speed of dark

Kevin Schneider, left, and Jonathan Meiberg, right, of Shearwater
Last Wednesday night at the Echo, I was fortunate to attend the kick-off performance of Shearwater's current tour. Pitchfork has listed Shearwater's current album Rook as one of the Most Overlooked Records of 2008, and that is a sad place to see this wonderful album, which happens to be at the top of my favorites of 2008 so far (see my album review). If you discover only one new band this year, Shearwater should be that band.

The hour-long set came from Shearwater's most recent albums--Rook, Palo Santo (2006), and "Mountain Laurel" from Thieves (2005). These choices showcased the stunning range and beauty of leader Jonathan Meiburg's voice, from delicate falsetto that barely tickles your eardrum ("I Was a Cloud") to powerful vocal statements that shake the house ("Century Eyes").

I asked Meiburg when he discovered he could sing like that, and he said, "I've been singing as long as I can remember. I sang in church for many years, which actually is kind of restrictive in some ways that I've been trying to get away from." The church influence is not surprising; what remains from it gives Shearwater dignity, depth, and spirituality, but with more of an Eastern philosophy than a Western one.

"I try to write in a way that reflects more than a single aspect of life," Meiburg told me, "where the good and the bad are tied together, because that's how life is." The eloquence in his lyrics bears that out, with themes contrasting the fear that man will destroy Nature with the conviction that Nature will shrug off any shackles we try to put on her--and questioning what price Man will pay to either win or lose this battle.

The Eastern connection is further emphasized sonically onstage by strange, highly-textured interludes between songs that evoke the cold, impassive grandeur of the Himalayas and on Rook in the instrumental track "South Col." Thor Harris, drummer and general all-around musical handyman of Shearwater, told me before the show that the band members share a common goal of creating these sounds without resorting to electronics.

Sometimes the band uses common instruments to produce the unusual sounds: bassist Kim Burke made deep, moaning notes like whale-songs with her bow. Thor used the same bow on the edges of the xylophone keys to make little zings. He also played an instrument he told me is a waterphone, made by Richard Waters and based on Tibetan water drums (see photo below). Eerie sounds are produced when a bow is drawn across the pipes.

Below left: Kim Burke smiles and plays her lovely electric upright bass

Above right: Thor Harris applies the bow to the waterphone
COPYRIGHTED CONTENT HAS BEEN REMOVED
Setlist:
1. On the Death of the Waters (with Thor on waterphone)
2. Red Sea, Black Sea
3. Mountain Laurel
4. Rooks (live, recorded in studio)

Meiburg announced, "This song is dedicated to the LaBrea Tar Pits," which the band had visited earlier in the day and were very impressed with.

5. Every Hook, Every Eye
6. Leviathan, Bound (live, recorded in studio)
7. Seventy-four, Seventy-Five
8. Snow Leopard

(Definitely one of my very favorites. Kim introduced this song with some squeaky bits on the bass. Meiburg sang with such force, I thought every glass in the place might burst, but miraculously they held up.)

9. I Was a Cloud (live, recorded in studio)

In our show, Thor played clarinet, waterphone, and xylophone, including brushing the edges of the xylophone keys with the bow.

10. Century Eyes (Very powerful song, very strong live)
11. Hail Mary

Encore: Tomboy

Above, detail of Meiburg's banjo, which features sketches of male and female ivory-billed woodpeckers, which were thought to be extinct until a possible sighting was reported in Arkansas in 2004, to the delight of American bird-lovers. Meiburg has a degree in ornithology.



Shearwater's current tour will eventually take them to the U.K. and Europe, but Meiburg told me they'd be back to L.A. I would like to see that happen, and when it does I hope they will have added "The Hunter's Star" (from Rook) to the setlist.

