The mediaf!re Thread 2010: This Time It's Personal

[bulldawg982]

Rules:

No hot-linking images or albums. You can re-host images at http://imageshack.us.

Ensure your tags are correct and that you have specified both Artist/Album in your post.

Upload your files in either a .zip or a .rar archive to mediaf!re.com, in multiple parts if the album is over 100mbs. The reason for this is that we know mediaf!re is safe and efficient and allows multiple downloads. The ads on other sites, such as Sendspace, are known to contain viruses on the page. Get yourself checked out.

Post your link using code tags. It's the # icon above the policeman emoticon. This prevents the links from being traced back to the forums, lowering the chance that the wrong people notice the thread, potentially threatening Jeph with legal action.

Also, please do NOT request albums.

Before you post in this thread, take a minute and consider the following:

Think of this as the community chest. Everyone is free and encouraged to contribute to it, with that in mind:

* This thread is for you to share  the music that you love for people who would normally not be able to access it. This is not an everything-goes-all-the-time mp3 blog.
* Think about what you are uploading. Is it easily available elsewhere and popular? If yes, is it really worth it to upload and post here?
* Have some self control. Is it really necessary to upload the entire discography of this band? Is it all really so excellent? If it is, don't worry. Whoever downloads this will surely realize this and look for more material on their own.

To return to the community chest, imagine you one day open the chest and everyone threw everything inside it. There's probably more things that you can use there now, but they are now buried in a mountain of debris and you'll likely miss the good stuff anyway! Imagine though, that you come to the chest one day and you find that everyone thought about what might best serve us all and then neatly placed it inside. This is what this thread should be.

Here's Pete Doherty's solo album, Grace/Wastelands. I was a little Libertines fanboy for years, but the last Babyshambles release turned me off like a cold sore on a cock. Anyway, this is not like that. The album gets a double whammy of the Blur treatment with Graham Coxon playing guitar and Stephen Street producing, and the songs are all damn well written. It's strong material.

Code:

www.mediaf!re.com/?g50zwemyjmx

link is down, will you please re-up

[spoon_of_grimbo]

a couple more albums by british prog-ska/post-hardcore (sorry, that's the best i can come up with.  think of Rx Bandits's later stuff with less reggae-emphasis) fellas Howards Alias.  i posted their other (and best, by just a tiny bit) album "The Answer Is Never" earlier in the thread btw.  "Beat Heart Beat" is a little bit more varied, whereas "The Chameleon Script" is a more straight ahead Mad Caddies-influenced ska-punk album.  Both are great though.

Howards Alias - "Beat Heart Beat"  (2005)

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?jjwoeiozmoh

Howards Alias - "The Chameleon Script"  (2002)

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?nvywnmrmytk

[onewheelwizzard]

FabricLive 42 - Freq Nasty

Bridging the gap between the most current scenes in London's bass culture, FreQ Nasty rumbles with underground thunder on FABRICLIVE 42, a staggering showcase of some of the rawest breaks-led beats around. Evading the pitfalls of a genre-controlled mix, yet at the same time avoiding the stop-start feel of a "mash up" mix, on FABRICLIVE 42 he's imaginatively arranged a flowing, tightly-connected blend of FreQ-y tracks. With the bass heavy stomp of L-Vis 1990's UK take on Baltimore house, the blistering shatter of TRG and several of his own storming productions, including his Santogold hit 'Creator,' the mix is a terror to bassbins worldwide. Buckle up.

Pt 1

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?wnjojknm1hz

Pt 2

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?jtljemm0zdm

yeeeeaaaaahhhhh boyyyeeeeeeeee

Track 16 in particular is an unholy alchemical summoning of the archdemons of bass.  Blast that shit.

[Clintaga]

HOLY SHIT YES

Edit: For reference, when I think of the end of the world and Angels fighting demons with lazer swords and shit, FreQ Nasty is the one Djing the Apocalypse.

[pulpfiction21]

a couple more albums by british prog-ska/post-hardcore (sorry, that's the best i can come up with.  think of Rx Bandits's later stuff with less reggae-emphasis) fellas Howards Alias.  i posted their other (and best, by just a tiny bit) album "The Answer Is Never" earlier in the thread btw.  "Beat Heart Beat" is a little bit more varied, whereas "The Chameleon Script" is a more straight ahead Mad Caddies-influenced ska-punk album.  Both are great though.

