Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Fiction Like Candy - Second EP

Fiction Like Candy will be releasing their second EP, Brand New Fancy Truth, on February 6, 2007.
Fiction Like Candy is a San Francisco-based trio with Genna Giacobassi on vocals and guitar, Randy Marshall on bass and Keith Sevigny on drums. Genna started writing songs and performing in coffee shops in San Francisco in 2004. If more electric than the first EP, Brand New Fancy Truth doesn’t withdraw Genna’s influence of Joni Mitchell in her songwriting – a young Joni Mitchell that meets Cat Power (circa Dear Sir/Myra Lee). That’s enough to lift up my interest for that new band that has built itself since a short time a growing reputation in the States.

Web:
fictionlikecandy.com

Fiction Like Candy - Mannequin .mp3
Fiction Like Candy - Joke .mp3
More songs on:
myspace.com/fictionlikecandy

Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy (Kevin Shields Remix) .mp3 from Marie Antoinette Soundtrack
Cat Power - Taking People .mp3 from What Would The Community Think
Joni Mitchell - People's Parties .mp3 from Court And Spark

Sunday, January 28, 2007

The Witch And The Cat


Cat Power in duo with Yoko Ono for a song called Revelations, no, it’s not a joke! Chan is on the piano, Yoko and her are sharing the vocals. Sounds like a church hymn; a real sweet track. Below, you can listen to it or download it, if you want, before you will buy the CD in two weeks.
Yoko Ono's new album will be out on February 6 on
Astralwerks. It’s a compilation of songs written by Yoko remixed with the collaboration of a whole heap of people, including Hank Shocklee, Peaches, Shitake Monkey, Blow Up, Le Tigre, Porcupine Tree, DJ Spooky, Apples in Stereo, The Brother Brothers, Cat Power, Polyphonic Spree, Jason Pierce (Spiritualized), Antony and Hahn Rowe, The Flaming Lips, The Sleepy Jackson, Hank Shocklee, Craig Armstrong. The name of the album by the way is Yes, I am a witch...typical Yoko.

Web: witch.html
MySpace: myspace.com/yokoonoo

Yoko Ono and Cat Power - Revelations .asx or Revelations .mp3.html (Submit the number and wait 30 seconds, then download)
Yoko Ono - Dogtown .mp3 (Onobox - 1992)
Yoko Ono - Walking On Thin Ice .mp3 (single version – 1981)

Friday, January 26, 2007

Kristin Hersh In Shock

The first song that I heard from Kristin Hersh was - thanks to an Uncut free CD compilation – the opening song from Murder, Misery and Then Goodbye (1998), Down In The Willow Garden. It was January ‘99 and this song, this cold murder story fit exactly to the mood of a long winter. On the run, I bought her first solo album, the acoustic Hips and Makers (1994) and I discovered the prolific talent from this American singer/songwriter formally from the Throwing Muses.
Learn to Sing Like a Star, Kristin Hersh last solo outing (released in the US. January 23, on
Yep Roc Records; 4AD will put it out overseas on January 29.), might be the rock record she has hinted at for years: “an intense, openly emotional and beautiful statement. Produced by Kristin and mixed in Nashville by two time Grammy winner Trina Shoemaker, Learn to Sing Like a Star comes across as the lovingly obsessive work of an artist who never fails to "bring it" - an indie-rock symphony.”

Web: throwingmusic.com


Video: Kristin Hersh: In Shock [from the In Shock EP and the forthcoming Learn to Sing Like a Star LP] via Pitchforkmedia
Kristin Hersh - Sno Cat .mp3 from The Grotto (2003)
Throwing Muses - Say Goodbye .mp3
Throwing Muses - Portia .mp3

