We knew Mark Kozelek could do the children’s songs but here’s a totally different thing from the song on the Paper Bag Records comp. It’s a lovely short lullaby with animation that aired on Yo Gabba Gabba!.

Song obsessions are those songs that we listen to on repeat. I noticed that my obsessions are often a week long. I also thought that other people might have similar obsessions. I’ve collected a panel of a few like-minded individuals and gotten their “song obsessions of the week.” Quite often it’s easy to explain why the song is good; it’s much hard to explain why we’re obsessed. Maybe you’ll become obsessed with one of these.

–

Adrian (me):
Darondo – Didn’t I? (mp3) (buy)

Soul Sides turned me onto Darondo. He’s a Bay Area soul artist from the 70s that put out three 45s and then disappeared until a record nerd hunted him down and got him to release that material plus some spruced up demos.

I have not been able to get enough of this song. It’s got so many good elements to it. The guitar and strings, the background vocals and, of course, Darondo’s vocals.

Added bonus is that he’s playing at the Independent tonight. Reports from his (few) recent gigs are that he’s still got it.

–

Keith:
the Conet Project – the Swedish Rhapsody (mp3) (buy or free)

The Conet Project is not only a haunting yet compelling aural survey of Numbers Stations, it’s also a 4CD catalog of one man’s obsession to record, identify and document every instance he could find. While I’m glad I have the physical box set with the booklet, anyone can go to the label’s website and download the whole set gratis. http://irdial.hyperreal.org/

–

Scott:
the Hippy Boys – Vengeance (mp3) (buy)

as i was leaving my show last week, i heard our esteemed Barbara Ann (host of the Courtesy Flush) play a track that’s managed to stay in my head all week, ‘Vengeance’ by The Hippy Boys.

–

Andy:
Winterbirds – the Thing We Will Forget (mp3) (not available except at shows? artist’s website)

I went into this EP thinking that Winterbirds sounded like Low, which frankly, would be good enough for me. And, to be truthful, there’s two tracks on the EP that really do sound like Low. The guy/girl singing helps, but the overall feel is similar, as well.

Overall, however, their influences lie further afield. “Perfect People” has a much more modern-folk/beardsy feel, both in composition and execution. The banjo is a welcome touch. “The thing we will forget” goes the other direction, into more recent indie-rock, sounding like a Pedro the Lion song sung by a married couple. The 1/8th note-strums on the guitars, the low-in-the-mix crashing cymbals during the chorus, it’s all there. There’s a weird drum fill at about 4:05 that warms my heart – it’s clearly a mistake, but it completely works, and I’m glad they used the take.

The last ipickmynose presents show was so much fun that I decided to do it again.

On Wednesday June 11, ipickmynose will be presenting two of my favorite local bands Geographer and Two Sheds (myspace), along with Seattle-ites Friday Mile (myspace) and locals Marabelle Pheonix at Annie’s Social Club in San Francisco. The show starts at 8pm and will only run you only 7 American dollars.

I’m very excited about this show as I was before I was even on board as a presenter. You can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting a post about Geographer or Two Sheds.

I first saw Geographer a few months ago when they were called something else at the Great American and heard something pretty exciting in their sound. I also caught them a month or so ago at 12 Galaxies and they had the crowd going. They make nice indie pop with catchy synth lines and great melodies. I think your head will be bopping if you see them. Be sure to check out some more tracks from their set down at KZSU.

Geographer – Rushing In, Rushing Out (mp3)

Geographer – Wonderful (Live at KZSU) (mp3)

Two Sheds hit me like a train the first time I heard “It’s Hard”. I just couldn’t get over it. I made sure to see them at SxSW (and then again in SF and SD). They write really great songs and the simple and effecting instrumentation supports Caitlin’s wonderful voice nicely. They’ve put on great sets every time I’ve seen them. They came down and did a set at KZSU last week and their new tunes sound good too.

Two Sheds – It’s Hard (mp3)

Two Sheds – Undertow (Live at KZSU) (mp3)

I haven’t seen Friday Mile before but I got their EP a couple weeks ago. It’s a disc of solid, subdued indie rock with male and female vocals. “Westward Bound” is a nice tune with country-ish inflections.

