You are aware, of course, that in addition to his daily writing over at Fluxblog, Matthew also puts together a podcast Fluxcast every week? He just posted the new one, and promises some good ol’ Xmas tunes plus some assorted oldies.
Download: Fluxcast #22
The new Catbirdseat Monthly Mix/Podcast (our 68th) has been posted. If you're feeling too lazy to go over there to listen, here it is below:
(or just grab the podcast.)
The Chicago Tribune profiles indie musicians who found inspiration in nature, including Bon Iver's Justin Vernon.
But over the course of the harsh Wisconsin winter, Vernon wrote and recorded the intimate, soul-purging "For Emma, Forever Ago" (Jagjaguwar), one of a handful of stripped-down, back-to-nature albums released either this year (Fleet Foxes' self-titled debut, which plays like spring to Bon Iver's winter) or looming on the horizon (William Elliot Whitmore's "Animals in the Dark," expected on Anti in February). Even the New York City-based Antony Hegarty of Antony & the Johnsons sought inspiration from the natural world for his forthcoming "The Crying Light," writing a handful of songs after returning from a 2006 trip to the island of Svalbard in the arctic.
Nyctaper shares mp3s of Naked Hearts' recent Brooklyn performance.
At NPR's Weekend Edition, Vagrant Records' Jeremy Maciak discusses the importance of marketing bands online in the internet era.
"It's about a slow build and having that intricate and honest conversation with our fans and potential audience," Maciak says. "Sometimes that takes months, years, to build."
Tampa Calling profiles singer-songwriter James McMurtry.
The Americana music icon speaks slowly. His voice is deep. His answers are straightforward and marked by an economy of words - and a drawl that reflects both his native Virginia and decades spent in the Lone Start State. You get the sense he’s incapable of feeding you bullsh8t, and its the same way with his music. Whether recounting the machinations of a crystal meth cooker in the fan favorite “Choctaw Bingo,” or telling me how his world-famous father Larry McMurtry’s one shortcoming as a novelist/screenwriter is that “he always gets firearms wrong,” the younger McMurtry’s words smack of integrity.
The Los Angeles Times' Pop & Hiss blog profiles new KCRW music director Jason Bentley, who is taking over for the legendary Nic Harcourt.
Antony and the Johnsons – The Crying Light
Out 1/20 on Secretly Canadian
Stetsasonic - “Stet Troop ’88!”
“Stet Troop ’88!” is a portrait of some pretty well-adjusted dudes. They're trying to cut meat out of their diet, they like staying at home with a nice girl, they remember fondly the days they used to build go-karts, and they break even at the casino. They spend maybe a little bit more than they should (we like cordless mics, we ride ninja bikes) but I get the feeling they're probably putting a bit away for savings too. [Buy]
LHB pointed out today that Joe Pernice‘s 33 ⅓ book, Meat Is Murder, is now a free audiobook download over at Audible.
MySpaceJust a quick one today. When America goes on holiday, things slow waaaaay down and, apparently, I get stuck in Northern Britain.
Now free of record labels, Scotland’s Idlewild are taking the “cutting out the middleman” ethos to heart by going direct to their fans to finance their next record. As The Guardian reports, they’re soliciting pre-orders even before recording has commenced, and for the tidy sum of fifteen quid, fans can get a fancy edition of the CD when it’s released next Spring, a thank-you in the liner notes of said CD, access to 15 live downloads culled from their upcoming residency at King Tut’s in Glasgow where they’ll be playing all their albums in their entirety and a sense of immense self-satisfaction in the knowledge that they’ve supported the band in a more meaningful way than buying a t-shirt. Full details and the ability to partake are available at idlewildmusic.com. The album is still untitled - perhaps they’re coming up with a special “gold sponsor” package that allows the donor naming rights? Raffle off the cover art? I’m just having fun, I don’t think it’s a bad idea at all though fifteen pounds is a fair bit of cash.
In keeping in the “Don’t Look Back” theme of those King Tuts gigs, Drowned In Sound got frontman Roddy Woomble to ruminate track-by-track on their 1999 debut Hope Is Important, incidentally the only one of their records I don’t have.
Video: Idlewild - “When I Argue I See Shapes”
Video: Idlewild - “I’m A Message”
MySpace: Idlewild
This Is Fake DIY has a video session with Frightened Rabbit.
And keeping things Scottish a bit longer, Franz Ferdinand talk to The Guardian about one false start in seeking a producer for Tonight, which is out January 27 and will look like this.
This Is Fake DIY reports that Maximo Park have completed recording their third album, but also that mixing and mastering still has to happen, so don’t look for it too soon.
And yeah, that’s it. Told ya.
