30 milkshakes

NP: “Skill” – The Desperate Bicycles. “You don’t need skill, just the desire…”. 1978 DIY at its finest.
NP: “My Night Out” – The Homosexuals. More 1978 obscurity and randomness. This stuff should have been as *almost* as big as Wire, XTC, etc.
NP: “Celebrity Art Party” – The Embarrassment. 1981 Wichita weirdness. No, i’m not going chronologically. But i did just read this fun quote: “[The Embarrassment were] a bunch of four-eyed, messy misfits that made the Feelies look like body-builders.”
NP: “Hank Is Dead” – Chevy Heston. Shout-out to Leigh Lust in song! Hi, Leigh!
NP: “Far Pavilions” – …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. From the most recent Trail Of Dead record. It’s hard to get excited about another Trail Of Dead record, but, you know… if somebody played it for you and told you it was some new band from Chicago or a b-side by Japandroids, i bet you’d like it a whole lot.
NP: “Suggestion (live w/ Amy Pickering on vocals)” – Fugazi. If you ever got to see Fugazi live in DC in the early 90’s (or maybe even late 80’s), you may have gotten to see them do this version of “Suggestion” with Amy Pickering of Fire Party on vocals. This is ripped from a youtube video. Low volume, but… god damn.
NP: “Death Kit” – Karate. Vinyl rip of the first release of The Self-Starter Foundation. January, 1995. Officially a lifetime ago.
NP: “Machines” – Biffy Clyro. Sad Biffy song.
NP: “Sigh’s Smell Of Farewell” – Cocteau Twins. I’ve got Cocteau Fever!
NP: “Fishing Bird (Empty Gutted In The Evening Breeze)” – Grouper. Somewhere between getting Cocteau Fever and going to see El Perro Del Mar, i decided to go back and listen to some Grouper.
NP: “Kill The Action” – East River Pipe. From the record with one of my favorite album covers of all time. The back cover, as seen on this poster makes it even better.
NP: “Jimmy Jazz” – The Clash. It made sense at the time.
NP: “Stuart” – The Dead Milkmen. “You know what, Stuart: I like you.”
NP: “Sweet Jane” – Mott The Hoople. Nobody does contemporary covers anymore. I mean… Velvet Underground released “Loaded” in September, 1970, and Mott The Hoople recorded “All The Young Dudes” in May, 1972. I guess i don’t really want a bunch of Animal Collective or Les Savy Fav covers hitting the streets any minute, but… it seems like the only covers of contemporary songs you ever hear are ironic, and that seems strange to me.
NP: “Against Pollution (Live)” – The Mountain Goats. Live at The Bell House on the last show of the last tour. I still prefer the old solo shows, but this was the best of the full-band shows i’ve seen him (them?) do. Unfortunately this recording doesn’t quite capture the brilliance of the un-mic’d show-stealing Steely Dan-esque guitar solo dropped by the “other guy” from Final Fantasy, but you can hear it over the final 150 seconds if you listen closely.
NP: “Click!” – Das Damen. Always preferred Das Damen to Sonic Youth. Still do.
NP: “ITUNES_STREAM” – ITUNES USERS – stream all of the above songs.
NP: “WINAMP_STREAM” – WINAMP (and WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER and REALPLAYER) USERS – stream all of the above songs.
NP: “PODCAST” – PODCAST of all of the above songs. [71.2 MB, 62:14 minutes]
NP: “RAR_FILE” – .RAR file of all of the above songs. [86.3 MB]

NR: nothing! too much time touring, not enough time to read.

NW: Iron Man and Iron Man 2 double feature last Thursday. not enough baseball.

will be back in NYC for at least a couple of weeks in June and July. Fingers crossed!

please hit me via email at nyc_AT_selfstarterfoundation.com if you’d like on the mailing list for when there’s a new post (or… configure your RSS-reader… this blog should be compatible, but i don’t use the things myself) or check me out on facebook / twitter (barf), where i will be including these updates, too.

