yarn and glue

2007-02-05T15:23:00.000-08:00

I am a Cold Rock. I am Dull Grass. is last year's Will Oldham tribute album. I take my life in my hands when I say that I prefer listening to it over listening to the man himself. For me, Will Oldham is three parts preparation, one part execution. Since tribute albums are wholly concerned with the execution of the best-written songs, this album stands as a highly successful celebration Will Oldham's creepy, gorgeous songwriting. Here are my favorite tracks:

Jolie Holland- I Was Drunk at the Pulpit
Scout Niblett- Trudy Dies
Sodastream- Southside of the World (yes, them, again)

Bonus:

Viking Moses- When Thy Song Flows Through Me

Addendum: I know this post is sort of anachronistic in regards to mp3-blog/ post-it-while-it's-hot time, but I was on a farm when this album came out, and I didn't have the internet. So. This ex-farmer officially blogs according to her own sense of recency, which is often at odds with that of the swarms of (other) hipsterdouche* bloggers out there. And maybe you were on a farm, too (or some equivalent to the relevant end). Think of it like re-runs.

*Word Copyright Roisin M.F. Foley 2007

2007-01-24T17:17:00.000-08:00

Torey and I talked several times about killing this old blog, but we couldn't even muster the motivation to publish a death rattle. Lucky, too, since I am suddenly struck with the impulse to update.

I have been listening to a lot of fantastic music lately, and I would like to share some with you. That's how these things work, right?

Here are my most celebrated albums in the months since we last communicated:

Yo La Tengo put out a new album, called I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, and while that is a fucking impressive name, it is not what I'm here to discuss. Fakebook is a shimmery collection of cover songs. If I had to choose an object to represent it, I believe I'd choose a snowglobe. Not your typical winter-landscape snowglobe; no, this is one of those tacky, cheaply ironic snowglobes from some faux-thatch tourist hut in the Florida Keys. Yeah, you can totally hear the glitter swirling against a backdrop of palm trees and that bright, postcard typeface gloating, Wish You Were Here. I think I even heard my uncle wink smugly as he lifted his pina colada and kicked his flip-flops to the sand.

Here Comes My Baby
Griselda

Dear Nora also put out a new album, called There is No Home, and it's unfathomably good, but it's secondary blog-material. We'll Have a Time is absolutely exquisite pop music. You could call it derivative, especially in light of all the non-linear, fuzzy freedom on There is No Home. But that would be derogatory, so instead you will call it educated. This album is educated in The Beach Boys, The Free Design, and, more importantly, Roger Nichols & The Small Circle of Friends (listen here if you're skeptical).

When the Wind Blows
From My Bedroom Window

The Crabs' Sand and Sea is everything I want in an album. In a similar vein, I had a big bowl of well-seasoned beans tonight, and that was everything I wanted in a dinner. I've drawn this comparison to give you an idea of the level of satisfaction this album provokes. We're talking full-tummy.

Market Size
Tumbling Away

The award for the album with the tightest grip on my iTunes, weighing in with a whopping five tracks on my Top 25 Most Played, is Sodastream's A Minor Revival. I really don't know much about Sodastream. I don't have any of their other albums and I couldn't quite tell you with which pop-music movements they are associated. I do know that the guitars are birdlime, though, and that the vocals are snail-bellies. I am going to give you four tracks from this album. Perhaps it is a little much, but the album has long-since been released, so I don't feel particularly wracked with guilt. Plus, you need these. You do.

Otherwise Open
Blinky
Out
Brass Lines

Note: The author does not intend this post to be a harbinger of any forthcoming regular-updating practices. She maintains that she is very busy, though we all know she spends most of her time looking at Facebook pictures of people she's only briefly met and reading fake advice columns in McSweeny's Quarterly Concern.

2006-09-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

Julie Doiron- Ce Charmant Coeur

Today was the first day that felt like fall in San Antonio. I pulled on my second-favorite striped sweater and went for a first-day-of-fall drive with this song as my soundtrack. I put my left hand out my left window and did that thing you do, where the wind pushes your hand up and down and your fingers feel like aero-planes!

