Posted August 12, 2009 by Jason at 8:00 am · Filed under DIY, Local Art, New Releases
Yesterday was the first day of printing Slowest Runner’s Flophouse Session EP. The session was recorded live by our friends over at Band in Boston Podcast. Check out this video that we took of the recycled jackets drying at the Grinding Tapes House.
The cover art was illustrated by our good friend and super-great artist, William Collins.
Posted August 11, 2009 by Matt at 3:58 pm · Filed under New Releases, Promising Artists
Here is a really cool video I stumbled across today. It’s by a rapper named Brother Ali, a pretty solid honest boom-bap type of rapper. If that’s your thing, or even if it isn’t, be sure to check out this cool little promo for his new album. It includes some live vocals and production and some heart felt raptitude.
His new album, Us, comes out September 22nd on Rhymesayers.
Posted July 30, 2009 by Matt at 11:35 am · Filed under Music News (general), New Releases, Promising Artists
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…
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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!
Posted July 27, 2009 by Elijah Wyman at 4:05 pm · Filed under DIY, Music News (general), New Releases, Upcoming Shows
Hey folks,
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
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Posted June 8, 2009 by Matt at 10:23 am · Filed under New Releases
Quirky Music Lovin’ Christians Rejoice!
mewithoutYou, those Pennsylvania lovers of art and peace and post-rock, have turned to none other but the New Jersian lynch pin of Christian weird-folk, Daniel Smith to produce their new album “It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright”.
Maybe I’m the only one, but I totally didn’t see this pairing coming. It does seem to make a lot of sense ideologically, but honestly this could have ended up sounding like any number of things. In my opinion however, it could not have manifested itself any more beautifully than this album. Here-in we see lead singer Aaron learn to sing, a wealth of Danielson influenced folkiness, and carefully incorporated manifestations of mewithoutYou’s rock and roll spirit. Most importantly we witness the absolute beauty of perfectly framed, fantastic, fascinating lyricism that both artists are known for.
If you were like me and loved the adventurousness and spiritual insight that mewithoutYou offer, but thought that their music needed a sort of tweaking or a kickstart. This album is just what you have been waiting for. It certainly comes off to fans of both artists as sort of a collaboration, as Daniel definitely seems to lend a lot to the picture. But that is in no way a detrimental factor. In fact, just upon two listens, I’m gunna go ahead and suggest that this one definitely makes one ponder the “Masterpiece” tag.
Definitely a rock solid effort.
If you are a mewithoutYou fan, a fan of Danielson, or a fan of any of the artists on Grinding Tapes, do yourself a favor and wait not a second longer to check this album out. Here’s an mp3:
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ALSO, at the risk of going on too long…
If you are just stopping by out of the blue to check out the mewithoutYou album, do not leave without first encountering Grinding Tapes very own Elijah Wyman, a similarly gut wrenching, thought provoking folk artist and his (if I may) masterpiece album Butterfly Needles for FREE or with a $6 dollar donation.
Here’s a taste:
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Posted May 21, 2009 by Matt at 12:14 pm · Filed under New Releases, Promising Artists
The new album by Thee Oh Sees has been on heavy rotation lately; and after about 25 spins, I must admit that I am still not sick of it. In the slightest. Gotta say that is kind of a rarity for me lately. But, as I continue to listen, I can certainly pinpoint the reasons why. This is a garage rock album. It’s out on In The Red Records, so I’m pretty sure no one is going to question that fact. The label is known pretty much exclusively for that style. They are also known for housing only the best of that style. The label has boasted The Black Lips, King Khan and the Shrines, The Deadly Snakes, The Reigning Sound, Jay Reatard, The Ponys, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Vivian Girls, and The Dirtbombs. If you can’t find a touch point there and you like garage rock, it’s time to put down The White Stripes records, the Nuggets comps, and dig a little deeper.
Anyway, Thee Oh Sees is the latest incarnation of John Dwyer (formerly of the garage rock wildmen The Coachwhips). The group was originally called OCS and was an outlet for Dwyers experimental psychedelic non-sense ( I have yet to explore this output but I plan on it). The band later became known as the Ohsees and the Oh Sees before settling on the current moniker. The current manifestation is a full band, and this is their first album for In The Red.
Oh yeah, here’s the album cover:
The record is exactly what I have been fiending for: a decidedly rocking structure, with a healthy dose of sonic experimentation or psychedelia, and plenty of catchy hooks. It definitely has a driving upbeat cadence, a pop sensibility and not at all in that guilty pleasure way, and an experimental edge that would satisfy the freak folk, art punk or experimental noise crowd. In other words, I think this album has a little something for everyone–well, maybe not for Barry Manilow or Mariah Carey fans, unless they have a wild side.
Do you have a wild side?
That sounded really sketchy. Why not just disregard that I ever said that, and give this sound bite a try:
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Posted May 20, 2009 by Elijah Wyman at 10:35 am · Filed under DIY, Live Recordings, New Releases
My iPhone is completely integrated into every bit of my life. It gives me directions, controls my computer and my tv, tunes my guitar, and wakes me up. So I just downloaded the app TweetMic, recorded a song I wrote tonight and tweeted it! I’m excited about how easy it is to share music with friends all over the world within minutes.
The only downside I’ve found with TweeMic is that there is no way to save your recordings. While you can listen all you want off of TweetMic’s site I wish that I could save it to my phone and put it on my computer.
Here’s what I posted. What do you think?
http://tweetmic.com/p/or9o94t30uq
-elijah wyman
p.s. Check out my new blog. It’s about becoming a winner.
Posted May 7, 2009 by Jason at 8:00 am · Filed under New Releases
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s highly-anticipated Cryptomnesia album came out on Tuesday as the debut release on Lopez’s own record label. While his trademark guitar style permeates all previous bands that bear his name, this is the closest any of his side projects has come to sounding like The Mars Volta. In fact, Cryptomnesia wouldn’t feel at all out of place in TMV’s catalog–and that’s a good thing! The increased similarity can be partially attributed to pervasive vocal contributions by TMV singer, Cedric Bixler-Zavala.
I don’t know about you, but I’d be content if this was the only TMV-related release this year. However, I think this is just a taste of what we’re going to get on June 23.
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Posted May 3, 2009 by Matt at 10:48 am · Filed under DIY, New Releases, Promising Artists
Deastro is a great act that has apparently been around for a while but just came to my attention via the [adult swim]-sponsored Ghostly International mix cd, which is aptly titled Ghostly Swim. This is a great comp which includes a lot more great tracks worth touching on. Props to both Ghostly International and [adult swim].
Randolph Chabot Jr. is apparently a music whiz at this point. He claims to have written hundreds of songs by the age of 17, a mighty feat no doubt. But what’s more impressive is that the man already put out three albums on his own and got noticed through eMusic, where be probably uploaded his own music. He also has another project under the name Our Brother the Megazord.
I find it very hard not to like this guy, if you aren’t already convinced, check out his blog.
Here’s a song from his album, Keepers (originally self released on eMusic, and reissued in ‘08 by Ghostly International) :
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Posted April 14, 2009 by Jason at 7:00 pm · Filed under Music News (general), New Releases
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:
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