Blog: Sweetheart of the Radio

The Late Cord are John Mark Lapham and Michah P. Hinson. Apparently. Two dudes from Texas who sound like dudes from Texas. On paper, a strange combination perhaps but with a laid-back fainlty gospel quality that matures well with repeat listening we should just be thankful this record even happened. It's not like either of these guys must have been short of things to do, with entirely respectable careers in their own rights. The main refrain from 'My Most Meaningful Relationships Are With Dead People' is strangely reminiscent of Nikki Sudden's 'The Bible [...]

It's been (give or take) a year since Patti Smith's Meltdown . It's great that Patti's live re-performance of 'Horses' got officially released and I listen to it now actually far more often than the original recording. It's a real shame though that many other fine performances never get heard ever again... that's why I was really excited to discover this recording of Patti Smith and Kevin Shields performing The Coral Sea. Download: The Coral Sea (mp3) Buy My Bloody Valentine records from Rough Trade [...]

According to a whole bunch of reports on the internet, there will be a new Bob Dylan album released around the end of August. Titled 'Modern Times', this will be the first album of new material since 2001's 'Love & Theft' and is said to conclude the trilogy of albums that begun with 1997's 'Time Out Of Mind'. A number hand picked journalists were apparently given a playback of the album last week in New York, but made to sign legal papers agreeing not to talk or write to anyone about what they heard. [...]

So my boss sends me a message saying - "You have to listen to this band" - with a link to the Campo Bravo MySpace page. I check it out and find myself more than pleasantly surprised. So here I am telling you - you have to listen to this band. Hailing from Tuscon, Arizona, Campo Bravo is the musical vehicle for Mark Matos. Equal parts Neil Young, Giant Sand and Will Oldham, Campo Bravo play americana the way I love it best. Laid back, thoughtful, sad and heartbreakingly beautiful. [...]

Some more tracks have appeared on Damien Jurado's MySpace page, and rather splendid they're sounding too. But Damien's not the purpose of this post - oh no - rather, I want to write about another songwriter I was turned onto by Damien Jurado. Namely, J. Tillman . He's similar-but-different, if you know what I mean. Lazy, I know. Hell, just give him a listen. I've been loving the tracks on his MySpace page and urge you to go give them a [...]

Below is a clip of god-like genius Serge Gainsbourg meeting Whitney Houston on a French TV chat show in 1986. After his shenanigans here, Gainsbourg would never be asked to appear on live TV again, while Whitney's future behavior would make Serge's comments here pale in comparison. If you do not own it already, no record collection is complete without Serge Gainsbourg's masterpiece 'Histoire de Melody Nelson' .

With the world cup kicking off today, I happened upon this clip of Pele, the greatest footballer of all time, doing what Pele does best... erm... advertise stuff.

One of the best albums I have come across so far this year is Spider's 'The Way To Bitter Lake'. Described as sounding like '..Sam Beam meets Vashti Bunyan; hushed, comforting and ultimately, beautiful and calming.' by Gorilla Vs. Bear . Spider is Brooklyn based Jane Herships, a smart, pretty lady writing smart, pretty songs. Beautiful! Don't Be Afraid, I've Just Come To Say Goodbye, "The Ballad Of Clementine Jones" (mp3) Maggie's Song For Alice [...]

Sadly no longer together, but in their short time of existence, Life Without Buildings made one fucking amazing album. It's been hard to get hold of recently, but with Rough Trade having stock again, there's now no reason not to own it. There's two fantastic live tracks which I urge you to listen to as soon as humanly possible: New Town (mp3) Live at the Annandale Hotel, Sydney 14/12/01 [...]

Swell Maps - Midget Submarines Swell Maps - Let's Build A Car

It has been just over a year since the last Damien Jurado released his last album 'On My Way To Absence' and he is very close to having another one in the bag already. On his MySpace blog he reports: "after months of recording and now mixing... the new album is done. ..we still need to have it mastered but i'm calling it done. the end result is fourteen songs. i'm still trying to come up with a title for [...]