na: selects, vampire weekend
Here it is, one of the biggest Tuesdays of the year. Two new eMusic Selects artists. Vampire Weekend. The Cool Kids. The Pitchfork Music Festival Sampler. And so so so much more.
Deastro, Keeper’s: I wrote the extraordinarily fawning review of this album on eMusic, and I feel comfortable with every word of it. I love this record. Love. We all do. In his great piece, Todd wrote that Randolph Chabot (who is Deastro) “could become a genuine pop star.” I think he’s right. Keeper’s is an awesome album. It hits so many different notes, and all of them well. The sky’s the limit.
Also, for all of you who like the hi-res album art, we have a treat for you tomorrow, as Todd will unveil The Art of Deastro, as Randolph sent us a whole bunch of amazing images and prospective covers, all of them gorgeous (and one of them my current desktop background). Can’t wait to share those with everyone.
Mingering Mike, Super Gold Greatest Hits: Our other Selects pick this month, one that we were frankly nervous about. In fact, the reason why we didn’t post Selects content in May was that we had Mingering Mike secured, but we wanted the perfect, accessible counterpart because of how rough these recordings are. But let it be said: though they are rough, they are also wonderful. The lo-fi recordings cannot even begin to mask just how great and genuine these songs are. But really, the best that can be said about Mike was written by Mike McGonigal in his excellent review, and by our own Joe Keyes in his incredible feature. I’ve been doing editorial stuff for four years here, and this is by far the best piece we have ever run. Joe deserves real recognition for so wonderfully framing why Mingering Mike is such a special artist.
Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend: Oh yeah, remember them? It’s finally arrived — better late than never. I think I probably like them the most of any of us 17 Dotters: they are easy on the ears, and exceedingly pleasant. You’ve read plenty about them already, I’m sure, but I my fave tune is easily “I Stand Corrected.”
Various Artists, 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival Sampler: 25 free songs! 25 free songs! There are some real gems here (I spent a couple of days last week sequencing this whole thing), especially the Boris, Spiritualized and the King Khan songs (all of those were fairly new to me). And to be able to get “Academy Fight Song” — one of the best punk songs ever — totally free is pretty sweet. We’ll have to do a Pitchfork Festival roll call here pretty soon. Maybe a Chicago meet-up will be in order!
Ponytail, Ice Cream Spiritual: The big winners of SXSW bring an awesome new album. Both Joe and I love this record, a wonderful mish-mash of noise, math-rock and art-rock. Certainly it’s an acquired taste (and if you have a chance, see them live!), but once it finds its groove with you, you will be smitten.
The Cool Kids, The Bake Sale: Big new album from everyone’s favorite non-Kanye Chicago hip-hoppers. This is in my to-listen pile today.
James Blackshaw, Litany of Echoes: New James Blackshaw! The early word on this one has been extremely positive.
My Brightest Diamond, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth: Shara Worden gets a lot of attention for playing with Sufjan Stevens, but MBD has earned her some prestige of her own, too.
Pumice, Quo: Joe tells me these guys are from New Zealand, which makes sense. Never heard of them before, but the samples sounded good and, after downloading, the album sounds even better. Reminds me of the Intelligence and maybe the Fall a little bit, just that super lo-fi, very crunchy noisy rock kinda stuff. If the samples strike you at all, I’d recommend this one for a download.
There was plenty more from today, too, that I still need to check out, like Nomo, the Real Tuesday Weld, Twine, Little Brother, It Hugs Back, War on Drugs and King Khan. Anything else strike your fancy?
I’m really (like, really) digging the Deastro album, but I’m dying to know if the apostrophe in the title is intentional.
This month’s Selects are the best thing arriving today.
I’m overjoyed that the new Hold Steady album has appeared nice and early (UK only?) - great to see, thanks emusic. Then Deastro comes out of nowhere and, well, it’s a happy day in this household today.
SOOOOOOOOOO glad everyone is liking the Selects stuff. We have been nervously excited, which I always take as a good sign. And yes, the apostrophe is intentional. I asked the same question. Now we need to find out who Keeper is.
I’m also digging the Deastro album! I’m not sure about the Mingering Mike yet - I do like his story.
Mingering Mike ain’t gonna do it for me. Deastro, on the other hand, has quite a bit of potential — definitely, more up my alley.
Since Mike’s stuff is bordering on novelty, I suspect this will be the case for 90% of us, but I could very well be wrong. In any case, thanks (again) for the Selects stuff.
Today is the most disappointing Tuesday of the year imho. No new Silver Jews album–why did they and the other Drag City artists suddenly disappear? Also, the new Hold Steady album is available on Itunes now but not Emusic. Disappointing.
to JRA. Drag City left a while ago (at least in the US). According to this thread (http://www.emusic.com/messageboard/viewTopic.html?topicId=11490), an eMusic subscriber posted the email response from the label and got this response:
“Hi John
We pulled out because eMusic pays the label/artists peanuts. We could no longer afford to offer our titles at their prices.
Sorry to disappoint you.”
The Hold Steady album is coming on 7/15 (http://www.emusic.com/browse/new.html). It might be the label’s decision about posting on iTunes.
I love the fact that as of 4pm EST there has not been a single comment either on here or on the message board regarding the arrival of Vampire Weekend. (Sorry, Yancey.)
It’s 4:16, and I see a VW comment right above this one.
(fwiw, I picked it up when it came out and it’s a pretty ho-hum album)
“Since Mike’s stuff is bordering on novelty, I suspect this will be the case for 90% of us, but I could very well be wrong.”
Oh, I think there’s a not-insubstantial chance for Mingering Mike to be a big (niche) hit. He has a compelling backstory, and — for being as rough as it is — the music is catchy and accessible.
Yeah, I agree with Daniel. By no means would I recommend that everyone download it, however there’s plenty to love.
bugger, no uk download for the pitchfork sampler.
any news on the new Beck album and Fleet Foxes? They are on XL.
Mingering Mike, legendary stuff. I remember reading about him a few years back. Great story, will certainly check out the album.
Any chance of boosting the audio on the Mingering Mike by a few db?
Not talking about ultracompressing it or anything, and certainly would
not recommend any noise reduction or anything like that, but a gentle
boost could help bring out what’s there but lurking beneath the surface
a bit more. Or one can crank one’s stereo really high but don’t forget
to turn it back down before listening to something else, or ouch!
Hey Mr B - keep your eyes peeled for both Beck and Fleet Foxes on the UK site.
Regarding my earlier comment about volume, I just downloaded the daily download and it is noticeably louder than the preview, much better. I guess the Flash preview widget on the pages does not have the volume set to maximized? It probably should since it does not have a volume control.
I’ll pass on the Daestro and Mingering Mike, but Ponytail sounds awesome. War On Drugs and Nomo sound promising too. Pumice seems to have more of a Captain Beefheart vibe (i.e. nutty but not crunchy).
I finally had a chance to give the Deastro samples a fair listen, and it sounds very interesting. I’ll grab it. Thanks for selecting an electronic pick, that’s great!