Howards Alias - "Beat Heart Beat"  (2005)

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?nvywnmrmytk

Howards Alias - "The Chameleon Script"  (2002)

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?jjwoeiozmoh

Hey thanks for the Howards Alias, i've been trying to get my hands on "Beat Heart Beat" ever since I downloaded that other album that you posted a while back.

The links need to be switched though, you've got TCS under the album art for BHB.

[spoon_of_grimbo]

whoops!  sorted now, i edited the original post.

[Drill King]

i wanna put something here... from someone i enjoy immensely... but no one i know does.



part1

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?mnoodny5jyf

part 2

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?ulzzwm0fy2j

hope it works! and hope at least a couple of you enjoy it!

Oh hey, thank you so much, I love her non-vocal stuff(because I do not like her vocals) but I think she is fabulous and have been looking around for this for a while.

[spoon_of_grimbo]

moar 90s post-hardcore for teh win.

Jawbox - "For Your Own Special Sweetheart"  (1994)

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?kqziw4nfjzw

Jawbox - "Jawbox"  (1996)

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?d2dkwjdwyye

apparently the track "excandescent" doesn't work, so here's a separate link for that:

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?z2mzoo4jwjq

The former features the band's most famous song and only semi-hit, "Savory."  The latter has a badass cover of Tori Amos' "Cornflake Girl" hidden in the gap after the last track.  Both are awesome albums.  J. Robbins is a massively underrated musician and songwriter.

[MrSteevo]

Wintersleep - Untitled

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/download.php?ywyntzojmoy

Untitled is a very mature, developed, cared-for album.

This sums it up very well, I threw in two bonus tracks aswell.

[Tom]

JAWBOX

THIS

[Tehz]

I downloaded FYOSS (Jawbox) and there were no songs in the folder. Is this just a problem with mine?

[medicatesleep]

Bluetip - Polymer (2000)

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?zjxcoyjlnw4

Lead singer of SWIZ was in this 90's noise rock group.  If you like anything released on Dischord, you'll dig. Especially Jawbox of Fugazi.

[medicatesleep]

Milkmine - Braille (1994)

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?wynt0i3nnzm

These mid westerners somehow soared under even the indiest of music radars. If you like Karp/Big Business and old Ink & Dagger, you will be fucking stoked.

[Hat]

FabricLive 42 - Freq Nasty

This. This is exactly what I want to listen to right now.

==@

[KvP]

I think I am going to sit and let my innards liquify with this.

[Christophe]

Hey Grimbo, thanks for upping the Jawbox stuff. Guys, definitely get your hands on FYOSS, it's a motherfucker of an album.

Here is 1000 Travels of Jawaharlal, a Japanese emocore band. They are awesome.
1000 Travels of Jawaharlal- Owari Wa Konai

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?2yjzm1cm4nx

This trio from Kita-Kyushu, Japan plays uncompromising and spontaneous emo hardcore, which descends from bands from half of 90’s released on label Ebullition like Torches To Rome, Bread and Circuits or Yaphet Kotto mixed with dedication of dc hardcore bands like Ignition or Swiz, all together with aggressive, explosive Endstand sound! These guys are absolutely coordinated, singer and guitarist Koichiro alias Kojak has screamy but still melodic voice (he was driver on The Robocop Kraus tour around Japan), crazy drummer plays with total dedication and bass player understood what is this instrument about.

[spoon_of_grimbo]

I downloaded FYOSS (Jawbox) and there were no songs in the folder. Is this just a problem with mine?

has your unzip/unrar program got a limit on it or expired?  apart from that, i can't think of a reason why it wouldn't work.  that said, my uploads always seem to fuck up, so if anyone else reports the same problem, i'll try re-upping it.

