MINUS STORY RETURN

Minus Story hail from Lawrence, Kansas, and, uh… well, when I think of or hear the name Kansas immediately I conjure, in my pop culture polluted memory bank, things like, 'Auntie Em', 'Toto', and of course, 'We're not in Kansas anymore'. And I believe the band Minus Story still calls Kansas home, so obviously they've avoided the rampant tornadoes and the fevered dreams that befall Kansas farm girls with pigtails. What they have not escaped, or should I say 'lost', is the whirlwind of creativity that comes with youth. And it is again present on their latest release on the Jagjaguwar label, 'Heaven and Hell', a five track EP available on March 1, 2005.

The song, 'Time Wastes Itself', opens with the band's familiar warbling keyboards and guitar effects -- to quickly drop off as lead vocalist Geiger intros his tale of insomnia, dreams, sleep, and love lost. The song, lulling at points, as befits the lyric, is a cradlesong for the indie kids -- 'Time Wastes Itself', feels like an insomniac's daydream of sleep and love.

+ time wastes itself - (heaven and hell EP)

And from their last release, 'The Captain Is Dead Let The Drum Corpse Dance'...
"You Were On My Side" - song review previously posted on betterPropaganda.com

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.

+ you were on my side
courtesy of betterPropaganda.com

HAYDEN: 'Woody'

Opening with a lullaby vibratoed electric guitar, reminiscent of many sixties radio hits, that mood is mildly diffused with the more expected wood and steel organic thrum of Hayden's acoustic guitar in the song, "Woody". But throughout the short and sweet "Woody", that early sixties pop vibe continues to vibrate from the tremulous six string - no matter how much harmonica or lo-fi indie vocal Hayden can muster, a 40 year old pop lullably feel lurks beneath it all. Nearly always exuding a downbeat melancholy, Hayden's "Woody" is no exception and would fit well alongside Skating Club on your next mixtape/burned CD.

+ woody
courtesy betterPropaganda.com

FEVERDOG BENEFIT

I got an email this evening asking for help. A woman working in the indie music industry needs a hand... this is what the email said and how you can help out:



Sarah is our friend and colleague who has worked with us here at spinART for over four years. Recently she was diagnosed with a rare lung condition and has since spent over two months in the hospital. Although Sarah's insurance is covering a lot, there are still other expenses to be taken care of, including keeping her parents here in New York by her side.
In November, Sarah thought she was suffering from a bad cold, but it wouldn't go away and forced her into the hospital. Her condition rapidly deteriorated, and after many tests, the doctors determined that Sarah was suffering from Wegener's Disease - an immune disease where her own white blood cells were attacking her healthy lungs. Radical treatment began immediately, in which she was unconscious for the better part of a month. We are happy to announce that Sarah is progressing faster than anticipated by her doctors, but there are still huge hurdles for her to overcome. Rehabilitation will begin next week, but she may not be able to work or be active for months still. Obviously, even with health insurance, this is an extremely expensive affair for Sarah and her family who has been living in NY hotels and donated apartments since the beginning of December.

There are two aspects to the fund-raising we're conducting--online auctions featuring unique memoribilia from artists from around the world and a benefit show here in New York with performances by Ted Leo and others.

Benefit Show

Tuesday, January 25th @ Rothko

With performances by Ted Leo, Benzos, The Head Set, Apollo Sunshine, Chinese Stars, Countess Zatak featuring The Gill Scott-Heron Band and guest DJ James Murphy (DFA), this show promises to be one for the books.
Tickets are available now through Ticketweb for $15 adv/$20 day of show.

Rotko is located at 116 Suffolk Street (Corner of Rivington), Lower East Side, NYC. For directions and other information, please visit their web site.


Online Auctions
a listing of current auctions

So many wonderful people have risen to the occasion and donated some really great memorabilia for us to auction off. Right now the spinART offices are looking like the coolest Hard Rock Café in the world. There's no way I could ever list every single item here because the list is long. We have everything from an autographed Beastie Boys Chicago Bulls jersey to an autographed guitar from Frank Black. Autographed Pearl Jam records, autographed Trashcan Sinatras guitar, signed Fire Theft stuff and on and on and on.

