Gorillaz Advent prizes

Gorillaz has been doing an Advent Calender, with cool freebies like desktop pictures and such. Today's is pretty neat - a very nice animated music video. Check it out - be sure to try the HD version if you can, it's beautiful!

Broken

East River Pipe

East River Pipe is the name of Queens, NY resident singer/songwriter F.M. Cornog's project and there hasn't been a cut from there in a while. Looks like Merge Records will be bringing out his next one, We Live In Rented Rooms, in February 2011. Here's an early release from it:

Cold Ground

I've had East River Pipe on my "To Buy" list for quite some time. Here's a few other cuts from some previous releases:

King Of Nothing Never (The Gasoline Age 1999)
I Bought A Gun In Irvington (Garbageheads on Endless Stun 2003)
What Does T.S. Eliot Know About You? (What Are You On? 2006)

And here's a video from his first album, Shining Hours In A Can:

Helmet On

The Like

I've started using my "other" blip.fm account under the name Hieronymus, because I have way more "listeners" on that account, because I've been using it almost since the start of blip.fm - back in the good old days before they started getting all Youtube-y. But it remains a great place to discover music and I really liked the couple of cuts from the group The Like, off of their June 2010 album Release Me. A poppy "girl group" with a nice raspy edge, you can get a free MP3 of this song by signing up on their website:

Fair Game

And here's a couple great videos:

He's Not A Boy

Wishing He Was Dead

Jenny and Johnny on Conan

One of my favorite singles from 2010 was Jenny and Johnny's Scissor Runner. Here they perform it live on the Conan O'Brien show:

Kim Boekbinder

One of my favorite concerts from the past few years was Amanda Palmer's raucus show at the Paradise a few years ago. One of the opening acts was Vermillion Lies and a song from their CD What's In The Box became a favorite of me and my girls:

Global Warming

Well, the sisters have done on to do solo acts now.  Zoe Boekbinder has some great music:





And Kim has just released her first CD and you can download it at a Name Your Own Price on Bandcamp:

The Impossible Girl

Túcan

Sligo instrumental group Túcan plays an excellent cover of this Daft Punk song. In many ways, they remind me of Rodrigo y Gabrielle, one of my all time favorite bands.

 Around the world [daft punk cover]

The Hundred In The Hands

A free holiday download from the cool band The Hundred In The Hands. Enjoy!

  
The Hundred In The Hands - Gift of Four Downloads by Warp Records

Jeremy Messersmith

Listening to All Songs Considered 2010 Year In Music, I liked what I heard by Jeremy Messersmith, who has a series of self released titles, including The Reluctant Graveyard, all of which are available on Bandcamp via "Name Your Own Price". Here's the cut played on the show:

Violet!

And here's a video for another cut from it:

A Girl, a Boy, and a Graveyard

Glasser

Another exciting discovery from my Spin Best Of 2010 Napster playlist is Glasser, or Cameron Mesirow's, Ring. Lots of really interesting sounds, very reminiscent of Charlotte Gainsbourg, crossed with Tyondai Braxton. Here's a couple of cuts from it:

Home
Tremel (Astronomer Remix)

Here's a neat video for one of my favorite songs from the album:

Apply

Treasury of We

Blonde Redhead Session

A great "session" video from Blonde Redhead, doing several songs from their excellent Penny Sparkle CD:

Robert Plant

I took Spin Magazine's top 40 albums of the year and added AllMusic.com's "recommended" picks from each to create a "Spin Top 2010" playlist on Napster.com. You can find it here.

