BLONDE REDHEAD

Blonde Redhead have been at it for 6 albums over 11 years. They are Kazu Makino (singer, guitar), Simone Pace (drums), and Amedeo Pace (guitar, bass, singer).

+ in particular
+ Chi É E Non É
+ this is not
+ i poo poo on your juju
+ missile ++
+ misery is a butterfly

blonde redhead website

THE CONSTANTINES

The Constantines:
Nightime, Anytime (It's Alright)

When some outside and even inside Canada think of Canadian music- the names Shania and Avril frequently come to mind, but under the mainstream media radar are many, many artists who put those two and their ilk to shame. The Constantines being the one we are concerned with today, but just to namedrop a few: Broken Social Scene, The Evaporators, Warsawpack, and The Stills.

The Constantines came together in the small Ontario city of Guelph, a picturesque place with a smallish university and a smaller still local arts scene. With the band's latest release, Shine A Light (their first on Sub Pop), they hit the ground running— thanks to an intensive touring schedule and the energy of it's band members.

The album opens with the frenetic, punked up energy of 'National Hum', followed by the yin and yang of 'Shine a Light' with it's head bobbing bass line. 'Nighttime/Anytime (It's Alright)' sits somewhere between these two (musically, at least) with the band displaying it's grasp of song dynamics, no doubt developed through their play 'anywhere/anytime' philosophy.

I guess I could say, Anywhere/Anytime (It's Alright), as long as it's The Constantines. And I did.

download Nightime, Anytime (It's Alright) courtesy of
betterPropaganda

US Label site: SUBPOP
Canadian Label site: THREE GUT RECORDS

betterPROPAGANDA.com

"Real Gone" MP3 @ Anti.com

Tom Waits is set to give us "Real Gone", his latest album, on October 5th. Anti Records, his label, have an e-card available on site.

Through this link you can download an MP3 of "How's It Gonna End" and read a bio of Mr. Waits.

"STEP RIGHT UP"

IF you don't know Tom Waits music, this is as good an introduction as any. Found on the album "Small Change", released in 1976, it is in my mind the standout track on the album, one I have listened to many times... and by that I mean 'dropped phonograph stylus to vinyl', having purchased the album in 1976, or was it '77?

This may be the funniest Waits track ever. No, check that, it is the funniest ever.



- The Young Mr. Waits

*Don't forget, Thomas Alan Waits will be giving us his latest effort, "Real Gone", next month.

+ "STEP RIGHT UP"

THE LASHES // "Death By Mixtape"

The Lashes:
"Death By Mixtape"

The Lashes like the buzzing guitars. Just listen. Oh, yeah, and the big chorus hook... big as an anchor on an aircraft carrier... a hook like the gigantic question mark that's fish-hooked through your cheek as you wonder, "Who the hell are these guys?"
The Lashes like the tried and true weary-whine vocal. Just listen. A rock 'n roll voice you yourself hear in your head as you squeak along with the after-just-two-listens-already-a-classic chorus. Delusion can be a wonderful thing, as long as you don't share it with others, then it could be termed a psychotic episode.



The Lashes are six guys from Seattle who, on the song 'Death By Mixtape', sound not unlike Hot Hot Heat weaned on New York Dolls, Stones, and perhaps a quick suckle of onetime babysitter (and wouldn't once be eonugh?), Iggy Pop.

download "Death By Mixtape" courtesy of betterPropaganda

MIRAH & GINGER "While We Have The Sun"

I love this song, right now at least, I just listened to it for the first time and the underwater guitar, the trilling keyboard riding high above the waterbound guitar tone... and all of it split by Mirah's clear voice - set softly against the speaker. Move closer, you can, I swear, very nearly feel the moisture of her breath.

This song is not solo Mirah, she is working here with Ginger Brooks Takahashi - as described below...

"Both avid adventurists and music-makers, Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn and Ginger Brooks Takahashi, a scant three months into their friendship, proposed this idyllic project to each other; to surround themselves with instruments and recording equipment for one month in a town where neither lived. No distractions. Securing the use of a friend’s grandmother's empty home in the cradle of the Blue Ridge Mountains, they awaited September."

from the album - "Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn / Ginger Brooks Takahashi & Friends Songs from the Black Mountain Music Project " :

+ while we have the sun

'"BLUE STINGRAYS"

I don't get it, buuuut, I like surf music every now and again. I just spent the last half hour searching for a song I downloaded months ago. I wanted to link it so you could hear how good it is. I remembered it's title, "Stingray Stomp", and have discovered the band is Blue Stingrays. Who are supposedly three members of Tom Petty's band, The Heartbreakers.