Julie Doiron makes music that sounds like fall no matter how frequently it references winter. Here's some:

Wintermitts
Sending the Photographs
Faites De Beaux Reves
Gone Gone
Drums and Horns

______________

This reminds me of another fall thing. I met my friends Mat and Shelby one hot day at the dead end of last summer, and that night I ended up in their apartment where they both played beautiful music and my friend Ari sang opera and we all slept soundly on the hardwood floor.

I remember that Shelby played this: So Hard
And that Mat played this: Skydiving

And I took this picture:

And then we all fell asleep listening to Julie Doiron, right before the summer turned into fall, just like it's doing right now.

Mat, who goes by The Sarcastic Dharma Society, and Shelby, who goes by Shelby Sifers, belong to Oh! Map Records. You can visit their Myspaces here (Mat) and here (Shelby).

2006-09-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

I think the masses are suffering from major twee-confusion. 'Twee' is an English slang word meaning intentionally saccharine, so I can see how Belle and Sebastian and All Girl Summer Fun Band erroneously slid into the slot of leading twee-pop spokesbands. I mean to say that, as much as I adore the aforementioned outfits, calling them twee is an overgeneralization at best and a misnomer at worst.

Perhaps the largest contributing factor to twee-confusion is the asumption that twee is cute and cute is twee. On the contrary, twee is heavily influenced by punk and post-punk, and can get pretty messy (in the most lovely of ways). Substitute 14 Iced Bears, The Field Mice, Fat Tulips, Tiger Trap, Heavenly, and The Pastels for B&S and AGSFB and you've got yourself a real twee lineup.

Another leading factor of twee-confusion is chronological misconception. Twee is not new, nor even of this past decade. Twee is twenty years old this year, marking the release of New Musical Express' compilation album C86 (from which the twee sub/side-genre 'C86' gets its name). Most twee bands were active during the late eighties and early nineties, so now we're really just seeing leftovers and offshoots of the glory days.

A third factor is the concept of twee as kitsch. Twee is to be taken seriously. Very very seriously. Mostly.

Anyway, here is a Wikipedia's take on twee, which says all (or most) of it, and below are some good old fashioned twee-tunes to help clear up the water.

(er, i'm still working on these files. might not be mac-friendly.)
The Housemartins- I Smell Winter
Rocketship- I Still Love You Like the Way I Used To
The Siddeleys- When I Grow Up I'll Be a God
The Pastels- Million Tears
Television Personalities- Paradise is for the Blessed
Black Tambourine- Drown
Fat Tulips- Is That Love?
The Vaselines- Dying for It
My Bloody Valentine- Paint a Rainbow
The Field Mice- Coach Station Reunion

I am, for all intents and purposes, a twee purist, and I am out to proselytize, so it would bring me great joy if you would all go visit Sarah Records and pine with me over its untimely death.

2006-08-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

Contrary to the popularly held and perfectly reasonable belief, I am not from Santa Fe. I am from Texas. I live in San Antonio, Austin's deservedly less-fawned-over cousin. While we have no booming music scene of our own (save for vast numbers of mariachis and the occassional rhinestone cowboy), we do have easy access to Austin's many gems.

One such gem is Whiskey and Apples Records, a freak-folk, banjo-punk, and accordian-pop label featuring endearingly cockeyed musicians from Austin and afar. Unfortunately or fortunately, pick your poison, W&A has devoted itself almost entirely to promoting local outfit Peter & the Wolf. So this post serves as a celebration of W&A artists past, present, and very loosely affiliated. Now for the songs:

Peter and the Wolf- Anna Maria
Anna Maria, Anna Maria, do you remember me? I'm hoping all is well. You know I've been through some hell, but I'm standing in a clearing finally. Long ago I loved you so much, now-a-days I just don't know much anymore; I can't tell what is real. But I lost my telephone somewhere in Arizona and I wanted you to know the way I feel.
Also: Peter and the Wolf- The Fall
Peter and the Wolf- People of the Night

Crooks and Nannies- Burning Down the House
This is the best party song I've ever had the pleasure of partying alongside.