[KvP]

Leafcutter John - The Housebound Spirit

It was Keith Fullerton Whitman, right here on TMT in fact, who initially acquainted me with the name Leafcutter John. He answered most glowingly in Leafcutter John’s favor when asked if there were artists deserving more recognition, "Some of the most vital and humanistic yet academic-leaning computer music of this or any time really." I remember this because it piqued my interest at the time that such bold plaudits were going to someone I’d never caught wind of before. Also, that someone with such an organic and folksy name was making computer music. I feebly investigated him at the time, couldn’t find much about him, tried to *gulp* download his album, was stymied, and proceeded to ignore KFW’s plea and went on like seemingly everyone else (I still can’t find many reviews of this album) in continuing to ignore him. Well, not too long ago, I stumbled upon this album, and ever since, I’ve regretted not heeding the well-informed advice at the time.

This album is sold as one of those Matmos(ish) novelties (no knock on Matmos) featuring samples from a highly restricted set of sources. In this case, the samples all come from items you can find in your home. The reason is that the artist was suffering from crippling agoraphobia after being attacked in public, hence the title The Housebound Spirit. To be honest, I couldn’t give a lick. It’s distracting to consider such tangential nonsense. What we should concern ourselves with is the breathtaking sweep of this album. The ‘genre’ ping-pongs around with every track, from KFW IDM sounds to Kid 606-esque cut-ups to avant-classical electro-acoustic to a sparing vocal and acoustic guitar. They’re masterfully executed, and, moreover, it’s really an enjoyable collection to listen to. The pacing might be the greatest achievement here, with strikingly disparate tempos residing next to one another cohesively. Similarly, the dynamics in sound are perfectly jarring. And none of this comes anywhere near to conveying the magical experience of listening to this record. This is the truly inspired music that makes people like my self love music. PLEASE, please go out and buy this album. Absolutely one of the most essential recordings I’ve heard in the past few years.

I love it to bits

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?wgdiundv2tj

Leafcutter John - Concourse EEP

John Burton (Leafcutter John) originally studied to be a painter, but found it more interesting creating electronic music to play in art galleries around the country. The "Concourse EP" is his first release for Planet Mu and follows just one other 2-track 7" single on Loose Change Records. The EP has been released on two formats, 12" vinyl and CD, the CD version containing an extra 3 tracks and being dubbed an "EEP". Burton uses field recordings and the output of sonic workshops (organised by himself) as soundsources. The tracks on this EP are probably best described as "glitchy ambience" comprising of ever-changing blips and tones with added distortion. Describing Burton's tracks is difficult as they are forever shifting and mutating within themselves, almost like tracks within tracks, as though Burton is conscious of avoiding repetition. This, however, is a good thing, as the tracks on this EEP hold the attention and never give you the chance to
get tired of them. Strangely, the final track is an electro-acoustic folk song. Excellent stuff. The "Concourse EEP" is a carefully constructed, relatively abstract, non-repetitive work that is quite brilliant in content and an intriguing listen. Music for the mind. Recommended. Look out too for Leafcutter John's "Microcontact" full-length on Planet Mu in January 2001.

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?dh1kzrmblty

Leafcutter John - Microcontact

John Burton, aka Leafcutter John, born in West Yorkshire, originally wanted to be a painter, and studied at Norwich School Of Art. Burton was also a songwriter, spending his spare time composing folk songs on a guitar. Them one day, he bought a PC, to type his university assignments. That’s when he discovered the possibilities of electronic music. That was four years ago…
At the time, Burton didn’t own any electronic music records, but, fortunately, some of his friends did. A crash course in contemporary artists and different forms of music later, he was ready to release a first EP, Concourse, then, a few months later, an album, on Mike Paradinas’ very own label, Planet Mu. From the intro of the first track of Microcontact, you know you’ve stumbled across something unusual. Heavily relying on machines, Burton relies even more on the inspiration he gets from environmental noises and acoustic sounds recorded in all sorts of different places or situation, or during sonic workshops he organises in art galleries. When asked about people who inspire him, Burton cites Chasm, Main or Richard D James, as well as Pierre Henry, Karlheinz Stockhausen or Pierre Schaeffer. And, listening to Microcontact, the analogy between Leafcutter John and the musique concrète movement is quite obvious. If not as remote as the music produced by any of these composers, Burton’s creations remain quite difficult to apprehend, even when he flirts with more conventional electro, as on track 9, or when traces of his past as a folk musician can be found on track 5. However, his deconstructed structures are strangely appealing. Sometimes similar to Autechre’s work (track 1, track 6), Microcontact has more connections with Mike Dred’s and Peter Green’s 1998 Virtual Farmer, in that, while it introduces a very abstract concept, the intensity of the atmospheres captured is still very much intact after the treatments are applied. Like Virtual Farmer, Microcontact is very much a human record, which interacts with the outside world as much as it does with its own, exposing in the process Burton as a very creative musician, attentive to his environment and to what he can do with it.
Microcontact is a very unusual record, even by today’s standard. While not completely unique nor uniquely original, this album is refreshing and challenging enough to put it above the rest, and to isolate Leafcutter John as an exceptional creator.

