27 December 2009

The Rebel Spell - Days of Rage


My hard drive was corrupted or something, killed my OS and would not boot. It took me several days (i'm a busy/lazy man) to get my computer back in running order. Fortunately, i back everything up regularly so i still have my treasured music collection. A minor setback which i am sure the collective you does not care about. Sarah tells me she reads these, i think most other people just pass through via google to look for album links and don't read my little writings. You're missing out!

The Rebel Spell is a pretty awesome punk band from Vancouver. If you enjoy Knucklehead you would likely enjoy this. Conversely, if you enjoy this, check out Knucklehead.

Fun as hell. The good kind of hell.

P.S. Merry post-Christmas-pre-New-Years-no-man's-land-week aka eye of the storm

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Rebel+Spell

I Would Set Myself On Fire For You - I Would Set Myself On Fire For You



I would. Really.

Anyway, defunct screamo band from Atlanta. They had an interesting thing going on for a screamo band. Dual male/female vocals, and a viola. Some jazz.

Girls: singing in a punk/hardcore/screamo/whatever band is a plus.

http://www.last.fm/music/I+Would+Set+Myself+on+Fire+for+You

Bobby Fuller Four - I Fought The Law (1966)



Why? Because it's fucking AWESOME, that's why. You'll probably recognize a few of these songs. Whether you do or not, you should listen to this because, as i said, it is awesome.

Ignore the fact that they appear to be wearing matching double-breasted red pyjamas on the album cover. It was a different time, double-breasted pyjama gangs ruled the streets with an iron fist.

Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli - Souvenirs



I love gypsy jazz. Particularly Django Reinhardt. He is likely my favourite guitarist ever, and has had a tremendous influence on my guitar playing (almost 10 years).

He was a genuine French gypsy, and had his left hand badly burnt in a caravan fire. He played guitar using only two fingers of his left hand due to the damage caused by the burns, and still managed to be better at guitar than practically everyone. He pretty much single-handedly invented the genre of gypsy jazz, also.

23 December 2009

Timber Timbre - Medicinals



Really excellent album from Timber Timbre (primarily Taylor Kirk), from Oshawa. Lo-fi, eerie folk music with some gospel and Eastern European folk influences and a strong sense of isolation. Really fantastic songs, and the album performs seamlessly from start to finish. 'Like A Mountain' is especially good.

Shares some similarities with bands like The Wooden Sky, but is ultimately a very original thing of its own. Winter music?

http://www.arts-crafts.ca/timbertimbre/index.php
http://www.last.fm/music/Timber+Timbre

19 December 2009

The Microphones - Little Bird Flies Into A Big Black Cloud (2002)



Occupying the space somewhere between musical journal, spoken poetry, solo unaccompanied album and something else altogether, i've not really heard an album like this anywhere else. Just Phil Elverum, switching back and forth between a piano, some sort of organ and spoken word. You can hear him turning pages and shifting in his chair between songs, and gives the impression it may have been done in one take. All the songs are untitled, and it is a uniquely melancholy and intimate album the likes of which i have not seen before. Listen to it beginning to end, perhaps while in bed or something.

I show you myself as a buoy, And you see an anchor/ I sing you my welcome; And you - you ship - are pulled under/ You've got courage to knock on any door, Until you come to freeze up mine - It swung wide / Oh, you coward! You're afraid / You coward! You're the anchor / You coward! You're the fortress / You coward! You're afraid

17 December 2009

Eric's Trip - Love Tara (1993)



Band from Moncton, NB that was around from 1990-1996, briefly in 2001, and from 2006-current to play a few shows here and there.
Reminds me quite a bit of Sebadoh, going back and forth between acoustic songs and messy Dinosaur Jr. type songs.
Bassist Julie Doiron currently has a successful solo career. Which includes, incidentally, a fantastic collaboration album with Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie).

http://www.last.fm/music/Eric%27s+Trip

Battle of Wölf 359 - The Death of Affect



British screamo band. Catchy, metalish riffs; high energy, crashing, and somewhat eerie.
They're really good!

http://www.myspace.com/battleofwolf359
http://www.last.fm/music/Battle+Of+Wolf+359

12 December 2009

The Microphones - Song Islands (2002)



Phil Elverum, aka The Microphones, aka Mount Eerie is a guy from Anacortes, WA that has one of the most outstanding and unique personal musical styles i've ever heard. He's the songwriter and only permanent member of The Microphones, and recorded most of the Microphones-era tracks on a broken 16-track reel-to-reel tape recorder. The sound quality is fantastic, don't get me wrong. Way better than the modern digital recording shit.
Kind of eccentric, heartbroken, lonely but beautiful lyrics. Transitions from deafeningly loud, crashing, feedback-laden guitars to gentle acoustic songs that never seem forced or unnatural. If you get into it there's a large and varied catalog to explore, and it is worth it. He dropped The Microphones moniker in 2003 and changed to Mount Eerie, which is more acoustic-based.

'The Moon' (track 11) is one of my favourite songs of all time. Listen to it or you aren't my friend anymore.
Other great songs from this album are 'I Lost My Wind', 'Lanterns', 'I Listen Close', and 'There's No Invincible Disguise That Lasts All Day'.

P.S. Listen with headphones, there's a lot of subtle things going on appreciated best with clear stereo




http://www.pwelverumandsun.com/
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Microphones

Failed Attempts at Facial Hair - Girls, Friends, and Girlfriends



Failed Attempts at Facial Hair is John Crodian. Just a man and his ukulele, singing songs about girls. For 'that guy' in all of us.

Similar to A Drum And An Open Window.

http://www.last.fm/music/Failed+Attempts+at+Facial+Hair

Apocalypse Meow & Andrew Jackson Jihad - Pug Life (Split)



Short split album from Apocalypse Meow and Andrew Jackson Jihad. Some good solid pop-punk from Apocalypse Meow, and two songs from the inimitable Andrew Jackson Jihad. Could be longer, but oh well.
I have yet to find anything else that Apocalypse Meow has released.

Little Joe Gould - Little Joe Gould



Former name of Murder By Death. They released one album under this name before changing their name to Murder By Death and releasing Like The Exorcist But More Breakdancing. Stylistically this is a lot more like Like The Exorcist than their later albums which really developed their cellocentric-spaghetti western-americana-rock style.
I had a hell of a time finding this so i know someone out there is looking for it as well.

http://www.murderbydeath.com/

06 December 2009

Secondstar - Teeth



Secondstar is Liam Carey and friends. Lovely indie-folk songs, some mournful, some not. Occurs somewhere in the spectrum between Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens, while retaining an original spirit. The whistling on track 2, 'Kites & Arrows', kills me with its fantasticness.

http://secondstar.bandcamp.com/
http://www.last.fm/music/Secondstar

Pygmy Lush - Mount Hope (2008)



Formed from the ashes of legendary screamo band pg.99, Pygmy Lush's album Mount Hope is about as far from pg.99 musically as you can get. Expansive, slow, reverbed folk.
Their first album, Bitter River, was an unusual blend of this type of acoustic folk and the aggressive screamo of pg.99.

http://www.last.fm/music/Pygmy+Lush