Contra, early and cheap!

Quick bit of news. On Amazon MP3's daily deal for today is Contra, the new Vampire Weekend album a day early, and only $3.99. The low price is usually only in effect for 1 day, so move fast!
Update: Price still low!

African Music Exploration

(Picture via Dreams in Audio)

The news about the Next Stop...Soweto compilation launched me into a full fledged hunt for good African music, spanning most of the past weekend. I've decided to share the fruits of my hunting interspersed throughout the next couple of weeks, mixed in with the usual fare. To kick it off, I have two songs from the Ghana Special compilation from Soundway Records. Akoko Ba is a fantastic piece of afro-beat jazz, with a very funky rhythm and some great horn solos and vocals. Kai Wawa has a much more traditional feel, though still with some pretty heavy jazz influences. Both great tracks.
Akoko Ba - Gyedu-blay Ambolley & His Creations
Kai Wawa - The Mercury Dance Band
(I stress again that these mp3s are for sampling only, if you like it, please support the guys who tracking down and then digging through mountains of rare vinyl to bring this to you)

What was I thinking? (Easy - Pure Ecstasy)

Pure Ecstasy - Easy [part 1 of 3] from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Wow, talk about chance missed. Friday night, I was at a house show downtown. The first act finished, and I decided to head home, I'm not really sure why. The next act? These guys. Needless to say, after seeing that, I seriously regret leaving. I think the smoke filled garage that the concert was in would have been the perfect venue for this kind of spacey jamming, and it would have been a hell of an experience. Oh well. Check out the video and MP3, it's damn good stuff.
Easy - Pure Ecstasy

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Returning Readers?

I'm beginning to distrust the statistics program I'm using. It shows that I haven't had any returning visitors, and yet, it tells me that several IP addresses have had "several visits spread over multiple days". So if you're a returning reader, do you think you could put down a quick comment, just so I know? Thanks. Also, if you have the time, any thoughts on the new header?

Jack White Related News!

(Picture: MTV)

As anyone who knows me knows very well, I worship Jack White and everything he does (including The Dead Weather, which I know a lot of Jack White fans didn't like). For that reason, I was thrilled to see on You Ain't No Picasso that Jack White had told Rolling Stone that he would be most likely putting out a solo record "Eventually, yeah, for sure." With anyone else, I think that would be too vague to excite me, but with him, even the slightest hint of new material is enough to get me worked up. When asked whether a solo album would mean he was playing all the instruments, he replied

"Maybe so. I've never done that. I thought about that. That might be the challenge — to differentiate from anything else that I've done....That would be the thing for me to do... think about a solo record. I wouldn't know until I get there."

Personally, I think that would be pretty sweet.
Whole Interview
You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as Your Told) - The White Stripes
Ball and a Biscuit (live VH1) - The White Stripes (Youtube link)
Level (Video version) - Raconteurs (Youtube)
Treat Me Like Your Mother - The Dead Weather
Will There Be Enough Water (live at Outside Lands) - The Dead Weather (Youtube, I was like 10 feet away from this guy! Awesome show, and this was for sure the highlight)

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Mean Everything To Nothing

I know that this too is kinda old news, but I feel like I have to catch up on some of the really cool stuff that happened before I started the blog.

So, Mean Everything To Nothing was the album released last year by Manchester Orchestra, and definitely one of my favorite albums of the year. Not only is the music great, but they had the fantastic idea to film a series of short films, one for each song, which when viewed in order form a very loose narrative. I watched it, and it is extremely well done. The story follows the character "Elaine". It begins with her escaping from a mental hospital, and follows her journey, interspersed with occasional footage of the band.

At the beginning of the first video, the words "past present and future, they are all the same" appear on screen. This is very telling of the tone of the videos, where reality, imagination, past, present, future, all blend together. The filmmakers did a very good job of making the music and the video mesh together very well, and all her "memories" are so well done, they manage to make me nostalgic for a world and time I never experienced.