NO LUCK. Sheisse.


Here's what i could find:
+ monsoon
+ moon over catalina

THE FAINT // remixes

From Blank-Wave Arcade:
Call Call - The Faint
Worked Up So Sexual - The Faint
From Danse Macabre:
Agenda Suicide - The Faint
Glass Danse - The Faint
Remixes:
Call Call (Club Mix) - Transitor 3
Cars Pass in Cold Blood (Trans Mix) - Recordist
In Concert (Hot Bulb Mix) - The New Gender
The Passives (Cardboard Square Mix) - AJ/DJ
The Passives (Matinee Mix) - The Laces
Sealed Human (The Remix Kills Mix) - ]['m
Sex Is Personal (ZGA go go mix) - Totally Kill Me
Victim Convenience (Dance To Mix) - S.Krolikowski
Worked Up So Sexual (Pole Mix) - The Laces
Worked Up So Sexual (Death Cab Mix) - Chris Walla
Agenda Suicide (Stoven Mix) - Adult.
Agenda Suicide (Fake Agenda Mix) - Fake ID
The Conductor (Joy Electric Mix) - Joy Electric

MERMAID AVENUE // Billy Bragg & Wilco

A few years back now, I got a hold of my first Wilco CD, "Being There" and enjoyed it as many did. Although when I picked up the first "Mermaid Avenue" recording, which is the song lyrics of Woody Guthrie set to music written and performed by British 'protesty-folk-type' guy, Billy Bragg and the pre-"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" Wilco, I played it much more than the Wilco release.

Bragg, who often in his solo work sings with his accent, dropped it during the "Mermaid Avenue" project, and to my ears sounds more interesting for the effort.

It's a great album, released in 1998, the collaboration of one lone Brit and a band of American musicians, who came together over the dusty notebooks of Dustbowl balladeer and Union crusader, Guthrie - it's well worth your attention.

The album can be listened to > here < in this folder.

Enjoy standout tracks like: She Came Along To Me, California Stars, and Hesitating Beauty.

go here to buy the album

Elliott Smith // 'From A Basement On The Hill'

"From A Basement On The Hill" is, sadly, a posthumous release from the man who earned, in my mind, the mantle of 'Nick Drakes's Successor'. A more than worthy successor, who, like Drake, left us far too soon.

Elliott Smith's "From A Basement On The Hill" in stores Oct. 19th

+ memory lane
+ twilight

"I Put A Spell On you" x 2

You have surely heard this song, the version by Screamin' Jay Hawkins has been featured on commercials and in countless films and television shows. The Nina Simone version is valuable simply as a chance to hear Nina's inimitable voice and style... well, the same can be said for Screamin' Jay and the voodoo blues he concocts on the track he wrote.

nina simone + i put a spell on you
screamin' jay hawkins + i put a spell on you

nina simone website

Devendra Banhart // "Be Kind"

Mr. Banhart's new album is called "Nino Rojo" and it offers more of his eccentric musings, such as "Surgery I Stole". Although this album sees the addition of piano and bass to some tracks such as this one - "Be Kind"



Now when I hear his stranger musical tales, I can't help wonder how they will come across live. Does the magic I hear in some of these songs lessen or increase when Banhart comes face to face with an audience? I will find out in November when he performs in Toronto, I'll let you know what happens.

Shatner... yes, again.

the King is dead... long live the King!

With the interest shown in my William Shatner post a couple of days ago, I did some surfing and now realize that he has a new album coming out in about 3 weeks. Ably assisted by Ben Folds, Shatner is poised to conquer his grandchildren's peers! The reason I was surfing for info on Shatner was to find a song I had on a CMJ compilation a few years back. It was done with Ben Folds also... here it is.

+ In Love from the album "Fear Of Pop"

*bonus + rocketman - live!

Johnny Cash Meets the 'Devil' and 'God'

The Man in Black had his own style, defiant and strong - he used these traits when covering the seemingly self-stamped songs, "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails and "One" by U2.
And he left his mark on them as he left his mark on those who listened to him.



+ hurt
+ one

Arcade Fire // "In The Backseat" (old + new)

Here is a comment left by the friendly host of U of Guelph's radio show, Undertones.

