Some Videos For Your Monday....

The Black Lips - “Cold Hands”



Animal Collective - “Peacebone”



Feist - “1 2 3 4”



LCD Soundsystem - “All My Friends”


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Destroyer :: "City of Daughters" Re-released

Merge has recently re-released Destroyer’s second album, 1998’s acclaimed City of Daughters. If you are a fan of Dan Bejar’s more recent work - including PHW’s favorite album of 2006 Destroyer’s Rubies, or his contributions to The New Pornographers (I mean he only wrote the best song on Challengers) - than check out Bejar’s first attempts at recording outside of the confines of his bedroom. It’s full of the madcap genius that is so evident in his fully realized, current incarnation. It’s because of this that City of Daughters feels out of time - a revisionist’s dream that is easier to appreciate today than when it was released because we hear it as a starting point.

MP3 :: The Space Race
MP3 :: I Want This Cyclops
(from City of Daughters. Buy here or from eMusic here)
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MP3 :: Myriad Harbor
(from The New Pornographer's Challengers. Buy here)
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Music News - Evangelicals

Relatively new label Dead Oceans has been and will continue to be very busy. Having just released the debut full-length from Bishop Allen over the summer and the terrific new record from Phosphorescent this week the label will now be looking ahead to early 2008. Evangelicals are working on the follow up to their 2006 debut So Gone. There aren’t many details yet, but the band has released a seasonal song to hold fans over. “Halloween Song” is available for free download at the label’s site, or below for those who’d just assume not leave PHW.

MP3 :: Halloween Song
(from Dead Oceans website)
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Evangelicals will be performing at Austin’s upcoming Fun Fun Fun Fest
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New Music - Wakey!Wakey!

photo from cmj.com

These days it’s good to be in Wakey!Wakey! The band, fronted by NY singer/songwriter extraordinaire Mike Grubbs, has been rapidly gaining a larger and larger audience with practically every show they‘ve played over the last few months. So while they’ll continue to play to packed houses at their practical home base Rockwood Music Hall, they’ll also start playing to larger venues in the coming months. Much larger venues. Like Central Park’s Bandshell this coming Saturday at 1:30 as part of the Pumpkin Festival. Come on out, carve a pumpkin, celebrate Fall (or Indian Summer, whatever), and hear some great tunes. Stick around long enough and you’ll get a set from Chris Barron, former front man of the legendary jam band The Spin Doctors - who just happen to be the first band I ever saw live. Yup, I just said that.

But that’s not all the exciting news in the W!W! camp. Their long-rumored live album has finally been officially named (via a fan contest no less), given cover art, and will apparently be available at shows in the near future. Silent As A Movie is the name by the way, beating out rough draft (and the slightly “masturbatory” PHW favorite) Make A Fist Inside Your Pocket, as well as the tongue-in-cheek Wakey!Wakey! Sucks Live! and Wakey!Wakey! What’s Your Namey? It will feature live versions of fan favorites such as “War Sweater” and “Fallin’ Apart”. In the mean time the band will be releasing a different cover song every week for the next 10 weeks. For now go over to their myspace (link above) to hear a live version of everyone’s 3rd favorite Cindy Lauper song “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”. Yup, I just said that too.

Mike was nice enough to pass along an exclusive mp3 to PHW for sharing. It’s a live version of “LGA”, one of his more straightforward ballads, recorded live with a string quartet at Rockwood a few months back during his residency. The strings carry the song up to it’s understated climax, adding nuance to Grubbs affecting vocal melody and piano. The story is inspired by that annoying holiday airport traffic, waiting for a loved one to get home before the celebration ends. Appropriately enough, it’s going to be released on the forthcoming Liberated Matter Holiday Album to be released later this year.

MP3 :: LGA (live)
(from Liberated Matter’s Holiday Album. Release TBD)
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Be sure to check out Wakey!Wakey! at some of their upcoming shows:

This Saturday at 1:30 central Park Bandshell,
Friday Nov 2nd, 10PM Rockwood Music Hall
Friday Nov 16th, 9PM Rockwood Music Hall
Wed Nov 21st, 8PM Highline Ballroom
Wed Dec 5th, 8PM Rockwood Music Hall
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Previously :: Talkin’ New York Vol. 1 - Wakey!Wakey!
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It's Cool To Like Bruce Springsteen

Pitchfork’s Mark Richardson wrote an article last week detailing the recent emergence of Bruce Springsteen as an indie rock hero, which followed Stephen Duesner’s review of Magic in which he claimed Bruce has supplanted Brian Wilson as the go-to “ideal” among young bands. I’d noticed this trend of late as well, as many of my favorite young bands (The National, The Hold Steady, Handsome Furs, etc.) sport a fairly obvious influence of said American icon, who happens to be my own first musical hero. I still remember quite clearly buying Born To Run from a catalog in 4th grade because I figured it was the one with “Born In The USA” on it. Well, it wasn’t. Regardless, I spent the next 2 or 3 years pouring over the technicolor words of “Jungleland”, “Backstreets”, and the rest of those rock n‘ roll poems.

