Linkage...

Robert Pollard has a pair of new albums slated for release through Merge Records. I haven’t heard too much of Pollard’s solo stuff since the demise of GBV, but these songs sound promising. Here is one from each release:

MP3 :: The Killers
(from Standard Gargoyle Decisions. Pre-order here)

MP3 :: Rud Fins
(from Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love. Pre-order here)
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Well, Stereogum has proven once again that they are in no way shape or form an ordinary music blog. After wowing everyone in the music world a few months back with the OKX compilation, they’ve done it again. Drive XV was released for free digital download at their site and brings together some of the best bands in indie rock today covering all the songs from REM’s classic Automatic For The People. You need to check this out if you’re a fan of old REM, or a fan of The Wrens, Meat Puppets, Blitzen Trapper, etc. Plus, they’ve promised a whole mess of outtakes in the coming days, so keep checking in.
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As a follow-up to the BIG news earlier this week regarding In Rainbows, Dave over at Rawkblog has put together a live compilation of all the new Radiohead songs.
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There’s a lot out there for Iron & Wine fans these days. In addition to all the press the pretty excellent The Shepherd’s Dog is getting, Pitchfork has an interview with Sam Beam that gets in depth into the writing and recording process of the album. Also check out The Good, The Bad, And The Unknown - they have a host of rare I&W songs from throughout their career, even a few I never even knew existed.
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Again, AOL Spinner is streaming the new Bruce Springsteen album Magic all week. It’s gotten some lukewarm reception so far, but c’mon, it’s the Boss.

Stream :: Bruce Springsteen - Magic
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I saw Okkervil River play the other night at The Bowery Ballroom in NYC. They were fantastic, as usual, despite me being slightly distracted by the barrage of text messages I received from my brothers with all sorts of bad news about the Mets. For the encore Will Sheff came out and played an acoustic version of “A Stone” - one of my favorite songs from Black Sheep Boy. Today I saw a write-up at Stylus regarding the same song. Yeah, it moves me too.
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Congratulations are in order to my friend Evan, whose blog If I Blog It, They Will Come achieved its goal of getting Kevin Costner to send in a photo of himself looking at the blog that they began around the same time I started PHW. Well done Ev. Now on to Robin Williams…..
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New Music - Spokane

Spokane released their latest record, Little Hours, through Jagjaguwar this past summer. The album is the first for the Richmond, Virginia based band in 4 years. It’s a somber, minimalist affair - full of hushed vocals, delicate acoustic guitar, brushed percussion, and spacious keys. These songs sound so fragile that the slightest movement could break them into a thousand pieces. Think Low if they were from the South. And slower. With more distance between the notes. Stark, stately, and captivating.

MP3 :: Thankless Marriage
(from Little Hours. Buy here)

Video for “Thankless Marriage”:


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Songs From The Garage..

That recent compilation An Aquarium Drunkard featured called the 60s Collection of Scarcest Garage Records has really gotten me into a garage rock kick. Besides going through that 26 song playlist about a dozen times over the past 2 weeks I’ve been browsing around the internets looking for more great stuff that would fit in. Here’s some things I found.

The Seeds (nearly) lost classic self-titled record from 1966 has been something on my radar for a while, but I was only recently inspired to look into it further. Man am I glad that I did. A reviewer on eMusic calls The Seeds “the greatest garage band of the 60s” and after listening to the album I may have to agree. If you enjoyed AAD’s recent posts do yourself a favor and check this record out.

MP3 :: Can’t Seem To Make You Mine
MP3 :: Pushin’ Too Hard
(from The Seeds. Buy here)

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I’ve been seeing posts about The Black Lips around the blogosphere for weeks (months? years?) now, but for some reason (maybe their somewhat uninspired band name) was ignoring them. My bad. I checked out a few tracks last week and was very pleasantly surprised. Their sound is clearly in the 60s garage band tradition, with a strong alt. country leaning as well. Their new record, Good Bad Not Evil, has been out for a few weeks now and is available through Vice Records. It’s full of fuzzed-out songs that don’t so much imitate garage rock as channel it.

