i love when people send over shit with nothing other than a few mp3’s and a few sentences. such is the case with sloth bear. no individual band member names, no myspace page, no album title, nothing… just, and i am paraphrasing, hey we are sloth bear, we recorded this in our basement on a 4 track, blah blah blah. i appreciate that they didnt send me to myspace or some other bullshit. instead, they sent over 6 tracks of what turned out to be pure fuzzed out pop bliss complete with barely decipherable lyrics. that shit gets me every time, in all seriousness. check em out. the two tracks are from their ep, which i dont have a name for.
i cant tell ya if the below links are working, but the first two are off of magoo’s debut, the soateramic sounds of magoo which is one of the most underrated and sadly overlooked indie pop records ever created. you will be hard pressed to find a record as infinitely catchy as this one. its worth every penny of the 39 cents they are selling it for on amazon.
hola, amigos! feelin a wee bit better after consuming copious amounts of campbells chicken noodle soup which for a canned soup is pretty damn yummy. still feelin off balance, but i’ll take walking into walls any day over feeling the need to vomit.
the man who should be king and is my son’s namesake, mac mccaughan under his portastatic moniker is releasing an ultra cool 2 disc comp of rarities called some small history which collects “b-sides, compilation tracks, EPs, fanzine vinyl, and previously unreleased material recorded between 1990 and 2007.” i have heard it, multiple times, and i must proclaim that it is worth every penny of the paltry 13 bucks he is charging for it. he covers ryan adams’s “oh my sweet carolina,” dylan’s “its all over now, baby blue,” galaxy 500’s “tugboat,” american music club’s “firefly,” and a bunch more.
order some small history and other mac related awesomeness, here.
If Ben Nichols writes about you, you’re probably pretty OK. In “Tears Don’t Matter Much,” easily one of our favorite Lucero tunes, off “That Much Further West,” Nichols canonizes a few of his songwriting pals — Matt Bradley,Doug Deluca, and Cory Branan. The song poignantly captures the very nature of being a fan — and a man like Nichols, who wields a dangerously pithy pen, can’t help but succumb either. Witness:
Matt Bradley’s got the broken teeth
He wears a jean jacket with a bullet in the sleeve
He’s just another Southern boy who dreams of nights in NYC
And I sing along
I sing along
My tears don’t matter much
They don’t matter much
Doug Deluca’s voice could break a heart
I recorded every song
I used up three whole tapes, and put ‘em in a box
To give away
To break a heart
My tears don’t matter much,
They don’t matter much
When the boys sing their songs
And the kids they sing along
I’m just another Southern boy who dreams of nights in NYC
And I sing along
I sing along
Cory Branan’s got an evil streak
And a way with words that’ll bring you to your knees
Oh he can play the wildest shows and he can sing so sweet
I still sing along
My tears don’t matter much,
They don’t matter much
When the boys sing their songs
And the kids they sing along…
I’m just another Southern boy who dreams of nights in NYC
And I sing along
I still sing along
We found Cory Branan thanks to a mutual friend, the same one who had turned us onto Lucero. He teeters with a certain sepia-toned nostalgia, doesn’t mind pop hooks and has an uncanny knack for dovetailing sublime couplets about rollerskating in the 7th grade, the one crazy girl who dances at shows, falling in love with the wrong girl and doing way too much cocaine. Err… we digress. Here are a few tracks from Branan’s first record, 2002’s “The Hell You Say,” which features some Lucero members backing on a handful of tracks.
Branan — along with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Justin Townes Earle, The Good Fear and Dan Montgomery — joins Lucero Saturday 9/13 at Riverside Park in Batesville, Arkansas for the Lucero Family Picnic. A bargain at $15; a hassle at 136 miles from Memphis. For and aft, Branan sets out on 40 days and 40 nights of hopefully not hard-candy snow. That’s from “Tame,” people — get with it.
