Red Bennies

This will be the last New Music Friday I’ll be doing on this site. Calm down, calm down, both of you. I know that you, as my faithful readers, will forge ahead and find your way through the blossoming musical landscape without me as your trusty guide. Why, if you just turn around, chances are your hipster neighbor just started up his own MP3 blog yesterday and he can easily fill my shoes. Besides, I just started doing this as a fluke and for fun. I’d much rather refocus myself on making art. So the two of you who were coming to the site for a few choice tunes will now have to turn to one of the thousands of other sites out there offering the same thing. But first, on to the music!

The Red Bennies have been kicking around the Salt Lake Valley for the last decade. Starting off as a mëtälësqüe band, they eventually morphed into the Foreigner/James Chance/garage band that they now are. With Dave Payne (son of Marvin Payne of “Saturday’s Warrior” fame, for all your Mormons out there) as their fearless leader they have crafted some tunes that I can get behind. Their earlier music reminded me of the disaffected youth band I saw playing next to the Lutheran church at the Corn Festival in Mitchell, SD. Now Red Bennies are producing music that has the comfortable nostalgia of early Police, Journey, and the Sex Pistols while still laying claim to their own sound. It took some time, but it was worth it

Recommended Tracks:

• I’m Coming Home
• Rocks in Your Mouth
• Shake It Off (New Years Concert)
• The Sun’s Going Down
• Downtown
• There are also scads of other Red Bennies downloads at Rest 30 Records.

El Aviador Dro y Sus Obreros Especializados

In 1978, a small band was emerging from a Madrid high school. Influenced by the robo-synth sounds of Devo, Alex y Los Drugos (a.k.a. Holoplástico) created manifesto driven organ music. They later settled on the name El Aviador Dro Y Sus Obreros Especializados, suited up with safety suits and googles, and polished up their best robot dance moves to take the Spanish synth-pop scene by storm.

El Aviador Dro underwent a number of personnel changes over the years, but they are still alive and kicking today. Next week, Omega Point Records will release El Aviador Dro’s first official album in the US, ¡Eléctrico! - The Best of Aviador Dro 1978-2006.

Recommended Tracks:

• Nuclear Si
• Amor Industrial
• Vivir Para Morir (Live)
• Laser (Quicktime Movie / 40MB)

The New Year

Matt and Bubba Kadan, founding members of Bedhead, didn’t take the disbanding of their seminal band lying down. They got up and formed The New Year with Chris Brokaw (Codeine) on drums, Mike Donofrio (Saturnine) on bass, and Peter Schmidt on guitar. They took some of the tunes they planned on using for the next Bedhead record that would never be, and headed to the studio.

The result is a couple of records that bear a few songs that are a bit more upbeat than what you would expect from members of Bedhead and Codeine. Oh, the trademark snooze-core is still there — the vocals are still bored and the music plods, but in a good way. These guys have honed prescription drug induced daydreaming and messy morning hair rock to a fuzzy-around-the-edges-and-drool-on-the-pillow point.

Recommended Tracks:

• Chinese Handcuffs
• Disease
• Gasoline
• Reconstruction
• Newness Ends
• Great Expectations / Live in San Francisco
• More listening at MySpace.com

Young People

I first heard Young People on a college radio station in Chicago a couple of years ago. I don’t recall if the band was playing live in the studio or not. I just remember turning to my wife and commenting how the singer sounded like a really bad Erin McKeown. I then stumbled upon Young People later and became enamored with that same bad Erin McKeown voice. Sadly nothing new has emerged from the bi-coastal trio in the last few years.

The three members come from experimental music and dance backgrounds. When they first got together in L.A., they fully-intended to be a country band, but that schema was quickly reformatted when they realized that something else was coming out of them. That something was good. Still retaining some country flavor, there was a less-structured element that prevailed in their songs. Distorted dirge-like hymns and tumbling Appalachian ditties are the result.

Recommended Listening:

• Ne’er Do Well
• El Paso
• Ron Jeremy
• Collection

Update 01.30.06: According to the Too Pure website Young People has paired down to a duo and is ready to release some new material. “The first Too Pure release for this year is brought to you by new signing Young People. The six track EP Five Sunsets In Four Days is available from January 30 from good record stores and of course, our very own Too Pure Shop (which is obviously also a good record store)… The impending album All At Once is due for release in March.

Grab Bag

My wife is often commenting that I’m always listening to “boy music” as she changes the CD to Patty Griffin or Sleater-Kinney. True, I do listen to a lot of music where males dominate the vocals, but in my defense I was the one who introduced her to Patty Griffin and Sleater-Kinney. On NMF, I’ve tried to be even handed as I dole out songs - giving equal time to male and female voices. I realized recently that the last few editions have been a little heavy on the testosterone, so I’m going to make up for that today with a grab bag of quality tunes representing the ladies. This one’s for you, Maria.

Recommended Listening:

• Get Home Safe / Knife Skills (a song about Elizabeth Smart - odd)
• Our Summer Of Teenage Lust / Knife Skills
• Messages / Call and Response (Just click to download)
• Murder / The Big Sleep
• The Nocturnal House / Pretty Girls Make Graves
• Random / Lady Sovereign (Quicktime movie)
• Carbon Paper Skies / Shelley Short

New Rhodes / I Wish I Was You

I have been wanting to post something from New Rhodes for some time now, but they haven’t made any MP3s available on their site. I’ve finally given up, so there are no MP3s for you today, but there is a Quicktime music video you can download (link below). You can use iTunes to convert it to an MP3 yourself.

These guys have a hint of Interpol, a dash of disco, and a smidgen of XTC. “I Wish I Was You” is one catchy tune. Ever since I saw the video I’ve been humming the melody. Humming is a curse in my family. My mom hums, my dad hums, and I hum. We all hum together in the same room oblivious to the fact that none of us are humming the same tune. It drives visitors nuts.

Sadly their stuff isn’t widely available in America yet. Just keep your eyes and ears peeled.

Recommended Listening:

• I Wish I Was You / Quicktime Video (14.9MB)
• New Rhodes on MySpace / Streams only, no downloads

John Vanderslice / Pixel Revolt

John Vanderslice has been making albums (both his own and as a sound engineer for others) for almost ten years now. He founded Tiny Telephone, an all analog recording studio in San Francisco, in 1997. Later he played in the short-lived MK Ultra which toured with Sunny Day Real Estate. Once MK Ultra folded, he started on his solo career, releasing six albums since 2000. With a voice like a less nasal TW Walsh and a less raspy Jeremy Enigk, Vanderslice choreographs warm and intricate pop songs that have become more mellow and melodic as he has progressed through his albums.

John Vanderslice has long been a proponent of free music. Of course he would like people to buy his albums, but he understands the need for an evaluation period and the easy publicity afforded by making music available online. That is why his recording studio, Tiny Telephone, used to post much of the music they recorded as free MP3s on its website. Those days are gone due to soaring hosting costs. However, he continues to make many of his own songs available for free on his site, including his entire live show at San Francisco’s Independent. This show is available for download on his site (the show can also be downloaded as a ZIP file at the bottom of this post).

