Posted by Ant on Jul 9 2007 to Alternative
Very eagle-eyed readers of this blog will remember that my buddy Hugh posted about The Magnolia Electric Co. a short while back. Now, if you’re up to date on your alternative country, you’ll know that Songs: Ohia was the precursor to that very group, headed by the very talented Jason Molina.
I will say this right off the bat: I am definately not one to look toward for some country music loving (you know, Garth Brooks and the like), but I found myself being totally hooked by these soulful, mellow and imaginative tunes, each of which carried with it a lovely bit of old-fashioned country twang. And what do I mean by imaginative? Well, let’s take a look at my favourite lyric from Farewell Transmission:
Mama, here comes midnight, with the dead moon in it’s jaws
Must be a big star about to fall
I’m not sure what it means, but I love it to bits!
Downloads
From The Magnolia Electric Co.:
Farewell Transmission – (MP3, 6.8 MB)
Posted by Hugh on May 4 2007 to Alternative
It’s been a good while since anything’s been written on here, so it’s probably time to write about Kristin Hersh. She’s quoted in our about page, after all, and I still haven’t wrote a damn thing about her. Well, there’s no time like the present! My chum Boris recommended her to me, and though I’d heard of her before that, I never really liked her music. He recommended an excellent track of hers, that being Your Ghost, and to borrow Doug’s vernacular, I have been inorexably drawn ever since. Her music can’t really be pigeonholed to any particular genre, as she’s got an album consisting entirely of covers of traditional folk songs. Her voice might take a little getting used to, but if people can get used to Joanna Newsom’s voice, they can get used to anything. The only songs I’ve got for you today are from an album from 2003, The Grotto, which seems darker than most of her work. She’s got an album out this year as well, Learn To Sing Like A Star, which has some genuinely poppish moments.
Downloads
From The Grotto
Sno Cat – (MP3, 5 MB)
Deep Wilson – (MP3, 5.9 MB)
Snake Oil – (MP3, 5.3 MB)
Posted by Ant on Nov 19 2006 to Alternative
Yet another French artist, but perhaps a little less known than Camille: Emilie is (seemingly) known in France (having received awards for her music and whatnot), but hasn’t had a great deal of worldwide exposure. Anyhoo, I found Emilie Simon through last.fm’s artist recommendations for Camille. Strictly speaking, the two artists have very little in common (apart from the fact that they’re both ladies and they both sing in French) as Simon’s music is a pleasing blend of rock, electronic and downtempo, all in the one bag.
Emilie Simon is the name of her debut record and it is quite the corker. She even sings a couple of tunes in English, so you can go ahead and sing along (if you know English and you don’t know French of course). Highly enjoyable tunes include Secret, Lise, Il Pleut and To the Dancers in the Rain. However, as is tradition for my posts, go ahead and check out the rest of her lovely debut album, as there is plenty of goodness under her pretty back (don’t take that the wrong way).
Unfortunately, her website seems to be rather borked at the moment, so I have no idea if she has media or not!
Posted by Ant on Nov 1 2006 to Alternative
Although I’ve never really been introduced to The New Pornographers in any way, I find myself very much intrigued by the solo efforts of Neko Case, a member of the aforementioned band. While TNP play what I’m told is straight out indie rock, Neko Case’s work consists of some lovely Alt. Country stylings, reminiscent of Songs: Ohia and Haley Bonar combined with a very…I dunno, “less than modern” voice (her singing reminds me of the Belinda Carlisle tune Summer Rain, but that’s just me). Don’t take “less than modern” in a bad way though: her voice perfectly compliments the tunes and the lyrics, all of which smack of exceptional goodness.
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood is her latest release and boy howdy it sure is a zinger! Now, there’s probably no way my drunken ramblings could possibly inform you of her goodness, so luckily I have some media for you. I’d also go ahead and check out John Saw That Number, The Needle Has Landed and Maybe Sparrow before you dive in and get the rest: I’m told by some that she’s hard to get into, but I don’t really know what they’re on about…
Downloads
From Fox Confessor Brings the Flood:
Star Witness – (MP3, 7.3 MB)
Hold On, Hold On – (MP3, 3.9 MB)
Posted by Ant on Oct 10 2006 to Alternative
No doubt I’ll be lauded as a total whore for posting about this soundtrack (the indie peeps get a bit pissed when people hail this soundtrack as “indie”) but I don’t care: this is dang good mix.
The thing about mix CDs ya see is that most of the time around 20% of it is good (i.e. songs you can really get in to) and the rest is generally OK, to poor, to utter crap. HOWEVER. The Garden State soundtrack is quite excellent, thanks to Braff’s excellent vision/audio hearing capabilities. There’s an extremely nice mix of indie (Cary Brothers, Remy Zero, Bonnie Somerville), downtempo (Thievery Corporation, Zero 7, Frou Frou), classics (Simon & Garfunkel) and even some folk (Nick Drake). Granted, the popularity of the album has probably elevated the status of some of the artists (*cough*The Shins*cough*), which is why some tossers complain when some guy says “That’s indietastic!”. Well, I say “Screw you, suckers!” – this is an accomplished mix of goodness that should already have been sampled by everyone out there on the Internetz. Check it out: I guarantee you will like at least ONE tune on there…
Posted by Ant on May 22 2006 to Alternative
With the release of their new album being somewhat imminent (or is it, who knows with those crazy kids known as Radiohead), I thought it’d be fitting to take a look at their last studio release, Hail to the Thief. After the superb Kid A and the not-as-superb-but-still-pretty-decent Amnesiac, Radiohead fire back in 2003 with Hail to the Thief, a nice blend of the work done in Ok Computer with the experimental tones of Kid A and Amnesiac.
Depending on your stance with the band, Hail to the Thief is either one of their best albums or pretty ordinary. I take the “pretty awesome” stance on this occasion: tunes like There There (The Boney King of Nowhere), Myxomatosis (Judge, Jury & Executioner) and 2+2=5 (The Lukewarm) aptly demonstrate the bands willingness to step outside the traditional realms of what’s deemed as “alternative”, despite their public appearance of being overly-pretentious. The band’s life aside, this is a cracking album and from what I hear, their latest effort looks to continue the trend of quality music from them.
Downloads
From Hail to the Thief
There There (The Boney King of Nowhere) – (YouTube)
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