Go check out Ryan’s Smashing Life to download a new track that they recorded at The Grinding Tapes House in November. It’s a fantastic cover of Bob Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country”.
Also, you may know that The Points North are currently touring Australia. Check out this video from their first night Down Under!
Seer Group blends sun-warped nostalgia for cassette tapes and analog synthesizers with the sugary-sweet melodies of early video game soundtracks (think Mega Man III vs. Boards of Canada). These guys are new to Grinding Tapes and are currently finishing up their contribution to a split cassette single with Sylphid. This will be our first ever electronic release. Needless to say, we are very excited!
We are very excited to announce that Vinegar Socks’ self-titled debut album is now available in CD and mp3 format our store. Vinegar Socks are establishing themselves as one of the most important indie projects in Italy with their sophisticated and lyrical music that draws from a number of musical forms, including Irish folk, gypsy, and punk. This album is a fully-embellished work of stunning beauty. Check it out!
Edinburgh, Scotland’s eagleowl are releasing a new single this upcoming December 14th on Kilter Records. The song is entitled “Sleep the Winter” and will also include the B-side “Laughter.” This band plays drum-free dirges that captivate and enthrall the listener from start to finish. This is music for a sleepless and anxious evening, one of those long winter nights where you wear your thickest socks and mittens, have a long sip of whiskey, wrap your face in a scarf, and walk through the snow and try to understand your existence. Eagleowl is both a place of introspective empowerment and a faithful shoulder to cry on.
Unfortunately, I didn’t know about this earlier, or believe me I would have made haste to share the information with all of you. But me and my girlfriend, in search of a movie, stumbled across this treasure of a concert going experience the other night. If you live in one of the cities yet to be hit on this tour, I implore you to go and see it. Andrew provided a positive environment as always, and his passion for music was showcased in a way I had never seen before.
The Calder Quartet are an extremely talented group of young gentlemen who have embarked on what Andrew repeatedly referred to as an “experiment of sorts.” In this experiment they certainly allowed us, the audience, to take part in a number of ways. There were performances from composers Phillip Glass and John Cage on the bill, not to mention solo improvisations on piano from Andrew (a sight to behold), and inclusive retelling of a few “I Get Wet” classics. His solos were riveting acts of a rock-and-roll mind bent out of control and intent on delivering a piano-style vengeance on the ‘classical’ style. The Calder quartets performances were impossibly vivid displays of what us rock and roll fans miss when we look over the classical section of our record stores. Andrew’s more rock based music and presence provided the glue of hilarity and joy and unity that fans have come to expect, and onlookers were made to love.
If you have never experienced Andrew W.K. in concert (or even recorded) I suggest you spare no expense to do so at your next possible chance. But if you have seen Andrew, I suggest you do whatever is in your power to attend this unique concert-going experience. The dates are few, but hopefully he will extend or return to performing in this fashion again soon.
Here is Andrew’s album of Piano Improvisation, “Cadillac ‘55″, in it’s entirety:
So, there is a lot of buzz, about a lot bands, like all of the time.
Understandably, it gets really hard to tell when the buzz is reasonable and warranted. I’m not claiming to be able to see through that, but I listen to a lot of music and I do occasionally have Eureka moments. My most recent: Kurt Vile is great.
If you like lo-fi folk or down tempo rock, I’m going to skip all gushing and the praise and the comparisons, and say that there is a very strong chance you’re gunna like this guy. Just check out this song…
There’s tons of stuff out there to read about this dude. He’s great. He’s from Philly (thus the Wawa Tea bottle). He just got signed to Matador Records, but he used to mess with the presently exploding Woodsist Records. He is/was in War On Drugs. He released an album with a band called The Violators (get it?). He played an awesome show in Boston on the 18th!
I just wanted to mention that I have a new EP coming out called tiny mtns. I’ll be touring in Aug. in support of it, so if you’re on the East Coast be sure to check to see if I’ll be in your town. It would be awesome to see you at a show. Here’s a song off it called Thicket Holds a Ram. I hope you like it. If you do, you can pre-order the EP here
Mars Volta fans rejoice! TMV has just announced that their new full-length, Octahedron, will drop on June 23. That’s just over two months away. Exciting stuff!
This news would be exciting enough on its own, but I’m still super-style-excited to get my hands on a copy of El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s limited vinyl release of Cryptomnesia on Saturday. The new group has almost the same lineup as TMV, and based on the officially-released trailers, it’s going to sound similar as well. The vinyl release is limited to 3,000 copies and will only be available at brick and mortar record stores for record store day. Here’s a sneak peak of Cryptomnesia:
Akron/Family is a really great act that has been kicking around for quite a while. Originally signed to Michael Gira (of Swans/Angels of Light) ’s Young God Records, the band got great reviews for their first two records, played backup to Michael as his Angels of Light, and generally made a great name for themselves in the dawn of the whole “freak-folk” movement.
Here we are a few years on from their initial success, and the boys have recently signed to the newly founded (2007) Dead Oceans (sister label to personal favorites Jagjaguwar and Secretly Canadian). Not only that, but they are also preparing the release of their new album, Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free.
I loved their last album, Love is Simple, and I really love this new track they’ve released. If the record is anywhere near as good as this and their past work implies, don’t be left outside in the dark.