MP3 :: Cold Hands
MP3 :: O Katrina
(from Good Bad Not Evil. Buy here)
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And in case you missed my post from a few months back on New York’s The Cummies, let me bring you up to speed (or refresh your memory). The Cummies do indeed sound inspired by the great garage bands of yore, with equal parts of The Stooges and early Nirvana/Sub Pop stuff mixed in as well. The band is currently working on new material - with plans to record and release a full length album in the not-so-distant future. Here’s a song from earlier this year:

MP3 :: White Radio
(from The Cummies EP. Buy here)
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Iron & Wine: Internet Round-Up

Unless you’ve been severely depressed this week because of the hapless, luckless, and downright pathetic potential collapse of the Mets, you’re probably aware that Iron & Wine released their third full-length album on Tuesday. The Shepherd’s Dog has been receiving strong press on mp3 blogs for months, and this week saw the same from the larger review websites and publications.

I have to admit that when I first heard The Shepherd’s Dog earlier this summer I was somewhat befuddled by what I perceived as very good songs buried beneath way too much clutter. Over the past few years Sam Beam has consistently moved his band further and further from the rustic, lo-fi folk songs of Iron & Wine’s brilliant debut The Creek Drank The Cradle, so it’s not that I was expecting a return to that sound. And it certainly wasn’t that I was against Beam experimenting with and expanding his sonic repertoire. It was just that the songs sounded too busy - some really evocative lyrics and nice melodies buried beneath layers of needless bells & whistles.

Regardless of first impressions I kept returning to The Shepherd’s Dog over the following weeks and months. There were a few songs that were easy to love; the ones that were melodically familiar of earlier albums - “Resurrection Fern” and “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” especially. Soon enough though my position softened on the rest of the record. The arrangements of the dense and rhythmic “White Tooth Man” and “Pagan Angel And A Borrowed Car” began to make sense to my ears, and the radiant beauty of songs like “Innocent Bones” and “Lovesong of the Buzzard” began to emerge. While some of the tricks Beam employs don’t work (particularly the ridiculously treated vocals on “Carousel” that, for me, are still ruining one of the album’s best songs), by now I can safely say that The Shepherd’s Dog is a logical next step in Iron & Wine’s evolution as a band. It brings the band in an artistically exciting, entirely uncompromising new direction while staying true to the traditional elements that have made them one of the finest American bands of this young millennium.

If you somehow haven’t already these songs yet, here are a few from the new record:

MP3 :: Boy With A Coin
MP3 :: Innocent Bones
(from The Shepherd’s Dog. Buy here)
---------------------------------------------
Check out reviews of The Shepherd’s Dog from around the internet:

Pitchfork
Stylus
All Music Guide
Lost At Sea
Blender
The New York Times
BBC Collective
Drowned In Sound
Uncut
Billboard
Rolling Stone
Dusted
The Onion (A.V. Club)
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And here are some album tracks and rarities from the past:

MP3 :: Southern Anthem
MP3 :: Lion’s Mane
(from The Creek Drank The Cradle)

MP3 :: Jesus The Mexican Boy
(from The Sea & The Rhythm EP)

MP3 :: Naked As We Came
(from Our Endless Numbered Days)

MP3 :: Woman King
(from Woman King EP)

(Buy Iron & Wine albums from Sub Pop)
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MP3 :: Cold Town
MP3 :: Swans And The Swimming
MP3 :: Dead Man’s Will
MP3 :: Such Great Heights (The Postal Service cover)
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And here are some live songs recorded solo from the Pabst Theatre earlier this year. Notice the huge difference between the studio versions of these songs vs. these acoustic renditions:

MP3 :: Pagan Angel And A Borrowed Car (live)
MP3 :: Lovesong Of The Buzzard (live)
MP3 :: Carousel (live)
MP3 :: The Trapeze Swinger (live)
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Saddle Creek's Busy Month...

A great benefit of writing an MP3 blog is that record labels and bands send me promo CD’s on a fairly regular basis. As someone who is constantly craving new music it’s a pretty good deal: get free stuff, listen to it, write about/promote the stuff that sounds good.

That being said, Saddle Creek sends me CD’s all the time, and most have been well worth writing about. Bright Eyes’ Four Winds EP and the full length Cassadaga, while not the career defining records one would hope for after the brilliant I‘m Wide Awake It’s Morning, housed some terrific songs, and Maria Taylor’s Lynn Teeter Flower has two of my favorite singer/songwriter tunes of the year (“Clean Getaway” and “Lost Time”). September is the label’s busiest month of the year, as they have recently released new records from The Good Life, Two Gallants, and Georgie James.

