Hey there. We’ve got some more cool vinyl for you to win today! Yes, you’re welcome.
This one comes from 1/2 of what used to be San Francisco duo, The Skygreen Leopards, Donovan Quinn. And this release comes to you from the excellently-curated adventurous music label out of Brooklyn, Northern Spy Records.
On Honky Tonk Medusa you’ll find sapient storytelling, fleshed out with an intriguing array of instrumentation, and well-conceived tunes that take you places.
“I was born lucky; my parents were musical. They met at a high school choir exchange in 1947, when 78s still roamed the earth.”
An Inheritance | “There was plenty of vinyl around our house. Their collection was a mix of classical and choral music, Broadway cast recordings, comedy records (The Buttoned Down Mind of Bob Newhart!), big band jazz, and a cappella close-harmony groups like The Hi-Lo’s.
They also had a couple of Time/Life multi-LP sets of The Greatest Moments In Radio that caught fire with my fascination. Hearing the apocalyptic panic in the sound of the reporter’s voice as the Hindenburg comes crashing down. Or the WWII morse-code horror coming out of Corregidor as the Japanese over-run the island and capture the American GI’s. Sound affects, for sure – and not just musical sounds. Records were the delivery system from the outset.
After returning to relatively humble ambitions with their last studio album, The Decemberists have went triple-live gonzo with We All Raise Our Voices to the Air (Live Songs 04.11–08.11), and the results should easily meet their fans expectations. And while its contents may not convert the dubious, it might at least provide them with a clue to what the fuss is about.
A great many live records have been issued over the years by a diversity of pop and rock artists, and with a few notable exceptions, these documents generally serve two purposes. One, they stand as a commentary on the success of an act and a gift to those consumers who made that success possible. Second, they can provide proof that a performer or band can indeed put their thing across on the performance platform.
If pop and rock after the Beatles has largely been a phenomenon of greatness judged through studio albums, there has also been a persnickety attitude that those deemed great must also be able to exhibit their talent on the stage, the nude environment that doesn’t lie. This contrasts rather strongly with jazz, where it’s essentially considered a given that the players on a studio LP have made it there by already displaying their skill on the bandstand.
This past Monday, one of the key singer/songwriters of everyone’s favorite psychedelic folk/pop band Grizzly Bear released his first solo EP on the world. Daniel Rossen’s unaccompanied debut harkens back to the work of his past; however, its primary function seems to be portraying his unique voice alone.
Branching off from the more electronically involved Department of Eagles material of Rossen with fellow song writer Fred Nicolaus, past the glistening yet woody modern pop of Grizzly Bear, for the first time, the talented musician releases a collection of songs with a concentrated effort in his own sound.
Notable for its detached lyricism and chord progressions, the five song Silent Hour/Golden Mile EP wades through thick guitar textures and weighty piano pieces, all carrying densely packed equalization. From the Beatles-esque vocal layers of “Silent Song” to the complex web of guitars backed by thick horns and a patient beat in “Return to Form,” the EP keeps involving atmospheres close to its core.
It’s been just over four months since we sat down with Joplin, Missouri’s Carter Hulsey at the Riviera in Chicago. When we last spoke, Carter’s nationwide tour opening for NeverShoutNever was coming to a close, and his newest record, What You Carry, had just been released on vinyl.
Now, out on their first headlining tour, The Carter Hulsey Band will be stopping off at Mojoes of Joliet this Thursday, 3/29.
What You Carry, Carter’s six track EP, is an incredible blend of pop, rock, folk and country. You can get a feel for the vibe of the record from the lead single, “Black My Lungs”.
“Any time I get the opportunity to really talk about music, great music…life altering, soul shattering music, I always end up pulling out my old vinyl. I have a lot of it in fact, saved from my parents and from when I was a kid.”
“I just can’t help but dream about the days when music was recorded to tape and pressed onto vinyl out of necessity, not novelty. When you could grip it in your hand and read the lyrics and liner notes. Hell yes I was interested…weren’t you?
And even when they were new they smelled like dust. Right??
Who were these mysterious men and women on the covers? All grainy and glamorous. Ugh. My slip is showing.
I can seriously go on and on about how no matter what the sultans of software bestow upon we huddled masses of music makers, there has never been and will never be, any sound as sweet.
With the recently announced full list of special releases for Record Store Day, it difficult for a label to separate themselves from the pack. One way to do it is is to follow Tompkins Square‘s example – release some 78 r.p.m. discs! Luckily I have a record player that can play at 78 so this will not be an issue for me.
San Francisco-based record label Tompkins Square announces the first in a series of releases in the 78 rpm 10″ vinyl format.
The first two will feature previously unreleased recordings from Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), and Ralph Stanley. Both 78’s will be released as a limited edition of 500 copies on Record Store Day, April 21, 2012.
It’s our weekly Twitter #MusicMonday recap of the brand new tracks from last week that the folks in the press offices want you to be hearing. We post, you download.
Garbage – Blood for Poppies
Gorillaz – Clint Eastwood (Psymbionic Remix)
James Apollo – Blessed or Bust
Modern Time Machines – Rocketship
Conduits – Top of the Hill
Sleepy Sun – Stivey Pond
Gabriel & The Hounds – What Good Would That Do?
