The January Mixtape & other stuff

For a handful of reasons, I’m feeling rather strongly that January has got to go. First off, it’s been damn cold, and I don’t use that kind of vulgarity lightly. It’s been years since I remember anything close to the constant bombardment of sub-freezing daily temperatures we’ve been ‘blessed’ with here in NY this month, and I‘m tired of it. Second, and much more important, before February is through I’m going to be the father of twin girls, and, of course, I’m pretty damn psyched about that. Vulgarity again, I know, and I apologize. I know everyone is going bat shit over Animal Collective’s “My Girls” these days, myself included, but the song has taken on a whole new life for me in the face of what’s coming. My wife’s 34 weeks in right now and looks as though she could pop at any minute. It’s a beautiful sight, and I admire her more than ever for not only dealing with the physical toll on her body in such a brave way, but the psychological toll of spending the better part of the past 4 months confined to a couch. For me, putting together a pack n’ play last weekend sealed it all. I stood over that thing for a few minutes after I was done imagining the tiny lives that will soon inhabit it. The surrealist nature of the past 8 months very quickly became 100% real.

As far as music goes, the selection of new tunes I’ve come across in January has made me very excited for what lies ahead in 2009. Literally, I could barely keep up with all the songs I wanted to post. All the record labels must know I’ll be severely handicapped when it comes to regular posts in a few weeks and started getting while the getting’s good. I’m sure you are well-versed in Merriweather Post Pavilion by now, but in addition to it really compelling new albums came from Soft Black, A.C. Newman, and Antony & The Johnsons. The upcoming month sees solid new albums from Handsome Furs, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Dan Auerbach, and a few others. I figured there was no sense in trying to narrow down the month’s selection into a 4 or 5 song sampler of the best it had to offer, so instead you get a mixtape of something from almost every album or band I posted about this month. Dig in, and sorry there’s no Zip - I still haven’t mastered that.

MP3 :: I Am An Animal / Soft Black (original post)
MP3 :: People Got A Lotta Nerve / Neko Case (original post)
MP3 :: Two / The Antlers (original post)
MP3 :: Ladybug, Don’t Smile / The Online Romance (original post)
MP3 :: There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve / A.C. Newman (original post)
MP3 :: So Bored / Wavves (original post)
MP3 :: Everything With You / The Pains Of Being Pure A Heart (original post)
MP3 :: Glasses On / Schwervon! (original post)
MP3 :: She’s Got Stripes / Aaron Young & His Nightjars (original post)
MP3 :: Reasons To Quit / Phosphorescent (original post)
MP3 :: Blood Bank / Bon Iver (original post)
MP3 :: Tunnelvision / Here We Go Magic (original post)
MP3 :: Familiar Light / Asobi Seksu (original post)
MP3 :: Starting Over / The Black Lips (original post)
MP3 :: I’m Confused / Handsome Furs (original post)
MP3 :: The Rake’s Song / The Decemberists
MP3 :: Never Had Nobody Like You / M. Ward (original post)
MP3 :: The Wind / Peasant (original post)
MP3 :: End In Flames / Strand of Oaks (original post)
MP3 :: Beauty Force / David Shane Smith (original post)
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Antony & The Johnsons - The Crying Light

The Crying Light by Antony & The Johnsons could practically be a redefinition of the term "mood music". I’ve owned a copy now for a little over a week, and in that time have alternately loved it and refused to listen to it for another minute. More than any other recent album I can think of, The Crying Light demands to be played under the right circumstances. That does not include the drive home from work or cooking dinner with my wife. A somber, meditative song cycle such as this needs to be heard, for me, in a calm, isolated setting. Preferably with a good pair of headphones. Any other set of conditions have so far prevented me from being absorbed into the surreal space somewhere between life and death where these songs seem to exist. And unless you are willing to let go - to allow this album to completely possess you for its full 40 minutes - than you are better off setting it aside until later.

