naturalismo

Drag City’s Faun Fables has just announced a new 4-song EP, A Table Forgotten, which will be released on July 22. While you wait, check out this video for the song “With Words and Cake” from the upcoming EP.

With the haunting melodies and traditional instrumentation of traditional British Isles folk (cello, harp, fiddle, acoustic guitar) underpinning Margie Wienk’s delicate vocals, Fern Knight’s new self-titled album evokes themes as disparate as man’s communion with nature to a story of twins who escape from the circus. Carrying the sonic ambition and bucolic palette of early seventies prog while maintaining a decidedly humble and atmospheric demeanor, Fern Knight’s new songs ache with emotions that run the gamut from funereal to whimsical.

I met up with Fern Knight and Ex Reverie at the Silverlake Lounge in Los Angeles last night and shot an interview and exclusive unplugged performance of Fern Knight’s new tunes “Magpie Suite, Part II and III”. Stay tuned to naturalismo, as I’ll be posting the beautiful footage soon. The new album is being released this upcoming Tuesday, May 13, so be sure to catch Fern Knight and Ex Reverie as they journey up the West Coast.

[download] “Magpie Suite Part II” + “Magpie Suite Part III“

[Fern Knight Official Site] [Ex Reverie Official Site]

Photo (c) Alissa Anderson

The release of Vetiver’s new album “Thing of the Past” is a week away but you can get your first listen of it today on Naturalismo. The collection of songs featured on the new all covers album doesn’t just cover the proven classic ground that many covers albums often wander into but also treads into the more obscure on tracks such as Dia Joyce’s “Sleep a Million Years”. I’ve also done my best to collect all of the original songs here in one place for you all to download. Now you can allow yourself to get familiar with the artists and their songs before you hear Andy Cabic’s wonderful recompositions of them. I’ve heard scattered rumours that the entire original collection may be released as a full album next year so I have to leave some of the original songs for the hunters or possibly forthcoming official comp. P.S. if you find the original songs that I haven’t posted please send them in because they were impossible to find. ALSO: Stay tuned for a full video interview with Vetiver, we’re filming tonight in L.A. and should have it up by Monday.

First listen (No officially released single yet = here’s a roundup of links to other blogs with them):

Vetiver - Houses

Vetiver - Road to Ronderlin

Vetiver - Blue Driver

Get Familiar:

(Tracklisting below)

Download: Vetiver “Thing of the Past” original songs compilation

Download Mirror 2: Vetiver “Thing of the Past” original songs compilation

Pre-Order Vetiver’s ‘Thing of the Past’ on Amazon here.

It’s strange to think that it took a Swede to capture the spirit of American folk music, or at least come the closest to imitating it. But with the recent release of Shallow Grave, the debut LP from Sweden’s own The Tallest Man on Earth, Americana has been given the Swedish touch, sans clogs. With his ramshackle delivery, nimble fingerpicking, and whimsical lyrics (not to mention the “mysteriously” cryptic press photos of the singer with rolled jeans and bare chest), you get a sense that the Tallest Man on Earth has spent a lot of time absorbing Harry Smith’s Anthology of Folk Music and Dylan’s The Times They Are a-Changin’ - without the latter’s overt socio-political commentary. Like Dylan, who aped the musical and visual style of his pre-war forebears but later developed his own sound, the Tallest Man on Earth is a highly gifted singer-songwriter who may be a bit derivative, but what music isn’t?

[download] “Pistol Dreams“

[Tallest Man MySpace]

Thank you Devendra and Lauren Dukoff!

[Janet Jackon Rolling Stone cover by Patrick Demarchelier]

In the seventh decade of the twentieth century, a cultural phenomenon swept this great country - nay, the world - faster than the common cold in a subway car full of sneezers. No, I’m not referring to wide lapels or polyester pants. I’m referring to disco. But before you scoff or tilt your shaggy-haired heads back in disgust, shall we revisit the antiquated sounds of disco’s greatest golden hits through the lens of one today’s most enchanting performers? Yes, we shall.