NP: “Love More” – Sharon Van Etten. Wow. What a song, and what a fucking performance thereof. This is the first fruits of (Philadelphia’s finest) Mr. Brian McTear’s new non-profit Weathervane Music Organization’s Shaking Through program, and what a way to start. (Kristin Thomas of Simple Machines/Tsunami/Future of Music Coalition also has a hand in Weathervane). A little trivia for you: the first time the words “The Self-Starter Foundation” appear on any record is on Brian’s old band (Mariner 9)’s first 7″, and that pre-dates the first Karate 7″ by a couple of weeks. Go here for some more information about Brian’s new venture. Oh, and… i probably shouldn’t have re-posted the .mp3 on the 30 Milkshakes servers, so… maybe head over to Weathervane and download it from over there, too, so that the powers-that-be will recognize their web traffic.
NP: “Coltrane Sundia” – Magma. A nice simple piece from Magma. Not normally their strong suit. I just looked up “strong suit” to see if it should be hyphenated or (heaven forbid) one word… the example given is “Foreign policy was the President’s strong suit.” I hope that example wasn’t written between 2000 and 2008.
NP: “Neukoln” – David Bowie. Something about that Magma piece made me think of this instrumental track.
NP: “Hallo Erde Hier Ist Alpha” – Berluc. And somehow the song from Bowie’s “Berlin Trilogy” made me think of this rather middle-of-the-road German band, that i just so happen to enjoy on occasion. This song is sorta their “Major Tom”, as i guess it’s a bit of a love song to Sigmund Jähns, the first German to go into space.
NP: “When Will I Be Loved” – Linda Ronstadt. I’m being so INFORMATIVE this playlist. What the hell is going on? Anyway… how about a song i just remember hearing a million times on country radio when i was of single-digit age, and which i still think is fantastic? For blockbuster massive huge records, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more solid one than Linda’s “Heart Like A Wheel.”
NP: “Hell Walks The Street” – Shirl Milete. Here’s somebody i know nothing about, except that he was a label-mate of Townes Van Zandt on Poppy in 1969, and that in 1970 and 1971 a couple of his songs were sold to Elvis Presley. Oh, and… he played guitar with Waylon Jennings somewhere along the line, too. That’s enough of a pedigree to make me perk up my ears. Truly, it’s not some lost classic record… but it is a solid and enjoyable listen. If you have a copy on vinyl for sale, I’ll give you $15 for it.
NP: “Military Madness” – Graham Nash. Bill’s gotten me into this, the first post-Deja Vu solo record by Graham.
NP: “Schoolbuses Are For Children” – Grant Hart. The new Grant Hart is a damn solid listen, from front to back. Well done, Mr. Hart.
NP: “Trinkets And Rings” – Michael Chapman. I picked this Michael Chapman song a couple of weeks ago, and opted to not include it, simply because i didn’t want to be “that guy” that had a Michael Hurley and a Michael Chapman song in his playlist at the same time. And then Michael Chapman went and played a show last week, which i got to see, and now i need to put this on here now to be topical. He was great, by the way, but didn’t get to play long enough on the 6-act bill on a Monday night at Market Hotel.
NP: “Rosemary” – Grateful Dead. Have you ever actually listened to the Grateful Dead? Most people i know haven’t. Hell… i didn’t listen to a Led Zeppelin record straight through until i was 26 probably, so why the hell would i listen to a Dead record? Not a huge mistake, but… definitely a mistake. I’ve got $10 over here for a decently clean copy of “Aoxomoxoa” on vinyl.
NP: “No Reservations” – Hüsker Dü. Independent of the Grant Hart album above, i listened to the entire “Warehouse: Songs And Stories” album the other day while driving around Central Pennsylvania to get the full teenage experience. Damn if i could sing along to every song on this fucking record… EVERY SONG. All 20 of ‘em. At least the choruses, but, really… i’d say about 85% of the lyrics in general. Outside of the bands i’ve toured with or worked with, i don’t think i could say that about any records in the last 10 years. The Mountain Goats and Hot Chip are the only two artists i could even guess that that might be true of.
NP: “Mechanical Man” – Devo. Early demo. Kinda frustrating.
NP: “Ferryboat” – Tonto’s Expanding Head Band. TONTO is the world largest synthesizer, built in the late 60’s and early 70’s. It featured heavily on Stevie Wonder’s “Innervisions” and “Talking Book” records (as well as a million other records in the 70’s and later), but the creators also put out two records of their own. I originally put this on here because i was told that Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo now owns TONTO, but… wikipedia has just informed me that that is a misconception. Thanks, wikipedia.
NP: “My Heartbeat” – Annie. Came on shuffle the other day. Still catchy a couple of years on.
NP: “Magic Man” – Heart. And, well… still a fucking slamming song. Wow. In case you are wondering, the transition here is purely contrived: I went from Annie’s song “My Heartbeat” to a song off the “Dreamboat Annie” album by Heart. Thank you, good night.
NP: “ITUNES_STREAM” – ITUNES USERS – stream all of the above songs.
NP: “WINAMP_STREAM” – WINAMP (and WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER and REALPLAYER) USERS – stream all of the above songs.
NP: “PODCAST” – PODCAST of all of the above songs. [83.8 MB, 61:00 minutes]
NP: “RAR_FILE” – .RAR file of all of the above songs. [93.0 MB]

