Download a new Neko Case MP3

Just a quickie today...

[Neko Case, 'People Got a Lotta Nerve' -- Free MP3 of the Day - Spinner.com]

New, Over the Top Videos

Very Killers...

Spaceman

Very Antony...

Both fun.

Passion Pit on Wednesday, and a Remix to Celebrate

Stereogum just posted an amazing Passion Pit Remix of Ra Ra Riot's "Ghost Under Rocks." What a great segue to remind you that Passion Pit is performing at The Spot at Case Western Reserve University on Wednesday Night (where Ra Ra Riot just performed back in September). Whoever is programming these shows is doing a great job.

NEW RA RA RIOT - "GHOST UNDER ROCKS (PASSION PIT REMIX)"

It's a match made in blog heaven, these two getting together on a track like this: "Ghost Under Rocks" sees Ra Ra Riot at the height of their melodramatic, orchestral pop powers; Passion Pit are an ascendant band that make highly bloggable electro-singles. And the results are, well if you've ever heard "Ghost Under Rocks" and a Passion Pit track (or any Hypem-baiting promo remix before really) (and come now you're reading a music blog), you already know how this one goes. Still there may be a few moments of novelty to it for your next DJ set. Try it:

Ra Ra Riot - "Ghost Under Rocks (Passion Pit Remix)" (MP3)

Ra Ra is going on a pretty extensive tour, including stops with Death Cab, Tokyo Police Club, and their partners on this here remix. Digest the dates:

[From New Ra Ra Riot - "Ghost Under Rocks (Passion Pit Remix)" - MP3 - Stereogum]

Annuals & Jessica Lea Mayfield (1/23/08)

I can't believe it's been over a MONTH since I've seen a show. However, this kicks off a barrage of good shows coming in the next couple months (just check the concert calendar). Kicking off this return to live music was the Annuals & Jessica Lea Mayfield show at the Grog Shop. I wish I could say it was an amazing show, but it was still enjoyable. Jessica Lea Mayfield was charming and sounded great. I'm a little surprised to see her open for the Annuals, and i'm not sure the Grog Shop is the best performance space for her. Of course I may be spoiled by what little I caught of her spirited CD release show at the Beachland Tavern (which I'm feeling is a better fit for her). Still, I'm happy to see and support a local girl making it big.

The Annuals packed the stage with their 6 member band. They were good, not great. I'm not sure what was missing... they were empassioned, the sound was good, etc. Though it could have been that I was distracted by all the drinking and conversations, or maybe that I'm not as familiar with their music to appreciate the complexity and layering. Anyway, it was still a fun night out. I also got to meet co-Cleveland Music Bloggers who write Sensory Overload. I suggest checking them out.

Check out my Flickr page for the full set of photos.

David Dondero: Tiny Desk Concert on NPR Music

What an awkward setup here, but it's worth watching... I also find myself enjoying David Dondero more and more. I recently went scrambling to download my monthy allowance of MP3's from eMusic and looked to see what else he had there. I found... and I'm even further blown away by this guy.

David Dondero: Tiny Desk Concert

By Bob Boilen
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98828057

Watch David Dondero's Tiny Desk Concert.

NPR.org, December 30, 2008 - He should be a name everyone knows by now. Instead, troubadour David Dondero returned to NPR having slept the night before in his car. Dondero travels from club to club, singing his well-crafted songs — songs that have his signature lyrics at their core. His lyrics can make you smile with their wit and hurt with their bite, all at the same time.

Dondero's name pops up in interviews I've had with other songwriters: I specifically remember his name coming up in conversation with Conor Oberst and The Be Good Tanyas.

There are four songs in this Tiny Desk Concert — listen to them all. Then tell anyone in love with true wordsmiths. Maybe we can get this guy out of the car, and at least into a Motel 6.

By far, this is one of my FAVORITE songs by him. You need to listen to it.

Rothko Chapel - David Dondero

Ah, the good old days...

From All Music's Retro Ad of the Week.

