The MP3 BLOGS aggregator is down once more , so again I point you towards the more colourful Web Nymph aggregator - it aggregates much more than just music, so check it out for all kinds of links.
Clann: n. - a group of people related by blood or marriage
Zu: n. - an evil storm god represented as a black bird.
Armed with a desire to make music without boundaries, Clann Zúcame together in Melbourne, Australia, in 1999 from various musical backgrounds - punk, rock, folk, electronic & classical. Led by Waterford, Ireland born, Declan de Barra, the band's music is emotional - carrying and then carried by de Barra's grip on the lyric, his voice often erupting in an outburst of feeling. It's Irish theatrics meshed with cascading vocals, a la Buckley or Bono - add in the violin and piano, and the sound manipulations of Lach Wooden, and you have music which recalls others, but mimics none.
band members:
Benjamin Andrews - Electric Guitar
Russell Fawcus - Electric Violin, Keyboards
Declan de Barra - Vocals, Bodhrán
Liam Andrews - Bass
Ben Hellmig - drums
Lach Wooden - Sound Manipulation
I want to thank David G at 'largehearted boy: a boy, a girl, and his radio', one of the pioneers of MP3 blogging for the amazing amount of stuff on his page each day, the amount of work he puts into it, and for graciously linking *sixeyes.
I should also direct your attention to the blogroll under Music Resources where you will find a brand spanking new link to IndiePages, a fantastic site for the indie music fan... check it out.
When Ryan Weber (bass) found himself stuck beside Brian Zimmerman (drums) and just ahead of William Seidel (guitar) on a school bus in 1992, the three decided, within 30 minutes, they were going to form a band. Over the years they have all or part been in many bands including Camden and The Promise Ring, all based out of Milwaukee.
In 2001 Decibully began to take shape as Seidel, Kenneth Seibert (guitar), and Nick Westphal (keyboards) began working together. When Ryan Weber returned from England, where he had been recording with The Promise Ring, the three invited him to join. After adding Justin Klug (bass) and Promise Ring guitarist, Jason Gnewikow on drums, they eventually did some touring and recording, releasing their debut CD - You Might Be a Winner, You May Be a Loser, But You'll Always Be a Gambler.
When Gnewikow moved to New York following TPR's break-up, Adam Vold stepped behind the kit, along with Eric Holliday on banjo. After a few months of work on the new record, Westphal was out and Nicholas Sanborn (keyboards, guitar) was in.
'City of Festivals', the recording they were working on, was released October 2003.
Sounding something like a cross between Summerteeth era Wilco and Death Cab for Cutie with Seidel's strong falsetto soaring through it all, here's some mp3s...
The Web Nymph Aggregator and MP3 Blogs.org are the places to find what the hipsters know is the best music out there right now. Even I know and I'm a self-described 'hipster doofus' - Which is probably better than a plain ol' hipster.
Yeah, how many psychos out there are posting on Xmas day? I thought i would be the only one...WRONG! There is lots of music being offered by bloggers and here is my Xmas day post, short and, I hope, sweet - something for all those lucky buggers who found an Ipod gleaming under the tree.
* Have a good Christmas everyone - I pulled this out of the October archive, a great little band that deserve more attention,'The Features".
The Features reel and tumble out of the speakers, drummer Rollum Haas bashing the living hell out of his kit, Parrish Yaw's organ giving us that 60's garage feel. Who the hell are these guys? Where the hell have they been? I gotta thank Daniel at new mp3 blog, Take Dead Aim , for turning me onto this band.
The track, "The Beginning", reminds me of the early incarnation of The Walkmen, Jonathan Fire Eater, crashing out at you, all cymbals and sweet organ swirls. They have garnered comparisons to some heavy names in Elvis Costello, The Buzzcocks, and The Undertones among others.They have also been described as Hot Hot Heat meets Franz Ferdinand.
Check out the title track off their ep "The Beginning" - "The Beginning" And off of their debut full length, "Exhibit A" -"Blow It Out"
*you can listen to tracks from their release "Exhibit A", through the link above. Here is a video of their track "The Way It's Meant To Be" Windows and Real Audio
Yes, I know most of you very cool mp3 blog surfers have heard of The Arcade Fire, but have you taken the time or been given the opportunity to hear them. Yes, again I know, know that the hype machine, the same machine that hypes equally The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Fiery Furnaces, and Britney, has kicked up into another gear for this Montreal based band - oh, how this must gnaw at the craw of the band (I guess blogs are now part of this machine as well, willingly or not, a very tiny part of the media machine which builds up forests just so it will have some wood to cut down, to burn).