NR: nothing! although i did just buy “Vineland” by Thomas Pynchon at a thrift store for a buck. But i really should start the new Alice Munro collection before i do anything else.

NW: Movies that prominently feature people throwing up in them! First “Crazy Heart” and then “The Edge Of Darkness” (don’t ask). And, of course: TONS of curling! fuck! i really do love watching it. no irony! did you know that since 1983 there have been FOUR blind curlers that have participated in the World Curling Championships? this is one of the things one learns when one googles “russian curling team.” not that there’s any reason i would google the russian women’s curling team.

i’m about to leave on a little mini-tour, but will hopefully find the time to do playlists while i’m away. fingers crossed! thanks to those that have sent me music… i am working through it all! keep it coming!

please hit me via email at nyc_AT_selfstarterfoundation.com if you’d like on the mailing list for when there’s a new post (or… configure your RSS-reader… this blog should be compatible, but i don’t use the things myself) or check me out on facebook / twitter (barf), where i will be including these updates, too.

NP: “The Man Who Called Himself Jesus” – Strawbs. Reine from Dungen didn’t necessarily get me hooked on Strawbs, but they came up enough in conversation that i felt that IT WAS TIME to delve into the Strawbs discography. Well, one Great Lake Swimmers tour, and a lot of competitive record shopping, later, and… well… i’ve got the complete works on vinyl. This is the first song on the first album, and still one of their best.
NP: “Too Much Of Nothing” – Fotheringay. Can’t fall into the world of Strawbs and Fairport Convention and Sandy Denny without grabbing the first Fotheringay record. After seeking a copy for under $20 for six months, i finally found a copy in Central Pennsylvania. For 20 cents.
NP: “Something Higher” – Ela Orleans. The only song on .mp3 i can find from a NYC gal that apparently just put out a debut album on LP only. i need to score a copy somewhere, as this track is totally captivating.
NP: “Predictions” – Dragging An Ox Through Water. My friend Amy dragged (sorry) me across the street from the Dungen show in Portland to see her friend play. He plays under the name of Dragging An Ox Through Water, and damned if it wasn’t one of the most challenging and mind-blowing things i saw all year. It was even better than the 2 Voodoo Donuts i had that night, and, if you know me at all, you’ll know that that’s saying a lot.
NP: “Cakewalking” – Young Marble Giants. Nothing i really need to say about YMG you don’t already know.
NP: “Love Gets Dangerous (alt version)” – Billy Bragg. Except maybe… was the young Billy Bragg perhaps listening to some Young Marble Giants? I never made the (possible) connection until just recently.
NP: “Listen” – Chicago Transit Authority. I’ve been doing a lot of record shopping over the last couple of months. Finally got myself a nice clean copy of the first Chicago Transit Authority record. And then a second. And then a third. I think perhaps i have four copies now? oops.
NP: “Unconventional State Line” – Japan. Holy shit. why didn’t anybody ever tell me how awesome the first Japan record was? Damn.
NP: “Peace By Peace” – Crabby Appleton. I need to go back to Tom’s Records in Red Lion, PA and pick up the nice copy of this record he has there for $3 or $4. Really shouldn’t have put that back at that price. Dumb.
NP: “Dark In My Heart” – Lee Hazlewood. Been listening to a lot of Lee lately, too. There’s a certain cleansing effect that Lee has… i just can’t put my finger on it. i can’t “always” listen to Lee in the same way that i can “always” listen to Kris Kristofferson, but… they do strike me in very proximal lobes of the brain.
NP: “Come As You Are” – Caetano Veloso. I had no idea that this even existed until it came on shuffle the other day. Not sure exactly where it falls on the kitsch / enlightened-reading scale, but… i like it at face value no matter what.
NP: “Dumb Drums” – Thee Oh Sees. Hey! The 4th song that’s actually not over 20 years old. Yay!
NP: “Woke Up New” – The Mountain Goats. I’ve been wanting to play this for my Dad, but… I think it’s just too sad to do so. So I’ll just keep thinking it.
NP: “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You” – Cher. Listening to a lot of Cher albums came first, THEN watching “Moonstruck” came second.
NP: “Somebody to Say Bye Bye To” – Michael Hurley. Well, damn, sister. It’s Michael Hurley. Never need a reason to listen to Michael Hurley.
NP: “Mama You Been On My Mind” – Bob Dylan. Took turns playing songs to break your heart one very late night on the Great Lake Swimmers tour. There were lots of good picks, and a couple of doozies… but Bret dropped this one at just the right time, and, well… contest over.
NP: “Lullabye” – Emitt Rhodes. Emitt has the uncanny ability to sometimes sounds like Lennon, sometimes to sound like McCartney, and sometimes to do it both at the same time (or even alternately within the same song). Been listening to some smooth AM gold kinda stuff lately, and Emitt’s really knocking it out of the fuzzy warm little park sometimes. Like… he would never hit one out at the old Polo Grounds, but put him in the old Tiger Stadium and he’d find a way to hit 33 in a year and make a couple of All Star teams.