If there's one way to get me to listen to a techno album, it's by adding Robyn & Lykke Li to the list of guest performers. I've heard of Royksopp before but can't say I know much about them, but I will definitely check this out when it's released.

Robyn, Lykke Li Guest On New Royksopp Album

Royksopp January 05, 2009 03:34 PM ET Jonathan Cohen, N.Y. Norwegian electronica duo Royksoop's first album in three-plus years, "Junior," will arrive March 23 internationally and the following day in the United States via Astralwerks. "Every once in a while we surface to share our music and shed some light in an otherwise bleak reality," the group wrote on its Web site. "And that time is soon upon us, ladies & gents." The follow-up to 2005's "The Understanding" features guest appearances from Robyn, Lykke Li, Anneli Drecker and the Knife's Karin Dreijer. First single/album opener "Happy Up Here" will be available March 9. "The Understanding" debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's Top Electronic Albums chart and spawned the singles "Only This Moment" (No. 18 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play tally) and "What Else Is There?" (No. 8 on Billboard's Hot Dance Singles Sales chart). Here is the track list for "Junior: "Happy Up Here" "The Girl and the Robot" "Vision One" "This Must Be It" "Royksopp Forever" "Miss It So Much" "Tricky Tricky" "You Don't Have a Clue" "Silver Cruiser" "True to Life" "It's What I Want"

Another Laundromatinee Session - We Are Scientists and Oxford Collapse

Here's another Laundromatinee session, with We Are Scientists and Oxford Collapse. This includes some fun, impromptu interactions. Enjoy.

We Are Scientist~After Hours from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

Killers Coming to Cleveland

The Killers just announced that they'll be performing at the Time Warner Cable Amphitheater on Wednesday, May 6th. Just the thought of it being in May makes me excited for this outdoor show. Feels like it'll be tropical compared to our current weather.

On a related note, I recently saw this quote from Brandon Flowers (on Perez). I'd have to agree with him. Seems like a lot of people are haters, but I think Killers are doing a great job at what they do best - being "platinum."

“I was confident about Sam’s Town, even though it didn’t get the greatest reviews. That’s my biggest problem with America — I have a big chip on my shoulder. When I do an interview in Europe I get treated with respect, like I’m David Byrne. They love our ambition, they want us to do well. But not in America. I take it personally. We’re still learning, you know? But it’s not like the Killers are some tragedy. We’re a platinum band, after all. And so far, the reviews (for their new album, Day & Age) are light-years better. It already feels like things are turning around.”

- The Killers' Brandon Flowers tells the new issue of Blender

Catching up with Teitur

Teitur is one of the artists who I stumbled upon years ago and continue to keep up with. He'd fallen off my radar for a while until this piece from Electroqueer.

I can't believe I missed his new release "The Singer", but have it now and giving it a listen. So far so good!

Check him out, if you like the mile male singer-songwriter.

Singsongstars: Introducing Teitur

Say hello to Teitur - he's a singer/songwriter from the Faroe Islands who I've been listening to a lot lately on MySpace. If you're a fan of Antony & The Johnstons, Rueben Butchart, Esser, or Rufus Wainwright, you'll probably fall in love with Teitur's velvety voice and interesting and ambient sound.

Coming from the Faroe Islands has really been a true inspiration to Teitur - he explains;
“There is no getting away from the fact that the Faroe Islands have influenced me. The place is very dramatic, the weather conditions are averse, there is a lot of silence, it’s a part of me, it’s in my dreams, it is hard for me not to put some of that atmosphere into my music as I feel so attached to it.”

Take a listen to the offbeat first single "Catherine The Waitress" - released on February 2nd, to get a feel for the quirky, enveloping mood music that Teitur produces. His album... [From Electroqueer: Singsongstars: Introducing Teitur]

Lala Online Music Service

As you probably already know, I'm as intrigued with music-related technology (web/software based) as I am with the music itself. For the most part, I believe that most digital music distribution models have it wrong, though they've been making strides with going DRM-Free. However, if I were to imagine a service that I would pay to use, that would be Lala. This article pointed me to it and I'm somewhat impressed with their business plan. To quickly summarize...

