It is time to post another gosh-damned mix, it seems. It’s kind of hard to keep up with all the decent music of the world, so there are only 9 songs this time around. But they’re all pretty good, so that’s a plus. I wonder if anyone’s noticed that all of these mix intros sound pretty much exactly the same, but really they’re just meant to be filler to push the songs past whatever ridiculous image I decide to add. This time, it’s Happycat!

Abigail Grush – Solitude Is Useless – (MP3, 3 MB)

While I have written about Abigail Grush before, I just didn’t like her that much back then. Things have changed over the past few months, somehow, and now I like all but the last song on her latest album, which is quite an improvement from liking only two of them.

Brando – Stuck You Inside – (MP3, 2.2 MB)

I have also written about Brando before, and would probably like them more if I had more of their songs. Here’s a free one I found on last.fm, and it sounds pretty much like what I’d expect from Brando.

Gurf Morlix – Diamonds To Dust – (MP3, 3.9 MB)

This is a completely ace country song I picked up from songs: illinois, and I can’t imagine his albums being any worse for some reason.

Michele Wylen – Cruel – (MP3, 3.2 MB)

I’m not sure why there aren’t more blogs talking about Michele Wylen, but the only logical conclusion is that they’re all morons. She does some pretty damn fine electro-pop, if you ask me, which you clearly aren’t.

Parade – That’s Hott – (MP3, 4.8 MB)

This song reminds me slightly of The Gossip, possibly just because it’s rock music with female vocals. Because really, it doesn’t sound that much like The Gossip at all. Oh well.

Richmond Fontaine – Moving Back Home #2 – (MP3, 2.3 MB))

This song reminds me of Calexico’s mariachi stylings, but it’s still kind of weird to think of them as being a Portland band, mainly because Portland does not strike me as a city that inspires country bands.

Rondo Brothers – Crazed – (MP3, 3.7 MB)

I suppose you could call this one electro-pop as well, or perhaps synth-pop. There’s some nice singing, though. That’s always nice.

Scissors For Lefty – Lay Down Your Weapons – (MP3, 4.7 MB)

It’s a good thing I heard this song before their album Bruno, because that album was pretty damned boring. This song is pretty much the opposite of that album, in the sense that it is good in every indie sense of the term.

Sibylle Baier – Tonight – (MP3, 2.2 MB)

The album this song’s from was released in 2006, but recorded in the 70s or some such. Talk about procrastination! But there are some good songs on there (like this one), so better late than never. Folktastic!

It never ceases to amaze me how I am always slacking when it comes to writing about CDs I get in the mail, since I don’t ask for CDs I don’t like. While it could just be my regular ‘ol laziness, I’m going to go ahead and say it’s because it’s harder to write about an album than it is to write about a single song. And when the CD turns out to be decidedly different than you expected, it makes it even harder. So when I got Over The Hill‘s self-titled debut in the mail, expecting something resembling fairly standard country, I was at least slightly surprised to hear all of its psychedelic influences. The opener of Divorce would make it seem like a regular country song (not to mention the title), and then they throw some psychedelic keyboarding at you and while it’s hardly an expected transition, it still manages to work out fine.

The songwriter’s also got a book out, and if you’ve spent more than a few years on the Internet, you will have no trouble understanding it.

Downloads

From Over The Hill
Darling What You Want Me To Say – (MP3, 2.1 MB)
Rabid – (MP3, 3.2 MB)

Casey Dienel is probably not the most ideal singer for me to write about, in the sense that I’ve only heard two of her songs that I actually like. This makes it challenging for me to really describe her music objectively, or in any encompassing sense, but anybody who’s followed this blog will know that I hardly ever write about music like that. Besides, it’s not like anybody reads music blogs, they just steal the music and run off to steal more. But if I were to quickly summarize her music, I’d say it sounds something along the lines of piano-pop that’s accompanied by her slightly jazzy vocals and excellent lyrics. These are the two songs of hers that I like, and they are certifiably the cat’s meow.

Downloads

From Wind-Up Canary
Doctor Monroe – (MP3, 2.1 MB)
Everything – (MP3, 4.2 MB)Everything

When you have a collapsed lung like I do, you don’t really want to listen to exciting music that makes you want to dance around like a drunk hooligan. You want to listen to stuff that you can enjoy while you’re just sitting there, which basically limits your choices to downtempo and folk. Since I tend to redefine “downtempo” as “boring,” I’ll take the folk anytime. Besides, it is no secret that I have a thing for female folk singers, especially the ones who have superb singing abilities. The most recent singer I have found fitting this bill is Lauren Shera, a young lass out of California. I find it pretty incredible that she’s so young and still so talented of a singer, and she’s no slacker when it comes to writing songs, either. When she sings “In the graveyard by the ocean is where I laid my baby down, six feet undergroooooouuuund” on Bloodlust, it is all but impossible to not fall in love with her. While it would seem the general populace is clueless about her, other musicians are not; she’s opened for Kristin Hersh, Vashti Bunyan, and The Ditty Bops, among others.