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?jmqqnzmndyc

[pulpfiction21]

Couple of local bands that are sadly no more.


Forty Second Scandals - Eudaimonia
GREAT GREAT music. If you like American Football, check out this band. Similar jazzy aspects.


I can not find anything about this band for the most part, it doesnt even appear that they have a myspace. This is just the scanned image of the CD that I have.

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?inydiztd2no

Ethan Durelle - White Knuckles On Turned Wheels (2003)
Used to be one of my favorite CDs of all time, before i got into alot of the stuff i listen to now. Still such a great CD. Just listen to song 2 or 3 and you'll be hooked. It is not a solo artist, it is an actual band that for some reason chose Ethan Durelle as their band name.



Part 1

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?ijbizzytohk

Part 2

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?demj2avmjdm

Progressive indie rock that attempts to bring integrity to an overcrowded and often stale music market. Comparisons include sunny day real estate, the dismemberment plan and at the drive-in.

[Mr. Tool]

I'm breaking forum rules for the first time ever...but it's for good reason. I tried uploading this in two parts on mediaf!re but it was being all douchey so you get Megaupload instead.

Doves - Kingdom of Rust

Code:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DW0485OL

Enjoy...it's ridiculously good.

[Avec]

Second Jawbox album is broken. Update if at all possible.

[Catacombs]

Is that Doves album a leak (or the new one)?  If so, thanks!

[Cire27]

Second Jawbox works for me, except the 7th track.

[edwinalink]

the emilie autumn stuff i posted

Oh hey, thank you so much, I love her non-vocal stuff(because I do not like her vocals) but I think she is fabulous and have been looking around for this for a while.

glad I could contribute!

[ex_penumbrae]

Here's one of the most remarkable albums i've heard in the last couple of years - Elsiane's Hybrid. They're a duo based in Canada, & they're music is difficult to categorise; there are elements of trip-hop, jazz, electronica & even a whiff of neo-classical in their songs, but most remarkable is singer Elsieanne Caplette's voice, which is unlike anyone else i've ever heard. & on top of all that, it's just gorgeous - give it a try. Standout tracks are "Vaporous", "Hybrid" & - best of all - "Mend (To Fix, To Repair)".

Elsiane - Hybrid


[aac | 320]

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?zrmkydhngy1
http://www.mediaf!re.com/?mwtmmwlzltm

[Christophe]

Grimbo, I'm having problems with the Jawbox S/T too. Track 7 "Excandescent" isn't extracting for some reason. Care to upload it if you can?

[ADRIAN WOODHOUSE]

I have a present for you mediaf!re thread!

The Halo Benders - The Rebels Not In



One half Built to Spill, one half Beat Happening, all awesome.  The song "Virginia Reel Around the Fountain" pretty much warrants the download by itself.

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?zjyxlnmyzwg

nice album!

[Clintaga]

I know this is from a few pages back, but Caesura's Dear Light Outside is fucking incredible. I really didn;t kno what to think when you were like "It's Emo AND Post Rock!" which is the Clintagan equivalent of walking up to Sir Mix-A-Lot and being like "She's a got an itty bitty waist AND round thing in your face!", so I girded myself for disappointment, and now I'm blown out of the water like a sea turtle trying to mate with a depth charge.

So please and thank fuck yes Caesura. Do they have other albums or EPs?

[pulpfiction21]

i'm really glad you enjoy the album as much as i did. unfortunately they do not have anything else out right now. But they have not broken up so hope is not lost for them to possibly put some new stuff out soon. Cause Dear Light Outside was released in June 2007, so it's been some time since a release.

If they put anything else out, im definitely gunna buy it and i'll post it on here.

