summer's ending...

This is not the Modest Mouse I know and love, but I kinda like it. I came across this tune the other day, and it immediately went right into regular rotation. Isaac Brock kind of mellows out a bit over acoustic guitar and a sweet sweet banjo while lamenting the end of summer. Preach on. Preach on. To help make the end of summer not so bad try and catch Isaac and the rest of the band on tour. They're in Canada for a bit before coming back to the States for some shows in late August and September.
Autumn Beds.mp3

new release tuesday

Do you like taking drives with just your thoughts and some good tunes? That's what Trevor Giuliani's debut album, Subcontrario (In Stereo), reminds me of. It's really chill, and makes me wish I had enough gas money to just cruise with all my windows down for hours. The album is pretty solid, there are songs that I like more than others, but overall it's a very good album. His stories just kind of draw you in, and soon you realize that you're completely lost in the music. I'm pretty sure Dovecote is still offering up the single "Wasting Your Town" as a free download, and you can also check out many of the songs on his myspace page. If you like it (which you should...) head over to Amazon, iTunes, or Insound and pick up a copy.
Nubian Forest (boxstr)

September 22nd is a good day..

To release highly anticipated albums apparently. Wale stopped by the Jimmy Fallon show earlier in the week to help out Daniel Merriweather. In the hilarious opening segment he told Jimmy that his album Attention: Deficit will be dropping on September 22nd. Sweet action. That makes 2 albums to be released the day after my birthday that I'm REALLY looking forward to (the other one is the Monsters of Folk album from Conor Oberst, Jim James, and M. Ward). Wale has a dope (do people still use that word?) mix tape he released earlier this summer called Back to the Feature, which I HIGHLY suggest you check out.
Pretty Girls (boxstr)

When the Devil's Loose

Holy cow. This is turning into the summer that could have been. Apparently Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band were in Detroit yesterday and I had NO IDEA they were performing less than an hour away from me. Son of a bitch. And he has a really really good opener touring with him, who is the focus of today's post (and how I found out that I just missed them here...sigh).


A.A. Bondy is touring with Conor Oberst for a bit this summer. Bondy used to front the Alabama rock band, Verbena, but when they broke up in 2003 he started composing stripped down indie folk tunes. His first solo album, American Hearts, is fantastic, and the title track from his sophomore album, When the Devil's Loose, is pretty awesome as well. The new album is set to be released September 1st on Fat Possum Records. If you go to his page at Fat Possum, you can download a track from American Hearts. It's free and it's good, so do it.... Though I'm bummed that I missed out on this show, if you live in Bloomington, IN or Athens, GA there is still hope for you! They will be in Indiana on the 20th, and Georgia on the 21st. If you don't conveniently live in or near those places, you should still take a minute and check out A.A. Bondy's music. It won't be a waste of time.
When The Devil's Loose (boxstr)

Farewell Good Night's Sleep

So I keep getting all these little music samplers and the most recent came via NPR music promoting the 50th Newport Folk Festival coming up in August, and it's just like shoving daggers into my heart because there is no way I can go, and it reminds me that this is like the 4th festival of awesomeness happening this summer that I cannot attend. Sigh. At least I've discovered a crap ton of music in the last couple weeks that will get me through. Prepare for a multitude of posts in the next week or so...

First up for my new music discoveries is Lay Low. If you're in the mood for melancholic country-ish music (it seems like I have lately...) you should check out Icelandic singer/songwriter Lay Low. Her sound on the most recent album reminds me a lot of She & Him...Apparently she's been around the music scene for a few years now, but me being forever late for everything, just discovered her music last week. Her first album, Please Don't Hate Me, is definitely more bluesy that the most recent old school country inspired, Farewell Good Night's Sleep, but both are solid and worth a listen. If you join her mailing list she'll even give you a free download. Yippee! To hear more of her songs check out her myspace...
Last Time Around - (boxstr)

tribute to

I could try really hard to put into words how awesome Yim Yames' (aka Jim James from MMJ) solo EP, Tribute To, is but I don't think I'd be able to do it. You just have to buy it and listen. The six song EP is absolutely gorgeous. He recorded the songs after George Harrison's death in 2001, and is just now releasing them. He released the songs digitally on his website this past Tuesday, and the actual CD and/or vinyl will be released on August 4th. You can get one of the tracks "Behind that Locked Door" for free, but I really suggest just spending the $6 and download the whole thing. Seriously it's beautiful.
All Things Must Pass (boxstr)

joe pug for FREES!