The Seven Inch Project has just released a limited edition vinyl pressing of two classic disco covers from Gnomonsong’s own Rio En Medio, aka Danielle Stech-Homsy. From their site:

“The inspiration for these disco covers came to Danielle as she was promenading through the local West Indian grocery store in Flatbush, Brooklyn. It was late and Danielle was exhausted from work. As her dazed eyes drifted over bruised plantains she suddenly became aware of a song that was playing on the radio. For days the melody filled Danielle’s head and obsessed her imagination. She had only caught a few words but managed to dig it up on the Internet…”Let this groove get you to move…It’s alright…alright…a-a-al-right.” Weeks later Danielle found herself in a Montreal hotel tapping the beat out on the desk in her room, trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to alert the staff to her nefarious recording activity. The song, one could say, had bewitched her. It had awakened a certain hitherto obscured spirit inside her that, once unleashed, had the power to change her, which it did, causing Danielle to abandon her current life in pursuit of a more dangerous personal freedom and aliveness that she had never known. That’s when she understood DISCO - what must have moved so many people, as silly as it now seems to many of us - the magical hold it had on being Alive, struggling against the odds, and for no reason other than to feel something moving in your body and soul…

[download] “Let’s Groove” (Original by Earth, Wind, and Fire)

[buy the vinyl]

Click below for current European tour dates with CocoRosie!

Read the rest of this entry »

Just in from Marissa Nadler:

“So, I have fought off the urge to put any of my new material online so I can save it for the record. Its hard because there is the desire to get feedback from other people and it is so easy and quick with the Internet these days. So, my apologies for keeping the same stuff up for a while. I record the actual record in June in a carriage house in Connecticut. Its exciting because I feel a lot has changed.”

[download] “honey of the bee” (Unreleased demo)

[photo © Yoon S. Byun]

Joanna Newsom talks fashion and tells a joke to Paper Magazine:

The sun is hiding. The air cools, just enough. And the clouds are ripe. They seem intent on rain but never quite commit to it; the whole world seems overcast. Sharon Van Etten’s music is that milky light spilled through half-drawn curtains, borne in the heart of October wind.

[download] “have you seen” + “you didn’t really do that“

[Sharon Van Etten myspace]

To say the word “Festival” is to summon myriad imagery: revelers hoarsely singing songs over jugs of wine, dancing, sharing, smiling, laughing, and enjoying that rare sense of community that has, as we move further and further into the 21st century, been replaced by insularity. But is the imagery of the festival lost? Antiquated? Romanticized? Yes, of course. There are, however, threads of that quilt left behind - captured periodically on record as a dusty reminder of the human animal’s potential for interconnectivity. In the realm of family, in the voices of siblings, you can not only sense the connection between performers in the studio, but you can hear the sympathetic vibration of vocal cords united by the glue of genetics.

Such is the case on Language of Stone’s recent release by Festival, Come Arrow Come! The songs are stitched together lovingly and admirably by the band’s core duo, sisters Lindsay and Alexis. Despite a lack of overt musical complexity, the sisters’ charming blend of chamber pop, folk, and psychadelia finds its strength in blood.

[download] “Boxcar” + “Blown Light“

[Festival on myspace]

[photo © rebecca gillespie]

Akron/Family is known for their uncanny ability to be prolific while never sacrificing creativity or sincerity. They’ve released an album every year for the past couple years, and in my opinion every album has evolved in surprising - but always rewarding - ways. I think their unparalleled output can be credited to, amongst other things, a paradoxical combination of sheer childlike joy and a disciplined, professional work ethic. But they achieve both effortlessly, without pretension, and without self-consciousness.

These are musicians doing what they love, and it shows. It’s my opinion that A/F is going to be the next Phish (not musically, but in terms of a rabidly loyal fanbase and voracious touring schedule). They recently played sets at Coachella and will be playing the festival circuit again at this summer’s High Sierra Fest and Nelsonville Music and Arts Fest.

The guys have just debuted a new demo (live?) recording that they’ve probably been forging in the blast furnace of the open road in the past few months. They also just added a new show on May 2 in Los Angeles at the Museum of Natural History with the Dodo’s.

[download] “Always there O.G.“

Jeremiah Conte’s recent series is like a bird’s eye view on a universe comprised of fingers, each reaching for and clutching their neighbor lovingly - knowing that the closer they are, the larger the universe they’ll create. Luckily, they’re content to be humble.

Naturalismo: What inspires your work the most?