Show Schedule:
08/30/08 - Salt Lake City , UT @ Urban Lounge, w/Jennifer O’Connor
08/31/08 - Denver, CO @ Hi Dive, w/Jennifer O’Connor
09/01/08 - Albuquerque , NM @ Launchpad, w/Jennifer O’Connor
09/04/08 - Austin, TX @ Mohawk, w/Jennifer O’Connor
09/10/08 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
09/12/08 - Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
09/13/08 - Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival
09/14/08 - Oxford, UK @ Zodiac
09/15/08 - Glasgow, UK @ Captain's Rest
09/16/08 - Manchester, UK @ The Roadhouse
09/17/08 - London, UK @ Bush Hall
09/18/08 - London, UK @ Rough Trade East
09/19/08 - Dublin, IR @ Whelan's
09/20/08 - Belfast, IR @ Speakeasy
09/21/08 - Galway, IR @ Roisin Dubh

Website | Label: Matador Records | Lyrics pdf
Buy at Matador Store, iTunes, and eMusic

Work sux
It's finally Friday, and in the U.S. it's the beginning of a three-day weekend too! The weekend is typically the last summer blow-out before school starts, and heralds the beginning of the fall/winter holiday season, although here in SoCal the hot, muggy weather is making brisk fall days seem far, far away.

Big congratulations to Lonesome Music Blog for passing their 4th anniversary earlier this month! Don't miss the gorgeous songs by Donna Beasley and Beachwood Sparks in their two latest posts.

Contrast Podcast #126 is one of the very special and much-anticipated Musicians Introduce Their Own Songs episodes. You won't regret taking the time to discover the artists who contributed to this set, which begins with the lovely and haunting voice of Devon Sproule.

Check out the album review of Jr. Juggernaut at Can You See the Sunset, plus volumes 31, 32, and 33 of cool tunes from the 90's.

Two weeks ago You Ain't No Picasso gave us Six New Songs By the Decemberists. I know we heard Colin Meloy sing one of these when we saw him at the Henry Fonda Theater in April (review).

Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good provides an analysis of the nearly six-minute new release by Of Montreal.

MP3Hugger is blissed out about going to the 3-day Electric Picnic Festival that starts today in Ireland.

Visit Thanks, Captain Obvious to watch a video of Bon Iver's Justin Vernon playing an Okkervill River cover, and don't miss the previous post with the two songs by Ribbonpigeon. LOVE that fiddle! Gotta look up more of those guys.

To make up for our spending too much time celebrating (Happy August!) and not blogging, here is a Labor Day mix for everyone who is getting some time off this weekend. Enjoy!
COPYRIGHTED CONTENT HAS BEEN REMOVED
Pizza!: Time Off Work from Bound By a Love EP
The Pinker Tones: Working Bees from Wild Animals (2008)
The Mekons: Work All Week from The Secret Life of Things (2004)
Murder Mystery: Cold, Hard Workin' Man
from Are You Ready for the Heartache Cause Here it Comes (2007)
Cuff the Duke: Ballad of a Lonely Construction Worker
from Life Stories For Minimum Wage (2002)
Dramarama: Work For Food from The Best of Dramarama (1996)
Morning Runner: Work from Wilderness Is Paradise Now (2006)

I sincerely regret that we are not able to catch Matthew Sweet at the Echo in L.A. tonight. As you'll see as soon as I get back home and process my photos, we saw Shearwater the night before, and unfortunately I don't have either the stamina or the bucks to do two concerts in a row. For the record, I am not whining about the cost of tickets; it's the cost of gas, meals, and motel that keeps me from going to all the shows I'd like to.

Sweet is a long-time favorite of ours; Indie Mom was still in high school the last time we saw him (at the Whiskey, Hollywood, April 20, 1995--I still have the ticket stub!). I have no doubt that Sweet and the band he calls Superdeformed--Ric Menck(drums), Tony Marsico,(bass), Peter Phillips (lead guitar), and Paul Chastain (vocals, guitars)--will put on a worthy show tonight with plenty of sweet, sparkling tunes.

