this smokey robinson classic has been covered many times, but this year two great indie folk acts have gotten in with their own versions. the first song that got me hooked on thao nguyen was the heartfelt "feet asleep", an acoustic song that got itself an updated production for its appearance in this year's we brave bee stings and all. that album, performed by thao and her band the get down stay down, was released earlier this year on cd, and later this august on lp, which is the version that features this cover. she & him, on the other hand, is a partnership between m. ward and zooey deschanel, also with a debut album this year titled volume one. i like how the two voices in the she & him version intertwine shyly, but also the momentum thao achieves on her's. i really can't decide which one i prefer, so here's both songs. take your pick.

mp3: thao - you've really got a hold on me

mp3: she & him - you really got a hold on me

The Acorn is a Canadian indie-folk outfit hailing from Ottawa, Ontario. Formed in 2003, their prevailing songwriter and frontman is Rolf Klausener. The quintet have released three albums so far, but Glory Hope Mountain is their first full length record.

Catchy and bright---emotionally stimulating as well as empowering, Glory Hope Mountain is one of the premier indie-rock albums of the year. Folkish in that the group employs exurban instruments and is propelled by various percussive elements, it has an unsullied freshness to it, carried by its various eccentricities. "Even While You're Sleeping" is a good introductory track; featuring vocal harmonies like those used chartered by Fleet Foxes, it has a beautifully rural feel to it.

On "Crooked Legs" horns accompany vocals, stringed instruments, and atavistic percussion. It has a very strong vocal melody above of its beautiful chord progression. The entire album is filled with real musical sensibility.  The songwriting is first class.  "Flood pt. 1" is gorgeous with its chorus of singers and groovy bass section. An extremely fun listen, it carries emotion while simultaneously exploiting an African tribal feel.  The lyrics are strong as well; alliteration is utilized in the lines you lift your head from wild and wicked sleep / the withered river sputters at your feet. Opener "Hold Your Breath" is one of the greatest tracks on the album.  It climaxes innocently but powerfully; guitar melodies and drum-set culminate in a bridge section that is an extremely dynamic texture.

As sprightly an image as I am painting, don't be fooled into thinking these guys are some mutated form of folk whose foundation is rooted in aggression and trenchant displays of pep. Rather, The Accorn's brand of folk is just accessibly alluring, vigorous in that it avoids wearing. The record has its genre-typical sparse moments like "Sister Margaret" (a track I love), but they are rare and provide appropriate breaks.

The way I see it, The Acorn is a less timid and more emotionally charged Fleet Foxes (I hate to make the same comparison twice in one review but I'm not too worried about name dropping others right now; besides they relate by both being 2008 artists). Nothing against the Fleet Foxes, but the Acorn manage to really pull at your ears; appreciation doesn't take days of digging.

Glory Hope Mountain is based on the life of Rolf Klausener’s mother Gloria Esperanza Montoya (notice the parallel album title). Her life was one filled with numerous trials and hardships. Rather then penning a narrative account of her life, Klausener wisely chose to poetically capsulize moments and emotions she experienced, creating a painterly representation of her life. By avoiding blatant descriptions of her life Klausener dodged the troubles faced by concept albums. It is easy for a concept to result in some banal rape of an idea that has been previously expounded upon. The Acorn managed to eschew from that path, and the resulting freshness of this album is why it can be so overwhelming satisfying. Regardless of the story of the album or the band, this album is a smashing listen musically, and has cruised to the top of my 2008 list. Prepare to add it to yours.

O resultado foi esse vídeo divertido de "Why Do you Let Me Stay Here?", com jeito de um desenho animado que você não deixaria que seus filhos assistissem.

Pra quem não conhece, o She & Him é um projeto que foi criado pela atriz Zooey Deschanel ("Quase Famosos", "Guia do Mochileiro das Galáxias") e pelo músico M. Ward em 2006. Os dois se conheceram em um set de filmagem e começaram a trabalhar juntos - Zooey compondo e cantando; Ward produzindo as faixas. O primeiro álbum da dupla, "Volume One", só foi lançado em março deste ano, com canções de indie folk e indie pop, e toques de música country.

