Tyler Butler joins the crew over at our label Yer Bird Records and re-releases ‘Winter King’ on March 20th, 2012!

If you are reading Slowcoustic on a regular basis, you already know of Mr. Butler from Edmonton and we are very excited to bring one of our favourite albums of last year home to us over at Yer Bird Records.  We are re-releasing it with a couple of ‘bonus tracks’ as well!  The bonus tracks are a newly recorded version of “Feral Horse” from his previous EP Feral Horse plus the previously unheard title track ‘Winter King’.  All in all we couldn’t be happier here at Slowcoustic/Yer Bird Records with having Tyler on board as this album is simply amazing.  See a quick teaser trailer below plus the track listing.

Tyler Butler :: Winter King (March 20, 2012) from Yer Bird Records on Vimeo.

1) Barghest*
2) Morana*
3) Child-Ghost*
4) House Painter*
5) Waxwing
6) Kingfisher
7) Plover
8) Sparrow
9) Feral Horse (Winter King Version)
10) Winter King (previously un-released)

(*Re-Mastered for the 2012 release)

You also might want to check out a new video for Plover recorded in conjunction with this re-release over on the new Winter King website.  We will be uploading a video performance of all 8 of the original tracks on this site over the next few weeks!  For now also enjoy the newly remastered ‘Morana’ below.

~Smansmith

Small Sur – photo by Henn Pict

Today has been excellent so far.  Really excellent.

Small Sur posted on their Facebook wall this morning about a recent live recording that was up for a free download.  Apparently the long time in the making session for Mobtown Studios came to fruition and we now have 13 tracks to download from the “Microshow: Live in Baltimore” session!  Wrapped up in this set are some new tracks, old tracks (like a personal favourite ‘The Kelp’), mostly new tracks (like the personal favourite ‘The Woods’) and a few covers (like the personal favourite ‘Still Life Blues’ from Elephant Micah).  God damn it is an excellent day so far.

Oh, did I mention that Small Sur also said they are also recording a new album today?  Told you it was an excellent day.

Small Sur – “Still Life Blues (Elephant Micah Cover)” – Microshow Session
(this is just a taster at 192kbps – visit Mobtown for the full session at 320kbps)

Find out more on Small Sur: Website | Facebook | Bandcamp

~Smansmith

P.S.  Does Bob Keal’s vocals on this cover actually sound like Joe O’Connell from Elephant Micah?  I thought so too!

Andrew Sisk (Photo by Scott Munn)

Today’s song of the day is from one Andrew Sisk, who was passed on to me from Matt over at Pigeon Row (see them & their full list of clients here) and I am greatfull this brooding singer songwriter’s newest album is now with me.

The album, Treelines, was released on January 31st and is nine thick-with-character songs recorded “…in his apartment in Montreal with his son Elliott sleeping on his lap during vocal takes, and quietly watching him record classical guitar parts“.  The song “I Whispered It” is a stunning example of what what you would think from that last sentence.  It is a layered but still stripped down beauty – vocals just scratchy enough to feel worn in and echoing guitars in the distance causing texture.  The song both floats and digs into you at first listen.  My only ‘complaint’ is that it ends to soon.  So then, stop and listen for at least two minutes and seventeen seconds today.

Find the full album from Andrew Sisk over on his Bandcamp page.

~Smansmith

Canadian Matt Paxton has a new single from the good folks at Other Songs Music and it is a free download from their Bandcamp page.  The song was finalized late last year with the help from Scott Orr (of Other Songs Music) and features guest vocals by Allison Geleynse.  Its a beauty and I look forward to more from Paxton (you can catch a previous album on his own bandcamp here).

~~

Next we have another look into what we can expect from the upcoming Kim Janssen album Ancient Crime that should see a release from Snowstar Records on March 9th, 2012 (despite their website saying Jan. 26th…typo?).  We previously posted on the stunning lead off single “Tors” (see here) and with the new live performance of ‘Drift’ via InDeKringloop.nl, I have to say I am getting very excited about the album!

Enjoy your hump day by relaxing to these two new tracks already!

~Smansmith

Today sees the release of the newest opus from Elephant Micah. Being big fans around Slowcoustic HQ, this is an even bigger day as we also have a quick interview with Joe O’Connell along with our post on the album!

The album is “Louder Than Thou” and is released from O’Connell’s own label Product of Palmyra in digital and vinyl formats. It is 6 tracks of what might be called a return to form if you thought that was even needed from this Indiana project. First off, it comes in at 6 songs and some of you might say that it is an EP and not an LP, but songs range from 4 1/2 to 7 1/2 minutes each so we can all agree this album while still being a touch short is definitely in the LP arena.

The songs are described as “Avant Americana” and include instrumentation some may find experimental in nature but still natural with the songs. Louder Than Thou fuses a feel for the music instead of arranging 10 x 3 minute tracks of acoustic guitar. Sure I say that flippantly, but it is actually true – the album isn’t straight forward but still includes the bones of what would be called a folk album. Tracks like (my favourite) ‘Airline Living’ has this floating aura with 70s influenced band elements and this bass line straight out of a Sofia Coppola movie soundtrack. As a stand alone track, this one has been a favourite for weeks now.

The lead off single (if that is what you would call it) is the song ‘If I Were a Surfer’ and it could be the beginning to ‘Airline Living’ and is simply a blanket of pure velvety folk goodness.

You might even get a bit of ‘upbeat’ in the track ‘My Cousin’s King’ and ambient instrumental-ism in ‘Rooster On the Loose’ but you always know you are listening to Louder Than Thou. While there is an ebb and flow to the album’s song crafting, it is still a full album and is one that fits into the incredibly deep back catalog of the band.

I had a chance to have Joe O’Connell talk about a few items on who “Elephant Micah” is and a bit about this new album.

~Interview with Joe O’Connell of Elephant Micah~

• For those in the know, they [for the most part] consider Joe O’Connell to be “Elephant Micah”. Who (or what) is Elephant Micah to Joe O’Connell?

I guess Elephant Micah is the name of a project, and I’m the person responsible for that project. The name is just a placeholder… just a title that ties together some series of performances and recordings over time. It’s supposed to be, ah, adaptable.

On this record, Justin and Nathan Vollmar (of the band Vollmar) helped me arrange and record basic tracks. Kate Long, Kyle Langvardt, and Michael Anderson each did overdubs.

• Your website indicates that Louder Than Thou is the “…clearest statement of the Elephant Micah sound”…what should someone take away from the new album if they hear it for the first time today?

This project has developed pretty slowly over time. I think it has only recently started to hit its stride. I would like this record to come across as the work of people who have been at it a long time, who are making their most compelling music in the present, and who are committed to continuing on that trajectory.

On Louder Than Thou – there is an ebb and flow on the album from the softer singer songwriter to the more experimental song crafting – how do you balance the traditional and non-traditional sounds?

On this record, it was less a matter of balancing two different styles and more a matter of creating the right, ah, stylistic contour (?) over the course of the recording. We just aimed to make decisions (in arranging, performing, mixing, etc.) that would allow the songs to hang together… within the overall scope of a record that is fun to listen to, and changes a lot over its course.

What I mean to say is, I was probably looking for a way to have changes in style without polarizing (?) style in terms of folk vs. rock, quiet vs. loud, experimental vs. “poppy,” or whatever.

How is it to be an artist and your own label? Does your label half push you to release more and then your artist side ask to slow down and enjoy the actual music?

Ooh, well, it is impossible. I just want to get this record out there and I don’t know a better way to do it.

• Would you release any other acts on your label? Any side projects that you feel shouldn’t fall under the moniker of Elephant Micah?

Sure, if I had unlimited resources, I would want to help release other people’s music. I can think of lots of great projects to do along those lines. As it stands, though, it takes all the time and money I can muster to get one Elephant Micah record out.