THE FIERY FURNACES 'EP'

The Fiery Furnaces have released (Jan. 11) what they've simply titled, ‘EP’, but that title is misleading, as this is equal to many full-length offerings by others. The ten tracks on the disc happen to contain one song from their first album, 'Gallowsbird's Bark', that song is the remixed single, 'Tropical Ice-land' (All ten tracks were previously available as the ‘A’ and ‘B’ sides of their single releases). Also they’ve seemingly tried to give the 'EP' the same feel as their live performances by running the tracks together; with no pause between the ten songs, it does resemble their predilection for racing full tilt through a live show.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of hearing the brother/sister duo, their music is, I feel, harder to describe than most—abrupt changes in signature, tempo, and the sometimes jarring, sometimes exhilarating, electronic gurgles or wah-wah pedal squawks, keep re-painting the canvas of the songs -- not to mention the changes in melody, creating songs within songs. Matt and Eleanor Friedberger, The Fiery Furnaces, truly are The Carpenters -- the ‘70’s brother/sister pop duo who stood in stark contrast to other acts of their time; such as the dime-a-dozen seedy precursors to The Black Crowes and the‘make love/take drugs’ bands such as The Grateful Dead. The Friedbergers are ‘The Carpenters’ as raised in 90's era Brooklyn—weaned on parlour sing-a-longs, The Who’s concept albums, and indie music. They too stand apart with their rambling odes to dogs, abused women, and typewriters – also the dominating presence of the piano in many songs instantly pushes them away from most guitar driven indie and even mainstream music of today.

These siblings can come across as the quiet, shaggy haired, corduroy-ed, teachers you liked back in grade eight -- who had a cool laid back air about them. Who drove old VW Beetles and whose cardigan or jean jacket had a faint aroma of patchouli -- who were card carrying vegans and slipped up now and again, saying ‘peace’ when you wished them a nice weekend on Friday afternoon. All right that doesn’t help describe the music at all, you’re right... okay, there’s lots of keyboards, piano I mean, dabs of blues-y electric guitar now and again, and the lyrics are narrative -- telling little stories with snippets of recalled dialogue and recollections of events and people met. Many of the songs contain references to British locales and Europe, also New York, home of the duo. Eleanor, I hope, has affection for nursery rhyme type nonsense--children’s songs and their feel-good, but nonsensical combinations of words--as this is what big brother Matt gives her to sing.

This isn’t easy music to get into for most—it usually isn’t when indie music is operating on the experimental/intelligent side of the road. This isn’t the indie version of Hoobastank, more like The Carpenters for the well educated, but under utilized hipster, or the indie music version of ex-pat American novelists living in London, England. A pair of eccentrics who write short stories that keep getting longer and longer until they find a novel lying before them. Keep your eyes open for that ‘novel’; it should be coming around in the next couple of years or so—the author? The Fiery Furnaces, of course.

"Single Again"
from EP
via insound.com


"Straight Street"
"Chris Michaels"
from Blueberry Boat
via roughtradeamerica.com

BETTER PROPAGANDA 'Top Downloads'

This is a thank you to betterPropaganda.com for posting the little reviews I send their way from time to time. If you're not familiar with the site, they describe themselves this way:

"betterPropaganda focuses on new, independent music & allows you to use interactive features to discover, hear & collect it. We are dedicated to providing independent labels & artists a better opportunity to be heard. Right now, the site is loaded with hundreds of free, hand selected & fully legal mp3s, with brand new ones uploaded daily. "

Here are some of the #1 downloads in differents genres for this week...
(click on the artist name and download or stream from the page)

POP TOP DOWNLOAD
01. Brian Wilson - Heroes And Villains

ROCK TOP DOWNLOAD
01. The Firebird Band - Obsessive Compulsive

HIP HOP TOP DOWNLOAD
01. Boom Bip - Last Walk Around Mirror Lake (Boards of Canada ...)

EXPERIMENTAL TOP DOWNLOAD
01. Wolf Eyes - Stabbed In The Face

ELECTRONIC TOP DOWNLOAD
... since the #1 download is the same as the HIP HOP category, here is #2
02. Machine Drum - Billowads

RED EYED LEGENDS

The Red Eyed Legends song, "Cold in The Sun", is all bright jagged edges, clean, crisp, like a glass box of shattered panes - you can almost feel the spaces between the instruments, almost feel the electric air. Piercing all of this the post-punk, punky spit and distortion of the vocal. It's Hot Hot Heat weaned on punk or The Icarus Line with less angst, more punk and don't forget the whirring garage keyboards.

Hey guys, skip the Visine, you're perfect the way you are.