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Chris & Carla's Dreams


Everybody knows The Walkabouts. They formed in 1984 (Seattle) and after more than 20 years and a good dozen of records the core of the band Chris Eckman (Guitar, Vocals), Carla Torgerson (Guitar, Vocals) and Glenn Slater (Keyboards) are still together. What is less known are Chris Eckman side projects like The Strange, The Bambi Molesters, the duo Chris & Carla, Carla’s solo album, Saint Stranger, and last but not least, Chris Eckman works as a record producer, Chris Eckman writing the soundtracks of a Slovenian television mini-series, Novi Svet, etc, etc, etc... In one word, The Walkabouts is a productive band and I guess that if you’re a hard core fan your racks are furnished with many of good records.
The new Chris & Carla full length album Fly High Brave Dreamers will be out January 27th and in stores all over Europe by then. You can already listen to an exclusive track on there
myspace. Also you can check out the new website, designed by Paul Austin (of The Transmissionary Six, part-time-Walkabouts, and ex-Willard Grant Conspiracy-fame).
Fly High Brave Dreamers is somehow quite different than the past Chris & Carla albums, overall a bit fuller in sound and certainly a more upbeat one. Very uplifting. It is also a mix of "folk-tronica" fashioned on the laptop with loops and more modern sounds, and a session that included Al DeLoner (ex-Midnight Choir) on piano and Jason Victor (Steve Wynn & The Miracle Three, Willard Grant Conspiracy) on electric guitar. A European tour is scheduled for February/March 07.”

Web:
flyhighbravedreamers.net
MySpace:
myspace.com/glitterhouse

The Walkabouts - Devil In the Details .mp3
The Walkabouts - The House Of The Rising Sun .mp3
The Bambi Molesters - Chaotica .mp3
The Bambi Molesters - Last Ride .mp3
The Strange - Tonight, I Will Say Anything .mp3

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Townes Van Zandt Homage


Last Thursday, Hervé Oudet and his friends from Acoustic In Paris once again offered to lovers of alternative country a wonderful evening of music at La Pomme d’Eve. This time the idea was to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the death of Townes Van Zandt (January 1, 1997). For that occasion Richard Dobson and Terry Lee Hale, two other Texans, were invited to play songs of Townes. Ian Kent and the Immigrants were also on the same bill and offered two covers from this great songwriter who died on the same day as his idol Hank Williams.
Terry Lee Hale who did that night an amazing rendition of Snake Song gently agreed to share with me his thoughts about Townes Van Zandt during a short interview.

Leaky Sparrow: You have been invited this evening to celebrate Townes Van Zandt. Did you actually get to meet him or seen him play?

Terry Lee Hale: I was lucky enough to have met and got to know Townes Van Zandt a little bit. I saw him play maybe 15-20 times over the years. The best show I ever saw was a combination bill with Townes, Guy Clark and Mickey Newbury, wonderful songwriters all of them. That evening they were taking turns, each singing one song and then sitting back down while someone else got up. Townes was in great form this night as well he would have had to be. (Imagine standing on the stage with any 2 of those songwriters and then having to stand up and sing one of yours?). I do remember after Townes singing one of his songs that it was then Guy Clark turn. Well, Guy came up to the microphone, slowly shaking his head and he looked at the audience and quietly said, “What the hell am I doing here?” You know, like he recognized just how great this songwriter named Townes Van Zandt was and how was HE going to be able to follow. And this is Guy Clark saying that!

LS: Steve Earle once said that Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world. Do you agree?

TLH: To say Townes was a great songwriter really is just too simple. The rhythm of his lyrics, the meter, the rhymes - each word carefully crafted thoughtfully placed. His ability to paint complex verbal pictures with music as the backdrop was unparalleled in my opinion. Hell, you don’t even need the music really. Just sit down sometime and read them like you would a poem. I guess it’s pretty hard to say he was the “best” songwriter but I will say that nobody wrote one better. I think Townes was a very complex human - really easy to like and probably difficult as hell to love. He was one of the funniest humans I’d ever met and really quite the character. Although he often seemed drunk or stoned, I’m not sure how much of that wasn’t a “front” (although that is not to say he didn’t drink. Far from it - his capacity to ingest alcohol was legendary!). He was an extremely clever, perceptive, insightful and warm human being. I’m also certain he would have made a terrible enemy.

LS: Thanks Terry Lee for keeping Townes legacy alive. Do you think Townes is missed now?

TLH: We lost a great one when Townes died. There will never be another and that’s the truth. It is certainly a testament to his strength of character and talent as a poet that we are still talking about him and still celebrating his songs all these many years later. I am confident that this celebration will continue for many, many more years to come.

