I’ll warn you straight up this is a majorly self indulgent blog post. I really want a record player. GASP. I don’t have one already? No, I’ve been strongly aligned to the humble CD for the past decade, I like that they are more stackable (there I said it) and I don’t have to stand up to flip sides. I know the sounds better on vinyl yada yada, the real reason I’m changing now is there are some many less collectable releases on CD, and no download codes when you purchase. Itunes is no longer my friend, following a change in it’s privacy terms it won’t recognise new items. Typing it in song by song would make my soul cry. So music lovers that’s it, now I really want a record player and ideally your help in choosing one. Old or new? What to look for? Does it matter? In return here are the first three things I’d like to buy on vinyl…
Rodriguez ‘Cold Fact’
I cried watching documentary Searching for Sugarman on the plane to Thailand. I love that someone could be so humble in the face of so much new found fame. This song in particular makes me really happy.
Devendra Banhart‘Mala’
I like this latest release from Devendra Banhart a lot. That’s all.
Willis Earl Beal‘Wavering Lines’
Beaaaaaautiful.
PS – if there are adverts below they are nothing to do with me, it’s a new WordPress thing I believe meaning you have to pay to keep things ad free.
This is little Play a Song For Me’s 100th wordpress post! A tiny figure for some, for me an occasion akin to getting an ice cream on a sunny day.
For those of you who are new to the blog musicians I discover share suggestions of new, rare and important artists/songs/albums. Along the way other things have also evolved – I invent sporadic new features (for the last month I’ve been posting a happy song every day), review new material and spraff on about new discoveries. Other folks stories are at the heart of why I’ve kept up the writing, I always love reading submissions and love to see that people still reading them.
End ramble: to celebrate and in case you missed them here are some great picks. Click the links to take you to the full articles and music!
I’m slightly ashamed to say I’d never heard of Townes Van Zandt before this post from Mike, who himself is supremely talented. Check out the full read here.
A personal story you’ll remember, a blues record you’ll love. Adam has a new album coming out really soon and it’s a beauty. Keep your eye on Song By Toad for more.
We’re on the cusp of the weekend! Today I have the pleasure of bringing to you my first artist submission in a while, having fleetingly stopped asking bands for their suggestions due to a lack of time and whimsy. I realised last week that it’s the best thing about being a blogger, gathering other people’s stories, et voilà we’re back on track.
I discovered Toronto’s Decades this week via an email from their label, the teeny White Girl Records. Music which is easy to listen to it’s difficult to plug the four piece in to a genre, strands of punk and garage rock emerge in their older tracks while a preview from their debut beams with well crafted chillwave.
After I heard and liked their music bassist Greg Peters sent through a story about a long time loved band, Blonde Redhead.
Decades Play…Blonde Redhead
My favorite band of all time would have to be Blonde Redhead. They kind of float in and out of my life at random but when I start listening to them they always take me back to that place I was when I discovered them and I end up playing one song over and over which is Misery Is a Butterfly.
The band formed in the early 90’s, I think they have always been way ahead of their time. They are one of those bands who are hard to pin down, “Nu gaze”, “electronica”, “indie rock”, “experimental”, “psychedelic”, but really I think they are just writing whatever music comes naturally to them. The music they create between the three of them is incredible, everything they do is perfect and absolutely beautiful.
I discovered them in the early 2000’s through a friend of mine who basically built my musical foundation, before this I only listened to Nirvana. Basically my friend and I would skip school everyday and go to his house and smoke weed and listen to these really cool “obscure bands” he found via internet or some older group of kids he knew. I remember my grandparents really disliked him, he literally lived across the tracks from me, but he was my best friend.
I’m pretty sure it was just on a playlist or something but when I heard “Misery is a Butterfly” for the first time it changed my life. The beginning is so beautiful, those ominous sounding strings, then the piano line, it’s so sad but comforting, then the guitars and vocals come in and it grabs you and you’re floating away in all that beautiful misery. It actually takes me back to that place every time I listen to it. We were in high school, stuck in that small town and nothing was certain but we could listen to this song and drift away. I’m pretty sure the band is still active. They definitely deserve more attention then they get but I don’t really think they care for it. I just hope they continue to create records.
Sometimes you get sent something at the exact right time: last week an email entitled ‘Human Pyramids!’ landed with me, literally at the moment I was looking for something new to listen to.
Described by it’s composer and creator Paul Russell as ‘joyous post-rock’ the three song demo is a spirited instrumental business, written in scores and purveying jubilant choral remnants, akin to the likes of The Polyphonic Spree.
Here we go below with the Human Pyramids suggestion, experimental Icelandic band Múm and their 2012 release, Early Birds.
All About Múm
My favourite band in the world is Múm. When I first heard them around 10 years ago I had a typical teenager-raised-on-metal attitude towards electronic music: boring, predictable, repetitive and not for me. Then I heard “Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is OK” and very shortly afterwards “Finally We Are No One”. Everything changed. I was blown away, it was like nothing I had ever heard. Beautiful & surprising, it felt like I was being transported somewhere different. Somewhere better. And so started my love affair with Icelandic music, which is as strong today as it was when I was wearing Machine Head t-shirts..
Múm have released 3 albums since then and I have been buying them on the day of release every time. The release of “Early Birds” in June was no different. But wait, its no longer released through Fat-Cat, and its a collection of “lost songs” from 1998-2000? When I hear phrases like “lost songs” I get scared. I imagine its the kind of thing bands use to pad out ropey box sets. Why did they get lost? If they were so good why didn’t they come out at the time? Its obviously filler. But I bought it anyway and I was wrong, very wrong.
These 15 songs show a band experimenting, with potential and most importantly, a band having fun. There is an naïvety and excitement that Arab Strap touched upon in they’re poppier moments. There is the vastness that matches Sigur Rós or Mogwai, and most importantly, there is no filler. It might even be my favourite Mum album.”
This is a sampler of the 15 tracks, they are pretty enthralling…
Human Pyramids!
Human Pyramids! was a move for West Lothian based Russell from writing electronic music:“I wanted to create an album with no electronic sounds. No samples. No cheating. To stop reaching for the drum machines and instead pipe up on a floor tom or a bin lid. I walked around with a handheld recorder for a while. I enlisted the help of flat mates, band mates and friends to play things I couldn’t. I wrote scores for the first time since I left Uni.” .
It caught my attention quickly, what good instrumental should – distinctive, uplifting and likeable, plus the songs tell stories. Stream the first fruits of the project below – on bandcamp for a pay what you will download.
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