In 2005 Antony Hegarty shocked the indie-world with I Am A Bird Now, an album detailing a transgenderation (is that a word?…not familiar with the lingo) that was both beautifully detailed and uncomfortably personal. “Hope There’s Someone” was rightfully one of the biggest hits of the year (well, among snobby music seeking types, that is), and Antony was propelled to the fore of a young group of songwriters (Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, Sufjan Stevens, etc.) being praised for their innovative way with a song. Though The Crying Light doesn’t have one moment in particular as astounding as “Hope There‘s Someone”, it is another remarkably consistent song cycle. The orchestration is often breathtaking - it’s a minimalist’s dream of restraint - and is arranged as a beautiful backdrop for Antony himself. Not surprisingly though, it’s Antony himself that takes these songs to another level. His angelic voice, a haunting falsetto that is equal parts fragility and sorrow, is a truly disarming instrument. It could be the most expressive voice working in independent music today, and makes the album’s universal themes of death and rebirth startlingly personal. It’s been said before and I have to agree - though sonically it bears little resemblance to the normal idea of the genre, The Crying Light can only be described as soul music.

MP3 :: Another World
(from the Another World EP and The Crying Light)

Stream :: Various tracks
Video :: Epilepsy Is Dancing
(from The Crying Light. Buy here)

MP3 :: Hope There’s Someone (edit)
(from I Am A Bird Now. Buy here)
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The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave

The prestigious title of Tallest Man On Earth, according to Guinness, belongs to Xi Shun, who nearly stands a very impressive 8 ½ feet tall. So one should not take the recording moniker of Sweden’s Kristian Matsson literally. I couldn’t find his name anywhere in the top 10. He is, for all intents and purposes, full of shit in making this claim. Perhaps he is the tallest man on his block, or maybe even his hometown. He could be the tallest man on Gravitation Records, but I don’t know that for sure. What I do know about him is that his 2008 album Shallow Grave is absolutely stunning - it‘s another record in a series I‘ve come across since posting my 20 favorites of the year that would‘ve, could‘ve, should‘ve been included. With a bullet.

I’d heard the name here and there over the past 6 months or so, but it wasn’t until the recommendation of a trusted friend last week that I picked up Shallow Grave. I think I’ve listened to it everyday since. In short, I haven’t heard a singer/songwriter as compelling with just acoustic guitar and vocals in a long, long time. The Tallest Man On Earth is indeed Kristian Matsson, a guy who’s dead-waking voice is a clearer, cleaned up version of Dylan’s circa World Gone Wrong. Along with the distinctive vocals, these 10 songs feature a combination of astute lyrics, stark directness, and fret buzzing acoustics. With songs this solid, size don’t matter.

MP3 :: The Sparrow And The Medicine
MP3 :: Pistol Dreams
(from Shallow Grave. Buy here)
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David Shane Smith - Cloud Pleaser

David Shane Smith would make a great science fiction writer, and I don’t mean the child-fantasy light sabers and spaceships kind. Instead, the decaying futuristic cities Smith evoked on his last 2 releases (Wintertower and Angry Earth) have more in common with the realistic bleakness of, say, Children of Men, Blade Runner, or a Philip K. Dick short story than the genre’s typical fare. Smith is at his best when painting stark scenes of environmental corrosion, urban degeneracy, and human indifference, and his latest, Cloud Pleaser, is full of them. His recent relocation from New York to Los Angeles has only intensified these themes.

Sonically, Smith still draws from a varied array of sources, including folk, electronica, ambient, and, to a lesser degree, hip-hop. Fingerpicked acoustic guitars blend with bedroom beats and jarring sound effects, and the arrangements often make unexpected twists and turns between these styles. Cloud Pleaser sounds like the creation of a guy equally indebted to Amnesiac, Rejoicing In The Hands, Paul’s Boutique, and Music Has The Right To Children. “Miserablism” is a prime example - it begins as a somber acoustic folk song that jarringly morphs into a minimalist, sleepwalking rap about consumerism and superficiality. Tape glitches and military-march percussion punctuate “Brand”, a song that uses striking images such as “futureless eyes”, “the church has been defaced”, “it’s not the least bit controversial to worship militarism” to map out the apocalypse and its morning after. The funereal nature of the album is lifted, however, with its closer, “Beauty Force”, one of the prettiest songs in Smith’s canon. Sparse piano melds with Smith’s lilting melodies, and the song becomes the proverbial light at the end of the Doomsday tunnel.