+ cold in the sun
download courtesy of betterPropaganda.com

LEVY

Do you have that disease… that sickness?—the one where you need, you desire, to discover something new, something that lifts you up above the muck for a moment or two. I’ve had it for years—although the yearning is no longer as strong as it was when I was eighteen. No, I am not referring to drugs, but it is a chemical reaction, some strange union between mind and body when you listen to music that touches you. If you are slowly and softly nodding your head in agreement and recognition… I’ve got something for you. Levy.

Currently unsigned, the band Levy consists of singer and guitarist James Levy, backed up by Mike Jones on drums, James Broughel on bass, and Matthew Daniel Siskin on guitar. Just celebrating their first year together as a band this is how guitarist Siskin describes their beginnings:

"We met by accident at a bar, January 2003 (James Levy and I) and said, "Let’s start a band", it was as easy as that. (We) played our first show, July of 2003, and I think it’s been about 60 shows since then."

Their music is a sweet indie concoction, just great pop songs made distinct by the bands separate personalities and by no obvious influences. Oh, there are some influences in the young band’s music, but for a group of men living in New York and that cities' dominating and domineering music scene, to find your own voice so early in a career is saying something. Keep your ears open they will be saying more.

Go to the LEVY website for 6 tracks – click on Hear.
You can purchase LEVY recordings on site.

THE SKYGREEN LEOPARDS

Formed in 2001, The Skygreen Leopards are Donovan Quinn (Verdure) and Glenn Donaldson (Thuja, Blithe Sons, Franciscan Hobbies, Birdtree, Ivytree, etc.).
Courtesy of Jagjaguwar Records comes this offering from the band, who are at the fore-front of indie music's current Psych-Folk resurgence - directly behind spear carrier, Devendra Banhart.

THE SKYGREEN LEOPARDS
Album: 'Life and Love in Sparrow's Meadow'
Released February 1st, 2005
+ Mother the sun makes me cry
+ Belle of the woodsman's autumn ball

Album: 'Child God in the Garden of Idols'
Released January 18th, 2005
+ Hill-dwelling bride

Andrew Bird

I will admit I haven't heard a lot of Andrew Bird, but I did quite like more than a few of the songs I was fortunate enough to have heard. But those have been surpassed, make that usurped by this new concoction of Bird's, found on his soon to be released work, "The Mysterious Production of Eggs". A work which Bird pretty much threw out the window a total of three times before it came together with the production assistance of David Boucher (Paul Westerberg, Randy Newman). The air miles logged between studios in Chicago and L.A. and his home studio in Northern Illinois were well worth the time spent if the MP3 available below is any indication of the album's quality.

On the highly melodic and sadly beautiful track, ‘A Nervous Tic Motion of The Head To The Left’, he reminds me of a number of gifted performers, Rufus Wainwright, Hawksley Workman, and Jeff Buckley, to list the more prominent. This song will worm it’s ‘twitchy’ way into your welcoming head, dressed in Bird’s engaging vocal, his amazing whistling, and a classy string section, you won’t be able to resist the melody. If it hasn’t arrested you after one listen, try a few more and the sirens will be wailing.


'The Mysterious Production of Eggs'

+ a nervous tic motion of the head to the left

"The Mysterious Production of Eggs" - Righteous Babe Records in North America and Fargo Records in Europe.
Release Date: February 8, 2005
Andrew Bird Web Site

*If you haven't discovered the time wasting addiction of MP3 blog aggregators... what have you been doing? Go to Web Nymph and the MP3 Blogs aggregators.

THE IMPOSSIBLE SHAPES

The great indie label, Secretly Canadian, has the band The Impossible Shapes on their roster. From Indiana, The Shapes music is psych-rock, at turns humorous, popish, and cutting edge - this is another example of a gifted group of musicians toiling in the shadows, obscured by the lights focused on the more fortunate. So now you have a chance to shine some light into the dark corners, with Secretly Canadian offering a free download of The Impossible Shapes album, "TUM" (17 tracks!).

This event preceeds the February 1st release of their new work, "HORUS", here are a couple of tracks from "HORUS"...

