High Highs + Tashaki Miyaki
November 28, 2011 § Leave a comment
‘Flowers Bloom’ from the ‘High Highs’ EP (Bandcamp)
Free ‘Flowers Bloom’ MP3 (courtesy I Guess I’m Floating) here
‘Get It Right’ from the ‘Tashaki Miyaki’ EP
Out now on on The Sounds Of Sweet Nothing (Bandcamp)
Stan says: #Monday. Two of the most hypnotic, dream inducing videos that have crossed our monitors in 2011. Wintry scenes with horses and young lovers at play … what’s not to like?
Lambchop – If Not I’ll Just Die + Up With The People
November 21, 2011 § Leave a comment
Taken from the album ‘Mr. M’
Released 20/02/2012 on City Slang/ Merge Records
Stan says: #Monday. We regularly find ourselves revisiting Lambchop records of times past, and since Kurt & Co. offered up this free download taster from the forthcoming new album Mr. M last week the frequency of these visitations has spiked once again. Is there any better soundtrack for a grey Monday morning in late November than this?
‘Up With The People’ (Zero 7 Mix) by Lambchop:
Unruly Dogs
November 11, 2011 § Leave a comment
Released 11/11/2011 (Grandpa Stan)
Cat number STAN015
Produced, Written & Performed by Unruly Dogs
Illustrations by Nathalie Bösch
Buy Name Your Price download
Unruly Dogs Tumblr
Debut album of illustrated concept pop par les chiens indisciplinés!
“Perfectly executed, diverse and crammed with imagination
… buying is a recommendation.” Sounds XP
“One hell of an album!” Bikini Island
“All that’s good about alternative indie pop.” Believe In Sound « Read the rest of this entry »
Family Of The Year – St. Croix (Hooray for Earth Mix)
November 7, 2011 § Leave a comment
Taken from the ‘St. Croix EP’
Out now on tinyOGRE (iTunes)
Stan says: #Monday. This remix has been enticing our eardrums for a while now but it’s never felt quite as appropriate to us as it does this morning. Something to do with a lack of sleep over the weekend and an entirely predictable but growing desire to go on a very slow moving holiday in the Caribbean as soon as possible perhaps. At the time of going to press you can still grab a free download (on sign up) of the original version of ‘St. Croix’ from the Family Of The Year website here and Rolling Stone are hosting an MP3 version of the remix here.
Kestrels – There All the Time Without You
November 4, 2011 § Leave a comment
Single out now.
Free download via bandcamp.
Kestrels Facebook here.
Stan says: #Friday. Initial inspection suggests the new single by Nova Scotian trio Kestrels contains at least 15% MBV, 25% Dinosaur Jnr and 20% Ash. It’s also been argued that there may be a sprinkling of ‘Dakota’ era Stereophonics hiding in the compositional gene pool. That said there’s a constituent part far more major than any of these elements that’s hanging out on the tip of our collective brain, but unfortunately our recall facilities seem to be denying us full access this morning. We will update this post with any eureka moment should it occur but in the meantime email suggestions for unaccounted fuzzrock DNA here.
Dad Rocks! – Take Care
November 2, 2011 § Leave a comment
Taken from the album ‘Mount Modern’
Released on 8/11/11 by Paper Garden Records (US)
& 7/11/11 Scary Monsters Records (UK)
Buy from Paper Garden/ Buy from BSM.
Dad Rocks! Bandcamp here.
Stan says: #Wednesday. There’s been much love in these parts for Snævar Albertsson’s Dad Rocks! side project since his ‘Digital Age EP’ reared it’s head in 2010 (and from which ‘Kids’ is available as a free download here). We heard new tracks ‘Take Care’ and ‘Weapons’ via Paper Garden a few months ago and have found ourselves living in quiet but growing anticipation of the full length ever since. As it transpires ‘Mount Modern’ is almost everything we hoped it might be – a warm blanket of a record that betrays it’s Danish/Icelandic roots in all the right ways. Listening to it may prove to be one of this winters best weapons against those “why is it dark already, it’s only 4pm?” demons that can increasingly be found lurking in the mid week shadows at this time of year. So if you’re feeling seasonally susceptible then check out the full album stream that’s just gone live courtesy of The 405 here and see what happens. It might just beat the caffeine and lemon based alternatives.
