Is that a crow?

Christian Kiefer's new album was released on March 7th...he just sent me a promo copy. The Black Dove has some lush and comfortable tracks on it. Apparently recorded in one week with Sharron Kraus, the album is a work of extreme love of the music...an acoustic trip through their emotions and dedication to what they do.

Christian Kiefer & Sharron Kraus - On The Chase

Definitely worth a listen...I'm not by any means an expert on the folk music scene, but it doesn't matter. The album is a pleasure...and it exists in its own world...somewhere between the traditional sounds of folk music and the new folk movement that is Sufjan Stevens and Devendra Banhart.

Give a listen to this track, on which Christian sings...

Christian Kiefer & Sharron Kraus - Dearest

There's one more track available over on his site.

The Brothers Quay

If you live in Los Angeles, you'd be foolish to miss this:



The Brothers Quay | Academy Events Calendar | AMPAS

ROFLMAO

Don't know what it is, but lately I've had this knack for pulling some old music out of my collection with the idea of posting it and in my research discover that the band has tons of stuff up on their site. The latest example is John Wesley Harding. I first discovered him back in 1991, when i worked on a music video for his song "The World." It was a great experience at the time, and he proved to be a really nice, down to earth guy.

He gave the crew a signed copy of one of his limited re-lease promos and hung out with us after the video and having enjoyed working with him I kept up with him for awhile. Over the years I lost track of what he was up to and well, he's got a pretty strong web site with a good amount of tracks up for your perusal. Lots of live and rare selections, well worth the visit. At my first introduction to his music, I thought he fit into the sort of Lloyd Cole inspired singer/songwriter...with a bigger Bob Dylan influence. But listening to his stuff again has made me think there's a lot of Ray Davies in there as well.

John Wesley Harding - Heavenly Pop

John Wesley Harding - I Know Where I'm Going

Tons of more tracks up at his site, so please head over and check it out. And buy something directly from The Royal Society for the Protection and Care of John Wesley Harding while you're there. And visit the fairly official web home of JWH as well. And as far as I know, he did take his name from the Bob Dylan album.

TechTag: Music

The Birdman Speaketh!

States Rights Records has some newly released tracks from Mr. Birdman up on their site...it's from his 2005 release (limited to 300???) Giraffes & Jackals.

Bobby Birdman - Be Warned

Head over to their site for another download.

Do you want whipped cream on that mocha?

Everything's being re-worked, re-done, re-vitalized and re-envisioned these days...the media just sucks it in and spits it back out...usually with little reverence or care for the original. If it's based on something good or different, it must, in turn, be good or different as well, right?

ARGH!

But sometimes it works...reluctantly I'll admit it.



In the case of "Whipped Cream & Other Delights, Re-Whipped," they nailed it pretty well. Part of their success lies in their apparent reverence of the original. They brought in Herb Alpert to relay and create some new horn sections for the album, and it shows. The original feel and soul is still there. It's just dialed up. One track doesn't work as well for me, specifically "Love Potion No. 9." The vocals on the track just don't do it justice, taking away from the original Alpert version and, I feel, the original intention of their cover.

Here's the track info:

The Remixers:
John King of The Dust Brothers (A)
DJ Foosh (B)
Mocean Worker (C)
Thievery Corporation (D)
Anthony Marinelli, featuring Ozomatli (E)
Medeski Martin & Wood (F)
Camara Kambon (G)
Anthony Marinelli (H)

Tracklisting:
1. Whipped Cream (E)
2. A Taste Of Honey (A)
3. Green Peppers (H)
4. Ladyfingers (G)
5. Love Potion #9 (E)
6. Peanuts (H)
7. Tangerine (B)
8. El Garbanzo (F)
9. Lemon Tree (D)
10. Lollipops And Roses (H)
11. Bittersweet Samba (C)
12. Butterball (H)

Overall it's got a down-tempo feel too, a great late-night album with the wide underlying feel of Herb Alpert's original 60's sound as the foundation. Again, that's where the strength lies: The foundation is not only strong, but allowed to be heard through the work of the remixers...allowed to really shine.



Here's an Amazon link to the original album and the new remixed version as well as the "official" Sony link and "official" release page.

Silence is a Rhythm Too has another review and some downloads for your listening pleasure!

TechTag: Music

Shot through the heart!