The Good Life’s Help Wanted Nights is the best of the 3. Led by Cursive’s Tim Kasher, The Good Life takes a more pop-oriented folk/rock direction than his heavier hitting band. The album was recorded in Omaha by AJ Mogis (of Bright Eyes), and he really seems to have helped the band put the melodies up front - nearly every song contains instant hooks that lock into your brain. By the second time the choruses hit they already sound like a long-lost friend you’ve been waiting years to see again. They’ve already received a solid review over at Pitchfork, as well as a write up from one of my most trusted fellow bloggers. Check it out.

MP3 :: Heartbroke
MP3 :: A Little Bit More
(from Help Wanted Nights. Buy here)

Bonus MP3 :: A New Friend
(from Album Of The Year. Buy here)
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Two Gallants released a noteworthy EP earlier this year called The Scenery of Farewell. More stripped down than their aggressive electric live shows and past albums, the EP showed the band’s reflective side while keeping their trademark spirit. This week sees Two Gallants return with a self-titled full length, the band’s third. Charged by Adam Fontaine’s nasally Dave Pirner-meets-the-guy-from-Rush vocals, the band has yet again turned out an interesting blend of folk, blues, and rock.

MP3 :: The Hand That Held Me Down
MP3 :: Despite What You’ve Been Told
(from Two Gallants. Buy here)

Bonus MP3 :: Seems Like Home To Me
(from The Scenery of Farewell EP. Buy here)
----------------------------------------------------

Georgie James is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist John Davis (former drummer of D.C.’s defunct Q And Not U) and singer-songwriter Laura Burhenn. Their brand of indie-pop is heavily influenced by both 60’s and 70’s pop music luminaries such as The Kinks, Richard & Linda Thompson, and Shake Some Action-era Flamin’ Groovies. Places was released this week as well.

MP3 :: Need Your Needs
MP3 :: Cake Parade
(from Places. Buy here)

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New Music: Capgun Coup

Team Love Records, the Saddle Creek offshoot co-founded by Conor Oberst, is re-releasing an exciting record today. Capgun Coup’s Brought To You By Nebraskafish was originally released through Slumber Party Records and will drop September 25. Anyone who is a fan of Bright Eyes, particularly the sweeping Midwest emo-folk of Lifted, or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground, should definitely check it out.

I’m an album guy first and foremost, and normally I prefer them short and sweet: 10 or 11 songs that come in, say what they want to say and leave before they overstay their welcome. What I can’t stand is when an album has too many songs - 7 or 8 really good ones, 2 or 3 OK ones, and a handful of boring/lousy ones that ruin what should be a concise, thrilling listen. Too many artists don’t understand the relatively simple concept and are in desperate need of an editor (I’m thinking of you Ryan Adams, Modest Mouse, and, uh, Bright Eyes). Not many artists can pull off the extended/double album. The 15 track-long Brought To You By Nebraskafish works mostly because the band mixes up minimal bedroom folk, moody and melodic rockers, and a few sound collages to create a listening experience that flows seamlessly through all styles, even if it does start to teeter out just a bit by the end.

Capgun Coup is made up of four friends from Omaha who, if one is to believe a band’s bio, are “not the most well-versed students of rock music”. Sam Martin (vocals, guitar, samples) and Greg Elsasser (vocals, keys, samples) bring opposite musical personalities to the band, as Martin’s more song-oriented approach counters Elsasser’s love of spacey noise. Andy Matz (bass, vocals) and Eric Ohlsson (drums, vocals) give the songs their sturdy foundation. “Bobby Chops And The Do-Gooders” may be the best representation of this on record. The song is upbeat and catchy for an unlikely 7 minutes, with a chorus that will have you singing along long after you’d think it would have grown tiresome. In other places the band’s loose, sprawling lo-fi sound recalls some of the other acts that have come out of the Midwest scene this decade, but Capgun Coup infuses those influences with its own distinct brand of enthusiasm. Oberst done good at finding these guys.

MP3 :: Bobby Chops And The Do-Gooders
MP3 :: Oh My Mod
MP3 :: My Tears Cure Cancer
(from Brought To You By Nebraskafish. Buy here)
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New Album Streams @ AOL Spinner

Spinner's got some goodies for you this week. Included in their weekly collection of new album streams is the A.A. Bondy album American Hearts that I raved about recently. Seriously, you have to check that out if you're a fan of Americana/folk/folk-blues/or good music. It's one of my favorite albums of the year.

Also featured are the new albums from Stars, Matt Pond PA, Devendra Banhart, Joni Mitchell, Office, Jose Gonzalez, and Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, among many others.