Friday Mile – Westward bound (the Whitest Blanket) (mp3)

I don’t have any Marabelle Phoenix to share with you at the moment, but you can check out her/ their sometimes dark countryish sounds on myspace.

June 11 may seem like an awfully long time away, but it’s actually less than two weeks. Mark your calendars!

Should be a great show. Hope to see you there!

Posted every Thursday On Sale Soon is a weekly series of the tickets going on sale that weekend.

Where to get tickets: The Independent, Great American Music Hall, Slim’s, Fillmore, Warfield, and other Livenation venues. Another Planet booked venues like Greek Theatre @ Berkeley, Palace of Fine Arts, etc. Bimbo’s.

On sale now/ Thurs May 29:
6/21 SOJA, Tribal Seeds @ Slim’s

Pre-sale Thursday May 29:
7/19/08 Download 2008 Atmosphere & Brother Ali with Brand New, Mute Math, Yeasayer, M83, T Tapes ‘n Tapes, RJD2, Cut Copy, Datarock, The Duke Spirit, Blitzen Trapper, Mates of State @ Shoreline Amphitheatre

On sale Friday May 30:
9/20 Treasure Island Music Festival w/ Justice, TV on the Radio, Goldfrapp, Hot Chip, CSS, Antibalas, Aesop Rock, Amon Tobin @ Treasure Island
9/21 Treasure Island Music Festival w/ The Raconteurs, Tegan & Sara, Vampire Weekend, Spiritualized, Okkervil River, The Kills, Tokyo Police Club, Dr. Dog @ Treasure Island

8/2 Bone Bash IX with Sammy Hagar and the Wabos, Scorpions @ Shoreline Amphitheatre

On sale Sunday June 1:
6/23 Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra, Butch Whacks & the Glass Packs @ Great American

7/1 Alice Russell @ the Independent
7/10 Ratatat @ Slim’s
7/13 One Republic @ The Fillmore
7/21 A Hawk and a Hacksaw @ the Independent
7/24 State Radio, Rose Hill Drive @ Great American
7/28 El Guinch, Tussle, Lemonade @ the Independent
7/29 Jay Reatard, Cheap Time @ the Independent

8/1 Manic Hispanic, The Crime @ Slim’s
8/2 Beres Hammond@ the Independent
8/6 Amanda Palmer (of The Dresden Dolls) @ Great American
8/9 The Everyone Orchestra @ Great American
8/15 Reckless Kelly @ Slim’s
8/22 Eddy Grant @ Slim’s
8/23, 8/24 The Waifs @ Great American
8/27 !!!@ the Independent

9/2, 9/3 Nada Surf @ Great American
9/8, 9/9 Built To Spill (performing “Perfect From Now On” in it’s entirety), Quasi, Off Campus @ Slim’s
9/10 Robert Forster @ Great American

Double check all information as venues and promoters often change on-sale times and days up until the last minute.

Things were pretty hectic during my radio show yesterday so I didn’t get a chance to post about it.

Anyway, you can check out my playlist to see what I played.

And while we’re on the topic of radio, don’t forget that I’ll be hosting the Ian Fays on KZSU tonight from 9-10pm. You can listen at 90.1FM or online.

Listen in! Should be a good one!

It’s not often that I go all fanboy: ‘OMG! NEW TRACK!’

Brooklynvegan gives us the scoop on the new Sigur Ros album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust . It’s out June 24th in North American on XL Recordings. You’ll be able to pre-order it starting June 2 and anyone will be able to listen to it (streaming) starting June 9.

Also, as of an hour ago, you can get the first track from the album, “Gobbledigook”, as an mp3 from sigurros.com. I downloaded it and gave it a listen: it’s pretty different from what I was expecting–very rhythmic and off-time with big percussion and chanting–but also pretty good.

Tons more info here.

Fanfarlo at SxSW 2008

I can’t believe I first heard Fanfarlo () over four months ago. It wasn’t until I saw them at SxSW (their first US show, which was one of my favorites of SxSW) that my band crush on Fanfarlo went into overdrive though.

The young British band’s sound seems simple enough: they have an interesting and nicely orchestrated upbeat pop sound. The vocals have a crooned quality to them and the music swells and fades. And while this isn’t break-through or life-changing music I do hear something new in their songs.

Here are a couple great songs from them songs. “Harold T Wilkins” is just excellent upbeat pop throughout. “We Live by the Lake” is a melancholy song with fitting vocals and trumpet lines.