One of my favorite so far is an oldie but goodie - Robert Plant's rootsy Band of Joy album. Some really great stuff, with this one a real standout:

Angel Dance

Little Dragon

Little Dragon, a Swedish group fronted by Swedish-Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano, plays some very nice "twee" pop.  Here's a song from their newest album, Machine Dreams:

Feather

And here's a great video for one of their songs from their debut album:

Twice

Jets Overhead

Really been enjoying the sounds of Jets Overhead's 2009 sophomore effort, No Nations. This Canadian band hails from Victoria, British Columbia, a big island just across from Vancouver. They make some tight, sparse, yet rythmic sounds that really stick with you. Here's a couple great tracks from the album:

Time Will Remember
Weathervanes (In The Way)

And here's a great video for my favorite song on album:

I Should Be Born

And finally, you can get the title track for free, with the usual trade for your email address. Get it, it's great too! And be sure to check their web site for lots more goodies, including several more excellent music videos.

Tristen

You can download the latest EP from Tristen for free. Of course, it is the usual trade - you get the music, they get your email address. But it's some good sounds:

 

High Violet (Expanded Edition)

One of my favorite CDs of 2010 has a new "expanded" edition, available today (Friday, November 26, aka "Black Frday" in the US) only at few select indie record stores. The National's High Violet has any number of great cuts. You've surely heard this one :

Bloodbuzz Ohio

And this one was on Vehement Flame podcast #6:

Lemonworld

So if you're near where it is getting sold, go grab this one, with a new song and live cuts and report back!

High Violet (Expanded Edition) - Indie Retail

Kate Miller-Heidke

I promise that this Tim Minchin song, sung by Kate Miller-Heidke, will be the only Christmas song you'll hear on this blog, but hey, it's really good, I promise.

Animusic

Wow, this is so cool! From the web site Animusic.com comes some really great electronica, all to a band who does its own animation. Yup, the characters in the video do the aimations based upon the music. I first heard this at the tail end of a Red Green Show - not sure why it was there, but I'm glad it was!

Anya Marina

Anya Marina, who did one of my favorite CDs of 2009, Slow And Steady Seduction: Phase II has just released a new EP called Spirit School. It features the song Satellite Heart, which was on the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack. Here's a couple from SSS:2 that both me and my girls enjoyed:

Cowboy (my girls call this song Little Car)
All The Same to Me
Two Left Feet

And here's a video music box of some of her songs. Be sure to check out the wild video for Whatever You Like!

10:32

Another favorite from Ghostly Swim is the project called 10:32, which is the Australian musician Tim Koch. Here's what he says about the origins of the project name:

10:32 is the length of an albatross.
10:32 is a month and an age.
10:32 is soft skin on hollow hearts.
10:32 is quick feet on cool floors.
10:32 is seeing through your eyes.
10:32 is mornings into evenings.
10:32 is finishing before the end.
10:32 is ten thirty-two.

 Here's the cut from Ghostly Swim:

 Blue LIttle

And here's more sounds from Tim Koch:

   Latest tracks by tiimko

Friday Funnies

Here's a pretty funny song by Tim Hawkins, updating some rock classics so the lyrics match the age:

The Pierces

The Pierces are sisters Catherine and Allison who went to New York City from their home in Alabama, and gained a really interesting sound. You can get this song free from their home page:

To The Grave

They have a new EP out, coming Real Soon Now in the US. It's called Love You More and this is the title track:

and here's a cut from their previous release, Thirteen Tales Of Love And Revenge. Really love the sound of this one!

Secret

More Computer Magic

I love the sounds that NY DJ / music maker Computer Magic (aka Danz) produces and she has a couple new songs:

The End Of Time
Everyone Feels That Way Sometimes

Sometimes (only sometimes!) I really wish I lived in New York City. She does some DJing, some shows as Computer Magic, etc. Would love to catch her live!