Sweet is promoting a brand-new album, released this week, called Sunshine Lies, his tenth and the first solo album of original work since 2004's Living Things. (In 2003 he recorded an album as part of The Thorns with Shawn Mullins and Pete Droge). Players on Sunshine Lies include long-time friends: Richard Lloyd (Television--yum!), Ivan Julian (Richard Hell & the Voidoids), and Greg Leisz (six-string, 12-string and slide guitars, pedal steel), as well as Susanna Hoffs (the Bangles) and Sweet's wife Lisa on backing harmonies. He is also readying another album of Sid and Susie covers with Hoffs.

"Someone To Pull the Trigger" holds a special place in my heart because it was playing in my car the morning I drove to the hospital on the day He Might Be Giant was born. I was not ready to be a grandma, but he pulled the trigger.
COPYRIGHTED CONTENT HAS BEEN REMOVED
Daisychain from Sunshine Lies (2008)
Morning Song from Kimi Ga Suki Raifu (2003)
Dark Secret (with Lindsay Buckingham) from The Craft Soundtrack (1996)
Devil With the Green Eyes (remix) from Son Of Altered Beast [EP] (1994)
Someone To Pull the Trigger from Altered Beast (1993)
Divine Intervention from Girlfriend (1991)

MySpace | Website | Label: RCAM Records

Interview with Matthew Sweet at Performing Songwriter. Surprise fact: He makes pottery!

Buy at Shout!Factory, iTunes (with two bonus tracks), eMusic, and Amazon.com
Get the double LP with 4 bonus tracks at Shout!Factory,

Show Schedule: Check MySpace.

The Best Band on the Planet

You can argue with me about that title, but you aren't going to change my mind. I go for months without listening to Radiohead because, frankly, like having dessert first, they spoil my appetite for anyone else. But then when I put one of their albums on, it's like, Oh yeahhhhhh, THAT's why they're the best! The melodies, the lyrics, the topics they attack, the arrangements, the obsessive attention to detail--it all pays off to my ears.

It is impossible for Radiohead to disappoint me. Radiohead could have played 25 entirely different songs from their 15-year repertoire, and I would have been just as satisfied and awed as I was with this setlist, even though it contained sure-fire personal favorites from all over their discography: "Idioteque," "Lucky," "Exit Music From a Film," "How To Disappear Completely," and "Reckoner," as well as the clincher that first won my heart, "Street Spirit." I did find "A Wolf At the Door," the last track from Hail To the Thief, an odd choice (vs "2+2=5", played at Lollapalooza), but certainly it's somebody's favorite. Oddly, although In Rainbows was well-represented, the set included none of the songs from the bonus disc. According to my camera, Radiohead began playing at about 8:30 and continued until 10:30.

For any band who pays as much attention to the quality of their recordings as Radiohead does, the Hollywood Bowl is the only place good enough for a performance in the Los Angeles area. Sunday night's sound quality was superb, for us marred only by the loud talking of some man directly behind us, who seemed to have no interest whatsoever in the music. I don't know why people like this come to concerts. Maybe they talk through movies too.

Not being among the golden ones who are gifted with the tickets or have thousands/hundreds of dollars for front-section or box seats at the Bowl, we nonetheless had a good view--much better than some years--from a section about half-way up the slope of the bowl. The band greeted the crowd warmly, as if we were old friends, with Colin Greenwood waving his arms at us on several occasions.

At large venues Indie Mom and I both miss being able to watch the band members' expressions and the fine nuances of body language as those who were closer could, but to compensate Radiohead gave us the special treat of the finest light show I have ever seen. It was a 3-D affair composed of LCDs on long strings hanging not just behind the band, but above and alongside as well. These strings have incredible capacities to display not only color--icy blues, watery greens, moody purples, and eye-scorching reds and yellows--but also movement, including the illusions of softly falling rain, sinuously weaving northern lights, and DNA sequencing that spread slowly in straight lines from the upper right towards the left. Finally and spectacularly, they spelled out the title of the final song in huge letters as the band left the stage.