Listen up all you jaded indie hipsters, you know who you are – the ones dreaming of moving to Williamsburg or Silver Lake, dreaming of rubbing corduroy sheathed elbows with Beck at the all-night Macrobiotic Deli - just as soon as they move out of Mom’s basement, as soon as they find that perfect 70’s leather car coat at Value Village and find the perfect part in their asymmetrical hair cut. Listen to what music sounds like without conscious style, with this awareness missing from it and it’s presentation…. Just listen (uuuh, well, I mean if you haven’t already, cause if you have then you know what I mean and you can pull out your own copy of 'Funeral').
If John Vanderslice had grown up to write and record his noirish tunes as surf music (not likely, since he is a Floridian - sarcasm, people), this is what the music may have sounded like. Imagine surfing upon a slow motion ocean, in the dark, with a hangover, and two days growth of facial hair (and you're a girl!) - this is The Strange. A collaboration of Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts) and noirish surf instrumental band (toss in a dash of Ennio Morricone), The Bambi Molesters, The Strange have recently unleashed their debut on Dancing Bear Records, a Croation label. Give them a listen...
Ariel Pink has caught the buzzing bees and taught them to sing with their wings, or maybe there is just a lotta hiss on this very catchy lo-fi track from Animal Collective's protege.
Jason Molina of Magnolia Electric Co. has been studying Mr. Neil Young's canon and on "Dark Don't Hide It", you almost expect Young's quavering off-key signature vocal to tumble out of the speakers, but when it doesn't you may feel a touch disappointed... for a beat or two, then you'll sit back and wallow in Molina's shadowy voice captured live in Brussels in 2003.
Magnolia Electric Co. from 'Trials and Errors' +dark don't hide it
Chad Crouch is the force behind, or should I say, before, theHush Recordsband, Blanket Music. Crouch is also the force behind the Hush Records label itself. This appears to be one driven guy - running a label, writing and performing music (solo work as well as band), creating art (he is also an accomplished artist, see above), producing musicians on his label, and making me feel tired while writing this (not too difficult a task, but one he accomplishes with ease and aplomb). But I'm also feeling an oxymoron comin' on - laidback/mellow music+driven/prolific work ethic = Chad Crouch, or creative renaissance man/businessman = Chad Crouch - he's a walkin', talkin' oxymoron here people.
Here is a snippet from an interview w/Crouch:
'What is your name/ who plays with you/ what do you play? My name is Chad Crouch. I play guitar and sing. The band is Greg Lind on Drums, Jez Miller on Bass, Mike Johnson on Keys, Ross Seligman on guitar
Where do you live? (feel free to elaborate on your space/environment if you think that's relevant to your music)? I live in Portland. We practice in the basement. How long have you been making music? Since I was in my last year of college. 1995.
Who/what inspired you to get started with your musical alter-ego? My flatmate ran a record label. he released a single by Lou Barlow. That was my introduction to indie-music, I suppose. Before that I was into more of the MTV 120 Minutes set (for lack of a better description) - James, Mazzy Star, etc. comes to mind; produced stuff on big labels, but not necessarily on the radio or 'mainstream'. That year I was intoduced to Pavement, Palace, Bedhead, Yo La Tengo, Elliot Smith and so forth. 1994-1995. Ilearned to play guitar to sing religious campfire songs (which didn't last too long in retrospect). My friend had a four track. I got hooked on recording.'
Musically Crouch's output is soft, I mean soft on the heart and on the ears, even when the music makes you want to dance, his distinctive mid-atlantic phrasing delivered by a vaguely effiminate voice (some will be reminded of Belle and Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch) keep the mellow vibe leaking from your speakers.
So, in conclusion, head into your room close the door, latch the window, turn on the music, and flood the room, or better still wrap yourself, with or in, Blanket Music.
Of the tracks linked below, Tap The Beat is a highlight for me, as well as Hips. Tap The Beat with the perfect vocal blend of Crouch and Corinna Repp opening the track followed by the lovely alternating lyric of what they would do for each other - and beneath all this lurks a bossa nova beat bolstered by a fat bass guitar line. I love it.
Hips, from it's title alone, should not surprise as a danceable number, with record scratches, electronic squiggles, and the sexily delivered line, 'Shutup and sway your hips', it's that and more.
Since it's getting to that time of year (by that i mean the end), music bloggers, writers, critics, and the insane feel compelled to compile lists. Lists of 'Best of The Year', albums, singles, and what have you? I'll tell what you have, you've got the same 10 - 12 songs and/or albums clogging up these lists. I won't be doing that (well, I did a short list of myTOP FIVE fave albums of the year), but this will be it for lists until next year. What we are concerned with here are two songs... not the best songs, just *sixeyes (my) favourite songs of 2004.
