Bon Iver"s Blood Bank $0.99 @ Amazon

In case you haven't snagged it already, Amazon has Bon Iver's new EP for $0.99 - for the next few hours at least.  Highly recommended.   

Rose McCoy

NPR did a great piece on songwriter Rose Marie McCoy this afternoon. You can tell just by listening to her conversation with the interviewer that she made her money with words so listen to it if you have time (though it looks like most of the transcript is there).  These were a couple of my favorite lines:  

In 1954, McCoy and Singleton wrote a song called "Trying to Get to You," which was first recorded by a black vocal group called The Eagles. Elvis Presley heard their version in a record store in Memphis, and he decided to record the song on his debut album for RCA Records in 1955.

"Elvis did that just exactly like The Eagles, exactly," McCoy says. "Every breath, every sound, everything. Amazing how he did that. ... He wasn't a big star at that point, and we thought he was terrible because we thought he couldn't sing. We didn't understand, but we was grateful. Thank God for Elvis."

. . . . .

"They wanted to hear what you had," she adds. "And if they liked it, they didn't care if you was black or white. We thought it was the blues and they called it rock 'n' roll; I still don't know the difference."

Singin' 'bout Coprophagia

I just realized that Andrew Bird does precisely that in "Tenuousness:"

When coprophagia was writ
Know when to stand or when to sit
Can't stand to stand, can't stand to sit
And who would want to know this?
Click. Click. Click.

This seems to be the best version You Tube has to offer:

Gillian Welch's Revival $1.99 @ Amazon

Honestly, I haven't turned into a shill for Amazon.  I just haven't had time to do much blog-wise beyond passing on noteworthy links and Gillian Welch's Revival album for $1.99 at Amazon is EXTREMELY noteworthy.  (You see what I did there.  It works on two levels.  One, it is awesome.  Two, it is music and music is composed of notes.  Do you see that?  Do you see what I did?).  This recommendation comes even more strongly than the Andrew Bird recommendation of a few days ago (Manuel, back me up on that one.).

This is an album that every person with ears should own - it's one of my all time favorites.  Again, if you don't know Gillian Welch, do your requisite googling and You Tubing but for goodness sake if you like puppies, pies or oxygen you're gonna like this album.  

You've got 24 hours.

Andrew Bird: Noble Beast - $1.99 @ Amazon

Buy.  This.  Album.  Even if you have no idea who Andrew Bird is trust me on this one thing and buy this album.  I assume it is a mistake and that Amazon will correct it momentarily, because seriously, how can this album be $1.99?  Either way the deal only lasts 24 hours so don't dally.  

$1.99?  Are you kidding me?

Good Music, Good Cause

The new compilation put out by the Red Hot folks looks pretty freakin' great.  Artist and track list here, and you can listen to new tracks contributed by The National and Bon Iver via their handy widget below.

NPR Hearts Me

We finally got around to becoming members of our local NPR affiliate this year and if I had known that they were going to cater to my musical tastes so well I would have done so much sooner.  There was a nice interview with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver on NPR this afternoon discussing their new EP, Blood Bank, due out on January 20th - they've also got some nice live performance audio up as well.  Even better they've just started streaming Andrew Bird's new album, Noble Beast, also due out January 20th.  

Both mentioned previously here.

Update:  Long profile of Andrew Bird in the NY Times. (user: beatbox/pword: beatbox)

Hallelujah Redux

PRI's The World covered the story of the dueling Hallelujah's today.  The jist: "Music fans are using the internet as a battleground to campaign for their favorite cover version of Leonard Cohen's 1984 love song 'Hallelujah'" - this particular battle pits the winner of Britain's X-Factor (a UK American Idol I am told) against hardcore Jeff Buckley fans who despair of the sacrilege of a version other than Buckley's topping the charts, all of this is made more "exciting" as the coveted Christmas #1 spot is at stake here .  (Cohen fans are apparently content knowing that Leonard is cashing fat royalty checks.)

Those playing along at home will remember that a similar phenomenon occurred during this years American Idol here in the states, which I (among others) noticed and mentioned previously here.

Here's Burke's live version from X-Factor ("official" studio version is here with embed disabled):

Here's Buckley's live version (the "official" studio version is here with embed disabled):

The money is on Burke at the moment but Buckley isn't far behind and I like the look of this dark horse who has quite a following.

Best of 2008: Music

There weren't that many albums that bowled me over this year, but here are two worth a look.

I've mentioned Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago before and I'm still listening to it.  A lot.  Here's the band on Letterman a few days ago:

The other album worth mentioning is Human Highway's Moody Motorcycle.  

Honorable mention:  Mike Relm's Spectacle. and Jayber Crow's Two Short Stories.

PS - Two to look for in early January:  Andrew Bird's Noble Beast and Bon Iver's EP Blood Bank.

Straight Outa' Batesville

How can you not like Soulja Boy?  Example one, social networking genius: 

How does one go from being a 16-year-old making videos and songs in your bedroom to being a Grammy-nominated cultural phenomenon in one year?
I found out about the Website SoundClick. You’d post MP3s and people would rate on your music and you’d get put on charts. I had this song called “Doo Doo Head.” It was this stupid comedic song — and after a few weeks, it went No. 1 on the charts and everyone started coming to my page looking for new music. Then I found MySpace, made my first page, and linked the MySpace page from SoundClick. Really all my MySpace views came from SoundClick and my YouTube clicks came from MySpace; they fed off each other.

