Our Taxes present The National Jukebox
This was flying around the interwebs last week… finally got as chance to check it out. The Library of Congress presents the National Jukebox, which makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge. The Jukebox includes recordings from the extraordinary collections of the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation and other contributing libraries and archives.
** http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/ **
facebook.com/libraryofcongress
twitter.com/librarycongress
Within the first 48 hours since its launch on May 10th, it logged more than 1 million page views and more than 250,000 streams. The project has opened up the library’s archive with an initial posting of more than 10,000 pre-1925 recordings from the Victor record label, now under the Sony Music umbrella. The recordings span jazz, blues, ethnic folk, gospel, pop, spoken word, comedy and other genres dating to the early 20th century.
You think tax dollars aren’t going towards something good? Well, as far as archival music, I’m super happy that my tax dollars helped make this possible.
~Dan – np: The Book of Mormon (original cast recording) 
Mitch Hedberg.net remodeled
MitchHedberg.net got a facelift from Lynn (no “e”). Mitch died more than six years ago (3/30/2005). His jokes will live on. Go ahead and take a stroll down memory lane with the new content on the page…
http://mitchhedberg.net/Also, check out some of the funny new Mitch merch…
Sorry for the convenience.
~Dan – np: The Lonely Island – Turtleneck & Chain
MusicNOW Festival 2011 (kicks off today!)
Today is the first performance in the amazingly stacked MusicNOW Festival 2011 line-up in Cincinnati, Ohio. My Brightest Diamond kicks off the fest at Memorial Hall. The National play Cincinnati’s Music Hall later this weekend. Click the reblog below or hit musicnowfestival.org for more info.
Read my review of My Brightest Diamond, Sufjan Stevens, Amiina, and more from MusicNOW Fest 2007.
~Dan
Vegan Black Metal Chef #1 – Pad Thai
This was uploaded 4 days ago, and I thought it fitting to post for Friday the 13th. Behold, the first episode of Vegan Black Metal Chef… making vegan pad thai!
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~Dan – np: Poundhound – Massive Grooves from the Electric Church of Psychofunkadelic Grungelism Rock Music
Zappy Mothers Day 2011 – Penguin In Bondage EP
Released over the weekend to celebrate “Mothers of Invention Day”… Penguin In Bondage: The Little Known History of the Mothers of Invention by Frank Zappa:
The fine print…
Written and Performed by Frank Zappa with the Mothers of Invention
Recorded at Auditorium Theater, Chicago, Illinois at the stroke of midnight on the Day of
The Mothers, 10 May 1974Band:
FZ: Guitar, Vocals
George Duke: Keys, Vocals
Jeff Simmons: Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
Napoleon Murphy Brock: BG Vocals, Sax
Don Preston: Synthesizer
Bruce Fowler: Trombone
Walt Fowler: Trumpet
Tom Fowler: Bass
Ralph Humphrey: Drums
Chester Thompson: Drums4 Track 1/2″ analog tape – Edit Master by Frank Zappa
Mix by Jared Lee Gosselin, UMRK, May 2011
Vaultmeisterment by Joe Travers, UMRK, April 2011
Original tape transfer to WAV through Euphonix converters to Nuendo at 96K 24B via ATR 4-Tk plus
edit in gtr solo at reel change & the fade over and out by Vaultmeister.Executrix & Art Concept by – GZ
Renderment & Photoshoppage by Mike Mesker
Production Management by Melanie Starks
Shoppage by Susan Ledgerwood & Antonio
Lower case opinions by gz, jt & kurt morgan©(P) 2011 Zappa Records
PIBTLKSOTMOI by FZ & published for the cosmos by Munchkin Music.
It’s a 26-minute single track, available for digital download on the iTunes store for $6.99. iTunes is linked directly from zappa.com, and I don’t see it on Amazon or other digital etailers (yet).
~Dan – np: Bobby Previte – Music of the Moscow Circus
Ken Andrews is a crazy old man
Ken Andrews is a songwriting, producing, mixing genius. He is a now a blogger… ya know… now that blogging has been out for 10+ years. The “crazy old man” quote is from him…
http://web.me.com/kenandrews/Artist_Producer_Mixer/News/
I hope this new burst of info means something is coming soon from him. Perhaps the Digital Noise Academy release that was rumored of 4-5 years ago? Perhaps more from ON? Perhaps another Year of the Rabbit? Perhaps another Ken solo album?
What? You don’t know who Ken Andrews is? He’s the front-man for 90s rock group Failure, he’s done other side-projects (noted above), he produces & mixes (NIN, Beck, Tenacious D, Charlotte Martin, etc). He’s friends with the Tool gents (has done videos and toured with them). He’s married to the aforementioned singer-songwriter Charlotte Martin. His music is rad. Failure’s Fantastic Planet is one of the few perfect modern rock concept albums.
