It may just be me who harbors a head-turning affection for largely unheard spirituals from the south, but I highly doubt it. I doubt it, because like most hidden yet wildly popular phenomenon, the genre is getting it's own documentary. Awake, My Soul : The Story of the Sacred Harp is the first feature documentary about Sacred Harp singing, a haunting form of a cappella, shape note hymn singing, with it's gritty roots extending deep into the American south. The art of shape note singing has survived over 200 years carefully hidden, [...]
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads: Auxes : "Burning Brighter" [mp3] from Sunshine (out October 28th) Auxes : "Brother" [mp3] from Sunshine (out October 28th) other Auxes posts at Largehearted Boy Hallelujah the Hills : http://www.hallelujahthehills. com/ptq.html [mp3] "Nurse 5 Float Past" [mp3] Hallelujah the [...]
Nico Muhly, Sam Amidon, Doveman, and Final Fantasy — July 16, 2008 @ The Music Hall, pt. i Nico Muhly is one of the most brilliant, talented artists in music today; and as I have mentioned before, Sam Amidon's voice is absolutely gorgeous and All Is Well is the best album of 2008! Read my post on Nico Muhly's Mothertongue here and Sam Amidon' All Is Well here . [...]
Vuosi 2008 on tuonut mukaan toistaiseksi kohtalaisen määrän hyviä levyjä. Ohessa aakkosjärjestyksessä omia suosikkejani. American Music Club: The Golden Age Brett Anderson: Wilderness Beck: Modern Guilt Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: Lie Down In The Light Conor Oberst: Conor Oberst Duffy: Rockferry El Perro Del Mar: From The Valley To The Stars Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes + Sun Giant EP [...]
I wanted write a post for All Is Well by Sam Amidon for a long time now (I have fallen in love with the album since February), but I find it quite hard to write about something that is so genuine and so beautiful... I am afraid that I will say the wrong thing and put people off from hearing it. Nevertheless, I will try my best to describe how I feel about Sam Amidon's latest album. All Is Well is a celebration of classic American folk blues. Sam Amidon's voice and [...]
I was going to write about something else tonight. But sifting through some older downloads looking for inspiration, I got stuck in the rich, lush americana sound of singer-songwriter Martha Scanlan 's 2007 debut The West Was Burning , and I just couldn't move on. It's been a while since we featured a single release here on Cover Lay Down, but it's also been a while since music struck me as powerfully as this. And so a post is born. [...]
Vermont / NYC This song is dedicated to Beth, who just asked me to be part of a very special day in September. Congratulations to her and Evan! "Wedding Dress" Samamidon on MySpace Samamidon on The Hype Machine
Bon Iver - Re: Stacks (MP3) Sam Amidon - Saro (MP3) As I sit here in my jim-jams at half four in the afternoon I'm certainly feeling the consequences of the first proper night out dancing I've had in literally years (Best Foot Forward doesn't count). At was a fine evening though and the only-just-realised-he's-gettin g-old Kev and I even managed to out-last the kids , a small victory. So with my head capable of handling only the [...]
Goodness gracious me, talk about a peculiar sense of place. Samamidon (spelled Sam Amidon in the phone book) wanted to create an utterly new, completely engrossing record of old Appalachian folksongs, and so he obviously wanted to record it . . . where? Well where else? Reykjavik. And then he called it All Is Well, and [...]
Six months ago today I jumped into the world of music blogging with both feet and no expectations. Since then, Cover Lay Down has become many things to many people. To me, Cover Lay Down is sometimes a haven, often a playspace, always a way to try to put into words why I love what I love. But even though it is work, it is never a burden. And it is a place I am proud to call my home on the web. [...]
Way back in one of our very first blog posts, SCOPE said to be on the lookout for phenomenal folk artist Samamidon in 2008. This month's Spin has listed Samamidon as an artist to know. Now. And we can't agree more. Turning traditional folk songs into something beautiful and broken sounding, he's perfect for fans of Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens. Enjoy and welcome back. DOWNLOAD: Wedding Dress - Sam Amidon DOWNLOAD: Saro - Samamidon
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Adesso la luce crepuscolare scolora. Adesso l'orizzonte gli appare chiaro nell'onnipotenza violacea. Poggia la sua testa calva e tonda alla finestra. Ora c'è calma. Gli occhi acquosi da vecchio stanco fissano la radura dorata dall'ultimo sole. Sente come un afflosciarsi di trombe dilatate. Rimastica un mozzicone di sigaro sbrindellato e se ne sta lì immobile come se non stesse aspettando altro da una vita. Il mondo è un cencio sporco [...]
