Damien Jurado - Museum Of Flight
Beautiful new track from Damien Jurado.
A new track from the Seattle songsmith’s beautiful forthcoming album, Maraqopa, has appeared online. Check it out above.
Maraqopa is due for release on February 20 via Secretly Canadian.
4,230 plays
Punch Brothers - Who’s Feeling Young Now? Album Teaser
Chris Thile may be the most exciting young bluegrass player out there. If you haven’t seen him play Bach - on the mandolin, FROM MEMORY - prepare to have your mind blown and watch this. Who’s Feeling Young Now? is out Feb 15 on Nonesuch.
Via jsallo.
(via fuckyeahbluegrass)
Trampled by Turtles - Victory (Live at KDHX St. Louis)
Fun fact: Trampled by Turtles is from Duluth, MN, which is also the hometown of slowcore vets Low. These bands don’t have a lot in common, but it’s easy to see how a place like Duluth could inspire them both. I’ve been there. It’s cold.
205 plays
Craig Finn - Rented Room
I went to college and lived in the midwest from the mid-nineties to 2007, which means I’m a fan of The Hold Steady. Craig Finn is an amazing story teller and, over the years, so many of his characters have felt so real to me - the friend who hangs around with hoodrats, high school kids partying in the woods, girls who will leave you in the dust for the next exciting thing to come along. The Hold Steady nailed post-adolescent uncertainty and angst and wrote some fine tunes in the process.
Ten years later, I think we are all more certain and have less angst, but Craig Finn is still telling amazing stories. His debut solo album drops tomorrow, and I like what I’ve heard so far. Listen closely to this one. There’s a lot of story here in not many words.
Also - Craig’s on Tumblr!
64 plays
Robyn Hitchcock - Goodnight Oslo
We saw Robyn Hitchcock play McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica last night. McCabe’s is the best venue in LA. They reconfigure the main room of the shop with about 150 folding chairs nestled closely between walls hung with guitars, banjos, cellos, dobros, and a few odd strings I can’t identify. The worst seat in the house is about 30 feet from the stage.
Robyn has played McCabe’s twice before and joked that we were all probably at the previous two shows as well. He told stories, took requests, and chatted with the audience. The guy next to us requested “Ghost Ship” and Robyn obliged, calling it a rock n roll sea shanty that he dedicated to Colin Meloy. Ha. Grant Lee Phillips joined him for a couple closing tunes including one of my favorites, “I Feel Beautiful.”
“Goodnight Oslo” was a popular request and he didn’t let us down. Great show.
UPDATE: So, it turns out, Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings — two of my FAVORITE artists — showed up to special guest with Robyn Hitchcock for the late show last night. Uber disappointed I missed it. :(
108 plays
Yellow Ostrich - Whale
Alex Schaaf’s Yellow Ostrich dropped a glorious new track yesterday. Full of harmonies and layers, the tracks on his last album, The Mistress, were incredibly uneven, bouncing from genre to genre. But they’re no less fun for it. His new full length, Strange Land, drops in March on Barsuk. See also his lovely covers of Sharon Van Etten, RAA, Joanna Newsom, The National, Beach House, and the Tallest Man on Earth here and here.
Yellow Ostrich on Spotify and Bandcamp.
44,496 plays
Willie Nelson - The Scientist (Coldplay cover)
Happy Friday!
782 plays
Bruce Springsteen - We Take Care Of Our Own
The world welcomed this new tune from The Boss last night. Vintage Jersey rock n roll. Behold!
This will be on Springsteen’s new album, Wrecking Ball, scheduled to drop March 6.
3,149 plays
Dirty Three - Rising Below
New track from Australian instrumentalists Dirty Three. The band is Mick Turner (guitar), Jim White (drums) and Warren Ellis (violin), who is also a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. I love the way a Dirty Three track builds and the musicians feed off each other. I haven’t seen them live, but suspect that no two shows are alike - something that is awesome and all too rare in popular music today. This is from the forthcoming album, Toward The Low Sun.
3,861 plays
The Big Pink - Stay Gold
The Big Pink released their second album, Future This, last week on 4AD. This is the lead single and it’s currently free on iTunes! I was madly in love with their 2009 release, A Brief History of Love, and have been looking forward to the follow up. Jury is out for now. More soon.
116 plays
Hank Williams - I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
Hank Williams was already a legend when he died at just 29. His style has been called “white man’s blues” which sounds to me like a mix of country/western, blues and honky tonk. Hank Sr. appears on nearly every major “Best of All Time” list out there and is a member of the Country Music and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. This is, of course, one of his best known songs.
Wouldn’t you love to know what he’d think of Hank III?
227 plays
Bill Callahan - I’m New Here
Been listening to the LP version of this a lot this week on the subway in my new town. “No matter how far wrong you’ve gone/ You can always turn around” is a line that could save a life. I hope it’s true. Guess more people probably know Gil Scott-Heron’s version at this point—they are equally great in my mind.
Shearwater - Breaking The Yearlings
Since posting Animal Life, a new tune from Shearwater’s forthcoming, I’ve gotten more and more excited for this album. Here’s another new track. Not quite as anthemic as Animal Life, but I dig it.
174 plays
Trampled By Turtles - Where Is My Mind (Pixies cover)
I wonder how many times I’ve posted Where Is My Mind… Maybe I’ll make a bedroom cover video next. In the meantime, this one combines 3 of my favorite things: cover songs, Pixies and bluegrass.
If you too like Americana and aren’t hip to Trampled By Turtles, give this Minnesota band a listen. They have a few tracks for free download at http://trampledbyturtles.com/ and they’re on Spotify.
Happy Friday!
309 plays
