Grand Archives

Given my love of all things 'Band of Horses' and of Sub-Pop releases in general, the recent news that ex-BoH member Matt Brooke's band Grand Archives were releasing a new album on that very label had me quite excited.

And what do you know - it's lovely! Check our their myspace to hear the tunes.

Also, if you pre-order the new release online from Sub-Pop before the 19th of February (like me) you get a free, limited edition 7" on white-vinyl featuring alternate versions of “Sleepdriving” and “George Kaminski”. Bonus.

listen : Grand Archives - Louis Riel.mp3

Okkervil River Interview

Okkervil River's The Stage Names was truly one of my standout albums of 2007, so when the chance came up to interview frontman Will Sheff I threw away my hatred of speaking on the telephone and attempted to find some level of composure. I needed have worried too much as Will is one of the easiest people I've ever had to speak to and is such a damn nice guy that I managed to conduct something of an conversation, despite my intense nervousness. For first interviews this was a dream.

Below follows some of what we discussed in amongst the distractions of new puppies and tangential musings about the wierdness of the internet. (slightly edited version at www.fasterlouder.com.au)



I caught up with Sheff in Austin where the band were doing some recording ahead of their third visit to Australia.
This tour will see them as one of the highlights of the Laneway festival as well as doing their own shows around the country. So are Will and the band looking forward to the long trip Down Under again and playing such a unique festival?

“Well I’ve never been to that festival so I don’t really know what to expect. Meredith (in 2005) was wonderful, it was one of my favourite shows we’ve ever played, but I don’t know much about Laneway so, I’m just waiting to see what it’s like.“We’ve played festivals in the streets before. One of the things I really like about playing in the middle of the city is people looking out their windows watching; I really enjoy that.”

Is there anyone in particular they are looking forward to seeing amongst the lineups?

“I love Broken Social Scene; we’ve played festivals with them before and they’re really great. Also the Brunettes are friends of ours. We’re looking forward to hanging out with them and checking out some other local acts.”

You’ve had such critical success along the way, and The Stage Names has been described as your most confident work to date, but how worried do you get about the reaction to your albums, coming from a music critic background as you do?

“I just hold at the centre of my desire what I think and what I want. I’ve gotta believe that if I’m very hard on myself about delivering what I want in the way that I think is good then hopefully other people will appreciate that and it’s going to hopefully strike a chord in them too.”

But you do still make time to make music just for yourself right?

“Well, it’s important to remember that music is about having fun. Sometimes that gets lost in the public arena because you’re just making everything for other people. You gotta think about ways that you can keep it around, and for me one of the ways is to ‘enforce’ music just for me sometimes and you know that’s ok.”

Would it be too much to hope for another Australian tour EP or another appendix?

“There will be a Stage Names appendix, we’re working on it now and it’s going really well. I can’t stop having that problem – I just write more than I need and then I have these songs and I come to really love them, but I can’t really put them out anywhere else because they have such a specificity genetically to the Stage Names stuff or to the Black Sheep Boy stuff, so yeah we are going to do that again….I don’t know if I’ll always do that. Maybe you can only do that so many times but right now we’re really enjoying it.

Along with Stage Names, Golden Opportunities, a series of mainly covers and one original song was released by Okkervil River in 2007 – it came out free on their website to relatively little fuss, was this an attempt to circumvent what Sheff has previously described as the betrayal of music download sites?

“Yeah that was part of why. I liked the idea that if a record came out then it was going to be us that put it out and if somebody’s gonna give our music away for free then it would be us giving it away as opposed to someone cynically, facelessly ripping it on their work computer”

But is this kind of action – dealing directly with the consumer and making music more accessible – the natural and positive progression of the music industry?

“Well I think that it’s a positive progression in a sense, one of the things that was really special about the Radiohead experiment is that it’s a larger scale version of something we already knew about the internet which is that it has the power to bring fans and the band closer together in a really special and interesting way.”

This is not to suggest however that these experiments are the answer though.

“People will play technological pundit and say ‘music will be free’ but why is that? I mean it costs money to make music, it’s not free to make, so obviously giving everything away before other people steal it and give it away anyway is not a permanent solution for people who are trying to put food in their mouths; but I think that there’s a whiff of the future in that. I do think that the important thing is to be optimistic and look forward. It’s important to believe in people and in Art and believe that it’s always going to be precious to people”

Believe in the art of Okkervil River by checking them out at any of the shows below:

23rd Feb 2008 - Laneway Festival, Adelaide Buy Tickets
24th Feb 2008 - Laneway Festival, Melbourne Buy Tickets
26th Feb 2008 - Corner, Melbourne www.cornerhotel.com Buy Tickets
27th Feb 2008 - Manning Bar, Sydney www.manningbar.com Buy Tickets
29th Feb 2008 - Perth International Arts Festival, Perth www.perthfestival.com.au Buy Tickets
1st Mar 2008 - Laneway Festival, Brisbane www.lanewayfestival.com.au Buy Tickets
2nd Mar2008 - Laneway Festival, Sydney www.lanewayfestival.com.au Buy Tickets

New sounds

Very good things to get your hands on :
(take a listen by clicking on the artist name and going straight to their myspace)

The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

YAY! Soon to appear on our shores again for what will surely be yet another sell out tour.

