The Mix Tape

Feb 16 - Coldplay- A Rush of Blood to the Head

2012-02-16T07:26:00.000-08:00

A Rush of Blood to the Head is the second studio album by British rock band Coldplay. Released on 26 August 2002 in the UK through the label Parlophone, the album was produced by the band and British record producer Ken Nelson. Recording started after the band became popular worldwide with the release of their debut album, Parachutes, and one of its singles in particular, "Yellow".^[1] Attitudes to songwriting were affected by the September 11 attacks in the United States, which occurred the week before recording started.^[2] The songs featured in the album have a greater use of piano and electric guitar than its predecessor.

The album was made available in August 2002, two months after its original planned release date.^[3] It was released on 27 August in the United States through Capitol Records. Capitol released a remastered version of the album in 2008 on a 180-gram vinyl record as part of the "From the Capitol Vaults" series. The album debuted and continued their huge commercial legacy, an ongoing pattern that began with Parachuteswhich made Coldplay one of the best-selling bands worldwide. It topped the UK Album Charts upon its first week of release in the United Kingdom, and became the eighth biggest-selling albums in the 21st century in the UK.^[4] The British Phonographic Industry has since certified the album 9x platinum for its accumulated sales of over 2.7 million units in Britain and over 15 million worldwide. The album spawned the hit singles "In My Place", "The Scientist", "Clocks", and "God Put a Smile upon Your Face".

A Rush of Blood to the Head has been critically acclaimed, and it won the band the 2003 Grammy for Best Alternative Album for the second time in a row, successive to their previous win in the same category, and the 2004 Grammy for Record of the Year for the song "Clocks". The album is considered to be the band's magnum opus. In 2003 it was ranked number 473 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Feb 15 - The Joy Formidable- The Big Roar

2012-02-15T14:26:00.001-08:00

After self-releasing their eight-track A Balloon Called Moaning EP, The Joy Formidable spent 2009 touring the U.K., Europe and Australia with bands including Editors, Temper Trap and Passion Pit, mastering tiny clubs and festival stages alike. Along the way, they earned critical raves from NME, The Guardian, the London Times, Spin and Pitchfork, and praise from Garbage's Shirley Manson and Courtney Love, among others.

When they weren't on the road, the band worked on writing and tracking the material for The Big Roar. "We recorded in a tiny corner of our London bedroom," says guitarist and lead singer Ritzy Bryan. "It was great, because you could capture that moment when you wake up in the middle of the night with a melody or an image or a lyric." Working on and off for a year, the trio -- Bryan, bassist Rhydian Dafydd and drummer Matthew Thomas -- crafted a remarkable collection of modern rock songs that explore what Bryan describes as "the possibility of victory in a hopeless situation." Adds Dafydd: "The album covers a lot of emotional range. It's captured the battle between the eternal optimist and the manic depressive."

The band produced The Big Roar themselves, with help from engineer Neak Menter. They traveled to Los Angeles in summer of 2010 to mix it with Rich Costey (Muse, Foo Fighters, Glasvegas). The Village Voice called the album's first single, "I Don't Want To See You Like This," "one of the band's best offerings yet, a breakup song that looks forward to the other side of heartache, with racing guitars and thundering drums that seem engineered to snap both parts of the still-attached couple out of their sad state.

Feb 14 - Feist- Metals

2012-02-14T06:09:00.000-08:00

Metals is the fourth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Feist. It was released on September 30, 2011 in Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden and Belgium; October 3, 2011 in the United Kingdom; and October 4, 2011 in the United States and Canada.^[1]^[2]^[3] The first single from the album is "How Come You Never Go There", which was released on August 12, 2011.^[4] The album is being supported by a world tour which started in Amsterdam, Netherlands on October 15, 2011 and will finish on August 19, 2012 at Green Man Festival.^[5]^[6]

Metals debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number 7, and sold 38,000 copies in its first week. It earned Feist's best sales week and it was her first top 10 chart in the US. The album received generally positive reviews from critics.

After touring for her previous album, The Reminder, Feist was "emotionally deaf".^[10] She stopped playing music for two years,^[10] saying that she "wasn't curious anymore".^[11] In 2010, she went to the studio in Paris where she recorded The Reminder. After coming back from Paris six months later, she wrote most of the album.^[12] For recording Metals, Feist went to Big Sur with the lyrics almost completed and set up an ad hoc recording studio.^[12] Metals was recorded in Toronto and Big Sur, with collaborators including Chilly Gonzales, Mocky, Brian LeBarton, Dean Stone, and producer Valgeir Sigurðsson.^[8]^[13] They began recording 'the album in January 2011. The album's title was partially inspired by Charles C. Mann's non-fiction book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus.^[12] She said of the recording process that "I allowed for mistakes more than I ever have, which end up not being mistakes when you open things up and make room for them."^[14]

Metals debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200, selling about 38,000 copies. It was Feist's best ever sales week, and was her first appearance on the top 10 of the Billboard 200.^[27] At Metacritic, a website which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 80, based on 37 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[17]

Spin gave "Metals" a score of 7/10, writing "Taken individually, each song is as sturdy as oak -- the guitars have a magnesium shimmer, and every instrument seems bathed in its own spotlight, especially Feist's vocals, which feel like they're being whispered directly into your ear."^[25] In a positive review, Lindsay Zoladz of Pitchfork Media gave the album a 7.7 out of 10. She noted that there was no "1234" on the album, which is the reason that "it feels like such a refreshing and slyly badass statement of artistic integrity" and also that "it doesn't reach The Reminder's heights."^[21] Andrew Leahey of Allmusicwrote that "Feist’s days as a provider of hip, trendy TV jingles may be over," and that "Metals does its best work at a slower speed".^[18]

Elysa Gardner of USA Today gave the album 2.5 stars out of 4, and named "The Bad in Each Other" and "Caught a Long Wind" as the highlights of the album.^[26] A mixed review from Slant Magazinecriticized most of the album for not having a "real spark to it" and stated that "Metals is too dull for [Feist] to overcome".^[24]

The album has received a number of accolades. The New York Times and The Globe and Mail named Metals as the best album of 2011.^[28]^[29] Uncut and Paste named it the 17th and 29th best album of 2011, respectively.^[30]^[31] Q named it the 29th best album of 2011.^[32] Feist has been nominated for Best International Female Artist at the 2012 BRIT Awards for Metals.^[33]

Feb 13 - Paul Simon- So what or So Beautiful

2012-02-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

So Beautiful or So What is the twelfth studio album by American recording artist Paul Simon, released April 8, 2011, on Hear Music. It was produced by Simon and record producer Phil Ramone. The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 68,000 copies in its first week, serving as Simon's highest debut on that chart. Upon its release, So Beautiful or So What received general acclaim from music critics, who praised Simon's themes and songwriting.

All songs written by Paul Simon.

"Getting Ready for Christmas Day" – 4:06
"The Afterlife" – 3:40
"Dazzling Blue" – 4:32
"Rewrite" – 3:49
"Love and Hard Times" – 4:09
"Love Is Eternal Sacred Light" – 4:02
"Amulet" – 1:36
"Questions for the Angels" – 3:49
"Love and Blessings" – 4:18
"So Beautiful or So What" – 4:07
"So Beautiful or So What (Live Rehearsal Version)" – 4:10

Feb 12 - My Morning Jacket - Circutical

2012-02-12T16:15:00.001-08:00

Circuital is the sixth album by My Morning Jacket. It was released on May 31, 2011.

The album received mainly positive reviews and sold 55,000 copies in the first week of release.^[11] It debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200, improving on the band's previous highest debuting albumEvil Urges, which entered the chart at number 9. The album was also released as a double 12" 45 RPM vinyl set and as a deluxe vinyl edition. As promotion for the album, the band gave away one free download per week for six weeks until April 12. The first five tracks were recorded during their shows at New York’s Terminal 5 in October 2010, while the final download was the new album's title track.

The songs "Wonderful" and "Outta My System" were originally written by Jim James for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem to perform in the upcoming Muppets film and tour,^[12] but these were left unused after the executive who hired him was fired.^[13] Of the turn of events James said: "So now, twice, Muppet glory has been within my grasp...it's pretty heartbreaking, but it did propel us just to kick into high gear and finish our own record."^[12] On November 30, 2011, the album received a nomination in the 54th Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album.

Uncut placed the album at number 35 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011".^[14] It was also named the 9th best album by Clash Magazine, the third best by Paste and KCRW music director as well as 6th on The Record Exchange's best of 2011 lists and the 11th best by Rolling Stone.^[15]^[16] It also was named 14th best album of 2011 by American Songwriter, honorable mention by Glide, 78th best byPopmatters, and 20th best by Mojo.