Cloud Pleaser is not an easy listening experience. The dark beats, strange noises, and ghost-like folk are a far cry from the crowd-pleasing pop the album title puns. Instead it is the most compelling work yet from an outsider artist with a singular vision. Cloud Pleaser possesses the stunning moments of brilliance scattered throughout Wintertower and Angry Earth, but combines them with a new found consistency from song to song. There isn’t a weak moment here - 10 songs whose shared mood and themes coalesce into something of a personal addendum to the Book of Revelations. Consider yourself forewarned. It will soon be available through Stroboscopic Records.

MP3 :: Miserablism
MP3 :: Brand
MP3 :: Beauty Force
(from Cloud Pleaser. Buy here)
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Introducing: Aaron Young & His Nightjars

One of the most welcome musical surprises I’ve received lately was getting some new music in an unsolicited email from Aaron Young & His Nightjars. It seems these guys from Kalamazoo, MI, led by singer/songwriter Aaron Young (natch), are just getting started with their musical careers. There isn’t a heckuva lot of info over at the site - no tour dates, no album info, no promo pics, and no blog posts with band happenings or other minutia. They’ve only been on myspace since this past October. There’s just a quick bio stating, among a few other things, that most of the songs were written when Young wasn’t out catching birds! Becoming a fan of Aaron Young & His Nightjars today is truly getting in on the ground floor.

Simple metaphors about ground floors aside, “She’s Got Stripes” impressed me so much on first listen that I actually played the song 4 times in a row upon first hearing it before moving on to the next. It’s a simple acoustic shuffle with Young’s hushed, creaky voice mapping out some very subtle and pleasing melodies. Everything’s so easy-going you almost don’t even notice the violin and xylophone that sneak into the mix as the song ambles beautifully to its conclusion. “Two Steppin’” is a spry, catchy jaunt and the most immediate of their songs I’ve heard so far. I’m telling you, there have been a ton of cool new songs to hit the blog circuit so far this year, and Aaron Young & His Nightjars are fitting right in with the best of them. I’m excited to hear what these guys do as time goes on. Bitch hold onto your heart.

MP3 :: Two Steppin’
MP3 :: She’s Got Stripes
(Info here)
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New Music - The Roadside Graves

Long time PHW favorites The Roadside Graves have completed the follow up to their 2007 breakthrough, and one of that year’s best albums, No One Will Know Where You’ve Been. My Son’s Home was just sent to me a week or two ago, and I’ve got to say, this thing’s a monster. At 18 tracks My Son’s Home plays out as one of the more ambitious albums I’ve heard in a long, long time - it’s a sprawling beast that touches on every strength of the band's sound (folk, blues, country, soul, Pogues, Springsteen, The Band, Rolling Thunder Revue, etc.). I’ll have a more in depth look at it as release time approaches - it’s due from Autumn Tone sometime this spring, but an official date has not been set.

To satiate our appetites the band has posted two new songs over at their myspace. The first is “Ruby”, and my adoration of it was well documented in my Favorite Songs of 2008 List. You see, the band sent along a 6-song demo CD last summer that contained “Ruby” and it’s been blasting from my car speakers pretty regularly ever since. The song is a lot grittier than anything from No One Will Know Where You’ve Been, and contains some typically sharp (twisted?) lyrics from John Gleason (“I remember the night your grandmother died/Cigarette in her hand and a book by her side/You and I on the couch just touching each other/We didn‘t tell a soul ‘til the morning after”), as well as a crazy-ass shout-along chorus. The other new one, “Take A Train”, is a bluesy barroom rocker on cheap trucker speed with some surprising time changes. The terrific piano/guitar interplay featured is par for the course for The Graves. Any fan of good Americana music should keep an eye out for My Son’s Home. It will undoubtedly be a highlight of 2009.