NP: “ITUNES_STREAM” – ITUNES USERS – stream all of the above songs.
NP: “WINAMP_STREAM” – WINAMP (and WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER and REALPLAYER) USERS – stream all of the above songs.
NP: “PODCAST” – PODCAST of all of the above songs.
NP: “RAR_FILE” – .RAR file of all of the above songs.

NR: Halfway through “At Swim-Two-Birds” by Flann O’Brien, started “Posthumous Papers of a Living Author” by Robert Musil, and in the middle of the last five New Yorker’s, Atlantic Monthly’s, and Harper’s.

NW: Went to go see “Make-Out With Violence” at the 92Y in Tribeca theatres (it was highly enjoyable). Finally watched “The Foot Fist Way” that i downloaded forever ago. Just watched S03E07 of “Gossip Girl”, so still five episodes behind, and i finally finished all six episodes of “Snuff Box.” As mentioned above, “Moonstruck.” Oh, and… up to S02E06 of the re-watching of “Twin Peaks.”

A note about the FIVE options you have now for listening to the playlist:

1) you can download each song individually. or just the songs you want to download, of course. each song is as high of bitrate as i have, and all of the ID3 tags should be correct. just right-click or whatever you normally do to download an .mp3, and then drag into whatever player you use. or you can probably just click on it and it will stream to whatever player you use. hell… it’s 2010. i’m not going to tell you how to play a damn .mp3.

2) if you want to stream the entire playlist, you have two options. if you use Winamp (the far superior option for easily listening to .mp3s, in my opinion), Windows Media Player, or RealPlayer, just hit the “WINAMP_STREAM” link.

3) NEW option! iTunes users that want to stream the playlist, just click on the “ITUNES_STREAM” link, and it should work.

4) NEW option! for those of you that prefer/enjoy the podcast, i’ve joined the entire playlist together into one long .mp3. it’s a 160k CBR .mp3, so a bit lower-res than some of the original files, but… very convenient if you want to listen on the go without doing a lot of extra steps. just download, drag, and drop. the track listing is contained both in the comments field (will work in Winamp, but not in iTunes) and the lyrics field (will work in iTunes, but not in Winamp). it’s not truly a podcast at this point, but i’ll work to see if i can make this compatible with RSS-feeds and auto-subscription kinda things in the future… but the first step is out of the way.