"I was just stumbling around on the Internet looking for stories on the Arcade Fire, and I came across the link to my show's website - thanks.

The songs were recorded live on my radio show on July 4 2003 - when an viturally unheard of Arcade Fire was to play opening up for a show here in Guelph. They ended up playing last on the bill, because of the time constraints of the band and the blew people away. It is still the best show I have ever seen. The second song - song two is an early version of "in the back seat" from the new album funeral.

anyways thanks again

stuart
host of undertones"

here is that early version of "In The Back Seat" and here is the version found on 'Funeral' - "In The Back Seat"

undertones audio page - where you will find a group of mp3s recorded for/or by undertones - music and interviews.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds // new songs

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds are set to unleash this set of songs on audiences during November and December - Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
- the album is set for release on Sept. 20th.

... from the double album
+ supernaturally
+ nature boy
+ cannibal hymn

*the site offering these songs may be overloaded - try again later, if you're having no luck.


Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Tour Dates

"wet from birth"

Here are a couple more tracks from 'Wet From Birth'. An addition to the previous post featuring three tracks. Due to the overwhelming demand for more!

+ paranoia attack
+ how could i forget

Badly Drawn Boy // One Plus One is One

Damon Gough's latest, "One Plus One is One", was savaged by some critics and tolerated by others... and even admired by a few.
SPLENDID
POPMATTERS
PITCHFORK


Now you, yes you, can decide for yourself...

+ another devil dies
+ logic of a friend
+ take the glory

Destroyer // "It's Gonna Take An Airplane"

Destroyer
"It's Gonna Take an Airplane"

Avid listeners of The New Pornogrphers may hear what they believe to be Carl (a.k.a. AC) Newman's imprint on this piece of music - no, it's the other way around. Bejar has left indelible fingerprints on a number of New Pornographer tracks, an influence that goes unnoticed to all but loyal Destroyer/Bejar followers.

Destroyer's 'It's Gonna Take an Airplane' is orchestral in arrangement. An arrangement then twisted by the dark eyes of Vancouver, British Columbia's Dan Bejar into an indie chamber pop gem. But a chamber with padded walls, a chamber with a smoky sixties French pop feel - like Serge Gainsbourg, all clean and starched (save for the tobacco leaf smoking between his gallic fingers), pressed hard and flat up against sooty indieville - then finally breaking free, spinning off as a new creation. A lo-fi/hi-fi, three minute 41 second misfit, leaving blue smudges on the soft padded walls. This is Destroyer's 'It's Gonna Take an Airplane'.

Destroyer "Your Blues"

+ 'it's gonna take an airplane' from "Your Blues" - mp3 courtesy of betterPropaganda

Destroyer's
US Label
European Label

Destroyer "Streethawk: A Seduction
+ the very modern dance
+ sublimation hour

SHATNER

When I was a kid Saturday mornings meant only one thing... CARTOONS!! And so we have...

William Shatner is known for his over blown, yet somehow oddly restrained histrionic style, which he has thoughtlessly lent to the recording of more than a few well known songs.
Enjoy the audio and the visual.

+ lucy in the sky with diamonds
+ common people
+ mr. tambourine man

ARCADE FIRE's "Funeral"

*This is pretty much the same post from Tuesday - if you hurry you can catch some of the new album by Arcade Fire.

HELLO, to The Arcade Fire fans... here is the day you have waited for... "Funeral' hits the shelves and apparently this folder I just stumbled across.

go here for your "Funeral" -
make it quick this folder comes and goes like the wind -
*get it while it's back online*

Whiskeytown // Stranger's Almanac

Ryan Adams has garnered a lot of press for solo albums 'Gold' and 'Heartbreaker', but he first came to the public's attention in the alt country band Whiskeytown. I picked this album, 'Stranger's Almanac', up a couple of years ago when I was in an alt country phase (another good band discovered at that time was the Old 97's).

I haven't spent much time listening to Adams solo work, although none of it outshines his work on this album, 'Strangers Almanac'. Standout tracks being 'Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight' and '16 Days'. The former song features Alejandro Escovedo helping out on vocal, he alternates with Adams.


>>>go to a folder containing + Stranger's Almanac
* if you have trouble with the link, keep trying, I had the same problem.

>>>buy the album


>>> you can get two Alejandro Escovedo tracks here.

