Today marks the release date of Elvis Perkins’ Ash Wednesday. Technically, the album came out last year (self-released), but Perkins has since signed to XL, which is giving a standout record its proper due.
While You Were Sleeping already was my favorite song of 2006, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to think it could be my favorite song of 2007, too.
Do yourself a favor and buy the album. Elvis hits Solar Culture in Tucson on March 20.
Analog Giant already told you DJ Jazzy Jeff will be dropping a new album in March.
Here’s a track from his The Return of the Magnificent EP, released in January, that pairs Jazzy Jeff with Chicago’s Rhymefest, whose LP Blue Collar was an overlooked gem from last year. (Previous post.)
Not sure if this will end up on the new full-length, but I’m including the instrumental for you deejays and remixers. I love the almost reggae feeling to it and, of course, the James Brown-sampled hollers in the background.
And you just knew ‘Fest had to drop the “He’s the DJ, I’m the rapper” line.
Quick reminder that NPR is webcasting the Arcade Fire’s show tonight from New York’s Judson Memorial Church. Go here and sit patiently in front of your computer. And then sit in front of your computer for a couple more hours during the show.
I’ve yet to listen to Neon Bible, refusing the temptation to give in to the leak. Pre-order it from Merge. It also comes in a deluxe CD format with a 32-page booklet. For vinyl lovers, the LP format comes with a coupon for an mp3 download of the album.
Tonight’s broadcast is scheduled to start at about 8:40 p.m. Eastern time. An interview with the band precedes the show at 8 p.m. ET.
Gorilla vs. Bear had this track up last month before being asked to take it down. So I’ll give it a whirl this time.
There’s not much I’m going to say that hasn’t been said about the late, great J Dilla. Wild is a track off the forthcoming Ruff Draft, a double-CD re-release of a vinyl-only release in 2003. Ruff Draft contains previously unreleased material, which includes a second disc of all instrumental cuts.
The first thing that sticks out on Wild is the child-like voice reciting the verse from Quiet Riot’s Slade’s Cum On Feel the Noize. But at its core, this track is so rhythmically tight yet it almost feels off-kilter because of all the pieces Dilla patches together. Just when you thought your head-nodding was off cue, the unorthodox pacing of the snare and tom beats still somehow drops in perfect time.
Get more info on Ruff Draft.
ELSEWHERE: In a billboard.com story, Roots drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson says the group has five or six new songs finished with the goal of releasing a new album later this year or early 2008. That’s a quick turnaround from Game Theory, which was released just this past August.
Thompson also is not dejected by lukewarm sales.
“We knew this album was going to have as much to do with the marketplace as Barbra Streisand on the soul charts. But the way I look at it, this is definitely a return to form for us. Critics say we got our mojo back and our fan base agreed. That’s really all we were concerned about.”
ALSO: A new post is up at Circa 45 with a song from Low’s Alan Sparhawk.
Panther (aka Charlie Salas-Humara) has put out a video for a remix of his single How Well Can You Swim?. The video is part of a DVD that comes with the album Secret Lawns (out March 6) when you pre-order from Fryk Beat.
The choreography – though no treadmills are involved – is fairly impressive, if not a touch hokey. But I’m just glad to finally discover that it’s a bottle he’s beating to make that funky background beat.
Don’t forget: Panther is at the Paper Heart in Phoenix on March 12.
Related:
Panther 7-inch and tour dates.
A remix of a spoof? Yeah, leave it to the Gray Kid and his homies in People Food, a collective of LA-based artists, musicians, writers and directors.
Weity, one of the two designers in People Food, flipped Gray Kid’s spoof of SexyBack over a club-ready Phones track.
What’s the occasion, you ask? Well, the Kid is throwin’ down at Spaceland tonight in LA for a party called More Lonely Than Loved. I’d post the flyer, but it’s not all that work safe. Click. You’ll laugh.
In case you missed the original:
Note: This is the first of hopefully many quickie album reviews from Matt Hinrichs, a former co-worker of mine at The Arizona Republic and the proprietor of the great scrubbles.net. Matt is the man responsible for designing the excellent banner at Circa 45, and he’s got distinguished taste in music/arts, so I’m happy to have him add his editorial voice to the site.