-------------------------

New Sounds Goin' Round....

Division Day is releasing their new record, Beartrap Island, through Eenie Meenie on October 2 (it’s already available on iTunes). As a promotional push they are also releasing a new cover/remix every week for the next 8 weeks. The first single from the album is “Tigers”, and is featured below. It mixes some pretty big hints of 80s New Wave with super-tight, slick, West Coast guitar rock.

MP3 :: Tigers
(from Beartrap Island. Pre-order here)

Here are some of the mentioned covers/remixes:
Bonus MP3 :: Ricky (Tandemoro Remix)
Bonus MP3 :: Every Shining Time You Arrive (cover)
Bonus MP3 :: Enjoy The Silence (Depeche Mode cover)
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Mobius Band have a new album coming out on Misra on October 2. Heaven is the album, and if first single “Hallie” is any indication, it’s named well. Misra says: Heaven revolves around repeating motifs ­ decoding the secret language of ex-lovers, the betrayals of quote-unquote friends. It¹s melodies are more dynamic, its themes more direct. Where their previous album still grappled with post-collegiate anxiety, here there are larger questions of control, bewilderment, and loss.

MP3 :: Hallie
(from Heaven. Pre-order here)
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Finally, Charlemagne released a new album this week and it’s called We Can Build An Island. Released through Sidecho Records, the new album features more than just Carl Johns. Charlemagne has relocated to Brooklyn (yawn, haven’t we all) and expanded to include 2 other full-time musicians. The result is a more band oriented sound than on previous releases, with Johns’ vibrant folk-rock melodies now given fuller arrangements to sway around inside.

MP3 :: New Train
MP3 :: You Are My Diary
MP3 :: 8x10
(from We Can Build An Island. Buy here)
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Linkage...

Spoon performing Black Like Me on Leno
Uploaded by dtrip01

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Earl “Mr. America” Pickens, he of the infamous unicycle video for his terrific country-rock single “Can I Turn On The Radio?”, has a NYC show lined up for the weekend. Pickens will be joined by a small group of musicians for a show at Rockwood Music Hall this Saturday night at 7PM sharp. Early enough to make my 9PM bedtime, if I hurry. YEE-HAW!!
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Rewriteable Contentwas at a recent Wolf Parade show at the El Rey Theatre. It’s been recorded and there are a ton of new songs for those of you who are into hearing semi-audible audience recordings of new songs from your favorite bands. Actually, they sound pretty good, so check ’em out.
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An Aquarium Drunkard has an absolutely incredible compilation of some incredible lost songs from the 60s. 60s Collection of Scarcest Garage Records was broken into 4 separate incredible posts, each containing about 6 or 7 incredible garage rock songs from the 60s - none of which I had ever heard - and they‘re all incredible. If you download 1 compilation of incredibly rare 60s garage rock lost classics this month, make it this one. It’s incredible. Part 1 click here. Part 2 click there. Part 3 click somewhere else. Part 4 click click click.
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Video: Chris & Mollie - "Transition Trade"

Earlier this year Chris & Mollie self-released their remarkable second album, The Palm Tree. It’s blend of wildly inventive indie-folk, gentle and beautiful balladry, and a (pretty obscene - you've been warned) story arc involving a relationship in decay has kept me coming back since I first heard it earlier this summer. It really is one of the records that came out of nowhere for me that will most likely end up somewhere on whatever my year end list looks like.

Recently Chris (Donlon, from the band) emailed me alerting me to a new video that he’s made for one of the album’s best songs, “Transition Trade”. Combining real video of the band performing with personally hand drawn animation the video is every bit as creative and satisfying as the music. Check out the video at the link below, then check out the song, then an interview we (me) here at PHW did with Chris & Mollie a few months ago.

Video :: Transition Trade

MP3 :: Transition Trade
(from The Palm Tree. Buy here)
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Also - the band is running a sale until the end of the month where you can buy both their albums, The Palm Tree and (take to the skies), for the low low price of $14. Hurry, time is running out!
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Wakey!Wakey! added to CMJ Showcase

One of my favorite New York bands, Wakey!Wakey!, has some big shows approaching. Wakey!Wakey! is the brainchild of Mike Grubbs, a piano-pounding singer/songwriter who possesses one of the most "holy shit!" voices on the entire Manhattan scene. His band changes depending on the show, but it doesn’t matter if he’s playing solo, with a string quartet, a 3-piece band, or whatever - the guy is always wowing audiences. It’s in his damn second nature.

