Glow is one of Elam McKnight‘s mellower, sweeter songs, and it is delightful.
Elam McKnight – Glow from Elam McKnight on Vimeo.
If you’d like to sample his regular sweet dirty blues fare, hop on over to his Soundcloud page.
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Tag: video
Daily Video: The Coathangers, Follow Me
The Coathangers are a from Atlanta, and their latest record Suck My Shirt is scheduled to be unleashed upon the world on March 18.
“Unleashed” is the key word there; The Coathangers specialize in fast, kind-of-bratty garage punk and the record has taken a little while to grow on me. My favorite song on the record is Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em, where they slow down a little bit, albeit only for the first minute.
This is the video for the first single, Follow Me, in which Mastodon employ some clever disguises while standing in for The Coathangers, and it’s a good time.
Daily Video: The Franklys, My Love
This video for My Love by The Franklys contains: a broad variety of horror movie set-ups; a mysterious and alarmingly life-like white ferret-shaped cake; a singing fish mounted on a door (you can’t hear it but I recognize it, trust me, it sings); and a great song.
The overall effect is if someone had mashed American Horror Story: Coven and Downton Abbey together and given the result a bluesy psychedelic soundtrack.
Daily Video: Japanther, Do It (Don’t Try)
How does the old Yoda quote go? “Do or do not. There is no try.”
Here is Japanther and what must have been a ginormous pile of postal labels to illustrate that idea, because I do love a good lyric video:
JAPANTHER – DO IT (don’t try it) by DROID 907 from William Teeth on Vimeo.
Video: AJ Suede feat. Teck and Joey Shinobi, After Earth
Some years ago I lived in rural north-western Pennsylvania, and spent a lot of time driving back and forth between there and Central Jersey. Which meant a lot of time in I-80. If you’ve never ridden through that stretch of countryside, know this: it can be beautiful, especially when the leaves start to turn in the fall; but it can also be the desolate and post-apocalyptic monument to dead industries and rural isolation shown in this video for After Earth by AJ Suede (FREEMINDS COLLECTIVE) feat. Teck and Joey Shinobi and directed by Omar Jones.
AJ Suede - "After Earth" ft. Teck & Joey Shinobi (Official Video)
A Good Read A Good Listen and a Good Drink, Adam Turla, Murder by Death
It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.
In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.
Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, the sixth record from Murder by Death, has pretty much everything I like: big roaring drums, delicate and occasionally super creepy string sections, and songs that double as good stories.
Such as Lost River – in which a husband begs a wife to drown herself to join him in the afterlife – for which they have made the dark and lovely animated video below:
Murder By Death - Lost River
They are, as we speak (type?), taking their show on the road, with sold out shows at the Mercury Lounge in New York next week, followed by stops in Baltimore and Cleveland. They’ll also be at the Wakarusa Festival in Arkansas in June.
Meanwhile, here is Adam Turla (vocals) to tell us about his current favorite book, record and drink:
Murder By Death, l-r: Matt Armstrong, Scott Brackett, Adam Turla, Sarah Balliet, Dagan Thogerson.
Photo by Greg Whitaker
A Good Read
Last year I read Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History [by Robert Edsel] – a great book that turned into a pretty weak movie. The book is the true story of the World War II division of the US Military that was assigned to protect, locate and retrieve art stolen by the Nazis. I’m not usually a WWII buff, and I was shocked and horrified by the idea that Hitler was not only trying to eliminate a race of people, but also wanted to erase their culture and history.
And what was so fascinating and nightmarish (like the movie Brazil or something), he did it all by creating legislation that revoked the Jews’ right to own art, then had the Nazi state forcibly seize their property for “safekeeping” as part of a fever-dream vision of a massive museum full of looted masterpieces to be built in his hometown. What they deemed “too Jewish” or grotesque/modern (for example, Picasso) they would burn. An incredible read for both the terror and the triumph of crushing Hitler’s dreams of a shitty future.
A Good Listen
Lately I have revisited Massive Attack’s Mezzanine. It’s a wintery album that really gets you in a mood. The song that’s always knocked me out was Teardrop – kind of an obvious choice but I love it. Great record for sexy times.
Massive Attack - Teardrop
A Good Drink
Funny, I’m taking it easy on drinking this month. But lately I have enjoyed a Boulevardier, which is basically a Negroni with bourbon instead of gin. I love gin, but our drummer left a bottle of Ancient Age at my house and I’m happy to relieve him of it. It’s 1 1/2 oz bourbon, 1 oz Campari, 1 oz Sweet Vermouth, stirred in a tall glass with ice, then pour into a tumbler on or off rocks. Garnish with orange slice if you’re feeling like a fancy lad.
