Released yesterday online, O Foolish Pride is the second in a growing series of digital mini-EPs from Ghosty. The first was the delightful A Mystic's Robe EP, which the Lawrence band surprised us ... Continue reading "Ghosty drops second name-your-price digital EP" >

As well as playing in some of the bands from TX that we feverishly reported about recently, Landon Odle is also the the man behind homemade tape label Animal Image Search and the sender of early Christmas presents. The spaced out Universal Studios Florida cassette dropped through our letterbox last week and the hallucinatory soundscapes within have been getting some heavy rotation. It's an extensive, trippy body of work and flagmarked best by the unfurling, ghosty transmissions and spiralling tribal glitches of 'Velvet Painting'. Positively guaranteed to be soundtracking the ET ride on that [...]
Whoosh! Just when we'd filed Ghosty to the back of the card catalog, the mellow-pop masters blow back with some of their best work yet. This week, the Lawrence-rooted fivesome released its first c... Continue reading "Ghosty unfurls A Mystic's Robe EP" >

Like a traumatized man who delays disclosing an alien abduction incident because he's unsure of exactly what transpired, I've put off coming clean about an out-of-body experience I had last month at the Riot Room. A transcendent performance by James Christos blew my mind. Alcohol was involved, so I'm still not entirely sure what happened. Thankfully, documentation of the event exists. I took the pictures posted here and there's a brief video of the show. I was so enthralled with Christos' manic "Punk Rap" that I was [...]
New and Used Records is pleased to announce our next release will be an EP from Tigers Can Bite You entitled Second Nature. "Second Nature," which first appeared on last year's Steve Ward Hears Voices, kicks off the 4-song EP, which also features new songs, "Sad Magicians" and "Ghosty" as well as Kid Mud's remix of "Opener." Second Nature hits digital retailers on September 8.
Never ones to miss a chance to record an online video, or visited deceased Scots, the Thermals taped a three song acoustic set for Off the Beaten Tracks . In addition to their clap-heavy set, and "fairly daft banter," the band was performing atop the final resting spot of "Bloody" George Mackenzie . ( Nice wig, ghosty . You don't look so tough.) But the Thermals' performance was not the most shocking act to take place in that location, that honor (honour?) belongs to these folks: "In March 2004 a group [...]

If you are fan of one or maybe more of these bands (as I guess), have a stop at the daytrotter and get the 4 song sessions of them! Incredible concept, incredible acceptance, incredible songs... Congretulations! ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead (Mar 3, 2008) The 1900s (Feb 11, 2008) 31 Knots (May 9, 2007) A Faulty Chromosome (Apr 12, 2009) A Place to Bury Strangers (Mar 25, 2008) The A-Sides (Jan 9, 2008) A.A. Bondy (May 21, 2008) About (Mar 5, 2007) The Acorn (Feb 22, 2009) Adam Green [...]

Cedar Hill Refugees- Keys To the Kingdom (MP3) It happens. Sometimes a great album is hidden inside deceptively atrocious packaging. Its unfortunate appearance aside, Pale Imperfect Diamond by Cedar Hill Refugees is easily among my favorite albums of 2009. It combines the likes of Marty Stuart, Greg Leisz, Ron McCoury and Harry Stinson with Uzbek musicians. As demonstrated on "Keys To the Kingdom," featuring the unmistakable voice of The Almighty Ralph Stanley, the result is often surprising and never less than intriguing. More [...]
Up to now it's been the star-studded collaborations and the quality tunes that have had people buzzing about N.A.S.A's The Spirit of Apollo. This time another element has been added to the hype equation with the video for "The People Tree." The track sees David Byrne on vocals along with Chali 2na, Gift Of Gab & Z-Trip, but it's Marcel Dzama's art in the video, directed and animated by Syd Garon and Johannes Gamble, that hogs the spotlight. As David Byrne says, "Here is the voice of God speaking through an [...]

A BAND TO KNOW: Lawrence, Kansas's Ghosty are an easy band for me to write about, because they have roots in so many different, great bands I liked from the last 15 years. For example, there are elements of Elliot Smith in the vocals, early Black Crowes in the guitar, some Pavement (circa " Wowee Zowee ") in the bass, and presence of The National in the drums and keys. What brings these bands together is the mellow drift of their melodies, [...]