Our setlist was the same that Radiohead played at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, on August 6, although it appears that they personalize the voice-over recordings for some songs, like "The National Anthem," for each venue. Our version had a message about tax services. Since I don't at this time know of any recordings of the Los Angeles show, I have chosen MP3s from some of the best recordings I have found from other shows this month. I have tried here to sequence our photos with the songs to the best of my poor memory. So if you are among those not able to see Radiohead on this tour, hopefully this gives you a feeling of what it was like.

Intro

1. 15 Step from In Rainbows (live at Lollapalooza 2008)


2. There There from Hail To the Thief
3. Morning Bell from Kid A (live at Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto, ON)


4. All I Need from In Rainbows (Johnny bows his guitar, above)
5. Pyramid Song from Amnesiac (live at Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, OH)


6. Nude from In Rainbows


7. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi from In Rainbows


8. The Gloaming from Hail To the Thief

above: "And the rains came down..."


9. The National Anthem from Kid A (Lollapalooza 2008)
10. Wolf at the Door from Hail To the Thief


11. Faust Arp from In Rainbows
12. Exit Music (for a Film) from OK Computer
13. Jigsaw Falling Into Place from In Rainbows (Lollapalooza 2008)


14. Idioteque from Kid A
15. Climbing Up the Walls from OK Computer (at the end, a recording of a woman's voice said "Rancho Cucamonga, can you hear me?"

Click for larger images

16. Bodysnatchers from In Rainbows
17. How to Disappear Completely from Kid A (Blossom Music Center) -- Thom's voice in this song always gives me goosebumps

1st ENCORE
18. Videotape from In Rainbows


19. Paranoid Android from OK Computer

below: "Rain down, rain down/Come on, rain down on me..."


20. Dollars and Cents from Amnesiac
21. Street Spirit from The Bends (Thom messes up, gets annoyed, asks the audience, "Should I just get on with it then?" We scream YES!, he complies)
22. Reckoner from In Rainbows (Blossom Music Center)

2nd ENCORE
23. House of Cards from In Rainbows
24. Lucky from OK Computer (Lollapalooza 2008)

Just before "Everything in Its Right Place," Thom sang, "I’m gasoline/I’m burning clean" from R.E.M.’s song, "Electrolite," (from New Adventures In Hi-Fi, 1996) at once acknowledging the American band's influence, L.A.'s love-time love affair with the automobile, and Radiohead's goal of reducing environmental damage from concerts. In the photo below, note the Tibetan flag draped over the keyboards--a subtle jab on the last day of the Beijing Olympics at China's unkept promises regarding human rights.


25. Everything in its Right Place from Kid A (Lollapalooza 2008)

Click for larger images


Thanks and credit:
Lollapalooza recordings from DJ/NJ Deep-GOA captured by rholland at atease.com, where you can also find setlists

Montreal (08-06-08) and Cuyahoga Falls, OH (08-07-08) recordings from Radiohead Not For Profit, a live music site for Radiohead fans.

Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto, Ontario, recordings from SadGettingSadder website

Lyrics and Song Info at Green Plastic Trees website

More about Radiohead's Los Angeles shows by Hollywood Reporter at NewsDaily

See also Music Is Art's poetically descriptive review of Radiohead's Mansfield, MA, show on August 19.

Birthday! It's our birthday month! Indie Mom and I traditionally take the entire month as our own (hey, nothing else is going on anyway) and plan some way to celebrate our nearly-same birthdays together. For the past several years, our fave band Radiohead has cooperated by scheduling a concert in our area around the time. That's where we'll be this coming Sunday!

