“Four Provinces” (LaundroMatinee.com session at Monolith Festival) MP3
Oct 05, 2009
The Walkmen performed at this summer’s Monolith Festival, at Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside of Denver, Colorado, and the videographers from Laundromatinee captured the road dogs’ solid performance, along with 14 other acts. Their recordings of the indie rockers’ set churned out some crisp audio-visual treats. Check out the brooding mp3 of You & Me‘s “Four Provinces” above and a mp3/video for that album’s single, “On the Water,” all at My Old Kentucky Blog. (Photo by Sanchez and Kitahara)
The Aliens
“Sitting On a Toadstool” MP3
Oct 05, 2009
The Aliens have a new non-album track to share called “Sitting On a Toadstool.” The multiple-vocals and rootsy charm of the psych-folker recalls the Dust Bowl cuts of the past. It’s great rootsy goodness for the beginning of your week.
“Sitting On a Toadstool” will be on the special edition, signed hardback, 60-page book with CD of Luna. That’s out October 20th on Birdman Records. There’s also going to be a Special Limited Edition of the LP. That release has a 60+ page full cover, hard cover book featuring art, photos and poetry. It will be available online only and be signed by the band and in an edition of 1000. Also, check out the beautiful video for “Sunlamp Show.”
Vampire Weekend
“Horchata” MP3
Oct 05, 2009
We already pointed you towards Vampire Weekend‘s great Contra opener, “Horchata.” Just as fall’s cold winds begin creeping under your door VW’s sprite percussion on this preview cut acts like a warm blanket. Rostam Batmanglij’s production is through the roof here. The single is available now as a free download on the Contra site, and if you grab it there (by signing up for a newsletter) you get a PDF booklet/lyrics sheet.
The clattering track starts with frontman Ezra Koenig singing, “In December drinking horchata / I look psychotic in a balaclava.” Strings and backup vocals eventually swirl up to meet his voice. Contra is out January 12th on XL. Go here for tour dates.
Los Campesinos! have a new video for the second single off their forthcoming third full-length, out sometime in early 2010. The septet’s epic track crams tons of glockenspiel, guitar and horns into a slowly growing ball of energy. The self-directed video finds a young, bored blogger grab his lady love from a swimming pool to set of for a crime caper (i.e. - stealing from his grumpy boss’ safe). Perfect visual salve for disinterested 9-to-5 guys and gals everywhere. The Cardiff band will tour a little this fall.
Port O’Brien plans to release their third album, threadbare, this Tuesday (October 6th). TBD is releasing and Van Pierszalowski, Cambria Goodwin and the gang are touring with fellow California folkies, Sea Wolf and Sara Lov this fall. As we reported earlier, the touring lineup includes Tyson Voegel of Two Gallants and Graham LeBron of Rogue Wave.
The string-and-horn folk track, “My Will Is Good,” fits firmly into the darker thematic portion of the threadbare, influenced by the untimely death of Goodwin’s brother. The music video for the somber song finds the Oakland indie-folk group using jump rope champs as the visual accompaniments to the propulsive single.
According to an interview Spinner had with Pierszalowski last week, the band wanted this type of clip for one big reason: “The song is very rhythmic and packs some punch. Timbaland inspired us. We wanted a video that could match visually the rhythm in the song. We took the idea of double dutch to [director] Raul Fernandez, and what he created was beyond our expectations. The intensity of the girls—and the one brave boy—in the video match the meaning and intensity behind the song.”
Lowell Brams
Sufjan Stevens
“Alpha to Theta” (feat. Sufjan Stevens) MP3
Oct 04, 2009
As previously posted, Asthmatic Kitty‘s Library Catalog series is an ongoing compilation set that exist to soundtrack your short film, school presentation or imagination while washing the dishes. It’s best to let their strange, instrumental soundscapes wash over your mind’s eye. The Lander, Wyoming/Indianapolis/NYC label simply calls it music “designed for soundtracks, whether it be for your life or licensing.”
On December 8th, the Library Catalog series will grow to include three more releases. On of them is made by label co-founders Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams. The National‘s Bryce Dessner adds a helping hand too.
Brams gets top billing for Music for Insomnia, but Stevens played on every cut. According to a press release, the father-son duo play “harmonium, little casio, little Korg, big Prophet, prepared piano, unprepared piano, acoustic and electric guitars, autoharp, drums, bass, reedless woodwinds, bells, shakers, tambourine, hair, duct tape, and keys.” Dessner adds in acoustic/electric guitar for one song. Stevens and Brams named the album after their mutual insomniaiac tendencies.
The two other entries coming out on the same day are Helado Negro leader Roberto Carlos Lange’s Music for Memory and Music for Savage Tropical Imagery from former Crystal Skulls member Yuuki Matthews. Above you can listen to Brams and Stevens play through “Alpha to Theta.” It’s a spacey cut that floats along on endlessly crescendoing clouds of piano, guitar and Korg filigrees. It certainly wouldn’t feel out of place nestled into the back-half of Steven’s The Avalanche.
Interesting side note: Music for Insomnia is dedicated to Sara, Bram’s “Asthmatic Kitty” that lived from 1993-2008 and inspired the title of his label with his stepson.
Thom Yorke
“Open the Floodgates” (New Song Live at L.A.‘s Echoplex) Video
Friday night in Los Angeles, Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke debuted his new band with a “public rehearsal” at the very small Echoplex club. (Their inaugural full-blown concerts are today and Monday at L.A.‘s Orpheum Theatre.) Yorke was supported by Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Beck/R.E.M. drummer Joey Waronker and Forro in the Dark multi-instrumentalist Mauro Refosco.
According to Radiohead fansite At Ease Web, Yorke’s crew performed his 2006 solo album The Eraser in full. For the encore, Yorke debuted four new songs completely solo: “Open the Floodgates”, “Lotus Flower”, “Skirting on the Surface”, and “Judge, Jury, Executioner”. The quintet then returned to the cramped stage for covers of Radiohead Com Lag EP song “Paperbag Writer” and the new 12” tracks “The Hollow Earth” and “Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses”.
Unsurprsingly, tons of YouTube clips surfaced over the weekend. Watch the video for the piano-led “Open the Floodgates” above and click the links below for the other two new songs. Also, fans can breathe a sigh of relief: Radiohead is still not breaking up.
Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon, got together with his friends from Collections of Colonies of Bees to form the magnificent experimental group Volcano Choir. The collaborative debut LP, Unmap, is out now on Jagjaguwar and has some of the most beautifully haunting pieces you’ll hear all year.
The clip for their pulsing single, “Island, IS” has a colorful visual display of colored boxes projected onto a bridge while through the night. The hypnotic beats are synchronized with the colored boxes. The simple, yet affective video was directed by Michinori Saigo.
The Walkmen
We already pointed you towards 
On December 8th, the Library Catalog series will grow to include three more releases. On of them is made by label co-founders 