• As a songwriter – do you collaborate, write from experience, collect stories and combine to create an song/album?

I think the answer to this question might be “no.”

I do fool around with words, tunes, and guitar parts a lot. When I hit upon something that piques my interest, I pursue it and try to expand upon it. Sometimes my sense of an idea is strong enough that it will lead to other ideas. I try to string these ideas together into a set that I can record as an album.

My ideas come from playing with language, themes, genre rules… and maybe sometimes the starting point of an idea is something you could call experiential or real… something sort of observational. But that is mainly just a jumping off point for the rhetoric of the song. If I sing about the village of Rocky Ripple, Indiana, for example, it’s because I find it useful for staging a song with a certain aesthetic about “real places” and “real people.” I do like these genres that are take up real life (country, confessional, etc.), but I think that how they work and whether they work is purely a matter of good style, not a matter of true stories.

• Do you feel successful as an indie artist?

At first I wrote “no.” It’s a struggle to gather up all the resources I need to make a record. That’s why it’s been a while between this one and the last one.

But I’m going to go ahead and venture that I do feel successful. I’m managing to make really strong recordings, and get them out to people that derive some meaning from them. I don’t want to come across as anti-commercial in any simple way, or as being indifferent to whether more people hear my music. And I don’t want to claim some integrity or importance on the basis of being “marginal” to the indie music world. But I think I can say that I’m happy with what I’m doing, and I do see it as successful by my standards.

• Who are a few contemporaries that you would want to work with?

Will Oldham, Dark Dark Dark, the Cairo Gang, Small Sur, Hiss Golden Messenger, Vollmar, Pillars and Tongues, Magnolia Electric Company, Breathe Owl Breathe, Lougow, Bronze Float, Time and Temperature, the 1-2-3’s, the Flying Burrito Others, Scout Niblett, Thousand Arrows, Hurray for the Riff Raff, the Luddites, Bubbly Mommy Gun, the Blue River Music Association, Jon Kay, Grease Gravy, Century of Aeroplanes, Jandek, Califone, Little Wings, Aurora Nealand, Delay, For Barry Ray, Ben and Bruno, the Hollows, Open Sex, Norman Oak, Mary Oakie, Joe Manning, Nathan Salsburg and James Elkington, the Red Queen Hypothesis, Honey Radar, Canadian Rifle, Tammar, Uno Moss, June Panic, Alasdair Roberts, Cathy Irwin, Mark Kozelek, June Panic, and more.

• What was your main “New Year’s Resolution”?

