Popsheep: April 2005

Monday, April 25, 2005

(Insert Apple Pun Here)

A zillion other people have already written about the this a long time ago, and much more articulately that I could. I don’t know anything about Ms. Apple and couldn't name any of her earlier songs even if I wanted to. My first instinct was to ignore the whole thing, but after reading a particularly good rant by John Darnielle (of the Mountain Goats fame) on his Last Plane to Jakarta blog I thought that I would have to see what all the Internet hubbub is about.

First things, I'm not going to talk about the whole Wilco-esque record label saga surrounding the album. You can read about it on probably any other music blog. I will, however, comment on how amazing some of the songs are. The song posted below is one of my favorites on the album for a number of reasons: it manages to be extremely rhythmic and percussive without actually using drums, is filled with a bunch of interesting tempo changes, but is still quite hummable with a great chorus. The rest of the album is all over the place, and is quite experimental for a mainstream pop album. But I guess that’s precisely why her label decided it wasn’t worth their money to release it.

Not About Love

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Great Lake Swimming

The Great Lake Swimmers are a band from Toronto that I really don't know much about aside from what I've read on their website. I'm pretty sure that it's mostly a solo effort with a few other guest musicians. I bought the debut album on impulse because it has really great album art with a half handmade, half manufactured look to it. The album turned out to be a kind of melancholy, stripped down folk/indie rock – I don't know how to describe it, except that it's precisely the kind of music I'm usually a sucker for. I guess comparisons could be made with the Red House Painters/earlier Will Oldahm/Smog or something like that, but I wouldn't take my word for it.

Best of all is that the album was recorded in an abandoned grain silo! Not so much a gimmick, the recording space seems to have given the whole thing a really warm, natural reverb. The song linked to below is filled with references to Toronto geography, with the chorus consisting of the names of four consecutive subway stops being repeated along with the lyrics 'I will never see the sun/one for nothing, all for one'. Although more upbeat than the rest of the album (seriously), this song's subterranean theme fits in very well with the overall melancholy tone of the other songs on the album.

Great Lake Swimmers - I will never see the sun

P:ano music

I'm not sure if we have a readership, but if we do and you happen to be from vancouver please pay attention to this important announcement. P:ano will be playing with Blackavar at Blim this Sunday at 9:00pm. This is important because P:ano is one of the best modern bands performing. Blackavar is also not to be missed(I'll try and get a recording of them soon). Aside from the music, Blim is one of my favorite venues for live music in the city.

The now released Brigadoon and the upcoming ghost pirates without heads eclipse P:ano's previous albums. They have finally managed to get the energy and quirkiness of their live performances onto a record. Brigadoon is a bridge from the new to old, with more polish and flourish, while ghost pirates gets by with perfect simplicity. For both of these albums the band decided to play everything on the album, rather than rely on a long list of guest musicians(there was about 20 on last year's album The Den). They were also recorded in a shorter amount of time, I believe ghost pirates was done over a few days, rather than the regular P:ano multiple month production.

It has been hard to chose some songs to let you sample this album as it all works together so well and I think it is the sort of album where everyone will have their own hit list.

Covered Wagons

Light O' Love

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Non-Metal Dude Wearing Metal

Trolling around the internet, looking for free MP3s for Laural so she can continue keep her bandwidth at a minimum while still sporting a fancy 'Craft Soundtrack', I found this amazing resource of Sonic Youth MP3s. All of the songs are B-sides from various singles and cover most of the band's career up to the Washing Machine album. Like most Sonic Youth B-sides, the later era ones are hit and miss. The good ones, however, are particularly good. I'm partial to the extended version of the Diamond Sea, which is already one of my favorite songs but seems even better at more than 25 minutes long. The covers of the Ramones and the Carpenters are also pretty great.

Diamond Sea

Superstar

Non-metal dude wearing metal tee

Halloween II

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Stealin'

Last month I finally found the time to read Bob Dylan's autobiography and, despite the fact that about a third of it was devoted to memories of recording albums I have either never listened to or that are terrible, most of the book was amazing. He talks about all of the things I was hoping he would: obscure musical influences, Woody Guthrie, books that he was reading at the time, Dave van Ronk, concerts that he went to, his theories about songwriting, and why he started to suck so bad by the 1970s (he claims it was intentional). It's also written quite beautifully, which is unusual for autobiographies.