COPYRIGHTED CONTENT HAS BEEN REMOVED
Groovie Ghoulies: Happy Birthday from Travels With My Amp (2000)

The Bird and the Bee: Birthday from One Too Many Hearts (2008)

Oxford Collapse: The Birthday Wars from Bits (2008)

Cracker: Happy Birthday to Me from Cracker (1992)

The Shapes : Birthday Song from The Shapes (2005)

Cloud Cult: Your 8th Birthday from The Meaning of 8 (2007)

The Brunettes onstage at the Wiltern Theater

Here is a concert review that kind of fell by the wayside. Indie Mom and I saw the the Brunettes from Aukland, New Zealand, when they opened for Beirut at the Wiltern Theater on May 30. They are quite a crowd onstage, with six or seven members, but the main focus is on the duo of Jonathan Bree and Heather Mansfield.


Mansfield and Bree

The couple have been making music together since the late 90's. Their boy/girl melodrama pop is inspired by 70s New York punk and 60s girl groups but infused with garage rock 'n' roll. Mansfield is a flirty vixen and mistress of a number of instruments, including keyboards, clarinet, and harmonica. The overall impression is a lively, noisy, feel-good revival.



COPYRIGHTED CONTENT HAS BEEN REMOVED
Brunettes Against Bubblegum Youth from Structures and Cosmetics (2007)
Polyester Meets Acetate from Mars Loves Venus (2004)



MySpace
Website
Label: Subpop Records
[Buy]

more cat pictures

While we currently only have plans to see two shows in September, there are quite a few shows coming up in the next month in the L.A. are that sound intriguing. A select few:

09.02.08 - Sons and Daughters at the Troubadour

09.05.08 & 09.06.08 - Nada Surf at the Troubadour

09.09.08 - Mogwai at the Wiltern

09.10.08 - Throw Me the Statue at the Echo

09.14.08 - Lindsey Buckingham at UCLA's Royce Hall

09.16.08 - Vampire Weekend at the Glasshouse

09.16.08 - Devotchka at the El Rey Theatre

09.17.08 & 09.18.08 - Vampire Weekend at the Wiltern

09.18.08 - Tokyo Police Club at the Henry Fonda Music Box

09.19.08 - Tokyo Police Club at the Glasshouse

09.19.08 - Earlimart with The Wedding Present at the Troubadour

09.20.08 - Beck with Spoon and MGMT at the Hollywood Bowl

09.21.08 - My Morning Jacket at the Greek Theatre

09.21.08 & 09.22.08 - Hot Chip at the Wiltern

09.22.08 - Fleet Foxes at the El Rey Theatre

COPYRIGHTED CONTENT HAS BEEN REMOVED
nada surf: whose authority [buy]
vampire weekend: mansard roof [buy]
tokyo police club: listen to the math [buy]
my morning jacket: tyrone [erykah badu cover]
MGMT: the youth [buy]

Sean Atkins (front) with The Lost Sea

In May 2007 I posted a mix of songs (The Sea and the Sand), one of which was "Warmer Weather" by a young man named Sean Atkins, performing as I Am the Lost Sea. I said in that post that this demo song showed promise.

In the 14 months between then and now, there has been more stormy weather than smooth sailing on the lost sea. Atkins wanted to put a band together and get signed to a label, but band members seemed to depart almost as quickly as he found them. A devastating personal loss plunged him into despair for months.

But that spark of promise and Atkins' perseverance are starting to pay off. There is a band now , simply The Lost Sea, and their first EP, Empty Swings on Atomic Family Records, has recently become available on iTunes. They have been playing dates in the Pittsburgh area and have several appearances scheduled this month.

Atkins writes all the songs and plays acoustic and sings. The band members are Andrew Cuneo on lead guitar (replacing Luke Bartolomeo who played on the EP but left due to health problems), Frank Schlatterer on drums (replacing interim drummer Chris Weaver), Andrew Belsick on bass, and Becki Gallagher singing harmonies as well as playing piano and organ.

