Phosphorescent - Little Boxes (Malvina Reynolds cover)

[audio http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/6/2/1941199/Phosphorescent%20-%20Little%20Boxes.mp3]

Phosphorescent
Pride
October 23rd 2007
Dead Oceans Records

Matthew Houck’s performance as Phosphorescent is remarkable. His representation on record is near perfect. Houck’s rustic folk songs have a magic to them; they’ll enchant you with animistic melodies and fill your gut with a deep and anonymous sadness. His voice croons like a lone rancher singing to the stars while some small smoking fire dries the boggy mud on his boots. Pride goes beyond most Americana in defining with startling clarity, even if for a moment, the ambiguous and protean qualities that make American rural culture unique.

Houck's music descends as much from Welsh and Irish ballads as it does African American hymns and the rhythm of the Lakota Sundance. We have created a mythology about this country and its people; this mythology uses crop fields, prairies, mesas, and deserts as contexts in which our imaginations root the fundamental meaning of the American genesis. Phosphorescent has given us a record that celebrates this known but unspoken communion.

Intended or not, he along and Sam Beam are the standard bearers when it comes to Southern Gothic music. It is a tradition that gives us what history cannot. Animals become metaphors that speak as much of human tragedy as any factual testimonial. Two tracks in particular deserve words of great admiration. A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise opens the record with a sweet and haunting melody. With the pound of each bass drum, the listener becomes more entrenched in the humbling beauty of Phosphorescent’s music. Wolves is perhaps most exhibitive of Houck’s ability to assemble melody, lyrics, and spirit. These two songs alone justify every kind word he receives. Pride is a short yet stunning record. Had I only heard it sooner…

-FF

8/9

http://www.myspace.com/phosphorescent

Other Music
The Weight of Flight- 2004
Aw Come, Aw Wry- 2005

Here is a beautiful video for A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise by Zach Sluser:

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.635133&w=425&h=350&fv=clip_id%3D831365%26server%3Dwww.vimeo.com%26autoplay%3D0%26fullscreen%3D1%26md5%3D%26show_portrait%3D0%26show_title%3D0%26show_byline%3D0%26context%3D%26context_id%3D]

Amerikaanse postrock Amerikanen mochten de gelederen openen. Postrock Duystere muziek, iets voor laat op de avond? Misschien wel, maar het helpt ook om op een rustige manier aan de dag te beginnen. Haast geen kat toen Phosphorescent aan de ochtendwandeling begon, maar aardig wat volk toen ze eindigden. Lekker om mee te starten.
Quotering: ***

DeVotchka volgde en overtuigde. Hoogtepunt was zonder meer het moment dat een juffrouw de gordijnen werd ingejaagd en daar op het ritme van de muziek acrobatische toeren uithaalde. De muziek was bovendien van hoogstaand niveau. Voor de regionale televisiekijker, goed kijken want ik mocht ze in vier woorden aankondigen. Genoeg om te weten dat ik daar eigenlijk geen talent voor heb.
Quotering: ****(*)

Of dat nog niet genoeg was, bleef het niveau hoogstaand. Shantel & Bucovina Club Orkestar bouwden zowaar het feestje van het weekend. Volle petrol ambiance! Ze hadden drank mee, dat helpt. Misschien muzikaal niet het rijkste, maar die gedrevenheid, die sfeer. Buitengewoon. Disko disko partizani, zonder het ooit gehoord te hebben, zat het er meteen in. Extra leuk was dat de zanger even het publiek indook en voor onze neus zijn ding kwam doen.
Quotering: ****(*)

We bleven op post vooraan, voor een Belgisch feestje ditmaal. Arsenal heeft intussen een vaste plek verworven in het Vlaamse muziekland. Genoeg keuze om leuke nummers te spelen dus. Leuk was het, zonder dat er een extra dimensie aanwezig was. Buiten die ene knipoog van de zangeres in onze richting.
Quotering: ***(*)

