D é N O U E M E N T S

May 31, 2012 • 12:06 am 0

Los Campesinos!: “Tiptoe Through The True Bits” (MP3)

Septet supergroup Los Campesinos! have been all over this blog since they began dropping tracks off their last Hello Sadness. In fact, I have also written something about the record as well. Now, several months after it saw daylight, Gareth and Co. have decided to resurrect one of the lead singer’s favorite tracks that did not make the cut for the what came out as Hello Sadness— “Tiptoe Through The True Bits.” Given as free download via the band’s blog with lyrics, the track is heavy on narratives and bittersweet punches. What is always present in Los Campesinos! music is the band’s amusingly take on rather serious subjects compelled by Gareth’s ultra- descriptive wordings and the band’s massive, shamble of instruments after the second chorus. “Tiptoe Through The True Bits” immediately reminded me of that impish 1968 Tiny Tim track “Tiptoe Through The Tulips.” A wordplay perhaps?

DOWNLOAD ”Tiptoe Through The True Bits”

Filed under: Song/MP3 Parade, , , ,

April 18, 2012 • 12:45 am 0

The Walkmen: “Heaven”

“Remember, remember? All we fight for?” 

Hamilton Leithauser could be addressing his bandmates in The Walkmen’s new single “Heaven” as he sings those lines. The track, which happens to be the title track of their soon to be released album, sees the band pushing forth into ten years in their career. With a record almost every two years, totaling to Heaven being their sixth, fans have seen the original Washington DC band developed not only their sound but how they literally grew up performing. Personally, I like the band’s rough-around-the-edges sound, the band sounding both celebratory and reckless that eventually get polished in You & Me. Not that the sophistication of that record and Lisbon hurt the direction the band was gearing for. However in “Heaven,” The Walkmen seem to have loosen up a bit albeit the structured, tighter drumming. With the theme of remembering “lamented tale of distant years” supported with images of children, juvenile idealism and the torture of seeing those frozen memories change are all tensed in this track. At the end, Leithauser pleads of not being left alone, sounding all throaty and desperate. In the stream provided by the band’s label Fat Possum, it says “Radio Edit” which could mean that with the story edited in its shy of four minutes length lie a longer document, a clearly told lamentation that would delight us when the record is finally out.

The track can be downloaded/ previewed via iTunes or an MP3 link here. By now, you must know how to do it via Soundcloud as well.

The Walkmen: “Heaven”

Filed under: Musicians: Profiles & Interviews, Song/MP3 Parade, , , , , ,

April 11, 2012 • 1:18 am 0

Michael The Blind: “Another Circle of Fifths”

Michael Levasseur owns a musical biography that started the day his folks presented him a new guitar when he proved himself worthy of one after playing a battered instrument,  followed by numerous accounts that name-check famous alternative acts in the ’90s to the recent of working in a record store Everyday Music in Portland. In those years, ever since young, he has been fated with a career in music, as a struggling one-act, with his bands or as a record specialist. He has traveled extensively only to find himself restless town after town, looking for inspiration and maybe for good, settling back to his favorite town again. An anecdote to tell is when he saw a rising local player Elliot Smith while working as a dishwasher and starting his own band. In witnessing the late Smith, Levasseur felt the gape in his skills needed to be filled to speak clearly of his own visions.

Levasseur, making music under his moniker Michael The Blind, revels on his own experiences in creating luster in his songs.  “I had discovered by then that misery and uncertainty treated my lyrics better than happiness and security did, so it’s quite possible that I left school to pull the rug out from under myself,” he says.  After a couple of albums and playing solely as a folk act with his wife, Michael The Band expanded as a full band for his latest record Are’s & Els. With contributions from long time musician friends and the addition of Minna Choi and her Magik*Magik Orchestra (the same ensemble who also worked on a personal favorite How To Dress Well’s Just Once), Michael The Blind is set to release Are’s & Els this June 5th under Alder Street Records. The single, “Another Circle of Fifths,” is a re-worked track for the record with its guitar parts replaced by Choi’s string embellishments. The track is free for download at Michael the Blind’s Bandcamp page or right-click the link below.

DOWNLOAD: Michael The Blind: “Another Circle of Filths”

Filed under: Song/MP3 Parade, , ,

March 28, 2012 • 12:10 am 0

Sigur Rós: “Ekki múkk”

From their sixth studio album Valtari, everybody’s favorite band Sigur Rós released the track “Ekki múkk” together with an accompanying music video directed by Jónsi’s sister Inga Birgisdóttir. The track is a seven minute experience that threads fans into the signature  Sigur Rós sound of dreamy augustness in terms of instruments and vocals.  Thoroughly moving and sad,  ”Ekki múkk”  is not a far cry from their past singles, still capable of sensitive nudges in our hearts in its sudden rise and fall. The music video is stark in its simplicity featuring a steady shot at the sea with a boat crossing a length screened by sepia green effects overlapping from what seems like stars  or glimmering waters. The band posted an MP3 in their Soundcloud page which you can stream below. Valtari arrives May 28, 2012. Posted at the band’s website is a description by the band’s bassist Goggi Hólm discussing a short anecdote about the album:

“i really can’t remember why we started this record, i no longer know what we were trying to do back then. i do know session after session went pear-shaped, we lost focus and almost gave up…did give up for a while. but then something happened and form started to emerge, and now i can honestly say that it’s the only sigur rós record i have listened to for pleasure in my own house after we’ve finished it.”

*If you want to download an MP3 of “Ekki múkk,” there’s one floating in the interwebs here.

Filed under: Song/MP3 Parade, , , , ,

March 22, 2012 • 1:59 am 0

UNISON: “Brothers and Sisters”

The comparison that the duo UNISON is France’s answer to witch house flagbearer Salem has paved the way for much attention to the group even before its formal debut outside their native country. Blogs were quick to pick up the talk which later led to discovering UNISON’s music further rather than just dismissing them as a mere flavor of the month act. In their shore, members Julien Camarena and Melanie Moran are already recognized as one of the pioneers of witch house music which according to their vocabulary is “deathgaze”. The band itself finds the compliment due to some degree, “Like them, our identity is situated somewhere between the countryside and the city and that brings out a special way of perceiving things,” UNISON explains. Their self-titled debut has found a distribution deal after French label Letonia released it in France. Set on April 10, 2012, the first single off of UNISON is the LAMB sounding “Brothers and Sisters,” a five-minute number enamored by Moran’s ethereal voice set against electronic  clattering trance. A music video for “Brothers and Sisters” is also made in support of the single.

DOWNLOAD ”Brothers and Sisters” or stream it via Soundcloud.

Filed under: Song/MP3 Parade, , ,

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