Tag: video

No comments

A Good Read, a Good Listen, and a Good Drink: The Payroll Union

  By ,

 

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.

Is it right to describe someone’s voice as “woody”? (Another hurdle: is it possible to do so without calling a particular Monty Python’s Flying Circus sketch to people’s minds?) Because I realize that is what Pete David’s voice makes me think of: a dark, polished wood. Perhaps mahogany or a particularly richly-hued and knotty cherry. It’s pleasing to the senses, but its many rings and swirls have stories tucked into them.

So, too, could be described the music of Pete David’s band, the Payroll Union. I’ve heralded the Payroll Union here before for their instantly-effecting music and the rich history that makes up the bulk of the stories told in their songs, and I’m happily anticipating their first full-length album, slated for release this autumn. The band is offering a free track from their forthcoming album, one new track each month, at their site (click “free song” in the header) through September.

Today, Pete shares a few recommendations with us.

 

“Mary Lamson” – The Payroll Union

 

Good Read:
1776 by David McCullough
I’m currently in the middle of The Civil War, Shelby Foote’s epic narrative and though it’s engrossing, he still doesn’t beat David McCullough for bringing history to life. McCullough’s research, his even-handedness and his economy of words all combine to create an incredibly vivid picture. He is able to give such a strong sense of presence to history and show how extraordinary – and in some cases, unlikely – events were. For this reason, I’ve chosen 1776, his book on events of the Revolutionary War during that year. You understand why New York delegates to the Continental Congress were wary of supporting the Declaration of Independence as 30,000 troops gradually sailed towards their city. They would have been hung as traitors, if caught. To give that figure some context, Philadelphia was then the largest city of the thirteen colonies, with a population of around 30,000. The sense of fear and trepidation is brilliantly conveyed by the author. Ultimately, McCullough’s skill is in presenting ‘his’ characters as real people and not just impressive figures. Washington, Howe, Greene, they all emerge with their flaws and strengths painted without – seemingly – any great bias.

Good Listen:
Tonight’s the Night, Neil Young
There’s plenty of good recent music I’m listening to at the moment – Slim Cessna’s Autoclub, Neva Dinova, Waters – but there are only a handful of albums I consistently return to and one I’ve recently put on the player again and have done for the past 11 years, is Neil Young’s Tonight’s The Night. A couple of years ago, I finally got round to getting it on vinyl and it’s given me another burst of enthusiasm for what is probably – if I really had to pick one – my favourite record. To describe it as ragged would be an understatement. The vocals, cracked and drunk, are beautifully broken; guitars crash and tumble; piano keys are clumsily tinkled. It swells around you in a similar way to Exile On Main Street, but Tonight’s The Night is both drunk and sad. This is an album about grief, and the sense that the band are on the edge of falling apart pervades the whole record. I love Neil Young, and he has consistently made great records, but none better than this.

 

 

Good Drink:
Timothy Taylor’s Landlord
No doubt about this one. My desert island beer is and always has been Timothy Taylor’s Landlord. Full, hoppy but not overpowering and a perfect 4.3% ABV. Every pint is deeply satisfying. Tastes great from a bottle too, which has, on the label, a lovely picture of a jolly, bald, rotund man (presumably the landlord) grasping firmly a tankard of the foamy beverage. Great beer from one of the many great Yorkshire breweries.

 

“Jake the Pistol” – The Payroll Union

 

The Payroll Union @ Bandcamp

The Payroll Union @ Facebook

 

No comments

Kojo “Easy” Damptey: A Revolution Full of Uncertainty

  By

 

Arriving in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, to study chemical engineering at McMaster University, Kojo “Easy” Damptey noticed obvious differences between his new northern home and his birthplace of Accra, Ghana, Africa, like the overwhelming cold. But a perhaps more affecting difference he found was in the people.

“In Ghana there is a proverb that states ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, this is the driving force for most communities back in Ghana,” Damptey says. But in Canada, he found people kept to themselves, “black people would only interact with black people, Italians would socialize with Italians, etc.” Even something as simple as a ride on public transit, where most Ghanaians are open to personal interaction, became an illustration of social divides as most Canadians seemed hesitant to interact. (This is, at least, Damptey’s experience and points out that others have had different experiences, but I think most Canadians and Americans reading this find truth in his assessment.)

But Damptey found connections with like-minded people through his discovery of FruityLoops and MPCs (MIDI/music production centers). As he began to produce beats like those of the hip hop artists he had listened to in his youth – DMX, Nas, Tupac Shakur – he became involved with other musicians at his university, musicians who were playing instruments and touring. He was then inspired to teach himself piano, which Damptey says, “took years, but eventually I pulled through.”

Broadening his artistic skills and drawing on his hip hop influences as well as soul and reggae influences, Damptey began collaborating with other artists, including Kae Sun, whose Damptey-produced album Soliloquy album won Rap/Hip Hop Recording of the Year in the 2006 Hamilton Music Awards.