Het podium werd ontruimd en er kwam haast geen volk opdagen. Met twee zijn The Kills en dat bleek genoeg om behoorlijk wat herrie te maken. De man in het gezelschap bleek een meer dan behoorlijk gitarist, maar het probleem was hier veel van hetzelfde. Veel groepen zijn in dat bedje ziek, jammer. Alison (VV) ging zelfs letterlijk onderuit.
Quotering: **(*)

Van less naar more met als eerste in de rij: Sophia. Gekend van hun redelijk grote radiohit Oh My Love. Zalig nummer. Voor de gelegenheid werden er ook strijkers aan de boel toegevoegd. Helaas, slappe hap. Het geluid bleek ook niet altijd helemaal juist te zitten en het extraatje kwam ook niet echt uit de verf. Beetje saai gewoon. Het moment om een andere hap naar binnen te werken en sterk te staan voor de twee afsluiters.
Quotering: **

Bootsy Collins en zijn gevolg vormen niet alleen een veel te lange naam. Ze stonden ook met bosjes op het podium. Het geluid zat lekker. De heupjes gingen ook heen en weer. Niks op aan te merken, lekker chill.
Quotering: ***

Senegal leverde de afsluiter onder de vorm van Youssou N’ Dour. Afrikaans feestje, dus was het ook een Afrikaanse start. Driekwartier te laat begonnen we eraan. De beentjes waren al zo moe, meneer. Af en toe een lekker danspasje (ook op het podium) en een wereldhit (7 Seconds) zorgden dat het toch de moeite was om te blijven hangen.
Quotering: ***

(What's a music list without the jams? Listen to this whole mix for a limited time at the Wordsworth Muxtape.)

1. Wolf Parade - "Language City"

Perpetual insomniacs Wolf Parade stay wide-eyed and twitching for all of their new record, At Mount Zoomer (as observed by Amanda Petrusich in her terrific review for Pitchfork). At times they're kept up at night by the fluorescent hum of the modern world and an itch to travel, but singer Dan Boeckner tells us this song's "about a coke party, where 'language city' is a metaphor for the pointlessness of staying up all night talking about nothing." When he growls, "it's crowded here, none of us leave," he could be talking about his tweaked-out friends as much as the chatter that clutters the airspace around them.

2. Elvis Costello - "Pump It Up"

This hit from the philophobic Costello is mostly packed with combustible images about some high-heeled sexual dictator. But the drug-alluding chorus only hints at the other thing putting him "on tenterhooks" -- he once told Rolling Stone that he wrote and threw out five verses of "amphetamine nonsense." Anyone else think it was weird when the NBA used in their TV spots last season?

3. The Mountain Goats - "Letter From Belgium"

Stage makeup, sketch notebooks, and cake recipes lie strewn around some apartment, while someone's bringing over a batch of electrical equipment. We've no idea what it's all for, but each piece of flotsam hints at a halted ambition, a dozen schemes and inspirations aborted and discarded around a drug den. "Letter" is one of several songs about crystal meth on We All Shall Be Healed, as John Darnielle pens a languid scene of tweakers "chewing our tongues off."

[To avoid monopolizing the market, the next Muxed Bag will include neither The Mountain Goats nor Elvis Costello. -Ed.]

4. Clipse - "Nightmares"

Drug use can lead to paranoia, but what about drug dealing? Success in the drug game -- compounded by the materialism and braggadocio that fills Clipse's verses -- has rapper Malice questioning his friends' loyalties: "When you see millions, there are many chameleons." By the end of the track, Pusha T even fancies himself an assassination target, saying, "top off the coupe, that's how JFK got shot," though he manages to turn this into a boast by the comparison alone.

5. The Streets - "Not Addicted"

Ultra-detailed narrator Mike Skinner takes on an addiction less common stateside: sports gambling. His skill with specifics is on full display as he slips in a line about mid-match bets, but more subtle is the shift of the chorus's meaning. At first "it's his lucky day," as in, he's bound to win; by the end, Skinner's just lucky he never made it to the betting shop.