All songs written by Jim James.

"Victory Dance" - 5:40
"Circuital" - 7:19
"The Day Is Coming" - 3:17
"Wonderful (The Way I Feel)" - 4:17
"Outta My System" - 3:22
"Holdin' On to Black Metal" - 4:19
"First Light" - 3:46
"You Wanna Freak Out" - 3:20
"Slow Slow Tune" - 4:31
"Movin' Away" - 5:13

Note: "Holdin' On to Black Metal" includes portions of "E-Saew Tam Punha Huajai (Advice Column for Love Troubles Part I)", written by Kwan Jai & Kwan Jit Sriprajan. James used the song as a loop to record the demo. The band then used the loop as guidance as to how the track needed to.

On the LP version of Circuital, the intro to "The Day Is Coming" varies slightly and seems a couple seconds longer than the other released formats.

Feb 11 - Xavier Rudd - Food In The Belly

2012-02-11T05:46:00.002-08:00

Xavier Rudd is an Australian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in 1978 and grew up in Torquay, Victoria. He attended St. Joseph's College, Geelong.

He has developed a strong reputation for playing live performances at musical festivals and concerts in Australia North America and throughout Europe. His following is particularly strong in Australia and in Canada, where he has recorded several albums.

Many of Rudd's songs incorporate socially conscious themes, such as environmentalism and the rights of Aboriginal peoples. In addition to playing the yidaki in many of his songs, he has also included both Australian and Canadian Aboriginal vocals in some of his songs.

Food in the Belly is the sixth album by Xavier Rudd, released in 2005. Food in the Belly's success earned Rudd a ARIA Music Awards nomination for the Best Blues and Roots Album at the 2006ceremony, but lost to The Audreys' Between Last Night and Us.

[edit]Track listing

All songs written and composed by Xavier Rudd, except as noted.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Letter"	4:12
2.	"Messages"	4:02
3.	"Pockets of Peace"	4:10
4.	"Energy Song"	5:04
5.	"Fortune Teller"	3:27
6.	"The Mother"	3:15
7.	"Food in the Belly"	2:40
8.	"My Missing"	3:00
9.	"Manã"	2:11
10.	"Connie's Song"	2:14
11.	"Famine" (F.Hibbert)	3:18
12.	"Generation Fade"	3:53
13.	"24 September 1999"	6:09

Feb 10 - Eileen Jewell - Songs In A Minor Key

2012-02-10T14:37:00.000-08:00

It is the battered cassette jammed in the tape deck of the getaway car, the music Ida Lupino cues up on the roadhouse jukebox as she counts the till after close. This is Queen of the Minor Key by Eilen Jewell, a smart cookie with a heart of burnished gold and enough stories to keep even the rowdiest crowd hanging on her every word. Though its long shadows and dark corners make her kingdom feel intimate, her sovereign domain stretches as far as the imagination. Its denizens seek refuge in padded rooms, abandoned automobiles... and strong spirits. They defend their territory by any means necessary: weird voodoo, sawed-off shotguns, broken bottles.

But beware, savvy observer. There is more to Eilen Jewell than meets the ear. Do not confuse the singer and her songs. The drama and darkness that give Queen of the Minor Key its gritty texture are in short supply in the Boston-based songwriter's personal life. And in a curious twist, these fourteen originals actually took shape in a sunny, idyllic location that contrasts strikingly with the album's moody, film noir atmosphere.

In August 2010, Jewell headed to a tiny cabin in the mountains of Idaho. Although her clan hails from the Gem State, this was no comfy retreat at the family fold. Her temporary abode had no running water or electricity, and sat at the end of a winding dirt road. Wild elk would graze in the surrounding meadows while she worked. When it was time to unwind, she availed herself of a nearby hot springs. A dilapidated truck she found on the property even made its way into the album artwork.

She had no set game plan, and her sole objective for the new material was refreshingly modest (or incredibly daunting, depending on your point of view). "My goal as a songwriter is to always improve," she demurs. "Every time I make a record, I want it to be even more real, more heartfelt, than the one before it. I want the slow songs to be slower and the fast songs to be faster." Drawing on a connoisseur's love of roots music and a writer's eye for detail, Jewell fashions her musical vignettes with impressive economy. Each turn of phrase and chord change is executed with an élan that belies the measured precision behind it.

Jewell is wary of repeating previous success by following formulae. "But I also don't want to change things just for the sake of changing them," she adds. Never underestimate the public's ability to recognize calculation masquerading as inspiration. "You always want to ride the creative process to new territory, without being overwhelmingly novel."

Towards that end, she experimented with dark humor in the new material. The title tune takes inspiration from a poke someone made about her harmonic preferences. "I decided to run with that and adopt the moniker, even if it started off as a nickname that wasn't necessarily intended to be flattering." "Bang Bang Bang" eschews the cliché of Cupid as a rosy-cheeked cherub ("he's more reckless and violent than that"), and replaces his petite bow-and-arrow with a gun show six-gauge, plus a laughing disregard for such trivial concerns as aim.

Queen of the Minor Key is also the first Eilen Jewell album to feature a significant number of guest players, even as she continues to work in close consort with her longtime trio of drummer Jason Beek, guitarist Jerry Miller, and upright bassist Johnny Sciascia. Zoe Muth and Big Sandy (of Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys) both contribute vocals. "I was writing the songs with them in mind--if I could work up the courage to ask them--so I was really honored that they agreed to sing with me." Further augmenting the sound are Rich Dubois on fiddle, David Sholl on tenor and baritone saxophones, and Tom West on organ. The arrangements, Jewell insists, occurred organically as the music was fleshed out in the studio; the songs tell her where they want to go. "We don't really think it out that much."

Since her official 2006 debut, Boundary County, Jewell has surveyed a wide range of traditional musical styles, from the folk and jug band leanings of her early recordings, through an album-length homage to Loretta Lynn and the country gospel of her work with The Sacred Shakers, right up to 2009's Sea of Tears, which bristled with the electricity of '60s UK garage rock and Chicago blues. Queen of the Minor Key draws on everything from classic country (the fiddle-driven "Reckless") to early R&B (the shuffling "Hooked"), with an emphasis on sounds from the seamier side of the tracks. With dirty sax riffs and low-slung guitars, the instrumentals that bookend the album--"Radio City" and "Kalimotxo"--evoke the bump-and-grind exotica of vintage Southern California suburban saloons. Yet on the flipside, Jewell imbues slow, jazzy numbers like "I Remember You" and "Only One" with torch and tenacity that linger long past last call.

Eilen Jewell is the Queen of the Minor Key. Sad songs are her wealth and finery. Lend her your ears, and you will quickly hear why her humble subjects admire and adore her more with each passing year.

Feb 9 - Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

2012-02-09T04:43:00.000-08:00

Middle Cyclone is the fifth studio album of American alternative country singer-songwriter Neko Case, released on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 on the ANTI- record label.^[1] Her first solo effort in three years, Case stated that "it took a very long time to make."^[2] As the title of the album suggests, the record's lyrics are permeated with imagery of tornadoes and, more generally, nature. Thematically Middle Cyclone concerns how Case's upbringing socialized her to form strong emotional attachments to nature and animals, to the neglect of human relationships, and her reconciling "the fact that I need love".^[3]^[4]

Middle Cyclone features a variety of guest performers, including M. Ward, Garth Hudson, Sarah Harmer, and members of The New Pornographers, Los Lobos, Calexico, The Sadies, Visqueen, Kurt Heasley of Lilys, and Giant Sand.^[1] It also features two prominent covers: "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth" by Sparks and "Don't Forget Me" by Harry Nilsson.