Thank heavens, the day has finally come that I have dreamed of for the last eight years. Yes, I want to look ahead and do what I can to help repair the brokeness, but allow me this one last potshot at the hero of the tiny-minded on the day his power passes to a new and better man. For those in the same frame of mind, there is good reading in the latest issue of Rolling Stone . Matt Taibbi imagines in great detail the apology that Bush is either too stupid or too evil [...]

It's Music Alliance Pact time again. If you're a regularish reader you should know the script by now. Our aim is to get one music blog from every country in the planet to share their favourite song of the month by an artist from that nation. All the text you see below the picture of the bonnie Scotsman is written by each individual blogger and then replicated on each site on the same day, give or take some intercontinental time differences. Thanks to the additions of Brazil, Chile, Germany, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore and [...]

The inaugural October month of the Music Alliance Pact was a grand introduction and it only got better with last month's November edition . If you thought that all we've been doing is prepare for finals, both academically and year end list-wise, you're in for a treat with the final Music Alliance Pact of 2008: December. MAP's creator and organizer, Jason from Scotland's The Pop Cop , has made this into a global organization that every musically deft country wants to be a part of. Eventually the MAP will stand tall like [...]
MAP - Music Alliance Pact #3 Prosegue l'esperimento internazionale del Music Pact Alliance (riassunto delle puntate precedenti: qui e qui ) e raggiunge quota 21 Paesi coinvolti. La lista dei gruppi segnalati questo mese mi pare particolarmente ricca. Aspetto sempre commenti e consigli su come proseguire al meglio questa collaborazione. Per scaricare tutte le canzoni in un solo click, ecco il link . AMERICA : I Guess I'm Floating Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele [...]
It's once again time for the best songs in the world. The group of contributing bloggers continues to grow for MAP as does it's worldwide presence (recent press from Rolling Stone among others). These are songs from around the world but not world music and that's one of the things I like about this project. This is not music that is pandering for the NPR "world music" crowd. It's music from around the world influenced by the host countries and their local cultures but not controlled by them. Enjoy these songs, there's a .zip file at [...]
A monthly feature where music bloggers across the world share a track from their home country that they think you should hear. This month we are up to 21 countries with first time contributions from Brazil, Chile, Germany, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore and South Korea. Thanks again to Jason for organising all this. Files on the hotlinkfiles.com server are down right now for some reason - back shortly. AMERICA – I Guess I'm Floating Dent May [...]
AMERICA – I Guess I'm Floating http://iguessimfloating.blogsp ot.com/ Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele – 26 Miles http://www.myspace.com/dentmay Mississippi-based Dent May has been recording in various southern states since his formative years in high school. After going to college and refining his sound, he emerged with a new act that made use of his self-proclaimed magnificent ukulele. His pleasant pop arrangements, strong vocals and doo-wop-like vocal harmonies will appeal to anyone hoping to hear some happy music. His debut album is due out in February via Animal Collective's Paw Tracks label. Never underestimate the ukulele. http://iguessimfloating.net/as sets/mp3s/26%20Miles.mp3 [...]
initiated by jason from the scottish music blog the pop cop , the music alliance pact (MAP) is a coming together of music blogs from all over the world sharing their favorite local songs on the 15th of every month. i'm waking up to... is proud to be the singapore representative for this project, so i'd like to take this opportunity to introduce a new contributor to the team (now that makes 2!), brian koh , our local music correspondent who'll be contributing to MAP every month, on top of a forthcoming column featuring [...]

It's the 15th, which means another edition of the Music Alliance Pact (MAP). MAP is a monthly feature where music bloggers across the world share a track from their home country that they are excited about. 21 countries are now represented in the Music Alliance Pact (MAP), 7 more than last month, and we will all post a list of all the MAP-songs on the 15th of each month. The MAP project is originally the idea of Jason from the Pop Cop blog, and he's also the one who is organizing the whole team. Thanks [...]