Em um ano que teve musas do cinema como Scarlett Johansson se aventurando no mundo da música, provavelmente nenhuma outra recebeu tantas propostas de casamentos de fãs quanto Zooey. Graças ao jeito angelical, às letras românticas e à voz inacreditavelmente doce, a atriz deixou marmanjos de todo o mundo babando por ela.

Para o sucesso musical do She & Him, contou também a experiência e o talento de M. Ward, cantor e compositor americano que trabalhou com artistas como Cat Power, Bright Eyes e Jenny Lewis. Atualmente, o músico é um dos nomes mais respeitados do cenário indie folk. Seu último disco "Post-War", foi um dos trabalhos mais elogiados no ano de seu lançamento, em 2006.

Teeny-tiny problem.

They don't seem to know they're doing it.

The lovely Andy's last words to me were: "Don't Panic."

Okay, okay. I'm trying, I'm trying ... :shock:

Sufjan Stevens, American musician

Ontem à noite aconteceu uma das poucas apresentações do Chris Garneau no Brasil. Não conhecia o músico, fui no show depois de ouvir só uma música. Piano, violoncelo, acordeon, letras deprecivas, mas uma voz muito gostosinha. Um toque de Elliott Smith e Yann Tiersen. Simplesmente fofo, e de tão pequenininho dá vontade de carregar no chaveiro.

No maior estilo Música de Bolso, essa é a 'We don't try':

E essa é a cover do Elliott Smith 'Between the bars':

***Agora saiu a versão Música de Bolso de verdade, no volume 48. Confira aqui***

Eu aduc casetofonul, tu aduci berile si voi de acolo....

Sa ascultam cu toti Beirut si sa dansam desculti pe strazi pustii!

Beirut - Scenic World.mp3

Beirut - Carousels.mp3

Beirut - Nantes.mp3

Beirut - Bratislava.mp3

Beirut - Scenic World

the lights go on
the lights go off
when things don't feel right
I lie down like a tired dog
licking his wounds in the shade

when I feel alive
I try to immagine a careless life
a scenic world where the sunsets are all
breathtaking

Como no show em que assisti em San Telmo junto com a Orquesta de Salon - clarinete, trompa, percussão, bateria, baixo acústico, violão de 10 cordas, 2 violinos(!) e outras coisas que não identifiquei. O show se chama 'La era del sonido' e desse show eles gravam um disco que coloco aqui para download.

Alegre e feliz, Pablo é cantor, compositor, professor de música e toca, preferencialmente, su guitara, mas também domina o piano e a flauta.

[gallery]

Do disco destaco a otimista 'La Guitarra y El Bolsón' que tem um começo de sopros que gosto bastante. O violino (novamente ele) é bem destaco nessa faixa.

'Fantasma' acho divertida e bonita. 'Uno tiene medo de sospecha, otro tiene mede de la confianza', mas 'caminan muy tranquilos, sin notar que viven con fantasmas', diz a letra realista e profunda.

E a útlima que aconselho é 'Fantasía'. Desafio alguém a ouvir essa baladinha ao ritmo do assovio e não balançar a cabeça ou tentar assoviar junto. É muito contagiante! Só instrumental, ela é o começo e o fim do show.

Também acho bonita 'Ella Ya Está na Playa' e 'Zamba Del Fin Del Mundo' a mais bonita do disco.

Para mais info:

Myspace.

Clipe da música 'Rumbo Negro' que não está no disco.

O iubesc de mult timp pe Rosie Thomas. O mai înşel din când în când, dar nu atât de grav, încât să nu mă ierte. În fine, o ascult de mult... iar Pretty Dress este departe de cel mai bun cântec al ei, dar unul din puţinele pe care le-am găsit pe youtube. Totuşi, clipul, zic eu, e perfect realizat, deci toate laudele mele, pentru singura stand-up comediantă pe care o cunosc!

“I don’t know,” the girl’s friend responded in a long, contemplative breath. I felt the two hovering behind me in excitement, could sense their anxiety as they strained and shuffled around my broad shoulders, trying to make out the identity of the six figures that had scurried onto the stage and had begun picking up their instruments, taking swigs of beer, tuning their strings. “I think so. I see a trumpet. Beirut uses a trumpet.”