As for the actual music, it's a very solid album, good indie rock, at times venturing into some screamo territory. Normally I hate screamo, but it's not too overt, and very well done, so it's not a problem. One of the ways I like to judge music is by how much it makes me feel, and this music definitely does well in that area. The emotion is very intense, and very well conveyed by the songwriting. Sometimes you wish it would let up a bit more often, as it does with "I Can Feel a Hot One", but that's not a major concern.

I've read complaints about the singer's voice, and I can definitely see how some people could find it annoying, as it does have a kind of whiny, high pitched quality to it, but I have no problems.

Overall verdict, very solid album. It starts out very well, drags a bit in the middle, but then picks up again towards the end. The films are definitely meant to go with the music, they wouldn't have a whole lot of value without it. Together, the videos really heighten the experience of listening to the album, and add a very unique dimension that wouldn't have been there otherwise. I highly recommend both the album and the videos.

Two places to watch. On this website, they have all 11 videos with comments from the directors under each one explaining whats going on, which is really cool. However, there's occasional Sony ads, as well as other videos on the page which automatically start playing, both of which are very annoying.
As an alternative, they have all the videos on this Youtube playlist, which I'm pretty sure is ad free.

Also, in a fantastic coincidence, today's daily deal on Amazong MP3 is this very album, so for today only, head here to download the whole album for $2.99.
Update: It's over, but the album is still only $7.99, not bad at all.
And finally, if you don't want to sit through the videos, here are a few musical highlights from the album:
The Only One - Manchester Orchestra
I Can Feel a Hot One - Manchester Orhcestra
I've Got Friends - Manchester Orchestra

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Quick Post: Zion I and some more Blakroc

Heavy homework load tonight, so just a couple quick MP3s.

A fantastic track from Zion I, the band I almost got to see play this coming Sunday (damn 18+ concerts). They're performing with a full live band too, which I totally love, so I'm very sad to miss it.
Don't Lose Your Head - Zion I


And just because I love Blakroc so much, here is another track.
Done Did It (feat. NOE and Nicole Wray) - Blakroc

One week until Contra, two weeks until Transference

There are some great Tuesdays coming up. Next Tuesday, 1/12, we get the release of Vampire Weekends sophomore album, Contra! (XL Recordings) As an extra treat, the band is already streaming the entire album on their Myspace. I haven't listened to it yet, since I don't want to hear the album until I can have it. However, I have heard "Cousins", "Horchata", and "White Sky", and I've definitely liked all of them, so I'm expecting good things.
Horchata - Vampire Weekend
White Sky - Vampire Weekend
Where to pre-order:
Itunes
Amazon MP3
CD or Vinyl


As if that wasn't enough, the Tuesday after that (1/19) brings us the new Spoon album, Transference!! (Merge Records) Spoon has a very special place in my heart, as they, more than any other band, are responsible for bringing me out of my classic rock shell. They showed me that there is good contemporary music, and it's called indie, so I've got a lot to thank them for. That, combined with the fact that Spoon is unfailingly excellent has me very excited for Transference. Even further, 2009's "Got Nuffin-EP" was amazing, and I noticed that "Got Nuffin" has shown up on the album. There's another track from the album bouncing around the internets, called "Written In Reverse". I gave it a listen, and I'm not terribly intrigued by it, but I'm not letting that dampen my expectations of the album as a whole. I'm very psyched.
Written in Reverse - Spoon
Got Nuffin' - Spoon
Where to pre-order:
Itunes
CD or Vinyl
Nothing on Amazon MP3

Jessica - Avi Buffalo

The Avi Buffalo single "What's In It For?" got quite a bit of buzz a while back, so I figured I'd give it a listen. Personally, I'd have to say I prefer the B-side, Jessica. It is a beautiful melody, and very well sung. The sparse instrumentation really helps convey the emotion, and the background noise that runs through the whole song gives it a very unique feel. There's something about it that is extremely powerful, in a very understated way.
Stream it on their Ilike page, but you really should just buy it. If you must have a free download, here's the version they played on Daytrotter, which isn't really quite as good as the one on the single.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy

I know this is pretty much old news, but lately I’ve been listening to a lot of music by Bonnie “Prince” Billy and absolutely loving it. Will Oldham is the man behind the pseudonym, and he has been making music since the early 90s.

