I picked this up for a fiver during the height of summer in Galway a couple of years back. I think they are now no longer, could be wrong. The singer is gone solo, under the alias of "Taken By Trees" anywho. All four songs on this EP are amazing, three of them where later release as singles. Its full of wintery cool but with a warm heart. I don't know why I haven't checked out any of their albums. I must and so should you.
and go here for a vid of what I'm guessing is the album version of "Seems Fine". Ep version is better and is called "Seems Fine Shuffle". But isn't that always the way with alt versions and covers of songs, generally the first version you heard is always our favourite, of course there is expection, Mogwai's version of "Sweet Child Of Mine" is super,Alanis Morissette version of "My Humps". That's a joke, Black Eye Peas RULE OK Buy It Myspace Link In Comments.
A mixtape for those cold nights and long long journeys home.
01. Come Wander With Me - Jeff Alexander
"Come Wander with Me" was written for an episode of
the American television anthology series The Twilight
Zone. Sung by the actress Bonnie Beecher herself.
The whole "Come Wander with Me" episode is available here.
02. Strange Form Of Life - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Another gem from the man who does very little wrong.
Go HERE for a live version on Conan O Brien. 03. Milk and Honey - Jackson C. Frank
This and the first song I first heard from Vincent Gallo's
"Brown Bunny" film. It doesn't get must better than this. 04. Black Flowers - Yo La Tengo
I orginally had "Feel Like Going Home" but it slowed/
depressed precendings down too much. This also capture
the mood I was going for. Both songs for their last and ill
say it, their best album to date "I Am Not Afraid Of You
And I Will Beat Your Ass" 05. C4 - Si Schroeder
Seen him at electric picnic this year, he blow the house
down. Great stuff. 06. Back In Time - Au Revoir Simone You should know the story about these ladies by now. I
think it's safe to say, classic song from a classic album. 07. The Ice Storm - The Go! Team A great intrumental from their Austrailan tour Ep. 08. Snowball - Devo
Love this so much, it could even my favourite Devo song.
09. Warm Night - The Concretes
More Swedish greatness.
10. I'm into Something Good - Langley Schools Music Project
Sweet sweet cover of Herman's Hermits classic song by school
chorus. The recordings were made from 1976-77 by Canadian
music teacher Hans Fenger in a school gymnasium in Langley,
British Columbia. 11. The Ballad Of Helenkeller & Rip Van Winkle - The Moldy Peaches An other classic song from a classic album. 12. By Your Side - Coco Rosie
The video says everything.
13. Starbust - Frank Sinatra
"The melody haunts my reverie..." 14. Christmas Time Is Here - Vince Guaraldi Trio From "A Charlie Brown Christmas". 15. Im On Nights - Richard Hawley The first song I ever heard of Mr. Hawley and still probably my
favourite song of his. Oh hear that moterbike engine purrrr. 16. (Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night - Tom Waits
I have more Tom Waits records than I really should have, but
when he gets it right, boy can he really gets it right. 17. 90-Mile Water Wall - The National The only song they didn't play at their recent gig that I hoped they
might play. 18. The Fox In The Snow - Belle & Sebastian Yet again an otherclassic song from a classic album. 19. Rich Wife Full Of Happiness - Bonnie "Prince" Billy "I woke up fat and almost unhappy
but the bigger the laugh the bigger the belly
and I bellow out and the whole bed it shakes
and you smile at my laugh as it rocks you awake." 20. Long Long Long - The Beatles One of the best John songs on the White Album.---update it's George song, I always thought it was John. 21. Point Of Disgust - Low
Don't know if this is an official video or not, but it's really
is outstanding.
22. The Other Side Of Mt. Heart Attack - Liars
Thats it.
Total Time: 1:18:30
Its abit early for for Merry Christmas, but Merry Christmas
to you, consider it a gift from me to you. Applause and good
fortune to you and yours.
For anyone who downloaded "Hold Back The Dawn" Mixtape and really liked track 3 "Lovely Allen" from Toronto cursing blasphemers "Holy Fuck", here is their soup soup souper Krautrock EP in it entirety . No Irish date on the horizon, which is a shame, cause they toured the highways and byways of Britain recently.
Angelic fuzz noise for Bristol-based duo, Fuck Buttons. This two track ep is fast becoming one of my favourite release this year. Applause to ATP Records for always releasing "the Good Shit".
Taking their ques from John Carpenter, Tangerine Dream, Goblin, and a wee bit of Faith No More thrown in for good messure, Pittsburgh two piece have make the perfect soundtrack to the greatest 70s horror film that was never made. Nice.
