My favorite video of the moment has gotta be Matt and Kim’s “Yea Yeah.”
If that video reminds you of Cube2‘s “Baby Doll” video that Tim Robbins and John Cusack made on spec in the movie Tapeheads, I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.
Anyway, the reason I love the Matt and Kim version is the pure joy on the faces of Matt and (especially) Kim as they are splattered, and body slammed, with all sorts of foodstuffs. It’s the same kind of joy that comes through in the music on the Brooklyn duo’s self-titled full length debut. But this is the kinda of album that you don’t need to hear to already know that you’re crazy about it.
No? Okay, then here’s a sample.
- Listen to Yea Yeah
- Listen to Ready OK
- Listen to Lightspeed
Buy Matt and Kim from Matt and Kim.
I‘m just starting to think that Sufjan Stevens might just be able to pull off his plans to make an album for each of the 50 U.S. states. He’s only traverse-citied the sonic landscapes of Michigan (Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State) and Illinois (Come On Feel the Illinoise) so far, but he’s reportedly knee deep in Minnesota, Arkansas, Oregon, and Rhode Island, his catalog is busting at the seams with 6 albums in 6 years, he appears on the John Fahey tribute I Am the Resurrection, and now there’s the the newly released 5-CD box set, Songs for Christmas. Stevens’ faith is certainly germane to this release, but this isn’t just a compilation of God rock versions of traditional holiday hymns. It’s a celebration of the season.
As someone who was raised Catholic and now considers himself searching, the music is the thing I treasure most about this time of the year. It’s one of the few times outside of a baseball game when people are singing together and not wrapped up in subtext, they are just enjoying hearing the sound of each other’s voices and reveling in the moment.
We’ve previously discussed Stevens’s ability to remain not only relevant but at the forefront of the folk revival in light of his professed Christian faith and admittedly that brief bull session could have easily spanned a weekend.
Sufjan is an Arabic name and the namesake of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, a figure in Islamic history likened to Paul of the Christian New Testament. Abu Sufyan was originally a staunch critic of Muhammad before converting to Islam on the eve of the Conquest of Mecca. The name was given to Stevens by the founder of Subud, an interfaith spiritual community that his parents belonged to when he was born. Stevens has mentioned his Christian faith and attends an Episcopal church, but refrains from discussing this with the media. I’ve come to believe this topic is taboo not because Sufjan is afraid of being labeled a “Christian artist” but because he isn’t a “Christian artist.” If you want to throw a label at Stevens, I think “artist searching for spiritual meaning within the bounds of his own experience” may be more appropriate. As mentioned in the Village Voice last year, “Not even faith or prayer exists outside what Stevens calls his ‘cynicism.’”
If Stevens’ previous releases didn’t reveal the depth to which he is also searching, you may be surprised to find that an anthology of Christmas songs proclaims his grasp of the undeniable truth that we are all searching. Searching for a way to extend that moment when we forget who we are, we raise our voices together, and bask in the glory of one voice.
- Listen to That Was The Worst Christmas Ever
- Listen to It’s Christmas Time!
- Listen to Joy to the World
- Listen to Get Behind Me, Santa!
Buy Songs for Christmas from the Public Radio Music Source.
Every now and then performing at a music festival can really pay off big for a band. Even a band that’s been around for say, more than 4 years and has 4 albums to their name. A band like the Blow.
Although the Blow began simply as the natural evolution of Khaela Maricich’s previous 
work with the Microphones and as Get the Hell Out of the Way of the Volcano, it further evolved to include YACHT’s Jona Bechtolt and rightfully remained so for this year’s stellar Paper Television. After Maricich and Bechtolt took their bows at this year’s CMJ in NYC, indie fans took notice. Pitchfork gave ‘em an 8.3, which as we all know means that witty things were written, readers separated the 8.3 from the chaff, and records were purchased, downloaded, and burned.
The Blow had, ahem, blown up. And that’s all there is to it. The big words have already been written so I will just say that fans of Mates of State, Cat Power (even this Cat Power!), or music might like this record.
I do.
- Listen to Parentheses
- Listen to Babay (Eat A Critter, Feel Its Wrath)
- Listen to True Affection
Buy Paper Television from Public Music Radio Source.
The Heartless Bastards are getting ready to wrap up one hell of a year. The big winners at the 2006 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards, picking up best Rock band and Album of the year, the Queen City trio has also been featured on NPR three times in recent months (Morning Edition, All Songs Considered, and a review by Tom Moon on All Things Considered), and lead singer Erika Wennerstrom reveals her favorite bar in December’s issue of SPIN magazine (it’s the Northside Tavern where Wennerstrom also bartends).
Of course, THB have had their low moments, too, but after listening to their sophomore release, All This Time, you just might be inclined to forgive and forget their youthful indiscretions. There’s a passion and urgency to Wennerstrom’s voice that makes you start wondering if Neil Young and Janis Joplin ever had any sexy time. It’s the type of music you’d hear after wandering into a bar (the Northside Tavern, perhaps) and when the band began to play, you’d find yourself less and less pissed that the songs you put into the jukebox were cut off and more and more curious who the fuck this band was and why you hadn’t heard of them before.
- Listen to Searching For The Ghost
- Listen to Brazen
- Listen to I Swallowed a Dragonfly
You can also listen to a 4-song set from woxy.com’s Lounge Acts series here.
Buy All This Time from the Public Radio Music Source.
Domino Records recently rereleased Pavement’s third album, Wowee Zowee, in a deluxe 2-CD Sordid Sentinels Edition.
What the heck does that mean? And should you shell out £12.00 for it?
Well it means that in addition to the entire remastered album, you get 18 unreleased recordings, 9 non-album B-sides from the “Rattled By The Rush” single, the “Father To A Sister Of Thought” single, and the Pacific Trim EP, and a lot of other shit that you probably already have if you are a hardcore Pavement fanatic like moi.
However, it does come with a 64 page book which is nice to flip through when you are getting small.
So am I gonna get this? Probably. My collection would be incomplete if I didn’t. Plus it makes me remember how fucking good Pavement was.
To promote the release Domino is offering a full download of Pavement’s performance at Hollywood’s Palace Theatre in 1994 for FREE when you register for Domino’s newsletter. Get it here.
Pavement, by most accounts, was a studio band. But they grew into a rather good live band over time, and this performance is right around the time they had started to figure it out. I listened to this show again last night while driving home in a triptophan-induced coma and it woke me up and had me hitting some dog-barking high notes during “Range Life.”
Here are a few of Pavement nuggets, plus Dsico’s “Fateful Pavement”, one of the best mash-ups, IMHO, this side of 2001.
- Listen to Fateful Pavement
- Listen to Range Life
- Listen to Two States
Buy Wowee Zowee, Sordid Sentinels Edition from Domino.