Minus Story

Minus Story
"You Were On My Side"

Minus Story blew into my ears from dusty Kansas by way of Boonville, Missouri - swept into view on a tornadic front, seemingly independent of the surrounding weather systems. After listening to these guys, I would venture a guess and say this sound of theirs was developed in an insular fashion... they woodshedded the music, only taking it out at night, only in the company of each other, revelling in the creation of their sound, their style.

The song 'You Were On My Side' feels like Sunday morning to me - kinda lazy, kinda that hurry-up-and-get-dressed-for-church-you're-gonna-be-late vibe from when you were seven years old, like the lost day of the week with no center, no destination. The music begins with a church-loft organ slipping in like water sliding under a closed door. The band members voices and instruments gathering force - a mass of water now threatening to split the door's heavy oak. The experimental nature of this band is a force of nature, a flood threatening to overwhelm the more melodic elements of the band - but not succeeding. This song and the album 'The Captain Is Dead Let The Drum Corpse Dance'(Jagjaguwar) drops them into the same vicinity as other experimental/indie rock masters, Modest Mouse and Ugly Casanova.


'the captain is dead, let the drum corpse dance'


+ you were on my side courtesy betterPropaganda

Modest Mouse

*this review first appeared on betterPropaganda.com

Modest Mouse:
'Float On'

This is upbeat. This is feel-good. This is Modest Mouse? ...the band led by Isaac Brock? Who has been described as moody, malcontent, self-indulgent, charismatic, deranged, and crotchety, to list but a few adjectives.

When the song 'Float On' first surfaced, many people began to pin 'song of the year' honours on it's happy chest. Now after it's had a chance to stall, to fade, to flake and peel like cheap paint, it hasn't - the buoyancy the song's energy first inspired continues to strut like a sated barnyard rooster. Isaac Brock's excited vocal carries the song, a voice tailored for 'indie' - you know the kind, pushed nearly to the point of fraying - it gives this well crafted song the edge it needs to live on in the memory of all who hear it.

'Float On' combines the moody noir of a John Vanderslice tune with the upbeat punch of Badly Drawn Boy's 'Once Around The Block'.

It should have 'song of the year' tattooed across it's proud chest.

>> go to betterPropaganda to stream 'float on'

>>> download the album "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" from a directory.

Twin Peaks // *theme song*

David Lynch's Twin Peaks (co-written w/ Mark Frost) is definitely my all time favourite show. Oddly enough (everything related in any way to Twin Peaks must be odd, it's the law), earlier today I had seen a woman standing at a bus stop - middle aged, scraggly hair, plastic framed glasses slipping over and over down her thin nose - in her arms she clutched a bucket with a wire handle. The first thing that popped into my head was 'Log Lady'! On the series there was an on-the-fringes character who was always seen with a fire log in her arms. Hence, she was known as the 'Log Lady'.



Anyway, I came across an mp3 of Angelo Badalamenti's theme for Twin Peaks after I got home and this was a case of perfect synchronicity. A weirdly beautiful piece of music for a weirdly beautiful and creepy television show whose memory was revived by a just plain weird woman.

listen to the theme: + Twin Peaks

Come to think of it... when music and David Lynch come together in my mind, the equation equals John Vanderslice. A stellar musician who finds himself inspired by film - film that tends to lean toward the darker side. A side that is hidden away behind the closed doors of your neighbours - something that is always there, like that latent virus breeding under your fingernail.

The John Vanderslice song inspired by Lynch's film, "Mulholland Drive", is + 'promising actress' - unfortunately this download is extremely slow - it took over 50 minutes when I downloaded it.

Devendra Banhart // Radio Sessions

This is an addition to the Devendra Banhart post from yesterday. A total of 31 Banhart tracks from live radio sessions. This page made the blog rounds a few weeks back, but i tucked it away and forgot about it.

enjoy.

the pink mountaintops // album review

Here is my review of 'The Pink Mountaintops' self titled album. It's also on betterPropaganda's site - well worth a visit for a whole lotta free music.

'The Pink Mountaintops' Stephen McBean asks "Can You Do That Dance?" and then proceeds to throw you down, pulling and pawing at you until he gets what he wants. What does he want? Some "Bad Boogie Ballin"? Some "Sweet 69"? Does he want to fuck mountains? Oh, wait, he already did that, i.e.– "I (fuck) Mountains"… and he did 'lakes and some fakes', oh, he also 'loved and sucked the pink mountaintops'. Do you see where he's coming from here? Straight from the groin, the songs fuelled by Red Bull and trucker speed - with some Viagara sprinkled on his salad.

