Low

Last year, I saw them at Pukkelpop festival : Alan Sparhawk, Mimi Parker (his wife) and Matt Livingston. Together they are the wonderful, magnificent and very underestimated Low.
Some months ago, I saw the documentary You may need a murderer, about this band. Filmed by David Kleijwegt, it shows how this Mormon band, around husband and wife Sparhawk and Parker, struggles to find a balance between their beliefs and their need to make exactly the songs they are making, how Alan Sparhawk has struggled (and still does) with his demons and how the couple struggles to maintain a balance between making music and touring on one hand, and their family life (with children) on the other hand.
The song after which the documentary was named, Murderer, is one of the most intruiging songs of last year, and in the documentary Alan explains how their closest friends and relatives were shocked by the lyrics, considering it even blasphemous.
They way they play the song and the way the words are sung, intensifies the feeling that crawls through every line of it.

This is a video for the song, with images from the documentary No end in sight :


These are the lyrics :

One more thing before I go
One more thing I'll ask you Lord
You may need a murderer
Someone to do your dirty work

Don't act so innocent
I've seen you pound your fist into the earth
And I've read your book
It seems that you could use another fool
Well I'm cruel
And I look right through

You must have more important things to do
So if you need a murderer
Someone to do your dirty work

Enjoy these three songs from the album Drums and guns :

• Murderer (mp3)
• Hatchet (mp3)
• Take your time (mp3)

You can buy the album here

You can watch the documentary here

Free music : Scala

The all girl choir Scala, with the Kolacny Brothers, has a new album. It will be out soon in a de luxe edition, because the regular (digital) format is available for free download on their website. Just fill in your name and e-mail, and you receive a link to download all the songs on the new album.
Contrary to their previous albums, it's not a cover album. This time, the Kolacny Brothers wrote all of the songs.
If you want to know what they sound like, here's a teaser :

• their cover of Smells like teen spirit (Nirvana)
• their cover of With or without you (U2)
• their cover of Friday, I'm in love (The Cure)
• their cover of The bitter end (Placebo)

To download the album, go here

Rewind the video : Off the record

It must have been Sunday that I woke up with an irresistable tune locked in my head on endless repeat. But you know how it goes : you just don't seem to find the right words to the song. You keep wondering to yourself : "but which song is this ?" You almost go mad trying to find it. And then all of a sudden, it hit me (after about half a day). It was this great song :

More Videos

Off the record (mp3) - My Morning Jacket (from the album Z)

Although I have to admit I don't really get the lyrics (well, English is my second language after all...), I really like the atmosphere of both song and clip.

For your enjoyment, I have added the live version from their live double album Okonokos :

Off the record (live) - My Morning Jacket (mp3)

You can buy the albums Z and Okonokos here

Tracks that never get to be chosen...

Some tracks are wonderful, but still somehow they don't appear in my posts, for some reason or another. Sometimes they're the only song by that artist that I know, sometimes they don't fit in the theme I want to bring up, or...
Well, whatever reason kept them out, this post is a good reason for them to be heard. So enjoy :

• Heart it races (mp3) - Architecture In Helsinki
• Ankle injuries (mp3) - Fujiya & Miyagi : I know their name sounds Japanese but they are very British...
• Nada (mp3) - Feu Thérèse
• See you on the moon ! (mp3) - Great Lake Swimmers : listen how they blend in the meowing of cats...
• Upside down (mp3) - Jack Johnson
• To the country (mp3) - Laura Veirs : wouldn't you just want to go there after hearing this ?
• Now she sleeps in a box in the good soil of Denmark (mp3) - David & The Citizens : what a great title : it evokes a whole tale and then you haven't heard the song yet...

Buy their albums :

• Places like this - Architecture in Helsinki
• Transparent things - Fujiya & Miyagi
• ça va cogner - Feu Thérèse
• See you on the moon ! Songs for kids of all ages - Great Lake Swimmers
• Sing-a-longs and lullabies from the film Curious George - Jack Johnson
• Saltbreakers - Laura Veirs
• David & The Citizens (EP) - David & The Citizens

Big in Belgium : Monza

Monza, named after the famous racing track in Italy, is a Belgian band around Stijn Meuris (whom many remember from Noordkaap). They have released their third album earlier this year, called Attica!
For me, this album is their best so far. More diverse, more to the point and with a much better finishing touch, it beats everything they have released before. And I firmly believe that you don't need to understand the lyrics in Dutch to enjoy these songs :