Geez I love this band, why did they not become massive. This was my first glimspe into their brillance. The track is taken from their 1999 "The Fidelity Wars" album. The main dude; Darren Hayman as well as solo work now plays with Ellis Island Sounds
Painting : Oliver Comerford A mixtape for the wee hours. Contains 80s pop/post punk, 80s esque Pop/rock, Neue Deutsche Welle and analog melodies. 01 Sketch for Summer- The Durutti Column The first song of his first album. Boy, he sure loves his echoy guitar, and i do to. 02 Drugs In My Body - Thieves Like Us A reworking of the previous song and the vid is a reworking of the "heroes" scene in Christine F. film
03 Lovely Allen - Holy Fuck The cover was enticing enough for me to get their EP. This song is kraut-tastic. 04 Glorious - Captain Great Pop rock with Trevor Horn productions. The vid can be watched HERE. 05 You Got Me - Beta Or Vhs More 80s throwback rock. They sound like "A Folk Of Seagulls" fronted by Robert Smith. Vid viewable HERE . 06 Burning Up - Madonna Of her first album, great stuff.
07 Hong Kong Garden - Siouxsie & The Banshees Love the intro.
08 Tender Object - Orange Juice The greatest song Orange Juice ever recorded and it wasn't even a bloody single. 09 (Ein Jahr) Es Geht Voran - Fehlfarben More jangley 80s guitar this time from Düsseldorf's Fehlfarben. 10 Der Kommissar - Falco Here is a medley of Der Kommissar by Falco, followed by the After The Fire version, which is then followed by Laura Branigan with her version called Deep in the Dark.
11 Morning Sun - Al Murray Got this from the soundtrack of "This Is Britian". Great film and great song. 12 Goodbye Horses - Q. Lazzarus Another soundtrack song, from "Married To The Mob" and the Buffalo Bill dancing with his fella tucked behind his legs scene in "Silence Of The Lambs". My new favourite song. 13 Windows - A Flock Of Seagulls B side to Space Age Love Song, and what a b side it is. 14 In The City - Chromatics Love this track, the metronome beat and lead vocal is super sweet. Vid is viewable HERE. 15 You Make Me Like Charity - The Knife One of my favourite Knife song. Go HERE for a live video. 16 The Past Is A Grotesque Animal - Of Montreal Not sure about these boys, but this song is a deffinate highlight on the album, The urgency of the music and vocals really won me over. 17 By This River - Brian Eno First heard this on the film the great german film"The Son's Room". 18 Echo's Answer - Broadcast Oh i love that sound. 19 Can You Hear the Rain, Love - Richard Hawley Eno esque track of the "Late Night Tales" and no better way to finish the mix.
First became aware of Martin Dosh thought Andrew Bird and then a friend gave me a mix with one of his songs on it, Had to get more and this is a great Ep he released a couple of years back and is a good introduction to the wonderful world of Martin Dosh.
Here some still from a stop motion video piece I'm working on for Oneida and some photographs I took at the Richard Hawley gigs recently. Bobby from Oneida Kid Millions from Oneida Jane and Bobby from Oneida
I got in too Primus though a friend who's birthday happens to be today. Back in 2001 he waited 8 months for this cd to come from america. It wasn't released over here at the time. Eight long months he waited until the record store finally got it in for him. It was worth the wait. Primus first and maybe best album.
Going to see Deerhunter tonight in whelans for €15, I was pity much instantly hooked on them from the 'Sing Swan Song' esque Intro to their Cryptograms album and the Flourescent Grey EP was recorded while their debut album was being mixed and continues where the Cryptograms finished. More fine spaced out krautrock. But here is a free EP that they put up on their blog from Atlas Sound (Side project of Deerhunter's singer, Bradford Cox). this is what they said about it on it orginal post. "Recorded today during a 10 hour drive from Austria to Switzerland, through the Swiss Alps. These are reinterpretations of a few of my favorite doo-wop songs filtered through a thick gauze of motion-sickness and boredom..."
1. come softly (originally performed by the Fleetwoods) 2. you're so fine (originally performed by the Falcons) 3. you belong to me (originally performed by the Duprees)
Nearly two years ago, I was down in Sound Cellar about to buy a ticket to see The National play their first ever Irish show and the girlfriend and I were heading down the stairs of Sound cellar when she seen on the wall a poster for the show and she noticed the date, 19 of November. She quickly informed me what that was the same date that she was born twenty years previous and we will be in Limerick for her birthday blowout. Natural I was gutted since Alligator was up there with "The Woods" and "Tender Buttons" as one of my favourite record of that year. So two years on and another album out, that can only be described as Classic, my second chance on All Souls Day to see for the first time one of my favouite band. Fuck Yeah.