Web:
townesvanzandt.com

2007 at La Pomme d'Eve: Iain Matthews, with Kreg Viesselman & Danny Schmidt, February 6 and 8; Hayes Carll & Mark Erelli, February 18; Adam Carroll & Michael O'Connor, March 20; Carrie Rodriguez & Stephen Simmons, April 26. More info:
acousticinparis.com

Townes Van Zandt - For The Sake Of The Song .mp3
Townes Van Zandt - To Live Is To Fly .mp3
Townes Van Zandt - Loretta .mp3
Richard Dobson - Ballad of Robin Winter Smith .mp3
Terry Lee Hale - The Wish .mp3
Terry Lee Hale - Short Chain .mp3

Friday, January 19, 2007

We're So Indie


Our Italian friends from Indie For Bunnies, for the second time, made a music-blog survey asking to the most number of music-blog around the web (including Leaky Sparrow) the 10 best albums of the year. After that they made a huge final classification trying to determinate which are the most appreciated 2006 albums in the music-blog world. You can see the result here:
music-blog-top-100-album-2006
Please, enjoy the visit, it’s very exciting and it’s really well done. I am sure that even if you agree or not, you’ll be happy to read a short review of albums you discovered last year. Some of them have mp3 to listen.
And at the end, if you’re still interested, you may have a look for the
music-blog-top-100-album-2005

TV On The Radio - Province .mp3

The Isles - Major Arcana .mp3

Mathias Bottin - Ghostriders In The Sky (Johnny Cash Cover) .mp3

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Cat And Yusuf


When I first had in hand the new cd of Cat Stevens, sorry, Yusuf Islam, I didn’t know exactly what I will find. One thing I was wondering is what could Cat Stevens will bring me now with An Other Cup (November 2006), his first album of new songs since 1978's Back To Earth?
Coincidentally, just before Christmas, I saw for the first time since years the movie Harold and Maud directed by Hal Ashby in 1971 (
imdb) where the Cat Stevens soundtrack is probably, with the Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack for The Graduate, one of the most effective use of pop music in film ever. The nostalgia of the first Cat Stevens songs came back to me and I was ready to discover his new work.
First, Cat “Yusuf” Stevens wasn’t under pressure from a major label to do this; it was all over his own motivation and that’s what makes this record work: Yusuf is feeling it. Second, his voice, still taking a prominent role, the sound of his guitar together with the piano, all sound still very true and emotional. The tunes are enjoyable and make the record easy to listen. The only song that I don’t like to hear is the cover one Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, the title is perhaps a message... Where there is a difference between the songs from Cat Stevens and those from Yusuf Islam it’s the words: "Most of the new songs are about finding or making a better world and I was always idealistic and sang about wanting to find some higher truth", he says.

Web:
yusufislam.com or catstevens.com

Yusuf Islam - In The End .mp3 via obscuresound.com
Yusuf Islam - Maybe There's A World (Stream)
Yusuf Islam - Heaven/Where True Love Goes (video) here
Yusuf live on KCRW (December 21, 2006)

Elliott Smith - Trouble (Cat Stevens Cover) .mp3
Cat Stevens - How Can I Tell You.mp3
Cat Power - How Can I Tell You (Cat Stevens Cover). mp3 via Blown Speakers

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Paula Frazer & Tarnation @ the Winter Collection


What do apple cider, Low, Clinic, The Blood Arm, Shannon Wright, Sophia, Paula Frazer & Tarnation and pancakes have in common? A rock festival in Brittany this winter… For the second time, the promoters of the legendary La Route du Rock annual music festival (more here) will launch a new winter indoor session called Collection Hiver 2007 or the Winter Collection. Among the artists that will share the line-up, Paula Frazer & Tarnation will play for the first time since 1997, ten years after the release of Mirador. They will promote for the first time this year on stage the new album called Now It’s Time coming out under the name Tarnation in Feb 2007 on Birdman Records.
This second edition of the Winter Collection will take place on the 16th, 17th and 18th of February 2007 at Saint-Malo (Brittany - France). Although the first edition did not initially make money for the promoters, I wish they will get some profit this year knowing that February is quite a difficult time for a rock festival.

Web:
routedurock.free.fr/edition20071

The 2007 line-up:

Adam Kesher (FRA)
Web
aMute (BEL) Web
Belone Quartet (FRA) Web
The Blood Arm (USA) Web
Clinic (GBR) Web
Does It Offend You Yeah? (GBR) Web
Jóhann Jóhannsson (ISL) Web
Low (USA) Web
Paula Frazer & Tarnation (USA) MySpace
Saroos (GER) Web
Sebastian (GBR) MySpace
Shannon Wright (USA) MySpace
Sophia (USA) Web
Working For A Nuclear Free City (GB) Web

aMute - Disco Flags Are All Around You .mp3
Belone Quartet - My Heart Of Corpse .mp3
The Blood Arm - Suspicious Character (A Faulty Mechanism Remix) .mp3
Clinic - Monkey On Your Back .mp3
Does It Offend You Yeah? - Battle Royale .mp3
Tarnation - Big O Motel .mp3
Paula Frazer - Watercolor Lines .mp3