Stream :: Ruby / Take A Train
(from My Son’s Home. Info here)

MP3 :: Ruby (demo)
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[mp3] Strand of Oaks - "End In Flames"

Props to Muzzle of Bees for pointing the way toward the lovely, aching “End In Flames” from Strand of Oaks. The song’s quiet mix of pianos, acoustic guitars, and hushed vocals remind me a lot of Neil Halstead‘s “Hi-Lo and Inbetween” from his 2002 record Sleeping On Roads, which is one of my favorite all-but-forgotten folk songs of decade. “End In Flames” sounds all pretty and calm and peaceful, but there’s some pretty heavy feeling-like-the-end-of-the-world-shit going on in the lyrics. It’s available on Strand of Oaks’ debut, 2008’s Leave Ruin, which was released by La Société Expéditionnaire (they put out last year’s solid You’re No Dream by Soltero as well) and is available at eMusic. I haven’t had the chance to download the whole thing yet because my subscription resets at the end of the month, but I fully intend to check it out when I can. Until then:

MP3 :: End In Flames
(from Leave Ruin. Buy here)
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(Update :: Muzzle of Bees followed up their original post with an interview with Timothy Showalter - the voice and songwriter behind Strand of Oaks. Check it out here)
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The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart have a lot going for them right now - energy, buzz, looks, locale, & youth, to name a few. Best of all though, this NY band has got songs. 10 of ’em, actually, on their self-titled debut, and not a weak one in the bunch. Lots of bands get shot through the hype machine and come out the other side with their weaknesses evident, but that isn’t going to happen to The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. The songs themselves, the most important part of the equation, are just too good.

The band draws equally from NY punk/post-punk and the early Rough Trade years of bands like The Smiths & Television Personalities. The 2 tracks the band is offering up for free download, “Come Saturday” and “Everything With You”, are a great place to get your feet wet, but really the album is just overflowing with great songs - each of the 10 a potential single. Rough and noisy enough for the indie crowd and catchy enough for broader commercial success, the band is poised for a break-out year in 2009. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart gets released by Slumberland Records in the U.S. on February 3.

MP3 :: Come Saturday
MP3 :: Everything With You
(from The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. Info here)
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New Music - Schwervon!

Schwervon! is a New York couple (not trying to hide it or pass themselves off as brother & sister) who are preparing the release of their fourth album for Olive Juice Records, Low Blow. I haven’t heard any of the band’s older albums yet, but the urgency of Low Blow’s sound struck me immediately. A bunch of the songs here, “Balloon” or “Wake and Bomb” being a good examples, remind me of the hyperactive, edgy guitar rock of bands like late-period Sleater-Kinney and Deerhoof.

“Glasses On” is an exception to that comparison though. It’s a delightful little folk/pop song that starts off gentle and kind of stays that way. Matt Roth (guitar/vocals) and Nan Turner (drums/vocals) trade off verses and harmonize with one another beautifully as the song conveys a relationship’s minor frustrations. Though some of the songs hint towards the opposite, as this one does, I bet Roth and Turner are 2 happy cats in real life. Low Blow sounds like 2 people having fun making music together.

MP3 :: Glasses On
MP3 :: Balloon
(from Low Blow. Buy here)
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Happy Inauguration Day!!!

Two classic songs remade to fit the times. Both videos were made last year (and previously posted on PHW) as Barack Obama was campaigning across the country. The first is NY’er Eric Wolfson tweaking Ritchie Valens’ “Donna”, the second is Pennsylvanian Earl Pickens (& Family) reworking Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere” (or watch this very special one he composed before the Pennsylvania primaries). Happy Inauguration Day!
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Dark Was The Night Compilation

The upcoming release from the Red Hot Organization, Dark Was The Night, is slated for February 17 through 4AD Records. The release was produced by one of the brother pairs from The National, Bryce & Aaron Dessner, and features a whopping 31 new songs from some of indie rock’s biggest names, including Feist, Spoon, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, and Sufjan Stevens. Proceeds of the 2-disc/triple vinyl/download will go to the Red Hot Organization, an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS.