Tonight (Thursday, 9/20) Wakey!Wakey! (myspace) will continue their residency at New York’s close to acoustically perfect Rockwood Music Hall. Surprises have been promised to those already familiar with the band.

And in big news Wakey!Wakey! will be playing 2 shows as part of the CMJ showcase that takes over New York clubs every year. He’s been added to the Brooklyn Vegan showcase at Pianos on Wednesday, October 17 and also Indaba Music’s as well. Find out about Indaba here.

As mentioned earlier on this blog, Wakey!Wakey! is due to release a live album on Family Records called Make A Fist Inside Your Pocket in the near future, but according to the label’s website no release date has officially been set.

MP3 :: Fallin’ Apart
(from Cross Pollination: The Mixtape, Vol.1. Available for free download through Family Records and Liberated Matter)
---------------------------------

New Music: Phosphorescent

Phosphorescent will be releasing their new record, Pride, via the Dead Oceans label. Coming a little over 2 years after 2005’s impressive Aw Come Aw Wry, the new album finds singer/songwriter Matthew Houck (pictured) playing every instrument himself, only using a makeshift choir on a few songs for outside help. The lead single, “A Picture Of Our Torn Up Praise”, has been floating around the web for a few weeks now and finds Houck exploring darker sounds than his last record.

From the label: His achingly cerebral delivery recalls Arthur Russell, but honestly, "Pride" sounds like nothing else we've ever heard. These are poems uttered in an empty field, punctuated by shouts and hollers, as if from a singer either abandoned or possessed.

MP3 :: A Picture Of Our Torn Up Praise
(from Pride)
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Daytrotter had Phosphorescent in for a session a few months ago and came away with an excellent set of songs, including these 2 that are included on Pride:

MP3 :: Cocaine Lights
MP3 :: A Death, A Proclamation
(from www.daytrotter.com)
------------------------------------

And here are two of the standouts from Aw Come Aw Wry. Highly recommended:

Bonus MP3 :: Joe Tex, These Naming Blues
Bonus MP3 :: I Am A Full Grown Man (I Will Lay In The Grass All Day)
(from Aw Come Aw Wry. Buy here)
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Catch Houck and crew on tour this Fall:

10/09/07 Grantham, PA - Larsen Student Union, Messiah College
10/10/07 Rochester, NY - Bug Jar
10/11/07 Scranton, PA - Test Pattern
10/12/07 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern
10/13/07 Grand Rapids, MI - The DAAC
10/14/07 Chicago, IL - AV-aerie
10/15/07 Urbana, IL - Canoply Club - Void Room
10/18/07 Denver, CO - Hi Dive
10/19/07 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
10/22/07 Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern
10/23/07 Portland, OR - Towne Lounge w/ Au
10/24/07 San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern w/ Lazarus, Alex Delanda
10/26/07 Los Angeles, CA - El Cid
10/27/07 Phoenix, AZ - Casa Blanca
10/29/07 Austin, TX - Cactus Café w/ Weird Weeds
10/30/07 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves
11/04/07 Wilmington, NC - Bella Festa w/ Bowerbirds
11/05/07 Washington, DC - Black Cat w/ Bowerbirds
11/07/07 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Side Chapel w/ Bowerbirds
11/08/07 Allston, MA - Great Scott w/ Bowerbirds
11/09/07 New York, NY - Cake Shop w/ Bowerbirds
11/10/07 Brooklyn, NY - Venue TBA (Todd P show) w/ Bowerbirds
11/22/07 Den Haag, Netherlands - Crossing Border Festival w/ Akron/Family
11/23/07 Brussels, Belgium - AB Club w/ Akron/Family
11/24/07 Brighton, UK - Pressure Point w/ Akron/Family
11/25/07 Bristol, UK - The Croft w/ Akron/Family
11/27/07 Aberdeen, UK - Lemon Tree w/ Akron/Family
11/28/07 Glasgow, UK - The Beat Club w/ Akron/Family
11/29/07 Newcastle, UK - The Other Rooms w/ Akron/Family
11/30/07 Manchester, UK - Phoenix w/ Akron/Family
12/01/07 Leeds, UK - Faversham w/ Akron/Family
12/02/07 London, UK - Cargo w/ Akron/Family
12/04/07 Nottingham, UK - The Social w/ Akron/Family
12/05/07 Coventry, UK - Taylor John's House w/ Akron/Family
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