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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Posted September 17, 2009 by Jason at 7:20 am ·
Filed under General
Friends! We have two new releases available in our store! Please check them out and enjoy!
The Points North: I Saw Across the Sound vinyl and mp3
The Points North’s debut full-length is their most mature musical statement yet. This provocative and engaging album captures perfectly the stunning precision and thoughtful understatement of their live performances during 2008 and 2009. These quiet New England anthems are perhaps more at home in 1909 than 2009, but you won’t find a better folk album this year.
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Slowest Runner: The Flophouse Session CD
Slowest Runner’s debut album is a live performance from their Band in Boston session on May 23rd, 2009. Named after the Band in Boston podcast itself, The Flophouse Session delivers on the abundant promise of the band’s jaw-dropping live performance. On The Flophouse Session, Slowest Runner combine guitar, bass, drums, piano, violin, cello, tape loops, and heavily-distorted vocals to create beautifully-dramatic movie score music that frequently reaches blistering intensity.
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We are also pleased to offer a new product in our store called the Grinding Tapes Subscription! For just $10 you will get three rare and exclusive mp3s from Grinding Tapes-related artists each month starting in October 2009 and ending in March 2010. That’s six months and 18 total songs! At the end of the six months, you’ll receive a special exclusive CD with all 18 songs in classic Grinding Tapes packaging. Check it out!
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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We finished printing the tracklisting for Slowest Runner’s Flophouse Session EP. Check it out:
Next up, we’re going to glue the jackets and print the CDs. The band selected these nice orange CDs, which we’ll print with the text, “The skies darken. The sea swells. And the good ship Tecora sleeps silent on the ocean floor.”
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 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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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.
Posted April 7, 2009 by Jason at 7:50 am ·
Filed under Live Recordings
As previously reported, Amelia Emmet of Mr. Sister played at The Whitehaus this past Friday. Check out this live recording of her stunning opening song, “The Pest”, which is performed entirely a capella.
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The Points North: I Saw Across the Sound vinyl and mp3
Slowest Runner: The Flophouse Session CD
We are also pleased to offer a new product in our store called the Grinding Tapes Subscription! For just $10 you will get three rare and exclusive mp3s from Grinding Tapes-related artists each month starting in October 2009 and ending in March 2010. That’s six months and 18 total songs! At the end of the six months, you’ll receive a special exclusive CD with all 18 songs in classic Grinding Tapes packaging. Check it out!