I wonder though, now that Bruce is “cool” again, if the ever-trendy Pitchfork would reassess their notion that not one of Springsteen’s classic 70s albums were worthy to be named among that decade’s Top 100 albums. Seriously, the 4th best Brian Eno album (including the 1 with Roxy Music) is better than Born To Run? Nothing against Eno - I have Another Green World and Here Come The Warm Jets and enjoy both a great deal, but that’s about as poor a verdict on any list I’ve seen online. And yes, I’ve seen all those ridiculous Rolling Stone lists.

Anyway, in the article Richardson uses the fact that he’s heard 4 different bands cover the Boss’s “I’m On Fire” over the past few months as proof of his assertion. I’d heard 2 myself - - one being the previously posted A.A.Bondy version that hasn’t been officially released, the other a P’fork posted version by a band called Chromatics. I did some searching over at the new Hype Machine for the other 2 he was speaking of and came away with several other “I’m On Fire’s”, including live versions by Bats For Lashes and Heather Nova (which actually dates back to the mid-90s) and a really fantastic song by a band called The Soft Hands, which in no way, shape, or form resembles the Springsteen penned classic (more on this exciting young L.A. band soon). So, in case you read the same article and were looking for all these songs in the same place, here they are. And don't worry, it's cool:

MP3 :: I’m On Fire - AA Bondy
MP3 :: I’m On Fire - Chromatics
MP3 :: I’m On Fire - Bats For Lashes
MP3 :: I’m On Fire - Heather Nova
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Here’s a fiery (pun intended) version that I don’t think Richardson was talking about:

MP3 :: I’m On Fire - Earl Pickens & The Black Mountain Marauders
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Video: Band of Horses

Has anyone else noticed just how simple and repetitive the lyrics to “Is There A Ghost” are? I guess I’ve always just allowed myself to be swept up in Bridwell’s voice and those glorious power chords without paying too much attention to what he’s saying. Turns out I wasn’t really missing much. But oh how I love it anyway....


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And here’s the official video for “Is There A Ghost”, complete with a very original take on the Tooth Fairy:


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MP3 :: Is There A Ghost
(from Cease To Begin. Buy here)
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Related :: PHW’s Cease To Begin Review
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Fred Eaglesmith - "Water In The Fuel"

This post isn’t going to be any sort of official list of my favorite alt.-country songs of the 90s or anything, but it’s close. That time period and genre were crucial in my development as a music fan, and I go back to those artists, songs, and albums all the time when I need a little twang, a little insurgency, or just a little shuffle beat to pick up a slow day.

When I think of my favorite songs from that time it’s mostly the standards that spring forward. Son Volt’s “Tear Stained Eye”, The Old 97s “Timebomb”, and Uncle Tupelo’s “New Madrid” were all fixtures to nearly every mixtape I made during the last years of college and that blurry time immediately after.

But another song from that era that I consider just as great is “Water In The Fuel” by Fred Eaglesmith. While Farrar had the voice, Tweedy the spirit, and the Old 97s the spunk, Fred Eaglesmith’s classic trucker song was all about the story. I’d dare say it’s the best trucker song since “Willin’” actually. A little lost treasure at the end of his Lipstick, Lies, & Gasoline album from 1997, the song spins a heartbreaking tale of a couple separated by the endless turnpike miles. Everything about the song is perfect - Eaglesmith’s gruff vocals, the microscopic detail (“I got a left front tire throwing thread..”), the mandolin that sweeps in halfway through the song, and the image of driving a truck out on the ice and spinning it round and round. Highly, highly recommended….

MP3 :: Water In The Fuel
(from Lipstick, Lies, & Gasoline. Buy here)
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And while we’re on the subject of this song, Australian singer/songwriter Kasey Chambers recorded an unlikely cover of it as a b-side for a song from The Captain, I think. With her child-like voice she obviously doesn’t sound at all like she’s lived the song, but it’s a beautiful rendition in its own right.

