Showing posts with label J. Tillman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label J. Tillman. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Cold Weather for a Cold Heart

Photo: Library of Congress


It's worth multiple reads:
NPR presented a fascinating discussion on the record labels that we all love and their role in the current struggling music industry. It's worth multiple reads.

Austin blog action:
Austin Town Hall posted a great interview with David Wingo of Ola Podrida. Check out his excellent new album Belly of the Lion out now on Western Vinyl.

ATH also caught up with the always witty and quotable J. Tillman.

Recommended shows for Austin folks:
Monahans - December 3rd - Mohawk
Balmorhea with Ola Podrida & Martin Crane - December 11th - Mohawk
Dave Rawlings Machine with Gillian Welch - December 13th & 14th - Parish both days plus a free in-store at Waterloo Records on the 13th

Is there a more consistent band?
Spoon's new single, Written in Reverse, makes me happy. New album out January 19th, 2010.

Born to scream:
Cymbals Eat Guitars destroyed most of my theories on the state of music and "hyped" bands a few months ago when I saw their live show. This video almost proves my point.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

ramble on

Do you think:
that the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack, composed mostly by Karen O, will sell a lot of copies because simply people will be looking for the song they hear on the trailer? A situation that will be unfortunate, because the song is actually "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire, and is not on the soundtrack? I do. This is like when the Everything Is Illuminated trailer used "How It Ends" by DeVotchKa, but neither the movie nor the soundtrack featured the song. Don't get me wrong, the WTWTA trailer is really good, but funny they didn't use some of Karen O's material for it.

Of course you're thinking:
"he just had to mention that movie, because every blogger in the world has mentioned that movie." What can I say, at least I tried to do my own take on it.

In case you cared:
your cool friends over at Pitchfork mentioned some time back that Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear was releasing a 7" on his new label Terrible Records under the moniker CANT. Well, that record is finally up for pre-order.

Denver:
don't miss Slim Cessna's Auto Club and Drag the River at the Oriental Theater this Friday, Oct. 9th.

It's probably enjoyable because it's not PC:
and in fact there is a new What's So Funny? out today, and it's just as non-PC as ever.

I don't know why I am obsessed with the remote parts of West Texas:
but there is a pretty cool blogger from Alpine who does a blog called Gaping Void. He's actually an author, artist, marketer, and um, CEO of the US branch of a South African wine. Apparently he became famous for his "Ignore Everybody" blog/book, which is generally directed at helping people in the working world (maybe more specifically the corporate world?) to keep from hating their lives so much, or something like that.

Keeping with the West Texas theme:
I found this pretty sweet article about a guy near Abilene who lives in a cold war era missile silo. Lots of cool pictures.

As I've noted:
I'm increasingly impressed with Langhorne Slim's new material, and need to pick up his new album Be Set Free. You can check out a video interview and perfomance of "I Love You But Goodbye" from him here at LA Music Blog.

I don't know about you:
but I'm pretty excited about the new J. Tillman record Year in the Kingdom. It's out now on Western Vinyl, and apparently a vinyl version and a 7" are on the way.

In Avett Brothers news...let me revise that, in my own personal news:
my pre-ordered vinyl copy of I and Love and You, an album for which the vinyl version has been available in record stores for over 3 weeks, has still not arrived. I ordered it directly from the band's Web site, which apparently was the lowest priority to the label, and they didn't get their copies of the vinyl to mail out until last week. Throw in the inconsistent service by the USPS and you've got quite an awesome situation. If you know me, I like to prove points, so I'll probably have to return that record (when it finally arrives), even though it will cost me shipping, and then buy it from my local record store for the same price. If anyone has run into the same problem, hopefully you've found the one positive outlet that I have, which is that you can stream the entire album for free on the Avett's Web site.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Good stuff


Daytrotter just released a session with J. Tillman done during SXSW. It will be well worth your time to check this out (and it's free to download the songs). Tillman was on his game that week in Austin, and this session documents that very well. For some reason, his voice and guitar alone have a fuller sound than most 5 piece bands.

If you like it, head over to Western Vinyl and pick up a copy of Vacilondo Territory Blues.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Avett Brothers by Southwest

Two things related to the Avett Brothers at SXSW:

You would think that an NPR official showcase wouldn't run into problems with sound, but given that there were approximately 200 other shows happening at the exact same time, I guess it's understandable. However, for any Avett Brothers die hards, the NPR showcase podcast is a great listen. You can listen here, or you can download it through Itunes on the NPR Live Concerts from All Songs Considered Podcast. Unfortunately, it takes about 10 minutes into the recording before the music starts, so there's not 40 minutes of Avetts like I initially hoped. You will get to hear a new song at the end of the recording though. For anyone scared of how Rick Rubin might change their sound, this song should allay your fears.

Here's a video from the Avetts other SXSW performance, where they play another song from their upcoming album I and Love and You. This one is a bit different from some of their earlier work, but it is still 100% an Avett Brothers song. Hope it stays up for a while, as this is a great song and should be even better on the album.




Two things unrelated to the Avett Brothers:

There's not a podcast to download, and there probably won't be, but KUT has a pretty interesting performance/interview with Howe Gelb of Giant Sand from the SXSW week. He talks about the history of Giant Sand and his relationship with associated acts.

The new J. Tillman album Vacilando Territory Blues, currently out on Western Vinyl, is amazing. Check it out some time.