This song shows you all that is great about indie music, about indie rock. Most definitely what is great about The Walkmen, a band worthy and deserving of the same indie hipster attention bestowed upon the amazing Arcade Fire. Beginning with the ringing and swooping electric guitar of Paul Maroon and getting all up in your face with the smashing and frenetic drumming of Matt Barrick (a fantastic sight to behold live, trust me), the song takes three strides to hit top gear and stays there until lead singer Hamilton Leithauser's fevered final cry of '... can't you see me I'm pounding on your door', followed by Barrick's door pounding drums. The year's best song by far.
2. The National ~ wasp nest I wrote a song review for this track which is on betterPropaganda's site and here it is...
"Wasp Nest" is the lead off track from The National's new 7 song EP entitled 'Cherry Tree' (Brassland US - Talitres EU). The song opens with a ringing buzz of bells, the way wasps would buzz above your sleepy head, hidden in thick green leaves wrapped about dark branches - as you awaken on a summer afternoon. When The National's Matt Berninger begins to sing, he sounds the way you do once or twice a year when you're nursing a cold and the Benylin begins to wear off - the way you wish your voice would stay, but without the sore throat, the runny nose, you know... you've been there. It's a sonorous voice, quietly strong and confident, a voice that walks softly, but carries a big stick. Let me give you a bit of advice, let him hit you with that stick - let him beat you about the skull with it. It won't hurt... trust me.
Okay. Enough is enough. I've been doing this blogger thing for six and a half months now and guess what? Like all mp3 bloggers I get nothing in return but the occasional comment and the even less occasional nice comment. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled when someone says they like or even love *sixeyes, but i crave more like, more love. Ya know, even the rare comment putting down some music on this blog would be welcome. FEEDBACK! I am feeling the need for FEEDBACK, as I grow weary beneath the weakening winter sun (an annoying alliteration, I agree).
Perhaps you could let me know if you, the *sixeyes visitor, like the weekend posts or should I just post throughout the week. Something. Anything. Suggestions?
Chris Lee takes 70's blue eyed soul and tears the golden, hollow AM Radio heart from it's still beating chest. Then adds his considerable talents, pumping new blood into the faded genre, icing each song with a voice that pulls you towards him - even if you aren't a fan of this style you can feel the truth in his voice, hell you can even hear it. Just give a listen to "Lonesome Eyes", and it's horns used as a counterpoint to Lee's vocal.The 70's haven't sounded this good in, oh, I don't know.... 30 years?
This is the kind of song that, as a kid, I would have spun over and over and over again on the record player - jumping around the room, all over the house, playing tennis racquet guitar, lip-synching into a hair brush, getting all fired up, ready to scream with joy... until I broke something and feared for my life when the parental units came home.
Thank god that now I'm all growed up. Excuse me while I find my tennis racquet.
Started by musician and music attorney Jim McGarry, Rainbow Quartz releases guitar-pop and rock with a jangly psychedelic edge as well as solid singer songwriters and bands with a cerebral and artsy bent. You will find their head office in NYC.
Born in 1977 in Heidenheim and raised in East Westphalia, Germany, Maximilian Hecker has released two albums - his debut Infinite Love Songs(2001), and Rose(2003) - now Hecker has a new disc, "Lady Sleep", due for release in January, 2005.
With a pure voice and classic pop references (The Beatles, Melanie), Hecker creates some definite moments of original pop.
Singing only in English, because, as he says -'... it is the language of pop', here are some tracks from his releases, including one from the soon to be released, "Lady Sleep".
A keen ear for building vocal atmosphere with her own voice or enlisting the talents of back up singers has always been evident since Jane Siberry began recording in 1981 (her talent has attracted people like Brian Eno, who co-produced her 1993 release, to her side). An idiosyncratic singer/songwriter (not unlike fellow Canadian, Mary Margaret O'Hara) who puts herself, her life, into her songs in an endearing way.
As evidenced by the track, 'Hockey', from her 1989 disc, "BOUND BY THE BEAUTY" . Yes, this song looks at the Canadian pastime, but from a personal point of view - a scar on a lover's chin, dogs stealing hockey pucks, breakaways, Jean Beliveau, and the Montreal Riot following the benching of Montreal's most explosive player, Rocket Richard - this song will feel like warm soup to anyone who has spent a Sunday afternoon skating after a puck on a windswept pond.