“Keep going,” as they say.

~~~

Swing by the Product of Palmyra Bandcamp page HERE to pick up a copy today. Digital is “Pay What You Want” and the vinyl is a limited version of 375 and it will sell out.

~Smansmith

Not much to say here as I literally just started listening to Mr. Willy Tea Taylor about 5 days ago.  Thanks to the heads up from my good friends The Sumner Brothers on this true country crooner.   The voice, the look and the down home warmth you get from listening (even if they aren’t the sunniest of subject matter) is a breath of fresh air.  Despite often getting lost in gritty country tunes, sometimes you need a bit of good ol’ boy mixed in with your whisky.  Just sayin’.

Take a listen to a couple of tracks from his ’4 Strings’ album that came out last year below.  “Life is Beautiful” is what you expect and an amazing country ballad of country life & love.  Also, for a bit of context on this album I included the lead off track ‘Bones’ that gives me a strong Tallest Man on Earth vibe…and we all know we like that around here.

~

Please swing by and take a listen to the album on his Bandcamp page and for more info you can visit his website HERE.

~Smansmith

So the other day my close personal friends The Deep Dark Woods (don’t you know all Canadians know each other?) posted on their website and social outlets about a live download they are giving away.  Well after I feigned hipster nonchalance I casually grabbed a copy of it…I mean whatever…might as well…

Okay, so honestly I was excited and rightfully so.  The download is 8 tracks and does a great job of spanning their discography and shows a range from uptempo jams (of which their live show is known for) and their amazing downtempo balladeer tracks.  The recording is from the Birchmere out in Alexandria, Virginia from January 19, 2012.  I thought I would do you all the favour and send you in their direction to pick it up and give you some sampling below.  You can find it on their website HERE and it is also where the photo atop this post and the banner image on the front page is from.

I have chosen 3 tracks for y’all to sample as each one is from a different album and all stand out.  I have also done you the favour of giving them a slight gain in volume and ever so slight cropping of the tracks with fades…because I love you all.  Now listen and go and grab the whole set from these good ol’ Saskatchewan folks.

“Hang Me, Oh Hang Me (Live at the Birchmere)”
~from ‘Hang Me, Oh Hang Me (2007)’ – Purchase
~
“All the Money I Had is Gone (Live at the Birchmere)”
~from ‘Winter Hours (2009)’ – Purchase
~
“The Place I Left Behind (Live at the Birchmere)”
~from ‘The Place I Left Behind (2011)’ – Purchase

Enjoy your Saturday and simply pretend you are ‘Live at the Birchmere’ out in Virginia if even for a few minutes.

~Smansmith

I have been giving this album some serious spinning for the last month or so and it is indeed a seriously great listen.  The album officially saw its release on Jan. 24th (this past Tuesday) over on Crossroads of America.  The album is available on all your favourites; space age digital, retro CD and exclusive vinyl – of which I recommend the latter…but more on that below.

First off, let us get one thing straight, this album is a creeper.  This album, while seemingly an innocent folksy little collection of mellow singer songwriter jams, is just soo much more and you really realize it from repeated listening.  This album grows on you because it is something that you dig into instead of let play in the background…which all too many people do with “folk” music in general.  If this happens to you with albums, please return to “Baptist Girls” as it unfolds soo immensely that I can’t see anyone not enjoying it.  Well, those that come to a blog called Slowcoustic should all know what I mean.

The album has an eerie comfort attached it with what could be described as it’s honest laments and life observations that just so happen to be attached to music.  These songs are performed with sincerity and you know it – especially with lyrics chosen of self deprecating and inner moments that most of us only think to ourselves.  All sung over acoustic guitar and moody synth in the ether that surrounds you as the listener.  Even being an apparent “lo-fi” recording it sounds full but doesn’t lose the intimacy that is apparent in Bro. Stephen’s recordings.

Listen: “Tears on Tape” – Bro. Stephen

Okay, I said “more on that later” in regards to the vinyl.  I recommend the vinyl version of “Baptist Girls” as it is a phenomenal album in general, so there is that.  It also forces you to listen to the album outside what might traditionally be where you hear most albums these days…your computer.  Unless you have a nice set up, you want to hear this album in its fullness on a home stereo and vinyl usually makes this the only option.  Bro. Stephen provides a delicate folk(ish) album that you can play loud and immerse in… yes, honestly it does really work.  As a bonus, it is on lovely green vinyl, aaaaaaand it is where to get two bonus tracks:

Bonus, bonus, bonus tracks: 2 bonus tracks exclusive to the vinyl option!

So there you have it, best new music and a great album that I fully recommend.  So swing by Crossroads of America to pick up your copy by clicking HERE.

Find more on Bro. Stephen:  XRA Records | Facebook | Twitter | Website | Purchase at Bandcamp

~Smansmith

Today’s song of the day is a cover of the classic track ‘Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want’ from The Smiths as performed by Pickering Pick.  Gone is the dramatically mellow angst only to be replaced by sombre aching alongside the ambient acoustics.  While we are not comparing which song is better and both are the same lyrically but give total different listens despite being the ‘same’ song.  Pickering Pick removes himself from the persona of Morissey and The Smiths and simply creates a great version of a classic song.

“Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want (The Smiths Cover)” – Pickering Pick
As part of the Rate Our Music #08 compilation “See You on the Other Side”  (FREE DOWNLOAD)

Visit and listen to more from Pickering Pick on his Bandcamp Page.

~Smansmith

I know I have posted many times on this album and I am releasing it on my label over at Yer Bird Records, so I can’t really get into it anymore without making y’all upset.  So then, here is a track to listen to and let’s pretend that this is the first you have heard of this discovery and are ready to purchase and send me personal thanks for bringing it to your attention.

Find out more from our Label page or Bandcamp page.
Purchase: Label | iTunes | Amazon

~Smansmith

Today’s (free) Song of the Day is from Noah Gundersen’s “B-Sides” one track release over on his Bandcamp page.  The track is Avalanche and is a recommendation for the hurt lover that pines from afar in all of us.  The song kind of makes you think that some of the most intense love affairs can happen between people that have never met.  Oh, and it’s an extremely pretty song as well.

You can find the above track as a free download (with email address) via his bandcamp page here.   If ‘Avalanche’ above does something for you, make sure you look into his most recent album “Family” as well as you will not be disappointed.

Find more on Noah Gundersen: Facebook | Twitter | Bandcamp

~Smansmith

Water Liars (formerly ‘Phantom Limb’) are Andrew Bryant and Justin Kinkel-Schuster and they have an album coming up on Misra Records in March.  Just found out and just started to pine for it.  Just saying.

Both musicians have been featured on Slowcoustic prior (Andrew Bryant | Justin Kinkel-Schuster) and so this has to be a good thing…right?  You might also know of Justin as the singer for the band Theodore, so there is that as well to entice you.  So far I have only heard the below acoustic videos of a couple of tracks and admittedly the word is that the album versions are a bit different, but these sound soo good.  So consider this fair warning.  Water Liars – March 5th, 2012 on Misra Records.

~

~

Remember, don’t get confused with the name change – they are Water Liars and the album is Phantom Limb (it was formerly going to be a self titled album….make sense?).

Find out more on Water Liars: Misra Records | Facebook | Twitter (I assume the name change will happen here at some point)

~Smansmith

Tomorrow sees the CD Release Show for hometown troubadour Reuben Bullock over at the Arrata Opera House here in Calgary.  I believe there is still space but make sure you check into the Facebook event for more info.

The new album “Man Made Lakes” from Bullock sees an album growth from the previous “Pulling Up Arrows” (see our feature here).  The new album is 11 tracks and honestly shows a full range of performances from delicate introspective to punchy indie rock.  Well mostly it is to the softer side but there is always something about Bullock’s performance that lets you know there is something inside almost clawing to get out.  Whether it is the gothic “Burial” to the definitely epic sing a long “Bow and Arrow”.

Where the album soars is in the moody and hallow tracks like “How to Fight” and “Pray For You” and even the stunningly fragile “Once Upon a Time” or “Lullaby”.  I also must list the track “We Belong” as it seems like the epitome of a Reuben Bullock track; focused acoustics along with the back and forth of cadence in the songcrafting.  The type of song you know brings the house down at live shows.  Wait…if there was a live show to see him where would you go?  Tomorrow’s CD Release makes for the perfect moment to see the album, hear the artist and come away with a new favourite album in Man Made Lakes.

Take a listen to a couple of tracks below to get you started along with a recent Streaming Cafe performance of a earlier Slowcoustic favourite “The Rain”.

~

Find out more on Reuben Bullock: Facebook | Bandcamp | Website |

~Smansmith

Kim Janssen (photo snagged from Last.fm)

Today’s song of the day is a beauty from Kim Janssen’s upcoming album “Ancient Crime” due out soon.  Okay, I don’t really know when, but I predict it to be fairly soon!  Some of you might know him from his “day job” in the band The Black Atlantic and some of you may know him from his great 2009 album “The Truth is, I am Always Responsible” (we had a quick mention and track back in early 2010 here).   The new song “Tors” is very reminiscent of his previous album, which is a good thing, and hence I have high hopes for ‘Ancient Crime’.  Just take a listen to the delicate acoustics and tell me you are not as well…

Make sure you keep an eye out for this one (as I am) and I hope to update you with more on the release very soon!

Visit Kim Janssen: Facebook | iTunes

~Smansmith

Message To Bears - Photo by Luke Doyle

I love the original song (it is actually one of my all time favourite tracks) but there is something about a cover track not sounding like a carbon copy, ya know?  For this cover songs, ‘Wolves’ while originally also a beautiful and sparse acoustic number in its own sense, Message To Bears takes the acoustic song forward with layers of his own that almost make the song a different beast all together.  While the cover finds the song becoming less tortured and aching than the original, it is still a great homage to the song in my opinion.

Find Message To Bears: Bandcamp (new album is stunning) | Facebook | Twitter
Find Phosphorescent’s album “Pride”: Dead Oceans Label

Enjoy your Sunday!

~Smansmith

Found this EP just the other day due to an invite to a local house show here in Calgary.  Wow, am I glad that I got that invite.

So the artist is Paul Stewart and to be honest, I have only been listening to this EP for about 4 days now…but it has been a glorious 4 days.  The 5 songs are available as a “name your price” download over on his Bandcamp page and I immediately dropped my $5 for it after about 48 seconds of total preview split between all 5 tracks.  Why do I note this?  I am noting this as I almost can’t put forward one song as the lead track or single from it – they are all frickin’ great.  He describes his sound as “Defeatist Folk” or as many readers of this blog might call it, “Sad Bastard Folk”.  The songs might be a bit down on their luck but at the same time bring such rich beauty and comfort that I almost miss that fact.

I am selecting 2 tracks to embed below and they are the opening and closing tracks: “Glass Skull” opens the EP with gentle sepia toned echoes of lost summers…you almost picture the song playing over silent video footage of a summer camp in the 50s…it sounds like it floats due to what could be a slide guitar/pedal steel in the background, then the piano hits for the last few moments – stunning.

~~

Next is the closing track “Crowd Cocoon” which comes in a bit more ominous but with many of the same elements of piano, acoustics, reverb…but used in a more late night solitary drinking binge sort of way.  As many sad bastards know, this can be some of the most stunning and wrecking moments…the same can be said about the song.  It kills me each time I hear it.

~~

As I mentioned, all tracks are worthy, so if you like the above 2 tracks then there are 3 more just waiting for you and they are just as good.  Highly recommended.

Calgary Concert Alert: Any Calgarians can find Paul Steward at ‘The White House’ next weekend – January 21st with Alex Wesley Cardinal on their Winter Tour.  See the Facebook event for more details.

Find Paul Stewart: Bandcamp | Facebook

~Smansmith

We/Or/Me - Photo by Bobby Aazami

Today is a quick post on a repeat offender around here in a song & video of the day from Bahhaj Taherzadeh (or We/Or/Me).  His most recent album is called Sleeping City and it came out midway through last year.  As you can expect it comes with great slowed down harmonies and almost lullabye infused folk.  Sounds about right for a man who now has twin girls at home…

Listen to “Sun Came Up” from We/Or/Me below:

~~

Sun Came Up by we/or/me from Ramin Eshraghi Yazdi on Vimeo.

You can find more from Bahhaj over on his Website as well as his Bandcamp Page (I recommend the CD bundle for Sleeping City with Ghostwriter!).

~Smansmith

p.s.  Ramin Eshraghi Yazdi who made the video above also did a more recent video from the same album “Across the Country” and he is apparently from right here in Calgary!  Nice.

A quick update on our upcoming release over on Yer Bird Records from John Statz: its now streaming in full on our bandcamp page!  The album is due for release in two weeks (January 24th) and will have a limited CD release alongside the super futuristic digital versions that all the kids are talking about.  The album is 10 tracks and includes some of the most honest rural Americana you will find (I am biased though…apparently).  If you don’t believe me, just take a listen to tracks like the banjo laden ’1898′ and the heartfelt laments like ‘Tired of Telephones’ or ‘Baltimore’ and then dig into the beautifully stripped down cover of Frightened Rabbit’s ‘Old Old Fashioned’.  Just a suggestion but you should swing by and give ‘er a spin.

~

While this isn’t Statz’s first kick at the can at making great Americana albums (proof), we are just proud and excited to be on board with him and his latest album.  Old Fashioned was produced by legendary Bo Ramsey (who also lends some vocals/guitar) with the added bonus of Jeremiah Nelson playing almost everything (and who did the artwork) and the icing on this talented cake would be the lovely Peita Brown!  It is a collaborative effort for sure and the results ends up as quality listening for you laid back country folk types.

Visit John Statz: Website | Old Fashioned on Bandcamp | Yer Bird Records

~Smansmith

P.S. Find a great post by our friends over at Cover Lay Down on the album HERE.

Quick Sunday post for all you looking for some great mellow tunes over coffee.  And it is completely free!

Found via my twitter feed (I love when others do all the ground work – thanks Leentje!) and I have to say, it is incredibly beautiful to listen to and if possible use headphones.  While it is halfway between acoustic folk and shoegaze pop it can find a home with lovers of both.  Tracks like “Winter’s Wall” that opens the album has a pseudo electro start that yields to a piano/acoustic ballad with a bit of electro pop drumming.   More true Slowcousticals will enjoy the tracks “Gold” and “A Heart You Can’t Find” especially – so I will include both below and make sure you head over to their website to download the 7 track FREE album (and in better quality 320 kbps files).

RIYL: Melodramatic Pop Songs – but in a good way.

“Gold”
“A Heart You Can’t Find”

Visit Wise Children: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr

~Smansmith

Zachary Lucky and Carly Maicher (two of my current favourite Canadian acts) are going to be here in Calgary tomorrow.  The show is at the House of Commons which is literally 3 blocks from where I am typing this.  So I don’t really have an excuse, right?

Zachary Lucky

Lucky has just finished mixing his new album “Saskatchewan”, so we can hope to expect some new material with addition to his stellar back catalog including his amazing 2010 album “Come and Gone”.  Speaking of which, you can swing by his Bandcamp page to purchase a recent live performance that will benefit the printing/promotion of the new album by visiting that release here.

