What? Melodic indie pop sung by a 10-year old (well, sounds like)
Sounds like? Joan Of Arc, Daniel Johnston, etc.
To do: Listen to these songs by a band member of Joan of Arc, go and buy the album ‘Handjob Community’ on Redder REcords.
Thank me later
Actually, i hate writing about music. Frequent visitors of this blog, if there are any, have probably noticed that. I most of the time just shoo people to the mp3-links instead of them reading the pointless texts i produce. Then again, just mp3-link with nothing else, is not the way to have a blog either.
So, i’m having a difficult situation here. I want to keep this blog up and kickin’, but the idea that i should be writing a bunch of nonsense about one of my favorite bands, kind of annoys me. Then i just don’t feel like starting to write again. I should find a different format to keep this blog running. Maybe draw a picture to accompany every MP3, although i can’t draw that well.
There is this one blog (i can’t remember how it’s called, and I am too lazy to look it up) which just puts up some piece of art and adds an complimentary mp3 to it. So i can’t do that either (cause that would be lame). I could write a story each time i want to give you a song, but although writing stories is something i constantly do, i think those kind of stories could be completely out of context. And that would be kind of stupid too, right? Maybe i can write letters to the artists i want to discuss. I like writing letters. But i’m afraid that could end up in a sort of lame self-indulgance where i just show of with my inadequate knowledge of the English language.
If you have any suggestions on which direction this blog should take, or if you just wanna shout: “stop whining”, please do so. I’ll try posting some more music in the meanwhile.
(Never knew a blog could’ve been so energy-consuming.)
Who? John Fante
What? Bukowski’s literary father, an italian migrant, and one of the best confessional literature-novels I have read so far.
About a year ago i met a guy who had written a book about a year in his life, and he asked me to read what i thought of it (and get all the spelling errors out). It was pretty good, and as a reward he lent me a few books, people who he enjoyed reading. He’s quite into so-called confessional literature, (e.g. Knut Hamsun, Charles Bukowski, Henry Miller).
He gave me two books by John Fante. In his books Arturo Bandini – clearly based upon Fante self – is a would-be writer who has moved to Hollywood to become a succesful author. His thoughts swing from thinking he is the best writer alive to finding himself a complete failure. Next to that, he also has quite the temper, so that he he is unctrollable in his actions.
Although I’m quite fond of Bukowski, Fante is even better. I’ve only read two books thus far, but they haven’t bored me for a bit. They are even very touching at times…
Confessional literature has the advantage over traditional literature that the only style it needs is honesty. Off course, you have to be a good writer, but Fante doesn’t kill his text by using too much stilistic devices. It’s like lo-fi literature. Also for people who enjoyed Catcher in The Rye.
Great stuff.
Buy John Fante at Amazon or look for it in your second hand bookstore.
Who? Day Action Band
What? Folky songs, that you can whistle to!
Sounds like? Lou Barlow, Sebadoh…actually all lou barlow stuff, except the loud things. I read Jim O’rourke as a reference, and that’s something i can agree with for a bit.
So, Aviary Ghost played folk songs. So does Day Action Band, but they don’t fill their songs with rich arrangements.
Aviary Ghost offered an album for free, but you had to sign up to their newsletter. Day Action band follows the same procedure, although their free album is already 6 years old (but amazingly good none the less). So they were first.
Their last album so far, Wives & Babies, is pretty good too (you can listen to it by clicking on the link), but the free album ‘Girl With A Gun’ is superb. The First song is from that Wives & Babies-album, the other two from Girl with a gun. You can buy their album on Cd Baby or through the extremely small label Captain Cape.
Who? Aviary Ghost
What? Melodic folkpop
Sounds like? Belle & Sebastian, All things Swedish, Jens Lekman with less emphasis on the catchiness. Something with falsettos.
So, I’m not dead. Because i want to treat you on a lot of good new music i’ve discovered over the last couple of weeks and months, i’ll keep my texts short.
The first band is Aviary Ghost, a 5-piece from Chicago, who make lushly arranged pop songs. Their songs are very whistable (if that’s a word.. meaning you could listen and whistle to them). And the cool thing is that their album is free. You do have to sign up for their monthly news letter, but since you do want to know what this band is up to, that’s not even a burden. I really recommend you doing so, cause this is actually something that should be loved by the indie crowd en masse.
Aviary Ghost – The Brain is a House
You can find the download instructions on their website
So, after an almost 3-week hiatus, because of an arm fracture, i’m back. I’ll try to give you lots of music this weekend, and perhaps also some new book posts (cause i’ve been reading like a monkey with a literary degree the past two weeks).
Keep visiting!
due to injury, i can’t type very long texts now…so this blog is not dead, it’s just injured…
Who? Stuart And Caan
What? Lo-fi weirdo folk
Sounds like? Devendra Banhart’s album with the long title ‘Oh Me Oh My’, Daniel Johnston, Woods
I discovered Stuart And Caan when i read about them touring with Devendra Banhart. I’m not sure whether this information is correct and franktly don’t really care. Their lo-fi campfire songs are just too good not to listen to. I’ve got a thing for this kind of lo-fi stuff, I must admit. The first album of Devendra Banhart is one of my all-time favourites, and two years ago Woods released my favourite album of 2007 with ‘At Rear House’ (can’t wait for the new one)
Stuart and Caan is a bit mellower at times, but still…it’s got the edge that i always tend to look for. Their album got released on Knw Yr Own records. Great stuff, get over there. This is gonna end up really high on my end of year list for 2009, that’s for sure!
I wrote about my dearest friend Astrid Yskout before. She’s having a new exhibition in the city of Mechelen, in the comic book shop De stripkever. Go there, even if you don’t have the time, cause otherwise you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. You should be leaving already! You have till the 11th of April!
Afterwards, you can buy some great books in the store. Very nice guy running the shop there.
Who? 