Similar interactions repeated themselves in waves throughout the crowd. The attendees in front of me squirmed and stretched as well, trying to secure a decent line of vision between the bobbing heads of the people in front of them. And though I was out of ear shot, their body language spoke loudly enough: one person would whisper into his friend’s ear with a questioning tilt of the neck, to which his friend would respond with a shrug of her shoulders, leaving them all wondering: “Is this the band I paid $35 to see perform?”

No, the band that was setting up on stage wasn’t Beirut. It was the opening act, The Brunettes, who have being touring with Beirut throughout May.

The crowd knew when Beirut would roll through Los Angeles. They knew the lyrics to practically every tune, and sang along—or at least mumbled phonetically-similar phrasings to the melody—to at least half of the band’s set that night. They even knew the de facto dress code for the evening, since about 90% of them were decked out in a similar grungy-sophistication-meets- half-throttle-hipster-nonchalance.

But the crowd didn’t know what the band looked like, wouldn’t have been able to recognize the lead singer if he bumped into them while they were waiting in line to get their $7 Corona Lights.

Beirut is a moniker for the precious, 22-year old multi-instrumentalist Zach Condon. Together with a backing ensemble of horns, violin, ukulele, upright bass, glockenspiel, and accordion, Beirut has released two Middle-Eastern-folk albums which offer warm, masquerading melodies and collective, invigorating instrumentation. The band sounds like it should be featured in Persian circuses before on the airwaves of independent radio stations or on Best Albums of the Year lists. And that’s quite a statement for an indie band in a genre that is teeming with exhausted, uninventive, easily-palatable sounds .

As for the band’s looks, on the other hand— they fit their indie-folk title to the tight-jeaned T.

But even if Beirut did look as unique and mystifying as they sound, I wonder if the situation would be different—if the group’s fans, who probably spent even more money to pay for parking and for the gas it required to drive to the venue than for the ticket itself, would even recognize the musicians when they took to the stage.

I love that it takes only a matter of minutes to get my hands on music from almost any band out there. I love that it takes only the diligence to remember to charge my iPod in order for me to then enjoy this music while walking, bike-riding, driving, or generally cavorting around this city. I even love, or at least am endlessly fascinated by the fact, that amidst this surplus of musical options available, particular personality types still flock to the same assortment of artists or genres of music (or perhaps particular artists and musical genres shape the malleable the personalities of these listeners), bringing individuals together at music shows every night of the week in this city to mingle and to share their views on the world, views which, unsurprisingly, are almost as similar to one another as are the individuals’ wardrobes. Music is a uniting force—always has been. Music as it exists today in the endless expanse of the internet is a rampant juggernaut of interconnectivity, artistry, elitism, and style.

But a full 120GB iPod and a posse of music aficionados does not a music fan make.

You’ve heard it before—how we’re cutting ourselves short by having such infinite access to music, and how we seldom build relationships with the artists we like and the songs they create.  And I agree completely. In my attempts to stay abreast of new bands and musical trends that emerge on a daily basis, I often forget to make time to truly get to know the artists that I claim to love; to sit in my bedroom for hours with the TV off and my door shut to the world, and just to listen.

On the other hand, what does it say about music as an art form that it can motivate a bunch of otherwise apathetic twentysomethings to listen to a band, memorize their lyrics, pay money to see them performed live, but to completely forget to see what the band looks like. Are they cute and slim, rugged and disheveled, plump and eccentric? Perhaps they even sport a bit of grungy sophistication and hipness? And what does it say that such a glaring lapse in vanity could occur in Los Angeles, where one has a tough time even walking to the convenience store to buy a Corona for a $1.25 without some billboard or passer-by silently reminding her to powder her nose?

Throughout history, musicians have seldom made a mark on their generations for their music alone. Like most types of artists, they effect change through a series of audaciously radical or radically unremarkable lifestyle choices.

But I’ve got to admit: the fact that a lot of the people who came to Beirut’s show did so because of the band’s music—because of Beirut’s art rather than their appearance or image—was quite refreshing. (Their well-earned reputation for absolutely tearing it up in live performances probably helped as well.)

and we grow fat
on the charms of our idle dreary days
seen the shadows grow
see an ominous display
with no alarm
could we say we'd have expected this way
under stars have died
give incent to play
wroclai
                      “mount wroclai (idle days)”  BEIRUT 

[this post is cross-published at www.glassshallot.com]

Download

Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head

La primera vez que escuche que Scarlett Johanson, empezaría a experimentar en el territorio musical, pensé que sería algo muy arriesgado; sobretodo por el hecho el típico estereotipo de la actriz que cantar. Empecé a ver que se empezó a explorar este mundo con buenas bandas, principalmente con The Jesus & Mary Chain.