Jeremiah Conte: I draw what I see in my head, what I want to draw, and what I see in the natural world. Primarily the natural world is my biggest influence…. and it kicks my ass in a major way all the time. I am currently living in Atascadero, California. I’ve lived here for most of my life so it’s been a major influence, and it is very pretty here. Especially this time of the year. All the wildflowers are blooming, the hills are green and the creeks haven’t dried up just yet. It’s a very special place to me and it’s has been very influential.

N: How early did you start working in the visual arts? Are you involved in any other forms of creative expression i.e. music, film, photography, etc.? Does one medium inspire you more, and why?

JC: I started drawing just around 3 years ago. It just kind of happened one day. I’m not really all that involved any other creative expression right now, but I could see myself geting into film, photography, sculpture, and printmaking someday. I am inspired by drawing primarily because you only need paper and a pen.

N: What music has been most inspirational to your work?

JC: It’s hard to say what music has been most inspirational to my work. I listen to music mostly to drown out the background noises of where I am. Most of the inspiration comes from creation, and if I hear that in
music then it inspires me. I don’t know, thats hard for me to answer really…

N: Are you working on any new projects?

JC: I am currently working on a series of drawings based on Star Wars: portraits of key characters, significant vehicles and vessels, and renditions of alliance symbols can be expected…

The Entrance Band are playing a few tour dates and have a slew of new bootleg and demo albums for sale now on their website! Visit The Entrance Band at myspace to pick up the records or check out one of the following upcoming shows:

APRIL 30: LOS ANGELES @ the ECHO
w/ Special guests FOOL’S GOLD
& dj’s/dancing
$10 18&up 9pm-1am

MAY 9: OJAI @ WOMEN’s Center

MAY 10: BIG SUR @ HENRY MILLER LIBRARY

Amazing new promo for the show…

L’au of Mi & L’au recommended the Presti-Lagoya Duo to me recently.  I had never heard of them before…but after watching this video (very poor, choppy quality I know) I was dumbfounded.

“Alexandre Lagoya (1929-1999) and Ida Presti (1924-1967) formed the greatest classical guitar duet in the world; this was not simply due to their technical excellence, but their subtlety and force in emotional expression. They also transcribed music for the instrument from many sources, most notably the harpsichord, violin and piano.

In these tawdry times where great emphasis is given by the media to celebration of the purely physical side of humanity—sport, models, etc.—questions of the mind and heart are often given short shrift. At a time when intimacy between adults is most often identified with the sexual act, it is refreshing and invigorating to hear proof of the narrowness of this view and the possibilities that exist.

If you listen to any of Lagoya-Presti’s playing—not just hearing, but actively engaging with the music—you will hear conversations of such intimacy that one at first feels embarrassed at being privy to them. It is hard at times to believe that two people could communicate so intricately. Given that both are playing classical guitars makes it all the more extraordinary.” LINK

There’s lots of press going around about this El Guincho sounding something like Panda Bear, similar but different they say. Lazy lazy journalists, get out and listen to something before 2007. As if Noah Lennox was the first to mix traditional tropical rhythms with samples and modern melodies. Not to discredit the amazing side project of his, I think it’s some of the most refreshing and original music I’ve heard in ages, but I can’t help but try and point out what I think is a much greater source of inspiration for El Guincho. Bellied deep inside the soul ofthe Peruvian psych movement of the late 60’s and early 70’s lies much of the heart and soul that I feel sets El Guincho apart. Spreading marmalade psychedelic guitar across gritty toasted Peruvian beats, the Roots of Chicha compilation gives a glimpse at what was for decades undiscovered to much of the west. Only recently was this compilation to hit the streets to give us the first taste of the Chicha, named after a corn-based liquor favored by the Incas which quickly spread to Lima and wholly captures feeling of the clash of Peruvian convention with western surf guitar, Cuban guajiras and psych. There’s something to be said about uncovering each wave of the psychedelic movement in the world, the fluidity and rapture released within each province, state our countries never providing a similar journey. Enough! Just listen:

From the Roots of Chicha compilation available here:

(password for these is: naturalismo3

Los Mirlos - El Milagro Verde

Juaneco Y Su Combo - Ya Se Ha Muerto mi Abuelo

Los Mirlos - Sonido Amazonico

and

El Guincho - Kalise

I honestly can’t imagine a summer mix tape without a few of these tracks on it.

Searching around for the Kalise single brought me to the recent Fader mix El Guincho put together for Fader, which includes the life changing band Los Zafiros that was featured on the Yo Si Oigo | Devendra Banhart’s Influence comp Naturalismo put out last year and available for free here.

