Wow, there are a ton of records today. Just sorting through Freshly Ripped, which is usually a 30-45 minute task, took TWO HOURS today. Which is awesome. Let’s take a look at the tip of the iceberg, shall we?
First up, of course, is the new Magnolia Electric Co. record, which comes after a three-year silence and freighted with a somber backstory, which you can read about here, in Jason Molina’s candid chat with Matthew Fritch. Basically, the record functions as a loose eulogy of sorts to Evan Farrell, the Magnolia Electric Co. bassist who died in a house fire in Chicago in 2007. Considering that Molina’s outlook on his previous records was already bleak at best, it doesn’t make for dramatic change in tone, but there is a deeper, slightly warmer sort of sadness in this one than in previous records. You can sort of hear the fondness and love Molina had for Farrell, partly in the warmed-up instrumentation (this is probably their most fulsomely arranged record ever) and in his singing, which has a disarming new emotional directness.
Wye Oak, The Knot – Their new one feels kinda like a glassy-eyed, hypnotic middle ground between shoegazey atmospherics and dirgey alt-country. There is more than a little Chan Marshall in the vocals. I don’t know if this is what these guys normally sound like — I never took the time to check them out, though I’ve heard good things from folks I trust. Speaking of folks I trust, here’s Jess Harvell in the review:
A tad starker and just a bit more subtle, The Knot finds the band growing as songwriters without sacrificing either the joyous crush of bubblegum (the sing-along, reverb-drenched mini-epic “Tattoo”) or the mix of feathery vox and cathartic feedback stomp (“That I Do”).
But the real joy of The Knot is Wasner’s increased confidence in her own instrument, often left unadorned amidst the increasingly layered sonics. Early comparisons to Chan Marshall’s sleepy-eyed delivery still hold, but Wasner’s downy voice, more prominent in the mix than ever before, is more buoyant, retaining a flicker of optimism even when the pair goes somber.
Lucky Elephant, Starsign Trampoline – Gorgeously melancholy, low-key indie rock, tinged with folk-pop signifiers. Billowing guitars, languid midtempos, and some tinkly toylike instrumentation here and there — this is lovely.
Jonsi and Alex, Riceboy Sleeps – Droney side project from Sigur Ros…feels very much in the same sound world as Jacaszek and Hauschka — lovely, formless ambient clouds twinkling with little instrumental touches at the edges. There’s even some wordless cooing for all of us Julianna Barwick fans. This is not dour at all like Jacaszek, though; it feels like a dispatch from the same softly sunlit, warmly nostalgic place as Boards of Canada. I plan to spend some more time with this.
Desire, II – New record from Italians Do It Better, and it sounds unsurprisingly 1)great and 2)like…..Italodisco! Fans of the label already know they need this.
The Byrds, The Byrds – Four-CD boxed set — that’s 90 SONGS, people — for 48 credits. I’d jump on this one. Contains ALMOST anything the curious would ever need from The Byrds, which, considering just how much essential music they released, is saying something.
Solomon Burke, Proud Mary (with bonus tracks) – Killer set of classic covers from the King of Rock and Soul. ‘In the Ghetto!” “That Lucky Old Sun!” Rod Stewart’s first four solo records, before he gleefully made himself into the world’s biggest prancing fool, were modelled after this sort of sturdy formula; take a handful of well-chosen classics, rough them up a little, and inject them with whiskey-weathered, warm rasp. Repeat.
Common, One Day It’ll All Make Sense, Resurrection, and Can I Borrow A Dollar? – Man oh man oh man, remember this guy? He was funny! He rapped about his life, not about How To Save Hip Hop (“I Used to Love H.E.R.” aside).He made good jokes, not terrible, Dad-worthy puns about the OK Go treadmill video! He confessed to having problems with drinking and struggling with depression! He didn’t wear a knit cap yet! He hadn’t become the poster-boy for Living With Baduizm! These records are classics. I will probably write a separate post about them today or tomorrow.
Brodsky Quartet, ELEGIE – This is a nicely eclectic grab bag of a program, with single movements from larger quartets sitting alongside self-contained one-movement pieces by modern composers and traditional songs arranged for strings. It flows very much the way pop and rock albums do, and is very friendly to an iPod-playlist mindset. Gorgeous, vibrant playing and substantive works here too. Check it out.
Skygreen Leopards, Gorgeous Johnny – Pastoral folk-pop, with some chiming Rickenbachers thrown in. Sounds nice. Not my thing.
Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet, Under the Covers, Vol. 2 – Second album of covers from two known aficionados and masters of the three-minute pop song.
What else are we digging?