Deastro

Lots of good sounds from the previously mentioned Ghostly Swim collection. Here's a new one - a "group" called Deastro, which is really mostly Randolph Chabot. Here's the song from the collection:

Light Powered

And here's a cut from their Moondagger album:

Parallelogram

How German is it

Listening to the really nice Per Capita sampler on Amazon and my favorite song (from several) had to be

How German is it - Giving Up The Ghost

So I jumped over to Napster and gave their first (and only) album a listen and they have some solid songs. Check out their first CD, The Seasonal

Nat Johnson and The Figureheads

After Monkey Swallows The Universe, lead singer Nat Johnson went on to form her own group, adding The Figureheads. While the group has changed, the songs are just as sweet. Here's Wasted, from Roman Radio:

The Boy Least Likely To

The oddly named English duo, The Boy Least Likely To, does some really great pop.

The One That I Want
When I Grow Up I Want To Be A Boy Again

And here's one of my favorites:

Apple Wagon

Monkey Swallows The Universe

Listening to the Allo Darlin' Automix on Napster, A10.2 and I heard and enjoyed this song by a now defunct group from England called Monkey Swallows The Universe:

Ice Cream Man

We really liked it, so I found a few more free downloads from iLike:

Time Will Be Last
Florence

And here's another one :

Science

Models

Classic Australian New Wave rockers Models play a mean drum in this song No Shoulders No Head from their 1991 release The Pleasure Of Your Company:



HT to the wonderful music site, Webcuts

Ghostly Swim

Found a pretty nice free download - Ghostly Swim is music from the Adult Swim set of shows on Cartoon network. You can play it here, and it includes the wonderful Chains by School of Seven Bells, mentioned earlier here on Vehement Flame.

The Pipettes

The Pipettes have a pretty interesting sound - bright and bouncy. It's evolved over the last few albums, in no small part due to a complete turnover in personnel, into the current "girl group meets disco pop" incarnation of their latest album, Earth vs. The Pipettes. But it's still pretty good stuff.

Here's a song from their debut:

Pull Shapes

And here's a couple from Earth:

Call Me


Stop The Music

Lily Allen

Lily Allen's very measured response to anti-gay bigots. Oh, and it's not safe for work either :)

Allo Darlin'

Some really nice twee pop from Allo Darlin', a London group fronted by Australian Elizabeth Morris. First heard this on the October 29 show of Melody du Jour, my favorite radio show on my favorite radio station, WZBC. Alexandra rocks!

The Polaroid Song

Dreaming

School Of Seven Bells

Listening to the Alternative Underground "radio" station on Napster and I stumbled across the song Chain from School of Seven Bells and really enjoyed it. Playing more from their debut album, Alpinisms, and yup, some good stuff!

Chain

---

Blonde Redhead

One of my favorite CDs from a couple of years ago was Blonde Redhead's "23" (pronounced "two-three"). The variety of styles and sounds was simply amazing. Here's two of my favorite cuts:

Silently
The Dress

Their recent CD, Penny Sparkle, has generated a pretty good amount of controversy, with some really digging its laidback style and others whining incessantly about it not being what they want from Blonde Redhead. I like it myself.

Here Sometimes

Tim Minchin

Here's a pretty funny song by Tim Minchin. NSFW, but still pretty damned funny!

Generationals

Very nice new EP from a group called Generationals. According to My Old Kentucky Blog, Trust comes out in mid-Novemenber. The title track is really sharp:

Trust

And here's the new video for it:


Generationals - Trust from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

Dusted

Sometimes Soma.fm's Groove Salad station can get quite confusing! It plays some truly off the beaten track electronica, which I often play in the background as I program. Every now and then, a song really reaches out and grabs me and I have to find out more about it. This morning, it was a song listed by the artist (or artists?) "Faithless / Dusted", called Childhood, but no alumb name. Well, searching about for an artist with that name was fruitless but I did come across a group called Faithless. Further searching of the Faithless catalog and Wikipedia came to the rescue - there's a series of CDs called Back To Mine which has various artists compiling a list of songs they listen to. Faithless had Back To Mine #6, from 2007, and one of the cuts on it was a song by a group called Dusted, and they have a song called Childhood  from their (one and only?) 2001 release called When We Were Young (which actually featured a UK top 25 hit). Phew, that took a lot of dectective work!

