First off, Decyfer Down are doing a new album and they are starting it off on Kickstarter. Please help them out. They are a great sounding christian hard rock group that deserves the chance to make more great music.
There is a bunch of new music coming out this year but I don't have release dates so I don't want to get anyone's hopes up yet. I will give you a short list of artists though:
The XX
Radiohead
Nada Surf
Faith No More
Death Cab For Cutie
Mumford and Sons
The Smashing PumpkinsI have also got two concerts lined up but they are for closer to spring than still during winter. They are for OK Go and The Dodos. The new Dodos album will also be released later this month.
Links to hear every song on this episode are in the album headings this time. Here we go with the first episode...
Every year 89.3 The Current puts out a live album of bands
and tracks that were recorded live in their studios when bands stop by before
or after their scheduled concerts. Every year I get a copy. If there is a vinyl
option I will get that and if there is a box set (CD and vinyl plus other
goodies) I will get that. This year the radio station offered a box set with the
CD, vinyl, poster and fold out box for all ten CDs to fit into. I also have the
first founding member release and the 5 Year Birthday CD. Although it is tight
both of those fit in this foldout box with the other ten CDs. Both of these are
card sleeve CD cases and this is why they just barely fit in this case. Now I
just need The Current to press the hand full of other albums on vinyl that
haven’t been yet. This year the album is on black vinyl, just a bit
disappointing really. I can forgive it though because they included a second
album basically for free; see Cover To Cover below. Usually I get this package
in early November. This year I didn’t get this album until late December
because of Record Store Day Black Friday (RSDBF). The majors are jumping on this
special day now just like RSD and backing up any vinyl processing. This causes
problems for any small run that needs to get out like this record or a
Halloween related 7” record for example.
Usually there are only one or two tracks that I look forward
to hearing on these albums but this year I was excited about six tracks on this
eighteen track album. The first track is from Bon Iver. It is the song Flume
from the first album, For Emma, Forever Ago. This means that they have taken
tracks not from the previous year but across multiple years. I think this is
because it is a celebration of the past ten hears and not just the past year.
This version is played slower than the album version and it is only Justin
Vernon and an acoustic guitar. It makes the song starker with no multi-tracked
vocals and extra guitar embellishments. It isn’t sadder than the studio version
but more for The Current Studios than for the listener. At least that is how I
feel about this version. I like it for what it is but the studio version I
would rather hear.
The next song that I was excited to hear from the album is
from Phoenix called Lisztomania from the album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. This
is a mostly acoustic version of this song too. I think it gives the song a new
dimension. The keyboards are still synthesized organ but the guitar is
acoustic. I think that this gives the song a thinner sound but at the same time
a funer poppier feel. I don’t hear any bass but acoustic bass is supper quiet. Because
there is no bass in this version is the reason that the song is thin sounding
to me. This is the problem with most acoustic songs in my mind. There are two
acoustic guitars and the organ with the vocals though.
Beach House plays the super smooth track called Norway from
their album Teen Dream. This is a recreation of the studio version and sounds
just as beautiful. I actually have a second version that they played at The
Current studios back in 2010. This version was given as a limited digital
download for Live Current Vol. 6. Members had a limited time to get an
additional six tracks as a download card with purchase of Vol. 6. I was one of
those lucky members to get that download card. So now I have two versions of
this song from The Current. I actually prefer the version on the Vol. 6
download because the mix is quieter and the vocals are so mellow compared to
the Vol. 10 version.
Mike Doughty did an acoustic version with upright bass for
the song 27 Jennifers. This song appears on both Rockity Roll and Golden
Delicious. I am more a fan of Soul Coughing than Mikes solo carrier but this is
still a fun song. The story is silly and makes me smile when I here it though.
It is Mikes vocals though so I still get that Soul Coughing vibe still.
The next song I wanted to hear was from Spoon. It is the
song Don’t You Evah from the album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. With this live version you
get right into the song. The studio version of the song has some chatter
between the singer and the guy doing the recording. This is a live version not
an acoustic version so it has electric guitar and bass in the song. It is very
close to the album version though with some minor discrepancies. It is a good
version of the song as they are a professional group and they make it all line
up perfectly.
I was so excited that there was a song from The XX on the
album. They did VCR from their first album XX. This is also a live track and
has the group using their electric instruments too. This version is good but
the mix is really hot on the intro. It backs off a bit when the other
instruments come in but wow. If you’re not careful you could blow your
headphones on that intro. Otherwise, the song is a bit mellower but mixed
hotter than the album version. I still like the song and am happy that I have
this version but I may stick to the album more often.
As an honorable mention, the song from Mumford & Sons
really makes me happy. The song is called Reminder and comes from the second
album Bable. The song is actually more robust than the studio version with the
other members of the group adding backing vocals to the track. The studio
version is just lead vocals and acoustic guitar. I actually prefer this version
to the studio version because of the addition of the backing vocals. This
doesn’t happen to me very often.