Now Damptey has self-released his own EP, The EP – available via Bandcamp and iTunes. An artist of strong social conscience, Damptey highlights issues of immigration, apathy, and a common factor he finds between the people of Ghana and the people of Canada, poverty and the struggle to find jobs and support families.

“All these issues are complex issues that are never discussed out in the open unless it affects someone we know. My aim is to bring these issues to the forefront so we can talk about it and hopefully find a way to deal with it in our society,” Damptey says. “I would like people to listen to the words, ponder over the words, and realize we are all connected in the world by the choices we make everyday.”

 

 

When first listening to The EP, I was struck by Damptey’s soulful approach to hip hop beats and the large amount of heart poured into the music, words, and vocals. The track “Africa” is easily my favorite on the ep, inspiring me to play it repeatedly the first night I listened.

 

 

Damptey’s future holds a collaboration with hip hop group Canadian Winter (Daylight Robbery, due out later this year), as well as a documentary centering on the efforts of Hamilton community organizations, agents and low-income leaders to provide a living wage for all Hamilton citizens.

 

Kojo “Easy” Damptey Official Website

Kojo “Easy” Damptey @ Bandcamp

Kojo “Easy” Damptey @ Twitter

 

No comments

Y’all Need to Listen to This: Blind Pilot, We Are The Tide

  By

Right now, as I am writing this, it about nine million degrees in my apartment – hello, early summer heatwave, how are ya? – and Blind Pilot are like a cool refreshing glass of lemonade.

There are six of them – Israel Nebeker (vocals, guitar), Ryan Dobrowski (drums), Luke Ydstie (upright bass, backing vocals), Kati Claborn (banjo, dulcimer, backing vocals), Ian Krist (vibraphones) and Dave Jorgensen (keyboards, trumpet) – and they come from Portland, Oregon, bearing delicious harmonies and lush, complex lyrics.

(Which they provide in PDF format on their website, thus endearing themselves to me even further. GO TEAM LINER NOTES!)

This is Half Moon, the first song on their new record, We Are The Tide:
 


 

And this is New York, the last song on the record, which I am posting partially because it is lovely and partially because they are playing here, in New York, at Webster Hall, on June 5:
 


 

After that the tour winds around quite a bit. And finally, for those of you squinting at festival line-ups and trying to decide which acts you’d like to catch: they’ll be at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, the Newport Folk Festival and Firefly.

No comments

Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real : Wasted

  By

Album art by Micah Nelson

Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real are: Lukas Nelson (vocals/guitar), Anthony LoGerfo (drums), Tato Melgar (percussion), and Corey McCormick (bass).

If I had to find a place in the canon for them, I’d put them in next to Dan Baird and Homemade Sin and/or the Kentucky Headhunters. They have the same kind of fusion of country, blues and pure rock and roll swagger.

For example, here they are performing Wasted, the first single from this record, on Letterman. Be sure to turn it up, and then get out of your chair, because you will want to clap your hands and shake your booty around.
 

Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real - Wasted - David Letterman 4-3-12

 
Though Mr. Nelson can croon with the best of them. Here’s another one from the record. It’s called Can You Hear Me Love You and it’s a sweet, beautiful love song that melts my heart every time I listen to it. Which is frequently, because I love it.
 
Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real - Can You Hear Me Love You

 
And finally, just for fun, here is Mr. Nelson singing with his father:
 
http://youtu.be/aysCPYgMQlk

No comments

Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires: Everything You Took

  By

Lee Bains (of the Dexateens) and his new band the Glory Fires rolled out their debut, There is a Bomb [sic] in Gilead, this week. I dig this country-tinged southern soul track “Everything You Took”.

 

 

You can download a full live show, from a March 23 performance at the Bama Theatre in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, just by clicking this link.

You can also catch them on the road right now, including a stop at the much-loved Deep Blues Fest in Minnesota (the return of the original!) in late June.

May 17 – Oxford, MS – Proud Larry’s
May 18 – Little Rock, AR – White Water Tavern
May 19 – Batesville, AR – Lucero Family Picnic w/ Lucero, Shooter Jennings
May 24 – Mobile, AL – Alabama Music Box w/ Nightmare Boyzzz
May 25 – Tuscaloosa, AL – Green Bar
May 26 – Athens, GA – Caledonia Lounge
May 27 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl w/ Glen Iris / Dirty Souls
June 21 – Louisville, KY – Zanzabar
June 24 – Rock Island, IL – Daytrotter Session
June 26 – Madison, WI – Mickey’s Tavern
June 27 – Milwaukee, WI – Quarter’s Rock’n’Roll Palace
June 28 – Minneapolis, MN – Palmer’s Bar
June 29 – Bayport, MN – Deep Blues Fest

 

Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires Official Website

Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires @ Alive Records

Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires @ Facebook

No comments

Deafheaven: Roads to Judah

  By

Deafheaven was initially George Clark (vocals) and Kerry McCoy (guitar), and now includes Joey Bautista (guitar), Derek Prine (bass), and Korey Severson (drums). They are from San Francisco, and Roads to Judah is their debut album.