Fanfarlo – Harold T. Wilkins (mp3s)

Fanfarlo – We Live By the Lake (mp3)

If you listen and become a super fan, perhaps you should check out these plans to make a fanfarlophone:

Fanfarlo’s stuff isn’t widely available in the U.S. but eMusic has a few songs available. “Harold T. Wilkins” and other are available from iTunes. (You can also buy the buy the original vinyl of Harold T Wilkins or the CD of Fire Escape/ We Live by the Lake.) You can also download “Sand and Ice (demo)” for free on their myspace page.

It’s not uncommon for Americans to go over to Europe and ride the rails all over but most haven’t ridden this nation’s rails extensively.

From September 7 to 10, 2003, for three and a half days I rode trains from Boston to Emeryville, changing trains once, in Chicago. I moved to California on those trains. I had known Boston as home for four years and Pittsburgh before that. Three thousand miles away, the Bay Area was almost a complete unknown. It was to be a time of new friends, new living arrangements, new streets, a new school, new supermarkets, and a new barber. I left half a day after a friend’s wedding and leaving that wedding was sort of like my farewell moment for most of the people I counted as friends there. I got on board with an ipod with only a few hours of battery life, my laptop with even less, two suitcases, a guitar and a backpack.

I didn’t have a cell phone and the train rarely stopped for long enough to have meaningful contact with people outside the train. I was very isolated for those few days.

I wrote down some thoughts at the time, when I was on the train. A few distinctive names and details have been changed to protect the innocent and I edited some small sections to make it easier to read. The rest appears as typed at the time.

–

Vernon L Sutphin – Lost Train Blues (mp3)

9.7.03

Deer Tick – These Old Shoes (mp3)

the Impressions – People Get Ready (mp3)

Read the rest of this entry »

Two Sheds (myspace) came down to do a live set at KZSU last night. They were the third of four bands that I have lined up.

They played a great set, as they did the other times I’ve seen them. The set had a handful each from their EP and Perfect Ammunition, their album. It also had two new songs in it, one so new it didn’t have a name yet. Check out some of the songs below.

setlist:

• [unnamed song--potentially "Roomful of People"]
• The Ballad of Salty Dog
• Undertow
  Two Sheds – Undertow (Live at KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)
  
• To Be Alive
• You
  Two Sheds – You (Live at KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)
  
• Perfect
• Mindwrecker
  Two Sheds – Mindwrecker (Live at KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)
  
• It’s Hard
  Two Sheds – It’s Hard (Live at KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)
  
• Mama

Thanks as always go to KZSU’s live engineer, Smurph, for making things sound so good.

Their next show should be a good one. It’s a really solid line-up and it’s pretty inexpensive:

6/11 Geographer, Two Sheds, Friday Mile, Maribelle Phoenix @ Annie’s Social Club, 8pm, $7, 21+

I’ve been recommending their album and EP . Definitely worthwhile listens.

Posted every Thursday On Sale Soon is a weekly series of the tickets going on sale that weekend.

Where to get tickets: The Independent, Great American Music Hall, Slim’s, Fillmore, Warfield, and other Livenation venues. Another Planet booked venues like Greek Theatre @ Berkeley, Palace of Fine Arts, etc. Bimbo’s.

On sale now/ Thurs May 22:
6/16, 6/17 Jello Biafra with and without Melvins, Melvins perform “Mangled Demos” @ Great American
6/29 Ralph’s World @ Bimbo’s

On sale Friday May 23:
11/21 Lisa Lampanelli @ Wells Fargo Center for the Arts

On sale Sunday May 25:
6/26 People Under The Stairs @ the Independent

7/9 Trouble, Danava @ Slim’s
7/10 Butch Walker @ Bimbo’s
7/27 Finch, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Foxy Shazam, Tickle Me Pink @ Slim’s
7/30 El Vez @ Slim’s
8/16 Smoking Popes, Koufax @ Slim’s

Double check all information as venues and promoters often change on-sale times and days up until the last minute.

Sunday night I saw three Swedish women at Bimbo’s: El Perro del Mar (myspace), Lykke Li (myspace), and Anna Ternheim (myspace).