Dead Ghosts sound like that couple on Saturday Night Live, you know the ones who would sing and play keyboards sounding like Sunday school teachers doing Top 40, Will Ferrell and maybe.. Ana somebody (sorry Ana, if that is your real name). Where was I? Oh yeah, Dead Ghosts sound like that couple had a kid who grew up playing video games at his friends house and the only music he got to hear was his parents and old Nintendo games. Having said that, it's good, or I wouldn't inflict it on you here.
Hanalei made my ears prick up like a dog smelling frying bacon, wait, that would prick up it's nose and a dog can't prick up it's nose. Okay, like a dog hearing frying bacon (not much better), my ears pricked up because i would have sworn I was hearing Ben Gibbard doing some unknown Postal Service track, but it's a guy named Brian Moss from the band Hanalei, or it it? Listen... + action drum (source) + josh and sarah's belated wedding present (source)
Chris Lombardi started Matador Records in his NY apartment in 1989 and after former Homestead Records manager Gerard Cosloy became a partner, together they nurtured the youthful label into what is probably the premier indie label anywhere. But while Matador may have many fine and talented artists it is one lonely Matador, for this Matador has no bull... ha ha ha h... ahem.
From Bubblegum to Skyis another one of those 'one man projects'. That man is - and yes, if you listened to them before reading this, it is a man singing(I wasn't fooled but some I know were) - the man is... Mario Hernandez, a 36 year old Texan from El Paso, who previously recorded with Jamie McCormick under the monikerCiao Bella.
This is an aptly named 'band', for the music is more than a little like the AM radio Top 40 stuff that spawned the handle 'Bubblegum Pop'. This is happy, bubbly, effervescent music. It's a bottle of well shaken Coke left out in the dizzying sun of a crowded mid-August sea side beach - a compact vessel with a warm, brown, sticky-sweet liquid, just waiting to pop.
This would fit nicely on Joe Jackson's 1979 debut album, Look Sharp, or somewhere on a Hot Hot Heat CD, but without Steve Bay's anxious yelp (here we have Britt Daniel's equally unique voice). This could be A.C. Newman with more teeth... more 'bite,' but less guitar.
Daniel and the boys have kept this song as simple as possible - it's spare, bare bones pop writing. The guitar doesn't figure into the equation at all (except for the bass), it's all piano, handclaps, bass, drums and tambourine. What gives this song that something extra is lead singer Britt Daniel's vocal performance and his voice itself - a touch of Texas twang, gruffness leavened with a slight lisp.
Hearing such a good piano driven rock/pop song is or was a rare occurrence recently (or maybe that's just my listening habits), but something this good arranged in an unfamiliar way (minus guitars) jumps up and bites you on the ass. And now you're shaking that ass and it's not to shake the attacker loose now... is it?
download "The Way We Get By" Songs that Spoon have been working on for their new album... Turn My Camera On
The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentin
My Mathematical Mind
Sister Jack
The Delicate Place
They Never Got You
*some Spoon demos from recording sessions for their as yet unreleased album, that have been floating around the net for some time now:
sister jack sister jack (piano)
i summon you
Air is a duo, made up of Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin. These Frenchmen were quickly labelled electronica after early releases on the labels Source and Mo' Wax, but at most Air's music is on the fringes of electronica and dance... the best word to describe most of their output being airy.
Marianne Faithfull fuels her latest album, "Before The Poison", with younger blood. Faithfull has collaborated on all the tracks with artists PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Damon Albarn, and Jon Brion. The biggest contributor on "Before The Poison", besides Faithfull of course, is PJ Harvey. And it's a good match, I get the feeling that the two women got along famously and I have only had a chance to hear the one track, "My Friends Have". Harvey penned the words and music to the track, a track which pounds out of the speakers harder than I have ever heard Faithfull before. But the thing which either gets you or kills you is the Faithfull voice - it's like eating lemons, some can do it and some are babies.
I always got the feeling that if Marianne Faithfull could just let herself go, let herself create freely, without the boundaries imposed by her past addictions and her addictive personality, she could have become as eccentric and invaluable an artist as Tom Waits. And that feeling is partly validated by what she does on the song, "My Friends Have". Remember as you listen, this is a 58 year old woman.
3hive.com has an awful lot of music on site and i gotta say i've spent some time downloading off their page. Their most recent post is the Icelandic artist, Stafrænn Hákon , whom I did a post on a while back (october)... here is 3hive's post and here is mine.
It's a snowy Sunday here - here in Waterloo, Ontario. Not sure if it's the lack of sleep or the malaise brought on by having my work routine disrupted by the horror of two days off... in a row! But I'm feeling kinda quiet and soft, like a cat, oh, damn!... last night I dreamt I was a cat (I'm a dog person) and was out in the forest with two other felines looking for a home, a place to sleep.