To celebrate here is their first and worst album, "The National", but considering the pedigree of their other albums, it's only ok. I also put up a while ago the excellent "Cherry Tree" Ep which was a bridge between "Sad Songs..." and Alligator. It still available here. Buy It Myspace Link In Comment.
Photo: Marty Stuart I only got into Porter Wagoner this year after hearing the haunting and truly compelling "The Rubber Room" and was saddened to learn that he died on the 28th off Lung cancer aged eighty. So here's a compilation I put together of some of his songs spanning his whole career from his 54 number 1 hit 'A Satisfied Mind' and it's b -side 'Itchin' For My Baby' to his last single; "Committed To Parkview". That single was written by Johnny Cash and he wanted Porter to record it, so He gave a cassette to Marty Stuart (the producer of the album Porter was making at the time back in 1981), but Marty forgot to deliver the song to Porter and only delivered it when he was helping Porter choose songs for from Wagonmaster album. This year he gain in popularity with that album and he even toured with the "White Stripes".
Tracklisting 01 Committed To Parkview - Wagonmaster (2007) 02 The Rubber Room - The Rubber Room (1972) 03 The Cold Hard Facts Of Life - The Cold Hard Facts Of Life (1967) 04 Satan's River - Wagonmaster (2007) 05 Eat, Drink And Be Merry - The Essential Porter Wagoner (1997) 06 Tell Her Lies And Feed Her Candy - The Essential Porter Wagoner (1997) 07 Itchin' For My Baby - A Satisfied Mind 7" RCA Victor 20-6105 (1954) 08 Sorrow On The Rocks - The Essential Porter Wagoner (1997) 09 Sorrow Overtakes The Wine - The Carroll County Accident (1969) 10 Dark End of the Street (with Dolly Parton) - Just The Two Of Us (1968) 11 Family Bible w/ Willie Nelson - Unplugged (2002) 12 A Place To Hang My Hat - Wagonmaster (2007) 13 I'll Go Down Swingin' - The Thin Man From West Plains (1965) 14 Porter and Marty (Men With Broken Hearts/I Heard That Lonesome Whilstle Blow) - Wagonmaster (2007) 15 A Satisfied Mind - A Satisfied Mind 7" RCA Victor 20-6105 (1954) Buy The Rubber Room Myspace
To celabrate the return of Sam Beam aka Iron And Wine to our shores on October 27, at Ambassador Theatre in Dublin. Here is outstanding EP which is heavy in tone compared to his first two albums. I had a ticket to see him back in 2004 when he first and last played Ireland but dEUS reformed and i got a ticket to see them in Paris since a friend of my was living there at the time. But as it turned out both gigs were on the same day, so i had to give away Iron and Wine ticket to my flatmate. Bummer but seeing dEUS for the first time with a head full of trips was chilling to see the least and the little known Joanna Newsom was one of the support acts. Never heard of her before and was completely mystified by her. Ran down the stairs to buy the album straight after see finished just in case it would sell out. Here is a video of the first song I ever heard of Iron and Wine back in 2003. It's on his first album but i got it first on one of those sub pop 5er sampler cds. The vid is directed by Mister Beam himself.
Paintings: Trevor Brown A friend of mine was giving out that 8Bit Bliss mix tape was not that 8 bitty. Ok, yeah most songs are more analogy and not corrosive 8bitty sounding but alot of songs have cheap sounding instruments in them. Well anyway to rectify here is some horrible 8 bit trash from torondo 2 piece "Crystal Castles". They are touring all over the shop as we speak, hitting Eire on the 25th of November. Check out their Myspace for futher info.
