The Builders and The Butchers - Salvation Is A Deep Dark Well

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The Builders and The Butchers sound, to an extent, like the love child of Colin Meloy and Australia's The Red Paintings. You can hear a bit of that influence here; Chris Funk, guitarist for the Decemberists, produced and played on this record. Their use of instruments is wide, and despite the similarities to the previously mentioned musicians, they still retain an individual sound that has me tappin' my feet more than a little. I highly suggest giving this a listen, especially if you're a Decemberists fan (but even if you aren't).

From Paste Mag, who have named the B&B's their band of the week:
The Builders And The Butchers' musical output is something of a Pentecostal throw-down—the musical underpinnings are reminiscent of bluegrass, but the performances are raw and unschooled, with Sollee in particular throwing off a maniacally ecclesiastical sort of energy. Imagine the Violent Femmes with all the goofy irony cast aside, and you’ll get a sense of the dark, sparkling, Leadbelly-like terrain covered by death-fixated epics such as “Bottom of the Lake” and “The Gallows.” Thick with characters who bear more in common with Steinbeck’s dustbowl downtrodden than their contemporary counterparts, the band's songwriting is almost entirely instinctive.

i ain't no bad apple

sooo... i don't know what's going on but blogger keeps removing my posts. that's pretty damn annoying. stop that, blogger.

Together Through Life - Bob Dylan

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i like this album. i do. but when did bob dylan get so OLD? i mean... this stuff sounds like old man music. it's got a nice crisp 1950's bluesy feel about it. yet i can't help but think that dylan is gonna croak midway through "this dream of you". it almost reminds me a bit of cohen's later stuff, vocally, that gravelly i smoked two packs a day for thirty years sound. its sexy. now excuse me while i go pop a viagra.

sometimes weezer is fantastic

like when they cover MGMT and Lady Gaga AT THE SAME TIME.
this shit is awesome.

kids & poker face, y'all:

here's the deal, y'all

i have approximately A SHITTON of music that i would like to upload to this blog for everyone. however, i live in the boonies and only get satellite internet, which means i can't really upload anything since we have a restricted bandwith.

BUT
starting tuesday, we will have high-speed-like-the-rest-of-the-world internet. this is the most exciting news EVER, you understand.
so
next week, expect a lot of posts to make up for the lack of posts this month.

peace.

Bibio - Ambivilance Avenue

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this album is truly unique. i'm not too sure how to describe it, so i'll let pitchfork do the talking (who also gave it a "Best Album" distinction). but i'd try this stuff out. it's pretty darn cool.

pitchfork:
The title track weaves bouncing vocals through crisp guitar licks and bouncy flutes; "All the Flowers" is a fey folk gem; the dreamy "Haikuesque (When She Laughs)" is better indie-rock than many indie-rockers are making these days. Summery anthem "Lovers' Carvings" coasts on crunchy, gleaming riffs and upbeat woodblocks, and the autumnal "The Palm of Your Wave" is simply haunting. "Jealous of Roses" sets lustrous funk riffs dancing between the stereo channels as Bibio belts out a surprisingly effective Sly-Stone-in-falsetto impersonation. "Fire Ant" spikes the loping soul of J Dilla with the stroboscopic vocal morsels of the Field; "Sugarette" wheezes and fumes like a Flying Lotus contraption. The music feels both spontaneous and precise, winding in complex syncopation around the one-beat, with subtle filter and tempo tweaks, and careful juxtapositions of texture (see the arid, throttled voices scraping against the sopping-wet chimes of "S'vive"). Many songs taper off into ambient passages that have actual gravity, gluing the far-flung genres together. It's the kind of seamless variety, heady but visceral, that few electronic musicians who aren't Four Tet have achieved.

this is not just electronica stuff, y'all. it's almost unclassifiable. some people have dubbed it folktronica. ch-ch-check it out.

Flake - Spork EP

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sorry about the lack of posts, guys. all this rain has caused my internet to wonk out a bit.

you know what's fun about this, without even listening to the first note? two things. one: this ep is entitled spork. c'mon guys, that's just genius. i love sporks. and second, james mercer, singer of The Shins, is in this band. rad! this stuff is good though... perhaps somewhat akin to the lo-fi guitars of guided by voices. regardless, this sounds like 90s alt post-grunge. which is good, because that's what it is.