• Listen to any song once for free
• Choose to listen to it unlimited times online for 10¢
• or Choose to buy the song (DRM-Free) for .79¢
• Finally... it integrates with your current library for songs you already own

Not bad.

LaLa, The Black Sheep Of Music Startups, Just May Have The Right Formula
by Michael Arrington on December 16, 2008

LaLa doesn’t get nearly as much attention as the other streaming music services, probably because they actually charge users to listen to music. Sites like MySpace Music, Imeem and Last.fm all stream music for free these days. But LaLa only lets you listen to a song once. After that, you have to “buy” it for ten cents to listen to it as many times as you like, and add it to playlists.

Seems like a non-starter, right? But wait, there are a few reasons why LaLa has a real chance at success. First, they have an absolutely exceptional user experience, which was completely relaunched in October (and we loved it). Unlike all of the other services, LaLa gets you to the music you want to hear as quickly as possible, whether it’s... [From LaLa, The Black Sheep Of Music Startups, Just May Have The Right Formula]

Neko Case's Middle Cyclone EPK

One of the more anticipated new albums of this year.

Stream Andrew Bird's Noble Beast & Useless Creatures

Thanks Stereogum (& NPR)!

When we gave Noble Beast its Premature Evaluation, we noted Andrew Bird (here with flyaway hair) hasn't been shy about previewing album tracks live and via streams. The record -- along with the instrumental deluxe-edition disc Useless Creatures -- is out in a couple of weeks (1/20) and the previews have gained momentum: Catch Noble Beast in its entirety at NPRand those Useless Creatures at Bird's site. Contrary to the titles, the Useless instrumentals are more interesting than the Noble collection.

[From Stream Andrew Bird's Noble Beast & Useless Creatures]

He's scheduled a Cleveland concert! He'll be at Playhouse Square on Thursday, April 2nd!

Also, if you're resourceful enough, you can find the whole album online. Happy Hunting.

John's First Open Mic Night

My good friend John fulfilled one of his goals last year... he performed his first open mic night. This has been a long time coming.

I remember when John first started plucking out chords on a guitar. We were roommates and music was (and is) a big part of our lives. Early on, we talked about how we could be the male equivalent of the Indigo Girls. Well, as you can imagine, that never worked out. I never really picked up the guitar but instead chose to enter the blogosphere and John continued at a dedicated pace, writing songs and expanding his performance skills. I've always been impressed with his ability to push on, learning more guitar techniques and writing more songs.

I've continued to nudge him to play out for an audience. I was very excited to hear he had planned a night out and I was VERY glad I could make it...

Congratuations John. I'm looking forward to the next (and many more) performances.

Apple Updates

I don't know about you, but I'm already sick of hearing about the Apple updates. Love to get the news, but damn... nearly EVERY website with any kind of tech / music slant is covering it ad nauseum. However, if by some chance this lil' blog is your only source for music news & tech, I figured I should make mention of a few relevant updates. You know... just in case.

Overall, I am pleased that the iTunes store is going DRM Free. I still don't like the pricing model, and I like even LESS that you have to pay to upgrade your songs / videos, etc. They're making a move in the right direction, but they've got a long way to go. Here are some details:

iTunes Music Store Finally Ditches DRM, Adds New Prices
By Eliot Van Buskirk
January 06, 2009 | 3:41:21

After years of fits, starts, threats and ultimatums, Steve Jobs and three major labels have come to terms on a deal: Music will be available immediately on iTunes without DRM restrictions. Free of the limitations that currently restrict music playback to Apple products, the new plan will let consumers choose from three price levels instead of the 99-cent song model the store implemented on day one. The announcement, made Tuesday at the last MacWorld Expo Apple will attend, ends an increasingly ridiculous war between two stubborn players. They may have thought they couldn't live together, but they certainly couldn't thrive apart. In the end, each side got what it wanted in the accord -- after refusing to concede for years. That means we could have got here [From iTunes Music Store Finally Ditches DRM, Adds New Prices | Epicenter from Wired.com]