01 Knocked Up - Kings Of Leon This song reminds me of the film "Boys Don't Cry" with its barren dusty (sound)landscapes and The Edge-esque guitar. Great song from an ok album by K.O.L. 02 Our Swords - Band Of Horses More Americana(ish) this time from Band of Horses, taken from the their exquisite debut. 03 Fiery Crash - Andrew Bird The opener for Bird's newest and maybe best album with backing vocals provided by the wonderful Haley Bonar 04 Brother - Annuals "'Brother' opens on a whisper before exploding at the halfpoint with colossal percussion, twisting guitars, feather-fall violins, and exultant, emphatic shouts that puncture the mix like they're trying to break in from another dimension." 05 Saturday - Electrelane One of the highlights from one of this years best, "No Shouts, No Calls". Those ladies rocked out at "Electric Picnic", Hopefully they will be back in Ireland soon. 06 Start A War - The National
07 Keep The Car Running - Arcade Fire 08 If Looks Could Kill - Camera Obscura 09 Long Distance Call - Pheonix
10 Pulling Our Weight - The Radio Dept. What is it about Sweden, always with "The Good Shit" and this is certainly "Good Shit". "Pulling Our Weight" is The Radio Dept.'s finest three and a half minutes. Pure Bliss 11 Willow's Song - The Wicker Man OST "Willow's Song" is a ballad by American composer Paul Giovanni using lyrics by the poet Robert Burns for the 1973 film The Wicker Man. 12 Diamond Dancer - Bill Callaghan My favourite song of the year so far. 13 Let's Save Tony Orlando's House - Yo La Tengo In the "Marge on the Lam" episode of The Simpsons, Troy McClure is emceeing a public television marathon, he opens with a version of his catchphrase by stating: "Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such telethons as Out with Gout '88 and Let's Save Tony Orlando's House." Let's Save Tony Orlando's House later inspired the title of this song by the Hoboken's finest Yo La Tengo, taken from their downbeat 2000 record "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out". 14 Cool Summer - Bob Lind Another song I pilfered from Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey compilation "The Trip" 15 Childhood - Beachhouse One of this years gems. 16 Lark - Au Revoir Simone Hightlight from the rather disappointing second album. Their first should still be available here. 17 Love Connection - Casiotones For The Painfully Alone "A delicate blend of sweat and menstrual blood" My favourite mix. 18 After The Certain - Beirut The great closer of his debut album. 19 In The Chestnut Tree - Ivor Cutler Another one of my all time favourite songs, this time by the glaswegien Ivor Cutler. Jammy Smears is still available here
20 Gulf Shores - Palace Music "A cold and frilly drink awaits us both"
The might Oneida are hitting Ireland this weekend. 5 Oct 2007 Pine Lodge Myrtleville Cork, Cork 6 Oct 2007 Whelans Dublin, Dublin 7 Oct 2007 Roisin Dubh Galway, Galway and 8 Dec 2007 All Tomorrows Parties Festival Minehead, South "Up the people is available on the "Campfire Crazy" Mixtape and here is a couple of track 6s "last act, every time" of Secret Wars and "History's Great Navigators" of Oneida's 06 almost perfect record "Happy New Year" and a bonus song from another NYC noicy rockers Pterodactyl cover Oneida's "Sheets of Easter New Year".
A great record from two Canadian sisters I stumbled across this a couple of months back. I got it because I liked the the picture of Tegan and Sara. I though it might be electronica like Robyn or Ellen Allien, it's not, it's girly pop but in a good way. Take a gander at the vid, make up your own mind and let me know.
Photo: Hedi Slimane Noisy Southend post punk krautrockers "These New Puritans" were invited to work with Hedi Slimane on his Autumn '07 collection for Dior Homme. They composed a suitable 15-minute soundtrack as the models walked down the catwalk. The result is the impressive 'Navigate, Navigate' 12". Their debut album is out on the great Domino Records in October. Here is a a live vid of a song called "Elvisss", which is not a patch on Navigate, Navigate but no vid for that.
Brian Eno ( Father Ted fame) once proclaimed that Harmonia was "the world's most important rock group," not sure about that but their first record is "kraut-tastic". Full of pulsating rythms that spin around your head that left me in a trance like state after the first listen. I cycled in to town listening to this, and most of the journey is a blank. I was suddenly in town. Eno himself eventually joined Harmonia in 1976, but the sessions were never released and lay dormant for over twenty years, until Rykodisc eventually released in the form of "Tracks & Traces". Their influence can be heard in bands like Deerhunter, Alex Delivery and Fujiya & Miyagi and this album is my favourite record that i've heard so far from the Cluster fellows. Buy It Myspace Link In Comment.
Photo: Ryan McGinley So 100 post in, time for some feedback. Was there any little gems found here, any albums that are still on heavy rotation in your stereo. What mixtape worked or what was your favourite mixtape so far.
They rarely do any wrong and their new self titled album is one of the best album so far this year. Here is a nice Ep that came out last year with a quite a rude cover. Oh you guys. (Photobucket deleted the uncensored version but when you d.load it the original version is in the folder)
Our man Jeffrey Lewis is play Europe. Mon Sept 17 - Bristol, UK -The Thekla (w/ Herman Dune!) Tues Sept 18 - Dublin, Ireland (Crawdaddy) Wed Sept 19 - Cork, Ireland (Crane Lane Theatre) Thu Sept 20 - Galway, Ireland (Roisin Dubh) For more tourdates and sounds go HERE
I haven't post to much krautrock recently. I have a "kraut Me AmadEUS" mixtape ready to put up some day soon but before that here a some what interesting EP I got back in January over at your friend at Krautrockteam. Can (Holger Czukay )+ P.I.L. (Jah Wobble) + U2 (The Edge) = Snake Charmer Ep Buy It Link In Comment.
