Way back in September, Daniel Sheron of Balto wrote to announce the arrival of Monuments , the band's follow-up to 20112s October's Road . In his letters, Daniel stressed that the album was a new direction for Balto - a step forward for him and the band. Given how much I loved October's Road , this was certainly intriguing. In one e-mail, he wrote: This release is a major step forward for us - The songs were written in the period [...]
Well, it's that time of year again... and I'm sure that you're just as sick of Christmas music as I am! Fortunately, there are a lot of excellent, non-traditional songs that don't suck to help us save the day from the "Jingle Bell Rock" and... well, whatever the hell it was Paul McCartney was thinking. (I mean, seriously.) So, I made this little Christmas mix for my Nora, who is spending Christmas with her family in Luxembourg, and I thought you might enjoy it, too. Merry Christmas! The post Mix-Tape Monday: [...]
The post "Come Armageddon, Come..." appeared first on Shh, listen... . Our Robot Says You Might Like: Lissie Covers Fleetwood Mac in "Go Your Own Way" Video "Kurt Cobain Found Dead" Other Stuff You Might Like: Sleepover Shows
Sleepover Shows is the brainchild of husband and wife duo Kelly and Rob Ribera (with emeritus member Aviv Rubenstein ). The site is dedicated to filming musicians as they pass through Boston in my home state of Massachusetts. The results are impressive, covering a wide range of styles and settings in much the same vein as They Shoot Music or La Blogothèque . Here's how Sleepover Shows describes its mission: Sleepover Shows are three song sets of acoustic or stripped down versions performed by bands that we love as [...]
Image via http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heyshootmusic/ Continuing their tradition of featuring awesome bands in unusual settings, They Shoot Music has a recent session with London-based Veronica Falls . Here's a bit from their description of the session : Walking over cobblestone under the eyes of stone statues, Veronica Falls find themselves in the spring idyll of Porto’s Cemitério de Agramonte. Once the London-based band comes across the first snoozing cat, they are taken by these serene graveyard creatures. The bassist Marion Herbain is especially fond of them and goes stalking [...]
Hi Everyone, Today, in the form of Here Comes the Flood , I launched the first part of my plan to return to regular music blogging. The site is based on a very simple premise: I get way too much stuff. This is, of course, a wonderful problem to have. And yet, it's still a bit of a problem. So, every week (on Saturdays, beginning with 12/29), I'm going to post 15 new bands for you to look through. The plan is to keep it simple: a photo, a bit of press for context, and [...]
My friend Chris recently staged a play - Crossroads (or The Piano of Death) - in Portsmouth, NH. For part of his pre-show music, he put together a mix of covers with ties to our own little part of New England. So, when this week's mix came around, he suggested taking that soundtrack and sharing it with you lovely people. Here's Chris' description of the process: The pre-show entertainment for my recently produced stage play, Crossroads (or The Piano of Death), was broken into two parts. Both parts were designed to set the scene for the [...]
To commemorate reaching 40,000 Twitter followers, John Darnielle has gifted us with a new song entitled "All Devils Here Now." The track is actually a demo, recorded sometime between Tallahassee and We Shall All Be Healed . The song, Darnielle notes, features "actual Iowa bugs" and shares "psychic and geographic space" with other material from those albums. Indeed, it's hard not to be struck by the subdued tone of the entire recording, as recent Mountain Goats recordings have tended towards larger, more polished arrangements. Whatever the case, it's a great [...]
This week, as part of their ongoing " valtari mystery film experiment ," (hint: use your mouse to highlight the hidden text!) Sigur Rós have released the video for "Rembihnútur." The video was produced by Arni & Kinski , who have also directed for Snow Patrol, Placebo, and Ólöf Arnalds, and focuses on the stillness and personal revelations that can be found through meditation. Here's how Arni & Kinski describe the inspiration for the video: “the elevation of your consciousness helps the overall consciousness of the planet.” -gourasana. [...]
Out this week is a new video for "Breaking Down" from Florence + The Machine 's Ceremonials album. Directed by Tabitha Denholm, who also directed the considerably more dramatic "Cosmic Love" and "Never Let Me Go" videos, the lighthearted, retro "Breaking Down" uses Super 8 to evoke the summers of the '60s and '70s. It's a beautiful, perfect-for-Summer, video which is sure to make you nostalgic for all those backyard gatherings and road trips of years gone by... Have a look! Our Robot Says You Might Like: New Fleet [...]