All five songs on the EP, including the reworked "Warmer Weather," are the reflections of a sweet soul, with a resemblance to David Bazan with less angst and even less of his biting cynicism. The additional accompaniment and the blend of Becki's voice with Sean's have added a lot of depth to Atkins' gentle melodies. The title song and "Phone Calls" are especially nice. The group are planning to make another CD soon.

The Lost Sea: Empty Swings from Empty Swings EP (2008)

MySpace | Website | Label: Atomic Family Records
Buy: The Lost Sea's MySpace, iTunes

photo from official website
Right after Joe Cocker, The Steve Miller Band took the stage at the Nokia Theatre. Having grown up with the music of Steve Miller almost perpetually playing in the background, I was pleased to discover that while the band members' appearances had definitely changed, their voices still sounded amazing, and it was obvious that they still loved to perform.

Steve himself could not stop smiling, either at various bandmembers or people in the pit upont. A couple of original band members were present, including Norton Buffalo, and new touring partner Sonny Charles, formerly of Checkmates, Ltd., a Phil Spector project from the late 60's. Charles put on a great show - he has an amazing voice and danced all over the stage all night like a man in his 20's.

Although they played many, many of their popular songs (and some new ones off of their upcoming album), even coming back out for two encores, it is inevitable that the band could not play every song. Spouse was disappointed that they didn't play his favorite song ("Your Saving Grace") and I was disappointed that they didn't play mine ("Kow Kow Calqulator"). But they did play "Living in the USA" (dedicated to the troops), "Abracadabra", and of course, "The Joker".

Steve Miller and Co. have been on a seemingly non-stop world tour for the last forty years - do yourself a favor and check them out if they come to your town. Check out this link for information on the origin of some popular Steve Miller songs according to the man himself.

COPYRIGHTED CONTENT HAS BEEN REMOVED
steve miller band: living in the USA
steve miller band: the joker
steve miller band: your saving grace
steve miller band: kow kow calqulator<

official website | buy albums

My husband and I went to our first concert together, EVER, to see Joe Cocker on a double bill with The Steve Miller Band. I've been to a lot of concerts, mostly with Alt-gramma, but with friends and even by myself, but strangely enough, not with my husband (hereafter to be referred to as Spouse). While our music tastes overlap somewhat, Spouse doesn't see the need to see someone perform their music live when he can easily whip out their CD and listen to it. The last concert he went to was to see the Eagles, back before we met, which is good because I wouldn't have been interested in seeing them.

The Nokia Theatre was full of people of all ages, but mostly people 20 years or more our senior, which is unlike most of the concerts I normally attend. I'm a middling fan of Joe Cocker, mostly anticipating one song, "The Letter", and he didn't disappoint, singing his heart out on my favorite. His distinctive raspy voice has diminished in quality over the years, but he gave this show his all, and his backup band was very good. I didn't write down the setlist, but some of the songs he performed were "Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong", "With A Little Help From My Friends", and "Cry Me A River", plus this one, which brought tears to the eyes of my normally stoic Spouse:



COPYRIGHTED CONTENT HAS BEEN REMOVED
joe cocker: you are so beautiful [buy]
joe cocker: the letter [buy]

official site | buy his new album

The latest to come out of music-rich Portland, OR, is Bark Hide and Horn, a four-piece who play folk-rock with horns and other unusual effects. National Road, the band’s first full-length album, following up their self-titled EP, is a musical journey inspired by singer-songwriter Andy Furgeson's collection of old National Geographic magazines and its editor in the early 60's, Melville Bell Grosvenor, grandson of Alexander Graham Bell.

As with the magazine, natural images abound--Just take these titles for example.

From National Road (2008):
Treasure of the Everglades
Trumpeter Swan

MySpace | Website | Label: Boy Howdy Records
Buy at CD Baby and eMusic

Show Schedule:
Bark Hide and Horn have dates scheduled in West Coast cities this month.

Photo by Katie Rasmussen

From The Dears' myspace:

Meltdown in A Major

This could have been a message saying that The Dears is over.