• Wie danst er nog ? (mp3)
• De dag is helder (mp3)
• Lobby (mp3)
• Wenen in Wenen (mp3)

You can buy the album here

Another animated clip

I admit : this one is a bit older than yesterday's clip (Chad VanGaalen's Molten light), but I have chosen to post it as there are some similarities which I wanted to share with you...
M Ward's Chinese translation is, of course, also accompanied by a delightful animated clip, and as is VanGaalen's clip, it tells the story of the song with simple yet appealing drawings.
The stories of both songs are as blinking, shining diamonds, with a clarity that makes the beauty so easy to see. They both strongly depend on the literary style characteristic of repetition.
And both songs and clips have an outstanding concurrence of atmosphere : each (light) change in atmosphere in the song is captured amazingly in the clip.

Enjoy : Chinese translation - M Ward (mp3)



You can buy the album Post-war here

Here are the lyrics to both songs :

Chinese translation - M Ward :

I sailed a wild, wild sea
climbed up a tall, tall mountain
I met a old, old man
beneath a weeping willow tree
He said now if you got some questions
go and lay them at my feet
but my time here is brief
so you'll have to pick just three

And I said
What do you do with the pieces of a broken heart
and how can a man like me remain in the light
and if life is really as short as they say
then why is the night so long
and then the sun went down
and he sang for me this song

See I once was a young fool like you
afraid to do the things
that I knew I had to do
So I played an escapade just like you
I played an escapade just like you
I sailed a wild, wild sea
climbed up a tall, tall mountain
I met an old, old man
he sat beneath a sapling tree
He said now if you got some questions
go and lay them at my feet
but my time here is brief
so you'll have to pick just three

And I said
What do you do with the pieces of a broken heart
and how can a man like me remain in the light
and if life is really as short as they say
then why is the night so long
and then the sun went down
and he played for me this song


Molten light - Chad VanGaalen :

They dumped her body into the molten light
Floated to the surface and it did not ignite
She rose up slowly and walked to the shore
She stood up on the bank and whispered

I'll find you and I'll kill you
I'll find you and I'll kill you
I'll find you and I'll kill you

They ran back into town and hid in the church
They explained their situation and they feared for the worst
The priest told the brothers that she could not be killed
She flew out of the stone cold ground and

She'll find you and she'll kill you
She'll find you and she'll kill you
She'll find you and she'll kill you

Oh oh oh oh...

There was a knock at that door that shook through their hearts
She blew it right open and put it apart
She shot a string of flame from the center of her chest
As she watched their bodies burn she whispered

I found you and I killed you
I found you and I killed you
I found you and I killed you

Molten light

An extraordinary magnificent animated videoclip accompanies the delightful song Molten light by Chad VanGaalen.

Enjoy Molten light - Chad VanGaalen (mp3)

You can buy the album Soft airplane here

Lazy Monday : Bon Iver

One of the hypes of the past months, Bon Iver has made quite an impression on many a music lover. The debut album For Emma, forever ago deserves every good word that has been written about it, and it's an excellent Lazy Monday album...

Every note is dipped in ancient tradition, in the best of folk and blues, and yet it sounds very 2008 in a way.

Check it out, and enjoy these songs :

• Flume (mp3)
• The wolves (act I and II) (mp3)
• Skinny love (mp3)

You can buy the album here

Sepultura

In 1994, I saw Sepultura at the Rock Torhout festival and I was pretty impressed. The band was still firmly led by Max and Igor Cavalera, and I had been listening to their album Chaos A.D. for several weeks. I wasn't into metal or anything (most certainly not back then), but I really felt this band had found a way to have the chemistry work between Brasilian rhythms and heavy metal guitars. Their next album, Roots, explored that strange mixture even further, and the band cooperated with some native Brasilian tribe. Until today, I still think those two albums are among the best metal albums ever !

Enjoy these songs :

From Chaos A.D. :

• Refuse resist (mp3)
• Territory (mp3)

From Roots :

• Ratamahatta (mp3)

You can buy the albums here

Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat

Belgian band Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat is really something special. With their mix of folk harmonies and post-rock, they are definitely a band on the right label, being K-R-A-A-K. On the 23rd of September they will release their new album, The Nebulous dream, on Conspiracy Records. They will launch the album with a show in Gent, at the Vooruit, with support act Guapo, on the 3rd of October.
Here are some songs from their previous album, An interlude to the outermost :

• The firesky (mp3)
• Salt (mp3)
• You will reap a whirlwind (mp3)

You can buy the album here, and the new album is for sale (after release, of course) here