Los Angeles’s own Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is continuing to explode on the collective consciousness of many indie-minded music lovers across the nation. This 12-piece bible-campers-turned-indie-folk-artists was recently in studio at a TSS favorite Daytrotter to give a live performance of some tunes off their newly release album titled “Up from Below“. Those who have had the pleasure of witnessing this band live understand that these bootlegs capture the band much more than a studio record ever could. For those of you who have not seen them live, Edward Sharpe will be back in the home land on Sept. 22nd at the El Rey. Enjoy the free mp3s.

1. Home
2. 40 Day Dream
3. Black Water
4. Up From Below

I came across Ed Harcourt randomly; the best way to find artists. He’s not from the states, so he has not been heard of by a lot of people. I like all his music so far. I put the link to get “Here be Monsters” from Amazon for only $5, right below. The album is around a Nine for me. It is very well made, and full of catchy songs. It’s a really clever and light-hearted CD, that if you put in your car, you’ll know all the words and melodies by heart. He’s a pleasant songwriter and I hope yall get the cd (I do not encourage listening to the samples because they are not indicative of the cd at all)…so, just dish out the 5.

Listen, you know who my brother is. We both have the best tastes in music and listen to the best music, and no one can tell us otherwise…not even each other.

Ed Harcourt – Here Be Monsters

Rock out like you get paid to disturb the peace

I was introduced to Nomo at my apartment, and it instantly took me back to the first time I had heard head hunters. I haven’t been able to stop listening to it since. I called my brother in New York to tell him about it. He was at work as I was describing them and did a quick search. “Ann Arbor, MI based post-afrobeat dance explosion?” he asked. Exactly. It would be impossible to review the album as a whole as each independent track has a unique flavor and texture to itself, but I can say that the juxtaposition of modern beat sampling, funk-inspired rhythms, thick and crunchy horn choruses, and sax solos makes Ghost Rock incredible. It definitely gives you a direct order to rock the fuck out.

Check the album here:

Just Part of the Family

Supposedly Built to Spill has been living in LA for the past couple of months recording their new album due out October 6th. Why they have not been playing a residency at Spaceland every Monday night is beyond me because lord knows I (and probably you) would have been there every week. But that is all in the past now, Built to Spill is scheduled to be playing a show at the newly reopened Galaxy Theater in Costa Mesa. I was shocked when I saw this but it is in fact true; Doug Martsch and team will be playing in the OC just following their Sunset Junction Street Fair performance.

Over the past three years, Built to Spill (both recorded and live) has come to mean more and more to me as time passes. I remember the first time I heard Perfect From Now On, I thought to myself good but not great. Well first impressions are often quite wrong because it is close to perfection in my estimation now. Another example, the first time I saw Built to Spill live was at the Anaheim House of Blues (shit venue fyi) when George Pants was desperately attempting to make me a believer in their sound. I just stood there during the show relatively unimpressed by this mild mannered Idahoan who chirped a sheepish “Thanks” after every song. Fast forward 4 years, I am tap-foot dancing, transfixed to their every move at a Henry Fonda show. Life is weird, sometimes you just are not ready to hear something until you are ready. My hope is that you will not be as stubborn as I once was and experience the magic yourself.
Here is a gift from the very night I realized the greatness of BTS live. Enjoy the appetizer prior to the main course.

Built to Spill – Live at Henry Fonda, LA 7.27.2007

I have 6 tickets to the show @ $28 a piece.

1. Capt AKAK
2. JP
3. Katie
4. Bruce
5. Kia
6. Chuckles

1. Pants
2. ??

Deal of the Day at Amazon

Beware of Maniacs was epic. Visiter was great. Time to Die is ?????. You tell me after you download it for $3. Also FYI Free show with them playing at the Getty on August 8th 2009.

A close friend of the TSS community made a New Order compilation about a month ago for me to learn more about the band that used to be Joy Division. I was completely unfamiliar with New Order (I had heard about them obviously but owned nothing)  until about a year ago when this same person burnt me, their 1983 album titled Power, Corruption & Lies (Pitchfork 9.6). I just got around to listening to it two months ago and was wholly impressed, particularly with the opening song Age of Consent. The album contains the better parts of drumming from Joy Division, but is much less heavy in nature even though the lyrics contain similar meanings. All of it sounds just like how I would remember the 80’s if I had been alive for much of it.

My favorite part of the compilation was the little piece of paper attached to the disc with a typed up playlist marking what year the songs were recorded. This piece of paper was subsequently scanned to be a part of the TSS Compilation artwork.

Asobi Seksu – Strings from album Citrus.

MP3 of the day. Seriously. While driving into work this morning stuck in traffic, this song came on the ipod shuffle. I had forgotten. Now I remember. So should you.

This month’s compilation holds a very special place in my heart. It was given to me back in 2002 when I was barely listening to any music outside of electronic/techno. The person who produced this cd has asked to remain anonymous, but know that I respect his/her musical tastes more than most. This compilation marks the first time I ever heard a song from the likes of Belle and Sebastian or Modest Mouse; two bands that have been a staple in my diet ever since…..

Note from the producer: “This mix CD is from 2002. It was mixed on a crappy old school laptop that ran Windows98. By the end of the mix if you made any changes you’d have to wait ten minutes for the computer to render out the entire waveform. The program that I mixed it with came on a floppy disk. I got the samples in via tape deck to the computer’s line in jack. The Alan Watts samples are from his radio show that was playing on 90.7 FM in Los Angeles at the time and the Kesey thing was from NPR…I used to have a tape in the deck at all times to record interesting segments. The Grapes of Wrath is the source for the other quotes…my favorite movie. There are also some Bob Dylan “Don’t Look Back” quotes in there too.
You have to have an open mind to get into this CD…at times a very open mind. I wasn’t trying to be cutting edge or hip w/ the music…every piece meant something in relation to the album’s theme and should be taken completely out of their respective musical genre/zeitgeist contexts.
It’s a good roadtrip CD or a good CD for cutting and stacking wood.”

Additionally the compiler of this album believes that “not letting people know the track names ahead of time is important. If they want to know they can look in the notes. That way it’s more of a surprise and an experience, as opposed to thinking ahead of time “I hate the ………” or any thoughts like that.” I must say I agree.

Camus said there is only one serious philosophical question, which is whether or not to commit suicide.

We now have another question to consider: should a person download the Grizzly Bear leak or not?

It’s an interesting question, the guy from Grizzly Bear doesn’t seem to care much beyond the fact that it sounds crappy (it does).

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4751554/Grizzly_Bear_%5B2009%5D_Veckatimest_-_rxc

and

http://iguessimfloating.blogspot.com/2009/03/grizzly-bears-veckatimest-leaked.html

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more bootlegs

If you can get over the ancient html design eye-sore, this site has quite the selection. Scroll a bit down and look to the right to see the complete archive and then a little further down for the healthy list of artists.