Instead:

Almost 10 years ago, The Dears made a ghetto little record called "End of A Hollywood Bedtime Story." We were a four piece back then until two dudes split right after we finished making it, leaving just me and Natalia. I called up a few people and within a month we were resurrected as a six piece. We were brand new, with a new record in hand that the others adopted as their own. We went on to make two more records, a couple of EPs and tour the world many times. Plenty of laughs. We had a couple of exits in that time but the last four years saw the same line up.

I'm not going to lie to you kids: The new Dears album has been completed since April. It is called MISSILES. We have been wandering around the music industry wilderness the whole time, trying to secure a release date for the Fall. It's getting pretty f***ed out there. We thought very seriously about doing it ourselves. But that just wasn't realistic at all. Not in the least. And our relationships with Bella Union and Arts & Crafts had run their course. So at the 11th hour, in walked Dangerbird. Our beloved MapleMusic Recordings is still there for us and will release the record in Canada while Dangerbird Records will release it everywhere else. Should be an interesting/entertaining journey.

We want to bring you this record whole and still warm. It's beautiful; that is the only way to describe it. A blues album, essentially. It's also long and kind of paced for love making, because that really makes everything better. 58 minutes, 16 seconds, 10 songs. One song is over 11 minutes, just like the old days. Come October, we encourage you to seek it out; it is worth every penny and all the dough just goes back into making more records, not buying solid gold houses. Thanks, in advance.

We had quite an experience making it and by the end, only Natalia and I were left. The band line up as you've known has come to a close and now it's just as it was when we began: Natalia and I, looking after every aspect ourselves. Trust us when we say it is for the best. The music, philosophy -- the art has been preserved with fervency. The Dears not are but is. In our mind it always has been that way, the sum of parts to create one vision. Or something like that. Personally, we feel fortunate to have a role in the birthing of every tune, in its arrival from the cosmos.

Anyway, there is a little nugget on our website, one of our faves, a soul-crushing classic: thedears.org.

We are moving to organize some live concerts for October with an almost completely new line up, as a seven piece. We've been rehearsing a couple times a week. It's a bit weird, to be honest, looking around at all the new faces. But it's incredibly exciting to hear the sounds come alive again, and for all the right reasons with all the right intentions. Be excited. It is a new beginning.

Eternal Love,
Murray + Natalia P/K/A THE DEARS

the dears: heartless romantic [buy]
the dears: end of a hollywood bedtime story [buy]

Natalia Yanchak's blog | official website | myspace

photo from here
Visit The Yellow Stereo for his Daily Graboid, always a source of great new music this week.

The Vinyl District waxes on about Elliott Smith's timeless masterpiece album, Either/Or, which contains a song with great personal meaning for me, "Between the Bars".

One of the newer sites on our blogroll, but one that I read faithfully each week, Thanks Captain Obvious celebrates his blog's first birthday. And a blog that's been on our blogroll almost since the beginning, Lonesome Music turns four!! We'll be celebrating our 2-year blogiversary in a couple of weeks...

Rawkblog has a bunch of great stuff this week, including a link to Wilco live at Lollapalooza, pics from the American Apparel flea market (that I was supposed to go to but didn't), photos from Ravens & Chimes, and a commentary on the upcoming Pitchfork book.

Music for Kids... has photos and reviews of Lollapalooza, plus a collection of his really nice concert photography on flickr.

And finally, in honor of his birthday on Wednesday, I bring you some of my beloved Elliott Smith tracks:

elliott smith: between the bars (either/or sessions) [buy]
elliott smith: color bars [buy]
elliott smith: pretty (ugly before) [live 2000] [buy]
elliott smith: supersonic [live oasis cover]
elliott smith: needle in the hay [live 1996] [buy]
elliott smith: my sweet lord [live george harrison cover]

A lot of bands have claimed the Beatles as influences, but I've seldom heard any that have done it as well as The Telepathic Butterflies from Winipeg have done on their recently released CD Breakfast In Suburbia. Rejean Ricard (guitars/vocals) and Jacques Dubois (drums) incorporate memory-tickling inflections of the late 60's/early 70's British invasion sound while updating it for the alternative-rock palate. These 14 catchy tunes constitute a tantalizing trip back to rock as it was before the White Album.