~Dan – np: Chris Potter’s Underground – Ultrahang
Steven Wilson’s upcoming double album
From Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson’s facebook page about his upcoming solo work…
The new solo album website will probably launch in early June now. The music is done, but we’re still working on film material and the deluxe edition. It’s presented as two 40-45 minute albums in the same package (which begs the question; when is a double album not a double album? When it’s 2 single albums issued together!) The album titles are Deform to Form a Star and Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye.
Good question…personally, I’d still call that a double album, but whatever… it’s just semantics.
~Dan – np: The Book of Knots – Traineater
Searching for Elliott Smith (+ 5 uncovered songs)
24bit just posted some news about the Elliott Smith documentary Searching for Elliott Smith. It’s set to screen at the Los Angeles New Wave International Film Festival (Sat 5/7 @ 2:30pm). It’ll feature a Q&A with the filmmaker (Gil Reyes) and Elliott’s girlfriend at the time of his death – Jennifer Chiba. It shows again on Sun 5/8 @ 8pm (no Q&A).
The synopsis of the documentary:
The first feature-length documentary about the greatest singer-songwriter of his generation. Elliott Smith’s intensely intimate songs helped popularize lo-fi, indie-rock: A traditionally underground genre until Smith’s mainstream effort ‘Miss Misery’ took Hollywood by surprise. But even after an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, he managed to fly mostly under the radar. And Smith wanted it that way. After his death in 2003, Smith’s peers understandably avoided the media. Granting very few print interviews… and NO on-camera interviews. Until now. From his high school days as a National Merit Scholar… to his early work in the Portland rock band, ‘Heatmiser’… to critical acclaim… to his mysterious death at the age of 34. We learn the dark motivations behind a musical genius. And discover how psychic pain can also produce timeless art. Appearances by filmmaker, Gus Van Sant who chose Smith’s music for the movie, ‘Good Will Hunting’. Also interviewed is Elliott’s fiancee, Jennifer Chiba. Chiba talks about the fight leading up to Elliott’s death and the LAPD’s ‘open investigation’ into possible homicide.
http://www.searchingforelliottsmith.com/
Go to the 24Bit page for five unreleased lo-fi YouTube’d Elliott Smith songs… tentatively titled: She Won’t Look at Me, Where I Get It From, Like a Cop, I’m Gonna Get Crushed, and Shiva Opens Her Arms.
~Dan – Portishead – Portishead
Derek Webb – Democracy Vol 2 #2
One a month, from March to December 2011…
Derek Webb’s Democracy Vol 2… This month, it is “Livin’ On A Prayer” by Bon Jovi. I’m at work; so I haven’t had a chance to listen yet… but I’m looking forward to it!
For those not in the know, Democracy Vol 2 is a continuation of the covers project Derek started last year. The fans get to nominate songs and then vote once the nominations are tallied. Here’s what he’s done in 2010 and 2011 to date (you can still go back and buy this volume):
- January 2010: The Beatles – While My Guitar Gently Weeps
- February: Coldplay – Fix You
- March: Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin’
- April: Gnarls Barkley – Who’s Gonna Save My Soul
- May: Sufjan Stevens – Chicago *a personal fave*
- June: U2 – Where the Streets Have No Name
- July: Huey Lewis & the News – Power of Love
- August: The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby *a personal fave*
- September: Simon & Garfunkel – The Sound of Silence
- October: Radiohead – Karma Police *a personal fave*
- November: Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah
- December: Robert Robinson – Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
- January 2011: off
- February: off
- March: Cee-Lo Green – F**k You
Fans of Derek may also want to check out his contribution (amongst other great covers) of Sufjan Stevens’ Seven Swans. The tribute album put out by On Joyful Wings is called Seven Swans Reimagined. Derek does “In Devil’s Territory.” Other musicians include some Asthmatic Kitty favorites, and some newbies to the fold – including the Gregory Brothers (autotune the news) and Inlets.
~Dan – np: Porcupine Tree – Deadwing
Democracy Vol. 2 is a series of subscription based albums of cover songs that Derek will be recording annually, starting January 2010. Those who participate will not only receive the exclusive album, but will democratically decide what songs Derek will record.
Ever wished you could hear Derek cover your favorite Beatles song? Or Backstreet Boys song? Or even re-record your favorite old Caedmon’s Call song? Here’s your chance. Songs will be nominated and voted down to 10. Derek will record them (demo quality) and deliver them digitally (320kbps MP3s), one song per month for 10 months (March to December). Don’t miss your chance to be part of this unique collaborative project with Derek Webb!