It had been quite a while since I had been to a show at Bimbo’s. I remember the attendant in the bathroom and the mass amount of velvet–it seemed like too classy a club to host indie rock–but I’d forgotten how small it was. I mean, it’s no Hemlock Tavern but the floor area is pretty intimate.

Anna Ternheim was on when I got there. She did a set that was mostly earnest folkish guitar songs with a few on piano and a few accompanied by her “small and convenient” (as she put it) band: her ipod. The accompanied songs had some heavy beats and less folksy orchestrations. The crowd was pretty receptive–she even has some fans there just for her–but while I found it pleasant enough I didn’t find it compelling.

Lykke Li was next up. I’d heard a couple of her songs and heard some raves about her following her SxSW performances. I like what I heard enough to be intrigued but I wasn’t sold.

But let me make this clear: whatever you’ve heard doesn’t really figure into the equation unless you’ve seen her live. I hate to be so dismissive but it’s like people offering opinions on the Polyphonic Spree without having seen them live. Each act’s recordings shouldn’t be judged separately from their live performance, I feel.

Lykke Li performed like a woman possessed. She danced and rocked out, sang tenderly and almost shouted. The crowd was in a frenzy.

When the set ended, the audience clapped…a lot. “Why are they clapping so much? She’s an opener–there won’t be an encore.” And then she came back out. She admitted she didn’t have much material left before launching into a cover of “Can I Kick It” and then into her own “Tonight” (which is available free at her site).

Lullabyes has a show of hers from the year’s SxSW. It’s worth giving a listen to.

El Perro del Mar was the headliner and who I ostensibly came to see, but after Lykke I had questions about whether I should even stick around.

I did eventually decide to stay. I liked her self-titled debut album, but hadn’t really kept up with her since. I didn’t know much off of the new album.

She started with my favorite of hers, “Party” and she did nice versions of some of my other favorites like “It’s All Good” and “I Can’t Talk About It”. But in the end, it wasn’t enough.

El Perro del Mar showed up and played well, but Lykke Li showed her up. After such an ecstatic set, most any other performance wouldn’t shine like it would in another context.

I met Scott of Anyone’s Guess at the show. Nice guy. A reminder that you can win passes to Outside Lands (and other schwag) at his site.

See more photos after the jump or view my full album online.

Read the rest of this entry »

cred: me

My radio show is on the air right now until 5pm PDT on KZSU, 90.1 FM in the Bay Area or online. Why don’t you give it a listen?

My playlist is online, updated as I go.

Two Sheds at the Bottom of the Hill in April

Ipickmynose fav Two Sheds (myspace) release an EP Two Sheds – EP on iTunes a couple weeks ago (May 6). It consists of three new songs, one new version of an older song and one old song.

I picked it up pretty promptly and I’ve been enjoying it a great deal. It’s a continuation of the general sound on their album Perfect Ammunition, but I think it’s better recorded and possibly even more consistent. I’d recommend it.

Two Sheds – WTF (mp3)

You can get the 5 song EP for a cool $3.99 at iTunes.

As you may remember, I have a string of four bands down at KZSU in five weeks on Wednesdays from 9-10pm PDT. Listen in this week for Two Sheds. You can listen at 90.1FM in the Bay Area or online[1].

• April 30: Geographer
• May 14: the Botticellis
• May 21: Two Sheds
• May 28: the Ian Fays

You’d better start paying attention to this band. You’ll only be hearing more about them.

No, not James “Catfish” Hunter

For those familiar with my tastes, it was no surprise I was quickly obsessed with James Hunter (myspace). I grew up on a steady diet of oldies radio and I’ve come back to a lot of that music in the last few years, especially soul, Motown, Phil Spector, Sam Cooke, girl groups and other early R&B groups.

James Hunter, promo shot by Chris Ramirez

I got Hunter’s the Hard Way, out June 10 on Hear Music[1], a few weeks ago now and I keep coming back to his blue-eyed soul and liking it as much as on the first listen. The album is made of old-sounding songs hearkening back to the ’50s and ’60s, but within that sort of broad categorization, it’s actually pretty eclectic. Some songs are latin-influenced pop, with sounds like those Phil Spector employed frequently. Others have a very old-school R&B sound to them, like Big Maybelle. There are moments that remind me of Sam Cooke and others that remind me of some non-soul oldies.