Middle Cyclone debuted to strong reviews from contemporary mainstream and independent music critics. In particular, Case's voice garnered unanimous praise for its strength, clarity, and emotional range. In December 2009 Case was nominated for two Grammys for her work on Middle Cyclone: Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Recording Package (the latter alongside fellow art director Judge).^[5]

The recording of Middle Cyclone took place in Tucson, Brooklyn, Toronto, and Vermont.^[6] Case herself stated that only the "piano orchestra" sessions were recorded in Vermont and that the rest was recorded using WaveLab in Tucson.^[7] At the time, Case was transitioning from living in Tucson to a recently purchased farm in Vermont, where she recorded in a barn on the property.^[7] Case described how the barn was retrofitted to suit her musical needs, as well as the "piano orchestra" that appears in three of Middle Cyclone's tracks:^[8]

“

I didn't really convert it [the barn] into a studio. Basically the floor was made of dirt, and so I hired a friend of mine to come in and put in a wood floor and build a stage. And it looks amazing, but then we decided it would be really hilarious to see how many free pianos we could get off of--because that's how I got a piano right off the bat, but when I went on I couldn't believe how many free pianos there are on Craigslist. And I was like, well I have a barn. So I ended up with eight, which are playable. That's when I came up with the idea for the piano orchestra. I thought it would just sound so beautiful to have a bunch of people playing piano at once in that barn.^[7]

”

Of the eight pianos that Case rescued, six were playable after two days of tuning by two tuners.^[2] One was a broken player piano, which Case decided had the potential to be repurposed.^[9]

The open and unconstrained nature of the barn-as-recording studio resulted in several of the tracks on Middle Cyclone having elements akin to a field recording. Case asserted that because of the barn "We ended up with robins on the recording and frogs and all kinds of stuff. And with a barn, you just don't have control, which was another element I really liked."^[7] "Polar Nettles" features the aforementioned birdsong 39 seconds into the track, as well as a chorus of spring peeper frogs at the track's end. (The latter fortuitous event was recorded on video and published on ANTI-'s YouTube channel.^[9]) "Don't Forget Me" contains a gust of wind close to the song's end.^[10] The final track, "Marais La Nuit" (French for "Marsh at Night"), is an actual field recording of the environs around a pond on Case's farm.^[7] When asked about the track in an interview with Paste magazine, Case responded "I actually went down to the pond and recorded that myself."^[7]

Feb 8 - Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

2012-02-08T11:15:00.000-08:00

Helplessness Blues is the second studio album by Seattle, Washington-based folk band Fleet Foxes. It was released on May 3, 2011 as a follow-up to their eponymous 2008 Fleet Foxes album.^[1]^[2] Upon release, the album received universal acclaim from critics and was nominated for Best Folk Album for the 54th Grammy Awards.^[3]

Initially, Robin Pecknold had stated he would like the album to be released in 2009; however, the band's touring schedule had caused them some setbacks. They got together to rehearse new songs in February 2009 in a rented house outside Seattle, but the sessions were mostly scrapped. As a result of those wasted sessions, the band lost $60,000 of their own money. After their tour in support of the 2008 releases ended, the band's singer-songwriter mentioned the possibility of starting to record new songs, but Joshua Tillman, Fleet Foxes' drummer and co-song arranger, was scheduled to play Europe and North America all along the 2009-10 winter as part of his solo musical act. Added to this,Phil Ek, the band's producer and friend answered in an interview that he was likely to continue as the producer as Robin had already sent him some demos to start listening to. In an interview with Pitchfork Media, Pecknold stated he expected the album to be released sometime in the second half of 2010. In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Pecknold admitted that his girlfriend of five years found the stress this album placed on their relationship too much, and ended things. Upon hearing the completed album, she realized that Pecknold's efforts were worth it and they are working it out.^[4]

Pecknold has come out saying for their second album he tried to sound "less poppy, less upbeat and more groove-based". Taking inspiration from Roy Harper's folk album Stormcock, or at least its 12-string guitar he said: "That will be the primary sonic distancing from the last record". Added to this, he stated they wanted to record very quickly, saying he wanted to do the "vocal takes in one go, so even if there are fuck-ups, I want them to be on there. I want there to be guitar mistakes. I want there to be not totally flawless vocals. I want to record it and have that kind of cohesive sound. Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, to me, is the best-sounding album because it sounds like there were only six hours in the universe for that album to be recorded in. So I want it to have that feeling."^[5]

The band had recorded since April 2010 in different locations (including West Hurley, New York) after two years of writing material and decided to scrap the earlier idea of a fast recording (though according to the band, the vocal takes as of yet have all been done in one take, perhaps in line with the original imperfect recording idea).

The album cover was illustrated by a Seattle artist Toby Liebowitz and painted by artist Christopher Alderson.^[6] The title track, "Helplessness Blues" was released via free download on January 31, 2011, and the album's fourth track, "Battery Kinzie" premiered on Zane Lowe's show on March 22, 2011. Their record label, Sub Pop, also released a downloadable music video made up of recording and other miscellaneous footage set to Fleet Foxes' song "Grown Ocean" on its site in support of the album. Additionally, the band released a 12" double A-side single of the title track backed with "Grown Ocean" for Record Store Day on April 16, 2011.

On November 1, 2011, Sean Pecknold released the official music video for "The Shrine/An Argument", which can be viewed on Sub Pop's YouTube account and Sean Pecknold's Vimeoaccount.^[7]

Feb 7 - Sunny Day Real Estate- How It Feels to Be Something On

2012-02-07T05:44:00.000-08:00

Sunny Day Real Estate is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington. In the 1990s, the group expanded upon the grunge style that was popular in the local scene to make a more melodic sound.^[1] While not the first band to be classified as emo, they were instrumental in establishing the genre.^[2] In 1994, the band released their debut album Diary on Sub Pop Records to critical acclaim. However, shortly after releasing their second album LP2, the band broke up with members Nate Mendel and William Goldsmith joining the Foo Fighters and Jeremy Enigk embarking on a solo career. In 1997, they regrouped long enough to record two more studio albums and a live album, but ultimately disbanded once again in 2001.^[3] The band has reunited once again in 2009. Bassist Nate Mendel, who chose to remain with the Foo Fighters during the previous reunion in 1997, is now taking part in this reunion.^[4]

How It Feels to Be Something On is the third studio album by American rock band Sunny Day Real Estate, and the first since their 1997 comeback. It was released September 8th, 1998. Noteworthy is the use of the words "darium" and "mondrary" which do not exist in the English language.

Track listing

"Pillars" – 4:57
"Roses in Water" – 3:42
"Every Shining Time You Arrive" – 4:13
"Two Promises" – 4:39
"100 Million" – 5:38
"How It Feels to Be Something On" – 3:57
"The Prophet" – 5:13
"Guitar and Video Games" – 4:09
"The Shark's Own Private Fuck" – 4:03
"The Days Were Golden" – 5:08

[edit]Recording Sessions

The album was recorded between March 10, 1998 and April 26, 1998. Some tracks with alternate mixes have surfaced on the Internet. Most don't differ much from the released versions, however, "Roses in Water" features an extended ending.

Feb 6 - Fiona Apple - When The Pawn

2012-02-06T06:56:00.000-08:00

When the Pawn… is the second album by American singer-songwriter Fiona Apple, released by Work Records in the United States on November 9, 1999. The full album title contains over 400 characters of text. In 2010, Spin magazine named the album the 106th greatest of the last 25 years.^[11] A year later, Slant Magazine named it the 79th best album of the 90s.

The album came in special packaging that contained sheer red paper around the inserts. The title was written as a poem over Apple's face on the cover. The title is a poem Apple wrote after reading the readers' letters that appeared in Spin after an article had cast her in a negative light in an earlier issue. The full title reads:

When the pawn hits the conflicts he thinks like a king
What he knows throws the blows when he goes to the fight
And he'll win the whole thing 'fore he enters the ring
There's no body to batter when your mind is your might
So when you go solo, you hold your own hand
And remember that depth is the greatest of heights
And if you know where you stand, then you know where to land
And if you fall it won't matter, cause you'll know that you're right

The album's long title has become a source of trivia, and when it was released held the world record for longest album title (previously a record held by one of the volumes in The Best... Album in the World...Ever!. (Rolling Stone magazine made fun of the title/poem, calling it, "When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Oh the Hell With It".^[13]) However, in October 2007 Soulwax released their remix album Most of the Remixes, which has 100 characters more in its title. This was later surpassed in 2008 by the Chumbawamba album The Boy Bands Have Won..., with its full title containing 865 characters of text.

The first single, "Fast as You Can", was fairly popular and received moderate radio and video airplay. It reached the top 20 on the U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and became Apple's first top 40 hit on the UK Singles Chart. The follow-up singles, "Limp" and especially "Paper Bag", though it was nominated for a Grammy Award, were less successful. Apple's boyfriend at the time, filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, directed videos for all three singles.