~~~

Carly Maicher

This week I also received my hand silk screened CD copy of Carly Maicher’s album “Hiding” – a nice little post holiday gift to myself!  This album is another folk, singer-songwriter gem from the prairies and was a surprise/out of nowhere late year find.  This album is absolutely stunning and comes very highly recommended.

Lucky assists on Maicher’s album and Maicher assists on the new live recording from Lucky as well.  So what could be better than both playing together here in Calgary tomorrow.  I would say just about nothing.

Facebook Event
(House of Commons – 6435-Bow Crescent NW)

Zachary Lucky: Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter
Carly Maicher: Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter

~Smansmith

The Sumner Brothers - photo by Nate Lepp

Recently I received the December newsletter from The Sumner Brothers (sign up on their website here) and for the last bit they have been coming with a new cover song each month.  Well, to be honest they have been absolutely stellar.  Some Cash, some Haggard and even some Waits.  Well this December came a great track originally from Airon Dugas (or A.P. Dugas as he records under…I believe) called “Old Skin”.  It was recorded essentially solo from Brian Sumner and it has floored me lately, it is that good.  While I have been a fan of the Sumner Brothers for years, Dugas is new to me from the last month or so.

A.P. Dugas - photo by Kristin Dione Photography

So, after telling you that the most recent cover song is that good, I am not posting it.  I’m a bastard that way.  Sign up for the newsletter and get it free – I ain’t stealing music from musicians…I’m a blogger!  ;-)  No seriously – both A.P. Dugas and The Sumners have been on serious repeat lately after hearing that cover song, so I thought I would throw a few tracks at ya to get you on board.

Tomorrow Wendy by A.P. Dugas by Pluckluck Seattle
~
Lose Your Mind by Bob Sumner by Pluckluck Seattle
~
09 Ticket to Ride by thesumnerbrothers
~
A.P. Dugas – Old Skin by For The Sake Of The Song
~

Bonus is the video for Carolina from A.P. Dugas that I found about a week or so ago via The Sumner Brothers Facebook page.  Soo good.

So class, what are you listening to?  That is right – The Sumners and Airon Dugas.  Thank you.

Visit The Sumner Brothers: Website, Facebook & Twitter
Visit A.P. Dugas: MySpace (sorry, not too much on Dugas…yet)

~Smansmith

p.s.  If you haven’t heard the Sumner Brothers cover Townes Van Zandt’s “Colorado Girl” you are in for a treat.  Visit HearYa who posted it a while back right here.

May your pace be lessened and your guitar be unplugged.Have a Slowcoustic 2012 everyone!

— Slowcoustic (@Slowcoustic) January 1, 2012

Sean Hayes
“New Years Day” (mp3)
from “Outtakes & Alternatives”
(Sean Hayes)

Buy at Amazon MP3
More On This Album

Quick hitter today from Slowcoustic Favourite Lotte Kestner in the form of a new cover project that includes a beautiful homage to Ghosts I’ve Met!

Anna-Lynne Williams (Lotte Kestner and 1/2 of Trespassers William) emailed me to give me the heads up while I was away on holidays last week and with my sporadic internet it was almost painful to not be able to listen.  Well, I have now been listening to the cover and it was worth the wait.  If you are familiar with Williams, she can add a stillness and beauty to almost any song…even if that song is already a stunner.  The original track from Sam Watts (Ghosts I’ve Met) is the title track from his own debut EP from a few years back and he and Williams have now connected in Seattle and what could be better than one covering the other?  Enjoy.

Find out more from Lotte Kestners new covers EP HERE.  Find the original by Ghosts I’ve Met HERE.

~Smansmith

This track has seriously been on repeat for about 2 weeks and qualifies for “Best New Music” already. You know him, but do you know him as a “solo artist”?  Ryan Boldt of The Deep Dark Woods looses none of the prairie roots magic with his own material in comparison to the DDWs.

The track is “Mary Hamilton’s Last Goodnight” and is a spectacularly slow and waning Canadiana track.  The signature vocals of Boldt that immediately bring you to those achingly beautiful tracks from his day job as lead of the Saskatchewan indie heroes The Deep Dark Woods.  I apologize for consistently mentioning the band as this track stands alone as proof of Boldt as a solo artist (even if he isn’t one).  Thanks again to Zachary Lucky & the Prairie Roots Revue for bringing this recording to my attention.  Everyone, enjoy your new favourite track, “Mary Hamilton’s Last Goodnight”.

Follow Ryan Boldt on Facebook and follow on Twitter already!  You can also find The Deep Dark Woods and their newest album (our #3 album of 2011) “The Place I Left Behind” HERE.

~Smansmith

Well I have to say I was surprised on a few of them but then sat back and thought to myself that while I might still be “Mr. Slowcoustic” that isn’t my only side, hell, I’m multi-faceted damn it!  Turns out, so is Mr. Woods.  If nothing else I think I want to know him more now.   I mean, look/listen to this guy…don’t you want to know more?

*above image stolen from Tympanogram, just because.

“Put on Cologne” – Donovan Woods
(from his upcoming EP ‘Don’t Get Too Grand’)
((…and if you don’t “get” the song title, you aren’t smart enough for Donovan Woods’ Twitter feed))
Find more of his most recent release, The Widowmaker on his bandcamp page HERE.

~~~

Eleven Songs I Got Big-Time Into This Year  (in no meaningful order)
~~~

10. We Owned The Night – Lady Antebellum

This song is completely perfect. I heard it in a coffee shop then sang it to a person I know who likes new country radio stations and they told me what it was. That is not to say that I don’t like new country radio stations; I do, very much. I just hadn’t heard this song yet. Country music stations are one of the most efficient ways to learn about songwriting. Popular country songs are formed perfectly for mass human enjoyment. Their pre-choruses hit and you brain goes, “oh man, here comes the chorus!” It’s like watching American football. Suddenly you care intensely but you have no idea why.  I mean, say what you want about “country” content, their delivery is second to none. This song excels beyond most. The verse melody is stupid good, there’s a guitar riff that you can’t possibly not hum, a guy and a girl sing in perfect harmony, and the words aren’t dumb. Don’t be greedy; what more do you want in your life?