Debo de aceptar que siempre he amado su trabajo, sus películas y los proyectos que realiza; y al enterarme de esta faceta temí...en que fuera un error. Sinceramente me gusta mucho lo que ha hecho. Su voz es diferente y por decirlo así es extraña. Las canciones de Tom Waits son hermosas y Scarlett les da un toque muy especial y diferente. Este proyecto viene con el respaldo de Mr. David Bowie en el cual también participa.

La canción de Song for Jo es la única que no es cover, es escrita por la misma Scarlett. El disco es producido por Howard Gallant.

Nota Personal: Escuchenlo y denle oportunidad, la verdad no creo se arrepientan.

Enjoy!!

Tracklist:

1. "Fawn" (Tom Waits' album Alice)
2. "Town with No Cheer" (Tom Waits' album Swordfishtrombones)
3. "Falling Down" (Tom Waits' album Big Time)
4. "Anywhere I Lay My Head" (Tom Waits' album Rain Dogs)
5. "Fannin Street" (Tom Waits' album Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards)
6. "Song for Jo" (original song)
7. "Green Grass" (Tom Waits' album Real Gone)
8. "I Wish I Was in New Orleans" (Tom Waits' album Small Change)
9. "I Don't Want to Grow Up" (Tom Waits' album Bone Machine)
10. "No One Knows I'm Gone" (Tom Waits' album Alice)
11. "Who Are You?" (Tom Waits' album Bone Machine)

Video: Falling Down

Denison is one of those young songwriters. This Philadelphian musician has done collaborations with acts such as Sufjan Stevens and Rosie Thomas. His music is really easy to listen to and relatable.

Enjoy on this beautiful Monday morning!

Denison Witmer - Northern Sky (Nick Drake cover)

(One more of Witmer's originals)

Denison Witmer - Are You a Dreamer?

Eu confesso. Eu não sou das mais entendidas de música. Fui criada a base de música de rádio, músicas do arco da velha da minha vó, e até CD das Sete Melhores da Jovem Pan. Minha educação musical é próxima ao zero, nunca aprendi a tocar um instrumento, no mínimo a flauta doce na pré-escola e a nunca atendida vontade de aprender a tocar violão.

Essa minha história de escrever sobre música foi muito mais um hobbie que eu passei pro blog do que um assunto que eu realmente manje, por isso confesso: eu não sei lidar com as tantas categorias da música de hoje em dia. Me lembro bem que quando eu era mais nova as coisas eram bem mais simples, ou era pop, ou era rock, ou era eletrônico, ou era sertanejo, ou era samba/ axé, e mais uma ou outra coisa. E só.

Agora é um tal de new-pop-rock-eletro-punk-anti-folk que eu já nem sei mais. Por exemplo, as categorias dos meus posts, em NUNCA sei se coloco um ou outro, ou crio um novo. Não que isso seja necessariamente ruim (aliás, adoro essa variedade toda), ou que as coisas deviam ser encaixadas em categorias quadradas, mas o que mais me incomoda é que como categorizar as minhas preferências musicais? Eu já nem sei falar do que gosto mais. 

Essa aflição me atingiu recentemente quando coloquei Mark Ronson pra tocar no Last.fm e o site me põe como artistasimilar o Kanye West (Kanye West! odeio esse cara!). Juro que para mim é juntar banana com maçã, mas será essa a lógica?

Isso é Mark Ronson, com o cover de Radiohead "Just":

E isso é Kanye West, com o Daft Punk em "Stronger":

It's weird; I have a friend with this same name here in Denver. Like my friend Christopher said, "Sounds like a dirty hippy, but he has great stage presence and it very connective". Anyway, watch this video and feel good:

Parece que depois de todo bafafa provocado pelo Radiohead com o lançamento do álbum 'In Rainbows', vários outros artistas resolveram se enveredar na web pra divulgar os seus novos trabalhos. Agora o hype já não é aparecer no TRL e dar entrevista pro Carlson Daly, agora a bola da vez é disponibilizar material de graça online e confiar no poder do boca-a-boca dos fãs.