+ Bombs
+ Putrefaction

You can find a couple of downloads here at Download.com

'INFECTED BY THE CLAP' - Louis XIV

Now I ask you... have you ever heard a song that had hand claps in the mix that didn't get you nodding your head, tapping your foot, shaking your ass, or even, dare I suggest, clapping your hands?
Now I answer... NO. My theory being that any song offering up the clap is so damn catchy the band can't even help itself and starts clapping their hands, it's infectious. On the track, 'God Killed The Queen', the band, Louis XIV, is definitely infected and infecting - contagious in that hand clappin', tambourine shakin', 1960's, tightly panted and pointy shoed, kind of way. The handclap, being the most infectious sound in pop music of any genre, is something we all can do, something we all can catch, and catching the handclap is fun, without those bothersome burning or itching sensations.

'illegal tender'

With one full length available (their self-titled debut) and another on the way, "Illegal Tender" (release date Jan. 25th/05), don't forget to tell your friends about Louis XIV and then tell them that the clap is good.

+ God Killed The Queen
... more listening and some purchasing can be done here.

Odds and Ends
*Their web site trumpets the news that the band was crowned with best rock album and album of the year awards a few months back at the San Diego Music Awards. The trio of Jason Hill, Brian Karscig, and Mark Maigaard, is from Poway, Calif., a San Diego suburb, and made their first stab at rock n' roll glory as Hybrid Recordings artist Convoy.

KVRX LOCAL LIVE

KVRX, the University of Texas's campus radio station, has an extremely large number of artists who have dropped by their studio to play live to 2-track stereo. The performances are broadcast across the city of Austin, but you don't have to be there, you can listen on-line, Sunday nights from 10 - 11 PM (Central). Tune in to Local Live on 91.7 FM in Austin, or listen online at kvrx.org with RealPlayer.

All these performances have been made available as mp3 files, here's an example from 1998, The Magnetic Fields...

1. "I Don't Believe You"
2. "Smoke and Mirrors"
3. "All the Umbrellas in London"
4. "Aging Spinsters"

Skating Club: 'The Unfound Sound'

Do you like that sad late-night flavor with your music? Music burnished by the tired slashing of a jangly rhythm guitar and a nearly tear inducing Procol Harum-ish organ bubbling along with the vocals, then the song "The Unfound Sound" is the black tee shirt made for those special nights. With sleeves of minor chords and a body of lazy jangle pop, Skating Club's, "The Unfound Sound", brings to mind Iron & Wine with a broken heart or Owen trying to solve the mystery while living in the misery.

+ The Unfound Sound
via betterPropaganda

The Hollow

The Hollow strike me as lovers of 80's synth heavy pop. They also strike me, no make that the singer slams me up against a concrete retaining wall, as sounding like Crowded House singer/songwriter Neil Finn. If you're familiar with Finn's distinctive sound which issued forth from radios everywhere in the early eighties, then you will know what i mean, if not then you will know who you're hearing when you think you hear The Hollow on 'oldies' radio. That said, this isn't bad it's actually very good, it's just that I find it hard to get past the eerie similarity to Finn.

+ what you give is what you get ~ The Hollow

website: www.planetlogic.com/ - more tracks here

'Home' ~ Lou Barlow

photo by eric perez

In his new song, "HOME", Lou Barlow (Sebadoh) builds a sweet melancholy melody over a murky, gurgling, bubbling, rhythm of drum loops. At times the mood is closely threatened by synthesized strings, but they fail in their attempt (thanks to Barlow's good taste, no doubt), tempered by the vocal and a strummed acoustic guitar - grounding the song within the heartfelt sadness of the lyric.

A quiet, beautiful moment amongst the indie rock noise.



+ HOME [mp3]
label: merge records
website: loobiecore.com
album: EMOH
release date: January 25, 2005

BLACK MOUNTAIN ~ 'Druganaut'

MP3 REVIEW
Black Mountain: "Druganaut" (jagjaguwar)

'Druganaut' opens with a druggy white-boy Curtis Mayfield vibe and then devolves into an early slacker Beck feel until it glides into that stoned-soul Mayfield expression once more. Stephen McBean’s stoner drawl fits the music to a ‘T’.

+ DRUGANAUT [mp3]
Off the Self-Titled debut CD to be released January 18th, 2005, on Jagjaguwar [US] and Scratch [Canada]

'Shadows Collide With People' ~ ACOUSTIC

I have just recently got my hands on John Frusciante's album, "Shadows Collide With People", and was knocked over by what I heard. Frusciante has been drug addled in the past and was, and still is, presented in the press as a bit of a flake (a view only enhanced by his earlier eccentric recordings), but this recording is so vibrant and strong, and immediately accessible, that that flake label hasn't flaked off, it's been sandblasted off.



