Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs (Atlantic) Buy it at Insound After the vacation from guitar-rock that was 2005's Plans, a lot of folks seemed downright scared to listen to Narrow Stairs , for fear that it would be a continuation of a journey down a path they didn't want to see the seminal Indie Rock band of our time take. Their fears turned out to be completely unfounded - guitars were back, and noisier than ever at times, Gibbard's [...]
Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs (Atlantic) [mp3] Death Cab for Cutie - Long Division (Live in Seattle) Buy it at Insound After the vacation from guitar-rock that was 2005's Plans a lot of folks seemed downright scared to listen to Narrow Stairs , for fear that it would be a journey down a path they didn't want to see the seminole Indie Rock band of our time take. Their fears turned out to [...]
Hello there, I know we haven't been communicating very well recently. It's my fault, not yours, and I'm sorry. I feel like we've lost that loving feeling, and I'd like to get it back. I was on a Thanksgiving weekend break, like the rest of the blogging world, and then I went to New York for the week with my special lady friend. New York, it stands to say, is an amazing place. I'm sure most of you have been there, and some of you even live there, but it's worth noting still that New York is an [...]
WOXY is, among other things, the best internet radio station there is. This is not up for debate, I'm not asking your oppinion, I'm notifying you that it is, because it is. They've survived alot too, which makes enjoying their services even sweeter. Well, this year's Holiday Mixer is no exception to their greatness. The Holiday Mixer is, as you may have guessed, a large collection of Christmas, Hannukah, Winter, Etc, music programmed into a big old block of programming that is perfect for streaming at your desk, by the fire, etc. It's really quite lovely, and [...]
In this, the most recent and only clip, from Damien Jurado's newest LP Caught in the Trees (Secretly Canadian), Damien, band mates Eric & Jenna, and little brother Drake Jurado get their There Will Be Blood on in a major way. The video was directed by Matt Daniels/Thinklab Productions and it's incredibly beautiful to put it bluntly. Really, it's one of the most aesthetically pleasing music videos I've seen - ever. The set is rural Eastern Washington, the light [...]
Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line ( Barsuk ) Few albums took me by surprise as much as this one did. What I suspected would be a solid pop record turned out to be one of the best pop records I had heard in ages, not a single song which is not outstanding. The Syracuse band's first on Barsuk is the sort of thing I imagine lots of young bands will be listening to in 2018 and taking their cues from. I like to think of [...]
This may come a surprise to some of you - Headlights is not the type of band that end's up on a lot of folks year-end lists, and at first I wouldn't have put this one anywhere near the top either, but one day I got it, in a major way. That's not to say that Headlights make some sort of thick, and difficult music, quite the opposite in fact - they make pop songs. Pop songs can be hard to do well if you don't know how to write them, but Headlights learned [...]
![Hard to Find a Friend's Backstage Sessions : The Swell Season [Part 1/2]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/1364398_lg.jpg)
On one of the first chilly days of the Tennessee autumn, September 24th, 2008, we packed our gear up and headed down to the Ryman Auditorium , without contest Nashville's most legendary and storied venue. We walked across the stage which has held so many of our idols over the last three quarters of a century, up a few flights of stairs into an upstairs green room, and met Glen Hansard , an unassuming Irish man with a beat up guitar and a tendency for self-deprecating humor. [...]
Peace on Earth : A Charity Holiday Album Vol. II To Benefit : The Children of Uganda Fund November 18, 2008 $7.50 1. American Analog Set - Winter Birds 2. Telekinesis! - Father Christmas 3. Jennifer O'Connor - Deck The Halls 4. Nathan Phillips - Cross-country Ski's 5. The A-Sides & Sun Airway - Santa, Please 6. Jason Collett - A Beguiled Christmas [...]
The pride of Eau Claire, WI, Justin Vernon, or as you better know him Bon Iver , has announced plans to release a special, if sparse, EP later this winter. When the terrible, grueling, still-dark-at-5, 20 degree February winter begins to sink in, you'll have very few places to turn except for Blood Bank , the 4-song venture which Jagjaguawar shall be releasing on January 29, 2009. Also, you can catch the dude on tour, and on Letterman, before year's end. Check the dates here . [...]