Recommended Tracks:

• Me and My 424
• Amitriptyline
• Pale Horse
• Exodus Damage
• Live at the Independent, November 5, 2005, San Francisco, CA (The Entire Show as a ZIP File)

Many more MP3s including full albums can be found on his site.

Bob Ward

Culled from only the finest websites, I have assembled a Christmas mix sure to both please and frighten. We shall swing from the hunt-and-peck keyboard work of Mar-Tie, to the Mayfield Power & Light Company’s propagandandistic radio play, to the miraculous fingers of Bob Ward as they dance across his organ. Because, really, isn’t this what the Christmas season is all about — feeling uncomfortable while strange people try to dazzle you with their Christmas cheer; having products/services forced upon you by companies all wrapped up in Christmas gift wrap; listening to your relatives gathered round the piano warbling holiday tunes; high-pitched Chipmunk-like singing; and Santa in a Jeep?

Recommended Listening:

• Silver Bells / Mar-Tie via Comfort Stand
• Christmas Bells / Mar-Tie/Doni via Comfort Stand
• Merry Christmas Elvis / Michele Cody via 365 Days Project
• The Christmas Puppy / Dudley Dogg, Jr via 365 Days Project
• A Wise Elf Saves Christmas / REMC (Mayfield Power & Light ) via 365 Days Project
• The Night Before Christmas / Edna F. Pauli (San Fernando Valley, California, Mineral & Gem Society) via 365 Days Project
• Christmas Gathering 1947 / via 365 Days Project
• Jingle Bells - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - We Wish You A Merry Christmas / Bob Ward via The Our Lady of Perpetual Obsolescence Vinyl Rescue Mission and Orphanage (only available through Dec. 20)

You can find other quality recordings, Christmas and otherwise, on the websites listed above. Enjoy these recordings and have a good holiday season.

Georgie James

Q and Not U may have called it a day earlier this year, but the members didn’t even seem to sit down before they were busy at work on their side projects.

Chris Richards is roaming the countryside touring and promoting his solo project Ris Paul Ric (short for Christopher Paul Richards). Ric Paul Ric follows the trajectory Chris set in Q and Not U’s last album with a chamber music feel and an acoustic quietness. He has one full length album out called Purple Blaze.

John Davis picked up a guitar and joined with chanteuse Laura Burhenn to form Georgie James. There are some great 70’s disco beats and textures infused with an 80’s pop-punk sensibility and Carol King songwriting. They are working on a full-length album and finding a label.

Harris Klahr is working on a re-mix / electronica project called President. There’s not much info on it out there right now, but keep your ears and eyes peeled.

Recommended Listening:

• Purple Blaze / Ris Paul Ric
• Ris Paul Ric / MySpace stream - no downloads
• Georgie James / MySpace stream - no downloads

The Aislers Set

Note: I apologize for not keeping up with New Music Friday better. Surgery, head colds, travels to Cleveland , and launching other sites have stood in the way of regular posting. But I’m back on track, loaded with Vitamin C, and ready to rock this lame web site (with other people’s music)!

The Aislers Set’s Amy Linton sings with a soft and innocent voice. When combined with by Wyatt Cusicks stacatto, muffled guitar stabs and Yoshi Nakamoto’s poppy drumming, you end up with a winsome 1950’s - 60’s Polaroid amber tinge over the world. Everything is simpler, hair is larger, recording quality is lower, families are nuclear, boys have names like Moondoggy, Bob Denver has a goatee, girl band names end in “ettes,” and seat belts are not a standard feature.

This is the perfect music for sledding. I don’t know why. I just want to zip up in a puffy snow suit and fling myself down a snow covered hill with this music in my head.

Recommended Tracks:

• Catherine Says
• The Way to Market Station
• The Walk (Peel Session)
• Long Division (Peel Session)
• Through the Swells w/interview (Swedish Radio - P3)

You can also find scads of MP3s at their site as well as at Slumberland Records 1 / 2 / 3

The Black Angels

Honestly, I don’t know that much about the Velvet Underground. For some reason, whenever I picture them playing, I see a skinny little Lou Reed standing on some moldy carpet in a smokey basement playing to a bunch of Warhol hipsters for hours on end. Maybe I get the moldy carpet imagery from their name.

This is the same image I get when I try to picture Austin’s The Black Angels in action. That’s due to the fact that the band wears its 60’s and 70’s influences on its sleeve. Their name is derived from the Velvet Underground and Nico, and you can definitely hear their influence along with some Dylan, T-Rex, the Stooges, and Destroy all Monsters. Black Grease is definitely one of their more driving and hummable songs. The other two droning tracks I have to offer you hum for themselves.

Recommended Tracks:

• Black Grease
• Soviet Union (Live on KVRX)
• Empire Lonely (Live on KVRX)

Karate / Pockets

Karate (1993-2005). I noted Karate’s demise when it was announced in May, but have just barely got around to posting some of their music. Geoff Farina (guitar, vocals) had to leave the band for a number of personal reasons, the most notable was the development of hearing problems related to playing loud, devil-rock music. (However, Geoff still continues to play. He strums his quiet, jazzy guitar music mostly around Europe.) Gavin McCarthy (drums) and Jeff Goddard (bass post 1995) rounded out the Karate three-piece. The hardest thing about Karate is to play the “Sounds Like…” game. They have such a unique meld of jazz, punk, slo-core, and pretentious poetry that no one else really dwells in that genre.

I used to hate tomatoes and cantaloupe - couldn’t stand the things. I’m not quite sure how they slipped into my culinary aesthetic, but they did and now I love them. When I was first introduced to Karate, I skipped through the entire CD, deemed it boring, and returned the disc to my cousin and asked her to give me something good next time. Well, she just gave me more Karate. After a few more listens, they grew on me and I bought all their CDs. Most people I introduce to Karate have the same reaction. Just slip these tracks into your usual mix and let the subtleties work their magic.