Downloads

From In My Bones
Hands Of A Pirate – (MP3, 4.1 MB)
Bloodlust – (MP3, 5.4 MB)

Just because it’s ideal to cause you aneurysms by having zero transition between the genres we write about, here is some music that can be loosely classified as electro-pop, though it’s got more beats than that. 320 starts off reminding me of Toxic (yes, the Britney Spears song), and 40 seconds into it, it reminds me more of Eminem. It’s not as abrupt as I probably made it sound, though. Train Track reminds me of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song, which amuses me to no end. That is all I care to say, so have a nice Wednesday!

Downloads

From XOXOXOXOXO
320 – (MP3, 4.4 MB)
Train Track – (MP3, 3.9 MB)

I’ll admit it: I’m not a big fan of hip-hop. This is probably my own fault though, since the only hip-hop I ever get to listen to comes from dodgy radio stations and those mainstream music video shows and it always sounds rather junky. So it’s just as well I was listening to some indie radio station at like 2AM because I happened on some rather delightful hip-hop.

Wax Tailor is a French artist who samples a huge range of old recordings to build up his music. The recordings usually consist of old radio broadcasts, voice samples of long past and goodness knows what other material. It produces a nice “old record” sound, which is then underlined with a smooth beat and some other interesting things. Kinda reminds me of a toned down version of Frontier Psychiatrist, by the Avalanches (a tune I highly recommend).

So, if you like your hip-hop interesting, warming (at times) and just a teensy bit strange, then load up some Wax Tailor! If you don’t, then load him up anyway, as he does do some of the more traditional hip-hop sounds.

Downloads

From Tales of the Forgotten Melodies:
Que Sera – (MP3 Sample, 681 KB)
Between Fellows – (MP3 Sample, 294 KB)
Am I Free? – (MP3 Sample, 710 KB)

If you want the more traditional hip-hop:

From Tales of the Forgotten Melodies:
Damn That Music Made My Day – (MP3 Sample, 475 KB)
Where My Heart’s At – (MP3 sample, 713 KB)

If you can brave the Flash, then there is a bunch of other tunes from this album and his other ones to take a look at. Or perhaps you could click here, but I might get in trouble.

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)

If you are into mellow indie-pop, then Pulco is the band for you. I can’t think of anything else that’s interesting to say about this band, but again, if you like mellow indie-pop, my lack of intelligible description won’t matter in the least.

Downloads

From A Dip In the Ocean
Kursk Flute – (MP3, 2 MB)
Ifan – (MP3, 3.6 MB)
Beyond All Reasonable Doubt – (MP3, 3.3 MB)

For some reason, blogging’s become a higher priority for me lately. Partly because I’ve got more music, partly because we’ve got an adoring fanbase of 1 person, but either way, this posting frenzy won’t last (it never does), so enjoy it while it does! Reverend Glasseye is kind of a musical enigma in that you can’t really pigeonhole them too well, they sound like too many different things at once. Part gypsy, part cabaret, part punk, part “insert genre,” it’s amazing how they can pull it all together into genuinely enjoyable music. I can’t believe that it’s taken me this long to realize that 17 Lashes is a freaking amazing song, and my favorite of the good Reverend’s. I’ll give you 17 lashes to the face if you don’t like it!

Downloads

From Our Lady Of The Broken Spine
17 Lashes – (MP3, 8.7 MB)
King Of Men – (MP3, 4.4 MB)

From Black River Falls
Seven Little Girls – (MP3, 6.4 MB)
Three Ton Chain – (MP3, 2.9 MB)

After uploading some songs by The Tiger Lillies for our still #1 fan (not that there is a whole lot of contest), I decided, why not write a dang post about them? I mentioned them in my best-of-’06 post, and the bastards already have another album, this time with a 30-person orchestra. I have yet to hear more than a few tracks off that particular album, but they have more than 15 other albums, which is nearly as insane as me having them. Either way, if you enjoy accordions, falsettos, and hilarious and/or offensive songs, you will love this band. And good news for American fans: they will be playing in both Washington and California in October/November. You can find exact dates here.

Downloads

From Die Weberischen
Lending Song – (MP3, 2.9 MB)

From Punch And Judy
Mummy Loved Me – (MP3, 3.9 MB)

From Bad Blood Blasphemy
Swing ’em High – (MP3, 3.1 MB)

From Shockheaded Peter, A Junk Opera
Bully Boys – (MP3, 3.3 MB)