All songs written by Fiona Apple

"On the Bound" – 5:23
"To Your Love" – 3:40
"Limp" – 3:31
"Love Ridden" – 3:22
"Paper Bag" – 3:40
"A Mistake" – 4:58
"Fast as You Can" – 4:40
"The Way Things Are" – 4:18
"Get Gone" – 4:10
"I Know" – 4:57

Feb 5 - Radiohead - THe King of Limbs

2012-02-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

The King of Limbs is the eighth studio album by English rock band Radiohead, produced by Nigel Godrich. It was self-released on 18 February 2011 as a download inMP3 and WAV formats, followed by physical CD and 12" vinyl releases on 28 March,^[1]a wider digital release via AWAL,^[2] and a special "newspaper" edition on 9 May 2011.^[3]The physical editions were released through the band's Ticker Tape imprint on XL in theUnited Kingdom, TBD in the United States, and Hostess Entertainment in Japan.^[4]

Following the painstaking recording and relatively conventional rock instrumentation of In Rainbows, Radiohead employed a more spontaneous process to develop The King of Limbs, sampling their own recordings with turntablist techniques inspired by DJing. The band provided little information on the album, not even a track listing, before its release, and did not discuss it in detail until nearly eight months later. Singer Thom Yorkedescribed it as an expression of "physical movements" and "wildness"; the title King of Limbs possibly refers to an oak tree in Wiltshire's Savernake Forest, thought to be 1,000 years old.^[5]

The King of Limbs has the shortest running time and track listing of any Radiohead album. As with 2000's Kid A, no singles were released, though a music video was released for the track "Lotus Flower". The album charted in the top ten in several countries and became a bestseller on vinyl. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and has been nominated for five categories in the 54th Grammy Awards, includingBest Alternative Music Album, though reception among critics and fans was significantly more divided than that of In Rainbows.^[6]

The album was followed by a remix album, TKOL RMX 1234567, and a live DVD, The King of Limbs – From the Basement.

Like 2003's Hail to the Thief, The King of Limbs was recorded (at least partly) in Los Angeles, possibly at the home of actress Drew Barrymore, who is thanked in the album's liner notes.^[7]^[8] The recording differed from the difficult In Rainbows sessions, which guitarist Ed O'Brien described as "such a slog. We decided at the end of the record never to do it like this again. That was kind of the end of Radiohead mark two."^[9] Songwriter Thom Yorke echoed these sentiments: "None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again. Not straight off. I mean, it's just become a real drag. It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we've all said that we can't possibly dive into that again. It'll kill us."^[10] In a retrospective interview with NPR in October 2011, Yorke said the band had felt that "if we are gonna carry on, we need to do it for a new set of reasons."^[11]

In September 2010, drummer Phil Selway stated that the band had been recording "on and off for a year", saying "the process of making In Rainbows — so much came about through what we were doing live — has been quite the opposite so far."^[12] O'Brien toldRolling Stone: "We feel way more empowered in terms of our art and what we're doing. We are in a very different place, a very new place [...] One of the things is we do things without fear... The thing that is different about In Rainbows is that it was an album from the heart. It was a lot warmer. And from what I'm making out in the rehearsal room now, there are still elements of that... I'm an eternal optimist, but I truly believe we can shift massively on this [next] record. That's the thing we all know, that we feel in our bellies as we're rehearsing-- we're on a big move here."^[13]

In an interview with NPR on October 2011, Ed O'Brien and Thom Yorke explained that The King of Limbs has its origins in initial sessions held in 2009, near the end of the In Rainbows tour. In these sessions, the band members used a turntable with vinyl emulation software to physically sample and manipulate music they had been working on.^[14] In another interview in September 2011, Ed O'Brien said: "Thom didn’t know how it was gonna be, so we made the songs jamming together [...] Music came first, then the lyrics, and the melody came after. So we had blocks of music and then Thom would write a lead vocal line melody and lyrics to it."^[15] O'Brien said this period of experimentation lasted "about five weeks, and it was really like kids in kindergarten. You had to simplify what you were doing — you couldn't do loads of ideas. You had to listen to one another. Believe it or not, in a band you can lose that." Yorke said: "Almost every tune is like a collage: things we’d pre-recorded, each of us, and then were flying at each other. You get to a point where you think, ‘OK, this bit needs a big black line through it.’ It’s like editing a film or something."^[16]

With eight tracks and just over 37 minutes of music, The King of Limbs is Radiohead's shortest album. Appearing on a BBC radio show in April 2011, Ed O'Brien explained that Radiohead felt the ideal album was around 40 minutes long, citing Marvin Gaye'sWhat's Going On as a classic record shorter than The King of Limbs.^[17] Cover artist Stanley Donwood said: "In Rainbows was very much a definitive statement, and that isn't where the band are at the moment. Where they are now is more transitory. When a newspaper comes out, that doesn't mean news stops, what you have is just a snapshot of how things were at the moment that newspaper was printed. And similarly, this album shows where Radiohead are at the moment the record was released. The music is a continuing thing. And we wanted to make the album representative of that."^[18]

Two tracks not included on The King of Limbs but worked on during the same sessions, "Supercollider" and "The Butcher", were released as a single for Record Store Day on 16 April 2011.^[19] The tracks were later made available as free downloads to those who purchased The King of Limbs from the Radiohead website.^[20]

Feb 4 - The Head and The Heart - The Head and The Heart

2012-02-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

The Head and The Heart is an indie folk-pop band from Seattle, Washington. Formed in the summer of 2009 by Josiah Johnson (vocals, guitar, percussion) and Jonathan Russell (vocals, guitar, percussion), the band also includes Charity Rose Thielen (violin, vocals), Chris Zasche (bass), Kenny Hensley (piano), and Tyler Williams (drums).^[3]^[4] The band signed to Sub Pop Records in November 2010.

The band self-released their debut album The Head and The Heart in June 2009, selling it at concerts, by word of mouth, and through local record stores. In the ensuing months the album sold 10,000 copies.^[5] Their music plays heavily on the trio of vocal harmonies, piano and violin melodies, and prominent drums and percussion. It was the top-selling album of the year 2010 for the independent Sonic Boom Records in the band's home neighborhood of Ballard, Seattle.^[6] The remastered, expanded album was re-released on Sub Pop Records on April 16, 2011.^[7]

The band has toured extensively through 2010 and 2011 in both the United States and Europe, opening for Vampire Weekend,^[3] The Walkmen, Dr. Dog, Dave Matthews, The Low Anthem, The Decemberists, Iron & Wine, My Morning Jacket, and Death Cab For Cutie, as well as headlining their own shows. In March 2011, Seattle's City Arts Magazine named them "Seattle's Best New Band",^[8] and the band made their network television debut on April 21, 2011 on Conan.^[9]

The band met and was formed through a series of open mic nights at Seattle's Conor Byrne pub.^[10] Josiah Johnson had moved to Seattle from Southern California to pursue graduate school, and Jonathan Russell was a recent transplant from Virginia. They met keyboardist Kenny Hensley, who had also moved to Seattle to pursue musical score-writing, and Charity Rose Thielen who had recently returned from a year studying abroad in Paris at the Sciences Po. Drummer Tyler Williams had been in the band Prabir and The Substitutes in Virginia, but moved to Seattle to be a part of the nascent Head and The Heart after hearing one demo that Russell sent to him for the song "Down In The Valley." Chris Zasche was bartending at the Conor Byrne and playing in Seattle bands The Maldives and Grand Hallway, and was the last to be added to The Head and The Heart.^[11]

Self-burned copies of The Head and the Heart in handmade denim sleeves were being sold at shows within a few weeks,^[12] and soon local record stores Easy Street and Sonic Boom couldn't keep them in stock.^[13] After a "feeding frenzy"^[14] of interest from record labels and managers, the band signed with Sub Pop in November 2010.^[1] Sub Pop remastered the album, expanded it with a studio version of their traditional concert closer "Rivers and Roads," and re-recorded one song ("Sounds Like Hallelujah"). The album was re-released in CD format, and for the first time on vinyl LP, on Record Store Day 2011. The band is managed by Zeitgeist Artist Management out of San Francisco,^[15] and are signed with Heavenly Recordings in the United Kingdom and Europe.^[2]

Feb 3 - REPLACEMENT - Mike Doughty - The Question Jar Show

2012-02-03T11:50:00.000-08:00

From JAMBANDS.COM

What you have here is a 22-song live album compiled from singer/guitarist Mike Doughty’s 2009 tour dubbed The Question Jar Show. At each performance, audience members were encouraged to jot down questions for Doughty on pieces of paper and place them in a big jar that sat on the edge of the stage. Thus the name of the tour, the album, and the reason for the occasional break between songs for Doughty to answer a few (usually) weird-ass questions. Pop these two discs in and you are there, folks – front-row center, courtesy of a brilliant job of recording by Chuck Radue and production work by Andy Adelewitz.

The 2009 campaign was a two-man tour featuring Doughty and his extremely talented sidekick Andrew “Scrap” Livingston. What Doughty is to the guitar, Livingston is to the cello: rhythmical and inventive; imaginative and dynamic. The two of them think outside the box on their respective instruments, making you swear at times that there’s at least a percussionist sitting in with them, if not a few more sets of hands on top of that.