Quality release as always from John D.

Magnetic Fields - Distortion
'welcome back, welcome back, welcome back'


Cat Power - Jukebox
More gorgeous covers

That's not all - a small package arrived on my desk with 2 wonderful cds I ordered from Canada's Maple Music some time ago, but am so happy to be surprised by them today:

Amos the Transparent - Everything I've forgotten to Forget
Fabulous folk/indie tunes. This is something you won't want to forget.


Cuff the Duke - Sidelines of the city
I first saw these guys supporting Hayden back in Vancouver. I still think they are great.
Alt country/rock fun.


and last but not least a lovely little EP from Ireland

Drunken Boat - Cut the Engines, Raise the Sails.
Lie back, listen and enjoy

Top 10 Australian releases

ok so a few of these made my overall top 20 already, but I still thought it was relevant to showcase separately some of the great stuff that was put out by artists 'down under' this year. Click on the album covers to got straight to their myspace and hear.

top ten in no particular order:

Dappled Cities – Granddance

Just try turning it off once it takes hold

Jordie Lane - Lover's Ride EP

As I've said before, when I see Jordie I feel like I'm on a journey somewhere between Hank Williams and Ryan Adams, somehow familiar and yet wonderfully new....great stuff from a really talented local guy

Grinderman - Grinderman

Nick Cave leads a few of the Bad Seeds in this side project for some really enjoyable and as the Guardian described it 'foul-mouthed, noisy, hairy' music.

Angus and Julia Stone - A book like this

I can't get Tom McRae out of my head every time I hear Angus Stone (and a little bit of Joanna Newson in the voice of Julia) but that is not at all a bad thing. As the name might suggest this is an album of gorgeous stories. A brother/sister duo who are all class.

Touch Typist - You cannot kiss a laughing mouth

Released as part of a new iniative with Feral Media to showcase local artists, this is a very fun 30 minutes of self described "levitating spacerace instrumentals and flying car freakouts with lyrics about alternate realities and the beauty of household objects"

New Buffalo - Somewhere, Anywhere

Beautiful sounds from the woman who penned 'that' (ipod) song for Feist.

Ed Kuepper - Jean Lee and the Yellow Dog

A new and long awaited album from an Australian music legend. Features appearances from Warren Ellis and former Saints bandmate Chris Bailey this is a concept album which is loosely based on the life of Jean Lee, the last woman hanged in Australia. Great stuff.

Gotye - Mixed Blood

Seeing him live at Meredith only confirmed for me how great this guy is. (Clearly I'm not the only one judging by his Male Artist of the year ARIA) For a person who doesn't usually go for remix albums, I think this ones a keeper.

The Panics - Cruel Guards

Another quality release from WA band the Panics - enough to earn them last years Triple J Australian album of the year.

Midnight Juggernauts - Distopia

As quoted in Mess+Noise "the headiest brew of disco, prog and electro, not to mention Bowie and Daft Punk, you’re likely to hear"

Nina Nastasia

"Nina Nastasia's rare gift of a voice is an intimate, winged presence that is able to either freeze or melt your heart, that can powerfully soar and twist, or brush ultra-gently against you, suddenly summoning goose bumps."



Regretfully I missed this amazing talent when she and drummer Jim White were touring in Australia, but I hope she can return soon because I am completely besotted. From the first sweet, clear notes of I've Been Out Walking to the final deliberate message of I Come After You Nina holds you in a spell of gentle strength. There is an undertone of sadness, or resignation, of no longer believing the fairy tales, but of moving on steadfastly and resolutely despite this. The line in Our Discussion when she sings "I don't believe in the power of love, I don't believe in the wisdom of stone...." speaks volumes of the whole mood of this record. This, to me, is not an album of dreams, but of reality and coming to terms with the changes that reality involves.

Beautifully expressive, honest and intimate, this is an album full of meaning....whatever that may be for you. Musically it is quite sparse showcasing simply Nina's lyrics along with Jim's drumming. However, everything sounds so very deliberate and crafted that it achieves a real depth and impressive impact. Sometimes murmur quiet and whispery, sometimes loud and fraught with frantic drumming, it takes you through many journeys of emotion and feeling, despite the album's short length of only 33 minutes.

Listen to
Our Discussion.mp3
Late at Night.mp3

Jens Lekman

New to me this week, the latest release from Jens Lekman (on Secretly Canadian)

I saw Jens mentioned on another site and was sold by the Magnetic Fields comparison.