Recommended Tracks:

• This, Plus Slow Song / Karate
• If You Can Hold Your Breath / Karate
• One Less Blues / Karate
• Ice or Ground / Karate
• The Rights / Geoff Farina
• Dries / Geoff Farina

Slugs live in piles of dead leaves

It was just this last week that the leaves began to cover the pavement with a calico carpet of oranges and yellows. The week before, the leaves on the ground were either green or sickly brown, but now it is fall. This means that Halloween is around the corner, followed by Thanksgiving, with Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa tripping along right after - the celebratory slippery slope of excitement that leads to a bitter winter. After gliding through December, you are deposited unceremoniously into the bleakness of January, February, and March with nary a vacation in sight. The warm candles and turkey of Thanksgiving and the hot cider of December are gone and there are no breaks from the drudgery of work. This is it - your chance - you can cram in as much warmth and vacation as you can. Here is your soundtrack:

Crunchy Leaves

• The Start of Something / Voxtrot
• Love is an Arrow / Aberfeldy
• Contort Yourself / James Chance
• EEEAAASSSEEE BAAACCCKKKKKK / The Black Lipstick Octopus Project
• Hooplas Involving Circus Tricks / Say Hi to Your Mom
• Our Happiest Days Slowly Began to Turn Into Dust / Red Sparowes
• A Friend Like You / Aberfeldy
• The Twitch / James Chance
• Music is Happiness / The Octopus Project
• Alone and Unaware, the Landscape Was Transformed in Front of Our Eyes / Red Sparowes
• Let’s Talk About Spaceships / Say Hi to Your Mom

Ketjak: The Monkey Chant

I found UbuWeb a few years ago and have continued to return to see what they’ve found and digitized. They house projects ranging from 1960’s performace art videos and sound pieces, to Dadaist films, to texts published by Fluxus, to Ethnopoetics. The latter is is said to emphasize “not only the written word but also how it can be illuminated through oral performance (spoken, sung, or chanted) and what a distant culture’s forms can teach us (and our poetics) linguistically (from A Brief Guide to Ethnopoetics).” Ethnopoetics is an outcropping of modernist thought regarding “primitive” art forms that emerged outside of the influence of the West.

While rooting around Ubu’s archives, there are a few examples that stick out:

Ketjak: The Ramayana Monkey Chant

• Ketjak: The Ramayana Monkey Chant / 20:11
  • Some of you may already be familiar with the Balinese chanting dramas (a.k.a. Ketjak, Ketjack, or Kecak) from watching Ron Fricke’s Baraka. Approximately 200 men in checkered pants sit in concentric circles frantically chanting while waving their arms over their heads. It is one of the more striking scenes in the film. The Ketjak is a retelling of part of a Hindu epic from the Ramayana. It’s your typical tale of love, kidnapping, and red monkey kings. The chanting of the syllable “tjak” is an imitation of the monkey hordes.

Inuit Throat Music

• Katajjaq / :59
  • According to Ubu, “Katadjakâ??, or throat-singing, is a form of vocal-verbal art common to many (but not all) Inuit (Eskimo) cultures. Banned by Christian priests for almost a hundred years despite its apparently secular nature, it is most commonly practiced by women â?? generally by two women facing off against each other in a form of friendly competition.” Not necessarily viewed as singing, it has been interpreted as a game akin to a staring contest where the singers show off their ability until they run our of breath, stumble, or start laughing. Originally the singers would stand so close to one another, they would use each others mouth cavities as resonating chambers. Katadjak’ also makes for a great pick-up line: “Hey, you wanna’ play some Inuit throat/breathing games with me?” (wink, wink).

Tuvan Throat Singing

• Kargiraa duet “Artii-Sayir” / 1:04
  • From Inuit throat singing to Tuvan. In the case of Tuvan throat singing, the singer uses his jaw, larynx, lips, and tongue to produce up to three distinct notes simultaneously. This is the same technique practiced by Tibetan monks (the Beastie Boys have sampled Tibetan throat singing on their albums). Whenever I get bored, I’ll attempt throat singing. I suck, but I recommend at least trying. In the documentary, Ghengis Blues, blues guitarist Paul Pena (who taught himself to throat sing) travels to Tuva to compete in a throat singing competition. He combines his blues guitar with throat singing to create some fantastic hybrid music.

Sam Mangwana
You wish you looked this good in white fringe

Yesterday marked two great birthdays. Most importantly it was my wife’s birthday. We celebrated by going to Sam’s Club and buying a giant bag of shredded cheese. I know, we’re wild.

Another birthday that was celebrated yesterday (or thereabouts) is an audio blog that I’m very grateful to have stumbled upon: Benn Loxo du Taccu. Sites where hipster youth do their darndest to discover cool music before everyone else are a dime a dozen (like mine for example). A new one pops up every day. We can all thank Blogger for clogging the internet with more stories of getting drunk, pictures of people’s cats, and MP3s from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!. I should call it Clogger. Any schmuck with internet access can start an MP3 blog, but only a few have enough specialized knowledge and stick-to-it-ness to pull off a blog about African music that was primarily made after 1960.

Matt Yanchyshyn has been publishing BLT (as I like to call it) regularly and I’m grateful that he does. I really dig African pop music, but have never really had many ready sources to turn to for information and leads. I can name some of the better known African performers like Salif Keita, Geoffrey Oryema, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Daniel Owino Misiani & Shirati Band, but Matt can throw down more obscure artists complete with historical context like they are his childhood friends:

After 1959 most African nations started gaining independence. Portugal, then ruled by super-fun dictator Salazar, wasn’t so quick to free its African colonies. In fact the opposite happened: despite numerous uprisings by rebel groups Portugal upped its troop levels in Angola to 40,000 by 1964 and began a massive campaign of intimidation and repression. Angola became a police state in various stages of war for over a decade. To give you an idea of the scale of the conflict, up to 40,000 Angolans died fighting or as a direct result of the conflict between 1961-64.

…

This all came to a big halt when May, 1977, the new Angolan government silenced the arts community that it felt was critical of the new regime. Several well-known musicians and artists were murdered, including the two featured today, Urbano de Castro and David Ze. For years many of the records of the 1965-75 Angolan golden age were lost. Luckily, recent re-releases like the one featured today have brought the music back.

I wish I had stories like that to accompany the tracks I share.

Give a man an MP3 and his listens for a day. Give a man a quality MP3 site and he listens for the duration that the site exists. Today you get both.

Recommended Tracks: (Just click the link to begin downlaod)

• Nairobi / Tabu Ley Rochereau
• Muzina / Tabu Ley Rochereau (Right click/Cmd click this one to download)
• Bania Irene / Tabu Ley Rochereau
• Sala Noki Pascal / Tabu Ley Rochereau

Picastro / Metal Cares

I apologize for my absence last week. Maria and I headed north to Champaign-Urbana to see Sufjan Stevens, we stayed the night with friends, and then ended up spending the weekend in Bloomington, IN. I didn’t have much computer access. But I’m sure you did alright without me. I’ll try not to do it again. I don’t want anyone breaking out with the DTs from New Music Friday withdrawl.

And now, on to the rock! Well, today’s band doesn’t rock so much as they roll… or loll. Rock and Loll! Can I patent that? Picastro hails from the great white north (cue Rush), also known as Owen Pallette Country. Owen was in Les Mouches and is now Final Fantasy, but somewhere along the way he was part of Picastro. Also, rumor has it that Owen gave Elvis Presley his big-break and was the first to discover radium and polonium, all while delivering triplets on a runaway monorail.

But enough about Owen, he isn’t even in the band anymore. But it gives you an idea of where Picastro is coming from. Acoustic instruments, a touch of electric guitar, strings, and mumbled lyrics - staples of Canadian indie music these days - make up the music’s groundwork. Blah, blah, blah, just listen.

Recommended Tracks:

• Sharks
• Mine
• Fifth Wall
• All Erase (4-track version)

You can also hear them on MySpace.com.