[scarred]

Doves - Kingdom of Rust

Code:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DW0485OL

I think I just had an aneurysm, an orgasm, and a panic attack at the same time. Silly me, thinking I had to wait until April 6th! I'm still gonna buy it though.

[spoon_of_grimbo]

here's the 7th track, "excandescent" off the selftitled jawbox album.  i'm still mystified as to why this seems to happen to one song on every album i upload...

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?z2mzoo4jwjq

also added to the original album post.


by the way, anyone who likes the jawbox stuff needs to check j. robbins' two bands since then - burning airlines (both their albums have been upped on this thread, one of them by me), and channels (i would upload their stuff too, but robbins gets all the royalties from it and i recently found out about his kid who's got a debilitating disease that's pretty expensive to care for, so if you wanna check them out, buy the albums!)

[Mr. Tool]

Is that Doves album a leak (or the new one)?  If so, thanks!

Yes.

[minus_the_david]

Is there any way to get a re-up of "The Black Keys" album "Magic Potion"? i downloaded it and it won't play, says there's an error in the files.

[medicatesleep]

Since everyone is going apeshit over Jawbox, here is the lead singer's latest

Channels - Waiting For The Next End Of The World

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/download.php?2azozjymoia

[spoon_of_grimbo]

Since everyone is going apeshit over Jawbox, here is the lead singer's latest

Channels - Waiting For The Next End Of The World

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/download.php?2azozjymoia

like i said, anyone who likes this - buy the CD, or at least donate - dude's kid has an actual charity set up to raise money to help with his disorder.

[tender]

Miles Davis - Agharta (320 kB)



Live Miles Davis. So tight.

Along with its sister recording, Pangaea, Agharta was recorded live in February of 1975 at the Osaka Festival Hall in Japan. Amazingly enough, given that these are arguably Davis' two greatest electric live records, they were recorded the same day. Agharta was performed in the afternoon and Pangaea in the evening. Of the two, Agharta is superior. The band with Davis — saxophonist Sonny Fortune, guitarists Pete Cosey (lead) and Reggie Lucas (rhythm), bassist Michael Henderson, drummer Al Foster, and percussionist James Mtume — was a group who had their roots in the radically streetwise music recorded on 1972's On the Corner, and they are brought to fruition here. The music on Agharta, a total of three tunes spread over two CDs and four LP sides, contains the "Prelude," which clocks in at over a half-hour. There is "Maiysha" from Get up With It and the Agharta "Interlude," which segues into the "Theme From Jack Johnson." The music here is almost totally devoid of melody and harmony, and is steeped into a steamy amalgam of riffs shot through and through with crossing polyrhythms, creating a deep voodoo funk groove for the soloists to inhabit for long periods of time as they solo and interact with one another. Davis' band leading at this time was never more exacting or free. The sense of dynamics created by the stop-start accents and the moods, textures, and colors brought out by this particular interaction of musicians is unparalleled in Davis' live work — yeah, that includes the Coltrane and Bill Evans bands, but they're like apples and oranges anyway. Driven by the combination of Davis' direction and the soloing of Sonny Fortune and guitarist Pete Cosey, who is as undervalued and underappreciated for his incalculable guitar-slinging gifts as Jimi Hendrix is celebrated for his, and the percussion mania of Mtume, the performance on Agharta is literally almost too much of a good thing to bear. When Cosey starts his solo in the "Prelude" at the 12-minute mark, listeners cannot be prepared for the Hendrixian energy and pure electric whammy-bar weirdness that's about to come splintering out of the speakers. As the band reacts in intensity, the entire proceeding threatens to short out the stereo. These are some of the most screaming notes ever recorded. Luckily, since this is just the first track on the whole package, Davis can bring the tempos down a bit here and there and snake them into spots that I don't think even he anticipated before that afternoon (check the middle of "Maiysha" and the second third of "Jack Johnson" for some truly creepy and beautiful wonders). While Pangaea is awesome as well, there is simply nothing like Agharta in the canon of recorded music. This is the greatest electric funk-rock jazz record ever made — period.