It’s an album with a breadth of songs but they are also of consistently really high quality. The songwriting, orchestration and singing are great across the board.

One of the songs on the Hard Way is “Class Act” with the unsurprising chorus line “You’re a real class act”. Excellent song. I was listening to it the other day and it dawned on my that James Hunter is a real class act. While you could call his sound a gimmick, these are not cheap thrills he’s offering here. For a couple decades he’s been making music like this; he’s not some young kid appropriating sounds of a different time or place for profit. And the music he’s making is so right: put this in line with his influences and you could easily mistake it for something from that time period. But this is not merely some good and accurate imitation, but rather something that is itself imitable.

James Hunter – Hand It Over (mp3, from the forthcoming the Hard Way)

James Hunter – Talkin’ ’bout My Love (mp3, from People Gonna Talk)

Tickets are on sale now for his July date in San Francisco (I’ve bought mine):

7/11 James Hunter @ Bimbo’s, 9pm, $18, 21+

The rest of his tour dates can be after the jump.

Pre-order the Hard Way at amazon. People Gonna Talk is already available.

[1] I got this CD in the mail and immediately saw Hear Music and groaned. Hear Music is the Starbucks music label (though, right around that time Starbucks handed over creative control to its partner) and there was no way I was going to promote a Starbucks CD. Well, I put it in and, to my chagrin, I quickly realized that it was too good not to talk about.

Tour dates and a live video below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Over at the AV Club, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) interviews San Francisco’s own Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon).

Kozelek performing at the Palace of Fine Arts

They’re friends that I’ve seen play together and hang out (in SF) before. The interview ends up being pretty interesting. Here’s a taste:

BG: It’s difficult to know what to ask somebody who you’re friends with, when you’re trying to provide information that other people may be excited about.

MK: This whole plan struck me as odd. And when it came up, I was like, “I don’t think he’s gonna want to do it.” But then they said you would, and I thought, “Well, it could be interesting.” It could be a little awkward.

BG: I figure we can just fuckin’ talk it out, and if it turns out to be a complete disaster, we can just acknowledge that, and have a real journalist talk to you.

MK: Yeah. Gotcha, gotcha.

…

BG: In the book, you mention the song “24,” and it seems like maybe you’re a little self-conscious about the sentiment at this point. I’m 31, and I have a number of songs that were written around that same age, early 20s, where I was just scared to death about what the next phase of my life was going to be. We still play those songs, and I still sing them all the time, but there are moments where I cringe—I can’t believe that I talked about, even at 25, getting gray hairs. And now I’m starting to get them. And it’s humorous to me that that was something I wanted to write about at a young age. So now that you’re 41, how do you relate to those sentiments? Do you play those songs? And if you do, what’s going through your head?

MK: Some of them, I do. It’s probably the same with you, where there’s just certain songs from back then that have some longevity. I don’t know what it is, but there’s some I still love singing. And I can always find a way to make them sound fresh. I wrote about that in the foreword, I think I said something like, “It’s odd, whining about the hardships of old age then.” But I think it’s all just context. When I was 18, I dated a girl who was 24, and she seemed old to me! [Laughs.] And when I was 23 or 24, my band was opening for American Music Club; at that time, their guitarist was 40. And we heard that and we all just took a step back and went, “Oh my God. That guy’s old.” And now I’m dating a girl who’s 27, her friends are 25, and I go out to eat with them, I feel like they’re looking at me like, “Whoa. This guy’s old.” [Laughs.]

It’s all context. At that time, when you’re 24, you’re supposed to have direction. You should probably be out of college and have your career started. And I think at that time, I hadn’t been to college, I was working down at the hotel, just wondering, “What is going to happen to my life?” So I had that fear. Now, when I’m around people who are 15 years younger than me, that fear you’re talking about, I can see it in them. They’re questioning where they’re at. And I think I was just sort of going through that stuff. I occasionally whine about being 41, and my gray hairs, and my protruding gut, my right knee that doesn’t work like it used to or whatever. But I think it’s going to be one of those things where one day I’ll be 60 thinking, “Damn! I wish I was still 40. It wasn’t so bad.” But I still feel very attached to those older songs, and in some kind of fundamental way, I feel like they’re still who I am now, and I still have some of that same stuff going on inside of me.

I recommend heading over to the AV Club to read the rest.