This video was filmed over Christmas by Brandon Goodwin
It is Stacy Dupree of Eisley, Jeremy Larson on piano and Darren King on guitar. Jeremy also produced this track and I think it sounds absolutely incredible. Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac are an all-time favorite and I think these three do it justice….alongside some great video work. More from them soon, for now you can check out some of Jeremy’s new music here.
You may think I’m being dramatic with the title of this blog. After all, 2009 was a great year in life, but I would argue it was a very poor year in music. I didn’t bother to post a top 10 list because I couldn’t come up with ten albums that I absolutely loved.
(For those who are curious, my top seven albums of 2009 - in no particular order – would be: 1. Neko Case 2. David Bazan 3. Passion Pit 4. Dirty Projectors 5. Grizzly Bear 6. The Very Best 7. The Avett Brothers) Oh, and if you’re counting EP’s, Bon Iver’s “Blood Bank EP” was mind-blowingly good.
So, let us leave these youthful 0f 2009 days behind! And let us press onto the bright and shining year that will be 2010. Let us ponder for a moment, some of the anticipated releases:
Joanna Newsom
Midlake
Arcade Fire
MGMT
The National
Jonsi
Spoon has already released a record this year (and it’s great!). And, I’m sure I’m forgetting a whole host of other great albums. And no, Vampire Weekend doesn’t count (That was for you, Brandon). Any other highly anticipated albums I’m forgetting? Please share!
This will be the last CWK post (for the month at least)….but you all must check out the new video for “Audience” – world premiere on Spinner/AOL Music homepage today. I wonder if Maust’s swimming skills are as piss poor as mine and that’s the reason for the floaty? I would rock the shit out of one of those if I were in the deep sea like that. I also would not be throwing avocados into the ocean, that’s just wasteful and bad taste. Closed captioning on music videos is humorous – not as amazingly humorous as the Pee Wee Herman show was last night making me laugh until I had no tears left in my body – but still, this video is the highlight of my day so far.
Dan Black’s new album ((Un)) drops on 2/16 courtesy of The Hours but this track “Symphonies” has been ringing in my head for 3 months now. DB originally made this track as a remix to B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize” but after some P Diddy Poppa drama (ie “no, you can’t use this”) he just said fuck it and made his own song with the same catchy beat (yes, that is the intro to Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and that’s why it sticks so well).
Check out the video below, then the “HYPNTZ” version he did first. But most importantly, this new remix with Kid Cudi – proving I don’t always hate this stoner hip-hop…..the kid brings it on this one.
David Bazan played his final house show this past Sunday in Echo Park at our friend Ben & Heather’s – of the lovely band Summer Darling (shameless plug, they’re playing with our friends Kissing Cousins this Saturday Jan 23rd @ the Basement, Long Beach. Free before 9:30). Check out the performance of “Hard to Be” from Ben & Heather’s living room with Bazan and Blake Westcott.
I wish more artists took the house show approach. Maybe it would lose its intimate appeal if so, but I can promise you all 20+ people there on Sunday will forever buy his records and attend his shows solely from the connection they have with him now. That my friend is how it’s done.
Bazan will be playing at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach on March 8th. The one reason I will set foot in that bar after years of saying “oh hell no”
When the singer for Sigur Ros isn’t writing beautiful music with said band, or writing a raw food cookbook with his boyfriend (yep, he did that.), he’s busy recording more beautiful music under his own name: Jonsi.
Jonsi’s album, “Go”, is set to release worldwide on March 22, 2010. All I’ve heard is the single, “Boy Lilikoi: and I must say – I cannot wait to hear the rest. Just stop what you’re doing, turn it up loud, and let the world fade away. As far as I’m concerned, this man can do no wrong. I’m hooked, Jonsi. I’m hooked.
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Two favorites – together. This is why I love Emancipator.
We are no longer the generation of guitar. It stands as a backbone, but we’re not enamored as we once were. Now, no matter who you are, something else is edging in, whether it’s auto-tune and synthesizers, or xylophones and orchestras, or of course, an accordion. Anyone who can get our attention with a mere six strings anymore is, well, simply worth our attention.
Last summer, while working graveyard shifts at a local boys’ home – just me, a computer and some security cameras in an office – I listened to endless hours of internet radio. Honestly, this whole music genome project doesn’t work as well as anyone would have hoped, but it does fill the air with something that won’t threaten to step outside your chosen genre (although it may woefully play many, many failed attempts at said genre). So I was surprised one night when Joseph Childress came onto those scratchy little computer speakers, because it was brilliant. At three in the morning, and three-and-a-half hours yet to suffer, this song made me feel like I had just woken up from a nap on a sunny afternoon.
The song was “Chariots,” which begins with a disjointed verse of enthusiastic singing against a mechanically picked guitar, not unlike Danielson. However, it soon breaks into a warm chorus of gang vocals, which made me feel on that lonely night like I was being embraced by the very arms of brotherhood.
The song ended far too quickly, and was then gone. In fact, the only trace I could find of it was a thirty-second clip on Pandora’s search page. Childress had a few songs up on his myspace page that were quite good – especially ‘Animal,’ but they weren’t ‘Chariots.’ In fact, strangely, ‘Chariots’ was not available for download or purchase anywhere, and I have no idea how Pandora and its affiliates got their hands on it, but I was jealous.
Until now. Childress is releasing an album in the beginning of the year, “The Rebirths” at Endless Nest Records, and within it, possibly two and a small fraction of the greatest recorded minutes in this soon-ending decade:
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Since Christmas happens to be THIS week, and I’m feeling the Christmas spirit, I feel prompted to share a holiday gem with you all.
This particular holiday gem happens to be a cover of Amy Grant’s Tender Tennessee Christmas by Drew Grow & The Pastor’s Wives. The band hails from my hometown of Portland, Oregon – and they have a knack for wintery and sultry goodness. Drew and his merry band of Pastor’s Wives have are releasing a series of singles on a new local indie label, Amigo/Amiga.
If you happen to live in the Portland metro area, catch the Amigo/Amiga Holiday Party at the Doug Fir this Tuesday, December 22nd. Kelli Schaefer (!) and The Beauty will also be playing. The show is only $5 a ticket, and $1 from each ticket will go to the Oregon Food Bank. You now have no reason not to go.
So, happy holidays to you all! If a cheeky cover of a christmas song by an evangelical superstar of the 1980’s doesn’t make you feel the Christmas spirit, I don’t know what will.
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