Steve Earle has always professed a true love of for the great american songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Hell, he dropped the man's name on his own kid so it must be true! Now, Earle is upping the ante with a collection of the songwriter's material titled simply Townes. guesting on the record are Steve's son Justin Townes Earle, his wife Allison Moorer, and Tom Morello.
In Earles own words: "This may be one of the best records I’ve ever made. That hurts a singer-songwriter’s feelings. Then again, it’s some consolation that I cherry picked through the career of one of the best songwriters that ever lived."
Tracklisting
01 Pancho and Lefty 02 White Freightliner Blues 03 Colorado Girl 04 Where I Lead Me 05 Lungs 06 No Place to Fall 07 Loretta 08 Brand New Companion 09 Rake 10 Delta Momma Blues 11 Marie 12 Don’t Take It Too Bad 13 Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold 14 (Quicksilver Daydreams of) Maria 15 To Live Is to Fly
Thanks to Muzzle of Bees for the tip. They've got an mp3 for the tasting too.
The troubled if brilliant, Wall of Sound producer Phil Spector was found guilty of second degree murder in the untimely death of actress Lana Clarkson.
The inimitable Regina Spektor will release a new set of tunes, Far Set, on June 23rd. That's all we've got for now short of a list of producers that reads like a who's who of a-listers: Jeff Lynne (ELO, The Traveling Wilburys), Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Eminem), David Kahne (Paul McCartney, The Strokes) and Garret “Jacknife” Lee (Weezer, REM).
Levon Helm has readied a new collection of tunes for release June 30th entitled Electric Dirt on Dirt Farmer Music/Vanguard Records. The tracks (including covers by Grateful Dead, Randy Newman and Happy Traum) were recorded at Helm's studio and produced by multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell.
Track Listing:
1. Tennessee Jed 2. Move Along Train 3. Growing Trade 4. Golden Bird 5. Stuff You Gotta Watch 6. White Dove 7. King Fish 8. You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had 9. When I Go Away 10. Heaven’s Pearls 11. I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel To Be Free
I'm a little late to the dance but then it's never too late to share some good tunes. When we were hosting the CondoFucks listening party a few weeks back, Beggars Banquet kindly hit me with a promo featuring a handful of tracks from the recently released Dark was the Night collection. The compilation is the most recent of the long running Red Hot and Blue series that dates back some twenty years (remember No Alternative way back in the early 90s?). This new batch of songs (31 strong) features new work and excellent covers by the likes of Feist and Ben Gibbard, Conor Oberst and Gillian Welch, Spoon, Yeasayer, Sufjan Stevens, The National, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, and so many more. It is well worth the price of admission. Personally, I can't get The National's excellent "So Far Around the Bend" out of my head (love the nod to Pavement here!). Of course, the Feist and Ben Gibbard cover of a Vashti Bunyan number is a timeless classic as is Sharon Jones fronting the Dap Kings for a cover of Shuggie Otis classic "Inspiration Information". This is truly a must have collection. It's 3 slabs of vinyl that are a joy to flip through time and time again. Radio City Music hall will host a special one-off concert featuring many of the artists on the comp performing their tracks for one set and then step into further collaborations for a second on May 3rd.
DARK WAS THE NIGHT
THIS DISC
1 Knotty Pine – Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
2 Cello Song (Nick Drake) – The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez
3 Train Song (Vashti Bunyan recorded, written by Alasdair Clayre) – Feist + Ben Gibbard
4 Brackett, WI – Bon Iver
5 Deep Blue Sea – Grizzly Bear
6 So Far Around the Bend – The National (arrangement by Nico Muhly)
7 Tightrope – Yeasayer
8 Feeling Good (popularized by Nina Simone) – My Brightest Diamond
9 Dark Was the Night (Blind Willie Johnson) – Kronos Quartet
10 I Was Young When I Left Home (Bob Dylan) – Antony + Bryce Dessner
11 Big Red Machine – Justin Vernon + Aaron Dessner
12 Sleepless – The Decemberists
13 Stolen Houses (Die) – Iron and Wine
14 Service Bell – Grizzly Bear + Feist
15 You Are The Blood – Sufjan Stevens
THAT DISC
1 Well-Alright – Spoon
2 Lenin – Arcade Fire
3 Mimizan – Beirut
4 El Caporal – My Morning Jacket
5 Inspiration Information (Shuggie Otis) – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
6 With A Girl Like You (The Troggs) – Dave Sitek
7 Blood Pt 2 (based on original song “You are the Blood” by the Castanets) – Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)
8 Hey, Snow White (Destroyer) – The New Pornographers
9 Gentle Hour (Snapper) – Yo La Tengo
10 Another Saturday (traditional song) – Stuart Murdoch
11 Happiness – Riceboy Sleeps
12 Amazing Grace (traditional song) – Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues
13 The Giant Of Illinois (Handsome Family) – Andrew Bird
14 Lua – Conor Oberst + Gillian Welch
15 When the Road Runs Out – Blonde Redhead + Devastations
16 Love vs. Porn – Kevin Drew
Yeah Yeah Yeahs hit SNL this past weekend giving a taste of the excellent, soon-to-be-everywhere It's Blitz! with lead single Zero and an oldie but goodie Maps.
