_heads_up - Bon Iver Live!

Those crazy kids over at daytrotter have done it again - they’ve managed to jag another beautiful recording from an artiste du jour (certaintly round these parts).

Bon Iver deliver 4 tracks from the haunting For Emma, Forever Ago, with some extra percussion and additional guitar work fleshing out the tracks nicely.

You can get them ( and heaps of other cool stuff ) here.
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The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

You may remember The Hold Steady from the Top 10 of 2006, where ‘Boys and Girls of America’ came in at Number 3. So it would be fair to say that I was expecting big things from ‘Stay Positive’ and in a way, I got exactly what I expected.

 I reckon Confucius did his best work early on, when he came up with ‘Careful what you wish for…’ and The Hold Steady follow suit. ‘Stay Positive’is filled with drug and alcohol soaked rock songs about fitting in, choosing not to, and ‘townies’ who throw parties and pack bowls. Just as I’d hoped, and they do it as well as they did on ‘Boys and Girls’.

And that’s my problem with this album. You can’t help think you’ve heard it before. They try and mix it up a little with a harpsichord ( a la The Stranglers), and some heavier use of the distortion pedal, but you can’t shake the feeling that these songs would have sat just as nicely on their 2006 album. It’s a fine rock album, with all the qualities that made their earlier release the third best release in 2006, but ‘Stay Positive’ should have been named ‘We’re still the boys and girls of America’

THINK: ‘Boys and Girls’ companion disc.
READ: The Hold Steady Home Page
WATCH: Sequestered in Memphis
BUY: Stay Positive at Amazon

_anticipation - VANSHE MIX

Got an email from MODULAR this arvo, stoking my already red hot anticiation of the upcoming VAN SHE release.

In preparation for the LP release, the band have also recorded + mixed their very own mixtape of some of their favourite tracks from today and yesteryear that have come to influence their new record in some way, making it an eclectic journey that buzzes at every corner.

The mix is some loose change over an hour long, and is typical of the ‘Hey kids, I just threw this together’ mix we have come to expect from artists like this ( Hear that Justice? ) - its a crackin’ mix with sublime production. If these bastids didn’t slave over this for days they’ve just made my shit list.

Check it out:

_triplejaysus_exclusive! - Feral Children

Feral Children, a Seattle quintet, are the latest band in the triplejaysus series of exclusive interviews. They have just released their debut long player, produced by Scott Colburn (Animal Collective) called ‘Second to last frontier’.  

The nice people at Sarathan Records have given triplejaysus readers access to their 4 tracks from the debut in an exclusive EP.

‘Jaundice Giraffe’opens with keys and an oompah beat. Layered on that come ‘Beach Boy’ backing vocals, but don’t let that mislead you. Frank Black-esque barks signal the escalation into cacophony. Brock-like vocal calisthenics continue with what must be carefully constructed abandon, because you cannot deny that it catches you with many of its hooks.

‘Zyghost’is a pounding track with crazy carnival keys and a dirty bassline, and screaming backing vocals I haven’t heard since The Dead Milkmen’s ‘Stuart’. It’s brilliant stuff, and well worth the bandwidth. Go get it!

Jeff Keenan (co-lead singer and stand up drummer) took some time out to answer my questions after the jump. (more…)

I know I know I know! I had made a big deal with my mission statement, saying I’d not feature ( as Amy Winehouse so delicately put while on stage at Glastonbury) ‘that c**t Kayne’.
So I throw myself at your mercy while I share my secret shame. Lil’ Wayne.

So please, for my sake, listen to the first 53 seconds, and if you still hate it by all means turn it off. Spam me with abusive emails, whatever you see fit. But for now, at this moment in time, I think this track rocks. So much so that I just had to share it. C’mon - admit it. Ya’ll like it too.