Elliott Smith – “Cecilia/Amanda” Released by KRS in honor of their forthcoming 4/6 rereleases of Smith’s posthumous From A Basement On A Hill and his first solo record, Roman Candle, freshly remastered by Larry Crane.
Beak> - “Backwell” The first three minutes of “Backwell” is all drone and subtle throb, sloooowly building up a tension that breaks suddenly into an intense, panicky groove. From there on out, a busy synthesizer riff takes the lead, as a crisp beat keeps the piece moving toward an endless horizon familiar to anyone that’s heard a bit of Krautrock. Beak is a side project for Portishead’s Geoff Barrow, and it’s already had a direct impact on the work of his main band, yielding the impossibly brilliant charity single “Chase The Tear.” The Beak material doesn’t quite hit that high standard — Beth Gibbons’ presence lends a certain magic, obviously — but it’s excellent work on its own terms, and an intriguing peak into Barrow’s process as he toys with new methods of working and gets some Kraut-y pastiche out of his system before coming up with something more fresh and distinctive with his regular collaborators.
Buy it from Amazon.
The Morning Benders – Big Echo
Out 3/9 on Rough Trade
Princeton – “Calypso Gold”
Real Estate – Live on the Radio
Out now on Underwater Peoples
This limited-edition 12″ (pressed for Real Estate’s Fall 2009 tour) is now available while supplies last at the Underwater Peoples Store. Pick it up while you still can.
Frank YangPeople traditionally go to great lengths to avoid getting a lump of coal for Christmas but there’s something to be said for getting a big pile of rock for the holidays. And it was rock – and lots of it – on offer Saturday night at the Horseshoe for Jingle Bell Rock, an evening presented by promotions company Audio Blood Media and media partners aux.tv and Exclaim. The lineup featured four bands from the Audio Blood roster – Oh No Forest Fires, Make Your Exit, Clothes Make The Man and The Balconies. The opener and closer were personal live favourites so even though I didn’t know the middle acts at all, odds were pretty good that it’d be a great show.
Photos: Oh No Forest Fires, Make Your Exit, Clothes Make The Man, The Balconies @ The Horseshoe – December 12, 2009
MP3: Oh No Forest Fires – “Robin The Boy Wonders”
MP3: Make Your Exit – “Through The Winter”
MP3: Clothes Make The Man – “Telescopes”
MP3: The Balconies – “Smells Like Secrets”
Since this has started out as a sort of holiday post, now’s as good a time as any to round up some of the many, many, many seasonal musical giveaways that seems to be popular right now. Lucky Soul have gathered all the artists on their own Ruffa Lane label to give away a Christmas tune. They’ve themselves done a cover of Mud’s “Lonely This Christmas”, Montt Mardié has discoed up Wham!’s “Last Christmas” while Swedish glammers Napoleon and London folkies Grantura offer original compositions. Lucky Soul’s second album A Coming Of Age is currently on target for a March 2010 release.
MP3: Lucky Soul – “Lonely This Christmas”
MP3: Montt Mardié featuring Le Sport & Mr Suitcase – “Last Christmas”
MP3: Napoleon featuring Ali Howard – “Midnight Train to Arhus”
MP3: Grantura – “Holly”
Dean & Britta are giving away both sides of their 2008 Christmas single, a cover of Roger Miller’s “Old Toy Trains” and “(S)He’s Coming Home” by The Wailers. And as an early Christmas gift to longtime fans, The Line Of Best Fit reports that all three Galaxie 500 albums will be reissued on March 22 of next year by Domino Records in deluxe CD format, each album featuring a bonus disc previously released by Rykodisc on its own, and on heavy 180-gram vinyl. More immediately gratifying these interviews with Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips at Ladygunn.
Anni Rossi is offering a special gift to those who sign up to her mailing list; Future Sounds reports said gift is an EP of Christmas tunes, one of which is “Silver Bells”.
MP3: Anni Rossi – “Silver Bells”
Jason Lytle is celebrating the holidays by giving away a free EP at his Bandcamp site.
Ear Farm has curated a terrific album of holiday tunes featuring artists such as Asobi Seksu, Sharon Van Etten and Julie Doiron, and is selling it for a paltry $5 with all proceeds going to benefit the Association to Benefit Children.
Holly Miranda – “Lover You Should’ve Come Over” (Jeff Buckley)
(Yet another wonderful live video by YoursTru.ly)