Disc 1

Code:

1. http://www.mediaf!re.com/?yidzzdonrwm (Prelude - 32:35)
2. http://www.mediaf!re.com/?mj1mddonggm (Maiysha - 12:20)

Disc 2

Code:

1. http://www.mediaf!re.com/?ym1rdowzqny (Interlude - 26:35)
2. http://www.mediaf!re.com/?qjntxngf4rd (Theme From Jack Johnson - 25:17)

[pulpfiction21]

Can anybody re-up any of the Bedhead from a while back? I specifically want Transaction De Novo, cuz i want to listen to it so i can make a better judgment call on the Round One voting.

But i will take any of the albums that you want to upload.

[pat101]

Miles Davis - Agharta (320 kB)


Live Miles Davis. So tight.

this is a very good thing, but so is this

Otis Redding - Dictionary Of Soul (1966)   I forget the bitrate, at least 192 though

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?qwnmjhm2nm3

The last studio album Otis Redding would record and apparently Jon Landau called this "The finest record ever to come out of Memphis and certainly the best example of modern soul ever recorded" and while I'm no expert I'd say he's not far off. A fantastic album.


EDIT - After a search I realized that a bunch of Otis Redding (including this record) had been upped in October, so if you'd like some more, it's there.

[whatdoiget000]

I think the Thermals album is down....I would be unbelievably happy/grateful for a re-up.  I've been listening to When I Was Afraid and the title track ceaselessly since I got them - amazing.  Thank you!

I'm workin' on it, seems every mediaf!re link to Now We Can See has gone down, look for a re-up in the next hour or so!

EDIT: HERE!

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?wmmxzinxmzj

Ahh it's down again, if anyone would reup it that would be fantastic.

[tender]

Bedhead - Transaction de Novo



So mellow and perfect.

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?w2midydmzgw

EDIT: I would have added a review from a site but so many of them sounded fake. Just let the album play and decide for yourself. It really shines.

EDIT: EDIT: Jesus, that was taken down fast. Umm... if you want, try downloading these before they get taken down:

Their first album:

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?yyntygtznnm

Their second album:

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?dmjjyiz1gex

[pulpfiction21]

Thanks a ton for this^^^^^^

[gospel]

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?mjzzr42wtec

During his time with the Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell always sported the least grizzled voice of the bunch, a surprisingly radio-ready baritone that sounded smoother than Patterson Hood's sandpaper croon and more streamlined than Mike Cooley's twang. That voice carries more weight in Isbell's solo material, where melody and lyrics are emphasized over the swaggering guitar onslaughts of his previous group. Credited to Isbell and his new backing band, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit finds the songwriter reprising the same formula showcased on 2007's Sirens of the Ditch: a mix of Southern rock and rootsy, melancholic country-soul that manages to both elevate and commiserate during its 52 minutes. The result may be fairly similar to Sirens' sound, but 400 Unit marks Isbell's final move away from the Truckers, whose influence permeated Sirens in its production (helmed by Patterson Hood) and host of backing musicians (including Shonna Tucker, DBT's bassist and Isbell's former wife). Instead, Isbell and his four bandmates close the studio doors to outside help, allowing several horn players to pepper "No Choice in the Matter" with brassy soul but chiefly controlling the album themselves. The result is a smart and tasteful record that sees Isbell training his songwriting eye on subjects of wartime romance, memory, and dead-end small towns. There are rock songs here -- including "Soldiers Get Strange" and "Good," both of which seem to take more influence from Tom Petty than Lynyrd Skynyrd -- but Isbell sounds most comfortable with the midtempo numbers, from the subdued shuffle of "Sunburn" (sample lyric: "I never meant to get bored with you but I never meant to stay") to the instrumental strains of "Coda." "I saw her in Roosevelt Springs, where time doesn't touch anything," he sings in "Cigarettes and Wine," a seven-minute homage to a bartender who takes in downtrodden men and selflessly suffers their despondence. Just barely out of his twenties, he writes with the well-worn weariness of someone twice his age, but Isbell's youth nevertheless breathes energy into a formula that's been revisited by many Southern-born songwriters before.

