Author: Jennifer

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Willow Sea: Across the River and Into The Trees

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The songs on Across the River and Into The Trees by Willow Sea (Willy O’Connor) are, collectively and individually, balm for the weary soul. I listened to them a lot this winter, because this winter was very, very long.

Here are two I especially like. This one is a ray of cheery sunshine on cold gray days:
 

 
And this one sounds like the realization that the night be dark and deep, but it is lovely, too, and not full of monsters waiting to crunch your bones. The lights you can see are not an oncoming train, but rather the lanterns your friends have left on their porches for you to find your way home.
 

 
For more, go to CD Baby or iTunes.
 

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White Fence: To The Boy I Jumped in Hemlock Alley

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A couple of years ago, I went to a White Fence show for New Year’s Eve. They were in the middle of the bill. At the end of the show my friends and I agreed, that while the headliners were good, we would have been happy to listen to Tim Presley and friends noodle around on their guitars all night long. He is truly the king of gloriously weird psychedelia.

Here is To the Boy I Jumped in Hemlock Alley, from Cyclops Reap, White Fence’s most recent record:
 

 
You can listen to the rest here.
 

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Mud, Blood & Beer: The Sweet Life

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MBBTSL
 
On their second record, Mud, Blood & Beer have added some hard rock muscle to their country bar band sound, and the results are fantastic.

For example, there is this tune, which I love in part because they manage to make nasturtiums sound kind of dirty:
 

 
And also these two, which which I love because I love aggressive almost-fuzzy guitars and sing-along songs:
 

 

 
If you’re in New York this weekend, you can hear them play songs from the record at their CD release party, which is Saturday, April 13 at the Bitter End at 8 PM.
 

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Video: Rob Zombie, Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown

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There’s a lot going on here – hippie!Zombie, zombie!Zombie, breakdancing skeleton, various kinds of freaky ballerinas – and it is ALL AWESOME.

The song is Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown, from his new record Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor due out at the end of the month.

Metal Hammer has a tracklist and from the looks of things we are in for a SUPER FREAKY TIME. I’m excited, y’all.

I also have a bunch of questions, like, has there been an apocalypse, and is the radio a communications tool or a framing device or both, and is Supertown like Bartertown or what, but, I suppose all of these things will be answered in time.

Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy the video.

 

Rob Zombie - Dead City Radio And The New Gods Of Supertown

 

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The Big Nowhere: Don’t Burn the Fortune

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TBN2
 
Pull Down the Moon (2012) rollicked and rolled; Don’t Burn the Fortune, the second record from The Big Nowhere, is contemplative, quieter, and a little melancholy, more evocative of a piano bar than a frontier dance hall. Whatever kind of heartbreak you have, they probably have a song for you.

The following are three of my favorite tracks:

 

 

 

 
The record is available digitally right now, and as a limited edition 100 CD release on May 1, 2013. The CD booklet will include artwork from some of the Big Nowhere’s friends, including author and comics genius Neil Gaiman; legendary singer-songwriter and BBC6 Music presenter Tom Robinson; TROMA films head and director Lloyd Kauffman; author Christopher Moore; singer-songwriter Stephen Jones (Babybird); singer-songwriters Devon Sproule and Paul Curreri; and comedian Josie Long, all of whom were asked to draw whatever ‘Don’t Burn The Fortune’ brought to mind.

 

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Video: TimLee3, Devil’s Rope

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Watch out, baby girl, preacher man is coming for you and it isn’t loving he has on his mind:
 

Tim Lee 3 "Devil's Rope" (Official Music Video)

 
There is more where that came from; Devil ‘s Rope is the title track of TimLee3‘s new record, which is some A++ swampy, bluesy rock and roll. Devil’s Rope has been stuck in my head for a week now, but I’m also fond of Signal, Cut-Rate Divorce and Judging You.
 

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[strangers], Something New

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Something New, from [strangers] featuring Eleanor Fletcher (Crystal Fighters), music for: Here we go over the falls, one more time. Maybe this is a terrible idea, but we don’t care. We can see the white water and the rocks but it doesn’t matter, we have each other. We’re too busy making new universes every time we kiss to care about things like logic and sense and appropriate planning. Are we doomed? Maybe. We’ll find out when we land.
 

 

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Video: The Almighty Rhombus, She Didn’t Want Me

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Some thoughts while watching the video for She Didn’t Want Me, from the new self-titled EP by The Almighty Rhombus:

1. How awesome is “The Almighty Rhombus” just as a band name? SUPER AWESOME. A++ use of geometry in band-naming.

2. These dudes and ladies are SERIOUSLY committed to grilling out. (They are my kind of people. Snow on the ground is no reason to skip the cooking with fire.)

3. Ooooh, golden retrievers in shirts gamboling in the snow! Those dogs are having just the best time.

4. Loving Mr. Too Metal For Sleeves and his mad snowboarding skillz.

5. This song is fun, too!

 

The Almighty Rhombus, She Didn't Want Me (Official Video)

 

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The Honorable South, Hide & Go Seek

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Do you need to kick yourself into gear today?

The Honorable South have a song for YOU. It is their take on a 1962 classic by Bunker Hill.

 


 

 
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Gary Lightbody and The Assembly, This Is All That I Ask of You

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Long ago in a galaxy not THAT far away – i.e. 1999-2000 – I worked in tech PR1 and pitched people as speakers for TED talks2. That was when TED talks were only given in one place! Now they are everywhere!

This is an excerpt from a TED talk given by Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol at Stormont Parliament in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The subject of his presentation was the way the music scene in the region has flourished during the last fifteen years of peace.3

To illustrate his point he gathered up several musicians – David C. Clements, SOAK, Silhouette and the Wonder Villains – to write and perform a song.

If you like it you can buy it, and all of the proceeds will go to the Northern Ireland Music Therapy Trust.

 

This is all that I ask of you: Gary Lightbody and the Assembly at TEDxStormont

 

1 This was when the internet still kind of had training wheels and we were trying to convince print journalists to write about websites.
2 TED was “invitation only” then; my job was to demonstrate why clients ought to be invited.
3 The power of his observations are in their simplicity. For example: “There are so many gigs now. When I first started going to gigs in Northern Ireland, there weren’t that many. Especially from international acts. But now every international act comes to Belfast. And they come here as an essential part of their European tour.”