And after all that, here's the cut:

Childhood

And here's the minor hit, Always Remember to Respect and Honour Your Mother, Part One:

Dancing Hands

Too cool! The song is called Pa-par-americano or We Don't Speak Americano, but of course it is the hands that draws the attention.

Mexican Summer

Grabbed yet another free Amazon MP3 sampler, this time from the proverbial "up and coming" indie label, Mexican Summer, which includes some really nice songs, including one from the latest "hot" indie band, Best Coast:

Each And Every Day

But I think my favorie song from the entire 15 song collection was by Andrew Graham & Swarming Buzz. A nearly 7 minute wandering epic, it truly grabbed my attention, right from the title of the song:

Take It Easy On Kathy At Least She Can Dance

4AD

Time for another 4AD embedded player. What a great label!

Erik Wollo

Grabbed a few new Amazon MP3 free samplers the other day:

Sarathan Records Indie Sampler
Sarathan Records Sunset Sampler
Experience Halloween: A Tunecore Music Sampler
Burning Building Fall 2010 Sampler for Amazon
Projekt: afar
Stones Throw Sampler [Explicit]
Young God Amazon Sampler

All of them were pretty solid (well, except the last 2, which were sort of thrash metal, not my cup o' tea), but nothing really stood out. I generally just play these while I'm working at the keyboard, so I don't really hear it all that closely. But every now and then a song makes me swap back and figure out who is doing it.

This time there was one - the last one on the Projekt: afar label sampler, by an artist called Erik Wøllo. He's a Norwegian composer of soundtracks and other electronica, whose discography goes back quite a ways. I really enjoyed this cut from his latest album, Gateway:

First Arrival

and on his web site you can find a few more free MP3 downloads, all of which are pretty good, but here's my favorite:

untitled 21

Massive Attack

Another example to last month's Thievery Corporation post, where a group I should know about misses me completely, is Massive Attack. A pretty popular group in their heyday, they recently released a new CD Heligoland, but they were pretty quiet for years. I first came across them a few years ago and absolutely loved their sort-of Greatest Hits album, Collected. Some of my favorite cuts from that CD include:

Teardrop
Inertia Creeps

I then went out and got Mezzanine, where the songs I liked the most are also on Collected, but I added one more great tune:

Dissolved Girl

Gorillaz "in concert"

A very nice 45 minute concert from Gorillaz (aka Damon Albarn et al) from the Ed Sullivan Theater a few days ago:

Stereolab

Some good sounds from Stereolab's upcoming release, not music, which is the second CD from their 2007 recording session. The first CD came out in 2008, called chemical cords.

Here's the first cut from not music. It's called Sun Demon:

Agnes Obel

Agnes Obel is Yet Another Scandanavian singer with a gorgeous voice that has just a touch of an accent, writing great pop nuggets with deep lyrics. Her first full lenght release, Philharmonics, won't be for another couple of weeks. But here's Riverside, from an earlier EP:

Reporter

Some good sounds from Reporter, a band out of Portland, Oregon.  Here's a remix of the song Click Shaw by Runaway:

Click Shaw (Runaway Remix)

Check out their new album, Time Incredible. I particularly like the song Click Shaw.

 

And here's a short video of them live:



HT to INDIE Playlist for October

hifiklub

hifiklub is a downtempo, jazzy sounding band from France. They've released a few EPs and here's a couple of cuts from the latest one:

Tombstone Blues (Dylan cover)
Catfish

Hat tip to The Needle Drop for the song and the 'indie' channel on shuffler.fm for finding it.

Cassette Kids

Cassette Kids are popular Down Under and have moved to the States to try to get even bigger. Nice poppy, Til Tuesday kinda sound from them. Here's a couple of nice cuts :

Lying Around
Lying Around (Sharam Jey Remix).mp3

And a video of the song Spin:


Cassette Kids - 'Spin' [Official Video]

Cassette Kids | MySpace Music Videos

Face of the Sun

Brian Vigilione, the hard charging drummer from the Dresden Dolls, has a new EP out. His group is called Face Of The Sun and you can listen to it and buy it on Bandcamp.