9. Crew Love – Drake

The guy says “Cause they’re lovin’ the crew” so much that it starts to not sound like actual words. But I got into that! This song is formed so dumb it’s amazing. Listen to it in good headphones and it feels like you’re having inner-ear problems. I can’t relate to one word in this song. I don’t fly girls in from Poland because they want to hang out with my group of friends. I can’t think of any active haters who’re affecting my life. But it makes me feel cool as hell. It also feels extraordinarily modern and I like that in my ears while I’m leaving work or while riding the subway, pretending I’m too good to be riding the subway.

8. Change the Sheets – Kathleen Edwards

This is what I’m currently big-time into. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a songs person. I will listen to a song over and over on repeat until I can’t stand it. Then I don’t listen to it for months. Then it comes back. That is what my brain asks me to do and that’s what I’m presently doing with this song. I love her singing. I love what she does at the end of lines. She’s tough. She is just the best. I’ve loved all her records and I’m certain I’ll love her new one. I know someone who is in her family and they told me she’s heard my records and thought they were OK. If this is true, I am happy.

7. Behave – Robyn Dell’Unto

This song has been stuck in my head for many months. (side-note: I’ve also had The Odd Couple theme song stuck in my head for a decade, so it’s in good company). This is the only person on this list that I know and can email and I did email her when I first got into this song. She is just an absolute pleasure to listen to. Robyn’s voice is so reassuring and personal and always in a register that my brain likes. The beginning of the 2^ndverse is when it becomes my jam. It’s kind of indifferent and wistful and sad, but so sweet sounding. The chorus is so satisfying, the way it trails out. This is a good song.

6. Here and Heaven – Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile

This shit is ridiculous. My Favourite song of the year, hands down. It’s devastating in content and delivery. It’s also devastating in that I’ll never achieve anything quite like it even if I try and try and try… I’ll die and never do it.

5. A Man Don’t Have to Die – Brad Paisley

I read a profile of Brad Paisley in The New Yorker and if you’ve ever read their profiles you know there’s always a point where you learn something vile and hideous about the subject’s life. It turned out though, to just be about how awesome Brad Paisley is. I could not agree more. Not all of his songs do it for me (sometimes the narrative is too sappy or patriarchal or alcohol soaked) but the good ones do it real good. This is a good one. It’s about as close as country radio can get to playing a protest song. That’s my opinion!

4.  Rainbow in the Dark – Das Racist

I run on the treadmill to this song and it always refreshes me when it comes on. It’s not especially inspiring or anthemic (which I don’t think is actually a word). There’s just something about it that traps my brain in a good way.  I’ve done so much thinking about the lyrics to this song and that’s really something because most of them are near nonsense: “Peep us at the Grammy’s we’d like to thank G-chat, we’d like to thank weed rap. The best rapper is b-real – jokes, it’s us, come on, be real.” About 2 minutes in, the song really plateaus right when the guy raps, “you couldn’t see me like a Cuban playin‘ hockey. Cracker into chocolate, that’s human Pocky”. He gets into a rhythm that’s right on the beat and incredibly satisfying. Songs “plateauing” and becoming suddenly, momentarily, blissfully perfect is one of my favourite subjects to discuss. A great example of a song hitting a perfection plateau is The Band’s “Rag Mama Rag” when Levon sings, “Hail stones beating on the roof, the bourbon is a hundred proof…”. Give that a listen and see what I’m getting at.

3. Anti-Pioneer – Feist

This is the type of song that Feist seems to be able to write at her leisure. I cannot get enough of it. The chorus melody and the way she drags it out even though we know where it’s headed? Come on. It’s beautiful and wistful and sad and reassuring. This woman is the best there is. You hear guitar parts all over her record and think “that’s so awesome, who’s playing that?” Then you see her on TV and she plays them all. All the riffs you were interested in, she plays while singing and being cool as hell. Her new record is just full of great songs, recorded and arranged greatly. Song after song, she is extraordinary.

2. Murder to Excellence – Jay-Z and Kanye West

This is the type of confident, swaggering production that makes Kanye the best. It’s not even really in tune. It doesn’t matter. Try not to nod your head with purpose when this comes on. So many of his tracks are completely undeniable. “Lucifer” off  Jay-Z’s Black Album is another of myriad examples. Put them on and boom – you’re into it. They change your mind. He understands what makes people feel cool.

1.  Johnny Cash – Fred Eaglesmith

This is a song off Fred Eaglesmith’s forthcoming record “6 Volts”. I’ve only heard it live, once, in Guelph Ontario. It’s essentially just Fred admonishing us for getting so into Johnny Cash while he was dying, then dead. “The radio station plays him all the time, too bad they never played him when he was alive, oh you sure do like Johnny Cash now.” It’s angry, almost uncomfortable and it’s rad. Fred is, I give you my word, one of the best songwriters in the world. His songs have been recorded by huge country stars like Alan Jackson and by whiny folk losers like me. If you’ve never seen him, do so if you can. His band is how I dream my non-existent band will one day sound.

~~~

O Holiday Soundtrack

It is the time of year for festivity, egg nog, and all the tinsel you can humanly tolerate – and nothing will tie together all that merriment better than a great holiday soundtrack. But Christmas music, as a genre, is kind of like death metal. Some (like me) love it and get unreasonably excited about it. For others, well… let’s just say that nothing quite draws their ire like hearing “Santa Baby” every time they pump their gas.

Love them or hate them, some versions of Christmas songs can totally miss the mark. The “holly” and “jolly” songs aren’t the most egregious offenders — it’s those melancholy jams you have to look out for. But how does that even happen, anyways?! These are songs we all grew up with and know better than any others!

An artist’s quest for unique interpretation can often get in the way of reverence, and what started out in earnest can sometimes end in a pretentious mess. For example, with umpteen overtly morose versions of “Blue Christmas,” you’ll probably find that perhaps the most unique and affecting is actually from the Rankin-Bass classic, “The Year Without a Santa Claus.” That song breathes in new dimensions of woe when framed as a child’s longing for Kris Kringle.

Sometimes an artist gets it just right, though. This year, my favourite by far has been Josh T. Pearson’s version of “O Holy Night.” His bittersweet rendition takes some liberties, but he makes the song his own while letting the it keep its identity – a balance most are unable to find.

Josh T. Pearson – O Holy Night by Mute UK

With that, have a happy holiday season! Whether it be campy, melancholy, or somewhere in between…

You just might want to swing by her blog and check out some recent posts on her best albums of 2011 (and new contributor Andrew’s best albums) and if you wanted to discover new music via her growing collection of artist interviews.  You can also find April spouting wisdom in 140 character bursts via twitter @CommonFolkMusic.

~~~

I promised to write an opinion piece, but I can’t seem to get my thoughts together to write one.  My brain is a strange thing that stays cluttered with random ideas and obsessive thoughts, so often times it’s hard for me to give them a home in a cohesive sentence.  If I don’t makes lists, take notes, or make an outline, then, more often than not, I ramble or make a million and one mistakes as opposed to just a million mistakes.  And, it’s completely different when I speak, because, then, I lose my train of thought, stop in the middle of sentence until I figure out where I want to go with the statement and conversation. I’m rambling now so I will tell you that my guest post is about finding my way and self through folk music and how growing up in Appalachia has influenced that.