Tori Amos – Night of Hunters (Sept ’11)
Tori Amos is a chameleon – changing her musical style (slightly) and her outward appearance (usually more than slightly). Trouble is lately she’s been putting out long-ass albums of mostly mediocre work, as far as I’m concerned. Oh for the heydeys of the 90s and early 2000s.
Well, she has a new one in the can entitled Night of Hunters, and it’s coming out in September 2011 on Deutsche Grammophon, a German classical label. Behold the art for her upcoming tour (and presumably the album)…
update 6/22 album art
Um, is she human? Is she plastic? As far as the album, here’s the press’ slant…
“It’s a 21st century song cycle inspired by classical music themes spanning over 400 years. I have used the structure of a song cycle to tell an ongoing, modern story. The protagonist is a woman who finds herself in the dying embers of a relationship. In the course of one night she goes through an initiation of sorts that leads her to reinvent herself allowing the listener to follow her on a journey to explore complex musical and emotional subject matter. One of the main themes explored on this album is the hunter and the hunted and how both exist within us.”
I’ll get it. I mean, I’ve signed a contract with my 20 year old self to buy anything Tori Amos ever puts out. I just hope to Talula that it’s good.
~Dan – np: Celldweller – 2011 Groupees EP
Groupees teaming up with Celldweller (72 hour sale for Alabama Tornado Relief)
Groupees, an “innovative new flash sale platform featuring digital media content from exciting independent artists,” announced yesterday that it will be launching its next promotion featuring Detroit’s electronic rock mastermind Celldweller…
Known worldwide for pioneering new sounds and methods for creating his tracks, Klayton (Celldweller) continues to generate music that resonates and relates to both fans and the entertainment industry worldwide.
The Celldweller 4-EP Bundle Groupee is slated to start Wednesday, May 4th at 9:00 am PST at http://bit.ly/celldwellr.
20% of all proceeds from the sale go directly to Red Cross to support US/Alabama Tornado Relief.
The campaign will run for 72 hours and is priced using Pay What You Want which allows fans to name their price with a minimum of $3 (products retail five times that). The Bundle packages together 4 EP’s, one of which has 4 never before released tracks:
- Wish Upon A Blackstar Chapter 03 of 05 is the latest installment of the Celldweller sophomore album, featuring the tracks “The Lucky One” & “Tainted”
- Cellout EP 01 featuring re-imagined versions of Celldweller songs as heard in the Celldweller live show. This EP debuted in iTunes as the #1 Electronic Album in 5 Countries, including the US as well as top #10 Electronic album in 12 countries.
- Soundtrack For The Voices In My Head Vol. 02 (Chapter 01) featuring instrumental tracks used in Film/Tv/Video Games
- Exclusive EP will feature a brand new, unreleased track from Soundtrack For The Voices In My Head Vol. 02 (Chapter 02), 3 unreleased Remixes as well as a rare/limited release of Klayton’s remix of the track “Shapeshifter.”
The Celldweller 4-EP Bundle also includes a special bonus collection if the promotion’s goal of $10,000 raised is met:
All participants will receive an unreleased ‘Beta Cessions’ B-Side Demo along with the unreleased Remix of the track “The Lucky One”. At the close of the campaign, the #1 top donor will receive an additional bonus Unreleased Demo that will be exclusively theirs until we officially release the track at a later date.
Who is Groupees? Groupees, from Portland, Oregon, is a social media technology company. Their parent company, YAWMA, also operates a digital store and app for discovery and sharing of indie music and games through Facebook.
From Wednesday, May 4th, through Saturday, May 7th (9am PST/noon EST), dig in at:
~Dan – np: Steven Wilson – Insurgentes
REVIEW: Mankind & Kari Spohn @ Wandering Goat (Eugene, OR – 4/29/11)
On Friday, Eugene photographer Kari Spohn and Eugene “post-something” band Mankind hit the Wandering Goat with two very different artistic openings. Kari’s black & white photography was throughout the coffee shop… her opening starting at 5:30pm. I dig her work – very “beauty in the everyday” and nice use of lines in concrete and steel in my opinion.
Delightful bites of caprise bread slices and sounds from the espresso machine’s froth fuzz soon gave way to the post-rock / post-metal bombast from Mankind at 6pm…
photo by Wes Hurd
Mankind is a great find for post-rock fans in Eugene. They played a fairly tight set of some fantastical heavy instrumental music that sucks you in. Mankind is James Madson on bass, Joe Harvey & John Hurd on guitars and Courtney Stubbert on drums. For fans of Explosions in the Sky, think a touch heavier. “Explosions in the Isis” perhaps. Definitely recommended for fans of Explosions, Isis, Mogwai, et cetera. And I’m glad Mankind are in Eugene. I look forward to seeing them play a show where they can stretch their legs – the Goat’s stage is a bit small!