Deer Tick- Dirty Dishes
Perfect for the last song on mixtapes, immediately following a heartstring-opus of Neutral Milk Hotel proportions.

The Theater Fire- Ne'er Too Late
The Theater Fire- These Tears Could Rust a Train
I'll call this hilbilly pop. The name is suspiciously reminiscent of The Arcade Fire, but, according to the dates indicated in the band bio, it was probably independently thought-up. These are good songs and you'll like them, because you are of discriminating taste.

Blonde Bill- Civil War
Blonde Bill- Mexico City Blues
Blonde Bill is Bill Baird is {{{{{{{SUNSET}}}}}}}. He writes lyrics about internal warfare like, "The Mason-Dixon Line, well I guess that'd be my spine." He also makes really nice-sounding music. Tons of free mp3s here

Shapes and Sizes- Island's Gone Bad
Shapes and Sizes- Wilderness
These are some wierd kids, but also strangely pleasant.

Dana Falconberry- Paper Sailboat
Marissa Nadler- Days of Rum
These two songs go together, along with a big old rusty pickup and a tall glass of fresh squezed lemonade and a tumultuous gravel road. I'd call them... wraparound-porch folk. What can I say, I have a knack for genre nomenclature.

Once I get around to it, I will try to hook you all up with some Old Crow Adams, some Diamond Caverns, and some more Crooks and Nannies, so check back on this post.

I would also like to make it clear that Epitonic has eleven, count 'em, eleven Handsome Family songs for download.

For now, buy some of this stuff here.

2006-07-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the very, very long hiatus.
To Bill from 90.7: Hey! I've heard your show before, actually! And I did enjoy it. I just always forget about the radio. Anyways, i'll remember to listen to it now. Because, yes, Santa Fe does need all the help it can get.

The other day, Miss Meagan and I were reunited, along with another dear friend. We had an epic adventure in the mountains, weaving through the trees and singing at the top of our lungs. Grass was trampled, logs were balanced upon, and the mountains opened wide to our music.

engwish bwudd - man man
van helsing boombox - man man

Man Man can be described as warped pop, chaotic yet catchy. One can't calculate the instruments used, the notes reached. Play Engwish Bwudd, scream as loud as you can. "All I want to be is a shovely bubbly gobbly gook! A seagull stole him from his slow mama's hands aboard the boat the Sweet Louisa and dropped him in the meadow-lands..." The other featured track, Van Helsing Boombox, is a lot more mellow... and also, a lot more fantastic...slow-paced and laced with whistles and chimes.

"Nothing is the only thing you ever seem to have, and only time will tell if i'll allow the scenery around to eat me alive. I want to sleep for weeks like a dog at her feet even though i know it won't work out in the long run... so I burn down Nepal, breathe like a shadow, those arms I once knew hold me like ghosts, I learn how to speak defeated language fall in the street as I howl at the moon..."

Buy stuff + view tour dates at Man Man's myspace page.

peach, plum, pear - joanna newsom
peach, plum, pear (joanna newsom cover) - final fantasy

As we stopped the car, facing the overlook, we wailed and belted out songs. Small children ran. Large birds froze in place, stunned by our harmonies. I'm not making any of that up, ask Meagan. I probably have it on camera somewhere.

These songs are both pulled, plucked, and entirely enjoyable. I love cover songs. "You were knocking me down with the palm of your eye...this was unlike the story it was written to be, I was riding its back when it used to ride me!"

Buy Final Fantasy stuff here, please.
and Joanna Newsom around here.

BONUS TRACK!

Speaking of cover songs. I laughed when I first heard it, but it grows on me every day. I do have a soft spot for Xiu Xiu. Which is weird, when you think about it.

fast car (tracy chapman cover) - xiu xiu

2006-06-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

The first time I ever heard Shearwater, I was driving to an old friend’s house, after a night filled with affection and hot tea and keen observances. I found them entirely irresistible, peering into the juniper-ridden roadsite under the overcast sky. I think this is the way they were meant to be heard, when you’re tired and rosy and all you want to do is spend the rest of the night with one other person; if nothing else, Shearwater is the perfect soundtrack to both comfort and heighten anticipation. If that makes any sense.

