July 23, 2006
Largehearted List - July 23, 2006
Here are the eleven music blog posts I found most interesting in the last week, feel free to add to the list in the comments:
33 1/3 shared an excerpt from Continuum's upcoming book on Guided By Voices' Bee Thousand album.
Part of the charm of Marc Woodworth's forthcoming Bee Thousand book is the way in which it replicates the feel of the album itself - it's a collage, a patchwork quilt of styles, ideas, narratives, fan responses, and input from band members themselves.
Bon Ton shared a "Way Over in a Bucket Seat" mix.
Meanwhile, since I will be traveling, I present a mix: I call it “Way Over In A Bucket Seat; the Driving Thru the Desert Mix,” even though I’m not going to be driving through the desert. At least, not much. So! Music! Music to drive by! Or at least take to the gym.
Let me make it known to you now that if you don’t download Teddybears Stockholm’s “Yours To Keep,” I can’t be responsible for the hole it will leave in your happiness.
Cable and Tweed taped and reviewed the Cold War Kids' recent show.
I don't know if there's a backlash coming soon (see CYHSY, Tapes 'N Tapes, etc.) but when it comes to Cold War Kids, I have to say -- believe the hype. On Thursday night I saw them for the second time in two months, and yet again I thought they were simply great.
Chromewaves defined alt-country, and shared some Golden Smog and Sadies tracks.
To my mind, it now encompasses anything from Gram and Neil (or even further back) through to anyone today who has an appreciation for good old-fashioned songcraft, storytelling, pedal steel and fuzzboxes or anything rootsy that doesn't come from the Nashville/CMT machine. Like any other musical descriptor, it's as meaningful as it is meaningless and as long as people keep making music that can be described as such, it's not going anywhere.
Culture Bully interviewed Norwegian singer-songwriter Ane Brun.
Chris: Are there any artists you’d like to collaborate with in the future, with which you may possibly create a follow-up to this year’s Duets?
Ane: Collaborations like Duets were mostly products of spontaneous meetings. I hope and believe that in the next year I will get to know many talented musicians; that might lead to new musical meetings. For instance, I toured with Matt Costa in June, and we played a duet-version of one of his songs as an encore in the last 3-4 shows. These kinds of things make touring and this job very meaningful.
Fluxblog profiled CSS.
One of the things that really grates on me about a lot of the bad or middling reviews that I've been seeing for CSS' album is how people are routinely dismissing them as being shallow hipsters, and it seems rather like how pretty, confident fashionable cool girls are routinely hated on by jealous women and misogynistic dudes. But it just drives me nuts because out of the HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS of records that I've heard this year, Cansei de ser Sexy is one of the few that positively overflows with sincere emotion, goodwill, and critical thought.
Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands interviewed Kite Flying Society.
ECEU: Okay, then, here is your chance to sell the readers on your music. How would you describe the KFS sound, in your own words?
Dustin: People describe our music as "summer-y" quite a bit (and I wouldn't fault them), but I've always felt we were more "autumn pop" -- to me, there is always a pervading sense of bittersweetness, of looking back at something that is gone while recognizing how good it was.
I Am Fuel, You Are Friends collected Damien Rice b-sides and unreleased tracks.
Recently when a friend shared five new/unreleased songs from Damien Rice, I was excited to hear some new material which might be on his sophomore album (very tentatively rumored to be called "Childish" and out in December, according to Rice at a recent concert). Details on the new album are super sketch at this point, but Q Magazine did report that the song "Cross-eyed Bear" (which Rice contributed to the Help: A Day In The Life compilation) is a taste of new material and the direction he is going for the second album.
Marathonpacks admits it can't resist the Bee Gees' "More Than a Woman."
The most crucial trait of "More Than A Woman" (mp3) is the overall tone of its instrumentation and production. It's as slick and proper as pop songs get, and it's something I can't deny my affinity for, whether it presents itself in the form of Steely Dan or The Supremes or Scale or Carole King or Al Green or The Chronic.
In one remarkable post, The Rich Girls Are Weeping profiles the French Kicks and rebuts a recent New York Times article bemoaning the death of alt-country.
But the absolute weirdest thing about the article was that slightly-more-mainstream friendly blogger faves and nouveaux alt.country standard bearers like Drive-By Truckers, Centro-matic, and Magnolia Electric Co. didn't even rate a mention. But then again, what can you expect from an article with the central premise of being excited/thrilled that the Jayhawks are still together and doing roughly the same ol' thing?
Sasha Frere-Jones offered part ten of his series of record store stories, with Eric Harvey of Marathonpacks sharing his experiences.
There was what I called the 'walk of shame' with the snotty clerks at Luna Music or Missing Link, when he/she (there were plenty of shes), came from behind the counter with a pronounced sigh and, with all due exhaustion, walked me toward the section of the store I would have known if I knew anything in the first place. The fact that these people had not only the precious information I needed but the physical artifact to boot seemed to elevate them several thousand leagues above me in whatever hierarchy existed there, and they knew it.
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