The Octopus Project

Heard a great sound on blip.fm today - a new cut from The Octopus Project's upcoming album, Hexadecagon. It was called Fuguefat and can be found here on blip.fm (follow me here). So off I went to there home page and found some great stuff:

I Saw the Bright Theremins
Spiracle

And here's a video for the song Truck from Hello Avalanche:


TRUCK - The Octopus Project from Zellner Bros. on Vimeo.
Music video for the song "Truck" from the album "Hello Avalanche" by The Octopus Project.



theoctopusproject.com

zellnerbros.com

Rhett Miller

I remember when I first heard Rhett Miller (frontman for the Old97s). I had the cd player going (yup, an old fashioned 5 disc Sony CD player!) and it changed to a new CD and after a couple songs, I realized I neither knew who this was and I really liked it. Turned out it was a borrowed Rhett Miller CD, The Believer and it just has one great, clever pop tune after another. Singular Girl remains a great favorite of both myself and my girls, but there are lots of other gems on this CD. This quote from the All Music review of the album is perfect:

It's one of those albums that in five years you will pull out of the rack, pop in the deck and be delighted with.

SIngular Girl
Help Me, Suzanne

And here's a cut from the one Rhetter Miller CD I don't have, 2002's The Instigator. It's Come Around:

Girl In A Coma

Cool Bowie cover by Girl In A Coma. This song, from the upcoming album Adventures In Coverland, is As The World Falls Down and is directed by Robert Rodriquez. Good stuff!

Sleigh Bells

The distorted guitars and voices of Sleigh Bells has really been a hit this summer on the indie scene. I wish I had a teacher who looked and sang like Alexis Krauss! Here's a cut from the Coachells Sampler, and is also found on their debut CD, Treats:

Crown On The Ground

And here's their latest video for the song Infinite Guitars:

Ok Go

Yet Another clever music video from Ok Go. This time the song is White Knuckles from their latest release, Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky.

Miami Horro4

Some really nice electro grooves from this band that is neither from Miami nor very horrific - Miami Horror, an Australian group. Their debut album is called Illumination and here's a cut from it:

Holiday

And here's the latest video from it, for the song Echoplex:

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Listening to the latest All Songs Consider podcast, I find out that OMD has a new album coming out next week, after 10+ years in hibernation. I've heard a couple of cuts from History Of Modern and it is sounding pretty damn good!

Enola Gay
If You Leave

Split Enz

I was a huge Split Enz fan and my wife is a huge Neil Finn / Crowded House fan - what goes around, comes around?

Fall At Your Feet

Vehement Flame #6: New And Old

Full Show Notes

Download Vehement Flame #6 mp3 (55mb - 1 hour long)
Subscribe To Podcast

Citay, The National, Gorillaz, 28 degrees taurus, Sarah Borges and The Broken Singles, Laura Veirs and the Saltbreakers, Dayna Manning, Richard McGraw, Steve Mason, Faces, Jim Stafford, Neko Case, Jakob Dylan, The Dears

Playlist
00:00:00 Return From Silence - Citay
00:00:54 Lemonworld - The National
00:05:01 Demon Days - Gorillaz
00:09:29 electricity - 28 degrees taurus
00:13:19 Around 9 - Sarah Borges and The Broken Singles
00:17:51 To The Country - Laura Veirs and the Saltbreakers
00:22:54 I Want - Dayna Manning
00:27:39 Grace - Richard McGraw
00:33:37 Lost And Found - Steve Mason
00:39:13 Ooh La La - Faces
00:43:03 Spiders and Snakes - Jim Stafford
00:46:10 Prison Girls - Neko Case
00:52:04 Nothing But The Whole Wide World - Jakob Dylan
00:56:29 Disclaimer - The Dears

Vehement Flame #6 show notes

Vehement Flame #6 podcast show notes

A CD that just keeps getting better with every listen. You can download Bloodbuzz Ohio, a song making the rounds on the 'nets, from Stereogum, for instance.