The Price Of Going DRM-Free: Apple’s Hidden $1.8 Billion Music Tax
by Erick Schonfeld on January 6, 2009

Nearly two years ago, Steve Jobs published an open letter to the music industry calling for the death of DRM (digital rights management). He convinced EMI to ditch DRM back in April, 2007, but the three other major music labels held out. Until today. Now all the songs on iTunes are DRM-free, or soon will be.

And, with that, the DRM era of digital music finally can be put to rest. (Amazon’s MP3 store has been selling DRM-free tracks from all the major labels for a year now already). The labels were likely holding out for other concessions from Apple, such as variable pricing (which they got), and the Apple also thankfully convinced them to sell songs over cellular data networks to iPhones for the same price as they co [From The Price Of Going DRM-Free: Apple’s Hidden $1.8 Billion Music Tax]

Port O'Brien at Laundro Matinee

I'm posting this partly because I enjoy listening to Port O'Brien and wanted to share... but also for the production quality of the website, the video, and even the external Vivemo site used in conjunction with Laundro Matinee. Impressive.

I'll say I'm also not a fan of live music without an audience. Something about playing to a camera is blah to me (same as with the AOL sessions), but I can overlook that for the time and effort put in.

If only this blog could be the swank.

Video Session : Port O'Brien
Straight off the fishing boat and ready to rock...
December 24, 2008

Port O'Brien rolled through Indianapolis, on tour with Bodies Of Water, and put on one hell of a show at Locals Only. Touring behind their 2008 release All We Could Do Was Sing, an incredibly honest, autobiographical album put together by the band's two primaries Van Pierszalowski and Cambria Goodwin. Many songs deal with Van's time spent on his father's fishing boat in Alaska.  Some are joyous. Some are sad, lonely and heart-wrenching. All are quite good.

Port O'Brien has seen a slow rise into the eyes and ears of indie music fans in 2008. But that's mainly because these two are no strangers to hard work. Outside of making quality [From Video Session : Port O'Brien : LaundroMatinee]

Videos:

Port O'Brien~Tree Bones from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.


Port O'Brien~Sour Milk Salt Water from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.


Port O'Brien~Rooftops from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

Ryan Gosling

Yes... I got this off Perez. But I have a little crush Ryan Gosling (despite The Notebook) and this video makes me like him even more - where did that voice come from? While I too am not a fan of actors turned musicians (usually), this have me intrigued. I'll be anxious to hear some of his band's music once they get some posted to their MySpace page.

(here's a better YouTube Version:)

New Dan Auerbach (Black Keys)

GREAT SONG! Love the big, dramatic, bluesy sound...

I'm so thankful that the Black Keys are local boys... Check My Concert Calendar for all the upcoming dates, including Dan Auerbach's solo show at the Beachland on March 5th.

NEW DAN AUERBACH (BLACK KEYS) - "I WANT SOME MORE" (STEREOGUM PREMIERE)

Black Keys vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach shows up sans Patrick Carney for his solo debut Keep It Hid. It's wasn't too long ago that the duo themselves released their fifth album, Attack & Release Release; in fact, Auerbach wrote a bunch of these new songs while on the road in support of it. Auerbach produced the album by himself in his Akron Analog studio mentioning he "wanted a live, organic sound. Nothing was too plotted or planned, just a lot of spontaneity." He got what he wanted because he performs most of it (drums, guitar, percussion, and keyboards) minus the occasional guest like his uncle James (not Robert) Quine, who adds vocal harmonies and electric guitar on "Street Walkin," Jessica Lea Mayfield (vocals on "When the Night Comes") and Bob Cesare (drums on "Whispered Words"). DA says the collection's "a mix [From New Dan Auerbach (Black Keys) - "I Want Some More" (Stereogum Premiere) - MP3 - Stereogum]

Team Love Library

Now here's a good idea... free & legal music as promotional material. Team Love is creating a library of free music from it's artists, which include the likes of David Dondero, Tilly & the Wall, and Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins.

