More music picks for your Monday. If you like what you hear, use the links provided to snag it for yourself from Amazon. Doing so through us gives us kickbacks, and those help pay for stuff like more bandwidth. And also so we can buy more music.
In my ongoing addiction to flagrant usage of strings, I find myself drawn (again) to Andrew Bird. This is a live version of “If I Needed You,” a Townes Van Zandt cover. It’s from Hands of Glory, which I’ve seen described as an EP (maybe because he didn’t want to be an overachiever since both it and Break It Yourself were released last year)–but it’s the length of a lot of other full length albums which we’re mentioning today. But whatever cranks your tractor. Note: the MP3 bundle of this is only $5 as I write this. (Amazon: CD; MP3; Vinyl.)
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The duo of Chris Senseney and Stefanie Drootin-Senseney form Big Harp. And when I first heard this track, “You Can’t Save Em All,” I thought, “Is this from the new Nick Cave album and has Nick had some effective therapy or something?” But no, it’s from Harp’s second album, Chain Letters, which just hit this past month. Please note: while it worked for them, meeting, having kids, then forming a band with your soulmate is not something you should necessarily try at home. (Amazon: CD; MP3; Vinyl.)
The band Eat Lights Become Lights is driven by Neil Rudd and is based out of London. And all I can say about this track from their album Heavy Electrics (which hit last September) is that I’m not sure it’s possible not to enjoy something entitled “Syd Mead Cityscape.” Well, I mean, you’d be stretching it if it were zydeco, maybe, but this works. No worries. Note: the MP3 bundle is $8.99…but is missing a track and the CD is $20. So just do your homework and ask yourself what that track is worth. Update: Mr. Rudd himself gave us a ping in the comments–the digital bundle does have the bonus track and the CD does not. So there you have it. (And he says the new album is due out in September. Excellent.) (Amazon: CD; MP3.)
In the arena of “Now I must own everything this band has released,” World’s End Girlfriend (headed up by Katsuhiko Maeda out of Tokyo) apparently did a soundtrack for the film Starry Starry Night from Taiwan. I know little about the film other than it has fantastical elements and apparently involves awkward kids and growing up. I do know that I could listen to this all damn day. Note: the CD is $40+. Stick to the MP3. (Amazon: MP3.)
And lastly, these two tracks: the first hails from Canada and Au4, which I described to Doc as “If Delerium, Enigma and Tool had a kid.” But having listened further through …And Down Goes the Sky, I’d like to add “…and that kid grew up to collaborate with Benoit Jutras.” They’ve got an IndieGogo drive in motion–check that out here. And you can sample the entire album here. I dig the shit out of this. The Amazon release is missing a track so I say buy it from them directly. (From the band’s site: MP3/FLAC)
And lastly, “This City is Killing Me,” from Dusty Brown. I know little about them, except that they’re a trio, they’re out of Sacramento, and I have no idea how they wound up on my iPod. I do also know that their EP is available for free from their site.
Decent reviews.
Hey there,
Thanks a bunch for promoting my band Eat lights Become lights.
Worth noting the Amazon listing is wrong. You get the bonus track on the digital version not the CD.
Thanks for the support, new album, Modular Living out Sept on Rocket Girl
Neilx
Neil: Thanks for the headsup, chief. I’ll make a note of that in the post.