The Autumn Defense
self-titled (Broadmoor Records)
The Autumn Defense serves as a mellow side project for multi-instrumentalists and Wilco members John Stirratt and Pat Sansone. Though both hail from the Midwest, from a few listens to their self-titled third album I would gather that their hearts are forever in Laurel Canyon, circa 1971. Their sound is vaguely reminiscent of Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, or even Bread — but this is no goofy pastiche. If fact, wide-eyed earnestness might as well be the album’s overwhelming theme. Such a project would be impossible to do without succumbing to every kind of “sensitive man” cliché, but strangely enough they pull it off beautifully. The entire album is surprisingly, consistently good — but if I could recommend a single track for download, it would be the gorgeously soulful Feel You Now. The duo aim for a classic Al Green-ish feel here, but like the rest of the album it has a timelessness which gets richer with every listen.
Buy the self-titled album at Broadmoor Records.
The Autumn Defense plays Modified in Phoenix on Thursday with the Broken West. Buy tickets.
Because we’re in LA (well, OK, Buena Park) for a visit with my in-laws (fun!), I have little to offer right now. I can tell you, however, that eMusic is offering an extra track, Rhododendron, on Bloc Party’s new release A Weekend in the City.
I’ve yet to download it but plan to do it when we get back to Arizona. Probably a good enough reason to check out eMusic’s free 25-song trial. (In the interest of full disclosure, yes, I get a whole $6 kickback for anyone who clicks through and starts a trial.) Here’s a direct link to the album, sans commissioned ID number.
Also, I forgot to do this last week, but ye old Aquarium Drunkard is all redesigned and spiffy with a new .com: www.aquariumdrunkard.com.
And a Doves B-side is available at my newly launched Circa 45.
As my wife or any of my friends can attest, I’ve been talking about doing a blog dedicated solely to 45s for at least the past year now. Well, finally, I’ve created the beast, and it’s alive. Say hello to Circa 45.
The idea never would have come about if not for some hardwood flooring. Let me explain: My dad was replacing carpet with Pergo at my parents’ house. That meant moving a heavy Wurlitzer Americana 3100 jukebox (picture) he bought from a friend in Chicago and brought to Arizona when we moved here 20-some years ago. Sadly, the jukebox got little use other than serving as a decoration/conversation piece. He was prepared to sell it or give it away when I told him I’d gladly take it off his hands, along with about 250-plus 45s in dire need of some attention. (The poor things, they were out of dust sleeves and – gasp! – stacked on top of each other.)
So I spent a good couple months sorting, alphabetizing, cleaning and (still) cataloging. It’s an extensive collection, with mostly pop/rock from the 1950s-70s. Of course, I’ve supplemented the collection with my own records.
If anything, I realized I’m sitting on boxfuls of music history, if not possibly a small eBay windfall. So instead of letting them sit idly in a box, I decided I’d start a blog to digitize them and do some research and reading along the way about what I’ve inherited. I suppose I could have made it a regular feature on this site, but I don’t think I would have the same diligence in my research. Besides, I’ve been really fascinated/inspired of late by blogs with very tightly focused subject matter (History of the Button and Tape Findings, for example).
Also, I don’t expect to post every day on Circa 45 like I practically do here. In fact, I’d be surprised if I posted more than once or twice a week. As for the music, I will post songs old and modern, A-sides and B-sides; some days I may clean up the pops and crackles, other days I’ll revel in the scratchy warmth. Maybe (hopefully) I’ll even have some guest contributers.
One last anecdote: My reasons for doing Circa 45 became all the more clear on Saturday, when I browsed a used record/book store. A girl, who probably was about 7 years old, was looking at records and just had to ask her dad: “Daddy, what are these?” Her dad responded that they are records; they play as they spin on a record player. The girl: “Do we have any of these?” Dad: “Yeah, a bunch.” The girl: “Do we have the record machine?” It was very cute and very innocent and a welcome reminder that we should be passing on music in all its various – and sometimes alien – forms.
And that’s my big, dramatic opener.
But before I conclude a major thank you goes to Matt at the great Scrubbles.net for designing the excellent Circa 45 banner/graphic. You probably will be seeing Matt regularly write some record reviews for So Much Silence, a feature I’m eagerly anticipating.
Kudos to Pitchfork’s Forkcast (whose links, by the way, absolutely do not click through in my RSS reader) for posting today about the Walkmen’s appearance on WNYC’s Soundcheck, where Hamilton and Co. previewed two new songs.
I’m guessing the distant, cave-like sound effect is not intended but merely a part of the mix. Nevertheless, I did my best to capture the stream and boost the sound a bit. If indeed the Walkmen get a new album out this year, I’d be one happy camper. Not that I’ve tired of A Hundred Miles Off, which I was just listening to the other day; I’m telling you, All Hands and the Cook is one of the group’s best.
This new one carries on the best parts of the Walkmen: fuzzy nostalgia in the writing, boozy vocals and the almost-eerie Dylan-like inflections in Hamilton Leithauser’s voice.
