Tag Results
32 posts tagged Folk
Night Moves - Country Queen
Night Moves Country Queen
Getting back to my folky roots. Love this.
Source 
My interview with Alt-J (for Yours Truly’s Pen Pal Series) + “Tessellate” Video
In the time before cellphones and text messaging, gchat and Airtime, it’s not that we had less to say, there were just less ways to say it. We couldn’t overshare if we wanted to. When you think about it, penpals are the original Facebook. A way to connect with people you have known your whole life, or maybe met just once, but you want to get to know better. It’s not so much the words that are meant to be looked at, it’s what’s in between the lines that makes all the difference. That was just the result whenThom from Alt-J shared with us some insight into the band, their music, and his thoughts on the world today in a Yours Truly style penpal correspondence.
Here’s how it went down, YT sent some questions and Alt-J sent back a letter with some answers. Enjoy!
Here’s the part I couldn’t put on Yours Truly:
Fuck genres and fuck jam bands, here’s to the future of music. Introducing Alt-J
YT’s questions
So i think one of the defining aspects of Alt-j, is (ironically) the fact that it’s incredibly difficult to define your sound. So if you had to describe Alt-j’s sound as a food or dish, what would you pick and why?
Can you talk about your sound a bit and how it pulls from just about everywhere?
When it comes to genres, people have tried to put you guys in pretty much every genre imaginable. What do you think of music genres? Do you think genres are becoming less important, or they are just being redefined?
Most outlandish description of Alt-j’s music you’ve seen so far?
What does it feel like to be compared to Radiohead?
Head over to Yours Truly to read Thom’s responses and part 2 of the interview!
The Human Fly Tiger + Moth
After the third listen through of The Human Fly’s Everything Hurts All The Time, I was finally able to shake that overwhelming urge to say, “Woah, this guy is like a not dead version of Kurt Kobain…” adding this bone dry quality to his sound, reminiscent of bands like Modest Mouses’ Ugly Cassanova project, and more recently Bronson…that makes his words feel all too real. Like this acoustic, folk feeling that Nirvana was amazing at creating, but only allowed the world to catch glimpses of every now and then.
I don’t know what there is to be depressed about in Connecticut, the lobster isn’t sweet enough? The lakes are too calm and picturesque? Maybe the drugs are just better there, because whatever synthetic raincloud this guy induced to create a gloomy melancholic effect, you’d gladly take comfort in for more than a while, I want some.
Get Everything Hurts All The Time for free from The Human Fly’s Bandcamp.
The Human Fly | Bandcamp
150 plays
Magical Realism
by Snuffaluffagus
album Magical Realism
Snuffaluffagus Magical Realism
Have really been diggin’ deep into the recently dropped EP by San Diego, turned New Yorker Chris Braciszewski’s project Snuffaluffagus.
Chris describes this record as “An exploration of free jazz and Asian folk music with in the confines of math rock. With the lyrics telling a bit more about the stories that surfaced while thinking about those styles of music.” This track in particular references The Sound of Music and Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things”. It’s such a wonderfully odd experiment of sound and noise relationships, you need at least ten listens before you get anywhere with this EP, but believe me, it’s well worth the effort, guy is brilliant.
If you are around catch Snuffaluffagus with Maston and Joey Dosik at the Bootleg in LA on December 29th.
Buy Snuffaluffagus’s Magical Realism EP from his Bandcamp HERE.
259 plays
My Idle Bed
by Bronson
album Paper Tusk
Bronson My Idle Bed
Like so many love stories gone awry, so this one goes, boy meets girl, boy falls instantly in love. That affection is not reciprocated, but misconstrued as so. Patrick Everman tells his story much better than I can. His release of Paper Tusk is something I have really been looking forward to. This album is much more than some songs lumped together and released. It’s a story, a painful story of love, loss and vulnerability. The story of Paper Tusk below sets the stage for this album to be heard.. Really incredible stuff.
Bronson is the solo project of Patrick Everman who currently resides in the frigid cascades of Washington. His debut full-length album,“Paper Tusks” placates an array of emotions from amorous desperation to childlike fervor atop the ebb and flow of rippled guitars and throbbing drums. Highs and lows aside, one thread remains throughout, his deep seeded desire for something that he cannot have, something that he pushed away; love. Present but not overbearing, Bronson’s tired yearning melts and cools into brittle, sullen, paper tusks.
Recording Paper Tusk was no easy task, before traversing through closed mountain passes to Nick Wilbur and Phil Elvrim’s small converted church in Anacortes Washington, Everman had spent months preparing to record songs he had composed for a woman he had met and come to adore only a few weeks prior who was seeing another man. Shortly before leaving to Anacortes he proposed, and she suggested that they never see one another. The next day Everman entered the freezing studio awash with malaise, which resulted in him cutting over half of his prepared material, and recording anew on the spot. After four days of recording he decided to compile footage of his once love and prepare a few short films set to the music he had just recorded, which have just been released here;
Read what I said about Bronson in my previous post HERE.
