The Best Music Of The Year From Central Oregon & Beyond

Check out the website for the Bend Bulletin out of Oregon for their special year-end music feature with the year's best lists and reviews as well as downloads of favorites from Oregon based performers and national acts like Arcade Fire, The Shins, and Aesop Rock to name a few. Props to the staff and to Ben Salmon for the work it took putting this together.

Part 1. "Lest I Shiver"

Sure, I got an imposing letter demanding that I remove the new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds track, "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" but I don't take it personally. To that extent, here is, what appears to be, the first in a serious of tongue-in-cheek promotional videos produced by the band and released by Mute. Also, the band's homepage, nickcaveandthebadseeds.com has relaunched and is currently streaming the new song. Furthermore, stream Shaun Keaveny's Music Breakfast show from Boxing Day, Wednesday December 26 to here an interview with Nick and more new music.

Here's... Well You Get The Picture

New hosting in place, I thought I would start off with a track off an album released in the last month that probably didn't get a lot of press or play on the indie circuit, Wyclef Jean's Carnival, Vol. 2: Memoirs of an Immigrant. Fast Car features the legendary Paul Simon, and while it may seem an odd duo, it makes for a great track. Enjoy

Mea Culpa

It appears as if Boxstr has suspended my account due to my hosting the new Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds track. Hopefully, I can get this straightened out and get back up and running.

New Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Single Posted

So the first single from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' forthcoming album, Dig, Lazerus, Dig has been released to radio, or at least Radio 1 in the UK. Nick warned all that this would not sound like anything he's ever done with the Bad Seeds, and based on a couple of listens to the title track, I would have to say that he was spot on. Here is a little insight from Nick himself into the concept of the album.

"Ever since I can remember hearing the Lazarus story, when I was a kid, you know, back in church, I was disturbed and worried by it. Traumatized, actually. We are all, of course, in awe of the greatest of Christ's miracles - raising a man from the dead - but I couldn't help but wonder how Lazarus felt about it. As a child it gave me the creeps, to be honest. I've taken Lazarus and stuck him in New York City, in order to give the song, a hip, contemporary feel. I was also thinking about Harry Houdini who spent a lot of his life trying to debunk the spiritualists who were cashing in on the bereaved. He believed there was nothing going on beyond the grave. He was the second greatest escapologist, Harry was, Lazarus, of course, being the greatest. I wanted to create a kind of vehicle, a medium, for Houdini to speak to us if he so desires, you know, from beyond the grave. Sometimes, late at night, if you listen to the song hard enough, you can hear his voice and the sad clanking of his chains. "I don't know what it is but there is definitely something going on upstairs", he seems to be saying. It is, most of all, an elegy to the New York City of the 70's." - Nick Cave

The single will be available as a limited edition 7", CD and download on February 18, and we'll have to wait for the full record until March 14. Here's a little sneak peak at the title track from the new album. It is quite different, but still Nick at the core and I quite like it. Judge for yourself.

Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (radio rip)
File removed at the insistence of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)

I Don't Like Mondays

So here's a little Elvis Costello (MySpace), from one of the greatest debut albums ever, to finish off today and get us through the rest of the week.





Welcome to the Working Week (mp3)

Late Saturday/Early Sunday Mix

A little old, and a little new with some covers thrown in for good measure. Enjoy, and if you like what you hear let me know. If you don't, go ahead and let me know anyway, I've got pretty thick skin.




Mercy, Mercy, Mercy - Cannonball Adderley
Santa Clara - The National
Sun Kil Moon - Dramamine (Modest Mouse Cover)
Radiohead - All I Need
Emmylou Harris - Wrecking Ball (Neil Young Cover)
John Lennon - Working Class Hero (Acoustic)
Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Right Now I'm A Roaming
Dan Wilson - Easy Silence
Cat Power - The Greatest
U2 - Acrobat
Neko Case - I Wish I Was The Moon
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - (Do You Wanna) Come Walk With Me
Sigur Ros - Saeglopur
Holler, Wild Rose! - Holler, Wild Rose!
The Twilight Singers -Number Nine
Wilco - Sunken Treasure