Note: Picastro now makes two NMF features in a row with a name that starts with “P” and has communist subtexts. Coincidence… hmmmmm? What can I do next week? Proletariat? Proudhon? The Poverty of Philosophy? Party, Communist? Private Property is for Pansies?

Pravada

The world is small. Tiny even. I have known a woman for almost a year now. One evening last week she was talking about her two sons and their “radical” politics. Maria and I concurred that we would probably get along with them. She then mentioned that they were both in bands, so I naturally asked the bands’ names. She said that her son Jesse is in two bands: Pravada and Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s. I thought the names were familiar so I asked if she had his CDs. She sifted through her CD collection until she came up with Jesse’s discs. I popped Pravada in the CD player, and sure enough, it was the Pravada I was thinking of and had even previously considered featuring on New Music Friday. This sealed the deal.

Pravada’s name actually came about as a mispronunciation of “Pravda,” an old socialist publication. Jesse Lee plays guitar, cello, and sings as well as doing a lot of the song-writing. Their music has hints of 60’s Motown and early Beatles, but still is rooted heavily in contemporary indie music. It’s nice to find some good music being played in Indiana these days. They used to have a few tracks available for download on their website, but their site appears to be M.I.A. Right now they only have one track available on MySpace (the one below). If you would like a CD and don’t live near Indianapolis, I’m sure you can contact them through MySpace and order one.

Recommended Track:

• One Foot in Front of the Other

Smashy Smashy

Sherman, set the WABAC Machine to approximately 1990! Utah, to be precise. Gentry Densley teams up with Joseph “Chubba” Smith to play in a two piece to raise money to buy ice cream for their friend who just had a tonsillectomy. It is only fitting that Densley and Chubba go on to form Iceburn, an early Utah hardcore band that signs with Victory Records. However, something happens to Densley’s chemistry along the way and Iceburn veers dramatically into a free-jazz/punk hybrid that puts Jaco Pastorius’s “punk jazz” to shame. Iceburn’s live shows degrade into feedback fests that chase their hardcore fans from the make-shift venues. Iceburn becomes the Iceburn Collective, shuttling through members faster than a 7 Seconds ditty. You’d see them once as a three piece and another time as a nine piece complete with a horn section. The music would go from structured to a free-for-all in a heartbeat, but they would never forget to throw in a little Black Sabbath tribute along the way.

Once Iceburn began its slow disintegration in the late 90’s, Gentry moved on with a number of other projects like the Dirge Trio, Furious Fire, Red Bennies, Guitorchestra, Project:Ion, and solo. Along the way, Densley worked out a guitar/bass hybrid splitting the pickups to two amps. He takes this new noisemaking tool and joins forces with Dan Thomas (Alchemy, Tolchock Trio) on drums. Together they form Smashy Smashy — part Pixies, part Masayuki Takayanagi, part Frank Zappa, part Coltrane, part Wolf Eyes.

Recommended Tracks:

• Smashy’s Theme
• Auto Intro
• Part Two

This Microwave World / Red States

Austin based This Microwave World gets many comparisons to the Rature but I find them to be closer to the Black Octopus Lipstick Project. TMW’s brand of dance punk is a little more goth disco than cowbell romps to get hip math grad students hopping around. When I say goth, I don’t mean the mid-west goths with fangs and velveteen capes, I mean the early 90’s goths who listened to the Cure, Ministry, and Morrissey and did silly baby doll art when they got to college.

Picture, if you will, a young goth girl — pasty skin, torn black shorts, black Chuck Taylor’s, panda bear mascara, Robert Smith hair bobbing as she sways back and forth in a slow-motion jog. Her arms pump limply at her sides and her eyes gaze distantly at the ceiling like her mother is telling her off for coming home late again. She is in a smoky little club, like the one on Pretty in Pink, and she is listening to a band whose lead singer has a bored, dry wit, like a young Oscar Wilde. This moment is brought to you by This Microwave World.

Recommended Tracks:

• You Are a Riot
• The Party Line
• Fun Fun Fun
• In Hospital
• The Hours

On!Air!Library! / S/T

On!Air!Library!: Polar Bear, Katie Eastburn, floating on your back in a reservoir at night, Blonde Redhead, Interpol, nitrous oxide, Solaris, the Album Leaf, Sonic Youth after a bubble bath and massage, Uncut, cliff jumping on the 4th of July, coming to acceptance with a break-up, chewing on fat cheeks, Asobi Seksu, amniotic suspension, Velvet Underground, “Let’s Get Together” sung by Hayley Mills, the subway at 1am, the subway at 1pm, 4AD, a well dressed goth, Marlene Dietrich, that old animated sequence on Sesame Street where the kid gets lost and that creepy harlequin with the yo-yo helps him get back home, a radio program hosted by an old African man, and twins. Oh, and raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.

Recommended Tracks:

• Faultered Ego
• Feb.
• Ex’s and Ho’s Oh’s

Shawn Smith

I was first introduced to the band Brad in high school. Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam played in Brad, along with other Seattle luminaries Regan Hagar, and Jeremy Toback. Pearl Jam was at an all time high, so their side projects were seen as gold. Of course, it wasn’t long before the Pearl Jam backlash occurred, casting a pallor on the side projects as well. I never tired of Brad though. Mostly because Stone Gossard wasn’t the frontman who was steering the band. Brad’s singer was Shawn Smith, a relative unknown at the time, and he was the one who gave Brad it’s real flavor.

Smith, a prolific songwriter and collaborator, besides working solo, also sings with Satchel and Pigeonhed, as well as doing guest spots with the Twilight Singers and the Afghan Whigs. His falsetto and choice of mellow grooves shows his love of 70’s and 80’s soul and funk. His appreciation of slow ballads comes across in his piano/organ work. And he occasionally exhibits a flair for GnR style epics.

His usually upbeat lyrics, Christopher Cross* voice, and easy-going rhythms can have him categorized as Muzak. Smith reveled in an interview on Ink19, “Once maybe twice I heard [a Brad song] in the store… my mom’s heard it. I heard it in a local supermarket. I was kind of depressed and heard it and was like ‘How can I be depressed with that playing?’” Don’t be afraid of the Muzak comparisons or connections to Pearl Jam**. His music is pure quality. But, like they say on Reading Rainbow, “You don’t have to take my word for it!”

Recommended Tracks:

• Wrapped in My Memory / Shawn Smith (solo)
• It Ain’t Easy / Brad
• So the Heart Can See / Shawn Smith (solo)
• Takin’ It Back / Brad
• Buttercup (iTunes sample) / Brad
• This is by far the best Shawn Smith song ever, I wish I had the full track for you

* Just for the record, Christopher Cross is still cool.
** Pearl Jam’s really not all that bad either. You just can’t get caught admitting you own their albums when mingling with hipsters. I think I just ruined my credibility with these two footnotes.

