na: radiohead, famous l. renfroe
Yet another landmark day in the history of eMusic.
Radiohead, In Rainbows: This one has been in the works for a long time, interestingly at the behest of the band (or someone associated with the band) who wanted to be on eMusic. Many of you probably already have this; if you do not, now’s your chance!
Famous L. Renfroe, Children: We know absolutely nothing about this album, and seemingly neither does the label. A promo of Children made its way to Joe and I, and we immediately fell madly, deeply in love. This is really raw R&B/soul from the late ’60s/early ’70s, loud and boisterous and just loose and shitty-sounding enough to really drive home how special the record is. Check noted soul aficionado Mike McGonigal’s review for yet more enthusiasm. This is only available on eMusic through mid-June, and with the right level of attention, we could see this being one of those records that pops onto a lot of radars, much like that amazing Black Chains & Exhaust compilation from a few years ago. Start with the title track, and work out from there. Seriously, this is amazing.
Devon Williams, Carefree: I should hate everything about this record, but I do not. LA singer-songwriter (ugh) who used to play pop-punk (ugh ugh ugh ugh) who looks to be about 12-years-old (I hate the children). However, this is actually a very, very good singer-songwriter record that blurs the chamber pop line just a bit. As my brief user review says on the record, it was “Elevator” that really cinched this one for me. Up until that point I was underwhelmed, but there are a handful of songs on there that made me appreciate the whole thing even more. Plus, it comes from Ba Da Bing, home of Beirut and others, whose owner, Ben Goldberg, it must be said, is a friend. Still, I could see a number of Dotters loving this even more than me. Just know going in that it’s a grower.
Black Taj, Beyonder: This is a Polvo spin-off, and man does it sound it. I’ve only given it the cursory sample-scan so far, but this is going to be getting a lot of play at home, I assure you.
Indian Jewelry, A Taste of FREE GOLD: Finally, just a heads up. As the title suggests, this is a little primer for next week’s new Indian Jewelry album, which Joe is a huge fan of, and I’m only a slightly lesser one. We’re going to be giving that record a big push next week, so be ready for it. Great shoegaze/psych stuff.
In Rainbows is every bit as good as the hype. And that’s all I have to say about that. Nice score, eMusic.
A mysterious singer that nobody knows about, even the label? Couldn’t be another Marvin Pontiac situation, could it? Just thinking out loud here…
What happened to the new Black Angels album?
Am I hallucinating when I say that I saw it a few days back and it is gone now? will it ever appear?
Also, don’t miss the two new titles from Strut: Disco Italia and Nigeria 70 — Lagos Jump.
Links are here: http://www.emusic.com/album/Various-Artists-Disco-Italia-EP-MP3-Download/11205313.html (Disco Italia) and http://www.emusic.com/album/Various-Artists-Nigeria-70-Lagos-Jump-MP3-Download/11211353.html (Nigeria 70 — Lagos Jump).
Black Angels album = the actual release date got delayed and we didn’t realize it. It’ll be back on Tuesday.
Cool, I’ve been meaning to get that Radiohead album for a while now.
Black Angels album = ess so gooood.
On the other hand, I say everything ess so goood.
This one’s pretty effing good, though.
I noticed today that Kelley Polar’s new EP, Entropy Reigns, arrived on the site. There are, like, 4 different mixes of “Entropy Reigns (In the Celestial City)” by Ewan Pearson and Al Usher alone, the original song, and another remix of some other song by Dan Snaith/Caribou. The samples sound good, but I haven’t heard it yet so maybe Todd can weigh in?
FWIW, I cannot get enough of the Second Law Dynamix on that Kelley Polar EP; I haven’t even gotten to the rest of it yet because I have that on repeat. It’s incredible.
I didn’t get what everybody saw in Radiohead until I listened to some samples from In Rainbows.
And now I still don’t get it. Wev.
Happily, eMusic has lots and lots of music that is actually interesting.
you can really know a lot about a band by listening to a few 30-second samples
Lemme say this: I am a longtime Radiohead fan, but the first time I listened to In Rainbows I was bored out of my skull. I thought this was the ultimate face-plant — a middling, colorless record that went nowhere. Something about it, though, kept nagging me, so I listened again. And again. My fiancee went to LA for a week, and I played it nearly every day. I ended up falling in love with it — I think it’s a big, dark, gorgeous record that ranks with their best work.
I’m probably the only one in the world . . . but I think Radiohead’s last two would have greatly benefited from a different producer. Nigel Godrich has done great things for them but I think they have some rough edges waiting to shine through. I’d like to hear a lot more distortion, fuzz and general rawness. Like maybe Steve Albini or Rick Ocasek (or really why not try self producing one).
That’s funny adamm cause I feel the opposite. I hated (though I still own) Kid A; I love Hail to the Thief and even though my sister-in-law (the biggist radiohead fan I know) dislikes Rainbows, listening to the emusic samples made me say f*** it and I downloaded the whole album.
Downloaded the famous L. Renfroe album- it’s great, I really like it. However, I don’t believe the backstory. Seems a little fishy- there’s no info on this guy anywhere and the label knows nothing about him? Yes, this definitely smells like another Marvin Pontiac (actually John Lurie) or Dukes of Stratosphear (actually XTC) type of ruse. Makes me wonder who “Famous L. Renfroe” really is?
At the end of the day, however, it’s a pretty fantastic album, ruse or not!
FR