First a side project of Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff of Okkervil River fame, Shearwater specializes in heartening instrumentals and sometimes fuzzy vocals. Charming and rollicking, these tracks make you want to bellow and sing at a world so bright. Buy at their website.

mountain laurel - shearwater.mp3
red sea, black sea - shearwater.mp3
sing, little birdie - shearwater.mp3
the ice covered everything - shearwater.mp3

I’ve been sitting here for a while now, trying to describe Diane Cluck. However, the same words keep popping into my head - honest, haunting, glorious, magnetic. These things are really all you can say. This woman is occupied with simple guitar and lingering lyrics. You can buy albums from here. Travel Light, the track from Anti-Folk New York Vol. 1 is more upbeat, less harmonious, but still fantastic. It features Jeffrey Lewis, whose recordings were pushed into view by Adam Green and Kimya Dawson in 2001 to Rough Trade Records. If you don’t have any Jeffrey Lewis by now, find some this very second.

Diane Cluck is also featured on the 2004 compilation Golden Apples of the Sun, curated by Devendra Banhart: the track Heat From Every Corner rests alongside songs from Joanna Newsom, Vashti Bunyan, Josephine Foster, and Little Wings. Viking Moses, who appeared in Meagan's last entry, also adds to the compilation! You can buy this album from Arthur Magazine.

monte carlo - diane cluck.mp3
my teacher died - diane cluck.mp3
heat from every corner - diane cluck.mp3
travel light - diane cluck and jeffrey lewis.mp3

2006-06-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

my husband's hand -viking moses
sandstorms -viking moses
still my home -viking moses

Brendon Massei, pseudonym Viking Moses, has toured with the likes of Will Oldham, Cat Power, Devendra Banhart, and Little Wings, and I'll be damned if he didn't adopt all their best habits. I won't bother explaining that. Just listen and find out.

vietnam malaria nostalgia -spencer kingman
bowser bowser bowser -spencer kingman
al jazeera -spencer kingman

There are songs you like, and songs you love, and songs that take up residence in your car and head and hands for eternity. The latter dictates what you do and how you do it: perform to this rhythm, think to this melody. "Vietnam Malaria Nostalgia" is that kind of song. I'm still getting used to the other two; they're currently teetering between like and love.

As it turns out, Viking Moses and Spencer Kingman have released a two-disc double album together. I think we're all in luck. You can buy it here.

2006-06-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

"when we sat outside for an hour at the party and talked, I thought something good could be starting... it's not a lot that I want, just some talking, and really you just made me feel kind of uncool..." This song belongs in a car with the windows down. Seemingly reticent, this track from Poor Aim: Love Songs openly tells of average disappointments which ring true within multitrack harmonies. The album, produced by the always-fantastic Yacht, is full of both killer beats and heartbreaking vocals. CDs are currently sold out on the States Rights Records site, but a link there will lead you to purchase-ability on the iTunes store.

hey boy - the blow.mp3

Apparently this track was total improv, recorded after an arguement between the two. You can catch Yacht, along with Calvin Johnson, Mount Eerie, Karl Blau, The Blow, The Robot Ate Me, Squid vs. Shark, Kimya Dawson, Tender Forever, and lots more at the What The Heck Fest somewhere in July.

its just music - yacht and devendra banhart.mp3

If Hey Boy belongs in a speeding car, then Carry Come Go belongs at a campsite, surrounded by close friends and the occasional creature. "Carry in your heart, in your mind's eye (maybe) a picture of the darkness you will find, show it to me lately when i'll listen and i'll boo and i'll take it all to heart and know it's mine..." Simple yet stirring, this track certainly induces brisk nights and modest campfires. Another favorite of mine is The Way I Deux, featured on the 2002 album Light Green Leaves, buy it here within the next five days and you'll rejoice and dance. Why five days? Uh...don't ask me. I'm tired.

