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Archive for February 2008
I like this track, I love Saddle Creek Records (don’t you?) and I really like Tokyo Police Club. Their new album, Elephant Shell will be out in April. Enjoy this (sadly really low quality rip) (resolved thanks to Side One Track One) MP3 of “In A Cave” from that forthcoming album. Tour Dates after the jump! YAY!
This is the pure definition of psychedelic interstellar afro-beat jazz funk, horns, crazy Hammond B-3 keyboards, straight-up junkie rhythms from 1971 banging up the block from outer space to the human race and back again. With guest vocal effects from Karolina, Chaka Moon and Elran Dekel, we get an enhancement to what is already a nearly perfect recording. Furthermore, what I would like to call “the Stanley Turrentine/Ahmad Jamal/Yusef Lateef factor” is all over this joint, a form of high praise that I think is well merited once you get to listen (if you know anything about those cats).
The best part is that while the individual sections of this record are wonderful, it’s much better as a complete work. There’s no filler here, no rush jobs or cutting and pasting — this is some handcrafted, vintage funk/soul shit that will stay with you long after the first listen. So if you are down with the notions and the concepts, then the practice and the performance is here for you to lay your dreams in. Kutiman is set to take on the world, and it’s time you climbed aboard and slid into the groove.
Kutiman - Music Is Ruling My World (featuring Karolina)
Kutiman - No Reason For You (featuring Elran Dekel)
You can purchase Kutiman’s S/T album from Amazon (CD or MP3) by clicking here.
The field of American songwriting, at least the kind we like to remember, never seems to grow too crowded. There’s always room for one more, particularly if the delivery and style can be likened to a heritage of memorable works. I remember being dragged to Joel Plaskett’s hotel room the second night of Folk Alliance 2008 where an impromptu songwriter’s circle had formed. I had this sense that I was smack in the middle of some of the best songwriters going — Colin Gilmore, Peter Case, Cory Branan, Adam Levy, Rose Cousins — and I was told to pay special attention to a woman named Rachel Ries. When we walked in, everyone was sitting on beds or floor or chairs, probably 15 people crammed into a small hotel room, and within a few minutes, Rachel began playing the song I’m featuring today, “Hands To Water”. — More after the jump –
I think it must be damning on the soul to never recognize the potential for greatness that lies just under the surface of each of us. I mean, we toil endlessly at these jobs, these relationships, these goals we set for ourselves, and some of us never figure out how good we really are at what we are until the years have slipped by us. Anthony da Costa is in no danger of being struck by this curse. At the tender age of 17, da Costa has quietly made a name for himself throughout the Northeastern U.S. playing coffee shops, bars, schools, and music festivals big & small. As an observer, I’m struck by the casual observation that da Costa’s songwriting and performing is wise far beyond his years, and I’m definitely not alone. His appearances at the 2008 Folk Alliance reassured those familiar with his resume while earning him a large audience of new fans.
People are quick to make comparisons between da Costa and Conor Oberst because of the relative ages in which the two began their songwriting and performing careers. I think that the comparisons pretty much end there; where Bright Eyes is the posterized emotionally distraught poetic anti-hero of disaffected youth, da Costa’s poetry and passions lack the relative bleakness of Bright Eyes, offering the protagonist in his songs hope. In da Costa’s world, our hero’s emotional reactions to what is happening will always leave him a real chance at achieving the life and love he seeks. On his latest CD, Typical American Tragedy, we are offered a clean window into da Costa’s exceptionally complex understandings of love and hope, an unflinchingly moving portrait of a love we’re often curious how da Costa could know about at so young an age.
Regardless of why or how, the combination of spare arrangements and consistently solid songwriting place his current achievements in a class with some of our greatest American songwriters. One has to believe, upon hearing his work, that Tragedy is only the beginning for da Costa on a long string of accomplishments as a performer. Personally, I couldn’t be more excited to see where the future leads or more fortunate to have seen him so close to the beginnings. I sincerely hope and believe that ten years from now, we will all still be talking about Anthony da Costa.
Anthony da Costa - Ain’t Much of a Soldier
You can purchase Typical American Tragedy (CD or MP3’s) from CD Baby by clicking here. 
Hailing from the music-rich town of Halifax, Nova Scotia, songwriter Joel Plaskett has been through multiple incarnations as a songwriter and a performer. As a member of ’90s alt-rock band Thrush Hermit, Plaskett first came to Memphis to record the band’s Elektra Records release, Sweet Homewrecker, at the original Easley Recording Services. Returning to Memphis proved to be a bittersweet yet joyous homecoming for Plaskett; Easley Recording Services burned down a few years ago, but Plaskett had the good fortune to record a couple of tracks at Doug Easley’s newly-built (and just opening) recording studio while he was in town for the Folk Alliance 2008.
Joel’s newest album, La De Da is full of quirky songwriting gems and gently skewed observations that provoke conversation as they invoke singalongs. This song, “Love This Town”, was enamored by everyone who heard it at Folk Alliance 2008 including your author. Enjoy.
Joel Plaskett - “Love This Town”
You can purchase La De Da from CD Baby (CD or MP3) by clicking here.
So much exceptional music, so many pictures, so many wonderful people to see and hear, it’s hard to highlight them all. Here’s a few memorable moments while I finish cooking up reviews for you.
A.J. Roach, Graham Weber and Cory Branan
Peter Case, Cory Branan and Colin Gilmore during an impromptu songwriter’s circle in Joel Plaskett’s room.
Rachel Ries and Ariel Bolles singing flanked by Cory Branan and Colin Gilmore.
Ana Egge, Adam Levy and Nels Andrews
Idgy Vaughn and Will Sexton
A.J. Roach, Rachel Ries and a delirious Cory Branan
Teenie Hodges and Susan Marshall
We’re not sure what happened here, but we checked his pulse and the chicken was still alive as of this writing.
I was sure I needed to get my eyes checked when I read that folk-pop legends Chad & Jeremy would be appearing at the Folk Alliance Conference this year. I was stunned. “THE Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde? Could it be? ‘Distant Shores’? ‘A Summer Song’? No!” Before the thoughts could be completely formulated, I was told that yes, in fact, they would be attending and I could rest assured I would be surprised.
Even 40 years later, it’s as if time stood still when you hear them. These guys were so good, it made everyone in the audience fahrklempt. If you love indie pop or folk pop, you owe it to yourself to see Chad & Jeremy performing live in a city near you, and here’s the proof.
Listen to Chad & Jeremy - A Summer Song
You can purchase Chad & Jeremy’s Greatest Hits
I really want to share a video with you to help you fully understand and embrace the classic American songwriting style and unencumbered delivery of songwriter Graham Weber, one of many young up-and-coming folk artists whose presence at Folk Alliance 2008 is everywhere. However, the obviously purposefully overpriced and spotty internet service at the Downtown Marriott (along with the cold water in the bathroom sinks and other cost-cutting signs of Marriott’s unhinged corporate greed which are not the fault of the Folk Alliance) prevent me from sharing. For now, check out this song from Weber’s newest album, The Door To The Morning.
Graham Weber will be appearing tonight at Otherlands in Memphis as part of a stellar lineup including Cory Branan, Colin Gilmore, and John August. Showtime is 7:00pm. Click here for more details.