Example two, insightful market analyst: 

You have another new video out called “Turn My Swag On.” What is swag, and how can it be turned on?
I think swag is very important to rappers. It’s the overall appearance and style of an artist — these blue shorts and this blue hat and this $80,000 chain, this jewelry and all these tattoos, that’s swag. Swag defines an artist, period. Lil Wayne has his super-tattooed pierces and dreads swag. Jay-Z has his New York, grown man, Beyoncé and 40/40 Club swag. Soulja Boy is on his dance, down south, young, 18-year-old, comedic swag. It’s really just each person’s personality; if every rapper had the same swag, it would be kind of boring.

If Gladwell doesn't have a chapter on this guy then he's crazy.

The Organic Artisan Spelt Breadline Blues

It's no secret that the economic downturn has hurt the organic food industry and from my observation a lot of that surplus and unsold merchandise is showing up at food banks.  I'm doing a bit of work for a local food bank and walking through the warehouse it feels like your strolling down the aisle at Whole Foods.  Does this count as trickle down?

Scroll, Scroll, Scroll

Nice interview with Pete Seeger in Pitchfork.  This bit is great:

Seeger: I've been lucky to have good health most of my life. Except my brain is goin' now. I can't remember names. I confess I've never heard of Pitchfork. Is it sold in music stores?

Pitchfork: No, it's on the internet.

Seeger: An internet magazine! So you don't have to cut down trees. I'll be damned. I'm living in the past.

I confess to having a soft spot for "If I Had a Hammer."

Occasionally Music: Context Clues

On the road with all of our worldly goods behind us in boxes.  Really tired.

Occasionally Music: Tighten Up

The whole thing is great but the first 30 seconds of this is one of the greatest things I've seen or heard in, I don't know, . . . . ever.

Largo the Film

We only made it to the Largo once while we were living in Los Angeles, but it was hands down the greatest live musical experience of my life and without a doubt the "coolest" club we ever went to while living there.  So I was interested to find this trailer today of a film about the club and its regular band of performers.



We went there for a "secret" Gillian Welch and David Rawlings performance (tip of the hat to random fan site message boards) and they played alongside the Watson siblings, Jon Brion, Benmont Trench, and Greg Leisz.  They played for almost four hours, we stood up the entire time, walked out with our faces melted once it was over, bought one of those "best pieces of pizza you've ever had at 2:30 in the morning" from a dive on the corner and somehow made it home in one piece.  Here's a video from that night's show:

Occasionally Music: Honey Harvest

If things look good we'll be harvesting our honey this Wednesday.  It makes for a long day but it's totally worth it, 'cause as Erykah says, honey, "sugar got a long way to catch you."

PS.  Man, that is a great performance.  I used to be a pretty big Badu fan but really haven't heard much off of her new album.  Anybody know if it's solid.

Occasionally Music: Melody Gardot

I had forgotten about Melody Gardot until she arrived in my daily podcast subscription via KCRW's Today's Top Tune.  (Ah, KCRW, definitely in my top ten list of things I miss about living in LA)  The song reminded me of what a great voice she has and what an interesting story she has.  Both first came to my attention via NPR:

Four years after a serious car accident, Melody Gardot used the experience as a springboard to musical success she might never have achieved otherwise.

The singer, now 23, was hit by an SUV while riding her bicycle. Her injuries were serious and left her unable to sit up for more than 10 minutes. She suffered short-term memory loss and acute sensitivity to light and sound.

Gardot had played the piano before the accident, and a doctor suggested that she use music as a kind of recovery therapy. Since she couldn't sit comfortably at the piano, she picked up a guitar. Now, she's a professional musician, and her debut full-length album is called Worrisome Heart.

. . . .

Since the accident, Gardot has struggled with short-term memory loss, which forces her to write and record compositions before she forgets them. Furthermore, her heightened sensitivity to light and sound — which, despite hearing devices and sunglasses — makes performing somewhat difficult. But she says she still finds it enjoyable.

Here are a couple of tracks courtesy of YouTube:

RZA Hearts Broccoli

As previously mentioned, I've been away from the computer and internet for a couple of days so I'm supposed to be catching up on work and staying away from the feed reader but this had to be passed along as it combines two things close to my heart:  the Wu-Tang Clan and broccoli.  From the Vulture blog:

Speaking of snacks, are you still making your famous RZA burgers?
You mean the ones with the waffles, right? Yeah I’m definitely still making those. Those are the shit.

What other vegetarian dishes are you working on?
I’ve been really big on broccoli lately, man. Nah mean? There's a couple of ways to make it. You can sauté it with butter and olive oil together. Or I like to soak it rosemary oil and then lightly fry it. Put that shit over some rice … that shit is tasty, my nigga.

Tasty indeed, RZA.  Tasty.  Indeed.

Occasionally Music: Pardon Edition

New York Governor David Paterson has pardoned Slick Rick in an effort to stave off the threat of his deportation.  From the governor's statement explaining the pardon:

Mr. Walters, who is now 43 years old, has lived in the Bronx without incident since his release from prison in 1997. He is presently employed as a landlord and rap musician. Mr. Walters has a wife and two children, all of whom are American citizens. 

Slick Rick's current great adventures presumably involve plungers and key rings.

Mux 2.0

Here's a new mix for your listening pleasure.

Liner notes:

This is the video for the first song:

They make great summer music, thus the 3 songs, and Parade is a good album.

I heard a few songs from Heather Waters' last album but this has a different sound . . . 

Jayber Crow is a recent discovery and I really like them.  They are named (I assume, I couldn't  find a reference on their website) after the titular character of my favorite Wendell Berry novel.  Hear more here.

Sera Cahoone led me to The Fairline Parkway.

Silver Bus is a beautiful song off a beautiful album, which I always forget about, by Lori McKenna, she has a new album out but I haven't heard it and must have recently signed with Warner Bros because that website is the definition of corporate.

Some more Santogold in there along with new songs from The Weepies, Sun Kil Moon, and Kasey Chambers.

That brown is #663300.