It seems like all my blabbing about the Guillemots has paid off...they made it to the itunes free single of the week...

LOL

Like i had anything to do with it...

But anyway, here it is:



Get it already, would you?

TechTag: Music

Man do I know nothing...

Finally I'm able to share with you the music that is Didley Squat...



Saw these guys live a bit ago and they knocked me out...a great combination of sounds and energy forming something different than anything else out there. And they're all 12 years old! Just kidding, but damn they are young.

Unfortunately, you've got to go over to Soundclick to listen and they require a registration...argh...but I highly suggest you do. It's worth the pain.

Didley Squat over at Soundclick...



You can buy their latest release, "Burning Alive Making A Living" over at Amazon. They've also got the mandatory myspace page and are on The Americans Are Coming Recordings.

TechTag: Music

let's take a moment to reflect...

Classical music...never talk about it much do we? Well, Columbia University Orchestra plays it and hands it out for free.

Here's Dvořák's Symphony No. 8, I: Allegro con brio and Mahler's Symphony No. 5 - IV: Adagletto

Check out the complete list over at Columbia University Orchestra's site.

Museum of bad album covers

You really should check this out if you haven't already:

Museum of bad album covers: the worst album covers ever!

forgive me

I know...all these videos...but it's so hard to pass up, especially something like this: A Certain Ratio's video for 1981's Forced Laugh. The sound isn't the best, but i didn't even know a video for this existed.



TechTag: Music

It doesn't have to hurt this way

Damn...Dr. Robert looks drugged...everything that makes an eighties video an eighties video...it's all here:



He livens up a bit over the course of the video, but not much...

Oh, that's the Blow Monkeys doing "It Doesn't Have To Be This Way."

TechTag: Music

Subscribe Today!

A friend of mine highly recommends these Eurythmics podcasts...haven't had a moment to share them yet, but if you're so inclined, here's the linkage:

Eurythmics: Episode 1
Eurythmics: Episode 2
Eurythmics: Episode 3
Eurythmics: Episode 4

What did he have to say about them? "great examples of how an artist can share not only their music but the history of how it was all put together."

What more could you ask for?

How did I miss this?

Damn...I'm slow on the draw here...

Roxy Music reform with Brian Eno

And a new album in the works? Hunh...

one unhappy cat

Jamie Lidell's got a new video up:

Jamie Lidell -Yougotmeup (video)

digging his groove as of late...

Settle Up With Sony

follow the yellow brick road

It's always interesting to find out where a member of a past favorite band ends up. In the case of Vitamin Z, the narrow winding road led me to Nick Lockwoods's new band, Lazenby. Nick played guitar back in the Vitamin Z days.



They've got quite a few tracks up on their site, here are a couple:

Lazenby - Let Me Live

I'm not quite sure what to make of them yet, it's all about her voice and although I want to jump in there liking it, something's holding me back. Its got this sort of lounge version of Morcheeba thing going on.

Lazenby - Circle of Angels

If you dig it, head over to their site for some more downloads. Oh, and on another Vitamin Z related note: Know who the Arctic Monkey's manager is? Geoff Barradale, ex-lead singer for Vitamin Z. Seems like he saw them in a club, fell in love and signed on. Check out this site for more info about Vitamin Z.

That's what I meant, more or less...

+/- are on the move again, with a new album coming out soon and a new video up on their site, it's their best video so far. Check it out:

+/- - Steal the Blueprints (quicktime)

They've also announced some tour dates, for which I'm excited about as their coming to the west coast:

03.15.06 | austin, tx | sxsw at friends bar | w/ zykos, sam champion, the giraffes, standing waves and tartufi
03.16.06 | austin, tx | homeslice pizza | w/ zykos, luminous orange, the missing tapes, head of femur, irving and the glass family
03.18.06 | austin, tx | porchlight pop fest at mother egan's irish pub | w/ swearing at motorists, head of femur, fivehead, and more...
03.30.06 | san francisco, ca | noise pop 2006 at bottom of the hill | w/ her space holiday and more...
04.01.06 | los angeles, ca | knitting factory la | w/ jason collett (broken social scene) and tim rutili (califone)

TechTag: Music

elementary

Still feel like I'm catching up....and remember, I'm going the AAC route...no more mp3s from me, kiddos!