Other Passengers

It is only fitting that the resurgence of modernist furniture design based on the early Bauhaus (Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius, Mart Stam, etc.) forms, has seen a parallel resurgence of bands based on the early Bauhaus (Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, etc.) sound. Bauhaus’s influence extends to bands like Antarctica, Juno, and Brooklyn’s Other Passengers. Just like the aforementioned bands, Other Passengers can take the driving gloom of Peter Murphy and co. and shift gears mid-song to a dreamy Pink Floyd vibe. However, now that Juno has thrown in the towel and Antarctica has become Ova Looven, playing slo-synth-pop, it’s nice to have Other Passengers on the scene to carry the torch.

So far they just have an EP out, but they’ll be in the studio this month for a new recording.

Recommended Tracks:

• Theendisthebeginningistheend… (demo)
• In the Belly

In Other Music News:
I got an email from DJ Gerald Van Waes this week letting me know that Mar-Tie made his Belgium radio debut on the program Psyche Van Het Folk. Mar-Tie would be so proud.

Also, Spanky Van Dyke is on tour. So if you live near Fredericksburg, VA; DC; Boston; NYC; Portland, ME; Boston; or Chicago, go see what the fuss is about.

Harry and the Potters

If you aren’t familiar with the following names and terms, read no further: Sirius Black, Rita Skeeter, Dolores Umbridge, Dementors, Quidditch, Percy Weasley, and Bertie Bott.

Only fans of the Harry Potter books could fully enjoy the music of Harry and the Potters. Paul and Joe DeGeorge created the band with the premise that “the Harry Potter from Year 7 and the Harry Potter from Year 4 started a rock band. And now, no one can stop the wizard rock.” Armed with only their feeble voices, a toy keyboard, and a guitar, they sing songs about wizard chess, Platform 9 and 3/4, saving Ginney Weasley from the basilisk, and the Dark Lord himself. This is nerd rock at its nerdiest.

Listen to the magical tunes and memorize the lyrics so you can sing right along when their tour brings them to a library near you.

Recommended Tracks:

• Wizard Chess
• Save Ginny Weasley
• The Godfather
• Stick it to Dolores
• The Human Hosepipe
• The Godfather, Part II
• The Wrath of Hermione

In other rock news dealing with Harry Potter, the fifth movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, will feature Jarvis Cocker (Pulp), Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead), and Phil Selway (Radiohead) as members of the Wyrd Sisters band. However, tapping on British rock stars for the Harry Potter films isn’t new. Ian Brown of the Stone Roses appeared uncredited in the Prisoner of Azkaban as “Man in the Leaky Cauldron reading book.” Now who’s a nerd? Oh… me.

Sweaty Mix

It’s hot. We have no AC in our house right now. The windows in our bedroom are so oddly shaped that I have to rig some special brackets and a piece of plywood to install our window AC unit. I’ll hopefully get around to that soon. In the meanwhile we have to rely on the mercy of our ceiling fans and the shade of our trees. I come home from work and have to lay stagnant on the futon for hours because if I move, I am instantly covered in a film of perspiration that slowly drips down my back. I think back to times where pants and long sleeve shirts with jackets were the norm, even on sweltering days before air conditioning was introduced to the general public (pre 1920’s), and I have no idea how they coped… or smelled.

These songs really have nothing to do with my heat issues and I’m not about to go off on some cheesy bit about how these tracks are “white hot!” No, no, no. I just like these tunes, and hope you will enjoy them while you’re sitting in your air conditioned home/apartment/office/car. Jerks.

Sweaty Mix:

• Martin Sheen / Edie Sedgwick
• Vera Wang / Eltro
• Courtesy Bows To New Wave / The Nein
• Last Night a DJ Saved My Life / 90 Day Men
• Safe and Sorry / Medications
• Pencil Stick / Clogs
• Coat of Arms / The Life and Times
• Victim / Despistado
• Common Nature / Parish School (Brian Case of 90 Day Men)

DV Cassette Club

While teaching art courses at the Ohio State University, I was always hesitant to respond to my students’ requests to see my work. On the one hand, they might be impressed, thus lending more authenticity to whatever I was spouting from the front of the class. On the other hand, they may end up thinking less of me and completely discounting whatever I say.

For the sake of of full disclosure, I admit that I started DV Cassette Club. That being said, I hope that after listening to these MP3s, my future recommendations won’t end up being taken with a large grain of salt.

DV Cassette Club started as an experiment in very amateur, low budget recording. Toy keyboards and a bass guitar (that used to back up the Osmonds, cross my heart) are recorded using Garage Band and that’s about it. DV Cassette Club works within the restraints of the limited software and availability of instruments to see what can come of it.

The DVCC recently started a page on MySpace.com since we’re too stingy to pay for server space (all part of the low budget ethos). There are four tracks available for download or stream. Check it out and share the love.

Recommended Tracks:

• Min Off
• The Warm Spot in Gary
• ((((Bam Bam))))
• Gription

Final Fantasy

“How are you people going to have fun if none of you people ever participate?” is a question posed by the Barcelona Pavillion in their song of the same name. It is a call to cooperation - to get up and do something instead of just crying about nothing happening. A sentiment I fully agree with.

Blocks Recording Club (typically represented by a series of squares) is an organization of musicians out of the Toronto area who “make and pay for the making of records together.” Headed by Steven Kado (The Barcelona Pavillion), the club functions as one of those rare instances where like-minded people band together and make something that other people recognize and support. The club has put out recordings by Final Fantasy, Les Mouches, Animalmonster, the Barcelona Pavilion, the Blankket, and the Phonemes to name a few. Bands that work through Blocks are trying different things and not afraid to flop, which some of them do, but you have to respect the effort.

When you have one band screaming about “new materialogy” and another named after a Sartre play, you’d expect a typical, art school intellectualism to pervade the songs. And you’d be right. But they slap those Art in Theory lyrics over some dorky beats and quirky instrumental work to make gold.

Recommended Tracks:

• The Barcelona Pavilion / New Materiology
• The Barcelona Pavillion / How Are You People Going to Have Fun if None of You People Ever Participate?
• The Phonemes / Steeples and People
• The Blankket / Hey Ya! (Outkast cover)
• Les Mouches / Carload of Whatever
• Les Mouches / Close to You (Carpenter’s cover)
• Final Fantasy / The CN Tower Belongs To The Dead
• Final Fantasy / Illusion Song
• Final Fantasy / If I Were a Carp

Artist Links:

• The Barcelona Pavilion
• The Phonemes
• Final Fantasy
• Les Mouches

A Girl Called Eddy / mp3

A Girl Called Eddy first came to my attention in 2001 in the bargain bin at Used Kids in Columbus, OH (one of the best CD/vinyl stores in all of the midwest). Wedged in with the likes of Eurasure and EMF, this sad little cardboard-covered EP with slightly frayed edges depicted a woman in plaid pants and a leopard skin coat staring out at the cold sea. The plaid/leopard skin combo made me put the record back in the bin, but I kept coming back until I thought, “What the heck.” The rest is history.