The 12-download album price clearly has some interesting wrinkles in it, but you seem to have outdone yourself with that Susanna Hoffs/Matthew Sweet cover album. You’ve linked to the one-CD (16 track) regular version, which is only available as a single, 12-credit download.
It turns out there’s also a two-disc “Deluxe Edition” that includes ten bonus tracks. This one does allow for individual track downloads (so why the prohibition on the other version?), but offers no album discount whatsoever. And a single cut from the bonus disc–Marquee Moon–is available only with the 26-credit album download (presumably because it’s longer than 10 minutes?).
So here’s the deal: you can get the core album for 12 credits. Or you can get the deluxe album for 26 credits. You can also get the deluxe album minus “Marquee Moon” for 19 credits (by buying the regular album and then downloading nine of the bonus CD’s ten cuts as individual downloads).
So, in effect, “Marquee Moon” is gonna cost you seven credits (it’s also available at Amazon.com’s MP3 store for 99 cents).
Does this all make any sense to you, ’cause it doesn’t make sense to me!
New Wheat album dropped today. Should be good.
On another note, is anyone ever going to address the issues with the “Saved For Later” lists???
hey Mango – let me know what the issues are and I’ll see if we can have someone look into it.
Just a quick mention when I looked through the list:
Some more Billy Childish on the site. I can never go wrong with that.
Some older Merzbow making its way on our site here and here.
And then there’s this great Dancehall remix of some Nas stuff aptly titled Dancehall Is Dead. The dude’s name is Insight, and I know nothing about it. If anyone does, I’d be happy to find out more.
So yeah, I’m not getting those in my Freshly Ripped section. No Magnolia Electric Co, no Wye Oak, no Lucky Elephant. But clicking on your links I’m able to get them. I dunno… silly technology.
Out of the list I do have, I did see The Blacks and they sound interesting. Three-piece chick fronted band with one member (not the chick) who only plays the tambourine. Yeah. Kinda feels like that bluesy garagey punky vibe. SFL – not willing to commit my precious downloads to that yet.
Saw The Generationals too. “When They Fight, They Fight” is a KILLER song. They are rocking that kinda throw-back vibe like Floating Action and Cotton Jones but with a more poppy feel. Not that that’s a bad thing. But totally get yourself that “When They Fight, They Fight” song.
Hey mango — just found out what you’re referring to; we’re aware of it and working on a fix. shouldn’t be too much longer.
I was hoping Blue Roses would show up today (it was listed on the homepage for a long time), but it’s nowhere to be found. I asked about it on the message boards. Hopefully it’ll be out soon on eMusic. It’s been slim pickings for me for a while.
Wasn’t a Sea & Cake disc supposed to appear today?
“Fans of the (Italians Do It Better) label already know they need this.” — Totally OTM. I love love love this label. Thanks for the heads-up on the Desire disc.
Finally, sorry to press, but is the Grizzly Bear disc coming? The hold-back has been a few months now.
We have no further word right now on the Grizzly Bear, Daniel. We’ll let you know the minute we know, promise.
And I’ll ask about the Sea and Cake.
BTW, I’ve always kind of hated Common, so I’m interested in reading your extended post on his discs. I based my impression of him on {i}Be{/i} and his later albums, which I thought sounded flat and uninspired (and lacked all that charisma and verbal dexterity that supposedly defined him). But, I admit, the soundscans on the discs you posted are good — much jazzier and energetic than I expected. Anyway, I’m going to give Common’s discs another chance.
And thanks for the quick update, Jayson. I appreciate it.
Sorry for multiple posts, but are we getting the new disc from JJ? (Link to a review of the new disc below). It’s on the Sincerely Yours label, which is on eMusic, and you have some JJ discs now, but I haven’t seen the new one yet.
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13326-jj-n-2/
French electro act Vitalic dropped a new EP. He still has yet to drop anything as good as his first album. I guess I’ll have to wait til the full album is out in Sept… The video for Your Disco Song is kinda cute, but really nothing can compare with Slo Mo Dogs n Lazers
Finally, there’s a bunch of new Sony stuff today, too. It includes Willie Nelson’s Stardust, which I’m sort of unfamiliar with, and — a big deal, to me — Hall & Oates’ Ohh Yeah!, which was a 1988 release that got unfairly maligned at the time. It’s a little slight — something about the production is thin (and, of course, most pop stuff from the eighties has that unmistakable glossy sheen and slightly hollow sound to it) — but they’re voices are top-notch and the songs are punchy and memorable. It’s GOOD.