You Ain't No Picasso delivers the best news of the day with the announcement of a new Circulatory System release. Sadly, we'll have to wait until August 4th but I bet you it will be worth every heart beat in between. The Elephant 6ers new slab will be dubbed Signal Morning. I for one can't wait.
Beck's amazingly wonderful neo-folk-indie opus One Foot in the Grave is getting the deluxe reissue treatment. Produced by Calvin Johnson and released on his seminal K Records, the record is a raw portrait of the artist as a young man pre-Odelay studio madness. Two acoustic guitars and a microphone!
Track Listing:
01 "He's A Mighty Good Leader" 02 "Sleeping Bag" 03 "I Get Lonesome" 04 "Burnt Orange Peel" 05 "Cyanide Breath Mint" 06 "See Water" 07 "Ziplock Bag" 08 "Hollow Log" 09 "Forcefield" 10 "Fourteen Rivers Fourteen Floods" 11 "Asshole" 12 "I've Seen The Land Beyond" 13 "Outcome" 14 "Girl Dreams" 15 "Painted Eyelids" 16 "Atmospheric Conditions"
BONUS TRACKS:
17 "It's All In Your Mind" (K Records 7") 18 "Whiskey Can Can" (K Records 7") 19 "Mattress"* 20 "Woe On Me"* 21 "Teenage Wastebasket"* 22 "Your Love Is Weird"* 23 "Favorite Nerve"* 24 "Piss On The Door"* 25 "Close To God"* 26 "Sweet Satan"* 27 "Burning Boyfriend"* 28 "Black Lake Morning"* 29 "Feather In Your Cap" (K Records 7") 30 "One Foot In the Grave"* 31 "Teenage Wastebasket"* 32 "I Get Lonesome"*
Oasis pub does. Visit the hot new spot on the bloggy road to nowhere. Total nonsense, downloads, and even a schedule of upcoming events. What's not to like? Tell Murray we sent you...
brakesbrakesbrakes are back with their third record this month. It's twelve tracks of assuredly good garagey confections entitled Touchdown. you can get it through Fat Cat. here's the first tasty creation, Hey Hey:
I have to admit that way back when I friggin' loved the song Jack & Diane by one John Cougar. Hell, I still love it. The string of hits that followed were some of the best stuff written in those days reflecting a raw, gritty americana that I had yet to be introduced to musically (sure there was tht .38 Special record that my aunts listened to incessantly but...). Not everything that followed was quite as inspired, R-O-C-K in the USA still makes me gag but I've always believed that Sir Cougar now simply John Mellencamp was the real deal - "little pink houses for you and me"!
Mr. Mellencamp is passionate about his causes and his business. He has recently written an excellent essay on the decline of the music industry that is worth a read over at his official site: mellencamp.com.
New goods from Karmella's Game!!!! Live Sessions is available now through Insubordination Records featuring raw, live takes on tracks from their much anticipated sophomore release and one oldie but goodie in the mix for good measure.
It's just wonderfully good news to hear that a new record by hot shot new act Cosmos will hit in this part of the universe on June 9 through Happy Jack Rock. The 14 track slab of pop goodness entitled Jar of Jam Ton of Bricks is a collaboration between two of pop rock's upper echelon of taste makers: Robert Pollard & Richard Davies. The two had had a long running correspondence that inevitably led to the idea of collaboration. Davies agreed to work up music and Pollard would pen his distinctive brand of lyrical musing. And lo! the Cosmos was born. Everyone knows the prolific Pollard - he of the 10,000 records and one certain band dubbed Guided by Voices - though Davies and his sparkling psychedlic pop craftsmanship have flown a little further under the radar in acts like The Moles and Cardinal as well as the excellent solo effort Telegraph. The pairing is sure to satisfy your other-worldly delights.
The Ra Ra Riot crew hit the late night circuit over at Craig Ferguson's place for a take on the new single "Can You Tell" off The Rhumb Line out on Barsuk. No word yet on a New London return but we have our fingers crossed for a certain date in September!
The Shins have just announced two shows down in Gotham at The Wellmont Theatre on Sunday, May 17 and Terminal 5 on Monday, May 18. The shows are brought to you buy the fine folks at Bowery Presents and go on sale this Friday at Noon. With hope, this means new material and a new slab of tunes from the band!
In the meantime, who can resist the Muppets interviewing the boys:
