Sara Lowes has spent a lot of time working with other artists such as the Earlies, King Creosote, Micah P. Hinson and Jim Noir, but this time around, she's bringing us some original solo work. The release date for Back To Creation (Red Deer Club) is still a mystery, but if "soon" isn't good enough [...]
I never really know what to do with pre-release mp3 teaser thingies on this site. I don't like just slapping them up on the blog without any thought, as a great many mp3 bloggers do. It seems a bit of a waste of my time, and bit... well, a bit thoughtless I suppose. As if suddenly the site would become a mindless news aggregator, which is not really fair, but it does feel a bit like that. So I decided a little while back that I would use the podcasts for popping in new mp3s I had been [...]
Last year , EAR FARM featured 43 bands in our Band of the Week feature... ranging from relative unknowns (such as The Laughing and Bombadil ) to interviews with indie-rock legends (see The Wedding Present and Silver Jews ) to everything else in between. In 2009 we set out to one-up ourselves, and as it turns out we've done just that. This year EAR FARM featured 45 bands as Band of the Week, again flexing our genre chops across the entire spectrum of what we consider to be the best music being [...]
Last year , EAR FARM featured 43 bands in our Band of the Week feature... ranging from relative unknowns (such as The Laughing and Bombadil ) to interviews with indie-rock legends (see The Wedding Present and Silver Jews ) to everything else in between. In 2009 we set out to one-up ourselves, and as it turns out we've done just that. This year EAR FARM featured 45 bands as Band of the Week, again flexing our genre chops across the entire spectrum of what we consider to be the best music being [...]
Band: Ramona Falls From: Portland, OR Sound: Dazzling experimental pop compositions penned with an acoustic heart and electronic precision Similar Artists: Grandaddy, The Earlies, Jim O'Rourke, Badly Drawn Boy, Menomena Listen: "Russia" Ramona Falls is Brent Knopf. Not coincidentally, Ramona Falls is also a cascading 120-foot waterfall along Oregon's Mount Hood, reachable via difficult trail (for those lacing up their hiking boots, it's 7.1 miles long and gains over 1000 [...]
Apparently Air Canada has finally upgraded their fleet (we no longer have to pedal!), and I write this post while jetting over the Atlantic or some similar ocean (but I still have to post it later, as there is no Internet access until they upgrade the fleet again in 3240). I think I would have liked to fly back in the 60s, where anything would go. I remember reading a story in Fear and Loathing in some locale by Hunter S Thompson. Hell, I steal his style (as does any wannabe writer my age who pretends to be debauched and [...]
Solo albums usually require a substantial amount of self-sufficiency. There is rarely a source of constancy apart from the main artist's output, and external contributions can be skeptical because they are often for-hire, resulting in a false sense of sincerity that could find the release lacking in chemistry and flow. Many successful solo artists first tried their hand at releasing solo material either during or after their participation in a prominent band, conveniently allowing them to capture the attention of many listeners based on their role in a separate project alone. It hardly matters what their actual contributions were too; [...]
According to their online bio - Flowers of Hell are a trans-Atlantic rock orchestra made up of 16 or so experimental independent musicians consisting of members based in Toronto and London. There's something about the word trans-Atlantic that makes it all the more intriguing (not that the name 'Flowers of Hell' isn't intriguing enough). Trans-Atlantic, oddly makes me think about the word inter-galactic - they're in the same word family, right? Hyphenated location terms aside - interstingly, one way that you can describe music by the band is it's space-age, symphonic space rock . If this genre's [...]
I had a much more difficult time compiling the list this week than I did last week, and I have several theories why. Most importantly, I blame the fickleness of the British music press. They are always in such a rush to heap praise on the latest thing to come along (and all to often turn on these same bands within about 3 months of their debut release), meaning that many, many bands get hyped at some point or another as the next big thing. Most of them don't make it, but they are often far from overlooked. Add to [...]
Noel Gallagher asked the Future Sound of London offshoot Amorphous Androgynous to remix the otherwise pretty bland Fallin ' Down from their latest album, after hearing and raving about the mix/comp they put together last year A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble . Of course I can more than recommend it, filled with goodies from Aphropdites Child to Mahavishnu Orchestra to the more contemporary Devendra Banahart and The Earlies . This is the 22 Minute Remix (yep 22!) they put [...]
Who : Elephant Stone from Montreal. What : A song from the debut of Elephant Stone ( The Seven Seas ), a five-piece led by multi-instrumentalist, ex- High Dial and probably one of the nicest people I've ever met in the music industry, Rishi Dhir. Blending an obsession with perfect pop songs and the trippiest raga, The Seven Seas emerges from Rishi's back-catalogue of songs written over the years. While not recording his own, we've heard Rishi playing sitar on records by The Black Angels [...]
Working very slowly through our mailbag, we finally get around to the Flowers of Hell, who describe themselves as 'a 16 piece trans-Atlantic space rock orchestra' based in Toronto and London. All of this sounds very good to me – we like enormous bands, we like music put together by people in different parts of the world (well, it worked for the Earlies) and my god we love anything within sniffing distance of space rock. Plus they're made up of or have worked with some great people – Abi Fry, who plays with British Sea Power and Bat For Lashes, [...]