Link to Ohh Yeah!: http://www.emusic.com/album/Daryl-Hall-And-John-Oates-Ooh-Yeah-MP3-Download/11529475.html
Just spent my last 7 credit of the month and then the album I wanted was posted (Riceboy, but I need 8 of the nine songs anyway (got one for free from riceboy)) So I’d just like to say that this album’s awesome and if you’ve got credits please check it out
What is the SFL issue? is it that removed (from emusic) albums still show on the SFL count ??? becasue if so I’d love to see that fixed
ummm sadly my Fresh Ripped RSS feeds come after 17dots sooo I don’t have anything new to add yet but I shall return (and in greater numbers LOL)
jayson – Resurrection? absolutely classic. been rocking that one for years and years. One Day It’ll All Make Sense? again. probably the last great common record in my opinion (and judging from his last one, i can safely say that this statement will hold until he dies). both of these make me instantly nostalgic and still seem to hold up today.
but Can I Borrow a Dollar? kinda… awful, no? i mean, “heidi heidi ho, hi ho, goodbye ho, if you’re lookin for a sucka i’m just another mother fucka?” not exactly great material. and what’s with that yelpy thing he does with his voice the whole time? for me it’s always served to make Resurrection seem like even more of a triumph considering what came before, and these days it’s serves as a way to contextualize Univeral Mind Control.
Thanks for the heads up on the Legacy Edition of Stardust! When I saw the one-disk edition, I hoped that this wasn’t far behind. I bought the original on vinyl back in the day, when it sparked more controversy than you might think now. (Less controversial: the news that Willie sparked up on the roof of the White House. Less controversial I guess because we saw that news coming….)
Another monster release: the Elvis Presley
THe Complete 68 Comeback Special – a “mere” 86 tracks for 48 credits. Not all of these are indispensable (unlike The Byrds box, which is a treasure trove), but if you have the credits, this is a lot of fun.
Also, the Simon & Garfunkel Live 1969 set just arrived (17 tracks = 12 credits), to join the Live 1967 already here. Most of these songs sound a lot better when it’s just the two of ‘em and a guitar. It’s clear especially from the Bridge Over Troubled Water tracks that THIS is how Paul meant them to sound….
I figured Jayson’d mention this one but. . . KRS-One “Return Of Boom Bap” featuring Sound of the Police
http://www.emusic.com/album/KRS-One-Return-Of-The-Boom-Bap-MP3-Download/11529467.html
A lot of “Classic Soundtracks” (Goonies, Top Gun, Revenge of the Nerds. Rambo?!?!) though Dirty Dancing does stand out among them (if you like oldies Love is strange and Stay have always been secret pleasures for me on this album) or even better
Lots in the Way of Columbia (and RCA) Jazz (check out John Handy if you’re lookin for some jazz)
PtoleMyClark IntroDuced Me To MegaFaun (I haven’t checked this one out yet but it’s on my list ( http://www.emusic.com/album/Megafaun-Gather-Form-Fly-MP3-Download/11488608.html )
Ben Folds Song for Silverman: Bastard’s a great Ben Folds Tune
This is getting long and there’s alot I didn’t mention (in short list form: June and Johnny Cash “Duets”, Alyson (Alf) Moyett from Yaz, Herbie Hancock)
Joe and I were just talking about Megafaun this weekend and I didn’t even know they had a new one out until today! I’m definitely going to be checking that one out.
Megafun! That was the one you guys told me to check out. I’ve been wracking my brain over that today.
Daniel –
“flat and uninspired (and lacked all that charisma and verbal dexterity that supposedly defined him). ”
is a pretty much perfect one-sentence review of any late-period Common album. All I can say is, these first three records are just a different dude. The more conscious he became of his “conscious rapper” status, the more syrupy and unbearable he became. Definitely give these a shot — they have, thankfully, almost nothing to do with Be or –shudder — Finding Forever. (We don’t mention Universal Mind Control in polite company.)
jrn-
Points all taken on Can I borrow a dollar? I like it because it’s grimy in a way NO ONE associates with the dude — he might not want us to remember now that he’s doing yoga with Serena Williams, but he used to talk about pan-handling. And yeah, the wordplay isn’t quite as….refined, but the raw energy is there.
Nergal-
Good catch on the KRS….and hey, wee also got the first fucking Kool Moe Dee album!
http://www.emusic.com/album/Kool-Moe-Dee-Kool-Moe-Dee-MP3-Download/11530080.html
I’ve heard the new Megafaun, and I’m not liking it nearly as much as the first one (which I liked a lot). I’ll try again, but I’m curious what others think…
Daniel – The Sea and Cake should be up tomorrow.
Thanks, Jayson.
Is there any chance we’ll be getting the new Fiery Furnaces album?
The new Nurses album isn’t on the coming soon list anymore for 8/4?
Ptolemy -
The Nurses is still scheduled for 8/4….don’t know why it disappeared from Coming Soon, but I’m adding it again!
Good catch.
Sweet! That’s top of my “watch” list for this DL period.