Jesus Sons, Jesus Sons
Jesus Sons began life in a motorcyle garage in San Francisco in 2011; the initial line-up was Brandon Wurtz and Shannon Dean with Rob Good and Ian McBrayer of Warm Soda. In 2013, Wurtz and Dean decamped for Los Angeles, and Chance Welton, Bert Hoover, and Erik Lake joined the band.
Jesus Sons, their first, self-titled record starts with a burst of bluesy harmonica that expands into a supple country-blues guitar riff, all of which caused me to sit back in my chair and smile in hopeful anticipation.
Ladies and gentlemen, I was not disappointed. If you like country-blues with ragged garage rock edges (all of them, but especially Ain’t Talkin’ Homesick) and the occasional burst of surfy shimmy (Out of Time) and/or suggestion someone may be conducting a punk rock exorcism (Melt/Going Down), you need this record in your life. Also, amid all the swagger, there’s a six minute instrumental – You Put a Spell on Me – which is, dare I say it, kind of sweet.
Here, as an enticement, is the video for All These Furs, in which they play a show at Salvation Mountain. It passes my “could I watch this with the sound off and still enjoy it/follow what was going on” test and also makes me want to be at the show, because those people look like they’re having fun.
Jesus Sons “All These Furs” A Carey Quinton Haider Film from carey haider on Vimeo.
Lavender Diamond, Incorruptible Heart
True confession: I downloaded Lavender Diamond‘s Daytrotter session because I was intrigued by their name. I didn’t even read the description, just snagged it because it was there and I could and why not?
That, as it turned out, was a A++ life decision, because Lavender Diamond is awesome. Halfway through the first song I was breathless and hungry for more.
Happily there is more; the Daytrotter songs were excerpted from their most recent record, Incorruptible Heart, which you can listen to in full on Soundcloud. (And then go and buy it from them right away, so you can wrap it around yourself like a warm aural blanket.)
The following are three of my favorite tunes:
First: All The Stars, because every time I listen to it, I hold very still, so I don’t break the spell cast by Becky Stark’s voice:
Second: Teach Me To Waken. The Daytrotter version is by necessity stripped down, and the piano dominates; on the record the drums roll and roar like the beating of a mighty heart:
And finally: I Don’t Recall, which is spare, delicate and devastating. I seriously do not understand why this is not the #1 crying-into-your-ice-cream song in the world right now. The video, directed by Jena Malone, captures it perfectly:
http://youtu.be/aL3Vv1hQW4Q
A Good Read A Good Listen and a Good Drink: Klassik
It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.
In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.
YRP (Young Rising Phenoms) is Klassik’s follow-up to In the Making, and it is a heady, ambitious mixture of hip-hop, jazz and soul. The first single, Boogie, is built around a sample of Blame it on the Boogie by the Jackson 5 and will definitely make you want to put your dancing shoes on.
Klassik “Boogie” Music Video from DADO on Vimeo.
But there is more than one way to party. And so here is Klassik to tell us about some of life’s quieter pleasures.
A Good Drink
A sazerac will do me just fine. Unless I have to make it (I am not handy behind a bar, in a kitchen, or really in any food & beverage capacity haha). Then it’s just Black Label on the rocks. Scotch is perfect for all occasions; well, at least that’s what I tell myself. So, I’ve got my two ice cubes, and I’ve got my glass about a quarter filled. Step one complete.
A Good Listen
Now we need tunes? I’m gonna have to say one of the multitudes of Steely Dan greatest hits collections. I grew up loving that particular blend of jazz/progressive rock and immaculate production. The songwriting was always beyond my comprehension as a youngster, but with scotch in hand, I can relate to the darkness, beauty, and irony of a song like “Deacon Blues”. The horn arrangements, the sax solo at the end. Bliss.
Steely Dan - Deacon Blues
A Good Read
We’re almost there, but we need a good read, huh? Admittedly, I don’t read nearly as much as I like to, but I really enjoy deep, philosophical and/or inspirational literature. My most favorite as of late, and a perfect balance to the deacon’s blues (see what I did there) would be Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements. Chock full of guidelines to keep your spirit righteous, and ways to keep the positive energy flowing. Somehow all of that mixed together, the scotch, the Steely Dan, and some philosophical food for thought, keep me inspired and center me when life gets a little crazy.
Video: Foy Vance, Regarding Your Lover
Foy Vance is from Northern Ireland, but has spent a good deal of his life rattling around the American South. Last year he released Joy of Nothing, which won the very first Northern Ireland Music Prize.
This year, he will, among other things, be appearing at the Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta.
I’ve been listening to his Daytrotter session for the last couple of days, and while all of the songs are great, Regarding Your Lover is the one I really love.
Foy Vance - Regarding Your Lover // The Live Sessions
Want more? Head over to his Soundcloud.