The album is front-loaded with a few Doughty “hits” – and to good effect. “Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A Well” establishes right off the bat that the two of them can deliver the goods: Doughty’s little opening figure on his six-string is like a gentle warning, backed by Livingston’s slightly-ominous draws with his bow. They pause; a breath; and then wham! – Doughty digs in hard to the tune’s rhythm while Livingston hauls low-end center-of-the-earth tones out of his cello and they’re off: “That Cuban girl …”

Doughty’s original recordings of songs such as “Busting Up A Starbucks” and “(You Should Be) Doubly Gratified” certainly benefited from a studio setting, but here he and Livingston manage to fill your head with more layers of sound than four hands should be able to deliver on a live stage with no looping or special effects. Doughty is not a million-notes-a-minute picker; rather, he works the emotions of his well-crafted lyrics into his music, using combinations of palm muting, arpeggios, bass-string runs, and all-out Pete Townsend-style chord flourishes to paint the sonic backdrops of his songs. And Livingston is right there with him, by turn funky/wistful/psychedelic/dangerous – doing the kind of shit that makes folks say, “That’s a cello ?”

Now and then, Livingston takes to an electric guitar to add accents and punctuation to Doughty’s words and rhythms, approaching it with the same taste and grace that he does the cello. Sometimes his guitar lines are little Duane Eddy stringed step stools between lines and verses; other times they’re the scenery and the character actors in the vignettes of Doughty’s songs. Catch the “Psycho Killer”-style stalk on “Down On The River By The Sugar Plant”; his smiling-yet-determined churn up the neck during “(I Keep On) Rising Up; and his chime > chaos shapeshift on “I Hear The Bells”.

And then there are the Question Jar interludes, with the questions drawn and deadpan-delivered by Livingston (“Did you ever have that ‘not-so-fresh’ feeling?”) and answered head-on with typical Doughty irreverence and word diddling. (“I often have that ‘not-so-fresh’ feeling, but I mean ‘fresh’ in the Run-D.M.C. sense: ‘Sometimes I just don’t feel fresh …’”) Subjects range from Doughty’s tattoos (we take a guided tour from arm to arm) to musical taste (“Prince or Michael Jackson?”); from song titles (“Why ‘Nectarine’ and not ‘Tangelo’?”) to the inevitable multiple choice: “Would you rather play Twister with Dick Cheney or punch a kitten in the face? And death is not an option here.” (To which our hero responds, “I couldn’t punch a kitten – I’d have to play Twister with Dick Cheney. It would disgust me, but I can’t punch a kitten in the face.”)

All in all, The Question Jar Show is two discs’ worth of why you want to see Mike Doughty (and Scrap Livingston) in a live setting. A full-band concert release would be something to look forward to, as well; but when Doughty sings “Let’s get down to business – now ” in the opener “Looking At The World”, well … the two of them sure as hell do.

Music Month Mix Up.

2012-02-03T11:44:00.000-08:00

Hey All - So I guess the record 'Man in Motion' by Warren Haynes is no longer available on Spotify. We decided to go with 'The Question Jar' by Mike Doughty. If you happen to have access to 'MIM' - great - add your review to that post. Otherwise - 'The Question Jar' post will be up soon.

Cheers
Murf

Feb 3 - Warren Haynes - Man in Motion

2012-02-03T06:58:00.000-08:00

Gov't Mule co-founder and Allman Brothers Band guitaristWarren Haynes will shows his roots as a soul man with the May 10 release of his fourth solo album, "Man in Motion" (Stax/Concord Music Group).

The 10-song set, recorded in Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studio near Austin, Texas, with regular cohort Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar co-producing, finds Haynes determinedly mining an R&B approach steeped in influences from Stax, Muscle Shoals and Memphis' Hi Records.

"My first love was soul music," Haynes tells Billboard.com. "The first sound I can remember having an effect on me was black gospel music coming over the radio in North Carolina. James Brown was my first musical hero, then the Four Tops and Temptations, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave. Somewhere along the way I heard Ray Charles and B.B. King.

"So (soul) has always been there for me, and I've waited a long time to really put that across on an album. I just thought it was time to make that sort of record."

In fact, Haynes says that some of the songs on "Man in Motion" date back quite a ways -- 20 years for "Real Lonely Night," and 10 for "Your Wildest Dreams." "Through the years I compiled a few song that wanted to be captured this way," Haynes notes. "I'd resigned myself to thinking someone else would wind up recording them other than myself, but then this project came about." The album also includes a cover of Stax singer William Bell's "Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday."

Haynes recorded "Man in Motion" with an all-star band that includes several New Orleans musicians -- Meters bassist George Porter, Jr., keyboardist Ivan Neville and drummer Raymond Webber -- as well as Austin-based keyboardist Ian McLagan, singer Ruthie Foster and tenor saxophonist Ron Holloway. "It was the exact band I wanted for the record. Everybody that was first on my list was available, and we made it work," says Haynes, although he had not met McLagan before the sessions.

Feb 2 - Adele - 19

2012-02-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

19 is the debut album by English singer-songwriter Adele. It was released on 28 January 2008, the week after the lead single, "Chasing Pavements", was physically released. It debuted at number one on the UK charts on its first week.^[1] Included is a cover of the Bob Dylan song "Make You Feel My Love" from his 1997 album, Time Out of Mind. As of December 2011, worldwide sales for the album is an estimated 6.5 million copies.

Adele recorded Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love" on the recommendation of her manager Jonathan Dickins, who loved the song.^[2] The song "Hometown Glory" has been featured in the British and American television shows Skins, Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill, Hollyoaks, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, and most recently danced by Katee Shean and eventual winner, Joshua Allen on So You Think You Can Dance. In July 2008 Adele informed noted UK soul writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul that the reason for naming her debut album '19' was to reflect her age while she was writing it: "I just kinda remember becoming a bit of a woman during that time. And I think that is definitely documented in the songs."^[3] The Taiwanese edition was released on 5 March. As well as the standard tracklist, the album features three bonus tracks: "That's It I Quit I'm Movin' On" ("Chasing Pavements" B-side), "Now and Then" ("Cold Shoulder" B-side) and "Painting Pictures" ("Make You Feel My Love" B-side).^[4] The Indonesian special edition was released on 3 March. As well as the standard tracklist, the album features a bonus video for "Chasing Pavements".^[5]

19 received generally positive reviews from critics. The album holds a 68 out of 100 rating based on 19 critical reviews indicating "generally favourable reviews" from metacritic.^[17] The album was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize in the category of Best Album.^[18] On 3 December 2008, the album spawned four Grammy Award nominations: Best New Artist, and Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Chasing Pavements".^[19] The following year, she received a second consecutive nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, for "Hometown Glory", but lost to "Halo" by Beyoncé. The Guardian gave the album a great review saying "The way she stretched the vowels, her wonderful soulful phrasing, the sheer unadulterated pleasure of her voice, stood out all the more; little doubt that she's a rare singer, which another track first available on her MySpace site, 'Daydreamer', confirmed" they gave the album a five star response.^[20] BBC Music gave the album a great review, saying "Pitching up somewhere between blues, folk and jazz, she's included something for everyone without ever pandering to a particular trend. Her melodies exude warmth, her singing is occasionally stunning and, in the dramatic Hometown Glory, the spiky cool of Cold Shoulder (which is unexpectedly reminiscent of Shara Nelson-era Massive Attack) and the piano epic Make You Feel My Love, she has tracks that make Lily Allen and Kate Nash sound every bit as ordinary as they are."^[21] However the album also received mixed responses. Uncut said "Allowed this gnarled rock-scribe veteran a measure of scepticism. Adele can certainly sing, but '19' reeks of some A&R trendhound making it his/her biz to sign The New Amy and not resting till s/he's found the right chick from South London to fit the bill".^[22] NME gave the album a mixed review saying "Indeed, as ‘19’ reveals itself, it’s clear that the Amy associations are little more than empty mediaspeak without any real weight. Despite the early indicators, there’s precious little on the album that prevents it from collapsing under the weight of its own expectation".^[23] People magazine gave the album all four stars, saying "With a knockout voice that's rich and supple, robust and sultry, it's hard to believe that this singer-songwriter is barely out of her teens."^[24] Giving the album a B-, Entertainment Weekly remarked that "Adele's songs aren't as sharp as Duffy's...Still, her singing throughout is a thing to behold."^[25] Chuck Taylor, in a positive review from Billboard magazine, said that "Adele truly has potential to become among the most respected and inspiring international artists of her generation."^[26]

Feb 1 - Wilco: The Whole Love

2012-02-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

The Whole Love is the eighth album by American alternative rock group Wilco, released on September 27, 2011. It is their first album on their own label dBpm. Attendees at Wilco's 2011 Solid Sound Festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art from June 24 to 26 could purchase the first single from the album, "I Might". The entire album was streamed live on Wilco's official website for 24 hours between September 3 and 4, 2011, and later streamed on National Public Radio. The album packaging and cover art are pieces by Joanne Greenbaum. On November 30, 2011, the album received a nomination in the 54th Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album.