You all should know by now how much I enjoy Joe Pug's music. So while I was poking around on twitter, I see that the WONDERFUL folks at Paste Magazine posted that Joe Pug is giving away his new EP, In The Meantime, away on his website for zero dollars. It pretty much made my day, and it's only 9:15am. All you have to do is join his email list and you get a link in an email to download the five song album. You know what would be an awesome thank you that you could give Mr. Pug? Going to one of his shows. They are pretty fantastic. I'm just sayin'...
In The Meantime (zshare)

whistling is funnnnnnn

Andrew Bird was on Conan last night, and as I was watching the clip this morning (I'm too lame to stay up late during the week...) I was thinking about how even though his songs are not usually about happy fun things, but he puts them to such happy melodies and adds in the whistling and before you know it you're bobbing your head to music with lyrics like "Thank God it's fatal." I love it. He just released his fall tour dates, and it looks like I might be making a road trip to Kalamazoo this fall so I can see him again. And rising star St.Vincent is joining him for most of the fall tour. Yay.

Fake Palindromes (zshare)

happy discovery day

So the Discovery LP officially dropped today. Hooray. It's all autotune wonderful. If you don't know who Discovery is, it's the glorious side project of Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot and Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend. I know most of you probably have the majority of the album from the leaked songs BUT if you purchase it through Amie Street then $2 goes to Oxfam America, a relief and development organization. Good cause and some good music...
So Insane (zshare)

I've also been listening to Conor Oberst's most recent album, Outer South. It came out forever ago, but it took me a long time to really get into it. I think I still like his solo stuff better, but it's nice to hear Conor really kind of let loose with this album...I mean you definitely wouldn't have heard a song like "Air Mattress" on any of his other albums. I'm glad I didn't give up on this one.
Nikorette (zshare)

so much MJ so little time

I know all the Michael Jackson tributes/mash-ups/remixes are soooo last week but this one was on repeat this past weekend, so I HAD to share it with those of you who haven't heard it yet. I love Q-Tip. I loved his last album, The Renaissance. So listen to this, and then go buy the album.
Breathe and Stop vs. Don't Stop Til You Get Enough (White Label mix) (zshare)
Gettin Up (zshare)

thank you concert gods

So it looked really grim for the Alice Russell concert tonight. It started raining at like 5:30 and didn't look like it was going to let up by 8:30. I had resigned myself to the fact that it just wasn't in the cards for Alice to play in Ann Arbor this year. But thank you 8lb 4oz baby Jesus for making the Summer Festival people so flexible and figuring out a way to let Alice still perform. She ended up performing underneath the booze tent. It was almost better this way. It felt way more personal. There were only maybe like 50 people there, but I'm sure that everybody was glad that they braved the rain b/c she was just fantastic. She just had an acoustic guitar and a violin to back her, so sadly she didn't do "Seven Nation Army" like I hoped she would, but she did do an absolutely brilliant "Crazy" cover. I had heard her cover of it before but damn. Hearing it live is a whole different ballgame. I had goosebumps. She's headed to Canada for a couple shows then it's back to Europe for a little more touring. If you have a chance, go see her live. Her albums are great and all but hearing her live is just too awesome to pass up. I tried to take some video, but my camera battery died...I did get about 20 seconds of her singing "Turn and Run" though, which is still cool. Seriously go see her sing.
Crazy