Music: Willie Nelson – Shotgun Willie

 

Shotgun Willie

OK. First thing is first. Jaytram keeps talking about Willie Nelson and I finally decided to give him a shot. If you’re looking at this post and thinking “Why? What? Whatever” you are absolutely dead wrong. Willie Nelson’s Shotgun Willie is a beautiful piece of classic country and rock music. After all you guys all like Beck’s Sea Change, right? Dig deeper and find out what inspired records like that. Plus Willie covers “A Song for You”. A song written by Leon Russell. Covered by the likes of Donny Hathaway, The Carpenters and Ray Charles. It’s one of the best songs ever written. This album rules.

Willie Nelson – Shotgun Willie

 

Music: Listen to new Four Tet track “Love Cry”

Two years after the release of his fabulous minimal, dance drugged out Ringer EP Keiren Hebden has released a new 12″ single prior to a brand spanking new Four Tet LP due out next year. “Love Cry” is a song that seems to touch on all Hebden’s favorite elements from past recordings: repetition, melody, chop shop samples and groove. It’s a more refined, user-friendly version of his past ideas and helps create a stir of excitement for what is to come next year.  You can pre-order the “super limited edition” single via Domino Records and listen to the track below. You can also watch a live version of the song “Hands” that made me, and probably everyone else, fall in love with Four Tet’s music.

Video: Pick-a-Piper (Caribou side project) “Rooms”

Brad Weber is the drummer for famous band Caribou. I owe him more than I can give for his unfortunate fall off of a ladder. That incident gave my the opportunity to play drums in Caribou and other famous indie rock bands. Brad’s a very talented guy. He also composes great psychedelic music with his fellow Canucks as Pick-a-Piper. Below is a video for one of their songs entitled “Rooms”. Not only did Brad compose this beautiful song but he also directed the video. This video hints at what might happen to you if you took a bunch of Acid, MDMA, DMT and Salvia and decided to walk from Iceland to Toronto. What a guy, eh? Enjoy!

Current Musical Obsessions

Bear in Heaven: Beast Rest Forth Mouth

Helado Negro: Awe Owe

The Sa-Ra Creative Partners: Sonic Seduction Volume 2

Little Dragon: Machine Dreams

Gorillaz: Demon Days

Lemonade

Purchase all these records. Everyone of these records is on wax. You will be happy.

Cool Band: Plastic Crimewave Sound

Suzy Poling

I posted about Plastic Crimewave earlier but I feel like this band deserves more than just a blip. PCWS is seriously good. I mean what more can I say about this stuff? It’s simple music: loud, spazzy, solid goodness spanning from cavern-aged punk to lonely, hollowed out psych/folk. Music for every mood and moment of youth.
You can stream PCWS solo tracks at this site and listen to even more music on their myspace page.

Also, in true mid-west punk spirit, PCWS serves as a historical site for unsung heros from their hometown Chicago. You can find detailed and beautifully hand-drawn trading cards of the “Secret History of Chicago” as well as his psychedelic magazine “Galactic Zoo Dossier” on the PCWS site. From a kid who got his musical backbone firmly established by the Kent, OH punk scene I get a warm and fuzzy feeling about that kind of stuff. Community is very important to me and, obviously, to PCWS as well. Dig it.

Cool Band: Tambouri

Evan Richards is one of my best friends in the entire world. He has been my partner in crime since middle school and together we’ve discovered a lot about our musical voices. Evan is honestly one of the most creative human beings living on this planet. The way he can take sound and turn it into something so different yet comfortable blows my mind. His way of using new technology to create familiar musics is impressive. You all should take some time and visit his blog. Download his music and enjoy what he has to give you.

Tambouri Blog

Listen to Caribou Vibration Ensemble ATP NY Performance

You can download a few MP3’s from the Caribou Vibration Ensemble (featuring Marshall Allen) set at ATP NY here.

Swami Land: J.K. & Co. – Suddenly One Summer

To know that Jay Kaye was 15 years old when he crafted this amazing piece of psychedelia blows my mind. It blows your mind too. Outstanding Beatles influenced Baroque-Pop Psychedelic music record in Vancouver by Las Vegas native Kaye. I don’t care to say anything else about this record. Dude was 15 yrs old, guys. That’s all you’ll be saying after you hear this.

J.K. & Co. – Suddenly One Summer

Swami Land: Mice Parade – Mokoondi

We could discuss all day how Tortoise are amazing innovators and progressively took post-rock to another level. But what many people have failed to understand is genius that is Mice Parade. Moreover, the genius that is Mice Parade’s Mokoondi. Such an amazing balance of polyrhythm (some of the best duel drumming on tape) and melody. This, in my opinion, is Mice Parade at their (or should I say his? After all Adam Michael Pierce is the brainchild of the project) best.
Although MP’s music evolution took them further from the jazz/fusion/post-rock that initially enticed me to them Mokoondi will always be there to remind me why I love this band so much.

Mice Parade – Mokoondi

Swami Land: Alain Goraguer – La Planète Sauvage

Soundtracks tend to be some of my favorite records. This Alain Goraguer record for the 1973 French animated film La Planète Sauvage is no exception. Beautifully crafted tunes, perfectly melding the worlds of psychedelia, blaxsploitation funk & soul and classical french essence. This record probably has the best and smartest use of a wah pedal in my opinion: so incredibly rhythmic and overused to all hell. Maybe you might not like wah pedals but I do and I sure appreciate someone who will use it A LOT. You might’ve heard this stuff sampled by Quasimoto. After listening to this record (and David Axelrod) you might also think “Whoa! I TOTALLY get Portishead/Stereolab now!”

Alain Goraguer - La Planète Sauvage