INTRODUCING THE TEAM LOVE LIBRARY
POSTED ON DEC 8TH, 2008 || FILED UNDER || NEWS

WHEN TEAM LOVE STARTED WE HAD THE SIMPLE AND POSSIBLY SELF-DEFEATING NOTION THAT POSTING ALL OUR ALBUMS ON THE WEBSITE AS FREE DOWNLOADS WOULD BE A GOOD DETOUR AROUND THE WRECKAGE OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY AND A WAY TO AVOID GETTING BOGGED DOWN IN THE NUMBER ONE TOPIC OF DISCUSSION AND DISTRACTION: PIRACY, ILLEGAL DOWNLOADS, P2P NETWORKS AND SO ON.

FIVE YEARS LATER AND THE DEBATE STILL DRONES IN THE BACKGROUND, AND WHILE SOME BANDS HAVE ADOPTED A MUTATED VERSION OF THE “FREE DOWNLOAD” (PAY WHAT YOU WISH, ETC), WE’VE DECIDED TO RESHAPE OUR POLICY IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION AND INTRODUCE THE TEAM LOVE LIBRARY. EACH MONTH (OR SO) WE’LL BE ROTATING THE LIBRARY’S SELECTIONS, FEATURING DIFFERENT TEAM LOVE ALBUMS AS WELL AS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT SUCH AS UNRELEASED SONGS, LIVE OR REMIXED VERSIONS OF TL FAVORITES.

THE LIBRARY WILL BE OPEN TO THE PUB [From TEAM LOVE » News » Introducing the Team Love Library]

New Guster Album in the Works (finally)

I just love Guster. DeVane turned me on to them years ago and I felt like I was already late to the party. Luckily, they've kept going, though at a much slower pace.

That's fine, they're changing labels and having kids and shiz. I understand. I'll be excited where these changes take them and I'm really looking forward to their new album.

Guster Shifts To Aware/Columbia For New Album
December 11, 2008 12:01 AM ET
Michael D. Ayers, N.Y.

After four albums with Reprise, veteran rock outfit Guster has signed with Aware/Columbia. The group hopes to complete its as-yet-untitled label debut in February.

Lead singer Ryan Miller says Guster plans to come away with "17 or 18" songs recorded, pared down from around 25 possiblities. Fatherhood has been a key factor in the writing.

"Three of us all had our first kids within four months of each other," Miller tells Billboard.com. "We're adjusting to this new era of fatherhood. The band met each other in 1991, and it's 2008. So, it's sort of an interesting place to still be excited about making music together."

[From Guster Shifts To Aware/Columbia For New Album]

Message from Daemon Records

Message from Daemon Records

This past year has been a particularly difficult one for the US economy. Skyrocketing home foreclosures, rising unemployment and sharp increases in the cost of basic necessities have meant trying times for American families, including their pets. Particularly when forced from their homes due to foreclosure or other economic necessity, families have made the difficult decision to abandon their pets.

Local shelters are overwhelmed by the rise in homeless pets and animal rescue organizations have found pets in dire situations - locked up and left to starve. This winter season we encourage you to get involved to help these pets and their families. Together we can help families keep and care for their pets, and we can provide much needed support for shelters whose services are in high demand.

Help Daemon Records raise funds for the Foreclosure Pets Grant Fund created by Humane Society of the United States. Monies from the HSUS fund will be distributed to local shelters and rescue groups that are meeting the needs of families and pets in this tough economy. Projects may include expanding the number of foster homes they have, starting a pet food pantry, or providing financial assistance for veterinary care.

We are offering a special benefit package at www.daemonrecords.com through the end of January.

For $30, you will receive autographed copies of Prom and Stag, a signed photo of Amy Ray, and first class postage (US orders only).

Thanks!