I can tell you it took a while for me to find my way to folk music. Growing up, it was the usual 80s music like WHAM!, Ah-ha, Warrant, Bon Jovi and other bands who capitalized on big hair and bad fashion. Then, in high school and college, I transitioned to R&B and Hip Hop with a little bluegrass mixed in (I’ll explain later), and I have no idea why I was drawn to all that bass.  The only bands I’m not ashamed of admitting to liking are R.E.M and U2, who have stayed with me until this day. In my twenties I discovered alt-country/Americana through Ryan Adams and Gram Parsons, then a few years later I found my way to folk music and all of its sub-genres. And, when I found folk, I think I found myself, and, thus, the beginning and basis for my blog Common Folk Music.

Folk music is an extension of oral traditions like folk lore. And, like folklore, it evolves through the generations.  The most interesting thing about folk music is that the narratives, ballads, instrumentation, and styles vary from region to region throughout North America. In 18th century Appalachia, the majority of the inhabitants were immigrants from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland who passed down their traditions in the form of Irish reels, ballads like “House Carpenter” and my personal favorite “Wayfaring Stranger”, and dance tunes like “Cumberland Gap”.  These traditional songs were usually fatalistic narratives around themes of love, religion, and death usually sung with or without instrumentation such as the banjo, mandolin, guitar, fiddle and dulcimer.  Later on, in the 19th century, the folk singers and songs began to address the news of the day and region, natural disasters, war, and labor struggles.

16 Horsepower – “Wayfaring Stranger”

While studying History at The University of Charleston, I became heavily entrenched in Appalachian and labor history.  If anyone is familiar with West Virginia history and the region’s history in general, then you should know that we have been heavily exploited, oppressed, stereotyped and forgotten about, but the one thing you do not know, is that we are survivors, we’re proud, and we’re extremely hospitable, charitable and hospitable. I believe that these honorable characteristics are the result of the troubles we have faced as well as the isolated environment.  These struggles and the isolation are also reflected in our music with the themes mentioned above.  And, my studies on Appalachian and labor history, mine wars, and our culture have greatly influenced my musical taste, and, also, who I am as a person.

Sarah Ogan Gunning – “Come All Ye Coal Miners”

Or

Jean Ritchie – “L & N Don’t Stop Here Anymore”
Jean Ritchie – The L and N Don’t Stop Here Anymore by wirralite

But, not only are culture and physical surroundings influential on a person’s taste, family dynamics and environment are too.  My mom grew up in West Virginia and my dad grew up deep in the Allegheny Mountains of Covington, Virginia.  And, while mom was pregnant with me, my dad wanted to name a boy Willie Waylon, so it’s only fitting I have a deep and profound love of classic country, alt-country and folk music.  When I was ten, my mom and dad divorced.  I haven’t had much of a relationship with him since.  This caused a few identity issues.  I look and act exactly like my father, and, even though I lived with my mom and was closest to her family, I still felt out of place and different because I was nothing like them.

Then, on the rare occasion I did visit my dad’s family, I felt like I belonged, so this led me to bluegrass since that’s what my uncles and dad listened to.  Both my uncles and grandfather play guitar, but my dad could play both the guitar and banjo, so I can remember my dad and uncle playing some southern gospel and country tunes on the porch of my uncle’s house or in his kitchen.  There’s one song in particular that holds a special place in my heart for this reason and that is, The Carter Family’s “Will The Circle Be Unbroken.”  It’s this introduction to bluegrass, southern gospel and country that eventually brought me to alt-country, Americana, folk and its subgenres. And, although my dad and I don’t talk or acknowledge each other often, he has unwittingly influenced my musical taste and character.

Johnny Cash, Ricky Skaggs, Roy Acuff, Bruce Hornsby, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, etc.. – “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”

So, it’s these musical influences that have guided my decision to create Common Folk Music.  As you now know, Appalachia has not only affected me and my tastes, but the world around with its culture, history and music.  Though modern folk music does not strictly follow the traditions, it is still reflected in the spirit of the genre.  And, through Common Folk Music I wanted to share my love for these genres as well as others that catch my attention.  Music in general – no matter how horrible – is folk music because it’s for the people from the people.

Modern Folk:
Steve Earle – “The Mountain” (1999 album)

and/or

HoneyHoney – “Don’t Know How”
04 Don’t Know How by LostHighwayRecords

(I’ve been listening to this a lot and feel like it fits)

Bryan John Appleby “Honey Jars”

The Prophet Bar - Dallas Observer Music Awards Showcase (Dallas, TX) - October 15, 2011 {click image to visit the Nicholas Altobelli website}