4AD released "Knotty Pine", a collaboration between Dirty Projectors & David Byrne, for free download. There will also be a new song streaming at the myspace site everyday for the next several weeks. Today it’s “Deep Blue Sea” by Grizzly Bear:

Stream :: Deep Blue Sea
MP3 :: Knotty Pine (by Dirty Projectors & David Byrne)

The complete track listing:

THIS DISC (DISC ONE):

1. "Knotty Pine" - Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
2. "Cello Song" - The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez
3. "Train Song" - Feist and Ben Gibbard
4. "Brackett, WI" - Bon Iver
5. "Deep Blue Sea" - Grizzly Bear
6. "So Far Around The Bend" - The National
7. "Tightrope" - Yeasayer
8. "Feeling Good" - My Brightest Diamond
9. "Dark Was The Night" - Kronos Quartet
10. "I Was Young When I Left Home" - Antony with Bryce Dessner
11. "Big Red Machine" - Justin Vernon + Aaron Dessner
12. "Sleepless" - The Decemberists
13. "Stolen Houses (Die)" - Iron & Wine
14. "Service Bell" - Grizzly Bear + Feist
15. "You Are The Blood" - Sufjan Stevens

THAT DISC (DISC TWO):

1. "Well-Alright" - Spoon
2. "Lenin" - Arcade Fire
3. "Mimizan" - Beirut
4. "El Caporal" - My Morning Jacket
5. "Inspiration Information" - Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
6. "With A Girl Like You" - Dave Sitek
7. "Blood Pt. 2" - Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)
8. "Hey, Snow White" - The New Pornographers
9. "Gentle Hour" - Yo La Tengo
10. "Amazing Grace" - Cat Power
11. "Happiness" - Riceboy Sleeps
12. "Another Saturday" - Stuart Murdoch
13. "The Giant Of Illinois" - Andrew Bird
14. "Lua" - Conor Oberst with Gillian Welch
15. "When The Road Runs Out" - Blonde Redhead & Devastations
16. "Love Vs. Porn" - Kevin Drew
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Soft Black - The Earth Is Black

Soft Black, the NY folk-rock band led by singer/songwriter Vincent Cacchione, is getting ready to release The Earth Is Black, the follow up to their 2007 debut Blue Gold. I dug much of Blue Gold, especially “Pearl With No String” (mp3 below), so I have been looking forward to a new album from the band for a while. But what was sent to me last week was something utterly unexpected. I have no qualms saying, halfway through January, that this album will rank high among my end-of-year favorites. I know that that might seem like meaningless hyperbole coming from just another music blogger who embraces the innocuous pastime of ranking everything he hears. But seriously, not this time.

I’ve never been so excited to share music from a local NY artist as I am this record. The Earth Is Black doesn’t play a bum note. It’s a strikingly personal album from an artist with something to say - in this case dealing with the effects of deep fear, religious doubt, and sleep deprivation stemming from an endless series of nightmares. “It seems pretty limiting to refer to a record as a strict concept," says Cacchione, "but at the same time its inaccurate to avoid that tag when your dealing with songs that grew from a similar patch of creative soil."

That thematic unity is made even more interesting because Cacchione surrounds his words and melodies with a crackin’ band that’s equally capable of anthemic glam-folk (“I Am An Animal”), Ray Davies-like shuffles (“Time Gets Away And Has Its Way With You”), and propulsive folk-rock sing-alongs (“The Lions”, “The Earth Is Black”). It’s all brought home by the album’s cathartic finale, “Night Terrors”, whose slow-building tension is relieved only by the vulnerability in the vocals. The Earth Is Black is, quite simply, a great rock and roll record. Vincent, I think your luck is about to change.

The Earth Is Black comes out 2/17 through Plays With Dolls Records.

MP3 :: I Am An Animal
MP3 :: The Lions
(from The Earth Is Black. Info here)

MP3 :: Pearl With No String
(from Blue Gold. Buy here)
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