And don’t worry… the sonic takeover of the art opening wasn’t intended as a clash. It was a compliment to the photography (Kari and Mankind are kindreds).
Over at Bandcamp, you can download (for free) the first batch of demos from Mankind. You won’t be disappointed:
http://mankind.bandcamp.com/The Appropriate Linkage:
- Mankind’s Site
- Mankind’s Social Media Links (see below)
- Kari Spohn’s Flickr / Twitter
- Wandering Goat’s Site / Facebook / Twitter
Next show for me… possibly Tin Hat at the Mission Theater (Portland) on 5/19 or Blackfield at Aladdin (Portland) on 6/1. Or, I assume some other stuff will pop-up in May…
Breaking news as I was writing this review up… Barack Obama announced that a special force killed Osama bin Laden! Mission Accomplished (for real this time)! I’m not celebrating the death, but rather the justice.
The Book of Knots – Garden of Fainting Stars
Update 6/3: this album is now up for pre-order.
Update 6/27: original packaging concept for the album by Aaron Lazar of Tzgani Design.
Just tooling around Ipecac today… and what? New album from The Book of Knots? The official PR follows…
The Book Of Knots has had the pleasure of collaborating with some of the worlds most talented musicians, including Tom Waits, Mike Patton, David Thomas, Blixa Bargeld, Jon Langford, and Carla Bozulich.
Founding members Matthias Bossi (Skeleton Key, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum), Joel Hamilton (producer/engineer for BlakRoc, Pretty Lights), Carla Kihlstedt (Tin Hat Trio, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) and Tony Maimone (Pere Ubu, Frank Black, Bob Mould) forge a sound both epic and intimate, empowering and devastating. 
Cinematic, symphonic landscapes give way to crumbling acoustic chamber ballads. Broken guitars and beautifully warped orchestras describe the ungraceful demise of boats, blast furnaces and bloated industries. Accounts of the failed adventures of tragic would-be heroes are given voice in the band’s two previous critically-acclaimed releases.
Their newest album serves as the final chapter in the bands “By Sea, By Land, By Air” trilogy. GARDEN OF FAINTING STARS, slated for release by Ipecac Recordings on June 14th, 2011, gives dissonant sendoffs to the doomed travelers and early astronauts that plied the skies in a quest for the final frontier: Space.
The imagined utopias that await them at the other end of their fantastical journeys inevitably give way to the grim realization which mankind has faced again and again: at every hopeful turn, commonplace realities await us. A vast and empty universe, stretching far beyond infinity, capable of containing the countless imaginary creatures, civilizations, and otherwise terrestrial impossibilities that inhabit our dreams, dies in the fluorescent lighting of the laundry soap aisle at WalMart.
The Book Of Knots once again cast a wormless, rusty hook into the lifeless seas of the music industry, expecting to reap only sorrow.
~Dan – np: Tides from Nebula – Earthshine
The Arcade Fire – The Wilderness Downtown
OK, I’m late to the dance on this one… it’s old…
The Arcade Fire’s latest 2010 video is an interactive interpretation of their song “We Used To Wait“… you put in where you grew up, and it brings in your old neighborhood into the video mix. Behold, “The Wilderness Downtown“…
http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/
Creepy technology using Google Maps API, HTML5, and scripts… read more about the tech here.
~Dan – np: Garage A Trois – Emphasizer
Shara Worden on Prefuse73’s new album
I should change the name of this blog to something to do with Shara Worden (aka My Brightest Diamond). 
She took some time off to have a baby, but now it seems like she’s popping up all over the indie-rock landscape.
This time, she lends her golden voice to the Prefuse 73 track “The Only Hand To Hold” from their just released album, The Only She Chapters. The song is available now as a FREE mp3 download over on their website.
The album (mp3/wav/flac/CD/LP) is available to purchase at BLEEP.
~Dan – np: Porcupine Tree – In Absentia
Death Metal vocalist warming up in the studio
’nuff said…
~Dan – np: Porcupine Tree – In Absentia
Incubus “Adolescents” video
Incubus’ new one isn’t “thinking outside the envelope” or “pushing the box,” as it were… but it’s a good song… check the video for “Adolescents” here:
The vibe to “Adolescent” is (to me) similar to Morning View. I’m digging the slowed down video part (3:30-ish).
The new album – If Not Now, When? – comes out July 12th. You can pre-order it now.