MP3 :: Water In The Fuel
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Led Zeppelin Get Digital

The Daily News reported earlier this week that Led Zeppelin will be releasing their music online in the usual digital places (iTunes, etc.) on November 13. These leaves only 2 of rock’s all-time bands yet to join the digital world - The Beatles (I’m sure Sir Paul will make the jump once the deal and timing are right) and Radiohead (who’ve recently proven that they don’t need to follow any sort of normal path of online distribution). The band will simultaneously release a(nother) retrospective, the 2-CD Mothership, on the same day.

Led Zeppelin, like many of you I’m sure, were one of the first classic rock bands I gravitated towards during my formative musical years. Without an older sibling to guide me to The Smiths, The Cure, or Sonic Youth during the late 80s I became fascinated with any and all bands played on classic rock radio. Even today, after my love for The Doors, Pink Floyd, and, er, Steve Miller have long since run their course, I still find a little Zep every now and then does the trick.

“When The Levee Breaks” is my favorite, and has to be one of the biggest, scariest, most dominant sounding songs I’ve ever heard. It rides what could easily be considered the most recognizable drum track of all time (how many times has it been sampled?) for 7 pulsing, pounding minutes. “Stairway” may get the radio love, but it’s not in the same league as this wild take on the heaviest of Delta blues. And how about some “Custard Pie” too, just because it was a favorite from when I was a kid.

MP3 :: When The Levee Breaks
(from Led Zeppelin IV. Buy here)

MP3 :: Custard Pie
(from Physical Graffiti. Buy here)
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Talkin' New York, Vol 9 - Soft Black

It’s easy to tell that New York singer/songwriter Vincent Cacchione worships at the same Bob Dylan-altar as his friend Eric Wolfson, whose own State Street Rambler I‘ve been hooked on for a few months now. Cacchione fronts a folk-rock band called Soft Black, and has recently released Blue Gold, their second record. It’s not surprising that Blue Gold shares the same kind of Bringing It All Back Home feel as Wolfson’s album - both were born out of the same scene (Antifolk) and both feature the same producer behind the boards (Dan Costello).

State Street Rambler was such a fun listen because of its “Bob Dylan Halloween celebration” approach - let’s make each song sound nearly identical to a different Dylan tune - Blue Gold doesn’t follow the same path. Cacchione’s voice is more akin to Bobby Bare Jr. than a true Dylan sound alike. His lyrics are often either remarkably poignant or comically ironic. The opening words to “Santa Fe” catches a delicious line with infinite potential - “I fell in love with a plate-glass girl” - and follows it up with a series of lines equally as image-filled and irreverent - “I called the cops on your wedding day/ I kissed a girl and still felt gay”, “I struck the chord and I found that spot/ I read my will to a polka dot”. It’s a funny little song, and perhaps the most immediate Soft Black gets, but is only one of many highlights running through the 11 tracks. The other 10 songs feature humor and self-deprecation as well, but also raw emotion and lyrical insights.

Soft Black follows what you may expect from an album made by folk-rock regulars within walking distance of Bleeker Street. There’s lots of acoustic guitar and harmonica, some surprisingly frenetic electric guitar solos, the occasional banjo and violin, and plenty of piano and organ as well. The rhythm section is patient and keeps things in the mid-tempo range, and although it is specifically unaccredited, either Maya Caballero or Caitlin Jaene provide some fine harmonies on “Pearl With No String”. That song houses the album’s most memorable melody as well - it’s been swirling around my head all week at work. Blue Gold is a noteworthy record from a talented artist - filled with songs that convey complex emotions but never sounds heavy handed. It’s as memorable as the city skyline from a East Village rooftop.

MP3 :: Santa Fe
MP3 :: Pearl With No String
(from Blue Gold. Buy here)
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Catch Soft Black at one of their upcoming NY shows:

10/27 - Sidewalk Café - 8PM
11/6 - Pianos. Cross Pollination. - 8PM
11/8 - Trash Bar - 8PM (Brooklyn)
12/14 - Sidewalk Café (w/ Brook Pridemore) 11PM
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Dylan Biopic - "I'm Not There" Soundtrack

The soundtrack to the new Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There will feature a virtual who’s who of revered artists, both contemporary and classic. Head over to the brand new myspace (link below) and be one of the first to stream tracks by Sufjan Stevens (“Ring Them Bells”), Cat Power (“Stuck Inside Of Mobile…”), Jim James & Calexico (“Goin’ To Acapulco”), and Jeff Tweedy (“Simple Twist Of Fate”).

Also of note is the inclusion of the never before officially released “I’m Not There” - a long lost member of the Genuine Basement Tapes, as well as a version by Sonic Youth.