Tracklist:
Art of Almost
I Might
Sunloathe
Dawned on Me
Born Alone
Open Mind
Capitol City
Standing O
Rising Red Lung
Whole Love
One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)

Welcome to Music Month 2012.

2012-01-31T17:47:00.000-08:00

Ok folks, almost time for Music Month 2012. By now, I’ve received your picks and the schedule is posted below. Thanks for taking the time to research some music to share with the group. Note that there were many duplicates of bands/albums so you may see something omitted or listed under someone else’s name. I also made a couple of executive decisions by nixing double disk albums and even a compilation album- sorry, just a purist I suppose. Some requested albums weren't available in Spotify either- I did the best I could with the material I had...

Note that all of these albums are listed in Spotify for easy listening. If you take a look at my profile in Spotify, you can quickly and easily navigate to the album for the day. To do so, open Spotify and look in the upper left hand corner. Click on the link that says “People” and find my name. There you will find a list of all the Music Month 2012 albums. Pretty easy, but you can always search for it the old fashioned way if you wish...

A few quick things before we get started this week:

-Be objective. You won’t love everything you hear, but I bet you can appreciate it one way or another. At the same time, I guarantee you will find at least one new album or artist that you enjoy. Money back if you don’t.

-I suggest you listen to each album more than once. As you listen to the album a second or third time, you will pick up new sounds, melodies and other goodies that you probably missed the first time.

-Once you have listened to the album of the day, please post your comments on http://songsfromamixtape.blogspot.com Do your best to post comments on the day for which the album is assigned so you read/write when the album is fresh in your head. Thanks to Murf for putting this together.

-Feel free to pass this on to other friends not on this list. Turn someone on to new music, and ask them to post their comments!

Music Month 2012

http://songsfromamixtape.blogspot.com

2/1 Wilco- The Whole Love (Lynnette)

2/2 Adele- 19 (Ania)

2/3 Warren Haynes Band- Man in Motion (Ken)

2/4 The Head and the Heart- The Head and the Heart (Murf)

2/5 Radiohead- King of Limbs (Eric)

2/6 Fiona Apple- When the Pawn (Alicia)

2/7 Sunny Day Real Estate- How It Feels to Be Something On (Eric)

2/8 Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues (Lynnette)

2/9 Neko Case- Middle Cyclone (Lynnette)

2/10 Eilen Jewell- Queen of the Minor Key (Beth)

2/11 Xavier Rudd- Food In The Belly (Jesse)

2/12 My Morning Jacket- Circuital (Ken)

2/13 Paul Simon- So what or So Beautiful (Ania)

2/14 Feist- Metals (Blogorelli)

2/15 The Joy Formidable- The Big Roar (Eric)

2/16 Coldplay- A Rush of Blood to the Head (Alicia)

2/17 Florence + the Machine – Lungs (Lynnette)

2/18 Brandi Carlile, Live at Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony (Ania)

2/19 Tedeschi Trucks Band- Revelator (Ken)

2/20 Cake- Showroom of Compassion (Michael)

2/21 Slightly Stoopid- Closer to the Sun (Alicia)

2/22 Gregory Alan Isakov- The Empty Northern Hemisphere (Ania)

2/23 Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds (Murf)

2/24 Arcade Fire- The Suburbs (Ken)

2/25 Joni Mitchell- Blue (Alicia)

2/26 Kurt Vile- Smoke Ring for My Halo (Loogie)

2/27 The Decemberists- The King is Dead (Lynnette)

2/28 Joe Pug - The Messenger (Murf)

2/29 Rich Robinson - Through A Crooked Sun (Murf)

Bonus Listening (Not required, but something else to listen to for fun)

Ania

Natalie Merchant, Leave Your Sleep

David Gray- Foundling

Alicia
Run Wolves Run -- Sean Hayes

Murf

The Bridge School Benefit Concert (official release)

The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St (Deluxe Edition)

Lynnette

Deadmau5- 4x4=12

Eric

Dinosaur Jr- You’re Living All Over Me

Collective Soul- Collective Soul

Michael

Awolnation- Megalithic Symphony

Blogorelli

Tegan & Sarah- The Con

Jesse

Blue Sky Black Death : Slow Burning Lights

Loogie

David Guetta- Nothing But The Beat (Loogie)

Ken

Mike Doughty- Yes and Also Yes

REM- Collapse into now

Wynton Marsalis and Eric Clapton- Play the Blues

Music Month Bonus #7: My Morning Jacket - Z

2011-03-08T07:00:00.003-08:00

From Wiki:

Z is the fourth studio album by rock band My Morning Jacket. This collection features a much spacier and polished sound than previous MMJ releases, making heavy use ofsynthesizers throughout and incorporating small bits of reggae and dub. The heavy reverb, a characteristic of the band's recordings prior to Z, is largely absent.

A double-live album, Okonokos, was recorded at the end of the Z Tour and was released on September 26, 2006; it features live versions of eight of Z's 10 songs.

Production

Production was headed by John Leckie, famous for previous work with bands such as The Stone Roses and Radiohead. This is the first My Morning Jacket album to feature a producer, as vocalist Jim James had assumed the production duties on the band's previous efforts. The album marks another first, as the band recorded away from the Quaid family farm which had served as the inspiration for their first three albums. Instead, My Morning Jacket decided to record in New York's Allaire Studios, nestled deep in the Catskill Mountains. The change of scenery, influence of an experienced producer, and the addition of two new members contributed heavily to the transformation of the band's sound.

[edit]Composition

Although the fourth track, "What a Wonderful Man" has an upbeat, happy sound, singer Jim James stated in "Velocity Weekly" that the song was written as a tribute to friend (and former bandmate) Aaron Todovich, who had committed suicide.^{[citation needed]} The closing track, "Dondante", also deals with the death of someone close to James.

Music Month Bonus #6: LL Cool J - Radio

2011-03-08T07:00:00.002-08:00

From Wiki:

James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), better known as LL Cool J (acronym forLadies Love Cool James^[1]) is an American rapper and actor. He is known for romantic ballads such as "I Need Love", "Around the Way Girl" and "Hey Lover" as well as pioneering hip-hop such as "I Can't Live Without My Radio", "I'm Bad", "The Boomin' System", and "Mama Said Knock You Out". He has released twelve studio albums and two greatest hits compilations, with his final album being 2008's Exit 13, the last for his record deal with Def Jam Recordings. He has also appeared in numerous films, and currently stars as NCISSpecial Agent Sam Hanna on the CBS crime drama television series NCIS: Los Angeles. He now lives in Long Island, New York, with his wife and four children.^[2]

Radio was released to critical acclaim, as LL was one of the first rappers to use conventional song structure to make pop oriented rap.^[9]"I Can't Live Without My Radio" and "Rock the Bells" were singles that helped the album go platinum with 1,500,000 sales.

Music Month Bonus #5: Phil Ochs - I Ain't Marching Anymore

2011-03-08T07:00:00.001-08:00

From Wiki:

I Ain't Marching Anymore was Phil Ochs' second LP, released on Elektra Records in 1965. Dispensing with second guitarist Danny Kalb, Ochs performs alone on twelve original songs, an interpretation of Alfred Noyes' "The Highwayman" set to music (much as Poe's "The Bells" had been set to music on the previous album) and a cover of Ewan MacColl's "The Ballad of the Carpenter".

Of the twelve originals, probably the most noted was the title track, with its distinctive trilling guitar part, that spoke of a soldier sick of fighting. Also of note was the album closer, "Here's to the State of Mississippi", a biting criticism of that state's lack of civil rights and general bigoted attitude. Other important songs include "Draft Dodger Rag" (assailing those "red blooded Americans" who were in favor of US participation in the Vietnam War but did not fight because they were just summertime soldiers and sunshine patriots), "That Was The President" (a tribute to John Kennedy written soon after his assassination), "Talking Birmingham Jam" (which used the traditional talking blues form to assail the racist leaders of Birmingham) and "Links on the Chain" (attacking labor unions for excluding African-Americans and failing to support civil rights).