Nesses últimos dias o CSS jogou o 'Rat is Dead' no site, o Last.fm disponibilizou o mp3 de 'Glory to the World' do El Perro del Mar, o Nine Inch Nails deixou o álbum novo inteiro na web, o Coldplay deixou o novo 'Violet Hill', Madonna deixou o 'Hard Candy' no MySpace (ok, ela confia no taco dela e só deixa ouvir na web). A grande dúvida é: será que isso funciona?

Parece paradoxal pensar que dar algo de graça possa ajudar nas vendas de alguma coisa, mas na minha opinião, principalmente para a música, é um ótimo caminho. Eu, por exemplo, baixei todos os citados acima. De verdade, nessa lista só gosto mesmo é de Madonna, El Perro Del Mar e CSS, o resto só conheço pelo que toca na rádio (e acho bem blah). Primeiro ponto: já que está disponível, pessoas que nunca ouviam tal banda vão baixar pela curiosidade.

Eu adorei o novo single do CSS, indiquei pra gente que eu sei que iria gostar, postei em um twitt e ainda fiz um post por aqui. Imagino que só pela indicação, muita gente que nunca ouviria se ariscou a ouvir. Segundo ponto: O boca-a-boca na web se espalha, o que pode angariar novos fãs.

Com mais fãs, mais gente vai buscar trabalhos antigos, CDs, camisetas, shows, enfim. Terceiro ponto: A divulgação acaba sendo mais barata que as grandes campanhas das mega gravadoras, sem mega ações promocionais, sem grande viagens para as MTVs around the world, e ainda com possibilidades de alcançar milhares de pessoas de vários países.

Eu não sei como as gravadoras estão lidando com esse novo cenário e se realmente vai ser uma onda pra ficar, mas eu pessoalmente acredito que pode dar certo principalmente pras bandas independentes. Tom York deu uma entrevista falando que o 'In Rainbows' foi uma experiência única e que não fará isso de novo. Talvez ele possa mudar de idéia mais tarde.

Bom, voltando pras pílulas de música, essa é a 'Glory to the World' que eu falei lá em cima.

PS: Se quiser os downloads, é só clicar nos links do post!

Download:

http://www.flyupload.com/?fid=2520738

DeVotchKa es un cuarteto de Denver que hace una mezcla de música rumana, griega, eslava, boleros, mariachis, folk y punk.

Complicado??? Pues creo que es eso lo que me encanta. En resumén es como entrar en un película de Tim Burton.

Los descubrí en ACL 2007 simplemente geniales!

Track List:

1. "Basso Profundo"
2. "Along the Way"
3. "The Clockwise Witness"
4. "Head Honcho"
5. "Comrade Z"
6. "Transliterator"
7. "Blessing in Disguise"
8. "Undone"
9. "Strizzalo"
10. "A New World"

Web: http://devotchka.net/

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/devotchkamusic

If you feel like singing a song
And you want other people to sing along
Just sing what you feel
Don’t let anyone say it’s wrong

And if you’re trying to paint a picture
But you’re not sure which colors belong
Just paint what you see
Don’t let anyone say it’s wrong

And if you’re strung out like a kite
Or stung awake in the night
It’s alright to be frightened

When there’s a light (what light)
There’s a light (one light)
There’s a light (white light)
Inside of you

If you think you might need somebody
To pick you up when you drag
Don’t lose sight of yourself
Don’t let anyone change your bag

And if the whole world’s singing your songs
And all of your paintings have been hung
Just remember what was yours is everyone’s from now on

And that’s not wrong or right
But you can struggle with it all you like
You'll only get uptight

Because there’s a light (what light)
There’s a light (one light)
There’s a light (white light)
There’s a light (what light)
There’s a light (one light)
There’s a light (white light)
There’s a light (what light)
There’s a light (one light)
There’s a light (white light)
There’s a light (what light)
There’s a light (one light)
There’s a light (white light)
Inside of you

A formação clássica e com inspiração no jazz e no blues fazem com que Andrew tenha um folk um pouco mais elaborado e menos imitando Bob Dylan do que a média dos 'indie-folkers', o que para alguns é até um erro, um pecado para os puristas da folk music (que é, na cultura americana, um revival da música tradional do país feita por artistas como Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger e Joan Baez na década de 50 e 60. Outra definição de folk music é simplismente música tradicional).