[pwhodges]

Well, there I was, catching up on missing bits of my cultural background (prompted by Monday's QC guest strip based on the Woyzeck play), and...  no - just listen to one of the most important compositions of the 20th century:

Berg - Wozzeck (in English)

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?ykyyttdcozm

Wozzeck in English. What, no 'Jawohl, Herr Hauptmann', no 'der Mond ist blutig', delivered in guttural, baritonal German; aren't we going literally to lose something in translation? [...] Andrew Shore as Wozzeck is effortlessly communicative, a lyrical Everyman as opposed to the clipped, brutally stentorian baritones you're sometimes offered in the part. As his fragile defences collapse around him, we feel this Wozzeck's pain threshold being exceeded as Marie's infidelity and the vicious taunting of the Drum Major push him over the edge into bloody revenge and accidental suicide. Emphasising Wozzeck's fragility rather than just the brutality of the world in which he lives and the crime he commits, serves to heighten the impact of the murder when it comes. [...] There's certainly no need to make allowances for the performance because of the language. A Wozzeck to be measured against the very finest modern recordings, a genuine alternative to any one of them, linguistically and musically.

[triangleman]

NEW GOMEZ!

Gomez - A New Tide

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?gmzwjijkqmi

A New Tide marks a return to the always-freewheeling British band's more experimental roots, with songs like "Win Park Slope" and "Airstream Driver" evincing a spirit born of boundless imagination and a long-standing collaborative relationship. A wide range of styles is incorporated into A New Tide's matchless musicial brew. Flavors of Delta blues, psychedelia and Krautrock all come into play, resulting in a musically mischievous and remarkably forward-thinking collection. In short, A New Tide is Gomez at their inimitable, incomparable best.
A New Tide also sees Gomez accompanied by a number of illustrious guest musicians, including vocalist Amy Milan (Stars/Broken Social Scene), bassist Josh Abrams (The Roots, Sam Prekop, Godspeed You Black Emperor!), cellist Oliver Krauss (David Gray, Paul Weller, Beth Orton), and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Bogie of Brooklyn's world-renowned Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra.

[niceguyeddie]

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/file/fnkdedtwzmy/Lost Souls.rar

Doves - Losts Souls

To celebrate the recent posting of the new Doves album and the fact that I am seeing them next month, here is the first Doves album from 2000
I'm hoping it needs no further introduction, because I don't have one but here is a rather poor Allmusic review:

Hailing from the scene that brought the defining sounds of the Smiths, the Stone Roses, Oasis, James, and the Charlatans UK, Doves is another Brit-pop band playing around with depressing lyrical imagery and embryonic soundscapes that made the Mancunian circuit so popular throughout the '80s and '90s. Gloriously basking in the ethereal ones before them, their debut Lost Souls is a shoegazing twist of emotional bliss. Music hasn't sounded so heavenly since Radiohead and The Verve.

The dozen-track look into streaming psychedelia taps into melodic waves of love lorn and sadness, especially on songs like "Rise" and "Lost Souls." The mood rouses and the positive clamor of "The Cedar Room" becomes the album's brassy anthem, very Oasis-like. Frontman/bassist Jimi Goodwin drools like a swooning Damon Albarn during "Here It Comes" and whooshing guitar licks from Jez Williams recall the sounds of Noel Gallagher. NME boldly claims it as the best debut album since Definitely Maybe. They're onto something good. If only Liam and Noel could calm down a bit and find that mesmerizing nature once again.

Also, it helps assuage my guilt in taking far more from this thread than I could possibly give.

[Genbot2500]

The violent husbands - S/T

It's folk-pop- ish.. It's highly unknown, i haven't even found a megaupload of it, nor a review. They are belgian based, so some of their songs are flat Flemish.. Pretty good.

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/download.php?kznhjirnqwa

[scarred]

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/file/fnkdedtwzmy/Lost Souls.rar

^-- Should be mandatory listening. If people likey, I'll up "The Last Broadcast" as well. Can't get enough of this band.