This album is swingin', melodic, orchestral pop from someone who seems to be the Swedish darling of the indie pop world. The Magnetic Fields influence is there (on track 1 you will think you're listening to the same voice), but Jens overall seems much lighter and less intense (and perhaps a little less satisfying) than Stephin Merritt. Still, this is good stuff. He even manages to make a break up song sound goddamn upbeat and happy.

Listen to Friday night at the drive-in bingo.mp3 to get ya smiling on this not so smiley Tuesday.

Iron and Wine

More good news!

New album coming from Iron and Wine called 'The Shepherd's Dog'

Initial listens suggest more of the same beautiful, deep and yet understated melodies of his previous releases, but somehow even more satisfying. Sam Beam seems to be moving away from his lo-fi roots and building a more polished and deeper sound and as much as I've loved everything he's put out, this is really good stuff. The best kind of music to ease me into another Monday.
(More impressions to follow.)

Listen to Boy with a Coin mp3 through Sub Pop records.

permission to gush...

The ever lovely, entertaining and talented Josh Ritter has a new album coming out.

Get it in:

North America on August 21

Europe on September 7

Worldwide on October 1

Or if you can't wait that long (like me) - hear it streaming from his site

Art Brut

It's a bit complicated
(isn't it just?)

although I generally prefer not to get too personal about these reviews and instead focus on the music, somehow this seems like the soundrack to my own life right now.....from the title onwards it strikes a chord. simple tales of making mix tapes, starting new relationships, ending others, hanging out and just living life. the lyrics are so simple but they are still witty and charming like Bang Bang Rock & Roll...the album just sounds like life in all it's banal and fun glory.
some of the picks:
"I can't say I'm not enjoying the kissing, but I've a sneaking suspicion, you're not really listening. I know I shouldn't, is it so wrong? to break from your kiss to turn up a pop song." (from Pump up the volume hear it on their myspace page)
"just a couple of friends, hanging out with each other, we started to swap tapes to soundtrack our summer, tapes that are full of the things we can't say, during the day." (Sound of Summer listen to this track here)
who could resist that?

Art Brut are not trying to be anything they are not. This is pared down rock, and it's good. it may not have the newness and novelty of Bang Bang Rock & Roll (or great song like 'we started a band') but it's a consisently decent second effort and you won't be able to help turning in on over and over again.

Chris Garneau

Why Ryan?

I almost have nothing to say about this....I need to let the disappointment pass a bit.

for now I'm just bored, bored, bored......ughh

update 19 June

Ok I've calmed down now.....so allow me to explain a little. I love Ryan Adams. I think he's an awesome songwriter and have continued to be one of his staunchest supporters along with every release (apart from Rock & Roll of course) It just doesn't sound like he was trying here with Easy Tiger. It's not about the return to a more country sound - I couldn't be a bigger fan of that - in this case it just feels a little too slick, too formulaic.... too uninspired. It sounds more like a second rate impression of Ryan Adams than Ryan himself.....I've been listening to (and enjoying) Mrs Lovely for years now for example and yet I'm none too happy about it being repackaged and rereleased here as These Girls. The whole thing just doesn't really resonate. Nothing feels that new, there's nothing to excite, none of his regular innovation....
Don't get me wrong, Ryan at his worst is probably still better than most, I just expected (ok selfishly wanted) much more.

Revisiting the sunset tree

Even though The Mountain Goats Get Lonely was one of my top albums of last year, they (well he being John Darnielle really) sometimes fall off the playlist for a while. Every time I then re-find them I wonder how I could possibly let them go, although every time is like a new beginning and I get excited about the music all over again.
The Sunset tree is so welcome right now! I can't believe I missed John playing live at my university last year FOR FREE! What a wasted opportunity!!
To keep up to date with Mountain Goats activity check out John's Blog last plane to jakarta.

American Doll Posse

To very badly paraphrase Michael Cleveland
Last night Tori saved my life….


Gotta hand it to her, she always comes through - for me at least.

(American Doll Posse is out now)

Jenny Owen Youngs

I am indebted to largeheartedboy for a lot of things.
It is my daily fix of lands unchartered.
the blog keeps me excited about everything - opens me to new music, new events, new books.....basically it's a minefield of discovery. Today's little gem was Jenny Owen Youngs. (currently on his ipod listening list) More specifically the song 'Fuck was I'. Nothing could have captured my mood today more than this song and all of its catchy sing-a-long brilliance. There is a depth to her voice and lyrics that belie her tender years.
3 minutes 30 is just not long enough to lose yourself in this song.

I might be late to this party (her album Batten the Hatches was first released in 2005), but I'm sure glad I got there.

Cold War Kids

maybe I shouldn't......but I'm loving these guys right now!!!