If you are unfamiliar with Altobelli’s work, you can find him right here on Slowcoustic in a favourite “Song of the Day” post we had for his excellent “The Regulator” album.  You can find the album at his web storealong with great prices on a couple of newer releases you should be checking out!  So let’s get on the interview with ex-Whiskeytowner Caitlin Cary;

~~~

One of the biggest honors of my short career was having the overly talented and very underrated, Caitlin Cary, sing on my album and opening up for her new band in Denton, Texas called The Small Ponds.  Caitlin was kind enough to let me ask her some questions about the band, touring and the worst show she’s ever played…  Thanks Caitlin!

How and when did The Small Ponds begin?

Well, we really began in 2009, when I got brave and asked Matt to be my partner for Raleigh’s traditional post-Valentines duet show The Love Hangover.   I had been a fan of his band The Proclivities.  Loved his songs, loved his voice, loved his stage presence.

The concept of the Hangover is that boy-girl duos who don’t normally perform together unite to sing a few of their choice favorite covers on the subject of love.  I think I can remember our set:

Lucinda Williams: Prove My Love
Solomon Burke: If You Need Me
Tegan & Sara: Call it Off
Patience & Prudence (via “The Jerk”): Tonight You Belong to Me
Neil Young: Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash: If I Were a Carpenter

Because we loved the same songs (or could talk each other into loving them), because we got along like long-lost brother and sister or besties, because we had a great time singing together, because we had a great one-off show, we decided to try trusting each other with co-writing.  And we met up for the next six months or so until we’d arrived at enough songs to think about playing a show.  At which point we needed a name…

How did you come up with the name?

Oh, I wish there was a better story to it.  I also wish I had a better memory of what the other names in contention were.  I know one was “The Blowsies,” Which I still love, because I love the sound and the definition of the word “Blowsy.”  But since we worried people would think we meant that we thought we blew, we went with “The Small Ponds.”  It was really just: cocktails in hand, tossing around words and phrases until one felt right.  We’ve been challenged to say what we mean by the name, and we’ve managed, thus far, to be witty enough in our banter to deflect the question.

It seems people have trouble describing the band’s sound (that’s a good thing), how would you describe it?

Our local critic called it “chamber pop.”  That doesn’t hurt my feelings, so I’ve gone with it.

You have done many duet roles… Ryan Adams, Thad Cockrell and now The Small Ponds… is that something you prefer doing rather than being a solo artist?

I definitely find a lot of pleasure in collaboration, and I love the way it feels to duet with someone with whom I have some kind of “soul understanding.”  I know what it feels like to try singing with someone who I don’t have that connection with, but describing what it means to feel it takes better words than I have command of.  It’s like a tensile strength–that force that just barely holds up a drop of emotion without letting it fall down to the bottom of the puddle.  It’s not really comfort–that would just be boring.  But it can’t be too difficult, either.  It’s certainly not the same as romance or even friendship, but it shares some characteristics with those.

I guess for the time being I prefer collaboration to solo performing.  I sometimes felt the weight of being the “front guy” too heavy. I loved it sometimes, but I think I prefer to spread out the pressure. And I also somehow feel that music is inherently about collaboration and connection, so it seems very natural to me to work that way.

How does the songwriting process work in the band?

Every song is its own character and comes to being in its own way.  We’ve written in all kinds of ways: I come with most of a song and Matt helps me structure it and make it nuanced; he comes with a riff and we “blank page it”; one of us introduces a theme and a line or two and we work out from there.  I really think that just as soon as you think you understand process and start trying to work out from that convention, it flops.  You have to be open to every mode of working.  And you have to just keep putting dates on the calendar to write together.  And you have to have faith.  All of this is advice to myself, and to Matt, as well as to any other collaborating team that’s reading.  (Smiley face).

Is songwriting easy for you or is it a long process?

See above.  It’s both.  Mostly it’s not automatic.  But it sometimes is, and that’s just a gift.

What are plans for The Small Ponds in 2012?

We will launch a Kickstarter campaign soon, with the idea of raising the funds to record a full-length record with Sam Kassirer at Great North Recording Society in Maine.  We’ve been working up to this for a long time, and I think we’ve got a collection of songs that will really stretch the fabric of the duet suit!  Sam is an amazing producer, and we know that with him, in his space, and with our devotion, we’re going to make a really smashing record.

Any plans on releasing another solo album in the future?

Um, yes.  There are definitely songs that I’m working on that will not fit with any of the groups I’m part of.  So, someday, yes.

Ok, now on to touring… do you like to tour?

I like it and I hate it.  I’m sure just about everyone would say that.  There’s nothing harder, and there’s nothing more fun.  It’s definitely time out of time, a release.  And there’s the joy, every night, of performing, which is immeasurable, as is the gratitude that comes along with it for me.  There’s nothing easy about touring, but it’s most assuredly not “life,” and it makes a mockery of the passage of “normal” time.  Plus, if you’re going around with other people, there are always a thousand really funny jokes.  Which, without exception, are un-funny to everyone else who wasn’t there.  That’s also my touring advice: keep the band jokes to yourself, but never stop making them.

What was it like touring for the first time?

I had absolutely, positively no idea what to expect.  I had no rock n’ roll fantasy, and virtually no conception, romanticized or otherwise, what life on the road would be like.  To be honest, in Whiskeytown, it was often pretty lonely.  I was the only girl, and I felt quite at sea, probably a little like how a soldier feels when s/he’s drafted and sent to a foreign country.  That’s not complaining, though.  I would not trade the experiences I had for any other set of early-twenties memories.  I love what those years taught me, and I expect everyone has to scrabble over some loose rocks and get a little busted up in order to get to the life that fulfills them.

Touring can be really hard to deal with sometimes, are there any tricks of the trade that you’ve discovered over these years?

See above. Also, be really, really nice to people’s parents.  Parents have better beds, better food, better sheets, and they tend to stay where you left them so you can go back to their houses the next time through.  They also go to bed, so you’re not responsible for being the entertainment at the party after the show.

If you didn’t join Whiskeytown in the 1990s and never got into music, what do you think you would be doing now for a career?

I thought I’d be a professor of English.  Or a vet.

Any musical guilty pleasures you’ve been listening to lately?

10CC!!!!!!

If you could sing with anyone, who would it be?

Doc Watson.

If you could play at any venue, where would it be?

Oh, any place with red velvet curtains, a nice, competent sound crew, and the kind of acoustics that make that crew irrelevant.  This might be somewhere in Europe so that I could have a memorable meal afterwards, but that’s not essential.

If you could live in any city or state (other than your current residence) where would it be?

I’m honestly pretty excited about/content with where I live now.  But I’ve always entertained a fantasy of living in the American Southwest.  I’d probably feel really weird there, but I like to imagine it.  Alternatively, I’d love to escape our fucked up politics, so maybe I’d choose Switzerland or Sweden or Holland–somewhere where I could live in the comfortable idea of everyone having some kind of safety net.  Seems that’s slipping everywhere, though, maybe–hard to keep anyone or any place on a political pedestal these days!

What was the worse show you’ve played that you can remember?

It’s great to always have an easy answer to this question:  East Lansing, MI, with Whiskeytown.  We played poorly, Ryan had a fit, we walked off stage after a few songs, and as we were loading out, the crowd left and returned with rotten fruits and tomatoes and threw them at us.  That took admirable effort on their part.  Unforgettable.  A sick badge of honor.  Killer.

What was the best show you ever attended?

Redd Kross at the Cat’s Cradle, Chapel Hill, circa 2001.
Or, you know, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings pretty much anywhere.
Or the time I saw James Taylor when I was 8.
Or The Cars in 1985.

Check out her band, The Small Ponds, on the interwebs at www.thesmallponds.com

~~~

Bonus:

So then…his guest post. Sam provides a bit of insight into recording and an experience that just didn’t go well overall…even if it worked out “in the end” (check out his newest album for that reference).

You can visit Pickering Pick on his Bandcamp Page and even listen to a great track that we had the pleasure of releasing over at Yer Bird Records from his latest album “Tiger Balm”. Enjoy a sampling of Sam’s music and a snippet into his home recording world below.
Pickering Pick – “Like A River” by Yer Bird Records

~~~

The Loneliness of the Artist-Producer
or
How Everything Conspired Against Me In The Studio.

The whole point of building a studio for myself, I thought, was to create an organic space in which the walls between creation and production could be eliminated. Ideally, in my head, my studio would be a warm, cosy, space, filled with soft light and soft walls, rugs, rich colours and muted textures. All my equipment would be there, primed and ready to spin. My mics, preamps, compressors, instruments, tuners, headphones, monitors, cables. Everything out of the reach of my two young children, never missing, always working. The place would sit there quietly waiting for me to show up with a cup of chamomile tea, hit the switches, relax into a chair and start recording.

That was the point, of course, and – a lot of the time – that’s what I have. My studio, which occupies a building behind my home in California, is a private, peaceful, well-constructed, soundproof haven. It ought to be all I need, as a musician, to produce my recordings with the minimum of trouble or stress. It should be an extension of my creative realm. But when I started planning the demo sessions for my next album, problems arose which started small and then grew gradually larger. Over the course of a few weeks, my well-intentioned writing-recording sessions turned into days of frustration and despair.

It started with a single hardware issue. My audio interface – the device used to feed signals from an analogue source into a computer – decided to check out. I had just acquired a new pick-up for my acoustic guitar, and while I was testing it in the studio, the interface died. It went out with a whimper, and it took me a day or so to trace the problem, but I finally figured out that the onboard preamp, which powers the pickup and amplifies the sound, was kaput. Unfortunately, that meant the microphone preamp – which, much more importantly, powers my microphones – was also kaput. No preamp, no recording.

This was not a disaster. In fact, I had been planning on buying a new audio interface for a while, and this gave me a good excuse to go shopping. Within a few hours, I had ordered a new MOTU audio interface, which would also give me a greater recording capacity. While I had my buying hat on, I also picked up another large diaphragm condenser mic I had my eye on. The new album, I thought, would pay for it.

The MOTU arrived and sounded amazing. The mic followed shortly afterwards. I changed my classic recording set-up to accommodate a stereo pair of mics. Everything was going great. I wrote half a dozen new songs. I started tracking them in the studio as the weather got rapidly cooler outside. Then the wind arrived.

And the wind stayed. I mentioned I have a soundproof studio. It is soundproof up to a point: the walls and ceiling are insulated, and I get a good isolation from ambient noise under normal conditions. Unfortunately, when the wind is blowing at 50mph, the trees above the studio get a bit excited and they start rapping their branches on the roof. That translates to a barely audible tap-tap-tap to the human ear, but with a pair of condenser mics in position and the gain cranked up, you hear every little tremble of every tiny twig.

Suddenly, recording was a game in which I was required to guess when the wind would blow, and then schedule my recordings in between. Most of the time, I had seven or eight minutes in between major gusts. Long enough for a song? Sure, as long as you’re ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Finally, after several days, the wind died. I had a stack of recording I wanted to do, and the conditions – I thought – were finally right. It was cold, and the air was dry. California is pretty dry anyway, but we were in a particularly dry spell, which meant low humidity. I’m a musician who almost exclusively uses only an acoustic guitar to accompany my voice, and I had not anticipated the sort of impact humidity – or lack of – would have on my guitar.

I was recording a piece with an alt tuning – BEBEBE – when I noticed the noise. A creaky, croaky, groaning sound coming from the bridge of my 17-year old Seagull folk guitar. I’ve been using this guitar in my recordings for years. It is my best friend in the studio. I know it like the back of my hand, and I know how it sounds when the microphones are on it. This was a new noise, and it tore through the mid-range, making my finger-picking sound like someone had thrown up inside my guitar.

I was devastated. I thought my guitar had died. It sounded like a massive crack had appeared in some unseen place, and it made recording impossible. I spent two days trying dozens of different things to see what the problem could be. I talked to my father – a veteran record producer in the UK. We ran through the possibilities. I started looking for a new guitar.

Then something my dad said reminded me of an old physics lesson from when I was a teenager. It concerned relative humidity, which I had forgotten could plummet when you took a room from 55F to 75F. Low humidity becomes dramatically lower when the temperature rises, and I had been using the studio a lot in the cold, warming it up every day, reducing the humidity, letting my poor guitar sit there and get thirstier and thirstier until it got so dried out that it started to croak at me.

When it finally clicked, I immediately turned on the shower in the bathroom, left my Seagull in there for half an hour and then put it back under the microphones. Creaking gone. Sound improved. Huge sigh of relief.

Lessons have been learned. When you are your own producer, you are also your own technician, engineer, meteorologist and physicist. It is liberating if you enjoy your own company, but as a songwriter, I’m spending about 10% of my time writing songs, and the rest of the time I’m solving problems.

There will be a new album soon, and I will enjoy making it. This is how I work, and the studio is my beloved workshop. If being a physicist and an observer of winds results in a better, richer, more organic and involved album, all the better for it.

Without further adieu, ladies and gentlemen…Joe Pug.