Anyway, about that same time, I came across this site which has MP3s of a radio show that Dylan recorded right around the period that most of the book looks at, right before he became super famous and wrote all of his best songs. The radio host is very annoying, but otherwise it’s a really great recording. I especially like the song I've linked to below, but also in one of the interviews when the host asks him: "You haven't played harmonica for long, have you?"

Stealin'

The next song is from a 1969 recording session between Dylan and Johnny Cash that I found from this site. The recordings aren't super great or anything, but they're worth at least listening to.

One too many mornings

Love like yours will surely come my way

Buddy liked Angel. He was a wild boy for the women. One time we were playing at the Paramount Theater and Buddy came into my dressing room while I was jacking off with Angel sucking my titty. Angel had the fastest tongue in the West. Well, she was doing that to me and Buddy took out his thing. He was ready, so she opened up her legs and he put it in her. He was having sex with Angel, I was jacking off, and Angel was sucking me, when they introduced his name on stage! He was trying to rush so he could run on stage. He made it, too. He finished and went to the stage still fastening himself up. I'll never forget that. He came and he went.!
-Little Richard 1984

This completely shatters my childhood image of a wholesome nerd from Lubbock singing sweet love songs. I also can't believe Little Richard said 'my titty'. What it doesn't ruin is the beauty in the simplicity of my favorite Holly song everyday. Beginning with Jerry Allison slapping his knee for percussion and the chimes of the Celeste played by Norman Perry's wife. Acoustic guitar and bass are also subtly present in the song as Buddy optimisticly croons away.

Everyday

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

More Like the Moon

Back in the day, after buying the Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album, I was rewarded by the band with a bonus EP available to download from their website with proof of purchase. Not only did this make me feel better about my original purchase of the CD, which I already was quite fond of, but I was doubly rewarded by the fact that the EP was also damn good. I would even go so far as to say that I like a few of the songs better than those on the YHF album. Anyhow, now the EP in question is available as a free download for anyone, whether they bought the album or not, on the Wilco Website. If you go here, you can download the whole thing, multiple versions of the cover art and all.

These are arguably the two standout tracks from the EP. The first is my favourite of the bunch, and sounds a lot like its namesake in a good way. I find myself listening to it quite often, even these many years later. The second is also quite good, and is in the same downtempo folk vein as the first but with more instruments and a guitar solo that I actually don't hate (which is rare).

Wilco - Bob Dylan’s 49^th Beard

Wilco - More Like the Moon

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Black and Brown Blues

I saw the singer of Herman Dune warming up for, and performing with, Julie Doiron last Fall and for once I actually benefited from showing up unnecessarily early to shows . His set was a good mixture of accent-heavy lyrics, Swedish (?) ESL stage banter, ukulele and silly/sappy ballads. The full band seems to consist of three Herman Dune Brothers and a bunch of guests (including Julie Doiron), and the new album Not on Top is being released on April 18 on Track and Field Records. Fluxblog recently posted the MP3 for the title track and I’ve been listening to it constantly. If I can find it, I'm hoping to pick up the album next time I’m at the record store.

Anyway, the track below is one of the many awesome MP3s on the Herman Dune website and is Herman Dune lead singer David-Ivar doing a kickass cover of the Silver Jews via voice and ukulele accompaniment.

David-Ivar Herman Dune – Black and Brown Blues

Friday, April 15, 2005

Hoochie Coochie Man

I was shocked to find out that so many of the Chicago blues songs that I loved were all written by a man that I had never heard of. Willie Dixon never really made much of a name for himself as a performer but as a songsmith and producer he is unmatchable.

When I first heard Otis Rush's version of My love will never die I had to keep playing it over and over, absorbing its pure brilliance. Not only the song itself, but the amazing production, it was what I wanted an electric blues song to sound like.

Dixon also wrote a string of hits for Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and many others. Additionally, Led Zepplin's Whole lotta love was a direct uncredited rip off of Dixon's You Need Love. Creepy art by Tim Hooper.

My Love Will Never Die

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Krayons

I've recently been enamored with the Red Krayola(sometimes Crayola). This song is from the Album Kangaroo? with art and language that is full of many weird and bizarre songs about Lenin! Unfortunitly this album is one of the more difficult of the Red Krayola catalog to find. I love the brass in this song.
An Old Man's Dreams

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Daddy's Hands

Here is a song recorded at the hive studios at the middle point of Daddy's Hands career. These recording never saw the light of day, which is a shame as they are much better than the versions that came out on the cd.
Ghost on the flies

Popsheep