Founded in 2006, Funeral Club is the stage name of husband and wife duo Jenny and Joseph Andreotti. The band - whose sound evokes memories of Nick Cave, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and the best parts of early-80s Cure - completed their magnificent third album, In the Fire , in Spring of 2011. As the band tell it: " In The Fire was influenced by the idea of paying homage to experimental film makers Maya Deren and David Lynch, film composer Ennio Morricone, and to Pulp’s wonderfully sleazy film-noir inspired This is Hardcore [...]
Kindly ignore it. Our Robot Has No Other Recommendations at this Time.
Among other things, Lissie produces a truly prodigious amount of excellent music covers. Out this week is the video for her cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way," which featured on her most recent EP: Covered Up With Flowers . The video is actually a live recording, featuring a somewhat more "slick" visual style than the sessions that brought us her previous releases of " Bad Romance " and " Nothing Else Matters ." Even so, it's a lovely way to start a Friday morning. Check it out: [...]
Among other things, Lissie produces a truly prodigious amount of excellent music covers. Out this week is the video for her cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way," which featured on her most recent EP: Covered Up With Flowers . The video is actually a live recording, featuring a somewhat more "slick" visual style than the sessions that brought us her previous releases of " Bad Romance " and " Nothing Else Matters ." Even so, it's a lovely way to start a Friday morning. Check it out: [...]
Thanks to Pitchfork , we've got our first taste of Sun Kil Moon's Among the Leaves (out 5/29 on Caldo Verde ). The track - "Sunshine in Chicago" is a wistful look back on time spent touring in the '90s. At first listen, the track feels more personal and direct than some of the recent work on Admiral Fell Promises and April , and seems to deliver on the claim that we'd get to hear Kozelek "singing playfully." But that's me... what do you think? [Audio clip: view [...]
The Magnetic Fields have released the video for "Andrew in Drag" from their forthcoming Love at the Bottom of the Sea . The (NSFW) video features the return of the synth and acoustic sound that marked the band's work in the '90s, as well as the comic wit that we've come to expect over the years. Of the freshness that can be found in a return to this method of writing and arranging for synth and guitar, singer/songwriter Stephin Merritt says: "Most of the synthesizers on the record didn’t exist when we were last using [...]
The Magnetic Fields have released the video for "Andrew in Drag" from their forthcoming Love at the Bottom of the Sea . The (NSFW) video features the return of the synth and acoustic sound that marked the band's work in the '90s, as well as the comic wit that we've come to expect over the years. Of the freshness that can be found in a return to this method of writing and arranging for synth and guitar, singer/songwriter Stephin Merritt says: "Most of the synthesizers on the record didn’t exist when we were last using [...]
Earlier this week, M. Ward posted the first single - "Primitive Girl" - off of his forthcoming album A Wasteland Companion . The album, which is out April 10th on Merge and marks M. Ward's first album since 20092s Hold Time , entered the public sphere earlier this year with the release of the beautiful video for "The First Time I Ran Away" (seen below). In contrast to that song, "Primitive Girl" seems to carry forward the fuller sound of Hold Time , eschewing the sparseness that characterized so many of [...]
Late last week, Bon Iver released a video featuring five songs he recorded at AIR Studio's Lyndurst Hall. Accompanied only by drummer Sean Carey, who plays the second piano in this video, the set is a stripped-down run through songs from the Blood Bank EP, Bon Iver , and a cover of Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me." The result is an exquisitely intimate session that truly captivates and reminds us why Bon Iver came to be celebrated in the first place. Have a listen below: [...]
Our friends over at NPR have just posted Laura Gibson's forthcoming album - La Grande - in their First Listen series. I've been eagerly awaiting this release, Gibson's third, and can honestly say that it has been worth the wait. In many ways, this is a more complicated, confident affair than her previous efforts. For me, La Grande is the sound of an artist who has found her feet, and now wants to fly. Indeed, as Stephen Thompson writes: It's the sound of a confident artist stretching her own limits, without losing [...]
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![Morrissey - Everyday is Like Sunday High Definition [Edit by Dj Léo 2009]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/Jhgsjq1U5SQ_130.jpg)
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40 Year Itch: David Bowie TV Documentary Shot