Ochs showed great thematic versatility on the album, including not just blatantly anti-war or protest songs but also poetry (Alfred Noyes, John Rooney, and Ewan MacColl) and some songs his followers probably didn't want to hear. He noted, for instance, in the liner notes that his Marxist friends couldn't understand why he wrote "That Was the President," dryly adding that that was one of the reasons he wasn't a Marxist. He showed more socialist sympathies with the songs "The Men Behind the Guns" and "Ballad of the Carpenter," with its memorable lyric "Jesus was a working man." (Ochs wrote in the liner notes that "songs like this" were one of the reasons the State Department blocked Ewan MacColl from entering the U.S., adding that this was unwise given "the quality of culture in America.") However, more doctrinaire socialists may have had mixed feelings about "That's What I Want to Hear," in which Ochs tells an out of work man to stop begging and fight for full employment. Among more traditional protest songs, the most pointed might be "Iron Lady," about the death penalty, with the memorable line "And a rich man never died upon the chair." (The "iron lady" in the title referred to the electric chair.) Ochs wrote that "in the future, intelligent men will read in amazement about the murder of Caryl Chessman." But hard hitting songs like that and the title song were softened with sentimental and even romantic songs like "That Was the President" and Noyes' "The Highway Man." And while critical, songs like "Draft Dodger Rag" and "Talking Birmingham Jam" used humor rather than harsh rhetoric to make their points.

On the 2001 CD reissue, an alternative electric version of "I Ain't Marching Anymore" follows "Here's to the State of Mississippi". Released as the A-side of a British 45, it had first appeared in the States on the now out-of-print 1997 box set Farewells & Fantasies.

Music Month Bonus #4: Thom Yorke - The Eraser

2011-03-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

From Wiki:

Yorke released his solo album, The Eraser, in 2006. Produced by Nigel Godrich and featuring cover art by Stanley Donwood, it was released on the independent label XL Recordings. Yorke described the album as "more beats and electronics" and denied that it meant he was leaving Radiohead, saying, "I want no crap about me being a traitor or whatever splitting up blah blah... this was all done with their blessing."^[28] The Eraser reached number 3 in the UK in its first week and number 2 in the United States, Canada and Australia, as well as number 9 on the Irish charts. The album was on the prestigious Mercury Prize shortlist and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

Yorke rarely plays as a solo act, having never embarked on a solo tour. He has sometimes played short acoustic sets of Radiohead songs in the band's webcasts and television appearances, and occasionally on his own at rallies. However, he did play solo sets at the 2002 Bridge School Benefit concerts organised by Neil Young. In 2006, he performed stripped-down versions of several songs from The Eraser ("Analyse," "The Clock, " "Skip Divided" and "Cymbal Rush") on radio and TV programmes, and since then he has played and sung "Cymbal Rush" as an encore at some Radiohead concerts. In July 2009, Yorke played a rare solo performance at the Latitude Festival in England.^[29] In February 2010, Yorke played a solo show for the Green Party at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, where he played select Radiohead songs and songs from The Eraser, as well as five entirely new songs: "The Daily Mail", "Lotus Flower", "Give Up The Ghost", "I Froze Up", and "Mouse, Dog, Bird".^[30]

On 21 September 2009 Yorke released a new double-A side single, "Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses / The Hollow Earth".^[31] It was later announced that he has established an unnamed band with Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Joey Waronker of R.E.M. and Beck, Mauro Refosco of Forro in the Dark and producer Nigel Godrich.^[32] They played two sold out shows at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on 4 and 5 October 2009.^[33] Two days before, Yorke also played a "warm-up" show at the Echoplex in Los Angeles.^[34] On 25 February 2010, Yorke officially gave the band the name Atoms for Peace.^[35]

In June 2010, Yorke attracted some notoriety when he stated in an interview that "It will be only a matter of time - months rather than years - before the music business establishment completely folds" and that such an event will be of "no great loss to the world."^[36]Yorke's quote quickly caused a stir of buzz on the blogosphere, with critics both praising and criticising his frankness.^[37]

Feb 29: Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues

2011-03-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

(No Wiki for this particular record so I opted for one just on him solo.)

From Wiki:

Justin Townes Earle (Born January 4, 1982 in Nashville, Tennessee), son of Steve Earle, stepson of Allison Moorer, and named for songwriter Townes Van Zandt is an AMAwinning,^[1] Americana musician based in Nashville, Tennessee. Earle is signed to Bloodshot Records and has four released albums from 2007–2010. He currently resides in New York City's East Village.^[2]

Justin Townes Earle grew up in South Nashville, Tennessee with his mother, Carol Ann Hunter Earle. Earle began using drugs when he was barely 12 years old,^[3] developing a serious addiction by the late 90's. In his teens he began playing and singing with two different Nashville bands, a rock band called the Distributors and a bluegrass-influenced acoustic combo, the Swindlers. Earle spent some time as guitarist and keyboardist for his father's touring band the Dukes, but was fired after a dangerous appetite for drugs began interfering with his performances. Once he came off hard drugs, he began putting a new focus on his music and songwriting.^[4][edit]Early life

[edit]Musical Career

Earle presently tours heavily and played Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival (2008), Grand Ole Opry (March 2008), Historical WSM, South By Southwest (2008-2010), the historic Beacon Theater (May 2009), Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion (September, 2009), Bonnaroo(2009) Bumbershoot (2010) and the Bowery Ballroom (March 2010) with Chicago-based singer/songwriter Joe Pug. In the summer of 2009, Earle co-billed The Big Surprise Tour with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Old Crow Medicine Show, and The Felice Brothers.^[5]In May 2010, he appeared alongside his father in an episode of the HBO television series Treme.

Earle returned to rehab after he was arrested for battery, public drunkenness, and resisting arrest on September 16, 2010^[6] following a dispute with a concert venue about his pay.^[7] He resumed touring on Nov. 26, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. ^[8]

[edit]Awards

In September 2009, Justin Townes Earle received an Americana Music Award for Emerging Artist of the Year. He also received nominations for album of the year (Midnight at the Movies) and for artist of the year. He had been previously nominated for Emerging Artist of the Year in 2008.^[9]

Feb 28: Zac Brown Band - You Get What You Give

2011-03-06T19:14:00.000-08:00

From Wiki:

You Get What You Give is the second major-label studio album by the Zac Brown Band. It was released on September 21, 2010.^[1] The album's titles comes from a line in the song "Martin". The album's second single "Colder Weather" released to country radio on 2010.

Content

Zac Brown wrote or co-wrote all songs on the album. The tracks "Let It Go," "Who Knows," "Whiskey's Gone," "Colder Weather," and "Make This Day" were previously live versions on their album Pass the Jar. The live versions of "Let It Go" and "Martin" were previously bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of their album The Foundation. The live version of "Whiskey's Gone" also appeared on the soundtrack to True Blood, in 2008. "As She's Walking Away" and "Knee Deep" contain guest vocals from Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett respectively.

Feb27: The Black Keys - Brothers

2011-03-06T19:10:00.000-08:00

From Wiki:

Brothers is the sixth album by American blues-rock duo, The Black Keys. It is their third release on Nonesuch Records. It was released on May 18, 2010. Its title, track listing, and cover art were announced on March 2, 2010 by Pitchfork Media.^[1] The first single off the album is "Tighten Up". The album debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 with approximately 73,000 copies sold in the first week released, making the band's highest charting album to date.^[2] In January 2011, the album was certified Gold by the RIAA for shipping over 500,000 copies.^[3]

Brothers won Best Alternative Music Album at the 2011 Grammy Awards.

Feb 26: Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

2011-03-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

From Wiki:

Plastic Beach is the third studio album by English alternative hip hop group Gorillaz, released 3 March 2010 on Parlophone and Virgin Records. Conceived from an unfinished Gorillaz project called Carousel, the album was recorded during June 2008 to November 2009 and produced primarily by group co-creator Damon Albarn. It features guest appearances by several artists, including Snoop Dogg, Gruff Rhys, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Mark E. Smith, Paul Simonon, Kano, Little Dragon and theHypnotic Brass Ensemble.

The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, selling 74,000 copies in its first week. In the United States, it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 112,000 copies, and it also charted within the top-ten in several other countries. Upon its release, Plastic Beach received generally positive reviews from most music critics.

Feb 25: Steve Earle - The Mountain

2011-03-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

From Wiki:

The Mountain is an album released by Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band on February 23, 1999 (see 1999 in music).

The songs were written by Earle with musical accompaniment provided by the famousbluegrass band of Del McCoury.

