Archive for the Indie-Folk Category
Two key recordings which serve as bookends to Elliott Smith’s catalogue of solo recordings, Roman Candle (his first) and From A Basement on the Hill (ostensibly, his last), are being reissued by Kill Rock Stars on 6 April 2010. Roman Candle, Elliott’s first album, was issued by Portland’s Cavity Search Records in 1994. For the Kill Rock Stars reissue, Roman Candle been remastered by Smith family archivist Larry Crane. Crane, the respected long-time editor of Tape Op Magazine, served in several engineering capacities on Elliott’s work over the course of his career, predominantly as owner and operator of Jackpot! Recordings where Elliott recorded many of his earliest works. MORE »
With free downloads from St. Vincent, Deerhunter, Camera Obscura, The Mountain Goats and M. Ward just to name a few, famed UK label 4AD has unleashed a free downloadable sampler of their 2009 releases in time for the holidays. Follow the links above to listen or download from 4AD.
Memphis, get ready to stand up. $5 Cover, the highly-anticipated new web series from director Craig Brewer has already made its introductory splash to audiences at the Sundance Film Festival this past weekend.
In the weeks and months to come, the rest of the world will have an opportunity to find out what those of us in Memphis have long known and understood: the richness and depth of our tightly-knit music scene and those involved. For now, take a minute to check out the trailer, and keep your eyes peeled to http://fivedollarcover.com for new information as it becomes available.
I wonder what it is about Canadian artists that continue to exude massive appeal to my ears. Among my favorites of the past decade, I count names like Julie Doiron, Joel Plaskett, Leslie Feist, A-Trak, Chromeo, and too many more to name off the top of my head.
In a group of names like that, I might have forgotten about Chad VanGaalen except for he doesn’t let me. Thanks to an opportunity to catch him at the Sub Pop showcase at CMJ a couple of years back, I became an instant fan. His newest release, Soft Airplane continues his love affair with experimental noise pop and tender love songs, a pattern developed over the course of two other fine albums (2004’s Infiniheart and 2006’s Skelliconnection). The resonant difference is the maturity of the material & the confidence evident in the performance and songwriting. MORE »
In a quite fair, though surprisingly swift and wide-reaching manner, much has been made of Justin Vernon’s songwriting and of his band, Bon Iver. Their remarkable EP For Emma, Forever Ago, is an album so simple and subtle in its beauty that it could end up lost in the shuffle of your playlist. We are so fortunate that from this small voice has come one of 2008’s most beloved recordings. If your heart was ever broken and you knew it, Justin’s falsetto overtones and wrenchings of lost love spoke to you at a time when you needed to hear them. And like magic, Bon Iver has become the little band from Wisconsin who could.
Oblige the kind folks at Daytrotter, then, with a visit to their site to listen to Bon Iver’s particularly looming discontent that is all throughout their wonderful Daytrotter Session today.
Bon Iver – Flume (Daytrotter Session)
To get the rest of these wonderful tracks, head over to Daytrotter by clicking here.
It’s awkward, right? I just sit here and listen to new music and tell you what I dig and why. Usually, it’s nothing more than I hear something and I just want to hear it over and over again for a while. I’m not a complicated dude, really. In the case of Ivan Colón, I’m thrilled in the discovery of another wonderful little song that is just peeking up over the ground. You see, there’s welcome hints of Donovan and Sufjan Stevens shining through every note of the song “Gabriel”. I don’t mind that this song is performed by neither of those artists, really. I’m just thrilled to have found another song that I hope will carry me into the autumn singing as happily to myself as I am right now, trampling my way through the fallen leaves.
Ivan’s EP Despite The Atlantic appears July 15th on Milan Records. Visit him on MySpace by clicking here.