Peter Broderick + Nils Frahm – Harmonics (Efterklang Cover)
October 24, 2011 § Leave a comment
Available on ‘Raincoats’ (single) by Efterklang / Out now on Rumraket + 4AD / iTunes \\ Available on ‘Wonders’ by Oliveray / Released 9/12/2011 on Cote Labo here.
Free download of ‘Harmonics’ & ‘Growing Waterwings’ from ‘Wonders’ via Peter Broderick’s website here.
Stan says: #Monday. While listening to the new Nils Frahm album ‘Felt’ this morning, talk turned to Frahm’s sometime Producer and Efterklang live member Peter Broderick and the cover version the two recorded together last year for an Efterklang b-side (and what has now become side project Oliveray). We were lucky enough to catch one of the Bella Union Birthday gigs at Bush Hall a couple of years ago with a line up that featured all three of the above mentioned artists. Initially going along to see Broderick, in the end it was special guests Efterklang who blew our minds that night. Despite some impressive turns however, to our ears Efterklang have not yet managed to capture the full scale or majesty on record that they are capable of delivering on stage. We’ll keep on waiting hopefully for that particular recorded moment to occur, but in the meantime this stripped down ‘Harmonics’ cover still does a near perfect job of letting Efterklang’s musical charms cut through in an altogether more understated (but no less affecting) manner than the sometime colossi we fell in love with on stage.
Sidi Touré – Ir Kagay Alada (Live)
October 17, 2011 § Leave a comment
‘Ir Kagay Alada’ (Live at Old Town School of Folk Music)
‘Sahel Folk'(album) by Sidi Touré
Out now on Thrilljockey (buy link)
Stan says: #Monday. At least twice a year we find ourselves getting a little bit distressed about all of the music that we haven’t listened to in the preceding months. It’s hard to predict when the distress will come but it always does. Our decidedly un-encyclopedic knowledge of the genre known as ‘World Music’ (though we’ve never been too sure about the aptness of the title) is a particular area that we have underlying concerns about. We used to have a plan to go on a solitary highland retreat and go on an intensive listening course but alas that particular dream has not yet come to pass.
In the meantime here’s a live recording from last month of a track by Malian guitarist Sidi Touré whose 2011 album ‘Sahel Folk’ we did manage to hear … and whose warm relaxed acoustics we love.
Megafaun + Bon Iver
October 12, 2011 § Leave a comment
‘These Words’ by Megafaun
Taken from the album ‘Megafaun’
Out now on Hometapes/Crammed Discs
Purchase from Hometapes here
Stan says: #Wednesday. We’ve been as excited as ever to revisit some of Peter Gabriel’s back catalogue and that incredible voice (still one of our favourites) via his ‘New Blood’ project this week. It’s also been a great relief to see that Mandy Moore persuaded her husband to sit down and write some decent songs before releasing another record (if only she could work the same trick on Prince). Plenty more music buzzing away in our brains of late but the new Megafaun album is proving one of the most repeatable listens. And this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact they they used to be in a band with Justin Vernon in his pre Bon Iver days. Despite being the first single lifted from the album, the Beta Band meets TV On The Radio-isms of ‘These Words’ are probably not the best introduction to the sound of the record as a whole, but if you like a bit of Alt Country + Folk Gospel + Prog with your breakfast cereal then it’s well worth investigating the new Megafaun release further if you haven’t already done so. Visit the Megafaun blog here
+ …
A new Karma Kid Remix of Bon Iver for handy comparison:
‘Towers’ (Karma Kid Redub) by Bon Iver
Dan Lyth – Pascal
October 10, 2011 § Leave a comment
Taken from the ‘Some Of My Friends Songs’ EP
Out now as a free download via bandcamp here
Stan says: #Monday. A reworking of an original by The Scottish Enlightenment. We only stumbled across this last week (despite being released just over a year ago), but have been bewitched by its subtle charms ever since.
GRANDPA STAN 