El Guincho - Fader Mix

Yo Si Oigo | Devendra Banhart’s Influence comp

I’ve just received word that Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy aka Will Oldham is going to be releasing Lie Down in the Light this May. It’s his first set of originals since 2006’s The Letting Go. I’m really curious to see what direction he takes with this new album - if there’s one thing we can be sure of, it’s that it will be frank, honest, and above all sincere.

This is old news, but if anyone out there wants to put the proverbial wooden spoon in their mouth to prevent themselves from collapsing with a B’P'B induced anticipatory panic attack, get your hands on his film Old Joy. It’s a stark character study that delves deeply into the nature of friendship, aging, and sexuality - in a way, I’d view Old Joy as a companion piece to Oldham’s sublime Master & Everyone.

Also, I’ve added a new demo version of the song “So Everyone” which will (in a more polished form, I suppose) be on the upcoming album

[download] “So Everyone” (demo)

[photo © Steve Gullick]

I’ve been a fan of Pepi Ginsberg’s quirky psych folk for over a year now and I’m very excited to announce the release today of her 3rd studio album ‘Red.’ After a repeated listens I think Red is her strongest release to date and really shows Ginsberg’s song writing maturing nicely. The album itself is a diverse journey tracing Pepi’s many influences which she sincerely builds on and forges her own sound. The songs of Red are only highlighted by her unique vocals that set her apart from many of her contemporaries. Ranging from Blood on the Tracks era Dylan to the upbeat piano stylings of more optimistic Plastic Ono Band tracks; Red traverses from more upbeat psych folk on the song “The Waterline” where overlaid vocals swirl above Harry Nilssonesque percussion and piano to the more serious raw sound of “In My Bones” where Ginsberg truly finds her stride and strength as an artist. “In My Bones” is in serious contention for being one of the most sincere and strong songs of the rapidly aging youth of 2008. Capturing the same emotion elicited when one hears Idiot Wind for the first time, “In My Bones” marks a turning point for Pepi Ginsberg where she truly finds her voice and instrumentation playing together as one.

[download] Pepi Ginsberg - In My Bones

Listen to Pepi Ginsberg ( Monday, April 21, 2008 ) Daytrotter session.

Buy Red

Dust clings to your cheek. It’s painted on, dried up, cracked, bound up in damp streams of new tears. The faint chug-chug of the train fades over the distant horizon, heatwaves squiggling over your last glimpse of the locomotive. Goodbye. You’re alone for the first time in years, and you know damn well it’s going to be a long time before you feel that touch again, that type of love. But fuck it - tomorrow’s another day. There’s always another town and another song.

Meg Ashling, a Minneapolis native, captures a raw, distinctly American sound. It’s the sound of truckstops, of half-working air conditioners blowing through half-decent motels, of broken-hearted drifters searching for something that maybe even they don’t know about. Ashling sings, “I wish I could live a life that’s simple, just like the days of yore.” She may not be able to live that life, but her music certainly captures it.

[download] “Lovely Like Wine“

[meg ashling myspace]

Marijuana and music have been kissing cousins for years now. Hell, I even heard that some musicians smoked it in the sixties. Can you believe that? I’ve heard that stuff makes kids go crazy! Anyway… Congressman Barney Frank from the great state of Massachusetts (my old stomping grounds) introduced a bi-partisan bill to congress on Thursday of last week to remove marijuana possession as a criminal offense.

According to the NORML website:

“The bill will strip the federal government of its authority to arrest responsible adult cannabis consumers. The measure, H.R. 5843, known as an “Act to Remove Federal Penalties for Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults,” is the first federal decriminalization legislation introduced in 24 years. Frank’s pending bill, co-sponsored by presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), seeks to eliminate all federal penalties prohibiting the personal use and possession of up to 100 grams (3 1/2 ounces) of marijuana. Under this measure, adults who consume cannabis would no longer face arrest, prison, or even the threat of a civil fine.

Click here to get information on writing your congressman.

Devendra Banhart is featured on the new cover of Rolling Stone Japan this month:

Congrats Devendra…anyone have the actual article?

The last I heard a few months ago from Gregory Rogove touring drummer for Banhart and member of Priestbird, Devendra was going to go into the studio with him to record. Any updates on that and I’ll be sure to let you know…