And oh, what an album it is, too. I guess technically their genre is metal, or hardcore, or something like that – I think I saw one description that referred to it as “metal sludge” – but all of those terms are either wholly inadequate or just wrong.

Roads to Judah is a lot of things, but mostly it is awesome, in the original sense of the word: both beautiful, and a little scary. It’s majestic. It’s orchestral, if the orchestra in question had listened to Metal Machine Music several times, meditated on it for a week, and then sat down to jam about their feelings.

Here is an example of what I mean. This is Violet, the first song on the record:
 

 

And in contrast, here is Tunnel of Trees, the last song:
 

 

And here is an excerpt from their SXSW 2012 set:
 

Deafheaven - "Language Games" @ The Bat Bar SXSW '12

 
For more information visit the Deafheaven official website.

Band photo by June Zandona.

No comments

A Good Read, a Good Listen, and a Good Drink: Daniel Knox

  By ,

 

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.

 

I am pleased to have the king of sardonic heart taking part in this series. Sardonic heart? you ask. Yes, because while Daniel Knox will make you laugh – if your humor is of a certain darker inclination – if you dig further down, you will find deep and jagged truths that might catch you on their barbs as they cling to your clothes with their familiarity. Yes, the world is broken, and we’re broken in it, but sit here a while, and we’ll share a grim laugh together.

 

 

Good Read:
Ask The Dust by John Fante
The most prominent in a series of novels about Fante’s alter-ego Arturo Bandini. I love all of Fante’s work but I’ve read this book more times than I can remember. Bandini is pure ego and contradiction, cursing someone and admiring them in the same breath. His writing style is full of a rambling honesty that doesn’t hold back. Anyone who has ever tried to write or create something will recognize Bandini’s courage and doubt as their own.

“The Road To Los Angeles” makes a good companion to this, as does “Dreams From Bunker Hill” which Fante wrote blind and limbless from his deathbed.

There was a piece of shit movie made of “Ask The Dust” in 2006. Don’t even bother watching the trailer. It’s the worst.

Good Listen:
“Gondola No Uta” (from Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru) by Traditional.
I’ve always favored voices with character over ones with skill. I work as a projectionist and this song from the end of the film “Ikiru” always made me run out to the balcony to take it in whenever it showed. His voice is so small and on the verge of cracking, but I can’t imagine it sung better.

 

 

Good Drink:
I quit drinking a few years ago but not out of any great dramatic epiphany. I knew I was either bad at it or too good to keep going. But the best times I had were drinking alone and getting lost.

I used to drink the hell out of scotch but if I had to recommend a drink recipe to anyone it would be this:

wake up disoriented on a winter morning when you have nothing to do
take a box of DayQuill® gelcaps
follow this with a bottle of vodka
close your eyes
open them and you will be outside
now you are on a bus
sit on the back middle seat where it is warm and slightly elevated
feel the arms of the bus wrap around you as the city you live in passes both very fast and very slow all at once
show up someplace you haven’t been before.

 

Daniel Knox Official Website

Daniel Knox @ Tumblr

Daniel Knox @ Twitter

Daniel Knox @ Facebook

2 Comments

Happy Birthday, Greg Dulli!

  By

Joe Strummer is the patron saint of Now This Sound Is Brave, but Greg fucking Dulli is the love of my musical life. To celebrate his birthday, here is one of my favorite Dulli performances: The Afghan Whigs covering Barry White’s “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe” at the MTV party for the late Ted Demme’s Beautiful Girls.

It’s going to be a great year.

 

http://youtu.be/U5cY7YduMlU

No comments

Hella Better Dancer: Living Room

  By

Hella Better Dancer is Tilly Scantlebury (Vocals/Guitar), Josh Cohen (Bass), Soph Nathan (Lead Guitar/BVs), and Chris O’Driscoll (Drums). They are from London, and Living Room is the dreamy, melancholy, low-fi masterpiece they recorded using just the internal mic on a laptop.

It is only about ten minutes long, but it is a very beautiful ten minutes.

This is the video for the first track, Brother:
 

Brother - Hella Better Dancer

 
This is After School, the second track on Living Room, which, you guys, this is a gem of a song. A dark, delicate gem, glimmering amid a pile of fallen leaves in a bruised post-rainstorm landscape:
 

 
And finally, here they are live and using regular mics, at Stop Look Listen at Native Tongue with Hands, which was one of their demos:
 
http://youtu.be/nSJ3ldZAmLo
 

They also have two other EPs out, Swimming and Please Stay Here; you can hear selections from those records at Soundcloud and the band website.

Upcoming shows:
May 11, Amersham Arms, London, UK
May 19, Power’s Bar, London, UK
May 21, Birthdays, London, UK
May 24, The Lock Tavern, London, UK
May 26, Spice Of Life, London, UK
Jun 10, Sebright Arms, London, UK
Jun 16, 93 Feet East, London, UK
Jun 29, Leefest 2012, Highhams Hill Farm, Warlingham, UK