From Breakfast In Suburbia (2008):
A Scathing Report
Telescope

Radio Darlings from The Telepathic Butterflies (2004)

MySpace | Website | Label: Rainbow Quartz Records
Buy at Amazon.com, iTunes, and eMusic

I did not know until recently that Thom Yorke even had a brother, much less that said brother was also a musician. Andy Yorke, younger brother of Radiohead's Thom, releases his first solo album to the U.S. today, published on his own label, Aktiv Records. He formerly was lead singer and guitarist for the band Unbelievable Truth, which formed in Oxford, also hometown to Radiohead, in 1993 and which he left in 2000 for a solo career.

While Andy's voice, especially the slight waver in "Ode To a Friend," and appearance do resemble Thom's, the younger Yorke is not as musically iconoclastic or experimental as his more famous big brother. Andy's style, like the title of the album, Simple, is pleasant, uncomplicated, and not pushing any envelopes. "Let It Be True" actually reminds me more of last year's solo album by Roddy Woomble (lead singer of Scotland's Idlewild) than anything Thom Yorke has done in the past decade. The somber cello and lack of drums on some tracks emphasize this differences. Other tracks have a faint resemblance to "Fake Plastic Trees."

Setting aside the temptation to compare, in my opinion Simple is actually a pretty good album in its own quiet way and definitely worth a listen. In fact, it might just grow on you--it has on me.

COPYRIGHTED CONTENT HAS BEEN REMOVED

From Simple (2008)
Ode To a Friend
Mathilda

MySpace | Website | Label: Aktiv Records
Buy at Andy York's Store, Amazon.com

Another current album that has caught and held onto my attention lately is Little Jabs by Two Hours Traffic, a four-piece outfit from Canada's Prince Edward Island (NE of the state of Maine, for geography-impaired Americans). Made up of Liam Corcoran (vocals, guitar), Derek Ellis (drums), Andrew MacDonald (bass), and Alec O'Hanley (guitar, keys), this band is on the short lists for a couple of Canadian music awards

You know how there are almost always tracks you start to skip over on an album? There aren't any here. None. Starting right with the crisp beats of "Nighthawks" ("Snap out of it!") all the way through to the end, it's all excellently rendered, hooky pop-rock without a flaw. This is the album I wish that Nada Surf had made this year. Two Hours Traffic's effervescent guitars and yearning vocals are very similar to Nada Surf's, with the added attraction of mellow synths. And THT have the dewy-cheeked freshness that Nada Surf started out with.

"Heroes of the Sidewalk" rings with amazement at the bright lights of success that signing a record contract promises. "Jezebel," starting with a neat Beach Boys harmony, does the same with shiny new love ("I've got honey on my hands from when I held you"). "Stolen Earrings" is a private conversation with a new girlfriend before her introduction to the gang. "Whenever We Finish," on the other hand, is the beginning of the end of a love affair ("We started the morning with two little jabs/Won't it be strange when we stop splitting cabs?"). "Sure Can Start" is a hearty, feel-good rocker, while "Heatseeker" starts off deliciously slow but halfway through takes off and gets faster, noisier, and even more beautiful. The tracklist is perfectly capped by the dreamy "Arms Akimbo."

The whole thing is just golden. Don't pass it up. I wish I had known about it last year because it would have been on my list of favorites. I keep looking for a loophole where I can wangle it into my 2008 list!

Two Hours Traffic: Heatseeker from Little Jabs (2008)

MySpace | Website | Label: Bumstead/Collagen Rock, Maple Music
Buy at Maple Music, Amazon.com, iTunes, and eMusic