Drowner – Never Go Away
Test House – Bitemarks
Javelin – Soda Popinski
TVD SINGLE OF THE WEEK:
ExDetectives – The Lawn
Sylvie Lewis – The Song I Sang Before I Met You
Arbouretum – New Scarab
Howth – Out In Eagan
Amanda Mair – Sense
Voltaire Twins – Animalia
BeatauCue – Slow Down feat. Kenzie May (Minimix)
Go Periscope – Boys Like, Girls Like (Touch Bass Dubstep Remix)
Housse De Racket – Chateau (Hey Champ Remix)
Clarensau – Endless Melody
Dante Vs Zombies – Natural Disaster
19 more FREE TRACKS after the jump!
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
I’m sick in bed with a terrible flu. I was about to can this week’s show, but instead opted for a substitute DJ for the first half of this week’s Idelic Hour.
Listen in for some classic oldies and some of the hottest new songs to hit the internet. Should be back to form next week. Until then, stay cool.
The Idelic Hit of the Week:
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Man On Fire
Hey Memphis! Riding the high tide of SXSW, our friends over at Fareveller are providing Memphians with 7 great shows this weekend.
In an almost “hair of the dog” fashion, keeping you hype from the week before, these next couple of days in Memphis are sure to give you something to go out and go see. With support from hot up-and-coming bands like Maps and Atlases and The Black Belles, it could be easy to get lost in the line-up and maybe miss out on some great shows. But never fear loyal readers, we here at The Vinyl District know you like to dance till dawn just as much as you like to rock out with your socks out, so here’s our heads up on the eclectic electronica celebrated at this weekend’s event.
Winding down their first official tour in support of their upcoming 7″, Michigan’s The Company We Keep took the stage at Reggie’s Rock Club Tuesday night. Although experienced individually, as a group The Company We Keep is brand new to the scene.
Officially made up of Brian Southall (The Receiving End of Sirens), Justin Pierre (Motion City Soundtrack), Branden Morgan (Misery Signals), and Amy Brennan, the band recently teamed up with Drexel University’s MAD Dragon Records and Motion City Soundtrack, to be the first of five bands released in a new 7″ series entitled, Making Moves.
We were able to sit down just before the show with guitarist Brain Southall, who originated the project as a solo effort, to chat a little bit about the band, the tour, and the upcoming record.
With the Making Moves series 7” as your first official release, can you tell us a little bit about that, and recording with MAD Dragon records.
It was awesome. I was super skeptical, to be honest. MAD Dragon Records is mostly a student-run label, through Drexel University, and we didn’t know anything about it. It was just “Come to the school, you’re going to record in the studio, and there are students who are going to engineer it.” Without knowing or seeing anything, that just sounds like a nightmare, but it was great. The guys that engineered it were amazing, and I was blown away by how it came out. It exceeded all of our expectations tenfold.
As we are now in the year of 2012, and most acts from the 1980s are considered outdated; everything from the over-permed hair to the parachute pants to the New Wave-style music seems a little past its prime.
But a few rare musicians have managed to translate their musical talents into a new sound, and Martin Gore and Vince Clarke of Depeche Mode/Erasure, are two of them.
These two electronic entities have been working on individual projects and had very little contact for over thirty years, but they have now reunited and are creating music as VCMG. Both written and produced by Gore and Clarke, VCMG’s debut album Ssss contains ten tracks of excellent minimalist dance music that is clearly inspired by techno beats and electronica.
By Friday of South-by-Southwest, the bone-tiredness is starting to set in. You’ve been living on beer and food-truck tacos and BBQ (usually) because there is never time to have a sit-down meal (and the food truck tacos and BBQ are tremendous). The street crowd of on-lookers and weekend attendees has swelled. You’re running on maybe 16 hours of sleep since Tuesday. But there’s so much to see and hear yet! So what was the best of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this year?
FRIDAY | Friday was kicked off in one of the best ways possible with an excellent breakfast taco and the lovely songs of Eric Bachmann and the full band version of Crooked Fingers at the Paste day party.
“Sleep All Summer,” from the band’s Reservoir Songs Dignity and Shame may be a sad song lyrically, but live, it is a stunner. Tracks played from the latest record, Breaks in the Armour, are so good.
There are three festivals on Saturday, but only one is free. Guess where TVD will be? Also, two big shows tonight—one featuring some beloved veterans of the scene and another featuring a band from Brooklyn that knows how to publicize a show.
The good folks at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation spend part of the profits from the annual shindig to bring you four neighborhood festivals each year. Saturday and Sunday is the fifth Congo Square New World Rhythms Festival and I am super excited for one reason and one reason only. DIBLO DIBALA is returning to New Orleans!
For those readers unfamiliar with this name, make sure you are downtown in Armstrong Park at 6 PM. Dibala is a legendary soukous guitarist from the Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire. He was a regular visitor to the Crescent City in the 1990s during what I call in my new book (shameless plug), “the heyday of African and Caribbean music in New Orleans.”
Looking for some live music in Chicago this weekend? We’ve got you covered. Check out this weekend’s featured show along with a more extensive weekend list below!
THE SOIL & THE SUN at the Beat Kitchen, 3/23
Grand Rapids’ the Soil & the Sun, will be bringing their experimental, spiritual folk-rock to Chicago tonight for a show at the Beat Kitchen. What began as a duo, exploded into a full eight-piece ensemble that utilizes instruments like the violin, cello, oboe, piano, and accordion, to create its delicate orchestration. Their latest release, Wake Up, Child, is a second shot at songs written and recorded over the last couple of years. The tracks have been gathered and put together as one cohesive record. Check out the Soil & the Sun performing “Raised in Glory”, at Audiotree Live, below.
You can pick up a copy of Wake Up, Child on limited edition vinyl, for just $20 the group’s Bandcamp.