By request, a follow up to this post on Rhythm Collision, by request, here's another track:

Rhythm Collision - Now REMOVED

And also, something I wanted to do awhile ago after I posted about the strange and sad death of Bryan Harvey, a follow up with some of my favorite tracks from The House Of Freaks. You can find a pretty good write-up about them over at Trouser Press. I saw these guys quite a few times back when I was living in the Los Angeles area, they were quite a presence on stage, there aren't a lot of bands I'll seek out live multiple times and they were one of them.

House of Freaks - Kill The Mockingbird (from Tantilla, 1989) REMOVED
House of Freaks - I Got Happy (from Cakewalk, 1991) REMOVED
House of Freaks - You'll Never See the Light of Day (from All My Friends, 1989) REMOVED


You can find their releases used or as Rhino Hand Made releases over at Amazon, well worth checking out. And this site is, although not frequently updated, a good source of info about the band and their related side-projects.

TechTag: Music

Pay Attention!

Man, the fact that so many videos are showing up on the web right now is just making my day:


The Specials - A Message to You, Rudy

TechTag: Music

You'll watch!

TechTag: Music

Unrelated

This has NOTHING to do with music, but if you are into gaming and have some time, check out this amazing video about the upcoming game Spore. It's 30 minutes long or so but the scope of this game is absolutely amazing. Just when you think it can't go any further it does.



It's a presentation that Will Wright made at the 2005 Game Developer's Conference.

TechTag: Music

The Drag

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, my computer was down and well, it sent me spiralling into this massive backlog of things to take care of. I couldn't get the darn thing to boot. But I'm back, with a bunch of things to take care and share with you guys.

First off, let's talk about the Talking Heads. Rhino's been up to their old tricks again and have gone and re-released a bunch of their albums. I know, I know...another re-release. The question is, are they worth the price? Bottom lin: YES! I ended up with a copy of True Stories and Little Creatures, so let me qualify my recommendation based on these two re-releases.

The re-releases mainly differ in three ways from the original: some additional tracks, remixed and re-mastered mixes and the use of a Dual Layer Disc - one side is a CD, the other a DVD. The additional tracks are nice, but for the most part a bit of a letdown. The one stand out being "Papa Legba” – Pops Staples vocal version." The vocals on this are great, having given the lead to Pops Staples instead of David Byrne. But the Dual Layer Disc is where the excitement begins. See, when they re-mastered these (supervised by Jerry Harrison) they went one step further by re-mixing them for 5.1 surround sound for the DVD side of the disc. Now, I'm not always a big fan of this, it can become too gimmicky for my taste. But they did an excellent job with these discs. With a nice 5.1 setup, the sound is much richer and fuller, room--filling. It transformed the music into more of an experience. The DVD side also includes some music videos from the albums as well. In the case of Little Creatures, this means you get the music for And She Was, which has always been a favorite of mine. So, if you have any inclination to purchase these...run out and do it. Well worth the price.

Rhino's also throwing a little listening party, so head on over there!

Here's the full track listing of these two releases:



LITTLE CREATURES
DualDisc Tracklisting

1. “And She Was”
2. “Give Me Back My Name”
3. “Creatures Of Love”
4. “The Lady Don’t Mind”
5. “Perfect World”
6. “Stay Up Late”
7. “Walk It Down”
8. “Television Man”
9. “Road To Nowhere”
Bonus Tracks
10. “Road To Nowhere” – early version*
11. “And She Was” – early version*
12. “Television Man” – extended mix
Video Content
13. “And She Was” – music video, 1985
14. “Road To Nowhere” – music video, 1985



TRUE STORIES*
DualDisc Tracklisting

1. “Love For Sale”
2. “Puzzlin’ Evidence”
3. “Hey Now”
4. “Papa Legba”
5. “Wild Wild Life”
6. “Radio Head”
7. “Dream Operator”
8. “People Like Us”
9. “City of Dreams”
Bonus Track
10. “Papa Legba” – Pops Staples vocal version, 5.1 mix*
Video Content
11. “Wild Wild Life” – music video, 1986
12. “Love For Sale” – music video, 1986

*this is the "official" list, but curiously the actualy release of True Stories also contains the bonus tracks "Wild Wild Life (extended mix)" and "Radio Head (Tito Larriva Vocal Version)"

Here's the Amazon link as well as the link to the Rhino product page.

I'll be back over the next couple of days with some more tracks and reviews. Stay tuned.

TechTag: Music