5) the .rar file of all the songs in the playlist, including a playlist file. you should just have to download the .rar, unpack it, and then click on the .m3u file contained within, and it should play the entire list in whatever player you have set as default. for those of you that are, ahem, accustomed to downloading music from the internet, this may well be the easiest option.

and, well… shit. not much to say, otherwise. been drinking a lot of whisky, playing some basketball, doing a lot of record shopping, doing a lot of thrift shopping, and playing some poker. if ya got a poker game or a pick-up hoops game that needs a player, let me know!

and… most importantly… let me know what you think of the playlist, and let me know if there’s something i need to hear! i’m in the mood for some new stuff, both personally and professionally, so… hit me up with some links to some new music (and, if it’s something that you are working with / involved with, please let me know if it’s potentially “for public consumption”, ie. for possible consideration for a future playlist like this one.).

thanks!

i know i say it all the time, but… look for another playlist soon. please hit me via email at nyc_AT_selfstarterfoundation.com if you’d like on the mailing list for when there’s a new post (or… configure your RSS-reader… this blog should be compatible, but i don’t use the things myself) or check my out on facebook/twitter (barf), where i will be including these updates, too.

NP: “Free th City” – Surf City. Naming themselves after a Jesus And Mary Chain song, they wear their influences on their sleeve, but… what a great rush of a song. Hot damn.
NP: “The Fraudulent Singer” – Colossal Yes. So catchy. One of those songs that makes you believe in college rock and shoves away all of those “why do i even bother?” kinda doubts.
NP: “So After All” – Airship. If there’s one band I ever put on these playlists that I can fairly certainly say “you’ve never heard this band before, but you should listen to this now because they’re going to be huge someday,” Airship may be it. Grab their 4-song EP on eMusic. Now.
NP: “Death” – White Lies. Yeah… the album kinda sucks, and I hear they are pretty much enormous douchebags, but I kinda like this song anyway.
NP: “Baby Baby You’re My Baby” – Herman Dune. Keeps spitting out the twee hits.
NP: “Know Me” – Toad The Wet Sprocket. Yeah… two playlists, two songs by Toad. Just listen to it and shut up.
NP: “Father And Son” – Cat Stevens. Yeah… it’s kinda the hit. But it’s a great song, and it was in my head for a couple of days while out on tour with The Twilight Sad, so we gave it a couple of spins in the van.
NP: “Love V” – The House Of Love. Nice little instrumental that jumped out at me the other day. i should really listen to those other House Of Love records more, but it’s just so hard to not pick the first one.
NP: “2541″ – Grant Hart. I thought this one of the saddest songs I’d ever heard when I was 17. 20 years on, and I still agree.
NP: “We Are Full Of Light (That Blinds Us At The Moment Of Our Most Needing)” – Rock Plaza Central. Fucking hell… been listening to these Rock Plaza Central recordings for months and months and months, and this song still sends a tingle down my spine everytime I hear it.
NP: “Miss You” – Any Day Parade. Locals trying to do some boy/girl country rock. They’ve got some solid songs, but I keep missing them to see them live.
NP: “Hungover Together” – Best Kissers In The World. Toby Keith and Carrie Underwood need to cover this shit and make Gerald Collier a rich man. Please.
NP: “The June Bug Dance” – Hurray For The Riff Raff. I DID get to see these kids a couple of weeks ago, and they blew me away. Lead singer / songwriter does the repetitive thing a bit too much, but… I like Rock Plaza Central, so I can’t fault her for that. But… that’s my only critique. This is a solid older song, but the new songs these kids played were pretty outstanding.
NP: “Modern Romance” – The Twilight Sad. Sweet and tender Scottish hooligans… who knew they could be so pretty?
NP: “Brass Buttons” – Lemonheads. I’ll admit… I had never heard the original of this (or at least don’t remember it, if i did) when “Lovey” came out, but… this is a really lovely take on this Gram Parsons song. Say what you will about Evan Dando, he’s always had an ear for a good song, and has covered them with care, melody, and feeling. From Lucinda Williams to the Misfits, from Patience & Prudence to the HAIR soundtrack, he’s dropped some amazing ones on us through the years.
NP: “Ramblin’ Gamblin Man” – Bob Seger System. Wake up! It’s time for some rock and roll! Makes me want to run away from home.
NP: “Every Picture Tells A Story” – Rod Stewart. There’s something about the line (and the delivery of the line) “The women I’ve known I wouldn’t let tie my shoe” that gets me every time. Also, at the end I’m always tempted to ask “What’s a ’story donut’?”.
NP: “Petals On An Austin Rose” – The Capstan Shafts. Catchiest 64 seconds I’ve heard in a long time (although this is a coupla years old).
NP: “Do You Like To Read?” – Strand Of Oaks. This song reminds me a lot of “Songs For A Blue Guitar” by Red House Painters. Maybe not quite as good, but… still… pretty high praise (or at least I mean it to be.) Can’t wait until he records the song with the line “I’ll be the first one in the water, and the last to swim.” Jim James has some competition…
NP: “30_milkshakes__2009_06_19.m3u” – stream all of the above songs.
NP: “30_milkshakes__2009_06_19.rar” – rar file of all of the above songs.
NR: same as post above.
NW: same as post above.