The album was a significant departure from Earle's previous work, being the first wholly bluegrass album he had written. Earle made the album as a tribute to the founder of bluegrass music, Bill Monroe, who had died in 1996.

The album was nominated for a 2000 Grammy Award in the "Best Bluegrass Album" category (Earle's seventh Grammy nomination). Two tracks from the album were released as singles in the UK: "Dixieland" (distributed to radio only) and "The Mountain" (a commercial release).

[edit]Track listing

All tracks by Steve Earle

"Texas Eagle"
"Yours Forever Blue"
"Carrie Brown"
"I'm Still in Love With You" (Duet with Iris Dement)
"Graveyard Shift"
"Harlan Man"
"The Mountain"
"Outlaw's Honeymoon"
"Connemara Breakdown"
"Leroy's Dustbowl Blues"
"Dixieland"
"Paddy on the Beat"
"Long, Lonesome Highway Blues"
"Pilgrim"

[edit]Personnel

Steve Earle — guitar, vocal
Del McCoury — guitar, vocal
Ronnie McCoury — mandolin, vocal
Robbie McCoury — banjo
Jason Carter — fiddle
Mike Bub — bass

Feb 24: Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island

2011-02-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

From Wiki:

Neutral Milk Hotel was an American indie rock band formed by singer, guitarist and songwriter Jeff Mangum in the early 1990s. The band was noted for its experimental sound, obscure lyrics, and eclectic instrumentation.^[1]

The first release under the Neutral Milk Hotel moniker was the 1994 EP Everything Is, a short collection of tracks featuring Mangum. On the band's full-length debut album On Avery Island, which followed shortly thereafter, Mangum was joined by childhood friend and Apples in Stereo frontman Robert Schneider, who contributed production and instrumentation. Upon the album's release, the full band was formed and extensive touring began.

Neutral Milk Hotel released In the Aeroplane over the Sea in 1998, which became their most well-known and critically acclaimed album.^[2] Although the album did not meet commercial success at the time of release, it has gone on to sell over 300,000 copies and is often ranked as one of the greatest albums of its time.^[3] Despite growing popularity, the group disbanded in 1999 after Mangum became disenchanted with touring and the music press, later having a nervous breakdown.^[4]

Neutral Milk Hotel is a part of The Elephant 6 Recording Company, based in Athens, Georgia. The band was one of Elephant 6's three first projects, alongside The Apples in Stereo and Olivia Tremor Control.^[5]

Music Month Bonus #3: Bruce Springsteen- Darkness on the Edge of Town (Remaster)

2011-02-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

From Wiki:

Darkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth album by Bruce Springsteen, released in the late spring of 1978. The album marked the end of a three year period of forced hiatus from recording brought on by contractual obligations and legal battling with former manager Mike Appel.^[5] Although the album did not produce high charting singles it nevertheless remained on the charts for 97 weeks.^[5] In September 2010 a documentary film chronicling the making of Darkness was first shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. Quoting Springsteen as saying “More than rich, more than famous, more than happy – I wanted to be great”, reviewer Stephen Whitty of the Newark Star-Ledger commented: "For many fans, that long journey pulled onto the Turnpike here."^[6]

History

Recovering from legal troubles and the stress of the breakthrough success of Born to Run, Springsteen released a somewhat less commercial album, Darkness on the Edge of Town.

In terms of the original LP's sequencing, Springsteen continued his "four corners" approach from Born to Run, as the songs beginning each side ("Badlands" and "The Promised Land") were martial rallying cries to overcome circumstances, while the songs ending each side ("Racing in the Street", "Darkness on the Edge of Town") were sad dirges of circumstances overcoming all hope. Unlike Born to Run, the songs were recorded by the full band all at once, frequently soon after Springsteen had written them.^[7] When Springsteen sings: "Summer's here and the time is right for racing in the street," on the track "Racing in the Street," he is taking-off Martha & the Vandellas'Dancing in the Street. Steven Van Zandt received a credit for production assistance for helping Springsteen tighten the arrangements from Born to Run's epic sound.^[7]

This collection of songs, each of which Springsteen sang in the first person, was given unity by several recurring themes. The words “darkness” / “dark” appear in six of the tracks, while nine of them feature the “night” / “tonight”. “They” are mentioned in eight songs, with a general suggestion of nameless people who exert a negative influence. “Work” / “worked” / “working” form part of six songs, and so do the words “dream” / “dreams”. Six is also the number of songs in which Bruce and his characters are found “driving” / “racing” / “riding”, or mentioning the names of cars. There are references to “blood”, "born", "love" / "loved" in four of the tracks.

The album failed to generate any hit singles, with "Prove It All Night" barely making the Top 40 in the U.S. and follow-up "Badlands" not even doing that well.

At the time, Darkness claimed the number one slot on NME album of the year ranking. In 2003, the album was ranked number 151 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.^[8] The same year, the TV network VH1 named Darkness on the Edge of Town the 68th greatest album of all time.

The cover shot and inner sleeve photo were taken by photographer Frank Stefanko inside Stefanko's Haddonfield, New Jersey home.^[9] Springsteen says, "...when I saw the picture I said, 'That's the guy in the songs.' I wanted the part of me that's still that guy to be on the cover. Frank stripped away all your celebrity and left you with your essence. That's what that record was about." http://www.kshe95.com/musicnews/Story.aspx?id=1287219

A reissue box set was released in November 2010.^[10]^[11]^[12] This had initially been planned for 2008, to mark the 30th anniversary of the original album's release, but was delayed presumably due to Springsteen's numerous other 2008 projects.^[13] By January 2009, Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau, was saying the project was still in the works: "When we can find six weeks to sit down and finish it I'm sure we will."^[14]

A documentary entitled "The Promise: the Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town" has been produced for the box set. The documentary premiered at theToronto Film Festival in the fall of 2010 and aired on HBO on October 7, 2010.^[15]

[edit]Track listing

All songs written by Bruce Springsteen.

Side one

"Badlands" – 4:01
"Adam Raised a Cain" – 4:32
"Something in the Night" – 5:11
"Candy's Room" – 2:51
"Racing in the Street" – 6:53

Side two

"The Promised Land" – 4:33
"Factory" – 2:17
"Streets of Fire" – 4:09
"Prove It All Night" – 3:56
"Darkness on the Edge of Town" – 4:30

Feb 23: Run DMC - Run DMC

2011-02-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

From Wiki:

Run–D.M.C. (sometimes written Run D.M.C., Run–DMC, or Run DMC) was an American hip hop group fromHollis, in the Queens borough of New York City. Founded by Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, and Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell, the group is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential acts in the history of hip hop culture.

Run–D.M.C. were one of the most well-known hip hop acts in the 1980s, who along with LL Cool J, signified the advent of the new school of hip hop music. They were the first group in their genre to have a Gold record and be nominated for a Grammy Award.^[1] The group was among the first to show how important the MC/DJ relationship was.^[2]^[3] In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked them number 48 in their list of the greatest musical artists of all time.^[3]

In 2007, Run–D.M.C. were was named "The Greatest Hip Hop Group of All Time" by MTV.com^[4] and "Greatest Hip Hop Artist of All Time" by VH1.^[5] On April 4, 2009, rapper Eminem inducted them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In doing so, Run–D.M.C. became only the second hip hop group in history to be inducted, after Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

Music Month Bonus #2: Cannonball Adderley - Somethin' Else

2011-02-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

From Wiki:

Somethin' Else is a 1958 album by jazz musician Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, regarded as a landmark album in the hard bop and cool styles. This LP is notable for the presence and prominent contributions of Miles Davis, in one of his few recording dates for Blue Note Records. Many critics and jazz fans consider Somethin' Else to be among the greatest jazz albums of all time.^[2]^[3] The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection."^[4]

Album information

The extent of Davis's leadership or co-leadership on Somethin' Else is disputed. Davis plays several of the first solos, and, according to the liner notes, chose most of the material - he would continue to play "Autumn Leaves" and "Love for Sale", at increasingly frenetic tempos, in the years to come. He also composed the bluesy title track and suggested Adderley cover "Dancing in the Dark" (on which Davis does not appear). The one exception is the12-bar blues, "One for Daddy-O", written by Adderley's brother Nat (for Chicago radio DJ Holmes "Daddy-O" Daylie, not the Adderleys' father). Nonetheless, at the end of that track, Davis can be heard addressing producer Alfred Lion: "Is that what you wanted, Alfred?" The collaboration between Adderley and Davis would continue in 1959 with Davis's Kind of Blue, one of the most universally acclaimed jazz albums.

The album also features Art Blakey on drums, with Hank Jones on piano and Sam Jones (no relation) on double bass.