Sep 4 Cactus Cafe w/ Greg Barkley of Oh No! Oh My! (All Ages) Austin, Texas
Sep 5 Club Next Texarkana, Arkansas
Sep 6 Blackthorn Joplin, Missouri
Sep 10 Parrish Baker Pub Oxford, Mississippi
Sep 11 12th & Porter (CB @ 10:15) / Next Big Nashville Nashville, Tennessee
Sep 12 Hi Tone (18+) Memphis, Tennessee
Sep 13 Lucero Family Picnic (CB @ 5:30)(All Ages) Batesville, Arkansas
Sep 18 Pour House Music Hall w/ Blue Mountain (CB-8:30) Raleigh, North Carolina
Sep 19 Evening Muse (All Ages) Charlotte, North Carolina
Sep 20 Pour House w/ Blue Mountain Charleston, South Carolina
Sep 22 New World Brewery Tampa, Florida
Sep 24 Big Daddy’s (18+) Tallahassee, Florida
Sep 25 Egan’s (Late Show / Post Avett’s) Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Sep 27 Barley’s Tap Room (18+) Knoxville, Tennessee
Oct 1 The Camel w/ Josh Small, The Fox Hunt (All Ages) Richmond, Virginia
Oct 2 Rapture (Free / 18+) Charlottesville, Virginia
Oct 3 Iota (CB to Open @ 9pm) Arlington / D.C., Virginia
Oct 4 Della Rose’s Canton (Free) Baltimore, Maryland
Oct 5 Laurrapin (5pm / Free / 18+) Havre de Grace, Maryland
Oct 8 Flat Street Brew Pub (18+) Brattleboro, Vermont
Oct 9 Jake’s w/ Quiet Life (18+) Providence, Rhode Island
Oct 10 Oasis Pub w/ Quiet Life New London, Connecticut
Oct 12 The Cake Shop w/ Quiet Life New York City, New York
Oct 16 Brothers Lounge w Magpies (18+) Cleveland, Ohio
Oct 17 Uncommon Ground @ Devon Chicago, Illinois
Oct 18 Rudyard Kipling w/ Dangerbird (18+) Louisville, Kentucky
Oct 19 Molly Malone’s (18+) Covington (Cincinnati), Kentucky
Oct 22 Jackpot Saloon (18+) Lawrence, Kansas
Oct 24 The OPO (18+) Fayetteville, Arkansas
Oct 25 Whitewater Tavern Little Rock, Arkansas
Nichols says Cory “can play the wildest shows” but unfortunately we’ve never — het hem — seen him with a full band. These are solo dates, but Cory holds his own there, too.
i was a big fan of blitzen trapper’s last record, wild mountain nation, and as it turns out i am becoming an even bigger fan of their upcoming release, furr. this one is definitely more focused, maybe due in part to their recent sub pop signing who knows, but it is definitely welcomed. they are musically all over the map, ranging from 90’s lo-fi, pyche-folk, alt-country, and a bunch of other dashes i cant think of at the moment. regardless of their psychitzophrenic nature nothing on furr seems out of place, though their may be a few what the fuck moments sprinkled throughout but they only add to the records many charms. furr is out on the 23rd of september.
chad vangaalen is a cool cat. he’s like a young bob pollard. actually he’s really nothing like uncle bob except that they both have a penchant for recording on 4 tracks or other random analog equipment and crafting strangely hummable pop songs. case in point, chad’s new record, soft airplane, was recorded primarily on an old tape machine and a jvc ghetto blaster or at least thats what subpop would lead you to believe. either way, he’s kinda all over the map not so much in styles but in instrumentation and is very reminiscent of the early elephant 6 days of elf power, olivia tremor control, nmh, the music tapes, etc. i have really really dug his past records, infiniheart and skelliconnection and judging by the first single off soft airplane i am sure my fanboy status will keep on, keepin on.
btw, sub pop and flemish eye are also offering a bonus limited edition cd-r featuring three songs, including a new track and two 1-man-band versions of songs from soft airplane to anyone who pre-orders the album by september 9th.
top of the evening. oklahoma city’s the uglysuit’s debut is truly the feel good record of the ‘08. they pull mostly from the laid back, sun drenched and pill poppin greats of the 70’s, but there are hints of everything from shoegazer, to mathrock to plain ol pop sprinkled throughout. i like scenarios and their respective soundtracks. therefore, this record would be perfect for driving down the coast in an old international scout, high as hell, with nary a care for the world that is dangerously passing you by. highly recommended.
riyl: midlake, fleetwood mac, david vandervelde, a more focused, less wankery beachwood sparks, etc
i, admittedly, shield my love for matthew sweet and for no good reason, really. my fandom runs so deep that i have the altered beast album cover tattooed on my arm. i got it for reasons other than the fact that its a brilliant record, but i wont get all metaphysical on your ass. anywho, i have a copy of matthew’s most excellent new record, sunshine lies, to give away. sunshine lies is out today, btw. but you can win it here. all you gots to do to win is tell me what record cover you would grace your body with if had cash to dispose or, or maybe you already gots one and if thats the case, well you know what to do. this is purely discretionary on my part, and will pick my favorite.
dont feel like waiting or leaving a damn comment? buy it here.
here are some upcoming tour dates..
8/26 Los Angeles, CA - Amoeba in-store
8/27 San Capistrano, CA – The Coach House
8/28 Silver Lake, CA – The Echo
10/20 Boulder, CO – Fox Theatre
10/22 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
10/3 Chicago, IL – Park West
10/24 Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls
10/25 Cleveland, OH - Beachland
10/27 Boston, MA – Paradise
10/28 NY, NY – Webster Hall
10/29 Falls Church, VA – State Theatre
10/30 Atlanta, GA – Variety
@SEPerformerMag thanks. sadly i never that flick. he has come across as anything but brilliant for mtv awards, but i guess thats to b expctd
about 6 hours ago from web