Big day at the blog office. We've heard two amazing records just today, which is amazing considering that all three of us are total haters - the new Lotus Plaza, and this mysterious offering from a massive cluster of trans-Atlantic musicians called Flowers of Hell . I don't care if no one told these guys that it's not the late '90s anymore and post rock is no longer en vogue and/or what the kids are listening to these days. Fuck the kids. The Flowers of Hell's Come Hell or High Water is one of the [...]
Good old psychedelic jazzy electronic... hold on what? That sounds a little odd. It might even sound off putting were it not for the fact that legendary duo Future Sound Of London are behind the helm of a new DJ mix using these elements under the name Amorphous Androgynous . Apparently, as you'll read below, they're trying to bring back buzz on Cosmic Space Music ... not usually my bag but after listening to these tracks, and seeing the track listing, I'm intrigued as to what the whole mix would sound like! [...]
(pic via icelight's Flickr ) Emmy the Great - On the Museum Island (mp3) ( buy ) It feels longer than it's been. Only a year and a half since I first saw Emmy the Great ( myspace ), and even then she'd already amassed a following in the UK and done a New York gig or two. I've talked about her plenty . A disproportionate chunk of my hard drive's been given over to this woman, her two EPs (one of which was available for one [...]
Well it got me. The cold that is. The last few days have been spent at a sluggish pace, sniffling, snuffling, coughing and aching. Not good. But I seem to be over the worst of it now. Actually had a decent nights sleep last night and I've finally got something to post about. Not that I'm gonna bore you with all the gross ins and outs of this cold. Well, no more than I just did. No, today I'm going to embrace the season and post some festive tunes. Which is odd and a [...]
Some of the piss and vinegar of this post has been taken out due to the fact that when I first got to the computer full of it (piss and vinegar...maybe something else, too, we'll let Chris decide...) I had to help my grandma print out a latke recepie because her printer wasn't working. Anyways I am in Hawaii! Fuck yeah! It's my second day here and my mind is still racing around in circles like "do this, do this" but I should be a much mellower person by the time I get back in the ATX. [...]
By standards of mystery and procedure, one of the weakest episodes of Life of this season. But it was funny and, ahem, sexy, and all in the end, all is forgiven. What happened to the music this week? Ending with Radiohead's "Reckoner" was pretty cool, and I do like the Earlies , but it wasn't essential to the episode. I have it on good authority that we'll have more than one great music moment coming up in the mid-season finale. 1. "Morning Wonder" - The [...]
Some bands generate a sound and style, discover it's a winning formula and stick with it, avoiding deviation like the plague. Others generate a shite formula and stick with it, helpfully allowing most of the populace to avoid them like diseased rats. Steeple Remove, it seems, have gone for variation in style as a winning formula, avoiding sameness like contaminated rodents. Question is, does this formula win? Well, yes. Mostly. Second full album, Electric Suite , might not have has the sheer impact that Radio Silence did on my listening habits, but there is much [...]
Merz arrived onto the scene in the late 90's and surrounded by much hype. He subsequently walked away from a major deal in 1999. What he did in the intervening years till his triumphant return in 2005 only he knows. What he did do though was make a beautiful record in Loveheart , critically acclaimed by all. Since 2005 he has been seen all over at various festivals with the Earlies. Something of a nomad, Merz has travelled extensively. This essence of a free spirit is evident in the carefree and uplifting sound he creates on [...]
Tonight’s First Fridays show at the Natural History Museum has Brooklyn’s Yeasayer and the ~LA Style~ locals Warpaint set to perform. If you can get there and get in, enjoy [...]More about Yeasayer
You know, it’s an album like this that really just makes me forget the rest. We’re only one month into the near year and I’m already feeling [...]More about Hot Chip
Dark and mesmerizing, but propelled by a hypnotic beat and the sultry voice of Hope Sandoval. From Massive Attack’s 2010 release, “Heligoland” which is [...]More about Massive Attack
U.S.A Indie / Afro-Beat / Classical 'Contra' is the follow to Vampire [...]More about Vampire Weekend
Suicide Sundaes – stop your grinnin’ and drop your linen. Every Sunday electblake and jsully of Earmilk will bring you the weeks dirty servings, and some [...]More about Phoenix
Like my friend on the West Coast said, it was a big, big week for music. So big, in fact, that such notables as the new “Moonface EP” (from [...]More about Beach House
2009 the Year in Music Welcome! You have just found one of the most exhaustive and well-considered lists of quality, [...]More about St. Vincent
Until last month Spoon had made a habit of releasing a "bonus" MP3 on their website monthly for free download. These tracks generally consisted of demos and [...]More about Spoon
It's been a while since we had some Weezy up in here. Still waiting for his "Rebirth" to be properly released and the date crawls nearer, the 2nd of [...]More about Lil' Wayne
Get a Drink Have a Good Time Now. Welcome to Paradise. Download Friday Mixtape 053 as one track (MP3 149MB 320kbps) [...]More about Kid Cudi
TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB | UNDERCOVER MARTYN
The Strange Boys - Be Brave
Phonat - "Love Hits The Fan" music video
Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields - Official Trailer
Die Antwoord - Enter The Ninja (Official)
This Week's Other Releases
Cover That Don't Suck
Reuse Recycle Remix - February 8