It’s all about Rock Plaza Central over here right now… the new album just came out last Tuesday, and i would really appreciate it, if you are at all interested in RPC (or just want to do me a favor), if you would purchase the record this week. As you probably know, first month sales are massively important. So… here are some links for where you can purchase the record in whatever format you prefer:

eMusic (MP3)
Insound (CD)
Paper Bag Records (LP)
Amazon (MP3)
iTunes (MP3)

i should mention… the LP is limited edition of 300, hand-screened and hand-numbered, and absolutely beautiful. I forgot to buy a copy when the band was here a couple of weeks ago, so i need to order one myself, actually.

Here’s the 8.0 Pitchfork review of the record.

Frightened Rabbit will be back in NYC for these shows next month:

07/17/09 Hoboken, NJ – at Maxwell’s – SOLD OUT
07/18/09 Brooklyn, NY – at Siren Music Festival

That’s about all that’s going on right now… Looking for a part-time job, and trying to go see as many movies as possible. If you’ve got any job offers or movie recommendations, please drop me a line and let me know!

big honking playlist of lots of stuff from the last couple of months… let’s just get straight into it.

NP: “Let It Go” – The Asteroid No. 4. Shimmering pop song. Think The La’s, Ride, The Church, Trashcan Sinatras… Amazing.
NP: The New Kid Revival – Her Space Holiday. Another amazing pop song. Been listening to it for months, and as soon as i hit send I’ll realize who his voice reminds me of.
NP: “The Rat” – Dead Confederate. One of two songs with the lyric “bang bang” in this playlist. What are the odds? You’d think this song should be more sinister, or more moody, or more rocking… but it treads a fine line, and it’s pretty great.
NP: “Right Hand on My Heart” – The Whigs. I still don’t like this band. But this song has grown on me in a middle-of-the-road My Morning Jacket kinda way.
NP: “Oh My God” – Ida Maria. I was kinda trying to get Frightened Rabbit to cover this.
NP: “Tone Poem” – Rings. Hypnotic and mindbending… and actually pretty good, too.
NP: “El Vestido” – Juana Molina. I still love the older records more, but… this new Juana Molina record is a really enjoyable listen.
NP: “Short Films” – Spangle Call Lilli Line. Pretty pretty PRETTY song. I kinda wish it didn’t have the violin in it though.
NP: “Cooling The Medium” – Martha + The Muffins. Just bought this record on vinyl for the hell of it. Not really very good, but the chorus of this is nice.
NP: “The Airport Line” – The Week That Was. Love this. Really timeless and awesome.
NP: “Hallie And Henry” – Say Hi. Another album full of great pop songs… it’s hard to keep up. This is my favorite off the (now truncated) new Say Hi album.
NP: “Pull The Wool” – Right On Dynamite. More great pop. You want these guys playing your birthday party.
NP: “Tell Me When You’re Ready” – The 1990s. I was hoping this record would be better. It has a few moments, though.
NP: “Miles Davis & The Cool” – The Gaslight Anthem. Believe the hype, at least about this song by these guys.
NP: “Darkness On The Edge Of Gastown” – Japandroids. Stealing bits from late 80’s Dischord, early 90’s Sub Pop, and the current fuzzy LA all ages scene, Japandroids are a 2-piece from Vancouver who are making some serious noise. This is an older song, but there’s a new album coming out shortly.
NP: “Buy Your Own Fries” – Barack Obama. Stupid and ironic, it’s still kinda funny that this exists.
NP: “Whole G” – Phleg Camp. Classic Montreal emo. (a sentence that’s never been written before? possbly.)
NP: “Rone” – Callers. Pretty and timeless. Almost seems like it should be in a David Lynch movie, but I don’t really know why i’m saying that.
NP: “To The Ghosts Who Write History Books” – The Low Anthem. A somber little shuffle.
NP: “(Don’t You Believe The Words Of) Handsome Men” – Rock Plaza Central. The first single from the new record coming out at the end of May.
NP: “Sundown” – Gordon Lightfoot. Chris Eaton steals that line from this song, so I figured what the hell. It’s a better song than i remembered it being..
NP: “Frankie’s Gun!” – The Felice Brothers. Possibly the best song I’ve heard in a year.
NP: “Back Door Man” – John Hammond. This has to be the definitive take on this song. At least to my ears.
NP: “Rhode Island Is Famous For You” – Blossom Dearie. What a cute song. Sad that we lost Blossom this year.
NP: “Color Spills In” – Honey Clouds. Pastels meets Sone? I don’t know anything about these people but they’ve written at least one great song.
NP: “Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans)” – Parenthetical Girls. Stumbled upon their set at SXSW, and they closed with a really inspired cover of this enigmatic OMD song. This version isn’t as visceral, but still: nicely done.
NP: “Heavy Eyes” – The Depreciation Guild. Moody and shimmering and damn-near perfect..
NP: “The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart” – The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. The closing song on their debut EP, and my favorite song in their live set.
NP: “30_milkshakes__2009_04_09.m3u” – stream all of the above songs.
NP: “30_milkshakes__2009_04_09.rar” – rar file of all of the above songs.
NR: “The Sound And The Fury” by Faulkner, David Foster Wallace excerpt of an unfinished work in The New Yorker.

