Ray Carver was an alcoholic. He and John Cheever used to drink the shit of the local liquor store. Coming back with cases. Going back for more. Carver eventually found AA. He divorced his first wife, Maryann, his high school sweetheart. Alcohol ruined their marriage. He married Tess Gallagher. There's a wonderful image in my mind of the two of them laying out all the poems for his collection A New Path to the Waterfall. Dude had a gift for titles. He wrote the best ones. He's probably inspired more bad short stories than anyone ever, [...]
The Basement Genre: Alternative / Indie / Rock From: United Kingdom The retro rock stylings of the Basement, which have been gathering a cult following in the UK, are about to hit America. The band are about to play their first US dates and their 2006 album, 'Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs' , is being given a US release via Zealous Records . Their [...]
The following tracks are from Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs, the debut album by the Irish band The Basement. The music is not nearly as Irish as they claim, more like American indie-rock. But... **Click on the link to read the full post, download mp3s, and comment.**
It looks like those guys from label Fanatic Promotion are just doing that! Since I've subscribed to their newsletter, promotion mails from their bands keep coming in. This might sound like a lot of spam, but Fanatic Promotion is a bit different: they excactly know what bloggers want! There's a little history of the band, some short reviews, the releases, all the links concerning the band and of course some free MP3s. It just might look like this: [...]
Aunque en el Reino Unido se publicó en el verano de 2006, es ahora cuando se edita en Estados Unidos Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs , el primer álbum del cuarteto irlandés The Basement y es ahora cuando tenemos la oportunidad de compartir aquí un par de sus estupendas canciones con sabor clásico (Flying Burrito Brothers, The Byrds, Them). El disco fue producido por Mike Crossey, que ya había trabajado con Arctic Monkeys o The Zutons, sus compañeros de sello en Deltasonic Records. The Basement son John Mullin, Mark McCausland, Declan McManus y Graeme Hassall. [...]
"Their Irish barroom sing-a-long sound is done with impeccable precision" – The Tripwire "…Ultimately impressive" – No Depression "…will sail beyond all other pretenders" – NME "Authentic blues swagger to delight fans." – Uncut "A whole record full of that kind of rich, organic rock that so few bands do these days (or at least do well)." – Dagger With a unique blend of indie-rock, blues, country and Irish barroom folk songs, The Basement [...]
My Morning Jacket is set to give a thrill to some young musicians as the band revealed plans to bring the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra onstage at this year's Lollapalooza performance. MMJ previously jammed with the orchestra, which contains musicians as young as seven years old, last fall. Frontman Jim James is quoted as saying, "It is hard to even think of them as youth. Their playing is so grown-up and professional. They hit with diamond-like precision." Should be interesting to see! Prince has been holed up in Vegas performing on the strip, but his Purpleness will leave [...]
If like me you are celebrating (kind of anyway because I have final exams this week) the fantastic victory of West Ham over Bolton, which almost secures our Premiership future, or if your just after a large collection of music, this is another new future where I taking a leaf out of Largehearted boy's book post a load of music which for some reason or another I haven't been able to write in depth about, so feast your ears on these MP3s: Ruby Isle-Atom Bomb Ruby Isle-Into The Black [...]
I don't believe in genres anymore. There's no point in trying to classify a band's sound as fitting a prescribed categorization, because any attempt to nowadays results in the creation of some monolithically-named sub-sub-sub-genre that's been cross-bred more often than a recessive gene in a Virginia forest. So, no classifications/categorization s here: Straight up, The Basement make pretty cool music. that features innocently chiming memories, straight forward moments of love and longing, and a honesty that's rare among their contemporaries in the UK music scene. Singer John Mullin has a distinctive, [...]
Sometime back I created a Sound of the Suburbs e mail address that I placed on the side bar enabling those of you that don't wish to leave public comments to contact me as well as labels and bands to send me their latest wares. Of course this letter box receives a lot more junk mail than interesting mail. Concerning the bands, the labels and the promotion companies that have sent me musical links I do eventually listen to all of them at least once, and as is to be expected the majority are not to my liking and don't [...]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's Friday, and Little Hits Faves are burnin' a hole in my queue, but the following just came in and I've gotta post them. Once A-GAIN, it's Mark Davis at Fanatic Promotion slingin' hot digitals my way, and who am I to say "no?" Right, nobody. The previously posted "Candy Wrapper," by San Francisco's The Makes Nice , is one of my very favorite songs of the year so far. The just received "Enough is Enough" is a bit more poppy but just as engaging, so [...]
David Martin claims to owe a debt to people like Billy Joel, Sting, Elton John, and Barry Manilow. He is also clearly in the market for the next big thing for the teen girls to swoon over this week (I mean, just look at that album cover). If you're in the mood for something with substance or something that admits the dreadful cuts of suffering and loss, you will probably want to just keep moving along. But if you want a little bit of "less filling, tastes great" sensitive-boy-pop, stop and listen for awhile. And, [...]
While American pop culture is often trashed as being too focused on the foibles of Britney Spears, Anna Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton seems our friends across the pond have their own trailer park-ish entertainment. Seems like every other day a spat arises between a couple of Brit artists. Even Lilly Allen is getting in on the act with a mini-feud with Lady Sovereign who had claimed Allen only got a break because he father is a well known British comedian. Allen has responded saying her dad has offered to adopt the pint sized rapper to help her [...]
The Basement make me smile You've probably heard of The Basement if you're from the UK. They're all the rage now, aren't they? The Basement launched amid a mass of praise from the UK's leading music press. Early singles whetted a feverant appetite and the Irish four-piece went into the studio to record their heavily anticipated debut. After literally years in the studio, The Basement officially announced their arrival in July of 2006 with the release of " Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs ". Now set [...]
Im just getting to know The Basement and am absorbing the EP I received of their work this week. A quick background check reveals that this album has been a long time in the making, with constant delays and setbacks, but is finally ready for our ears in its official form. The four piece from Ireland began to see some interest back in 2003 with their live set and a single they released. It seemed they then dropped out of sight for quite some time only to reappear with this album years later. [...]
The Blow - Hock It (YACHT remix) The Safes - Phonebook Full Of Phonies Olympia - M-80 The Stills - The Mountain The Western States Motel - Powerlines Papercuts - John Brown The Basement - Do You Think You're Moving? Ligion - On The Way Elbow - Independent Women (Destiny's Child cover) [...]
We're going to call this post the "Yee Haw" edition, because that's what I feel like screaming from some of the stuff I'm hearing here. Well, not really, but I'm just in the mood to revisit my pseudo-equestrian roots right now. And I get excited for free music. I've been handed some pretty awesome music here lately, and I spent most of today ripping it to my iBook (which I'm kicking myself in the ass for, since I still have no clean clothes...). **The first band I listened to that I thought [...]
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