May 2009
9 posts
1 tag
Right Hand Man
I was too excited about these to wait to post them until Monday. I’ve talked a lot about the Dark Was the Night benefit compilation from the Red Hot Organization on this site - earlier this month, many of the artists who contributed tracks to the set gathered for a one-night-only benefit show at Radio City Music Hall in NYC, including David Byrne, the National, the Dirty Projectors, Bon...
1 tag
Paint It Black
I first downloaded Adele’s cover of the Raconteurs’ “Many Shades of Black” around the same time last summer that I first started listening to 19, so I always thought of it as a b-side to that album. I didn’t realize until later that the song was recorded as a b-side for the Raconteurs single, with Adele backed by Jack White and the Raconteurs themselves. It’s...
1 tag
Snap Crackle Pop
A little background on this yet-to-be-released Sia track, “The Codependent”: Sia played this song at shows throughout her 2008 tour and mentioned it was written for an “animated pop project” (the Gorillaz come to mind, but details are pretty scarce) on which she collaborated with the Bird and the Bee’s Greg Kurstin.
Sia - “The Codependent” [live] (mp3)
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Old Stone
Marcus Mumford accompanied Laura Marling during both of her performances I caught during SXSW, providing background vocals, percussion and accordion, sometimes simultaneously. One of the first things I did when I got home was to download everything I could find from his band, Mumford & Sons. Though they’ve yet to release a full-length album, but I’ve downloaded everything...
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High Like Heaven
Since Fiona Apple’s releases are few and far between, it’s always nice to re-discover some of the rarities in her catalog. Here’s a live cover of the song “When I Get Low, I Get High” made famous by Ella Fitzgerald, which Fiona performed regularly on her tour with Nickel Creek. This performance is from a 2007 benefit show at Largo with Jon Brion, by far my favorite...
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Dog New Tricks
Though I somehow overlooked Iron & Wine’s 2007 album, The Shepherd’s Dog, at the time of its release, I recently rediscovered it via iTunes Genius playlists. I’ve been listening to it pretty heavily ever since, so I was happy to find out that earlier this year Iron & Wine posted 8 acoustic demos of tracks from The Shepherd’s Dog as a free download on the official...
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Big Time Sensuality
The Bjork live set Voltaic I mentioned back in January now has a new official release date of June 23, 2009, pushed back from March. The set includes a disc of in-studio performances from 2007 (including reworked songs from Post, Homogenic, and Vespertine) and a DVD of live performances from her concerts in Paris and Reykjavík. The set also includes a DVD of all of the videos from Volta and a CD...
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Minus Forever
Though live recordings of both tracks have been floating around for quite some time, two previously unavailable demos from Courtney Love’s (perhaps forever) forthcoming album Nobody’s Daughter, have surfaced: “Samantha” and a full band version of “Sunset Marquis” (a piano only demo was posted on Love’s MySpace page last year). Eleven other demos from the...
1 tag
Stories From the City
Even with only one album under her belt, Adele’s got the kind of power in her voice that would make anyone a little timid about attempting to cover her. Turns out Santigold’s got the swagger necessary to give it a shot though, taking on what is arguably Adele’s best track to date, “Hometown Glory,” stripping it down to a gritty, chugging drumbeat and a single synth...