Some musical updates… how about that?

A couple of nice things that happened during the last two Frightened Rabbit tours have made it to the light of day in the past couple of weeks.

They did really nice sessions with Sound Opinions and World Cafe. Check them out here:
Sound Opinions
World Cafe

Last fall we filmed our performance on Josh Schwartz’s new web-only TV show “Rockville, CA”. Our episode (#13) airs in 2 weeks (April 21st), so I wanted to send this now to give you enough time to, like, get caught up on the really tricky and confusing story line:
Rockville, CA

And then just last week they were featured on a pretty cool new service called Spooonful. Spooonful’s thing is that they pick one good solid awesome artist, give you a decent amount of vital information, and they tell you about it once a week in a simple easy fashion. It’s kinda refreshing. And… i say this with no irony whatsoever: it’s the perfect thing to get your parents or older brother to subscribe to. You know, those people that say to you every holiday “I don’t know how you do it… i just don’t have time to pay attention to new music anymore.”
Spooonful

The newest 30 Milkshakes band is LA’s Fol Chen. Have been fans for a long time, and we’re excited to be officially working with them. They just had a really nice piece on NPR’s “Fresh Air” program:
Fresh Air

They’re also getting played everywhere from BBC Radio 1 to KCRW. They’ll be playing a week of dates in London in June, and then look for them on tour in the USA all summer hopefully!

And then there’s Rock Plaza Central. The long-awaited follow-up to “are we not horses” is finished, in the bag, and coming out May 26th in Canada and June 16th in the USA via Paper Bag Records. It’s titled (are you ready for this?) “…at the Moment of our Most Needing, or If Only They Could Turn Around, They Would Know They Weren’t Alone”. And, honestly… it’s a masterpiece. I couldn’t be happier with what they’ve accomplished.

Just for you dear readers, here’s a special link with three songs (streaming) from the album:
Rock Plaza Central album sampler

Magnet did a little preview piece last month here:
Magnet

And here’s a just-shot blogotheque-style version of another song off the new album:
“Them That Are Good, And Them That Are Bad”

Hey… announcement: looking to sublet 1BR apartment at 2nd and 9th from April 14 through May 15, or possibly longer for the right situation. please email me if you are interested, or feel free to forward along. here’s the craiglist posting:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/sub/1113965236.html

Also… are you searching for a stupid and easy to remember email address? well… have I got just the thing for you. A while ago, on a lark and a joke, I bought the url www.cookiesandfucking.com. You can email me at cookies AT cookiesandfucking.com. Anyway… if you’d like your own lifetime custom @cookiesandfucking.com email address, i’m gonna start selling them for $10. drop me a line and we’ll figure out the process, but you’ll get a username, password, mail server address… i can set up the email to automatically forward to another email address if you’d like, and you’ll also be able to use it with blackberries and web-based mail programs. Or Outlook or whatever you use. You know… like a real email address. Think about it!