Gram Parsons famously dubbed the songs he played "Cosmic American music." Perhaps no band embraced the possibilities of the genre as much as the short-lived Beachwood Sparks , a Los Angeles band who followed in the California tradition of Parsons and the Byrds over two albums and an EP that saw bleary-eyed psychadelics share barstools with cowboy twang and sugary, high-pitched melodies worthy of the band's Sub Pop home. The Spark's self-titled debut was one of the first entries in our The Canon, Examined series, and it remains one of my favorites of the decade, [...]
San Diego CityBeat has a piece on the Beachwood Sparks reunion for SP20 and best of all about a new album slated for 2009. Long term readers will know that any swirly mix of Beach Boys, the Band, a bit of Byrds and some Laurel Canyon vibes with pedal steel ticks about all my criteria for a lonesome post. Here's the very last thing they left us with - the last track on the excellent Make the robots cry Listen: Beachwood Sparks - Ghost Dance 1492
Beachwood Sparks are Playing a Sunset Junction Warm-Up Show Next Friday Recent Announcements (with on sale information): Fleet Foxes @ El Rey on 9/22/08 (on sale Saturday) – this is the same night as Raconteurs, Hot Chip, Beachwood Sparks / The Tyde / Winter Flowers / Mia Doi Todd / Blank Blue @ Echoplex on 8/22/08 (on sale now at Ticketweb) David Vandervelde @ Troubadour on 10/7/08 – opening for Margot & the Nuclear So & So's (on sale now) [...]
Never and never, my girl riding far and near In the land of the hearthstone tales, and spelled asleep, Fear or believe that the wolf in a sheepwhite hood Loping and bleating roughly and blithely shall leap, My dear, my dear, Out of a lair in the flocked leaves in the dew dipped year To eat your heart in the house in the rosy wood. Sleep, good, for ever, slow and deep, spelled rare and wise, My girl ranging the night in the rose and shire Of the hobnail tales: [...]
It's been more than a quarter of a century since Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong have performed live on-stage as their stoner comedy personas Cheech & Chong. Well, come this September that will all change as the duo will embark on their Light Up America tour - the duo's first in over 25 years. Tickets [...] It's been more than a quarter of a century since Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong have performed live on-stage as their stoner comedy personas Cheech & Chong . Well, come this September that will all change as the duo will embark on their [...]
Their harmonies were sweet and the whole effect is just good-natured country pop, twangy little riffs and upbeat drums; there's nothing at all negative about their music. read more
#1) I haven't heard the Abe Vigoda album or read the review yet, but a "Recommended" 8+ ain't exactly a surprise considering the ZOMG THE SMELL and ZOMG LO-FI storylines ol' P4k is trying to push this year. Watch them completely miss the boat on Gentleman Jesse & His Men . #2) Their Sub Pop top 20 list is pretty solid but has a conspicuous lack of Postal Service , an album P4k (and most of teenage America) once loved . Retconning? And not that I was expecting the [...]
In this edition, we bring you selections from many of the artists that will be helping Sub Pop Records celebrate their 20th anniversary this weekend in Seattle. For those like us unable to make the cross-country trip, watch any or all of the below videos to get the secondhand experience. Happy Birthday Sub Pop! Mudhoney - "Touch Me I'm Sick" (above) Flight of the Conchords - "Ladies of the World" (above) Foals [...]
It's been a mighty long time since SoCal's Beachwood Sparks throwback-rocked a show, but as we've mentioned, they'll put their long semi-retirement to rest July 13 at the SP20 Festival in Redmond, Washington. Thankfully, there won't be years between Beachwood Sparks' next gig and the one after that: it's just six days later in Big Sur, California. Yep, it seems Beachwood Sparks are back, and if a trio of Cali dates to close out the summer are any indication-- and word that they're working up [...]