Another Canadian Export To Watch

There's been a lot of great music coming out of the Great White North over the last few years, and Jain Vain & The Dark Matter are the latest in that line. Jain Vain is the existential outlet for singer/songwriter/producer Jamie Fooks. Their debut album, Love Is Where The Smoke Is, due out in January 2008 on Rectangle Records, was recorded & produced in Fooks' basement. The record itself, a musical confessional of sorts, is an honest and sincere 10 song therapy session where Fooks' ethereal voice rises above layers of strings, synthesizers, & well placed guitar to create a very textured and mature sounding debut record. Though still in its infancy in many ways, the band has already opened for the likes of Cat Power and Tokyo Police Club, and more extensive touring is sure to follow. I am no prophet (and here's no greater matter), but as we come to the close of a year that saw many female artists and female led groups like Feist and Regina Spektor charge to the forefront of the indie music scene, 2008 shouldn't be all that different. Below is a track for your listening pleasure and check out the band's MySpace page to hear three more tracks. Lastly, keep a look out for the album; songs like "Moving Notes," "Last Chance For Romance," and "Oh Captain" round out an incredibly solid debut record.


C'mon Baby Say Bang Bang (mp3)

Rap As Mathematical Charts And Graphs

Courtesy of http://jamphat.com/rap/

Slow Down

lean in, call up that feeling
you get when you're stealing, that all too revealing side of you

Feeling a little reflective tonight, so here are three versions of The Twilight Singers' "Candy Cane Crawl" off Powder Burns (2006). The first is the album version featuring Afghan Whigs' bassist John Curley and the always amazing Ani DiFranco, followed by two live versions. The first live track was recorded in November 2006 with the full band and is bookended by a cover of The Band's epic "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." The final track is a stripped down version recorded live at The Triple Door in Seattle on Oct. 4.

Candy Cane Crawl (Album Version)
Candy Cane Crawl (Brussels)
Candy Cane Crawl (Seattle)

If you haven't listened to any of Greg Dulli's material, you are really missing something extraordinary. Few can match Dulli's ability to capture the frailties of human nature in both light and dark.


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Band of Horses Returning to Nashville

The last time Band of Horses visited Music City, they were opening for Modest Mouse at the Ryman Auditorium, where they previewed a few tracks from their, yet to be released, sophomore effort, Cease to Begin. Luckily we didn't have to wait too long for them to return. Tickets are now on sale for their January 29 show with Cass McCombs & Tyler Ramsey via the Exit/In online sales and also at Grimey's New & Preloved Music. The Exit/In is a Nashville landmark and this show will almost certainly sell out, so if you didn't get your tickets early through the band's website, you had better get them soon.

The following tracks come courtesy of KCRW
Is There A Ghost
Islands On The Coast
The General Specific
Our Swords
Ode To The LRC
The Funeral
Wicked Gil
Marry Song

We Are Fixed Right Where We Stand

Nothing new, nothing special, just a song that's getting quite a bit of play on my ipod right now.

If life's not beautiful without the pain
well i'd just rather never ever even see beauty again (mp3)

Giving The Grand Ole Party A Good Name

I never thought I would hear myself saying this, but I have become a fan of the Grand Ole Party. The SoCal trio, not the sorority made up of and mostly run by rich white male bigots. But that's another post for another day. This one is dedicated to the fledgling band generating quite a buzz. Their sound to me would be one of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's Karen O singing for the Cold War Kids. In other words, a damn nice combination. Take a listen and one of the the first things that will grab your attention will be the powerful vocals of Kristin Gundred, who doubles as the band's drummer. Kristin's in-your-face vocals are the perfect front the the band's pounding rhythms. For now, their debut album, Humanimals, is available only on or at their shows. Don't fret if your area isn't on their upcoming slate and you want a hard copy, because the record will see an official release in early 2008. The band is touring through most of December.

03 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
05 San Francisco, CA - Independent
07 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
08 Denver, CO - Bluebird
09 Omaha, NE - Slowdown
11 Chicago, IL - Schubas
12 Iowa City, IA - The Picador
13 Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge
14 Norman, OK - Opolis
15 Austin, TX - Emo's
31 Solona Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern

Here are a couple of tracks and a performance video of "Bad, Bad Man" for your listening & viewing pleasure.

Nasty Habits (mp3)
Look Out Young Son (mp3)

West Indian Girl's New Video For "To Die In L.A."

Check out the new video from West Indian Girl for "To Die In L.A." from the band's latest release, 4th and Wall.

Halftime

And my orange clad Volunteers are clinging to a 7-6 lead thanks to a superbly executed opening drive and a bend-but-don't-break defense that has stiffened as the game has progressed. All they need to do before they come out for the second half is watch the video below entitled, "This is Tennessee."