There are a few times every year that I hear of a good music review and check out an album and become entranced. Michael Kiwanuka has done that to me with his album Love & Hate. Only $5 to download, or enjoy on a streaming service you use. Here's the song I can't stop playing, "Cold Little Heart." The opening is 6 1/2 minutes long and then it gets into the song and I never want the opening to end, and then it does, and I'm so glad because it's this whole other thing. What an epic this is. Hope you enjoy it.
Delta Spirit: Into The Wide | I'm desperate to get as many as possible to discover this album. And it's only $5. A steal. I've listened to no album more this year and it's still pretty new.
Hozier: Hozier | A bluesy, rock-soul album. Lots of enjoyable stuff on this one.
SONGS
The Gray Havens have released a new song before the release of Fire & Stone in January 2015. Check out "Songs in the Night"...
One more. I often rediscover old albums and songs I loved and mentally misplaced for a while. Check out "Charlie Darwin" by The Low Anthem off of their outstanding 2009 album, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin.
The more listens I give to Jason Isbell's remarkable album, Southeastern, the more I love it.
I point you to a lot of music and most of the time I blog on albums when they are on sale. Finding a good album for $5 or cheaper is joy. Southeastern is full price. It's $9.99. And it's worth three times the price. If you wait and spend your money only when albums are on sale, you will miss something remarkable.
I submit into evidence Jason Isbell's recent appearance on NPR's Fresh Air podcast. Isbell plays a few of his songs live and talks about his own struggles with addiction. It's a great interview. And every song on this album makes me think. I hope you'll check it out.
This made me smile. Will Sheff/Okkervil River (from Meridian, NH) reuinites with childhood friend Aaron Johnson and plays open mic nights at various locations around New England to introduce the new song, "Down Down The Deep River" from Okkervil River's new album The Silver Gymnasium.
Brand new album from one of my favorite bands, Deerhunter: Monomania, is out today and on sale for $5. It's one of the few albums I've anticipated weeks ahead of time in 2013. Pitchfork 8.3/10. It's excellent.
If I could force everyone to check out one album today, it would be from On An On. Haven't been on my radar until today and just loving it. Stream Give In for free today, buy it tomorrow, and watch the video for "Ghosts." Love this song...
From last week's Best Albums of 2012 post, here's the same list of albums only listing the ones currently on sale. All are $5 unless I say otherwise. It was a couple days ago I worked on this so I'd appreciate it if you would let me know if any prices have changed.
This is a delightful recording of Andrew Bird & St. Vincent (Annie Clark) singing Bird's song, "Lusitania." You can find the song on Bird's newest album, Break It Yourself. It starts in a bedroom & ends on a stage. Gorgeous.
Mumford & Sons have made the kind of record they are supposed to make...emotive, heart-on-sleeve, compelling, rollicking, and just plain fun. I've been considering writing a post about why you shouldn't feel guilty for listening to Mumford & Sons (Some indie sites are ripping them, and acting like you are an idiot if you like them). I say you should pick up Babel (or deluxe edition) and tap your feet and clap your hands, or as Jon McIntosh put it in a recent tweet...
I just know that no other music makes me want to tear off my shirt and run down the street with my hands lifted to the sky. #Mumford#Babel
I lot of music stuff on the blog this week. Can't help it. It's all too good. Two more music posts today. First, The Avett Brothers play Kimmel with two new songs from The Carpenter (released today). Love getting quality live recordings from the Kimmel stage. First, "Live & Die," then "Febraury Seven."
The xx: Coexist is out next Tuesday, but streaming in full and free on Reformissionary today. Enjoy! By the way, it's great as an audio backdrop for work, reading, etc.
If you like Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, or just like indie music and great melodies and harmonies, you should check out 5 free songs from Wayfarer below. I got one of those "Hey, can you check out our music" sort of emails, which I get a lot. Most of that stuff just doesn't work for me. This does. It really, really works.
Wayfarer creates "repurposed hymns and spiritual songs," or as Dan of Wayfarer told me, these are "old and beautiful lyrics, entirely re-written." All I know is that into my second listen through and I'm enjoying it enough to stop other important things to tell you about it. Download for free, right now...
I made a discovery today. Streaming free today is an album by a band (dude) I've never heard of. Gregg DellaRocca is American Gospel. Tomorrow American Gospel's album, Tall Tales Volume 1, is out. I'm guessing very few of my readers have heard of this album and I hope you'll check it out. Gregg is the vocalist/singer for The Republic of Wolves.
The album is DellaRocca on nearly every instrument and vocals. Gregg writes...
Tall Tales Vol.1 combines story telling and personal experiences to deliver a fun, compelling, and sometimes dark, multi-genre musical experience. From a production standpoint the entire album was DIY, and for the most part I’m playing all the instruments (with an exception to the horns). Because most of the songs are about stories I could go on and on about them, but for the sake of time I thought I would sum them all up for you on this track by track.
The name, American Gospel, first intrigued me. As a preacher of the Gospel and I often talk about the American version of the Gospel vs. THE Gospel. Match an interesting name with an album titled "Tall Tales" and I had to give it a shot. I had no idea what to expect, but what I found was a creative, thoughtful, and at times provocative album. Listen to it for free today and buy it tomorrow if you like it. Let me know what you think.
Here's "Bayonet" followed by Gregg's explanation of the song...
This is a song that deals primarily with religion, death and trying to understand my own purpose in life. Written shortly after the passing of my great grandmother, “Bayonet” is about finding your place in the world, and being able to make the decisions to get to that place on your own. Structurally it’s short and constantly building, It’s broken up into three sections that don’t repeat themselves. In comparison to the opening track “I Know”, “Bayonet” is much more minimal in design, thus creating a strong point of contrast and setting the tone for track to track dynamics for the remainder of the album.