6. The Clash - "Hateful"

Though it's clear what Joe Strummer's after in this song, he gets unambiguous with the most ambiguous words: "I got a friend who's a man," it starts. He's in such a hurry to see his man for some more, the word "hateful" never even gets put into a sentence. Just "hateful," a declaration.

7. The Hold Steady - "Hot Fries"

All your favorite movies, they ain't all that funny
If you ain't that high, and I ain't that high

Craig Finn, whether lovelorn or scene-tired, can be counted on to weave drugs or drinking into his reminiscing. But while he's usually the one doing the celebrating (or regretting), on "Hot Fries" he lays into another worn-out partygoer.

As narrator Finn is more sober than usual, offering life lessons such as "the things that make you high will make you die." He's also more hungover, shown in bitter accusations like "Elliott Smith seems like a mess to me / and you cry way too easily." Watching his friend burn out on dilaudid and hook-ups, Finn isn't reaching out so much as scorning an old version of himself.

8. Quasimoto - "Come On Feet"

Quasimoto, one of Madlib's more blacklight-friendly aliases, tends to rap in fits and flits, pausing for knob-twiddling, other-worldly reflection, and the occasional toke. This beat is as sluggish as his plodding verse, as Quas watches his own steps, each movement a struggle: "I pick 'em up and put 'em down." And if the lines "won't catch me now / never put us in some cold-ass ground" don't spell paranoia, then the horror-flick screams in the background will.

9. Of Montreal - "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse"

Chemicals are both friend and foe in this frenetic, paranoid dance single. The lysergic Kevin Barnes addresses his drugs like a wrongdoing lover: "Know you bait me way more than you should." Barnes decries the sins wrought by his substance use, but the intro of "come on mood shift, shift back to good again" promises solace; he knows he's in the valley of a sine wave, that it's only a matter of time before the good feeling rushes back.

10. Phosphorescent - "Cocaine Lights"

Mathew Houck's lyrics can get buried under Phosphorescent's dusky atmospherics, but "Cocaine Lights" has several verses worth unearthing. After an electric night, Houck describes the hollow ache of the morning:

In the darkness
After the cocaine lights
I will miss you
More than ever

And to color my eyes into rose
Is to ask of my beaten bones
To be less of meat and stone
And more of feather

His body sagging into the bed, heavy as stone, Houck recalls last night's transpirings, impossibly from the same bed: "There is light that pours sweet from new hips / there is beer that pours sweet through my lips." He replays the fond parts of the night -- a girl in a dress, a flirty joke before they collided -- but in the end he returns to the new sunrise, sobering, humbling, and shaming.

I will recover my sense of grace
And rediscover my rightful place
Yes and cover my face
With the morning

It's one of the coolest festivals in The Netherlands but hey, what is Finntroll, doing there? But the rest of the line up from this FREE festival in Nijmegen from 12-18 July is great, including The Teenagers, Liars, DeVotchKa, Why?, Fink, The Juan Maclean, Mugison, Phosphorescent, Miracle Fortress, Get Well Soon, James Pants, YACHT, The Black Seeds, Heidevolk, Pivot, SixNationState, Krause, Chrome Hoof, The Accidental, Lucky Fonz III, Lea, Lynn, Jean Parlette, John & Jehn, Leine, Okieson, Blaudzun, Smash The Statues, Bonne Aparte, Marten de Paepe, capacocha, INVASIVES, De Staat, Intero, The Cohens, Anavarin, Voer, Beansprouts, Pedro Delgados, Pierre Courbois, Black Bottle Riot, Dead Man Running, De Kwelling van Pythagoras, Wax 'n' Wane

Check the site.

[Explosions in the sky - ATP 2008 by una fotografa da marciapiede]

Where to start? We arrived on Friday 16 May in Minehead and nearly missed Mono, Japanese experimental/postrock foursome (really liked their set) due to endless queue for transportation from Taunton. We stayed in the cavernous central stage eagerly awaiting Dinosaur jr., I was very excited as I'd never seen them live but listened their albums so many times in the 90s. They played new songs from the album Beyond (2007) and old ones, I was jumping like a crazy rabbit when I heard the first seconds of Feel the pain. It was almost embarrassing. After the dinosaurs we moved to the pavilion for Explosions in the Sky, who were scheduled to play only once, although they were curating the weekend. Strangely enough their set didn't impress me, too many slow songs after a good start. I've seen them only once before and was expecting something heavier, more heartfelt. I went to see Phosphorescent before going to bed, good concert, sadly the third (and smallest) venue at Butlins has horrible acoustics and noisy slotmachines.

Saturday was quite busy, I was trying to see as much as I could and was happy to switch Okkervil River for Gostface Killah (that was a lot of fun), but I quickly returned to the pavilion for The National, definitely one of the festival's highlights. Brainy, Fake Empire, Squalor Victoria, great band. On the other hand, I found Iron&Wine very boring, as much as I love Beam's albums I don't seem to get him on a stage (the large band didn't help).

Sunday was slightly more relaxed, we even managed to eat a full lunch and spend some time in the sunshine, but rushed back for some great post-rock courtesy of Polvo. After listening to the first part of Silver Jews, we moved to the central stage for Animal Collective, my favourite set of all the weekend. The stage had been equipped with huge speakers with built-in lighting system, synchronising sound and colours. The effect was hypnotic. The sheer noise was one of the best things I've ever listened to. Fireworks was so good live. Broken Social Scene gave all they had, even calling Dinosaur Jr and others onstage. Battles were the perfect closure for the weekend, pumping loud sounds, playing the beautiful Tonto. After, a good night sleep and on Monday creeping post-festival blues during the journey to London. And so it ends.

Phosphorescent (Matthew Houck) - Wolves

[audio http://www.thankscaptainobvious-mp3.net/03%20Wolves.mp3]

The Breeders/Mountain Battles

Phosphorescent/The Weight of Flight

Fairport Convention/What We Did On Our Holidays

Alasdair Roberts/No Earthly Man

Warp 10+3 Remixes

[A Silver Mt Zion, photo by Mark Slutsky, via pitchforkmedia.com]

In terms of music last week was great, seeing A Silver Mt Zion at Scala was a real treat. Two straight hours of music and the occasional comments of Efrim Menuck on the Olympic torch in London and all. They started off with 1,000,000 Died To Make This Sound, track 13 of their new album (the preceding 12 tracks being a few seconds short sounds) 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons, and hypnotised the audience (mainly) with new songs. Personal highlight was BlindBlindBlind, also from their last album.

The exhibition I saw last week: Cranach the Elder at the Royal Academy (until 8 June). Thank god there were two different ticket queues for Cranach and the Russian collections, otherwise I would have been there for half an hour or more. The exhibition is on the top level, which means that it can get quite crowded as the spaces aren't very big. Well it was crowded, but, worst of all, it was full of visitors equipped with evil audio-guides. Standing in line and waiting to see a painting I wondered why people can't appreciate what's hanging on the walls without pretending to know everything about it. There are large panels (and large print is available too) with information, context etc., do people need more? Most of them end up listening without actually looking. End of rant. The show is good, many paintings and works on paper on loan from important foreign collections and the always interesting portraits of Martin Luther, old school propaganda.

This week I have tickets for two gigs, Phosphorescent at Borderline and Low playing at the Union Chapel. I'm quite excited for both: I saw Phosphorescent opening for Akron/Family at Cargo a few months ago and liked his voice and songs (as my friend M would say, 'he's very Will Oldham, right?') and now that I've been listening to Pride for a bit I'll probably like his set even more; well, and Low in a church, who can beat that? Art-wise: courtesy of my friend P I have tickets for the Chinese design exhibition at the V&A, I'll come back here to report on that.

Phosphorescent is currently in the middle of his U.S. tour, which recently included a stint at SXSW.

More @ SXSW...

Check Out:
"A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise"

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

- Ein College stolz auf seinen Absolventen: Berklee schreibt die CD Baby-Erfolgsgeschichte auf.

- Got Soul? Im neuen Mixed Tape Videoflashirgendwas erforscht Mercedes-Benz den Soul. Und ich find dieses Format (Autobude macht einen auf "Tracks") übrigens seltsam.

- Mir macht der Typ ja Angst... Ich erinner' mich noch mit Grausen an das legendäre "Motivationsvideo".

- Sinéad O'Connor: Covern und Gecovertwerden. Nette Hommage bei Cover Lay Down.

- Das is doch mal ne schöne Website. Und die Musik ist auch nicht schlecht.

- Neuentdeckung des Tages: Phosphorescent. mp3 hier, unten das Video zum Song. (via)

[audio http://www.scjag.com/mp3/do/tornuppraise.mp3]

I went to see Phosphorescent and The Bowerbirds at Union Hall a few weeks back. I was more impressed by the opening-opening band, The Acorn, than by the two groups I had gone to see. But that's not what I've come here to tell you about. What I'm here to tell you about is Viking Moses. At one point in the night, Matthew Houck (aka Phosphorescent) brought Brendan Massei (aka Viking Moses) to the stage. They performed a song together (I'm pretty sure it was Funny Little Photographs). Brendan Massei made me giggle and sway side to side and feel emotions which I'm still working out. He wore high waisted, light wash jeans, a baggy cotton sweater and nondescript loafers (or maybe they were white LA Gear sneakers? I can't remember exactly). My buddy Chris said he looked like an IT guy circa 1995. I agree.

Werewolves In The City video:

Viking Moses- Werewolves In The City

Has anyone else noticed the influx of songs and band names that use the word bear or wolf? Do a search in your iTunes, you'll see...

Phosphorescent- Wolves

Panda Bear- Comfy In Nautica

Wolf Parade- Dear Sons And Daughters Of Hungry Ghosts

Sufjan Stevens- Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie

Vampire Weekend, yes Vampire Weekend! played at SXSW:

MGMT played at Urban Outfitters:

Jens Lekman played "pop music":

The Breeders were interviewed during their set:

Cut Copy got interviewed too:

Lykke Li performed "Little Bit":

Bon Iver performed "What Might've Been Lost" and were also robbed:

The Weakerthans played at the Paste/Stereogum party:

Enter Shikari performed "Mothership":

What we missed for Wednesday...

The Presidents of The United States of America played at Cedar Door:

Phosphorescent were at Emo's:

Ben Harper and Tom Morello played together for War:

Billy Bragg played at the SESAC Day Stage Cafe Austin Convention Center:

Tokyo Police Club got interviewed by NME:

What else?  

•  Austin 360 has video from the Pitchfork party along with tons of photos from day three.
• Club.kingsnake saw Blue Rodeo and Friends.
• Spin interviewed Tapes 'n Tapes and reviewed the Playboy party.
• Pitchfork continues to have many reviews.
• Donewaiting.com is drinking.
• Flickr has many photos tagged "SXSW".

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

NPR previews the massive number of shows all over Austin. There are the official events, of course, and the FREE unofficial Hot Freaks events, hosted by music bloggers Daytrotter, Largehearted Boy, Aquarium Drunkard, Chromewaves, You Ain't No Picasso, My Old Kentucky Blog, and Gorilla vs Bear.

Download a more than generous helping of easy-like-Sunday-morning mp3s from Hot Freaks bands at Aquarium Drunkard, who puts together one, two, three fantastic compilations for ya that include a track from each of the following blistering bands:

Dr. Dog, Bowerbirds, Bodies of Water, AA Bondy, Centro-matic, Castanets, Chris Bathgate, Akron/Family, Bobby Bare Jr., Jason Collett, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Cloud Cult, Black Mountain, Black Angels, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Citay, The Dodos, Jens Lekman, Lightspeed Champion, Evangelicals, Everest, Foreign Born, My Brightest Diamond, Kaki King, Langhorne Slim, Danile Lanois, Minipop, Lucero, Madeline, Phosphorescent, Throw Me The Statue, The Whigs, White Hinterland, White Denim, Ola Podrida, O’death, Parts & Labor, Mark Pickerel & His Praying Hands, Pink Nasty, Slaraffenland, Snowglobe, The Submarines, The Theater Fire, British Sea Power, Peelander Z, and King of Prussia.

Kiss puns are great. I've said it. They are great.

Robbie's going all UFO on us. He is still a pop star, yes? (Thank you to PopSugar UK)

Fifty most influential blogs. I'm not there. That's fair.

The Guardian also has a great profile of Samantha Morton and on the dearth of interest in bleak Iraq filmmaking.

Obama has scored a proxy victory over McCain with the congressional seat win for Bill Foster.

Alec Baldwin discusses Hillary and her experience on The Huffington Post.

Stephen A Crockett Jr is an addict. Of The Wire. Read his story.

Everyone loves The THAT. Check the stats.

Another link to the fantastic Michael Chabon essay on superheroes for The New Yorker.

Bush has sealed his legacy with the veto of a bill which again protects executive power.

Amy Adams is doing a different type of reputation cementing with her performance in Miss Pettigrew.

Sopranos debate.

EWWWW!!!!! Paula Abdul is going to make a comeback album.

Rolling Stone has endorsed Barack Obama.

The Pakistani government rivals Musharraf and Zardari have formed a coalition pact.

Buffy lesbian action. Except Buffy. Not Willow. Buffy. Yep.

Here's the fifty best paid folk of last year.

Here's Norman Mailer having a scrap with Rip Torn.

Time talks to Dee Dee Myers, the first female press secretary.

Mother Jones interviews a renditionee.

Phosphorescent does a great set for Daytrotter.

The National
Phosphorescent
Maps & Atlases
Eisner and Lubin Auditorium NYU
February 28th 2008

Let’s get the negatives out of the way, shall we?

1st- There was no beer. Now this might seem to be a point of rather small stature but given points 2 and 3, the omission of alcohol was severely detrimental to the entire experience.

2nd- Don’t let its name fool you, The Eisner and Lubin Auditorium is pretty much a high school gym. The sound was pretty awful. The show was only $8 so complaints are hard to make, however, them's the facts folks.

3rd- I was surrounded by NYU students. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but I felt as if I was attending a hipster-slut convention.

I entered the auditorium as Maps & Atlases began their set. Mustaches make for darling bands, do they not? These guys were very talented on the music making front. Their style is very similar to Unique Chique, utilizing elements of jazz guitar tone fused with progressive rock beats. In fact Maps & Atlases are a pretty standard example of Chicago indie rock. They even use vibraphones. If Tortoise, Sea & Cake, and Unique Chique are your thing I am absolutely positive that you’ll appreciate Maps & Atlases. The vocals of Dave Davison set them apart from other bands in their genre in that they are punchy. The vocals don’t necessarily play second chair to the jazzy, experimental music. The guitars are tapped instead of strummed so that the collective punch of the drums, bass, vibraphones, and vocals combine in a free-flowing percussive orchestration. All the instruments work in syncopation.

The three bands were very different from one another. Phosphorescent has a beautiful and soft quality laden with animistic lyrics and an American Gothic aesthetic. I would not be so familiar as to outline Matthew Houck’s influences except to say they certainly hail from the vicinity of southern folk. As mentioned to me by a friend, the band seemed stuck in a perpetual state of near collapse. Each musician was very concerned with what the other band members were playing. But this looseness did not detract from the performance. Houck’s vocals were a tremendous croon. He did not shy away from experimentation, looping his voice over with octaves of bellows and screams, a sure sign that he writes his music solo. In many ways I’d compare him to O’death minus the psychosis. He seems to be pleading not seething. Fair play Southern troubadour, fair play.

When The National took the stage, it was immediately apparent that this band had their shit together. First off it must be said that even as I compared Bryan Devendorf‘s drumming to Stephen Morris from Joy Division, experiencing the on stage presence of Matt Berninger was amazing. It was as if Ian Curtis never died, grew up, and mellowed out. The resemblance is pretty astounding, if not in looks than in spirit. When he wasn’t spittin' his poems into the mic, he turned away from the audience and let the music consume him. His stage manner is conterminously intense and timid. Especially memorable was their performance of Mr. November. Watching this guy go ape-shit was a treat. When I watch a gorilla looking metal fuck scream and wince it has no more appeal than a cow fart. When a rail thin, contemplative type, hugs him self so hard that he bellows out his sweet, sweet words, I am simply moved.

These guys definitely knew what they were doing. I got the sense that they have been around for a while. In contrast to Phosphorescent, they commanded their instruments with exactitude. Every note was hit with deliberation. Fake Empire was ridiculous. They made us certain that after our trite experience as 20 somethings, we can definitely look forward to a period of disgruntled 30 somethingness. In short through no fault of their own they made the bourgeois problems of the disaffected youth look pretty pathetic. What does a 21 year old really have to say about life? Sigh…

7/9

http://mapsandatlases.org
http://www.myspace.com/mapsandatlases
http://www.myspace.com/phosphorescent
http://www.americanmary.com
http://www.myspace.com/thenational

Review of The National- Boxer

Another of my El Perro Del Mar faves is "God knows (You Gotta Give to Get Back)"--that's actually a great one to play for kids. If you've never listened to The Tragically Hip, they're Canadian. Yer Favorites is available on itunes. "Walters" by Pinback was one of NPR's songs of the day--great to subscribe to if you're a music fan. KEXP also offers this feed. See those links above for more information. The Handsome Furs and Rogue Wave get a lot of rotation in my house and car, too. As Joe has observed, that Earlimart track is very REM-ish. Which is not a bad thing for many of us.

I'm not savvy enough to provide mp3 links, but that's just as well. All of these tunes can be listened to or purchased at the sites above. (I'll get my Blog Roll up soon.)

Happy listening. And may March be better than February--

Transliterator-DeVotchKa
Answers & Questions-Earlimart
Thoughts of Rena-Voom Blooms
5 Years Time-Noah and the Whale
Two Daughters And A Beautiful Wife-Drive-By Truckers
Dry Lips-Lightspeed Champion
However Many Takes It Takes-Vandaveer
Wolves -Phosphorescent
Walters-Pinback
You're a Wolf -Sea Wolf
Get Your Head Around It-Headlights
2080-Yeasayer
Cannot Get, Started-Handsome Furs
Have You Seen In Your Dreams-Miracle Fortress
People-El Perro Del Mar
Yer Not The Ocean-The Tragically Hip
Right Hand on My Heart-The Whigs
Chicago X 12-Rogue Wave
This Harness Can't Ride Anything-Chin Up Chin Up

Let's see if this works: 1Mar08Playlist

Matthew Houck's band, Phosphorescent, is starting their tour across the United States and eventually Europe tomorrow. I don't want to throw out any comparisons or hyphenated genres -- just check it out for yourself.

I haven't heard many of their tracks but what I have heard is most excellent and I'm going to their show in Northampton, MA on Saturday. I lost my magic 8 ball so I'll have to wait until next week to tell you about the show.

You can grab some of their tracks from a Daytrotter session here: [Link]

And some YouTube:

At Death, A Proclamation

Full Grown Man

And last, but not least, the myspace page with more songs, videos, and tour dates: [Link]