"Paul Cries" Think About Life

Okay, Montreal. You win. Relax. Eat a piece of fruit.

"Paul Cries" Think About Life

"Dancing Girls and Dancing Men" Robert Pollard

I already posted this fucking song. Way back in the beginning when no one read this thing. But then I discovered a free download and I couldn't deny my new readers this gem from the aging King Shit himself. Bob Pollard was the front man and back bone of the greatest band of all time. Now he's fifty-something and trying to nurse his liver back to health while recording weird little pop songs in Dayton, Ohio. If you're a GBV fan it's worth checking the sounds page on his website. There's a bunch of early demos of great songs like Things That I Will Keep and Official Ironmen Rally Song.

"Dancing Girls And Dancing Men" Robert Pollard

"In The Morning" Junior Boys

When did skinny, sensitive, Canadians start making all the dope beats? If I’m Timbaland or Pharrell, I’m getting nervous. Junior Boys definitely have a way with the drum machine but their song writing isn’t too shabby neither. Their first full length, Last Exit, drew on influences as disparate as Prince, Depeche Mode and Christian Fennesz to build a complex but oddly smooth pop opus. This is the first single from their highly anticipated second LP, So This is Goodbye. Turn it up.

"In The Morning" Junior Boys

Largo

Largo is a dinner club on Fairfax Ave in Hollywood. Five years ago, my good friend John W dragged me along to see a young film composer named Jon Brion who played, and still plays, a weekly residency there. He performed the entire show on his own, with a scattering of instruments, a sequencer, and a microphone. He would build these towering walls of looped sounds and then sing beautiful melodies that cut right through them. If it ever was, Brion's talent isn't a secret anymore, having written some of the most inspired film scores of the decade (see: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I Heart Huckabees and Punch Drunk Love) Now that he's mastered that form, he's moving into more original songwriting with his new CD, Meaningless. All this is to preface my recommendation of Largo's website, which has a plethora of really nicely recorded performances by artist like Elliot Smith, Aimee Mann, Grant Lee Phillips, Tenacious D and, of course, Jon Brion. I suggest starting with his song from the Punch Drunk Love soundtrack, Here We Go.

Follow this link and click on "Audio - Video":

Largo Website

"Funeral" Band of Horses

A relationship is a two-way street. And yes, over the years, we've supported the music of our sister city to to the south. But what have we done for them lately? They listen to Black Mountain and The New Pornographers, so it's only fair that we should pay close attention to Band of Horses. This song, from their debut, Everything All The Time, is another goosebumper. I guess that's my steez these days. If you like it, they have more free downloads on their website. And my friend Nathaniel knows what bar they hang out at.

"Funeral" Band of Horses

Media Update

I've been catching a lot of flak about all the dead links on my blog. If someone knows of some free hosting for me to post mp3s more permanently, do tell. But in the meantime, I'm gonna link to existing free downloads on label sites whenever possible so the tracks will be available indefinitely. I went through the last 20 or so entries and either fixed the links, added new links to another song or video by the artist, or labelled them dead. So, I encourage you to go back and explore, but if you get to Michael Andrews, you've gone too far.

Hope everyone's summer is going swimmingly.

PS If you haven't met the grape lady, say hello to fucking hilarious...

Grape Lady (video)

"Lowlife" Scanners

This song is killing me. Killing me. I've had goose pimples for three days straight. Downloader beware. You may experience sprawling whimsy, tingling daydreaminess and severe melancholly while listening. Thanks to Tony P for hipping me. I get the one in the blue dress.

"Lowlife" Scanners

"Cowbell" Tapes 'n Tapes

I like these guys. They're from Minne- apolis. Like Bob Dylan, and Brother Ali, and Jerry Lundegaard. So, points right there. Plus they write lyrics like, "Even now/ In solitude and stress/ I've been a better lover with your mother." Whatever that means. As long as they're not talking about my mother, I don't give a shit. This track is from their debut full-length, The Loon. If you like it, they have a bunch more free mp3s on their website.

"Cowbell" Tapes 'n Tapes

"Night Rider" Girl Talk

I don't like posting stuff that Pitchfork is currently hyping because, you know, why bother. But I couldn't sleep nights if I didn't draw as much attention to this record as possible. Girl Talk is this dude from Pittsburgh who has taken the mash-up form and pushed it into the realm of the mentally unstable. He samples riffs/verses/beats from a retarded number of sources and crams them into dancefloor bangers, making Z-Trip look like a lazy fuckin deadbeat. Night Rider, is his third release and I suspect you'll be hearing a lot of it this summer. Here's your head-start.

PS I'm going to start linking to existing mp3 downloads whenever possible (label sites, etc.) so the tracks will be available indefinitely.

"Smash You Head" Girl Talk
"Bounce That" Girl Talk
"Hold Up" Girl Talk

"Playhouses" TV on the Radio

In case you ain't heard, TV on the Radio's new album, Return to Cookie Mountain, is out. I haven't been listening to much else for the past week. (Why go out when you got the good shit at home?) This will be the record that nudges them into householdnamedom. So, if you want to feel like you're in on the secret, you better hurry. They have some funny video promos on their website. David Cross is in one and the kid from Me and You and Everyone We Know plays the President in another. Nothin wrong with that.