00:00:54 Lemonworld - The National (High Violet 2010) @The_National

Amazon MP3 | Amazon CD | Napster

Hard to pick just one song from one of my all time favorite CDs. If you can catch either the DVD (Demon Days Live at Manchester) or the concert from Harlem I recorded on cable, you will get a real feel for Damon Albarn's vision for this "virtual hip-hop group". Both are excellent, and in some ways even better, reproductions of these great sounds.

00:05:01 Demon Days - Gorillaz (Demon Days 2005) @gorillazband

Amazon MP3 | Amazon CD | Amazon DVD | Napster

Would have loved to go see them at Deep Heaven Now - Ambient/Psych Rock Festival in Somerville MA, but unfortunately we were out of town.

00:09:29 electricity - 28 degrees taurus (all the stars in your eyes 2010) @28DegreesBoston

This is Sarah Borges debut effort from 2007. Slightly more countrified than The Stars Are Out, with some great sounds.

00:13:19 Around 9 - Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles (Diamonds In The Dark 2007) @SBBS

Amazon CD | Napster

Laura Veirs is a hard working singer who tours constantly. I keep meaning to take in a show but it hasn't happened yet.

00:17:51 To The Country - Laura Veirs & the Saltbreakers (Saltbreakers 2007) @lauraveirs

Amazon MP3 | Amazon CD | Napster

This Lilith Fair Best Of CD features a ton of great songs from such high caliber singers as Emilou Harris, Sinead O'Connor, Bonnie Raitt and more. But the unkonwn (to me) Dayna Manning took the Best of Best of honors for me with this stirring song.

00:22:54 I Want - Dayna Manning (Best of Lilith Fair 1997 to 1999 2010) @daynamanning

Amazon MP3 | Napster

I don't know much about Richard McGraw but I got this via a free download from the late and lamented Amie Street web site and like it a lot.

00:27:39 Grace - Richard McGraw (Burying The Dead 2009) @Richard_McGraw

Amazon MP3 | Amazon CD | Napster

What a fantastic CD by the Beta Band's frontman, Steve Mason. His first solo effort knocks the ball out of the park with a ton of great songs, including this one, which is a free download from AmieStreet. Get it now, then buy the whole CD!

00:33:37 Lost And Found - Steve Mason (Boys Outside 2010) @SteveMasonKBT

Amazon MP3 | Amazon CD | Napster

While I'm sure I had heard this song before, it was hearing it on the Rushmore (an otherwise okay movie) that brought it back to mind. Really a lot of fun. The double CD Greatest Hits collection is pretty good too, although this one is by far my favorite song on it.

00:39:13 Ooh La La - The Faces (The Definitive Rock Collection 2007)

Amazon CD | Napster

Jim Stafford is apparently still singing his novelty hits!

00:43:03 Spiders and Snakes - Jim Stafford (Jim Stafford 1974)

Amazon MP3 | Amazon CD | Napster

This solo effort by Case (who also sings with The New Pornographers) was one of my top CDs of 2009.

00:46:10 Prison Girls - Neko Case (Middle Cyclone 2009) @neko_case

Amazon MP3 | Amazon CD | Napster

Yup, his dad's name is Bob. But Jakob has his own style and this is a great CD from from first to last.

00:52:04 Nothing But The Whole Wide World - Jakob Dylan (Women + Country 2010) @jakobdylan

Amazon MP3 | Amazon CD | Napster

You can find this song on a great free AmazonMP3 sampler, Dangerbird Amazon Sampler.

00:56:29 Disclaimer - The Dears (Missiles 2008) @TheDears

Amazon MP3 | Amazon CD | Napster