Wednesday, January 13, 2010

January 2010 Review!


Photo by Bryan Parmalee

Here is a collection of my most listened to tracks of the year 2010!
Ranging in genres from lo-fi, garage, rock, pop, folk, noise. I've
found some great stuff off of some past and some very promising upcoming releases.
Enjoy!

1. "Dumb Luck" - Real Estate
2. "Lately (Deauxieme)" - Memoryhouse
3. "Despicable Dogs" - Small Black
4. "Acts of Man" - Midlake
5. "Common Sense" - Alex Bleeker & The Freaks
6. "Girls FM" - Happy Birthday
7. "Steve Don't Party No More" - Mean Jeans
8. "Sun Medallion" - King Tuff
9. "The Sun's Out" - Reading Rainbow
10. "Harmonix" - Surfer Blood
11. "Killer Statements" - Family Portrait
12. "Skylife 5" - The Parasails
13. "Was It Worth It" - Summer Camp
14. "Ad Infinitum" - Andrew Cedarmark
15. "This Is Real" - Best Coast
16. "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" - Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin


download

Thursday, October 15, 2009

October '09 Compilation



12 songs to help make the best month of the year just a smidge better.

Songs you may or may not know and/or love.

Enjoy the track listing below:

01. "At The End Of The Sky" - Darkel
02. "Dirty Sky" - Tap Tap
03. "Dead Alive" - Kurt Vile
04. "Ice Cream" - Lost Boy
05. "The Strangers" - St. Vincent
06. "Boute" - AU
07. "Phone Call" - Washed Out
08. "Bowcricket" - Castles
09. "Cries Of The Dead" - Chad Vangaalen
10. "Onward Floor" - Julian Lynch
11. "The Cartographer" - Sleeping States
12. "Barrel of Batteries" - The War On Drugs

Download

Sunday, October 11, 2009

VILLANELLES - There's A Boot In The Washing Machine (2009)



1. She Found Someone
2. Bedbug

Myspace

Download

The War On Drugs - Wagonwheel Blues (2009)



1 Arms Like Boulders
2 Taking the Farm
3 Coast Reprise
4 Buenos Aires Beach
5 There is No Urgency
6 Needle In Your Eye #16, A
7 Reverse the Charges
8 Show Me the Coast
9 Barrel of Batteries

Myspace

Download

Tap Tap - On My Way (2009)



1. Autumn & Tea
2. Codine
3. Dirty Sky
4. El Guasano
5. Straight To Hell
6. Half Moon Street
7. Queen Of Hearts
8. Star Crossed Idiots
9. Feelin’ Funny
10. Start A War
11. Hey Missy


Myspace

Download

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Clear Tigers - Brutal (2007)



I have been looking for this album since it came out two years
ago and finally used my last resort to get it...but nevertheless,
I have it now for your pleasure and mine. Some really catchy pop
hits that will make you shake! Laygz!

Myspace
Download

Tracklist

01. Vacation
02. Igloo
03. Spookhouse
04. Boredome
05. Kids
06. Won't Be Back
07. Summer School
08. Summertime
09. Come Around
10. Hotel
11. Deathray
12. Together

Sharon Van Etten - Because I Was In Love (2009)



This album is as beautiful as they come...the title says it all.

Perfect on a rainy afternoon in July. She is selling a limited
500 copies for $10 from her myspace page. Links below...

Myspace
Download

Tracklist

01. I Wish I Knew
02. Consolation Prize
03. For You
04. I Fold
05. Have You Seen
06. Tornado
07. Much More than That
08. Same Dream
09. Keep
10. It's Not Like
11. Holding Out

The Kinks - The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society (1968)



I have been looking for this sucker for years on LP, but can't seem to cross paths with it...
Until then I'll settle for the digital version. Enjoy!

Download

Side one

  1. "The Village Green Preservation Society" – 2:45
  2. "Do You Remember Walter?" – 2:23
  3. "Picture Book" – 2:34
  4. "Johnny Thunder" – 2:28
  5. "Last of the Steam-powered Trains" – 4:03
  6. "Big Sky" – 2:49
  7. "Sitting by the Riverside" – 2:21

Side two

  1. "Animal Farm" – 2:57
  2. "Village Green" – 2:08
  3. "Starstruck" – 2:18
  4. "Phenomenal Cat" ("Phenominal" on the LP sleeve) – 2:34
  5. "All of My Friends Were There" – 2:23
  6. "Wicked Annabella" – 2:40
  7. "Monica" – 2:13
  8. "People Take Pictures of Each Other" – 2:10


Monday, July 7, 2008

Pale Saints - In Ribbons (1992)



For Max.

1. Throwing Back the Apple
2. Ordeal
3. Thread of Light
4. Shell
5. There Is No Day
6. Hunted
7. Hair Shoes
8. Babymaker
9. Liquid
10. Neverending Night
11. Featherframe
12. Thousand Stars Burst Open

In Ribbons (1992)

The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms (1980)



1. The Boy With Perpetual Nervousness
2. Fa Ce-La
3. Loveless Love
4. Forces at Work
5. Original Love
6. Everybody's Got Something To Hide (Except For Me and My Monkey)
7. Moscow Nights
8. Raised Eyebrows
9. Crazy Rhythms
10. Paint It Black

Crazy Rhythms (1980)

Monday, May 19, 2008

The Botticellis - Old Home Movies (2008)


surf/rock/folk

Track listing:

1. "Old Home Movies"
2. "Stay With My Brother"
3. "When I Call"
4. "Up Against The Glass"
5. "Reviewer, The"
6. "New Room"
7. "Flashlight"
8. "Tongue Is Blue"
9. "Who Are You Now"
10. "Table by the Window"

Old Home Movies (2008)

Au - Verbs (2008)


psych/folk

Track listing:

