Blog Archives

December 17, 2010

Happy Holidays from Grand Hallway = An Album’s Worth of Demos and Covers For Free

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Tomo Nakayama ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

God bless Grand Hallway. Instead of sharing another tired Christmas cover for the holidays the band has released an album chock full of demos and quirky covers for free. Ever want to hear what “Raindrops” and “Sirens” sounded like before the orchestra got hold of it and made it “grand?” Or to hear Tomo Nakayama cover the theme song to Punky Brewster or The Golden Girls? Or the songs that didn’t make the cut for Promenade? You are in luck.

Save hearing some of my favorite local songs of recent memory as raw bedroom demos, stripped of any pretense and laid bare as poetry, the highlight of the 12 song album is Tomo’s cover of Paul Westeberg’s “Dyslexic Heart.” A song known by Seattle music and movie fans the world over as the love-it-or-hate-it theme song from Singles. Judge me all you wish, but I have always been decidedly on the love side of this debate. Knowing a genius like Tomo agrees with me, takes “Dyslexic Heart” from guilty pleasure to me proudly claiming this right now: I shrieked in glee when I saw it on this tracklist.

You can stream the entire album below or for the low cost of your email address, you can download it for free yourself.

October 7, 2010

The Daily Choice: White Denim – Home Together

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What I think this new track from White Denim sounds like:

1.  The beginnings of an 80s Christmas movie.  You know the part where some hapless spouse or father or shmuck is trying to race through a store to grab a box of chocolates or some plastic robot for their slack-jawed relatives.  That part, you know, sans puddles of instrumentation.  Or maybe Manheim Steamroller.  Yeah that’s the ticket, Manheim Steamroller.

2.  An 80s educational film.  Replace White Denim’s lyrics about being together and such, and replace them with “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” or “The Alphabet Song” and I think there’s a pretty good love match.

3.  Something completely different than what we’ve heard from these Texans before.  You have to love White Denim for never settling on anything for longer than a track, at best an album.  It’s always a steady move towards change, and this track seems to be pushing them out of the sludge and weirdness (in a good way) that defined Fits and in to a peppier, perhaps poppier realm of existence.

4.  Freedom.  Yup, the boys from down South are giving away their entire new album Last Day Of Summer for free (or a guilt-driven donation) right here.  Go and get it!

White Denim – Home Together

June 22, 2010

The Daily Choice: Kurt Vile – Invisibility: Nonexistent

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Kurt Vile, prolific sum’bitch that he is, has released another one.  This time in the form of a free EP that once again captures his sort of crusty, brittle take on Americana.  It is, as any Kurt Vile release ever is, moody and deeply immersed in the backwater towns of this strange country we, or at least most of we, call home.

Also entertaining, the whole damn thing is free.

And you can pick it up here for FREE courtesy of Matador.

Kurt Vile – Invisibility: Nonexistent

Source: Weekly Tape Deck

April 16, 2008

Free Yoko Ringo Show Tomorrow Night

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I haven’t missed a Yoko Ringo concert yet and I don’t plan to start tomorrow. A little psychedelic heart-ache sounds like just the thing I need.

If you haven’t checked out what Brad Kaufman’s been doing since Iceage Cobra, the time is now and the show is free.