'The Pink Mountaintops' surely stand out from fellow Jagjaguwar artists - not having much in common with indie rockers 'Minus Story', or the experimental folk of 'Richard Youngs'. If need be, this band's sound could be labeled claustrophobic/indie/sexual-advance/rock.

McBean was not alone in studio during the laying down of this carnal concoction - Amber Webber, Joshua Wells, and Christoph Hofmeister took part in the adventure. Unfortunately, there isn't much to get excited about here, some of the tracks are well worthy of repeated listens, but this is the type of record that wears on you before it reaches the end. The stand out track being, without doubt, "Can You Do That Dance?" – with it's insistent tone bolstered by the Cobain-ish guitar, the doo-wop-ish back-up singers, and McBean's own, 'it's 3 am - the buzz is wearing off - and I ain't gonna get laid', vocal.

download "Can You Do That Dance?" courtesy betterPropaganda

and + rock and roll fantasy

You can buy it here.

Two If By Sea Records - Indie Rock Distro, Emo, Punk Hardcore, Vinyl Store, Buy

Two If By Sea Records is an on-line source you should check out. As their homepage states:

"Welcome to our music retail & wholesale store. You can buy hard to find indie rock, punk, & hardcore cd's & vinyl. We strive to
keep our prices low and our shipping fast. "

They also have a sounds page w/ mucho goodies. Four pages with around fifty to sixty mp3s on each.

Devendra Banhart

Now every one put down your plastic toys, the ones with digital displays and rubber and/or silicone bits. With their ‘predicted by some’ propensity to kill you - if you hold them against your head for too long or use them while driving - or riding your bike to Radio Shack to get a pack of new lithium cells for that toy you can’t do without. Yes, put down those toys and feel the wood. Feel it vibrating as (I mean the grain of the wood), vibrating as (I mean the grain of the wooden top guitar), vibrating as nimble fingers snap and slash against taut steel strings. This is calming. This is calm.

This is, or can be, Devendra Banhart. He does at times put you on edge with his at once soft and gentle, the next moment, eerie and disturbing, voice - a voice delivering tales sprouting from a new millennium psych folkie mind fertilized by the environments of South America, Texas, and California.

Just an all around 21st century jet setting, sandal wearing, dipped in cathode rays (as we all are), dyed-in-the-llama-wool, original. Sharing the offbeat spurts and sparks from his wood nymph mind.

+ will is my friend
+ the body breaks
+ fall
+ at the hop (from nino rojo)
+ autumn's child
+ this is the way
+ this beard is for siobhan
+ rejoicing in the hands

Quasi @betterPropaganda

Quasi - "Drunken Tears" courtesy betterPropaganda

I love the way this song smashes into your ears at the start. Piano, cymbals, drums. Then the piano starts the melody - and boy does it start - just rolling along with it's own funky little tail slapping it's ass on the backbeat, but hey, the piano man is only getting started here. The bridge, oh, man... the bridge is like getting stuffed into a metal garbage can and rolled down, if not off, that bridge... by your girlfriend.

Quasi is a duo, made up of Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss, this man/woman duo thing does bring to mind Mates of State, but they aren't as lo-fi and avoid their complex vocal stylings.
All you gotta remember about this song is: it's one voice, ten fingers (o.k. twenty fingers, they were reattached), 88 keys, and a drum kit. Oh yeah, there are some strings in there as well and backing vocals and.... and it's great.

click graphic to visit

// Paul Westerberg //

Sometimes I need to hear something I at one time listened to over and over... this is one of those songs. I was doing some googling for Replacements (Paul Westerberg's former band) stuff and kept hearing this song in my head:
+ waiting for somebody (from the 'singles' soundtrack)


*bonus
+ as far as I know - from the album 'Folker'. This song sounds great, popping out of the speakers. The vocal has a Beatle-ish buzz to it and the song a bouncy rhythm like an old Herman's Hermits tune.

*Critical Mass

I've been getting into the blues skronk of The Black Keys lately and the unleashing of their spankin' new disc, 'Rubber Factory', had me searching for info and/or mp3s... until now.
The new review/mp3 link blog, *Critical Mass, has links to reviews of the new album and links to where you can get 4 new songs.