1. "All My Friends"
2. "Are Animals"
3. "Summerheat"
4. "RR vs. D"
5. "All Myself"
6. "Two Seasons"
7. "Prelude"
8. "The Waltz"
9. "Sleep"

Verbs (2008)

The Felice Brothers - S/T (2008)


folk/rock

Track listing:
  1. "Little Ann"
  2. "Greatest Show On Earth"
  3. "Frankie's Gun!"
  4. "Goddamn You, Jim"
  5. "Wonderful Life"
  6. "Don't Wake The Scarecrow"
  7. "Take This Bread"
  8. "Saint Stephen's End"
  9. "Love Me Tenderly"
  10. "Ruby Mae"
  11. "Murder By Mistletoe"
  12. "Whiskey In My Whiskey"
  13. "Helen Fry"
  14. "Radio Song"
  15. "Tip Your Way"
The Felice Brothers (2008)

Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood (2008)


folk/acoustic

1. Red Squirrel Sun Rises
2. White Winter Hymnal
3. Ragged Wood
4. Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
5. Quiet Houses
6. He Doesn't Know Why
7. Heard Them Stirring
8. Your Protector
9. Meadowlark
10. Blue Ridge Mountains
11. Oliver James

Ragged Wood (2008)

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer (2008)


rock/pop

1. Soldier's Grin
2. Call It A Ritual
3. Language City
4. Bang Your Drum
5. California Dreamer
6. The Grey Estates
7. Fine Young Cannibals
8. An Animal In Your Care
9. Kissing The Beehive

At Mount Zoomer (2008)

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Rick Weaver & The Ruined Frame - Vincent (2008)


rock/folk

Recently my band, Villanelles, had the privilege of playing with these guys at Burlington, Vermont's own Skinny Pancake. They came all the way from Baltimore, MD for a small 10 day tour. Unfortunately, the crowd only comprised of us and a few others, but these guys played a great set from their recent project Vincent.

The following is taken from the bands sister myspace page:

"The Organ Donors Present: Vincent" is like the tempest in which it's set. Somehow simultaneously an intangible and overwhelmingly personal exploration of one character among many in The Brain Trilogy Universe. The Brain is the driving force and storyteller channeling through this new Organ Donors trio.

The Brain first snatched up these adolescent boys from a secondary school in Maryland and called them Human Conduct. Shortly afterwards, it narrowed their agenda and sent them jonglering around as a sort of compartmented circus troupe called The Organ Donors. Now, these boys have grown old and their chops are as right on as their legend. It's a rusty array of instruments and an even rustier array of musicians playing music keenly prepped by some otherworldly object.

So back to the task at hand; Vincent is an exploration of one haunted detective perished in a gutter somewhere in Russia after avenging the death of his wife and children. His reflections on poor decisions, his longing for the way things once were. There might be no conflict, no resolution, no peak or valley, but there might be something in this for everyone. Listen up.

...We left our hero(?), Vincent, dead on the outskirts of a Russian market, where he had convinced himself that his sense of nihilistic futility was Truth. As a vague nothingness swallowed his body (his prison cell), Vincent moaned and believed he was at the end.

The Brain looks on and laughs.

True, his tenure in turmoil had come to a halt, but this brief visit to the Existential Vacuum was simply another "phase" of his spiritual existence, not an extended stay. So his itch exasperated and the drama unfolded, yet the curtain closed and the story broke apart like burnt food scraps jetted off the sides of a pot by a flush of cold water. Our man(?) Vincent is left looking at himself from every angle, inside and outside. The only illusion left is light.

His body's dead and this does not signify the end. He stands on the edge of a body of water next to an unkempt canoe. A glowing sphere is off in the distance. It is neither the Sun nor a lighthouse beam. It is embryonic, perfectly round, warm, soft, and unidentifiable. He drags the canoe into the water, gets in, rows off. The music has never stopped playing..."


We had a great time playing with these guys and the music is definitely worth a listen. Enjoy!

Vincent (2008)

White Denim - 11 Songs (2008)


rock/garage/punk

These guys are fucking terrific. They are currently on tour with Tapes n' Tapes, which is where I had the pleasure of catching them. Definitely a band to see live, though this nice little 11 track CD-R that they have on tour with them is a great glimpse of their forthcoming untitled debut album. You can learn more about these guys here. Enjoy!

11 Songs (From Spring Tour '08)

Headed for that Frisco Bay


San Francisco has never had a hard time providing an amazing atmosphere for a lifestyle unlike most throughout the rest of the country. In the late 60's the Bay area helped bands produce a signature pop sound that is still prominent in bands in the area today. Lately I have found myself listening to a variety of bands hailing from the great American West Coast, many of these from San Francisco. Recently I had the pleasure of seeing Baltimore dream-pop all-stars Beach House, with their perfectly fit opener Papercuts. Having never heard anything by Papercuts previously, I was overjoyed to find them exactly what I needed; perfectly constructed pop anthems with the ability to take the listener almost into the warm water of the Pacific and beyond. The following posts are just a few of the great bands hailing from the Bay area, all worth a listen.

Make sure to check out The Botticellis and The Mantles as well....

Citay - Little Kingdom (2007)


indie/folk/surf/pop/san francisco

1. First Fantasy
2. Little Kingdom
3. A Riot of Color
4. On the Wings
5. Last Days Last
6. Eye on the Dollar
7. Former Child
8. Moonburn

Little Kingdom (2007)

Papercuts - Mockingbird (2004)


pop/folk/san francisco

1. Mocking Bird
2. Poor and Free
3. A Fairy Tale
4. My Ivory Tower
5. Pan American Blues Pt. 2
6. Tulips
7. December Morning
8. Oh Nobody's Son
9. Judy
10. Well I Don't

Mockingbird (2004)