DOWNLOAD “My Idle Bed” HERE.
Buy Bronson’s first full length Paper Tusk from his Bandcamp HERE.
My Pick for Los Angeles Show of the Week:
Wednesday 11.30.11: CASS McCOMBS
w/ White Magic
The Echo
1822 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90026
Cass is back on tour promoting his sophomore album Humor Risk, out on Domino Records. Lots of 90s nostalgia, a bit of the Shins, and obvious comparisons to Morrissey. Pumped to check out his live set as I’ve been a fan for some time now.
WATCH “The Same Thing” below:
DOWNLOAD “The Same Thing” HERE.
Cass McCombs | Website | Facebook | Domino Records
110 plays
Man Who Lives Forever (Rollo & Grady Sessions)
by Lord Huron
album Rollo & Grady Sessions
Lord Huron Man Who Lives Forever Rollo Grady Session mp3 + Video
Take a listen to the latest track from one of the greatest bands to come out of Los Angeles in the last couple years, Lord Huron. This track is a stunningly raw and beautifully mastered star in a sea of sparkling gems. This is by far my favorite Lord Huron session. Fantastic work by Carter Smith of Rollo Grady.
Watch the incredible Rollo Grady Session for “Man Who Lives Forever” below:
Lord Huron - Man Who Lives Forever from Rollo & Grady Sessions on Vimeo.
DOWNLOAD “Man Who Lives Forever” HERE.
Facebook * Twitter * Soundcloud * Last.fm * 8tracks
THE VIDEOS THAT MADE MY WEEK
#1 GUARDS Resolution of One
Without a doubt one of my favorite bands. This live living room performance is just another reason to love them. So much more than just dream pop Americana, their sound incorporates, grunge, rock, folk, and soul while maintaining a simplicity that awe-inspiring.
Guards reminds me of that movie Pleasantville. Life in a 1950’s black and white world is just peachy, until two teenagers paint the city red with their, well…stimulating influence. Two worlds colliding to make musical symmetry. Love this band…
Facebook * Twitter * Soundcloud * Last.fm * 8tracks
Cat and Mouse
by Sacred Animals vs Owensie
Sacred Animals vs Owensie Cat and Mouse mp3 + Video
As of late, it seems I have fallen in love with the music of Ireland. Just in the last few months I have been introduced to so many wonderful artists, I’m beginning to feel guilty that I’ve never actually visited. One of the artists that has captured my attention is Darragh Nolan of Sacred Animals. His latest remix illicit themes and feelings of despair, tragedy and loss, really a beautiful extension of a very personal original track. Says Darragh,
“I honestly didn’t know the story behind the track until I was finished the mix, although listening over & over as you do when mixing something the lyrics more than likely led the direction of the sound. Rather than chop it up completely & make something new out of it I really wanted to remain sympathetic to the song while placing it in a different soundscape. When I heard the story behind the lyrics afterwards the mix actually started to make more sense. I still haven’t actually met Owensie in person.”
Music is powerful like that. It can convey mutual feelings between individuals without them ever even meeting.
The ability to create a mood, explore concepts and stir up feelings you didn’t even know you had, is truly an art. Brendan Canty of Feel Good Lost clearly has mastered this craft. The brains behind Sacred Animals remix of Ownsie video, Brendan is able to capture fragility and brutality, while creating a snapshot that exposes a variety of human emotions, without coming right out and saying it. Watch the video for “Cat and Mouse” below:
I encourage you to listen to the original track by Owensie HERE, and read The Guardian’s report on the tragic suicides the song is about HERE.
Check out more Sacred Animals on Soundcloud | Bandcamp | Facebook
Watch more from Feel Good Lost HERE.
Source
1,203 plays
Indiana
by ABADABAD
album Indiana (Single)
Abadabad Indiana
The homie Jimmy Morris of Head Underwater premiered a brand new Abadabad track today, and the first thing that came to mind when I heard that track was FINALLY. The soul dripping brilliance behind Abadabad is Knoxville, TN’s Jeremy Lee Given, who’s southern roots have been breaking hearts and wetting beds all over this past year, with his incredible solo record Old Flames.
Abadabad’s latest track, “Indiana” is the musical progression of Jeremy’s work as an artist. From Abadabad’s start as a sleepy, pop-heavy bedroom project into a five piece full-on indie rock band with an updated take on vintage analog, and Jeremy’s vocals leading Abadabad’s songs into my heart. Killin’ it. Definitely an artist to check out at this year’s CMJ Music Marathon.
DOWNLOAD “Indiana” HERE.
Check Abadabad’s FB page for CMJ dates and lots of random.
Facebook * Twitter * Soundcloud * Last.fm * 8tracks