carry come go - little wings and VVRSSNN.mp3
the way i deux - little wings.mp3

2006-06-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

[we're experiencing some difficulties with our file host. for now just click these links and download the songs from the pages to which they take you. think of it as an adventure.]

terrified -norfolk & western
the evergreen -norfolk & western

Norfolk & Western have a new album out with a name that I absolutely adore for its charming historical grandiosity. It's called A Gilded Age, and it features neither of these songs because I haven't bought it yet. But if these little nuggets are any indicator of the quality of A Gilded Age, then I don't know what I'm waiting for. Hailing from Portland, Oregon and deriving their name from a long-since defunct railway, the band (I believe they are a duo now) just about perfects that splendid hybrid of metropolitan and old-country-- note the prominent Appalachian string instrumentation coupled with smooth Sufjan-esque melodies. Nevermind that the girl pictured is the ex-drummer for The Decemberists (I wouldn't exactly compare the two, but it affords the band some major credibility). Aside from that, I don't know much about Norfolk & Western. But I'm willing to find out.

buy Dusk in Cold Parlours by Norfolk & Western here.
buy A Gilded Age by Norfolk & Western here.

2006-06-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

"This back and forth is killing me, I call you too much because I worry... i've been sweet on you since that first talk, you said it so loud, maybe too loud...drop it off on your doorstep, the reasons why I like you.." Haunting and gentle, it still provides a hard-hitting message. It's a break from the powerful melodies and diverse instrumentation that is to be expected from Ten in the Swear Jar. Originally on My Very Private Map, (Well, perhaps not originally. IPOBA claims the very first version of When You Write. I know, I know, Jamie Stewart could not possibly be any more confusing. ) this song deserves your full attention. Buy Accordion Solo! right here.

when you write - ten in the swear jar.mp3

"Chapped lips, tongue-kissed, insert expletive. fluids of a summer night with slight duress, forced imperatives, find me quoting Pennington… so take my lip inbetween your teeth, and taste me by devouring, and I’ll start watching my weight again, oh! woke up at dawn, face-down on the lawn…" The Parenthetical Girls version is much more soft, with jingly-jangly music accompanying the background vocals. Either way, Love Connection is certainly a summer anthem. It captures that fluttery feeling you get in your stomach when you realize what time of year it is and how pleased you are with your surroundings, when you realize that this is all you've got.

love connection - casiotone for the painfully alone.mp3
love connection - parenthetical girls.mp3

BONUS! Yes, it is that TC Boyle. I really don't think any more needs to be said.

i put a spell on you - TC Boyle.mp3

2006-06-03T16:38:00.000-07:00

sunflower -low
sunflower (low cover) -real live tigers

A little something about me: I'm a sucker for covers. I'm especially a sucker for offbeat covers of really good songs, which is why I love the Real Live Tigers version of Low's "Sunflower". The best thing about it is that it doesn't play the age old covers game of trite genre-inversion. The original "Sunfower" is hushed and shadowy, and so, in keeping with that classic formula, the most logical cover of the song would be its antithesis: loud and expeditious, with cymbals and horns and a frantic cowbell or something. But Real Live Tigers avoids the temptation to capitalize on the easy irony, and instead the result is even slower and softer than the original. I first listened to this song on a Sunday afternoon, when the sun was impenetrable and the air was warm and humid and the ground was covered in dandelions. Or maybe it didn't happen that way, but I wish it had, because I think that would have been perfect.

buy Things We Lost in the Fire by Low here.
buy Hospital Songs by Real Live Tigers here (does not feature "Sunflower").

the cn tower belongs to the dead -final fantasy
adventure.exe -final fantasy

Speaking of offbeat covers of really good songs, I was first introduced to Final Fantasy through a cover of Joanna Newsom's "Peach, Plum, Pear". And I've never turned back. These songs are both from his (Owen Pallett's) 2005 album Has a Good Home. They're the kind of songs that lack immediacy but that creep up on you after three, five, eight listens, and they eventually knock you on your ass saying, How come I didn't hear this the first time around? Give them more than one try. You'll be glad you did.

buy Has a Good Home by Final Fantasy here.
preorder He Poos Clouds by Final Fantasy here.