I guess I'm feeling faded by the winter and it's technically still autumn.
It's Sunday, time for church, for confessing your sins, time to drop some cash into the collection plate, to raise your voice in chorus with your brethren - and thus, here be your hymnal...
A lot of the instrumental bands out there, that play as hard as Turing Machine, pour forth from your speakers in a thick blend of electrically charged noise - not Turing Machine (Justin Chearno - Guitar, Scott Desimon - Bass, and Jerry Fuchs - drums). Their music is clear and concise, focused and driven, all sharp edges and then crashing waves, shards of glass followed by acid rain.
The Greeked-out lo-fi mp3 blog Heraclitus Sayz has recently morphed into a music site with lo-fi interviews and reviews. Moving from a blog to the more upscale dot com music zine. The blog can still be found, do not fret, it's link is right there on the new sites home page.
Chips and Cookies has a link to an album folder containing Wilco's latest "A Ghost...". An album that I never did get all that excited about, I can't remember one time since the first week or so of having the album, that i have wanted to pull it out and listen.
Just not all it was cracked up to be by some of the more hyperbolic of you out there.
The heart of American band Glasstown is Adam Klein and Michael Mullen, both published authors in addition to being the musical duoRoman Evening.Glasstown create rich music, pop music, yes - but rich, pop music - informed by men with more than 3 decades on this mortal coil. They write memorable tunes - in this case swirling with organ and strings, plus Klein's one-of-a-kind voice riding the 'End of our Understanding'melody like it was a ghostly-grey wave.
I Am Kloot are a British trio, from Manchester, England who create idiosyncratic indie pop - helped in this aspect not the least by John Bramwell's fascinating voice delivering lines like '...there's blood on your legs, I love you' in their song 'Twist'.
Listen to the throbbing bass in "Over My Shoulder", drive the song into a grey English Sunday morning filled with regret.
Those of you who find yourself perched, parked, plunked, propped or otherwise plicated on the couch *next Saturday eve can catch the Austin City Limits re-run of Spoon and Ben Kweller.
*(December 18th/25th) they are featuring The Flaming Lips and The Shins.
In January look for:Wilco/Bright Eyes, Modest Mouse/Guided By Voices, The Pixies
*Dates may vary, check local listings on their website for your PBS station dates/times. Pre-listening for your pre-viewing pleasure:
Todd Fancey is Canadian and plays guitar for The New Pornographers, joining them on their latest disc, "Electric Version" (that isn't all you need to know, but isn't it enough). He was an astute addition to the band line-up, a band which lovingly wallows in a 1970's summertime heat glazed with a crunchy sugar coating, which leader Carl A.C. Newman is so fond of. Fancey himself is besotted with this oeuvre and acquits himself quite well on his self-titled release, uuhhh... "Fancey".
Chuck E. Weiss has some friends you may have heard tell of.... namely Tom Waits (who performed on and co-produced "Extremely Cool") and Tom's old paramour, Rickie Lee Jones. Jones immortalised Weiss in her 1979 radio hit, "Chuck E.'s in Love", and Chuck E.'s best friend, Tom Waits, has written songs about Chuck too, including "Jitterbug Boy" and "I Wish I Was In New Orleans Again".
Weiss has released just two official albums, 1999's "Extremely Cool" and 2001's "Old Souls and Wolf Tickets". His very first release, "The Other Side Of Town", hit the market in 1981 without his approval and was soon pulled off the shelves.
Listen to the Weissian mixture of blues, jazz, rock, beat poetry, and even a little zydeco flavour, a musical gumbo that Weiss has called "alternative jungle music".
Slip on your headphones, I don't mean those little plastic peanuts you plug into your auditory canals, I mean headphones - the emphasis on head. Feel the bass, welcome the slap of the drum, become lost in John Vanderslice's ability to pull you into another world in a 3 minute pop song.
One Star Hotel, I gotta say I love the name, may suffer slightly from mining the same rootsy indie territory as "Being There" era Wilco and a lead vocal similarity to Mr. Tweedy himself, but don't take my word for it, you may not hear what i hear... the only way to know is to give the Philadelphia band a listen. Don't get me wrong, the suffering will be at the hands of others, hell, everybody sounds like someone else, especially bands.
I would be interested in what *sixeyes readers feel these guys sound like, I'm sure it would be of interest to the band as well. Please leave your impressions in the comments.
chris eckman
Spoon
'before the poison'
