Sunday 28 September 2008

(Free) MP3s of the week

Songs don't come much more beautiful than Horse Feather's Curs In The Weeds. The rest of the album, House With No Home, is wonderful too.

These United States' album, Crimes, is also finally released. Download Get Yourself Home here... Also, the band have just done their second Daytrotter session. Four free downloads from that (excellent session) here.


Saturday 20 September 2008

Chris Bathgate's Salt Year

I have fallen deeply in love with a song. Chris Bathgate's Salt Year, on Wait, Skeleton, is so deeply beautiful - a tale of love that should have been taken, and a tune that takes your heart from deep in your stomach. It is sparse, simple and simply gorgeous.

seventeen years before 
I should have hauled off and kissed her
now I lace my wine with ginger 
just let my evenings pass
they pass

she's whistling in a candy store
and I'm just screaming in the dark here
I'm just choking down a salt year
and sugar's all I've longed for
I try again

seventeen and there she stood
a photograph in my doorway
and I felt all my light leave me
my thoughts all tumbling under

after that my days resign to static and gray hair and soft cry
like a cracked crystal second hand wine chime
just clanging for a lover
I can love
try again


I can't offer a free mp3 of the song - it's available for download from most places, but there is a YouTube clip of Chris performing the song live:

Wednesday 17 September 2008

Land of Talk

Delighted that this band are banging out another album - a fantastic combination of female lead vocals and aggressive rock, Land of Talk haven't forgotten melody or songs... The new album Some Are Lakes, if the two pre-release download tracks (Some Are Lakes, and Corner Phone) are anything to go by, will be excellent.

Wednesday 10 September 2008

MP3 of the week

Heard of this band on the KEXP Song of the Day podcast... The Quiet Ones are a Seattle-based band, and I love their lead single Girls and Uniforms. Download it from their website... The album is a pretty rich treat. I'm sure I'll be posting more soon...

Friday 5 September 2008

The Walkmen UK tour dates

The Rat may be one of the best singles of all time (in my head), and hearing The Walkmen nail it live remains a highlight of the past few years...

Here's a video of the lead single In The New Year, recorded for Pitchfork TV...


They're back in the UK next month - you should see them:

October

28th London ULU

29th Manchester Academy 3

31st Leeds Cockpit

 

November

1st Glasgow Stereo

2nd Dublin Button Factory

Cotton Mather/ Future Clouds and Radar

I must admit to knowing an awful lot less about this band than I should...

Cotton Mather are a band I became aware of in the 90s - their Beatle-esque stuff is just fantastic (although they're not so fond of that reference). But they seem to exist in some kind of alternate universe - I hear little to nothing about them, apart from just how much I like them every time I hear them. 

I was re-alerted when I listened to Little Steven's Underground Garage compilation, and prompted to dig around. There is a MySpace page, but really very little else... At least there are some downloads there...

Then, a little more digging that has me inordinately excited - there's a new band - Future Clouds and Radar (listen to some new tracks here), which has a new album coming out soon. Seems lead man Robert Harrison has been ill, and this is a new direction... Watch for more soon.