Here’s a nice interview with Elbow, in which Guy Garvey and Pete Turner drink Stella from cans (!!), Garvey thinks MGMT is from England and Garvey recalls the first song he wrote, “a very naive song about smoking weed.”
Also, Garvey talks about wanting to see the National at this festival, Pukkelpop 2008.
It’s easy to like just about everything the wonderfully eclectic Light in the Attic puts out. But when someone there told me about the label’s latest reissue, Rodriguez’s Cold Fact, and that one of the tracks had been chopped up and sampled on Nas’ You’re Da Man … well, then, you had me at hello.
Now, I can’t stop listening to Cold Fact, what Light in the Attic is calling “one of the lost classics of the ’60s, a psychedelic masterpiece drenched in colour and inspired by life, love, poverty, rebellion.” In truth, it’s hard to write anything more colorful than Rodriguez’s own bio.
In short: After Rodriguez dropped out of sight – rumored to be dead – Cold Fact became a cult classic among South African armed forces. Read all the details for yourself.
The album is peppered with shades of Dylan’s anti-establishment tones, appropriate for its original release date of 1970. Meanwhile, Sugar Man, the leadoff track and the aforementioned sampled song by Large Professor for Nas, is like Rodriguez’s hazy answer to Curts Mayfield’s Pusherman.
There’s also some truly great lyrical gems in there: “And don’t try to enchant me with your manner of dress, ’cause a monkey in silk is a monkey no less,” on the Byrds-esque Like Janis. “Soon you know I’ll leave you / And I’ll never look behind / ’cause I was born for the purpose / that crucifies your mind,” on my personal favorite Crucify Your Mind.
The reissue on Light in the Attic, which was mastered from the original tapes, comes out Aug. 19 (pre-order here). A deluxe LP package ($15) includes 180-gram vinyl, a bonus 45 and 50 of the 1,000 LPs will include a signed poster by Rodriguez (guess that means he’s not dead). Order that right here.
And now for the encore … Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit returns to Phoenix after the band’s triumphant first stop here in June. I believe singer Scott Hutchison called it one of the best nights of the tour.
Show is on Nov. 6 with the Spinto Band at Rhythm Room. As of now, I’m unsure which band is the headliner. It looks like a co-headlining bill, per the Stateside Presents Web site. Tickets ($12) on sale at Stinkweeds or TicketWeb.
Remember how great Frightened Rabbit was in June? Of course you do. I took that video below as proof. And I interviewed Hutchison. The Midnight Organ Fight still stands as my favorite of the year. (Get it at eMusic.)
This unfortunate press release landed in my inbox. Too bad because we had a great time last year, and this year’s lineups – at least in Madison – were looking stellar.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
SOCO MUSIC EXPERIENCE TEMPE CANCELLED
August 12, 2008, LOUISVILLE, KY – Southern Comfort has announced that the SoCo Music Experience scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 18 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium has been cancelled due to an unexpected escalation in production costs. At this time, there are no plans to reschedule the event this year.
I just finished watching Elbow’s turn on Sundance Channel’s Live from Abbey Road series. I still have little doubt that The Seldom Seen Kid ends up in my Top 5 (probably Top 3) albums of the year. It just stands a classic/timeless album, pretty much like every Elbow record before it.
Not sure how I missed this earlier, but the band offered a live recording of one of the album’s outstanding tracks, Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver, as a free download on its MySpace. It comes from a recent sell-out show in Manchester.
Performance clip of One Day Like This from Live from Abbey Road. Hell, this song is beautiful:
Related:
Elbow: One Day Like This (video)
You’ve all seen this already, right? If you haven’t, you should.
I don’t claim to know a ton when it comes to the soul/funk/jazz arena. I leave it for folks like O-Dub, Funky 16 Corners or Scholar at Souled On.
But I know when something moves me … or, more appropriately, makes me move. That’s been the case with the Menahan Street Band, whose forthcoming album, Make the Road By Walking (out Oct. 14), has captured my attention.
Like most people, my introduction came in a somewhat backward manner. The title track to the album is the loop on Jay-Z’s Roc Boys (And the Winner Is …), from the American Gangster soundtrack. Trust me, you’ve heard it. (That’s just one of hip-hop’s many fine attributes – exposing these sometimes-obscure but deserving sampled songs to the masses.)
Some back reading: Tom Brenneck, guitarist for the Dap-Kings and Budos Band, is the man behind Brooklyn’s Menahan Street Band, whose album will be released on his Dunham Records, part of the Daptone family. Also, the album was recorded entirely in analog in his bedroom.
Without getting too much into the X’s and O’s, I’d highly suggest giving this one a listen and checking out the full-length when it becomes available in October.
Fleet Foxes checked in for a three-song performance on WXPN’s World Cafe with David Dye. The session was produced by Steve Lillywhite, hence “The Lillywhite Session.”
Here’s a rip of the session. Be sure to listen to the whole thing, interview and all, over here.
Fleet Foxes, live on World Cafe (WXPN):
(UPDATE: Files removed by request.)
Also, witness Fleet Foxes performing English House at the Pitchfork Festival:
We appear to have reached an ending (a happy one, at that) on this matter.
After I wrote the IFPI last week, stating (among other things) that Travis singer Fran Healy, as one of the four copyright holders, gave me his blessing to post the song, J. Smith, I received this letter today via e-mail.
Dear Kevin,
IFPI was contacted by a member of the label who confirmed you were given permission to post the file on your site.
We were unaware of this agreement but now that it has been notified to us please feel free to upload the file.
Due to the volume of infringing content we find online there will be instances where legitimate files are picked up as infringing. We hope this matter shows that once we have the correct information we do not want to stop the promotion of music online.
Regards,
Notices Department
There you have it. Quite a backhanded stab at an apology, eh?
Whatever, I feel fairly vindicated in this matter and I can’t thank Travis and singer Fran Healy enough for answering my MySpace message and giving me his permission to post this song. Please visit the band’s Web site or MySpace and show some love. I already considered myself a huge Travis fan; this situation only reinforced my faith in their music/message.
Lastly, take 30 seconds to download this track, not only for the satisfaction of this small victory but also because it’s another fine addition to the Travis catalog.
Thanks.
Thanks to everyone who commented and offered advice regarding my cease and desist letter from a Travis song I posted.
People sure do love to hate the RIAA, IFPI and record labels. My post was linked at numerous spots: Tech Scoop, Tech Dirt and this other site written in Italianwhat I think is Spanish (any translators out there?). Nice to see everyone fighting the good fight. Thanks for the exposure (and hopefully Travis gets a push out of this).
I wrote the IFPI back (again) regarding this situation yesterday with some of your advice from the comments. I have not heard back yet, but when/if I do, I’ll post the response.
Thanks again.