GO! >>> *Critical Mass

Pedro the Lion Tour Dates

Pedro the Lion have confirmed their US tour dates for November and December.
More dates will be announced.

11/08 Mon - Detroit MI @ The Magic Stick
11/09 Tue - Buffalo NY @ Nietzsche's
11/10 Wed - New York NY @ Bowery Ballroom
11/11 Thu - Cambridge MA @ Middle East Downstairs
11/12 Fri - Washington DC @ Black Cat
11/13 Sat - Philadelphia PA @ Trocadero
11/14 Sun - Grantham PA @ Messiah College
11/16 Tue - Chicago IL @ Metro
11/17 Wed - Minneapolis MN @ First Avenue
11/18 Thu - Madison WI @ High Noon Saloon
11/19 Fri - Grand Rapids MI @ Calvin College Fine Arts Center
12/04 Sat - Seattle WA @ Showbox
12/05 Sun - Portland OR @ Crystal Ballroom
12/06 Mon - Rohnert Park CA @ Sonoma State University
12/08 Wed - Los Angeles CA @ El Rey
12/09 Thu - Pomona CA @ Glass House"

"The Changes"

Check these guys out. The Changes. From Chicago.
I got their ep in the mail awhile back, but unfortunately didn't get around to listening until yesterday. Now I am really, really, enjoying the third song, 'Such A Scene'.



Extract the drunken sounding sloppiness of The Strokes (granted that is mostly the singer) and marry those clean pop-chops to a young Steely Dan vocal colouring and you have 'Such A Scene'.

And there is more to listen to at their website, including 'Such A Scene' - HERE.

Banhart and Black - Attorneys at Law

Catch a couple of Devendra Banhart tracks here. As well as Frank Black and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

go here to get your fix

Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash was always bigger than life and now in death he is bigger still. When I was around eight years old my dad brought home "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison". I was fascinated with that album. It was a combination of the amazing music and the fact that all the voices heard hootin' and hollerin' for Johnny were, in my mind, stone cold killers - big, thick necked bastards with hair on their knuckles.


This here is my favourite song on the album - Jackson - unfortunately I haven't been able to find that album's version of 'Orange Blossom Special' (turns out it was actually 'Folsom Prison Blues'), with the line "I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die", which is followed by a prisoner's shout of longing, hate, pain, and release. It scared the crap out of me when I was ten.

*here's some more - some more recent CASH - this directory is large and often difficult to download songs from. but it can be done.
and more here

betterPropaganda

Thank you betterPropaganda for the mention and the link on your home page. This is without a doubt the best site for independent artists of all genres... and their Artists Page seems to grow every day!

This is their current list of top POP DOWNLOADS. All these songs can be streamed or downloaded as mp3s.
How can you go wrong with The New Pornographers, the band's leader A.C. Newman and band member Dan Bejar as Destroyer?

01. Viva Voce - Alive With Pleasure
02. The Lashes - Death By Mixtape
03. Blonde Redhead - Misery Is A Butterfly
04. A.C. Newman - Drink To Me, Babe, Then
05. The M's - Holdin Up
06. The New Pornographers - The New Face of Zero and One
07. The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
08. The Silent League - Breathe
09. Pretty Girls Make Graves - All Medicated Geniuses
10. Destroyer - It's Gonna Take An Airplane"

visit betterPropaganda

What I'm Listening To

What I have been listening to lately (it just happens they are Canadian acts, as I am, well, I'm not an 'act', some may say an 'ass', but a Canadian Ass!)

the arcade fire
+neighbourhood #1 (tunnels)
+neighbourhood #4 (7 kettles)

frog eyes
+one in six children will flee in boats

wolf parade
+killing armies

*Thanks to Bloggers

I want to thank some bloggers out there who have said nice things about *sixeyes or linked to the page.

It's great to find people out there who appreciate the music.

red chinese attack plan - out of chicago

squidwatch

tuwa's shanty

jeremy brendan - my life as a reptile

lonesome music

and of course a good internet friend (to many) herr k at totally fuzzy

Jagjaguwar Records MP3s

Jagjaguwar is a great indie label boasting artists like Okkervil River, Juliue Doiron, and The Pink Mountaintops. While they have some choice material on their own mp3 page, their back catalog of mp3s is available right here

SPOON

Britt Daniel and his band mates are still working on the new Spoon album entitled, possibly, "Romeo's Apprentice", but don't count on it.
Go here to 'hear' what they have been working on.