[onewheelwizzard]

Disrupt - Foundation Bit

Probably the most talked-about BASS transmission of recent months (bar the forthcoming Burial and Pinch albums, of course) - the long awaited debut album from Disrupt is with us and is doing things to our woofers we didn't think quite possible. Make no mistake - this is just about the best appropriation of Jamaican dub and 8-bit dancehall you'll likely hear this year - with a slow paced skank and a filthy, uber-bassy production style that has more in common with King Tubby, Black Art and, for that matter, black magic than with any half-arsed wobble presets and lazy dubplates you just might have picked up these last twelve months. Once inside Disrupt's rugged echo-chamber you'll find yourself immersed in a heady, narcotic cloud of smoke, moved by staggered delays, endless reverberations and a tranquilizing cluster of distant instruments and digital detritus all colluding to lull you in and f*ck with your mind good and proper. This is music designed for complete and utter sensory intoxication, tweaked and honed for intense stupefied skanking - and is quite simply one of the most beautifully heavy, chemically enhanced albums you'll hear this year.

This review is remarkably on point.

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?qixumteytno

[tender]

The Mint Chicks - Screens



On a whim I checked these New Zealanders out. It's really fun electric pop. I imagine if I was going to go to the hop years and years ago with my friends we'd dance and twist and shout to these guys. People would go steady, get pregnant, and exchange their letterman jackets with special someones. Girls and guys would toss their underwear on the stage and fail to leave room for the holy spirit while dancing, too. Lots of noise. We'd have milkshakes afterward and sing high in the Thunderbird on the way home. So yeah, that doesn't make any sense, but that's what I thought while listening to it the first time (and during repeated listens). Check it out if you want. Here's the first track, Red, White, and Blue.

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?to0wljgn0qo

And here's the album!

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?nj213m1mnzx

Bonus! Here's someone else saying they liked it. Since that's important:

They won a pile of awards, lost a bassist, moved to Portland, took three years to record an album, regularly performed in animal costumes and started releasing their most experimental work yet. But anyone worried The Mint Chicks were letting success get to their heads - especially on last year's creepy AutoTune-loving single release Life Will Get Better Some Day - can rest easy. Because, on Screens, they sound more like The Mint Chicks than they ever have. The Auckland act's third album is just as good as, if not better than, 2006's brilliant - and multiple Tui Award-winning - Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! That's a minor miracle considering just how much pressure there was on the progressive rock trio, consisting of brothers Kody and Ruban Neilson, and drummer Paul Roper.

Screens sees the Chicks excelling in the lo-fi territory they're known for, with elements of twee '60s pop, gentle riffs and sing-along melodies coming to the fore. If tracks like Ockham's Razor and Funeral Day were the Apocalypse, this is the after party, held in the Grey Lynn tearooms. Screens is full of wonderfully kooky pop songs (I Can't Stop Being Foolish, Don't Sell Your Brain Out, Baby), warped rock numbers (2010, Red, White Or Blue) and brilliantly batty love songs (Sweet Janine). Then there's the delightful Hot On Your Heels, which comes complete with cymbals, hand claps and a middle section synth freakout the Beatles would be proud of. It's pure pop perfection.

But the Chicks can still get heavy when they want to. Check out the evil instrumental vibe of Enemies, or undoubted album - and possible career - highlight What A Way, which pairs a synth-fuelled feedback blitz with Neilson's lazy "la-la-laa-laa" drawl. Start shining those Tui Awards. We could have another clean sweep on our hands.

[valley_parade]

Aiden Baker - I Fall Into You

Aidan Baker has been quite prolific in 2002. I Fall Into You, a CD-R released by Public Eyesore, falls into the "good" pile. It consists of dark guitar soundscapes accompanied by poems. Baker, who also fronts a career as a writer, came up with powerful lyrics on the topic of love as addiction/virus/dependence/transformation. The diptych "I Fall Into You/& Replicate" becomes the leitmotif of the album and mirrors with its implications the dark eroticism of the ambient soundscapes. Baker plays guitar (electric and acoustic), bass, and loops, creating lush moods that slowly change in terms of hues and feelings. Naomi Okabe recites with him, incarnating the reciprocal of the poems. "Lapse" and "Lethe," both seven minutes in duration, work as the walk-in/walk-off pair. The second reuses the soft synth chords and beatbox track of the first in reverse, giving the track a mutated feel completely attuned to the topic. "Lysis" (25 minutes) and "Symbiosis" (ten minutes) present most of the argument, both lyric- and music-wise. There Baker hits a peak as a sound designer/collagist. The pieces run deep and captivate, much more than the improvised Letters. Baker struck a balance between word and sound, plus this album benefits from better production values and a solid concept. Recommended.

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?ymmndmyimnm