A Girl Called Eddy, né Erin Moran, sings like a woman, not a girl. There are plenty of pop princesses out there who try to sing sad, sultry songs fueled by tawdry teenage break-ups and the one time they drank too much peppermint Schnapps. But A Girl Called Eddy is experienced. Not Mae West or Debbie Harry experienced, but Karen Carpenter with a little wine and spunk in her.

There is an overarching melancholy to her songs with an occasional glimpse of 1960’s Beatles inspired pop and 1970’s Bacharach lounge. But most of all, her albums have the sweetest melodies, even when the songs are sad. Her music has won her fans that include Robert Smith, Rufus Wainwright, Jarvis Cocker, and Burt Bacharach.

In hindsight, the story behind buying her CD is apropo. The discarded, uncared for CD, lost in a sea of sad sack albums is sold for a paltry $3. Music like A Girl Called Eddy’s can only come from an album like that.

Recommended Tracks:

• Heartache
• Golden
• The Long Goodbye
• Under the Warm Sun

What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend than with a moody album by an expatriate from Jersey. Happy 4th, y’all!

Mirah / mp3

Mirah (rhymes with lira) was born in 1974, appeared on Nickelodeon’s Double Dare, attended Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, likes her record label, and makes good pop music with the help of producer Phil Elvrum (the Microphones). Her voice is a little Erin McKeown, a bit Billie Holiday, and a tad Cat Power. She can swing from simple electro-beats (Recommendation) to a sweeping epic (Cold Cold Water). She could do some serious damage if she could get her hands on an orchestra. Listen up, yo.

Recommended Tracks:

• Jerusalem
• Recommendation
• Cold Cold Water
• Sweepstakes Prize

Georgia & August Greenberg / mp3

Georgia & August Greenberg were six and four years old, respectively, at the time of recording “Sing Songs for you and Me!” And it shows. I am such a sucker for kids making up songs as they go along. I still remember the first song I penned at the ripe age of four: “One Little, Two Little, Three Little Dinosaurs.” That was pretty much the song, but with “Go to play… Go” at the end. It was genius, I know.

When I shared the recordings of the Greenberg siblings with my brother, we marveled not only at the wondrous lyrical content (see “Itchy Itchy Hay Hay”), but the fact that these kids had a solid backing band. Where do two toddlers get a super-jazzy band to lay down their tunes?

Well, after a little digging around (actually not much, my detective skills are crap) I discovered that Georgia & August Greenberg are the children of Mark Greenberg, formerly of the Coctails. Mark has played on recordings for Smog, Sam Prekop, and Jeff Tweedy while he is also responsible for recording tracks for Archer Prewitt, Andrew Bird, the Group, Eleventh Dream Day, and Chestnut Station. With a dad like that, you’re sure to have access to all the talent that Chicago has to offer.

Recommended Tracks:
• Itchy Itchy Hay Hay
• Where The Wild Things Are (a fine reading of the classic story)
• Big Girls

The rest of their album (all 12:43 of it) can be downloaded for free, courtesy of Georgia & August’s label: Comfort Stand. Comfort Stand is also the home of the greatest collection of Mar-Tie recordings this side of heaven as well as a really nice demo album from Edith Frost.

Pit er Pat / Shakey

Pit er Pat is a band I happened to stumble upon recently, but when I started digging around for information, I was flabbergasted that I could have missed all the press (the Desert News in Utah scooped me for Pete’s sake - that’s like being one step behind Donny Osmond!).

Formerly a backing band for a singer/songwriter, the members regrouped when the singer left Chicago for New York. They forged on as a three piece, now going by Pit er Pat: Rob Doran (bass, vocals), Fay Davis-Jeffers (keyboards, vocals) and Butchy Fuego (drums, vocals). The press that the band puts out plays down their musical roots, so I will highlight them: Rob Doran was a founding member of Alkaline Trio (he left in 1997) and Butchy Fuego has collaborated with Need New Body and Neutral Milk Hotel.

The band’s name hints at their “toddlerclash” aesthetic. Fuego’s drum work churns under Doran’s teetering bass line and Fay’s breathy, child-like, lilting vocals. Their sound is akin to 90 Day Men (at least their last two LPs) and Blonde Redhead. They’ll be playing a couple of shows in Chicago in July with Need New Body, and have been playing some shows with Thrill Jockey label-mate Sam Prekop. I wish I had more to tell you, and more music to offer you, but there is only one legal mp3 floating around out there. Take it and run.

The One Track Available:

• Underwater Wave Game

Deerhoof / mp3s

Occasionally I’ll come across a band that makes me do a bit of a double-take. At first listen, the music seems a bit monotonous and mundane, but seconds before I turn the dial/delete the mp3/skip the track, the music abruptly shifts in a delightfully bizarre and unexpected direction. I like that. San Francisco’s Deerhoof is one of those bands. Inspired by such acts as the Shaggs, Deerhoof’s musical acrobatics seem chaotic but have an internal logic — much like Young People or other native San Franciscoans Erase Errata. The herky-jerky guitars, Satomi Matsuzaki’s meandering melodies, and Greg Saunier’s rolling drumming coalesce into a exquisitely weird listening experience.

He appears to be spooky, but he’s attractive because he has strawberries and bananas on his body, but he is bleeding, so he looks helpless, but he is smiling. Then there’s the mask, so you don’t know if he is really smiling under the mask. And the blood: you don`t know if it’s fake, or if it’s strawberry juice. All of these mysteries bring nightmarish imagination.”

- Satomi Matsuzaki

Recommended tracks:

• Holy Night Fever
• Dummy Discards a Heart
• Milking
• L’Amour Stories

More mp3s can be found at Epitonic.com and the Puzzlefun Music Archive (some of the links on the latter are unreliable).

Ever since the demise of SUBRAB: The Utah Valley Music Archive, I’ve received requests to amass the archive together and burn CDs for people. Some of these requests are a couple years old at this point. Part of the problem is that some of the files were lost somewhere in transferring them from the server and I haven’t gotten around to re-digitizing the albums. Another issue is that I would rather send out a complete archive rather than the spotty one that was up before — I never had complete discographies for Liquid Forest; Sope; Spanky, Dan, and Doug; and I always wanted to get Mar-Tie up there with the rest of them.

I have no plans in the near future to complete the archive since I’ll be moving next week and trying to get resettled while fumbling through the first few months of home ownership. But in the meanwhile, I’ll share a good chunk of the archive by Gladbirds.

Gladbirds consisted of Spanky (vocals), Jason Rabb (guitar), Dan Day (percussion), and Grant Jarvis (bass guitar). The band existed briefly between 1990 and 1992 (if anyone has better dates, please feel free to dispute). Gladbirds played one of the first local shows I ever attended. It was held in an aerobics studio, and I honestly don’t remember any of the other bands on the bill. I just remember that Spanky couldn’t make the show, so Pete Green (of Liquid Forest) filled in on vocals. Since then, I have yet to find another band quite like Gladbirds. They have some of the fuzzed-out flavor of late 60’s psychedelia, some jazz influence, and the ability to make their sound their own. Most of us that played in bands in Utah after 1992 were just trying to figure out how they did it.