"Playhouses" TV on the Radio (dead link)

"Ya Playin Yaself (Mugwort)" MF Doom vs Jeru The Damaja

When Jeru dropped his second album, Wrath of the Math in '96 with the epic Premiere beats, the playa-hatin lyrics and that oh-so buttery flow, me and my Maple Ridge friends decided that as long as we had a big bag of weed and the CD on repeat, we would never have to leave my parents garage. Alas, the spell wore off and the last of us left the garage some years ago. But, thanks to guys like MF Doom, that dank, resin-stained, concrete box lives on in the 2G, if only in our hearts. Here's a track from one of Metal Face's numerous instrumental/accapella Special Blend releases.

"Ya Playin Yaself (Mugwort)" MF Doom vs Jeru The Damaja (dead link)

"Did I Step On Your Trumpet" Danielson

Look at these upstanding young citizens. They don't want to kick your ass. They just want to play you some really eccentric pop music. The dude in front is Daniel Smith from Clarksboro, New Jersey. He and his revolving-door collaborators record under the name Danielson. (which I choose to believe is a clever Karate Kid reference) And their new album, Ships, is receiving quite the critical rim-job. Allow me to toss my humble tongue into the mix. This album is full of surprises. A new song jumps out at me with every listen. You can safely file it next to your Arcade Fire, Decemberists, Frog Eyes and Sufjan Stevens albums. Just don't tell Daniel. I think he'd prefer to live beside Wesley Willis.

"Did I Step On Your Trumpet" Danielson

"Still Life" The Russian Futurists

The Russian Futurists is this kid, Matthew Adam Hart, from Toronto. I don't go in for nationalism much but this guy has me scarfing down canadian flags smothered in maple syrup. Trying to describe his sound is an exercise in futility. Maybe...Sufjan Stevens produced by Mad Lib? Ugh. I knew I shouldn't have tried.

"Still Life" The Russian Futurists (dead link)
"Paul Simon" The Russian Futurists (permanent link)

"Knock That Door" Enon

Enon is one of those bands. Those bands you know you'll probably like but choose to ignore because you don't want to be into a band called Enon. Well, I'm hear to tell you to get over it. Try to not like this song from their 2005 release of b-sides and rarities, Lost Marbles and Exploded Evidence. If you can do it, I'll never mention them again. And yes, that's the girl from Blonde Redhead.

"Knock That Door" Enon (dead link)

"Everywhere" Paul Devro

You have to have pretty sublime taste to pull off mash-ups anymore. And even more sublime taste to pull off a mash-up of Hollaback Girl; the most relentlessly, violently, annoyingly remixed song in the history of the universe. So, rats off to local DJ, Paul Devro. You know Stevie doesn't hollaback. Love the bird.

"Everywhere" Paul Devro (dead link)

PS Lots of great mixes on his website.

"I Need Love" LL Cool J

This is the first rap song I ever slow-danced to. Come to think of it, this is the only rap song I ever slow-danced to. How come we don't get more slow-dance rap songs? Maybe it's because love-searches make us bug.

"I Need Love" LL Cool J (dead link)

"The Dugout" Ladyhawk

In honour of their debut CD, which hits stores tomorrow (o6-06-06), here's a song from the next big thing out of East Van; Ladyhawk. This first single is surprisingly clean and accessible. I kinda miss the ear-bleed guitars and yelping vocals of their live show but I guess it's cool to actually hear the melodies and lyrics.

"The Dugout" Ladyhawk

"Llorando (Crying)" Rebekah Del Rio

Remember?

"Llorando (Crying)" Rebekah Del Rio (dead link)

"The Spell" The Black Heart Procession

A lot of people don’t know that San Diego is actually the saddest place in the world. Don’t let the leaping dolphins and swimsuit models fool you. It’s a soul sucking hell-hole. At least that’s what I take from The Black Heart Procession’s music. These guys can out melancholy bands from Berlin, Reykjavik, even Seattle. Although, my suspicion that this was something of an affectation was confirmed when I saw them play live and they kept cracking corny jokes about their beer guts. It was a bit of a relief to know that no one was really that depressed. No matter what their motivations, BHP have been remarkably consistent in the quality and character of their music over the past decade. And here, on their 5th full length, they continue to make the sexiest suicide music going.

"The Spell" The Black Heart Procession (dead link)
"Not Just Words" The Black Heart Procession (permanent link)

"I Need Somebody" Iggy and the Stooges

It must have been fun to be Iggy Pop. It probably still is, but you know, in the 70's. You get to parade across the stage, jeans hanging off your perfect ass, growling into the mic while every single person in the audience simultaneously wishes with all their heart that they were just a little bit like you. But nobody is anything like you so you got nothing to worry about.

"I Need Somebody" Iggy and The Stooges (dead link)