Sorry for the dreadful, dreadful, dreadul joke in the title. This song fascinates me. I saw the video highlighted on Last.FM, and being honest, it's dreadful. Cheap and cheerful? Cheap, anyway.... However, the song itself....haunting, with a fascinating history. Sung by Sam Amidon (originally called samamidon), he's taken a traditional Appalachion tune (the exact song and lyrics differ - it seems to be a combination of "Pretty Saro", from 1911, and elements of another song, "In Eighteen-Forty-Nine", from 1928, modified by Amidon. "In Eighteen-Forty-Nine" itself contains fragments of a number of songs, including [...]
So I decide to do things the right way (legally speaking) and I am paying for it. I ordered Samamidon's latest release All is Well from Insound.com and I have been bashing my head against the walls in anticipation of its arrival. From the moment I heard "Saro"I absolutely fell in love with Samamidon's sound and immediately ordered his albums' All Is Well and But this Chicken Proved Falsehearted . I am always drawn to emotion and sincerity in music and Samamidon is chalk full of both. Sam Amidon was raised in a [...]
Turns out Pretty Saro is a tune which was heard quite a bit around the Appalachian mountains during the earlier parts of the twentieth century. It tells the tale of a nameless immigrant who is impressed and intimidated by the lands he now calls home, and misses the woman he left across the ocean. In his take, which is simply entitled Saro , Sam Amidon hasn't gone for a tit-for-tat rendition of the old routine, but has rather given us an understated and aching retelling. His soft, weary voice [...]
I don't remember where I first heard Samamidon . I certainly didn't break him to the internet, but I do know that I found him one place, fell in love and wrote about it, but didn't see anything else about him for a long time. Then two of my favorite blogs started picking up on him, Said the Gramophone and My Old Kentucky Blog , by way of the expansive Motel de Moka . Now he seems to be around every corner in the blogosphere. Which is pretty cool considering it's just a dude [...]
Thanks to email submissions, new releases and discoveries, and a newly-purchased CD repair kit, it's time for yet another edition of (Re)Covered , a monthly feature here on Cover Lay Down in which we recover a few songs that dropped through the cracks just a little too late to make it into the posts where they belonged. I saw Lucy Kaplansky last month at the UnCommon Coffeehouse with my father; as always, she turned in a wonderful, intimate set, including great covers [...]
Lots of fantastic music releases this week, many of which we've been loving here at TYS for quite some time now. A few albums to highlight include the wonderful solo debut of Lightspeed Champion titled Falling off the Lavender Bridge , Hot Chip's Made in the Dark , another solid release from Nada Surf with Lucky , and the lovely Basia Bulat and the US release of her debut, Oh, My Darling . Anything other albums worth listening to on this list? I've heard [...]
Like Doveman, the NYC outfit he sometimes performs with, Samamidon creates a potent brand of whisper-folk that straddles the fine line between devastatingly sad, and beautiful. His latest album, All is Well, drops today via the Bedroom Community label - see the track "Saro," below, and be sure to listen to Samamidon's brilliant [...]
Samamidon - Saro In adapting old dusty American-settled songs like this, Sam Amidon is being pretty damn postmodern about love and loneliness and the unbearable lightness of being apart. It's a bit easier to understand the great depth of these feelings in a historical setting, with oceans between outstretched hands and fingers, but it's not the context that makes this little piece of music great. It's all the little angels fluttering about the poor narrator's head, winging this way on that on violin strings like living puppets, attracted by the longing full-hearted thoughts that send [...]
Instrumental Analysis
largehearted boy
lycanthropy
katosblog.com
Cover Lay Down
5 Acts
Best Foot Forward
Song, by Toad
The SCOPE of the scene
Indie For BUNNIES
Get Your Melancholy On
Kelly's Alter Ego
A Limerick Ox
linesthroughlines
The Yellow Stereo
An Aquarium Drunkard
the torture garden
Loreen - Euphoria
Listen: Summer Camp – Always
Albums We Love: D'Angelo - "Voodoo"
Bobby Womack ft. Lana Del Rey – “Dayglo Reflection”
