Erica Shires - Mariana Laura Barrett - Deception Island Optimists Club (mp3): On the tip of long passages, especially on the tip, I sit. Down planks and up mountains, the first step trying to get as far away from danger as possible, the last as close as dangerously possible. Here in the strength while swaying and the focus above plummets and the delicate kalimbas are my place. [...]
MV & EE - Live On Dunlab Joy Division - Disorder Chris Walla - Sing Again Biirdie - Him Headlights - Cherry Tulips Placebo - Meds Wakey! Wakey! - No One Laura Barrett - Deception Island Optimists Club Stereo Total - Ich Bin Der Stricherjunge Dolly Parton - Jolene * Ssion - Clown *
The inbox was full of quality music this week, but the most impressive submission was sent by Jake Zavracky of The Cyanide Valentine . Impressive not just because the bands second album is available for free download, but I was overwhelming impressed by the quality and complexity of their music. This album, The Three Side of Cyanide Valentine, shifts gears rapidly, while taking the listener on a complete adventure through as many genres of music as possible. Traditional rock/indie rock gems suddenly explode with electronic grandeur, and just as the beat is about to explode in a [...]
In effort to raise awareness about upcoming releases as well as finding a place for the numerous submissions we get, this post continues our weekly purging of free and legal MP3's for your listening enjoyment. The number of tracks will fluctuate each week depending on the songs uncovered or sent. It's our hope that you'll find a new favorite or another release to keep your eyes on. MP3: Biirdie - "Him" MP3: Biirdie - "Estelle" [from Catherine [...]
I took a little time off, the MP3s weren't really rolling in at the end of the year but now the Free Music Friday feature is back and there is lots of great stuff to check out. Hey, it's free, might as well give these songs a try. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - "Baltimore" Times New Viking - "(My Head) / R.I.P. Allegory" Headlights - "Cherry Tulips" Speck Mountain - "Blood is Clean" [...]
Aloha, and welcome to the first edition of The Run-Off Groove of 2008, #185 in the series. I am John Book , and I'm glad to be back after a two week break. It allowed me a little more time to hear the music and review them so I'm about to to that. For those of you who are coming to this column for the first time, I review a wide range of music, which touches on the music I listen to and enjoy on a regular basis. Originally [...]
Riot Act Media lists some of their bands performing at SXSW this year. Some that we've not listed yet: Moonrats Russian Circles RX Bandits The Valley Arena The Black Hollies will be there. Fishboy has confirmed. Nancy from Brazil will be there, and are looking for more day shows to play. Paper Bag Records' Laura Barrett has been confirmed. MP3 : Deception Island Optimist Club [...]
Laura Barrett's Earth Sciences EP melds the vibrant, effervescent tones of the kalimba (an African thumb-piano, literally translated as "little music") with her earnest and intimate voice. Laura is also known as a member of The Hidden Cameras. She composes songs that run from the childlike to the funereal. Earth Sciences EP comes out February 26 on Paperbag records. "Deception Island Optimists Club" "Robot Ponies" [...]
It's a Cancon kinda day. Jane Vain & The Dark Matter are so excited about their new record - Love Is Where The Smoke Is , out January 22 - that they're embarking on possibly the most foolish thing a Canadian band can do: a cross-country tour in the dead of Winter. If they manage to make it to Ontario, they'll play two shows in Toronto - February 7 at the Drake Underground and February 10 at Sneaky Dee's which, being a Sunday, will be a [...]
Laura hails from Toronto. She is a master of the kalimba ( African thumb piano ). Her EP Earth Science will be released next month. Laura is also a member of the band Hidden Cameras. Listen: Laura Barrett ~ Deception Island Optimists Club RIYL: Erin McKeown or fans of minimalist music with spaced-out lyrics Further study: myspace YouTube More MP3s: Hype Machine [...]
Well I didn't even know what a kalimba was a few minutes ago, but I do know. It's a tiny thumb piano, that vaguely resembles the sounds of a xylophone and bands like Psapp have probably used the instrument in their songs many times in the past. What does this have to do with Paper Bag Records and Laura Barrett? It seems Laura Barrett plays one mean kalimba. Her music should be of interest to fans of Psapp , Cibelle , Mirah and Jolie Holland . Free Downloads: Deception [...]
A quiet (read: inactive) weekend on the blog by no means implies a quiet weekend for me - quite the opposite, actually. Familial duties, houseguests and brewing cold kept me largely offline but I still ducked out of everything on Saturday night to catch Ottawans The Acorn's sorta-CD release show for Glory Hope Mountain at the Horseshoe. I'd like to say that I'm mentioning the fact that I used to be in a band with Laura Barrett in the interests of full journalistic disclosure [...]
Laura Barrett has a song called 'Robot Ponies' which I first heard a year ago as part of a Final Fantasy bootleg, and only this week did I finally get it together and track down the original. It's really an amazing song - the lyrics depict a future Christmas, with bizarre gifts and creeping authoritarianism. The music adds to this, the eerie melodies, and the beautiful weightless sound of the kalimba (an African instrument like a xylophone played with the thumbs) producing a feeling akin to being locked out of your family home on Christmas Eve, and staring in [...]
[review 2006: the honourable mentions] Finding new music is occasionally a chore. It's certainly not as easy as it used to be, when I was a teenager and all I did was suck down MP3s from random FTP sites and read the now-defunct Addicted To Noise and Wall of Sound. So whenever I find someone in a place I didn't expect, it's cause for celebration. I picked up the latest Essex Green album on a whim and loved it, found Handsomeboy Technique from a single MP3 posted on a message board I frequent, and essentially [...]
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