The quarters are here. Portugal has bit the grimier side of a German's bung hole but there are three more quarter-final fixtures to be played. So in the spirit of absolute bone-breaking uselessness, us three Pirates sat down and thought about the shittiest 11 players we've seen so far in the group phase. I mean seriously, who really cares that Wesley Sneijder is looking like best damn midfielder in the world at the moment for the Netherlands, it's better to think about the bloody bastards who wasted our precious hours of sleep by being complete bungling idiots with a ball. [...]
There were more than a few of us Beachwood Sparks fans around the world who were in love with their sunny-Sub Pop-So-Cal vibes when the band debuted (not so long ago) in the earliest of the Oughts. So it's great news to hear that the band are going to reunite. The LA Times Soundboard blog announced the band will play Sunset Junction in August and the band is also playing in July as part of Sub Pop's 20th Anniversary [...]
Dentro del amplísimo catálogo del sello discográfico Sub Pop hoy nos fijamos en Beachwood Sparks, grupo de Los Angeles cuya actividad principal se produce en los últimos años noventa y los primeros de la presente década. Antes de fichar por Sub Pop ya habían publicado algunos singles, pero es ya en este sello donde graban su primer álbum en el año 2000, se trataba de un disco homónimo al que seguiría el año siguiente su segundo trabajo, "Once We Were Tree". Finalmente, culminarían su trayectoria con un Ep llamado Make the Cowboy Robots Cry, [...]
I'm still mourning over the departure of Riotbecki & Rosay from The Pipettes. Funny how two of my top artists in '06 both resurfaced in the news this week, one leaked 2 brilliant demos on her MySpace, and one announced the most unexpected lineup change. On the bright side, a new Pipettes album is in the works, and I have two more solo outputs to look out for. It's gonna take me a while to get used to The Pipettes version 3.0, though, sigh. Anyways, as usual, here are 5 fantastic covers, [...]
Got a random mix for you this time around. No particular theme or concept. Just some really good music. 01. Yeasayer - 2080 02. The Dragons - Your Way Too 03. Orgone - Sophisticated Honky 04. The Lions - Jungle Struttin' 05. Don Cavalli - New Hollywood Babylon 06. [...]
Sperkse, Rademaker, Scher, Gunst (clockwise from top left) Here's my weekly reminder to point your web browser to Sinking with Sylvia (and Sometimes Todd) tomorrow from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM PST on Little Radio . Tomorrow their guests will be Airborne Toxic Event. Each week I pick one song to play on the show and then I eventually write about it here. On 11/22 they were on vacation. On 11/29 my pick was Kelley Stoltz's "Your Reverie" from his forthcoming Sub Pop album, Circular Sounds (out next Tuesday). Since I [...]
"Into Brooklyn, Early in the Morning" - The Innocence Mission "Starálfur" - Sigur Ros "Drinkswater" - Beachwood Sparks "Cold Beer and Cigarettes" - David Bazan
i grabbed this track from the daily growl a few weeks back & it's remained a constant part of my playlist ever since...i can understand the comparison made to gram parsons, but to me this sade cover sounds a lot like a twangier take on the flaming lips, circa 2001, which coincidentally was the same year it was released...regardless, it's pretty fantastic. download: beachwood sparks - by your side
image via while a certain someone has already recognised that i've been trawling old romancing mixtapes for posts over the past few months it's not going to stop me from upping some of my best archival material in my last few weeks as a single girl. four or so years ago, before they released albums by both bob dylan and paul mccartney and while they were mostly hawking ella fitzgerald as froth on your jazzpuccino a rather cute valentine's day compliation surfaced on hearmusic, starbucks' record label. [...]
It's been a while since I visited the mouldering rack containing my CD singles, so I'm returning to it today to bring you Beachwood Sparks . This band haven't officially split, but there's been not much activity since 2002, when they released the Make the Robot Cowboys Cry EP. My single however comes from the previous year, and is a cracking little 4-track EP of wonderfully dusty country rock, which finds Beachwood Sparks clearly revelling in their love of Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers. More surprise then that the lead track is actually [...]
The Rawking Refuses To Stop!
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