~Dan – np: Garage A Trois – Outre Mer
New Music April…
Sorry for not having much new to post as of late. I did recently get the following CDs… all of them great in their own right, and all of them worth checking out! Click on the album covers for mp3 sound samples.
Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
melodic hard power rock
Explosions in the Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
moving post-rock, brilliant packaging
Shara Worden & Co – Letters to Distant Cities
short & sweet indie rock, spoken word
~Dan – np: Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
RECIPE: Savory Olive & Feta Poundcake
For last weekend’s vegetarian supper club in Eugene, the theme was Greek food. I had the idea for an olive oil/chardonnay poundcake in my queue of potential recipes, and I thought it was a good one to modify and “make Greek.” It was going to be an experiment, and I think it worked out quite nicely…
Savory Olive & Feta
Poundcake (or cupcakes)
…
Serves 12
Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- 1¼ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- ⅓ cup Chardonnay
- 1½ cups unbleached white flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp kosher salt
- ½ cup kalamata olives, pitted & sliced
- 1 cup feta cheese (to taste)
Preheat oven to 350°
Steps:
- In a mixer, beat eggs. Gradually add sugar, beat until batter is light with no lumps.
- Slowly stir in olive oil and chardonnay (you can combine these together before adding to mixture).
- Sift together flour, baking powder & salt. Fold into egg mixture.
- Stir olives and cheese into the batter.
- Gently pour batter into a 9” bread or cake pan.
- Bake at 350° until cake reaches 200° internally, approximately 45 minutes to an hour.
- Turn out onto a baking rack and allow to cool completely.
- Slice and serve!
Cupcake Update: makes 12+ cupcakes, baking time at 350F is 25-30 minutes (or until golden and a fork or toothpick comes out clean).
This will definitely be a repeat recipe.
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes at THIS LINK.
~Dan – np: John Zorn – Nova Express
Murat Eyuboglu & Shara Worden – Letters to Distant Cities
New Amsterdam Records welcomes singer-songwriters Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond) and Clare Muldaur Manchon (of Clare & the Reasons), along with indie-classical multi-instrumentalist/composer Rob Moose (of yMusic), collaborators in the enchanted and melancholy Letters to Distant Cities, a multi-media project curated and produced by photographer and videographer Murat Eyuboglu, exploring urban solitude through the poetry of Turkish-American poet, Mustafa Ziyalan.
Letters to Distant Cities, released Tuesday, March 29, is a spoken-word album bookended by two original songs: My Brightest Diamond’s “The Sea” and Clare & the Reasons’ “Invisible.” The Sea opens the album and cracks the door to a mythical realm, into which Shara Worden enters and embodies the female persona of Ziyalan’s poetry, speaking the texts of 24 poetic snapshots, connected by Rob Moose’s incidental reflections and interventions for violin. After the poetry, Invisible closes the album, drifting wistfully to its bittersweet conclusion.
- The Sea
(composed & performed by: Shara Worden) - Sugar Cube in the Rain
(#2-18 performed by: Rob Moose, Shara Worden) - The Most Unknown Fruit
- The Starfish, The Sleeper
- Gone
- Letters to Distant Cities
- Midsummer’s Winter
- Dimming Eyes
- The Red Balloon
- Close Your Eyes
- The Cloud-Likeness
- Ripples
- Ghostly Flowers
- Truant Colts
- In the City’s Caverns
- Bliss
- Her Poems
- In the Land of Sleep
- Invisible
(composed & performed by: Clare & the Reasons)
Go to New Amsterdam’s album page for sound samples! Also, check out the arty/mournful-turned-magical video for “The Sea” featuring My Brightest Diamond / Shara Worden:
Says fellow poet Murat Nemet-Nejat:
In Ziyalan’s work one can see the impulse of the Turkish language in the 20th Century to represent a social reality beyond national borders. It points to the prophetic nature of Turkish poetry becoming a medium for a global sensibility — the psychic dislocations globalism creates in consciousness.
In addition to the CD, the album package includes a set of 24 pristine keepsake cards, comprising a photographic illustration for each of Zilayan’s poems collected on the recording. The images were captured by project visionary Murat Eyuboglu with model Jamie Ansley. Designer Adam Frint brings musical, poetic, and photographic elements together, creating a physical connection to the album’s sense of memorabilia.
I just ordered it from Amazon… you can also order it directly from New Amsterdam Records. If a CD isn’t your thing, New Amsterdam has the full mp3 album for only $6 (a couple bucks cheaper than Amazon’s price – and directly from the source).
~Dan – np: Porcupine Tree – Metanoia
-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa
Amazon.com mp3 downloads
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