The following represents a series of 4-track recordings done around 1991. The sound is as good as I could get it off of the audio tape, but I think the poor sound quality works for the songs. I’ll also throw in their only official recording from 1991 consisting of six tracks. Enjoy.

Update (08.26.06): The songs used to be stored on the server at my place of employment, and I no longer work there, so they’re gone for now. You might be able to dredge up a few tracks at Jason Rabb’s site.

4-Track Recordings
• 01 / Robot & 7/4
• 02 / Jake
• 03 / Opening
• 04 / 5-4-3
• 05 / Stay My Way
• 06 / The Retard
• 07 / Slow Frump
• 08 / The Jaminator
• 09 / Jam-O-Rama
• 10 / Jamisationalistic
• 11 / Slow Frump (Instrumental)
• 12 / 5-4-3 (Outtake)
• 13 / Opium Den (Instrumental)
• 14 / Fist (Instrumental)
• 15 / Hesitate (Instrumental)

Gladbirds:
• 01 / Hesitate
• 02 / Opium Den
• 03 / Fist
• 04 / I Want It
• 05 / The Magic House
• 06 / Jazz Deeluxe

Disclaimer: Due to the archival nature of this entry, technically this would be “Old Music Friday.”

The Evens / mp3

“When things should work, but don’t work.”

Nothing turns you into an activist like getting screwed by a public official. I won’t go into detail (at least not until election season), but I am continually baffled that self-serving individuals are continually elected and appointed to public office by the public they are mistreating. I wrote about this phenomenon a while ago, and liken it to the battered girlfriend who sticks with her abusive boyfriend.

Ian MacKaye of The Evens has long been a resident of Washington D.C., and just as long, has taken issue with those who run the district/nation. From the early days of Minor Threat, Teen Idols, and Fugazi, he has spoken out against social ills and done his best to walk the walk. Fugazi regularly plays benefit shows, his bands have never signed to a major label (instead opting for MacKaye own label -Dischord), they keep their ticket and CD prices as low as possible, and their concerts let out at a reasonable hour.

The Evens continue a legacy of speaking out. Joined by Amy Farina (The Warmers, Mr. Candyeater, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, sister of Geoff Farina) on drums, Ian adds a softer, more melodic foundation to his political explications. The Evens address political bureaucracy, the use of fear as a weapon by politicians, and the importance of learning and using vowels. That “Vowel Movement” is a catchy little number.

Recommended listening:
• All These Governors (2.0 MB)
• Vowel Movement (4.7 MB) / Quicktime Movie from Pancake Mountain
• NPR interview (04.30.05) / Links to NPR page with (evil) RealPlayer story

If you choose to purchase “The Evens,” I recommend that you buy it directly from Dischord. They don’t charge shipping, the price is fair (as low as you’ll find anywhere), and they’ve always treated me right (including thank you notes for making purchases). This kind of ethics espoused by a label born of punk kids should be mimicked by the adults who run the nation.

TW Walsh / mp3

You may know TW Walsh as he officially joined the ranks of Pedro the Lion not too long ago. His scowling mug is often seen smack dab next to David Bazan’s scowling mug in PR shots. But before Pedro and the myriad of side projects, he had a solo career… and a job as a software engineer. He first performed under the name Dirtbike in Massachusetts before his first album, How We Spend Our Days, came out under his own name on Made in Mexico records. He followed this up in 2001 with Blue Laws on Truckstop records. And lastly, in 2002: Pollensongs on My Pal God records.

Walsh’s voice can be compared to Neil Young’s or Jason Molina’s, but there is a sweetness to Walsh’s nasal twang. His early albums featured instrumentation that was often quiet and stripped down, but with layers of subtle textures. With each successive album, he delved deeper into orchestration and distortion while still keeping a very simple feel. Lately he’s been letting his pop sensibilities loose in his numerous collaborations with Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan.

TW Walsh hooked up with Pedro the Lion when he toured with them in 2000. At the time Walsh was the opening act, but Pedro the Lion was his back up band. Things gelled so well, that Bazan and Walsh continued to collaborate. Now they’re collaborating together on Pedro the Lion, Headphones, and The Soft Drugs.

Recommended tracks:

• Old Fashioned Way of Speaking (5.4 MB)
• Gullwatching (4.1 MB)
• All Stops Applied (2.3 MB)
• Pink and Brown (3.1 MB) / Headphones
• Blind Obedience to a Blundering Oracle (10.5 MB) / From Muted Tones - March 2003

That New/Used House Smell

After weathering some shady business dealings by the owner, paying a bit more than we originally intended, and polishing off a bottle of Pepto, Maria and I have taken the plunge — we bought a house. I may be counting chickens before they’re hatched since we don’t close until May 25, but we’re excited nonetheless. It’s a great little bungalow that was built around 1900. I’ll post some pictures soon, but in the meanwhile, in honor of the new home we just bought, summer, and just for the heck of it, here is a little mix for you to enjoy as the temperatures rise:

That New/Used House Smell (16 songs / 53:44 total time / 59.4MB)

• Wonderful People / Q and not U
• Entertain / Sleater Kinney
• Driver Education / Amy Ray
• Car and Driver / The Rock*A*Teens
• Stay With Me / Spanky Van Dyke
• The Engine Driver / The Decemberists
• The Eyebright Bugler / Deerhoof
• I am the Science / Toy Band
• Sweet Baby / The Gossip
• Island of the Honest Man / Hot Hot Heat
• In Particular / Blonde Redhead
• Whoa / Rope or Bullets
• I Am Naked / Stereo Total
• Paul Simon / Russian Futurists
• Slogan (Serge Gainsbourg cover) / Blonde Redhead
• Paper Thin / Catfish Haven

Enon / mp3

Enon is named for a town near Dayton, OH where Enon founder and singer/guitarist John Schemersal is from. Schemersal basically started Enon and recorded their first album Believo! by himself. He then began touring with a rotating group of musicians that gelled together in 1991 as a three piece consisting of Schemersal, Toko Yasuda, and Matt Schultz. They have since added Rick Lee and Steve Calhoon to the line-up creating a band whose pedigree includes Brainiac, John Stuart Mill, Skeleton Key, Butter 08, The Lapse, The Van Pelt, and Blonde Redhead.

Their latest album released in February, Lost Marbles and Exploded Evidence, is a DVD and CD consisting of b-sides and web-only downloads culled from their last six years of work.

Although I am partial to the songs where Toko sings lead, Schemersal’s percussive rasping adds enough of a snarl to the music to keep it interesting. Plus, they use the Casio SK-1. What’s not to love?

Recommended tracks:

• Natural Disasters
• Kanon
• Shave

Sorry to be a day tardy. The in-laws are in town and we were off experiencing the magic of the Hoosier state yesterday.

