like that. I sort of hate nature. It gets all sunny and breezy and my hair gets in my face and my freckles come out and my skin gets itchy and sunburnt and I’m basically miserable. Anyway, outdoor festivals are still great because you get so much bang for your buck! And being able to cover them (have a press pass) is way cool as I get to be up close. So thank you, Mike, for hooking me up!

This morning I felt like I needed some quiet, peaceful tunes to ease me into another day OUTSIDE. And this nice tune in my mailbox was just the thing. Chris Hickey has sent me his album last year and I never got to it, apologies, Chris! I do hope musicians out there know that we are swamped in music (which is such a luxurious problem to have, honestly) and it’s often not that we don’t like their stuff, it’s that we can’t get to it. Sigh. So, this hit me at the right time, in the right place. And thank you, all of you musical people, for sending in stuff. I’m constantly amazed by your perseverance and talent. xoxo

Sally Dworsky and Chris Hickey sent me this nice little cover of Liz Durret’s “We Build Bridges.” Go buy it on itunes

Monday Melange... more music for you to munch on: Peter Case, Frankie Rose and The Outs, Eagle Winged Palace, Matthew and The Atlas, and Anberlin

Look Out! mp3 Peter Case Whig! … buy it!
The great Peter Case has belted out a new record, Wig!, and Chicago, he’s bringing himself to FitzGeralds’ in the Side Bar Music Room in Berwyn, on Sept. 18. Recorded in only three days, Whig! features dirty, electric blues, really sassy lyrics, the stuff that younger artists work hard to copy. If you don’t already know who Peter Case is, get out there and do your homework. He’s one of the best songwriters of our time, hugely influential, and still going strong! Check his site for full tour details.

Little Brown Haired Girls mp3 Frankie Rose and The Outs …. pre-order it at Insound

This girl group evokes a kind of nostalgic Phil Spector-like feel and yet I know there’s a whole lot more under the surface. What else would you expect from Frankie Rose (Crystal Stilts, Vivian Girls)? I’ve never hid my love for the Jesus and Mary Chain and there’s more than a whiff of that in this track. The tour, as it’s presented so far, ends here in Chicago. And we all know that the last show on a tour is always the best.

Tour Dates
08/27 New York, NY – Cake Shop / Dance Magic Night
09/15 Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands # – RECORD RELEASE SHOW
09/20 San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop ! $
09/21 Oakland, CA – Sugar Mountian ! $
09/22 Santa Barbara, CA – Muddy Waters ! $
09/24 San Diego, CA – Tin Can Ale House !
09/25 Los Angeles, CA – The Smell ! $
09/26 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo – Part Time Punks !
10/18 Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506 *
10/19 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar *
10/20 Philadelphia, PA – Kungfu Necktie *
10/21 – 10/23 – New York, NY – CMJ
10/24 Cambridge, MA – TT The Bear’s Place *
10/26 Rochester, NY – Bug Jar *
10/27 Cleveland, OH – The Spot at Case Western *
10/28 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle *

! = w/ Hunx and his Punx
$ = w/ Lilac
# = w/ Light Asylum, Minks and Mirror Mirror
* = w/ Woven Bones

Movin’ On To Avalon mp3 Eagle Winged Palace Where We’re Coming From … buy it!

Eagle Winged Palace wrote me, describing themselves as “a weird little folk group” and after listening to their new album, Where We’re Coming From, you might find yourself in agreement. There’s a lot of quavering vocals and shaking, sandy, shimmery beats to this. Aside from the obvious Californian, bohemian exterior there’s a real sub-surface of textured etherealness to what Eagle Winged Palace brings to this album. And that is their strength. Strumming guitars and singing a catchy melody isn’t so difficult. It’s layering that onto this other, more interesting thing that caught my ear, and just might catch yours as well.

Matthew and The Atlas comes to us from the UK with a voice you will not forget and a melody that softens that memory enough to make you not want to. He’s recorded an EP, released last April, on Mumford & Sons’ label, Communion, called To The North. I don’t know how it’s passed me by, but I aim to snatch that up very soon. The only US source I’ve found for it is itunes.
Matthew & The Atlas // Deadwood by Stayloose

And last, but not least, Anberlin gives away a track off their new album, Dark is the Way, Light is a Place, which I previewed here. Go pre-order it now, it’s great! And they’re coming your way, check their site for tour dates. (Chicago, it’s Oct. 23 at the House of Blues)

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