Perhaps, if you're now thinking of buying the disc (I highly recommend it)- here's a great way to get an idea of the strength of the songs. From johnfrusciante.com, here is what Mr. Frusciante said about the free download of acoustic demos:


"I’m releasing this acoustic version of the album because there was so much production on the record -- there's so much layering of different types of sound and things -- that I just thought it would be nice for some of the fans who prefer a more raw, stripped down sound. They will just hear the songs in their raw form.
Also, on the last album I put out, we did acoustic shows and those went over really well. But I'm not doing those this time because I'm spending my time recording. So I figured I'd do a little performance in my living room and put it on the internet so people could hear me doing those songs the way I would if I were doing an acoustic show" - John Frusciante.

*Here are two downloads, the rest can be downloaded by going to his site through the link above and clicking on demos.

01. Carvel ~ wma file
02. Omission ~ wma file
03. Regret
04. Ricky
05. Second Walk
06. Every person
07. Wednesday's Song
08. This Cold
09. Song To Sing When I'm Lonely
10. Time Goes Back
11. In Relief
12. Water
13. Cut Out
14. Chances
15. The Slaughter

JERSEYSHORE Joins The Blogroll

I point you in the direction of a youngish MP3 blog found on the east coast of America under a weak winter sun, Jerseyshore (well, I'm guessing it's on the east coast). Visit and discover what great music Scott has to share.

AN AMAZONIAN *MIX

Yes. Even Amazon.com has free downloads, they don't just sell music, they even give it away for free. Check out their music downloads and then click on the free downloads button. Or just click here.

Guided by Voices, " Gonna Never Have to Die"
Old 97s, " In The Satellite Rides a Star"
Minus 5, " Formerly Hail Centurion"
Steve Earle, " Guitar Town"
Delbert McClinton, " I'm With You"
A.C. Newman, " Miracle Drug"
Drive By Truckers, " Never Gonna Change"
Mark Lanegan, " Methamphetamine Blues"
Vic Chesnutt, " Gravity of the Situation"
The Standard, " Untitled"
Dolorean, " Violence in the Snowy Fields"
Geraint Watkins, " Turn That Chicken Down"
Blonde Redhead, " Misery Is a Butterfly"
The Comas, " Tonight on the WB"
Mountain Goats, " Palmcorder Yajna"
Flatlanders, " Neon of Nashville"
Mission Of Burma, " Dirt"
Robyn Hitchcock, " Sometimes a Blonde"
C.C. Adcock, " Y'all'd Think She'd Be Good 2 Me"
Chuck Prophet, " Pin a Rose on Me"
The Bigger Lovers, " You (You, You)"
Jake Brennan & the Confidence Men, " Believe Me"
The Sadies, " Good Flying Day"
Ken Stringfellow, " When U Find Someone"

'Niño Rojo' DEVENDRA BANHART

*ALBUM REVIEW*


DEVENDRA BANHART:
‘Niño Rojo’ – young god records

First off I’ve got to say that the songs on ‘Niño Rojo’ were recorded during the very same sessions (in legendary recording engineer Lynn Bridges’ home studio on the Alabama/Georgia border) that produced his previous release, ‘Rejoicing In The Hands’. So, let’s have none of that, ‘Oh, I see, Banhart just puts out the same thing over and over’. Remember this artist is just starting out, still being surprised by what directions his muse takes him – he’s only 23.

Add on top of that the previously mentioned tidbit that Banhart put these (57) tracks onto tape during the same ten-day session and the similarity of the two discs is to be expected. Both recordings are sparse and bear a timeless air, showcasing Banhart’s arresting vocals – be they hushed or closer to teeth on a chalkboard; they grab a hold and push you up against the nearest wall for a welcome frisking. The only difference between the two is the more ornate instrumentation on Niño Rojo, including, trumpet, trombone, piano, cello and harmonica.

Standout tracks include, Little Yellow Spider, At The Hop, Ay Mama, and 'Be Kind', with it's friendly inviting plea, it's catchy melody and simplistic, childlike drumbeat - this is the most accessible (to the general public) track on the disc and a fine introduction to Banhart.

Banhart creates original, individual music - eccentric, mystical, calming, disturbing… just perfect for the hipster willing to display his hipster cred with what is perceived as un-hip music. Just perfect indeed.

+ Be Kind ~ mp3 via amazon.com

Alan Williamson