Final Fantasy on Saturday night at Electric Picnic was as always "Totally Rad", and once again he did a cover version of Simon Bookish's Interview. Well for those who haven't heard the original here's a video of a great live version. Also if you aint got any of his ace tunes, I put "Portrait Of The Artist As A Fountain" from his 7" F of the ALPHABET SERIES on Tomlab records on the "8Bit Bliss" mixtape and he did a wonderful remix he of "Easedropping" by Grizzle bear which is on "Baby Was A World Shaker" mixtape. He should have a new album out soonish too for more details go to his myspace.
I found this NYC guy though the record label Simon Bookish is on, "Use Your Teeth". The film as a great German expressionism feel to it and i'm always a sucker for super8. Go to his MYSPACE, where you can download 3 songs. Which is nice.
Go here for a link to get all the albums of bands playing Electric Picnic that I have put up. Bands like Fujiya and Miyagi, Electrelane, The Fall, The Jimmy Cake, Warlords of Pez, Camera Obscura, Final Fantasy, Modest Mouse, Si Schroeder, Bjork and not least Sonic Youth. Fuck a duck I'm getting excited. Go Here for an Excel version of the line up of Electric Picnic courtesy of our friend over at Serenity Now!
Four years ago a Czech girl was living with my twin bother in Galway. She moved out and left behind a CDR with "Bjork" written on it. The cd contains severely unknown gems that are not on any studio album. Until two months ago this "Bjork" album was a utter mystery to me and all my friends and then stumbled upon what the cd was; Quiet Fireworks. A collection of Rare Studio Tracks from 1993-1997 and b - sides plus three live songs from one of the Violently Happy singles recorded live on Spanish TV, Oct 13th 1993. A really unknown gem. What you think?
In my book the best Modest Mouse album. Great from the start and it never lets up song after song. Hopefully they play some old songs this weekend since the last two records have been quite poor. I'm I been too harsh, what you think?
One week til Electric Picnic so for the coming week i'll post up classic cuts from what should be this years highlights. First up Ireland's own Si Schroeder who was robbed like Richard Hawley at last years Mercury Music Prize, at Ireland's equivalent prize this year. His record label describes his 'music' as sounding like "classic songs in the Simon & Garfunkel vein mixed with an old recording of a drunken Slovenian orchestra playing backwards through an AC-15. There's a little bit of Africa in there too. And, somewhere within this melange, Si sighs in a soft, whispered voice of love, mental illness, international terrorism, and the problems he has with his homeland." Great stuff indeed and it will be interesting to see how he will produce these heavily layered songs live when he plays Electric Picnic on Sunday.
Two weeks or so til Electric Picnic and since Sonic Youth are currently doing alot of shows performing Daydream Nation from start to finish, one was to assume that a part of the set at this years picnic will contain songs from Daydream. So here it is, the most popular album by my favourite band. Classic but hey, aren't they all. Buy It Myspace Here is a nice South Bank Show documentary from 89 on Sonic Youth called "Put Blood In The Music" with some cheesey flooding "talking heads" and nice clips of the Youth.
Bill Callahan Aka Smog is playing tonight in Dublin, woo woo hoo. To celabrate here is a 4 track ep I picked up last year. It contains two of the best songs on A River Ain't Too Much to Love "Rock Bottom Riser" and "I Feel Like The Mother Of The World" and also two great great b sides "Bowery" and "Fools Lament". I guess they never made it on to the album because parts sound like other songs on the album but fucking hell Bowery is so so good. Here is the two videos that came with the cd also. The first video has one of my favourite actress in it, Chloe Sevigny. Nice.
One of my favourite Irish bands ever, but they never really made it outside of Ireland. National Prayer Breakfast or N.P.B. do a heavy mix of 1950s rock n roll and noisy pixies-esque pop sensibilities what should have you jiving down the street. NPB's lead singer is now in his own alt. country band "Patrick Freyne and his Bad Intentions" which are also very good. But for me it's all about NPB first album, so good, it should be illegal. Myspace Link In Comments.
A 4 track 7"ep which includes a faster and more produced version of This Is The Dream Of Win And Regine (Now entitled This Is The Dream Of Emma & Cam) and a cover version of Joanna Newsom's Pear, Plum Pear. He is back in ireland again this summer at Electric Picnic and releasing a new album later in the year.
Go here to download a cover of Mariah Carey's Fantasy of a fansite myspace. Link In Comments.
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"Extract files" using WinRAR which is free to download HERE.
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