Thursday, January 11, 2007

One More Julie Doiron


The last time I saw Julie Doiron on stage was in October 2003 inside a barge, the Guinguette Pirate, along the Seine River. She was not really on tour at that time, she was just in Paris to record new songs for her forthcoming album with the help of the two brothers from Herman Düne. The cd, Good Night Nobody, was released in September 2004 and confirmed the Canadian unique hushed singing style, and her reputation as one of indie-rock’s best and most intimate songwriters.
Woke Myself Up is Julie Doiron first album of new material in over two years and her seventh up to now: “I've been playing for quite a while now... I started my first real band: Eric's Trip in 1990 and have played ever since. When we broke up in 1996 is when I really started to play a lot as me, Julie Doiron... I am still me, Julie Doiron but I have been lucky enough to still be making music and to have played with a lot of great people!”. The record will be released January 23rd on
Jagjaguwar and can also be found on Endearing Records.

Web:
juliedoiron.com

Monday, January 08, 2007

Kevin Ayers - New CD For 2007


Nothing fancy and new up to now in January, so I took the time to visit websites from some of my old friends just to make sure that they are still alive. You know, Syd Barrett recently disappeared and I was wondering how his alter-ego from Soft Machine, Kevin Ayers, was in the beginning of 2007.
I have been a fan of this rock dandy member of the College of Pataphysics and old pal of the beautiful Nico since the early-Seventies. Not only because of his work with Robert Wyatt, Mike Ratledge and David Allen on the first Soft Machine masterpiece but also for his early solo albums who are among the greatest psychedelic records of all time. From Joy Of A Toy (1969) to Bananamour (1972), you’ll find inventive songs that meld great pop/rock songwriting with the prog rock experimentalism of this time. I would like to say more about Kevin Ayers talent and his unique voice but I have to be short. So coming back to 2007, I found that Kevin Ayers is still alive and well and is recording a new album. Hooray. This is what you can read on his website:
"In between recording sessions in New York City, Tucson and London for his new album The Unfairground, co-produced with Gary Olson and Peter Henderson, Kevin Ayers lives in the south west of France and Majorca Spain. He remains to this day true to the ideals which originally formed his unique and influential creativity. Licensing deals for the new album to cover every territory in the world are on the table -- final decisions will be made soon. The release on cd and vinyl is planned for May 2007. Mixing etc. will be done in January."
To be continued…

Web:
kevin-ayers.com
MySpace: myspace.com/whatevershebringswesing

Kevin Ayers - Song For Insane Times .mp3 from Joy Of The Toy
Kevin Ayers - Hymn .mp3 from Bananamour

Also, on May 4th, 2006, Kevin Ayers played an acoustic concert at the Cobden Club in London to an enraptured audience headlining a private benefit concert in support of Rokpa, a registered charity which provides aid for Tibetan culture. Kevin was joined on stage by acoustic soloist Max la Villa -- a very promising pairing which will no doubt see further outings later in the year.
For further information on Rokpa and to support their good work please visit their
website.

Kevin Ayers - Rokpa Concert May 4th, 2006. mp3 (32 mins)

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Wake Up, Little Sparrow

I am sure you enjoyed the New Year’s Eve together with your family, friends and relatives. I hope you were not alone but, if so, I imagine that you had good music to listen to or a great DVD to watch.

I would like to thank you all, you visitors of Leaky Sparrow, for your support in 2006. It was more than I expected. Let us share again good music together in 2007. I wish you a year full of love and happiness.

To conclude this first post of 2007, I want to take the opportunity of these New Year wishes to thanks Bruno and Etienne for their friendly and technical advises since the beginning, Lucky Girl and Bookerfatz 2 for their contribution in writing concert reviews and more, Katy and Catherine for providing wonderful pictures. Without you, guys, I couldn’t do it alone!

Peace.

Antje & Claus - Wake Up Little Sparrow .mp3
Wovenhand - Sparrow Falls .mp3
Devendra Banhart - Wake Up, Little Sparrow .mp3 (Nino Rojo – streaming)
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