Here's some older, but great, Spoon. Along with some kinda rough sounding live tracks.

june's foreign spell
car radio
teleman bridge - live
lowdown - live

Both live tracks are from the website of a band called 'The Oranges'. Check out The Oranges website- and their music: mp3 Finns For Our Feet and All The Ghosts In Your House

*summer mix*

While searching out a favourite Lucksmiths song, I found this mix full of great stuff, along with the song I wanted.



it's called Summer Mix

The Homosexuals

The Homosexuals were a trio from London who made a brief, but brilliant flash on the UK's post-punk scene. After forming in 1977, they released a single in '78 (hearts in exile/soft south africans) and an ep in '79.

Astral Glamour, a very comprehensive 81! track cd box set will be out this month on Morphius. >>> Allmusic has samples from the cd here.

listen to + my night out and + soft south africans - (fast version) mp3s

Nick Drake - "Time Has Told Me" - limited edition

Here is a page crammed with downloads of Nick Drake from the vinyl triple album "Time Has Told Me" - mostly studio outtakes as far as I can tell.

*the webmaster asks, on the page, that anyone wishing to link to the page ask first, so I won't link directly, I will give you the address - just copy and paste into your browser.

www2.skynet.ca/~nickdrake/

THE CRUTCH - new mp3s

The Crutch website has updated their mp3 page and now have an archive page as well. Check it out.

thecrutch.net

The Futureheads

The Futureheads amaze with their vocal prowess, blending their four voices over around and between the choppy retro guitars and chunky bass lines. The band took shape in North East England, Sunderland to be exact, four years ago November - and are now poised to conquer all who will listen.

'the futureheads'

You can preview the new album in 60 second clips here.

You can check out reviews of "The Futureheads" at *Critical Mass.

You can download two Futureheads mp3s at The Catbirdseat - scroll down the page to the June 23rd post.

Check out tour dates at The Futureheads new US label, Star Time International Records.

*thank you kiwi.

"A Little Ska and A Reggae Primer"

the specials + a message to you rudy
toots and the maytals + sweet and dandy
toots and the maytals + do the reggay
burning spear + african woman
israel vibration + standing on the corner
abyssininans + satta massa gana
bob marley + iron lion zion

A new INDEX for Labour Day

Since the previous post isn't quite as exciting with the site containing the INDEX down, I give you an Iggy Pop Special. This index boasts Iggy live at New York's Ritz on August 20 1988 - 19 tracks in all.

>>> go here to listen.

*Critical Mass and The Witness Exchange

I have added a couple of new links to the blog roll. You can find netlabels and mp3s you should be listening to at The Witness Exchange.

At *Critical Mass, a very young blog, you can read a handful of reviews about current releases and find links to tracks from those albums. This blog takes the four or five online reviews it has linked to and gives an overall rating for the album in question.

WHAT THE FUCK?

What the Fuck is up with Mp3blogs.org? None of my posts for over a day now have appeared on their page. I seem to have also fallen off the edge of the earth as far as WebNymph is concerned.

WTF?

*is anyone else having this problem?

john vanderslice: "my old flame"

This is a sadly beautiful song from one of the best kept secrets in the music world (although he does reign o'er all in the kingdom of indie rock), Floridian John Vanderslice.

visit johnvanderslice.com

"my old flame" + download the mp3
(adapted from robert lowell)

my old flame, my wife,
poor ghost old love
my old flame, my wife,
one day in june, I drove by our old house in maine
everything changed for the best
how quivering and fierce we were
simmering like birds
with our videos and records

our old house
everything�s changed
bleached out and aired, ikea-d and swept bare,
poor ghost, old love,
speak with your old voice
of flaming insight
that kept us awake at night
in one bed and apart, my old wife
my old flame"

Introducing the Telepathic Butterflies

A trio from Winnipeg, Manitoba, The Telepathic Butterflies work in the tried and true power pop 'mine' - extracting tiny, shiny diamond hard nuggets of Fab Four flavour.

About to release their third album on September 07, the band will soon embark on a Canadian tour in support of "Songs from a Second Wave".
Buy it here.

Mp3s from their previous releases:
+ all very hoopla
+ a final word
+ sunshine radio
+ narcissus
+ mr laughabee's circus

++ band website