Miho & Smokey / mp3

Miho Hatori, of Cibo Matto, has also worked with the Beastie Boys and Gorillaz. Although Smokey Hormel’s name conjures images of smoked pork loin, he is not a hickory flavored hog log but has been a guitarist for Beck, Tom Waits, and Johnny Cash, as well as scoring the David Lynch film “The Straight Story.” Now these two artists can add each other to their impressive résumés. Miho & Smokey have combined their love of brazilian music to record an EP of Baden Powell and Vinicius De Moraes interpretations as well as an EP of their own tunes. The music is still very reminiscent of Cibo Matto’s forays into smooth lounge. Miho and Smokey stay true to the flavor of the songs they are covering, but when they write their own material, the drum-machines come out and so does the real Cibo Matto flavor.

Recommended tracks:

• Consolacao
• Ocean In Your Eyes

Yoshimi & Yuka / mp3

Yuka Honda was the other half of Cibo Matto and has worked with the likes of Arto Lindsay, Caetano Veloso, Yoko Ono, Los Lobos, Luscious Jackson, and Medeski Martin & Wood. Yoshimi P-we has been involved in UFO of Die, the Boredoms, Free Kitten, and OOIOO. In another Cibo Matto-esque collaboration, Yoshimi & Yuka have released an album they recorded partially while driving up Mt. Ikoma in a small pick-up truck loaded with instruments. They then took these recordings back to the studio for some mixing and overdubbing. The result is “Flower with No Color.” More ambient and less danceable than Miho & Smokey, “Flower with No Color” is a more casual, experimental album. Perfect for kicking back on the front porch in the evening.

Recommended tracks:

• elegant bird
• SPY said ONE

I’d like to focus a bit on our local boys here in Indiana. Secretly Canadian is a label that started in a dorm cafeteria at the University of Indiana (just south of where I live) in 1996, and now have their own office and currently work with over 26 artists from across the world. Their musicians range from the “chamber cabaret” of Antony and the Johnsons to the slow, rootsy rock of Songs:Ohia and Early Day Miners.

Magnolia Electric Co. / mp3

I heard about Jason Molina (not to be confused with Juana Molina) through an interview with Mark Eitzel. At the time, Eitzel stated that the band he was most into was Songs: Ohia. Songs: Ohia is just one of the monkiers Jason Molina plays under. Besides using his given name, he also appears as Magnolia Electric Co. Amid these three personae/collectives he has churned out an impressive sixteen releases through Secretly Canadian alone.

Comparisons arise between the lo-fi recordings of Will Oldham and Edith Frost, but Jason also knows how to work an amplifier. Because Jason can swing so easily between rock, country, and roots-folk his instrumentation can be reminiscent of Neil Young’s from the early 70’s. His low, smooth voice comes across like he’s talking to you in a booth at a bar near the farmers’ co-op.

Recommended tracks:

• The Dark Don’t Hide It
• Steve Albini’s blues
• Tigress

Early Day Miners / mp3

Early Day Miners are from Bloomington, IN and are as old as Secretly Canadian itself. Their brand of slow paced music is akin to Dianogah, Codeine, and Seam. They aren’t afraid of drawn-out instrumentals, but when the vocals appear as raspy whispers they are usually mixed down with the instruments instead of floating on the top.

Some might say that the music is influenced by the flattened, Indiana landscape, but I live here and their music is much more interesting than that. Actually, I would say it is closer to the Indiana landscape at night when things have quieted down and you can only hear where you are.

Recommended tracks:

• Errance
• Longwall
• Placer Found

The Holiday City Hot Cha Kitchen Band / mp3

T.S. Eliot wrote “April is the cruelest month,” but it’s really just a bit awkward and a little confused. April’s mood fumbles around in a schizophrenic/bi-polar haze (one day sunny, the next day uncontrollable weeping); there is a lot of exposed pasty, white flesh; and it starts off with mean-spirited tricks played on you. April is the pubescence of the calendar year.

To help usher in April with all it’s fresh-faced, goofy glory, I present to you The Holiday City Hot Cha Kitchen Band — a gaggle of “active [ladies] 52 and over” from Toms River who warble the American classics like they mean it, because they do. I’m Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover, Silver Bells And Silver Hair, I’m A Yankee Doodle Dandy/You’re A Grand Old Flag, and God Bless America are crooned over a bed of organ, washboard, kazoos, and tambourines.

It reminds me of a stint I did at a Senior Center in Manhattan, KS. I would deliver Meals-on-Wheels, help a sweet, old woman with Alzheimer’s play BINGO, and read to people with failing eye sight. On the 4th of July I was invited to watch the Manhattan Senior Service Center Band play their patriotic favorites. The band consisted of one person on synthesizer, one on guitar, four on triangles, and a solid section of twenty tambourine players. They played with all their failing hearts. As the concert swelled to a fever pitch, a 98 year old woman who used to do Vaudeville and burlesque set her tambourine down, took her walker out into the middle of the floor, and started shaking her booty in the most furious, yet disturbing way.

Recommended tracks:

• Hey Look Me Over
• Welcome to Holiday City
• Sweetheart Mountain — with a full band! (I saved the best for last.)

Many thanks to Oddio Overplay for providing us with this shining gem of Americana. And a happy April Fools to all y’all.

The Russian Futurists / mp3

My friend Todd lent me the Russian Futurists’ Let’s Get Ready to Crumble last year right before summer really hit in Chicago. Its off-kilter pop was the perfect soundtrack for driving around the Windy City in late spring/early summer. The ice-cream trucks were starting to make their rounds again, playing the usual medley of tinny, electronic jingles; the fruit cart men were jangling their bells loudly as they walked up and down our street; the humming rumble of bass shook our floors from passing lo-riders; and the hip-hop store down the street brought their speakers out to the sidewalk to serenade the neighborhood with distant, echoing rhythms. Add one nerdy sounding white boy with great pop sensibilities singing from the bottom of a well, and you’ve got the Russian Futurists.

For more information visit their website, and download a few mp3s from Upper Class Recordings to determine whether you want to buy the Russian Futurists new album, Our Thickness, that lands May 3.

Shannon Wright / mp3

I first saw Shannon Wright when she opened for Low at a small pizza joint in 1999. I remember her frenetic guitar playing, the quirky piano-teacher Wurlitzer she pounded away on, and karate kicks. That’s right karate kicks. I had to buy her album.

So I walked away that night, with Flightsafety in my pocket and some goobers in my eyes from falling asleep in the middle of Low’s set (they should never make comfy couches available at Low concerts).

Since then, Shannon has released four other solo albums, and most recently, an album in collaboration with Yann Tiersen simply entitled “Shannon Wright & Yann Tiersen”. Most people are familiar with Yann’s work on the Amélie soundtrack. Their collaborative album still bears all the earmarks of Shannon’s music while Yann’s orchestrations place the music in a foggy Parisian street.

The entire Shannon Wright & Yann Tiersen album may be streamed via (the evil) RealPlayer on the French version of their site (the English version links don’t work). More Shannon Wright mp3s are available on the Touch and Go / Quarterstick Records site and an infrequently updated Shannon Wright site.