This is the bonus album that Live Current Vol. 10 comes
with. The radio station has a daily spot where they play a track from a group
that has covered a song from another group. They call this spot Cover To Cover.
To support this they have put together a ten song album of cover songs that
bands have come in to play in The Curerents’ studios. I was excited about a
couple of tracks but there are also a couple of tracks that really surprised
me.
First, I will start with the ones that I was excited to
hear. Hot Chip did a cover of Nothing Compares 2 U with their song In The
Privacy of Our Love at the end. It is a very simple version of the song and
strange to hear male voices on lead and backing vocals. Piano and electric
guitar support the track with light drums as well. I like the guitar part with
a vibrato on it. It is a very beautiful rendition of the song and although it
is off putting to hear male vocals I could very easily get use to this version.
The other track I wanted to hear was from Devine Fits. It
was the song Shivers from the album Door, Door by The Boys Next Door. I have
never heard the original but I like the vocal style of the lead singer for
Spoon who is also the lead singer for Devine Fits. This song is actually a part
of their album so this is a song that they would have performed regularly. It
is good and straight forward. This is also an album that I should probably own
at some point.
There were a couple of songs that surprised me as well. the
first of those two is from Deer Tick. They covered the song Kiss Me On The Bus
from The Replacements. The song sounds just like the original version, well
nearly. I didn’t expect a try at mimicking the vocals from this group. It comes
off a bit more gravely but it is a very good rendition.
Second was a song from The Decemberists called Crazy On You
originally sung by Heart from the album Dreamboat Annie. This cover version is
spot on. I get the same chills from this cover version as I do from the original.
I could almost mistake this cover version as Heart if I wasn’t paying
attention. This is absolutely genius so many of the nuances are included in
this version. I like it so much.
Call + Response is a mostly annual art show that involves
music, writers and visual artists together to create a showcase of original
works. Here is the information that I got about the project from the web page,
“For the first three iterations of the show, the writers called, and the visual
artists responded.
In 2014, we've switched it up a bit.
THE CALL
For this year’s show the Philadelphia band Restorations created a single long-form instrumental track, which we sent to sixteen acclaimed, emerging and award-winning poets, fiction writers, journalists, and essayists largely based in the DC/Baltimore metropolitan area.
THE RESPONSE
The writers wrote short, reactive pieces, none over one-thousand words, all in unique, original conversation with Restorations and their music. (View all of the writing for Call + Response IV HERE.)
AND THEN
Each written response went to one of sixteen acclaimed, emerging and award-winning visual artists who entered the conversation, too: not just with the written work, but with the music as well.
At CALL + RESPONSE IV’s opening on October 11, 2014 at Hole in the Sky in northeast D.C. Restorations will perform and each piece of writing will be displayed with their visual response. There will be a 7inch of the music packaged with all the writing from the show. (You can purchase online HERE.)
We’re extremely proud of this year’s show and we thank you for your interest and support. We hope to continue our small role in bringing together creative communities.”
In 2014, we've switched it up a bit.
THE CALL
For this year’s show the Philadelphia band Restorations created a single long-form instrumental track, which we sent to sixteen acclaimed, emerging and award-winning poets, fiction writers, journalists, and essayists largely based in the DC/Baltimore metropolitan area.
THE RESPONSE
The writers wrote short, reactive pieces, none over one-thousand words, all in unique, original conversation with Restorations and their music. (View all of the writing for Call + Response IV HERE.)
AND THEN
Each written response went to one of sixteen acclaimed, emerging and award-winning visual artists who entered the conversation, too: not just with the written work, but with the music as well.
At CALL + RESPONSE IV’s opening on October 11, 2014 at Hole in the Sky in northeast D.C. Restorations will perform and each piece of writing will be displayed with their visual response. There will be a 7inch of the music packaged with all the writing from the show. (You can purchase online HERE.)
We’re extremely proud of this year’s show and we thank you for your interest and support. We hope to continue our small role in bringing together creative communities.”
The records A side is the first part of the song with a
locked groove at the end of a cool loop of electric guitar work. The second
side is longer and almost comes off as two different movements. It is very
adventurous for the group and I am happy to have gotten my hands on a copy of
the 7”. I like to record my albums to digital. The actual digital version of
this track is twelve minutes long but my recording comes in at about nine and a
half minutes. I guess I could have let the locked groove play a little longer
to make the time up. I am just curious if there is a difference between the
digital version and what is on the 7”. It is a great song and I recommend it
even if you are not a fan of the group. It is that good!
This is an additional single from Thom Yorke that was not
actually on the Tomorrows Modern Boxes album but comes from the same recording
period. This song was released on the internet when he put the album up on the
bandcamp web page for purchase. It is a slow song with deep bass and computer
beeps and bloops. It is the classic Thom whiney vocals over interesting enough
bass and drums with a great wave wash of synth music. I like the song but it is
very slow moving.
That is all for now...
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