Stream :: Ring Them Bells / Stuck Inside of Mobile… / Goin’ To Acapulco / Simple Twist Of Fate
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Full Track Listing:

All Along The Watchtower - Eddie Vedder & The Million Dollar Bashers
As I Went Out One Morning - Mira Billotte
Ballad Of A Thin Man - Stephen Malkmus & The Million Dollar Bashers
Billy - Los Lobos
Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window - The Hold Steady
Can’t Leave Her Behind - Stephen Malkmus & Lee Ranaldo
Cold Irons Bound - Tom Verlaine & The Million Dollar Bashers
Dark Eyes - Iron & Wine & Calexico
Fourth Time Around - Yo La Tengo
Goin’ To Acapulco - Jim James & Calexico
Highway 61 Revisited - Karen O & The Million Dollar Bashers
I Wanna Be Your Lover - Yo La Tengo
I’m Not There - Bob Dylan
I’m Not There - Sonic Youth
Just Like A Woman - Charlotte Gainsbourg & Calexico
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues - Ramblin’ Jack Elliot
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door - Antony & The Johnsons
The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll - Mason Jennings
Maggie’s Farm - Stephen Malkmus & The Million Dollar Bashers
Mama You’ve Been On My Mind - Jack Johnson
The Man In The Long Black Coat - Mark Lanegan
Moonshiner - Bob Forrest
One More Cup Of Coffee - Roger McGuinn & Calexico
Pressing On - John Doe
Ring Them Bells - Sufjan Stevens
Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power) - Willie Nelson & Calexico
Simple Twist Of Fate - Jeff Tweedy
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With Memphis Blues Again - Cat Power
The Times They Are A Changing - Mason Jennings
Tombstone Blues - Richie Havens
When The Ship Comes In - Marcus Carl Franklin
Wicked Messenger - The Black Keys
You Ain’t Goin' Nowhere - Glen Hansard & Markta Irglov
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Live Review - AA Bondy @ Southpaw

Last evening I had the distinct pleasure of catching PHW favorite A.A. Bondy live for the first time. He played at Southpaw and came armed with an acoustic guitar, a small fleet of harmonicas, and his “pretty wife” (not my words, my girlfriend’s, though I’m not disagreeing) Claire (?) on piano for a handful of songs.

Please don’t let the obvious amateurism of my photography offset what I thought of Bondy’s set. I’ve championed this man’s music several times this year and hopefully the world (or whoever it might be that checks this blog out) is beginning to listen. The crowd last night, a nice amount of people for an 8:00 performance on a Tuesday, was spread throughout Southpaw’s spacious, comfortable environs. Many though were standing right up close to the stage, listening intently to Bondy sing his often disarmingly beautiful folk songs.

Bondy mostly played songs from his recently released record American Hearts, as fine a collection of songs as has been released all year, genre regardless. On personal favorites “Of The Sea” and “Witness Blues” Bondy proved his cracked, Southern melodies were versatile, as he tweaked them ever-so-slightly to fill the large room. The piano accompaniment only added to the beauty of a song like “American Hearts” and the rhythm of “Killed Myself When I Was Young”. A mid-set cover of Tom Waits’ “Hang Down Your Head” was especially poignant and received quite a rousing response from the crowd.

The set ended too soon with a gorgeous “Black Rain, Black Rain” - one of the many highlights from the album. Bondy is not to be missed live - if you’re a fan of American Hearts (and seriously, you oughtta be) make sure to check him out when he hits your town. He’s playing NY again Thursday, October 18 at Mo’ Pitkins (for free!) in the afternoon.

MP3 :: There’s A Reason
MP3 :: Vice Rag
(from American Hearts. Buy here)

Bonus MP3 :: I’m On Fire (Springsteen cover)
(American Hearts outtake)
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New Music - The Octopus Project

I made a mistake in a post the other day when I said that The Octopus Project's brand new 3rd album, Hello, Avalanche, was released last week. Actually it came out yesterday. To celebrate (the release, not the mistake) Fanatic Promotions passed along 2 more fantastic mp3s to share. Each has struck me just as much as "I Saw The Bright Shinies", the first released mp3 and member of every self-made playlist I've put together since July. These 2 new tracks are just as vibrant - full of bright pop hooks, shimmering keys, and winding instrumental passages.

MP3 :: Bees Bein' Strugglin'
MP3 :: An Evening With Rthrtha
MP3 :: I Saw The Bright Shinies
(from Hello, Avalanche. Buy here)
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The Octopus Project is playing the High Line Ballroom in NYC tomorrow night (Thurs. 10/18)
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