Aliás, vale o comentário, conheci Andrew Bird numa linda participação que ele faz na faixa 'London Town' do disco da ótima cantora francesa Emily Loizeau (vale entrar no site), disco esse que ganhei de uma grande amiga.

'Armchari Apocrypha' é o nome do último disco de Andrew que escolhi para colocar para download(link para baixar o disco). O disco foi lançado em março de 2007, apesar de ter vazado na internet em janeiro.

O disco todo é muito interessante, arranjos bonitos e produção muito boa. Vale baixar e ouvir todo, mesmo para quem não gosta de folk, pois o disco não é nada monotono. Aliás, ele é cheio de referências à música clássica e até eletrônica (na faixa 'Simple X' gravada com Martin Dosh), bem diferente da tradicional folk music americana.

Destaco duas músicas:

Plasticities: talvez a melhor música do disco. A introdução é linda, com instrumentos clássicos, tem um dedilhado de violino e um outro instrumento que não sei o nome, mas adoro. Animada, a música toda é bem legal, é a música que mostraria para apresentar o artista, se só pudesse escolher uma.

Heretics: também bem animada é outra faixa onde a participação do violino é bem marcante, deixando a faixa com um ar de herudito, mesmo com toda a bateria que conduz e carrega o ritmo dessa faixa.

Videos:

(clipe da faixa 'Imitosis')

(apresentação de 'Plasticities' no Coachella em 2007)

(episódio do La Blogotheque em Montmartre, Paris)

Site do Andrew: www.andrewbird.net

In general, my music tastes run to various combinations of folk, indie, rock, blues, classical, and electronic. (Folk-indie-electronica! Classical-blues-rock!) Part of the idea of this project, though, is branching out, and giving a longer chance to pieces of music that I'd normally skip over after an initial partial-hearing. I promise I'll make efforts to listen to stuff that I usually avoid.

The first piece of music I'm going to listen to, though, is probably well within my normal range. I feel like the last folk-indie (there go those word combinations again) listener not to have heard any Neko Case except in passing, and a friend just gave me a copy of Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. Without a better guess on where to go first, I'm going to listen to the title track.

Little iPod earbuds in! Volume turned up!

First Listen
Woah.

That's definitely not what I was expecting, and I'm not quite sure how to react. My first impressions were of a wildly meandering tune, with not so much a bridge as an entirely separate song jammed into the middle. The lyrics struck me-- one line towards the end, "will there be no one above me to pull my faith in?", in particular-- but I didn't find them easily intelligible. As a whole, the song seemed more atmospheric than narrative, and while I'm not turned off, I wouldn't immediately be drawn to the repeat button if I were listening normally.

Side note: I've never been hugely attracted to female vocalists, with the possible exception of Over The Rhine. Neko Case's voice, though, is weirdly intriguing. It doesn't have the immediate bizarre appeal of, say, Joanna Newsom, but I do find the strangely sing-songy quality of her sound compelling.

Ok, my impressions are starting to get muddled.

Second Listen
This listen was more positive on the whole, but still a bit conflicted.

The beginning hit me much more strongly this time around. There's almost no lead-in to the song; it starts immediately at full volume, and the tune doesn't develop from what's initially presented until the point at which the whole song changes. On the whole, I like that here. The song has a dreamy, folk-tale allegory quality to it, and the contrast of the abrupt beginning with the soft, fuzzy background is kind of nice.

I'm not normally particularly enamored of-- I don't have a technical term for it, but I suppose I'd call it "fuzzy" sound. In general, musical structures that are clearly defined, precise, and complex, even mathematical, are what appeal to me most. In this case, though, while the instrumentation of the song was a little offputting during my first listen, it was much more palatable this time through, maybe because I was expecting the mood.

The "bridge" also didn't strike me as nearly as jarring this time, and the meandering of the tune also seemed more stylized than messy.

I still wouldn't be reaching for the repeat button compulsively, though maybe out of curiosity.