I'll admit I originally balked when I heard Matador was putting out Belle & Sebastian's BBC Sessions as a proper album. I mean, this is the sort of thing done by Led Zeppelin, and as much as I love Belle & Sebastian, it hardly seemed like the right time for this kind of thing - no tragic lead singer death, no band break up, no 20 year anniversary of anything, nothing like that. It seemed like filler, is what I'm getting at, something to fill the pockets and the time before their next proper LP. It may very [...]
Here's an excerpt from a totally real press release I received early this morning: "Marnie Stern will be at Bimbo's in SF this FRIDAY (11-14) also El Ray in LA this SATURDAY (11-15) and she would love to be kissed! Here's the DL: Cheeks: $3 / Lips: $10 / Tongue: $100... what more could you ask for on your Saturday night out! Bring a date! It's all in good fun!" Now, I have a couple of issues with this: One, it's a shameless ploy to get people to come [...]
Conor has done a lot of, well Conor's just done a lot in the last few years, a good portion of which has left me disappointed. Cassadaga didn't do it for me for the most part, and his recent "solo" debut left me feeling great about his new Wildflowers- era Tom Petty sound in spots and sad about his rudimentary happy-chord strumming in others. Tuesday night, however, Conan and his band of Mystics descended upon Conan's studio to play a song, and they chose to do a no one called Nicorette which is more like [...]
God bless Julian Koster. God bless him and his completely unaffected by anything, no frills, no nonsense approach to playing music. The Music Tapes have said to hell with guarantees and rock clubs, and tickets, and all that, and have announced their plan to do a tour beginning tonight in which they will be traveling from city to city "caroling" playing songs from their newly released collection of singing saw tunes . Households that would like to invite Julian and his friends to come carol may do so up until the night before [...]
Not much hitting the racks this week, but the stuff that is available is certainly noteworthy. The LONG awaited Christmas on Mars CD/DVD from The Flaming Lips finally hits the racks after years of keeping fans waiting, and Denison Witmer drops his first full-length in nearly four years after laying low and working on that album with Sufjan and Rosie. Denison Witmer - Carry the Weight (Militia Group) Philly-singer/songwriter Denison [...]
Well friends, today is the day that I make a very special announcement I've been waiting to make since May. I'm talking about the follow up to last year's HTFAF-Exclusive charity Holiday album, Peace on Earth Vol. I . Like last year, these songs are exclusive to this album, and the album will only be available at Hard to Find a Friend as a digital download. ### Peace on Earth: A Holiday Album Vol. II An Exclusive Compilation to [...]
I sure didn't... When I watched The Decemberists perform a song in support that new singles series we mentioned a while back, I was thinking a lot of things, like "why are they playing this song?" and "why isn't the camera showing Chris at all?" and even "Why is their stage plot reversed," perhaps it was a combination of this and it being 12:30 AM that made me miss Sir Meloy's Election eve subliminal endorsement. Of course, I shouldn't be surprised by the manipulative endorsement, consdiering the Decemberists are commies [...]
Rosie Thomas warmed your hearts this time last year with her beautiful holiday contribution to Peace On Earth , and now you can share the same joy for the duration of a 50-minute Christmas extravaganza! The cheekily titled A Very Rosie Christmas features Rosie and her friends singing no fewer than 12 christmas songs, both classic and original, from her house in Seattle, and it's very beautiful. You can buy it now at select indie retailers or of course on Amazon or iTunes digitally. Alternately, you can [...]
And so, here we are. America has a new president elect, and the entire world seems to be rejoicing. It's the kind of thing that will define a generation, this is our march on Washington, this is our JFK. I'll never forget the lump in my throat I felt as Barack Obama walked on stage in front of so many thousands of eyes in Grant Park with his family by his side, ready to accept the nomination as President of the United States - the first African-American to ever know such a feeling. Then he made a speech, [...]
Fellow Americans: thank you for voting. To my international readers: I think you'll like Senator Obama more than Mr. Bush. Very, very, very proud to be an American, Caleb.
It's hard to Find a Friend
Monday Music – 28 May 2012
Bison - Quill
Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea
