Posts

2012Candy - October

Image
Background: Having grown up with two home towns, it was almost destined that Sarah Beatty would occupy the space that exists between things. She grew up in Rochester, NY and Parry Sound, ON and cut her musical teeth in Parry Sound and Niagara. This singer-songwriter now calls Hamilton home. Her first full length album Black Gramophone was released earlier this year on May 24th. Earning her a spot at this year’s Mariposa Showcase, Beatty has gone straight to the fundamentals in her debut solo effort. In the collection of 12 original songs, she pares down the instrumentation and ramps up the contemplation, curiosity, and charm of honest-to-goodness song writing. Recorded live off the floor, hers are where lyric, melody, and rhythm exist in distilled form. Purposeful in her approach, Beatty is a courageous one, letting smart lyrics, strong melodies, and a listener’s imagination take centre stage in this intimate and conversational recording. Sarah Beatty writes, most simply, cont

Beirut - Austin USA 2007

Image
This is Beirut  recorded live back on  March 16th  2007.  This was at the  KLRU studios in the  communication building on the University of Texas campus, on the  Austin City Limits Stage, (where they produce the TV show). The actual recording was from KEXP Seattle who re-broadcast the concert. Beirut is an American band that was originally the solo musical project of Santa Fe native Zachary Francis Condon, and later expanded into a band. The band's first performances were in New York, in May 2006, to support the release of their debut album, Gulag Orkestar. Beirut's music combines elements of indie-rock and world music.  Wikipedia tells us - On his return from Europe,  Zachary  Condon enrolled at the University of New Mexico, where he studied Portuguese and photography. Condon recorded the bulk of the material used for Gulag Orkestar by himself in his bedroom, going into the studio to finish the album with the assistance of Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel, A Hawk and a

2012Candy - September

Image
Background: The Peach Kings , Texan Paige McClain Wood and Californian Steven Trezevant Dies, recently released their new EP Handsome Moves  (September 6, 2012). They describe their sound as "gypsydelic," which is just what it sounds like. Stemming from their inability to choose one genre of music to play, they coined the term in order to reflect their own personal view of the band. "Gypsy-" because they were inspired by playing outdoors and "-delic" because it contains just a hint of strange.  Paige and Steven are strongly influenced by visuals in cinema and fashion. In fact, Drew Barrymore discovered their music and selected them to be a part of her Spring Music Preview spread for V Magazine, alongside the likes of Mayer Hawthorne, M83, Spank Rock, Warpaint, and The Drums. The duo fill the gap between upbeat rock and downtempo electronic, with comparisons being made to The Black Keys, Mazzy Star and The XX. Similarities can also be drawn to Little

Tift Merritt - WFMU Session 2012

Image
This is Tift Merritt live at WFMU on the Shrunken Planets programme originally broadcast on May 26th 2012. The engineer for this session was Stu Rutherford and the performance was recorded May 12th 2012. One point of interest was the song After Today, Tift hadn't planned on playing the song for this session, but added it on the spur of the moment.  Tift Merritt began her professional career with her band The Carbines playing small clubs in Chapel Hill and Raleigh such as The Cave, Cat's Cradle, and the front porch of the General Store in Bynum, NC. In 1998, The Carbines released a 7-inch single "Jukejoint Girl" b/w "Cowboy". In 1999, Merritt made a guest appearance on a seven-song EP on the by Yep Roc label with the Two Dollar Pistols, led by John Howie, Jr. The record was called The Two Dollar Pistols with Tift Merritt. The EP featured two original tunes and five cover songs. In 2000, she won MerleFest's Chris Austin Songwriting Contest, found a mana

2012Candy - August Round Up

Image
Background: Latenight Weeknight Records joins forces with Plastic Sound Supply to release Brim Liski 's latest release, The Repetitions EP, available now. Comprised of members from A Shoreline Dream (USA), CacheFlowe (USA) and Jap Jap (Netherlands), Brim Liski began as an asynchronous and eclectic trans-continental studio project. Recording in each others' studios over the past 5 years, the 3 producers have collaborated in multiple capacities, with the result sitting plainly between their unique styles as an audio Venn diagram. The end of 2011 saw the group take their sound to the stage, with two guitars, vocals, synthesizers, laptop beats and custom audio-reactive visuals. The Repetitions is a cinematic, shoegaze and electronic sound inspired by the cosmos. With driving electronic beats as the foundation beneath layers of reverb-drenched guitars, synths and vocals, the recordings convey the steady beauty of cosmic destruction and rebirth. At times both uplifting and m