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!
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Here is an excellent unreleased cover of the Magnetic Fields’ “Come Back from San Francisco” by Grinding Tapes artist The Points North:
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And for those of you looking to compare, here is the original by Stephin Merritt & co. from 1999’s 69 Love Songs:
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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:
Hi everyone! We are very excited about the Grinding Tapes showcase that is happening at The Middle East tonight! Here are the bands on the bill, all of which were hand-selected by Grinding Tapes:
Sunday, August 23, 2009, 8pm
The Middle East Upstairs
472 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA
$9, 18+
He truly hope to see you there!
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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.
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!
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 13, 2009 by Jason at 8:00 am ·
Filed under Promising Artists
Up until recently, my favorite song on The Knife’s Silent Shout was the album closer. No, I’m not talking about “Still Light”. My leaked copy of the album included a song called “F as in Knife” tacked on at the end (I own the CD, but never re-ripped it). It was a decidedly upbeat dance track that could be described as the missing link between Deep Cuts and Silent Shout.
You can imagine my surprise, then, when I learned the other day that my favorite song on Silent Shout was neither by The Knife nor officially on that album. The track is actually a Zeigeist song called “Tar Heart”.
While I still can barely believe that this isn’t a Knife song, I’ve had their 2008 album, The Jade Motel on repeat for days. You can imagine their sound as Danger meets The Knife. Or, you could listen to “Tar Heart” below!
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I also just noticed the striking similarity to Kate Bush’s ’80s classic, “Running Up that Hill”.
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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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Max Tundra is playing in Boston with the mighty Junior Boys on May 8th. I just realized that I’m going to be out of town that weekend (which means I’m going to miss Mastodon on May 7th as well, anybody want a ticket?).
But all that does not stop me from loving this new Max Tundra video I spied on Pitchfork a little while back. And I will get around to seeing him eventually, but for this one, point is to Jason who in all likelihood will be in attendance:
Talk about DYI. This guy has been getting great right ups on the old Pfork for years and he still finds time to run around with a camcorder and his ipod and tat himself with a keyboard on his leg in permanent marker. Props for the creativity bro (the song ain’t bad either).