Third Listen
Okay, okay, I like it. The lyrics are compelling ("I kneel to the wheel of the Fox Confessor"; "It's not for you to know, but for you to weep and wonder when the death of your civilization precedes you"), and the meandering instrumentation and tune are appealing more to me with every listen. I think I'd just need to be in the right mood to really appreciate the song-- it doesn't have quite the right qualities to immediately hook me and hold me on the first try, but it's continuing to grow on me. So! Verdict? It's not what would normally grab me at first hearing, but it has a curious, affectingly dreamy atmosphere, and the vocals and lyrics are striking. I'll listen again, and I think the song will keep feeling better.

----

There you go: first three listens. I'm going to look into using freely available MP3s for as many songs as possible, so that I can provide copies with posts. In the meantime, more listening.

Note : 4/5

image : Pitchfork

I want to delve into this new band I have been listening to called Fleet Foxes. They are a Seattle based five piece band that recently signed to the infamous Sub Pop records. They recently released an e.p. entitled Sun Giant. Their self-titled debut full length album is scheduled to release on June 3^rd (I just happen to have a leak of it thanks to the wonders of the internet).

Fleet Foxes could be described as a modern indie-folk band with a lot of references back to 1930s and 1940s folk music. Try to picture Woodie Guthrie doing covers of Sun Kil Moon songs! With the availability of modern day recording, this group is able to achieve an extremely multi-dimensional album. To my ears, it is very quaint and simple sounding, yet the harmonies and layering of the vocals make it sound extremely lavish and wet. They make use of a lot of vocal rounds in their music, which makes me think they would just be a joy to see in a live environment (I will post local show information at the bottom of this entry). The lyricism in the album is interesting to me. It tends to switch from vivid to ethereal in a moment’s notice. Overall, when I pay attention to the words, I am inclined to either hop in my car and road trip or sit at my desk and fill my notebook with words of my own.

I know the whole indie-folk scene seems to be a little overdone and repeating as of late, but I strongly suggest checking this group out. I found them to be very refreshing and solid.

Links:

Music Preview www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes

Band’s Website www.subpop.com/artists/fleet_foxes

Local Show info:

Monday, April 14^th 2008

Blitzen Trapper w/ Fleet Foxes and Porlolo

@ The Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway - Denver, Co

21+ $8adv/$10d.o.s.

http://www.hi-dive.com/show/detail/8660

Thunder rumbles in the distance, a quiet intensity
I am willful, your insistence is tugging at the best of me
You’re the moon, I’m the water
You’re Mars, calling up Neptune’s daughter

Sometimes rain that’s needed falls
We float like two lovers in a painting by Chagall
All around is sky and blue town
Holding these flowers for a wedding gown
We live so high above the ground, satellites surround us.

I am humbled in this city
There seems to be an endless sea of people like us
Wakeful dreamers, I pass them on the sunlit streets
In our rooms filled with laughter
We make hope from every small disaster

Everybody says: “you can’t, you can’t, you can’t, don’t try.”
Still everybody says that if they had the chance they’d fly like we do.

"The Weepies" e o trupă  compusă din doi muzicieni: Deb Talen şi Steve Tannen, care între timp s-au căsătorit şi au un copil în vârstă de 1 an. Pe 22 aprilie vor lansa cel de al treilea album al lor, "Hideway", album ce va fi produs de casa de discuri Nettwerk.

Bon Iver (pronounced bohn-eevair) is the stage name of indie-folk performer
Justin Vernon and he is an absolute obsession here at !tashed.

He released his album For emma, forever ago independently in 2007 and got picked up by the awesome indie label jajaguwar not long after, re-releasing it early this year.

If you can remember how iron & wine sounded to you the first time you heard them,
keep that in mind and add an insanely peculiar but incomparably perfect falsetto voice in its own right.

Thats Bon Iver for you.

With such vocals and such a myriad of images which comes to mind everytime his music gets played, he looks to be one of those greats in time to come.

Great expectations..but listen to him before you judge what i say.
Listen to skinny love just once and you will get so so hooked.

album|For Emma, forever ago

mp3|Bon Iver - Skinny love / (zshare)

mp3|Bon Iver - For Emma / (zshare)

Bon Iver website @ jagjaguwar

Bon Iver myspace

BUY BUY BUY BON IVER'S ALBUM for emma, forever ago NOW.