It was brought to my attention by the posting of “Death to Everyone”, a track from his live album, Funtown Comedown, on Aquarium Drunkard , a favorite blog of mine. I loved it, and fairly quickly proceeded to download the album Superwolf, a collaboration with Matt Sweeney. It is an absolutely superb album, and if you are at all a fan of folk music, you pretty much need it. I'm a big fan of the sparse way they use electric guitar in a lot of the tracks, and I'm always a sucker for good vocal harmonies.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy is an amazing songwriter, fantastic lyricist, and above all has a voice that is an absolute pleasure to listen to. Check him out.
Death to Everyone (live) - Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Beware Your Only Friend - Bonnie "Prince" Billy (from his 2009 release, Beware
Superwolf:
Itunes
Amazon Mp3

Mixtape

My first stab at making a mixtape, and I think it turned out pretty well. There's no theme, just a bunch of good songs I thought flowed well.

For now it will take the form of a playlist.com playlist, but let me know if you would like to download it. Also, comment if the embedded player is annoying, and would rather I just post a link.

Flagrant omission from my best of the year list

Young Hearts Spark Fire - Japandroids
When I'm feeling tired and apathetic, this song speaks to me in a way that no other song can. The driving fuzzy guitar and surreal sounding fuzzy vocals draw you into a kind of numb state of mind, along with the pounding drums and soaring screams. The lyric "we used to dream/now we worry about dying/I don't want to worry about dying/I just want to worry about sunshine girls" completes it. Can't believe I forgot about it.

Local Boy - Nat Lefkoff

I present to you DHS's very own Nat Lefkoff. I know him pretty well from lacrosse, and I found out a little while back that he is an amazing folk singer-songwriter. I'm completely obsessed, and I've already been to a show (he's just as good live). His guitar is rock-solid, the songwriting is fantastic, and his voice is amazing. The level of emotion that is in his music uncommon, and elevates it far beyond just his technical skills. I will say without a doubt he is the most talented musician attending DHS. He is gonna go places.
Rained In - Nat Lefkoff
Redlights - Nat Lefkoff
Maggie's Song - Nat Lefkoff
Dances (Live at KDVS) - Nat Lefkoff

Update: Yeah, he goes to Da Vinci, not DHS. All other points stand.


Check out his Myspace for even more awesome songs.

Free Energy - Free Energy

I cannot stop listening to this song. One of the catchiest songs I've heard in a while. The combo of the guitar riff and cowbell at the beginning sucks you right in, and the song holds you the whole way. And I always love it when bands use their name as a song title.
Free Energy - Free Energy

Some Upcoming concerts

Firstly, tomorrow, some Davis bands (HS kids) are playing over in Mace Ranch.
details
I'm definitely gonna try to get out there, but I'm not sure how my day is gonna shape up yet.

Second, next Friday, 1/8.
details
Looks like it's gonna be a good show, some folk/alt-country, and some spacey shoegazy type stuff.
http://www.myspace.com/gracenate
http://www.myspace.com/silverpines
http://www.myspace.com/themusicofwyattmckenzie



Saturday, 1/23. Great sounding shoegaze.
Dum Dum Girls
Venue and other bands are still pending, so hopefully it gets pulled off. I'll make further mention of that one.


Saturday, 2/13. Aaron Godwater (decent, folk guy) and Nat Lefkoff (he doesnt know it, but I'm his groupie, thats how good he is).
Aaron Godwater
Nat Lefkoff


Last, Friday, 2/19. Jazz show. TCS Building (UC Davis), 8pm.
http://www.myspace.com/rudreshm
Rudresh Mahanthappa, Mark Dresser and Gerry Hemingway.