~~~

Great news abounds for fans of one of folk music’s hardest-working, most sincere, down-to-earth musicians in the business. Joe Pug may be from Chicago, but his words and music are as warm as a Southern gentleman – fans of his debut Nation Of Heat EP are likely more than familiar with his ability to spin a lyric that can resound deeply and profoundly even in their simplicity. Now, between the release of his 2010 full-length album Messenger and his recently-announced upcoming 2012 LP The Great Despiser, Pug is offering up the 17-song Live at Lincoln Hall (stream below), which has more than enough highlights for longtime listeners as it does for first-timers.

Normally, I wouldn’t consider a live album to be anything worth shouting about, except that I have been fortunate enough to see Pug in concert twice. The first time in a cramped bar somewhere in Ohio on a Monday night to a handful of eager observers, and the second in Chicago’s Metro Theatre with a full backing band, a proper setup, and a sizable crowd. Though the Metro show was a personal milestone and celebration for the man, he played it exactly the same as he did in the hazy lowlight on the makeshift platform in the corner bar – with intensity, resolve, and a warmth that conveyed each song like a piece of art lovingly whittled and weathered into shape. And perhaps even more impressive was seeing his face light up after the show as he shook the hands of each person who took the time to thank and congratulate him. It’s almost as if you could count his fanbase by the number of hands he’s shaken.

Live at Lincoln Hall is an extension of that experience, shared by every person who’s been fortunate enough to come in contact with Pug and his music. Favorites like Hymn #101 and Speak Plainly Diana hit just as hard here as on any previous recording, but my personal favorite is a cover of Tex Thomas‘ Start Again (listed as Deep Dark Wells on the track listing) which is a two-verse, fresh wind of a song that revolves around the lyrics “As long as you’re not finished // You can start all over again“, sung with a strong sense of personal conviction. Tourmates Strand Of Oaks even make an appearance for a number of band-backed tracks, but the highlights for me are the moments when Joe stands alone on stage with nothing more than his voice, guitar, and harmonica. Sublime.

You can stream the whole album from the widget below or pick it up for the steal of a price at $5 over at the website or below. If you’ve missed out on these tracks, here’s your chance to jump in and directly support an artist who is genuinely dedicated to his craft.

Bro. Stephen, photo by Davy Rudolph

Bro. Stephen (or Scott Kirkpatrick) has appeared on the pages of Slowcoustic just recently and when he offered to contribute to the blog during my self imposed hiatus, I jumped at it! What I got back was his recommendations for some great music and what could be better? Getting the musician’s musician, if you will.

To warm you up, please take a quick listen to Bro. Stephen below and swing by and visit him via his label Crossroads of America and his Website and you can even follow him via the twitters @BroStephenScott.

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Folks You Should Know

When trying to decide what to write for this, my instinct was to write about 5000 words about how much I love Elephant Micah and how I think he might have become my favorite songwriter of all time. However, I have written about that before, and I’m sure he’s been written about on this site. I also thought about saying how I think Frank Schweikhardt’s record Life But No More is one of my favorite records of all time, but you already know how good that is too.

Then my thoughts started to wander to some of the musical friends I have made while touring around the country for the past few years on the 4 tours I’ve done since starting Bro. Stephen in 2009. I have played a lot of shows and met so many great folks and played with so many great artists that I couldn’t begin to list them here. However, there have been a few that definitely stick out to me as some of the greatest musicians around who may or may not be on your radar. Another common factor is that each of these folks are good people.

So, here are four artists that I truly adore and that I have played a show (or forty) with. I could have written about a ton of different artists, but I’m limiting it to these four with some other recommendations at the end. They are, of course, in no particular order.

John Davey

(West Lafayette, IN)

RIYL: spontaneous sing-a-longs, Biscuits and Gravy, and big families

I first met John at a really great now-defunct coffee shop in the tiny town of Pierceton, IN. He opened up the show and I probably talked through a lot of it, but I remember it being good and I believe we exchanged our CD-R EPs. His came wrapped up in brown lunch bag with handwritten information which has become his trademark over the past few years. I eventually listened to the EP and was genuinely surprised by how good it was and really bummed out that I hadn’t paid more attention at the show. The stand-out track on that little EP was a song called “Down By The Willows”.

It really isn’t often that I come across an acoustic songwriter who bypasses the tired trappings that make it so hard to sit through most songwriter sets. John does all that and he somehow skates the fine line of being completely earnest and void of irony while being a clever lyricist who tells stories with emotional heft that I can connect with. Not only that, but his guitar playing and songwriting somehow gets better and better all the time. He has become one of my favorite musicians to watch and even after playing well over a month of straight shows together, I never got sick of hearing his really incredible songs.

Of course, this is not to mention the fact that John has been touring his ass off for the past 3 or 4 years as he self-books his transcontinental excursions and occasionally filling in for other bands like Small Houses. This dude works harder than pretty much anyone I know and it’s going to pay off in a major way one of these days. I believe he finally has a full length record coming out this year and you can buy his most recent EP The Homely Seed here.

John Davey – “Spent”

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Kalispell

(Eau Claire, WI)

RIYL: old-timey folk appreciation, hot tea on a cold day, Radiolab

Shane Leonard, head cheese in Kalispell, is a dirty, dirty liar. The first time I met him at a show I played in Eau Claire he told me that he was a drummer and would be interested in playing music with me someday. I got to know Shane when he played drums for Bro. Stephen on a tour I did in March of this year. Well, it turns out that calling Shane a good drummer is like saying Michael Jordan was a good dribbler. It doesn’t even begin to explain how talented this multi-instrumentalist/former English teacher/improve comedy instructor is. I had no idea until he sent me the link to his EP Last Year.

I hit play on this EP expecting it to be a nice little record that I would enjoy more due to the fact that I enjoyed him as a person and less on the actual merit of the music. It took about a minute to realize I was totally wrong and about an hour after the EP ended to get the lump out of my throat. Kalispell is really special music. Somehow Shane honors the roots of traditional American folk music while imbuing it with a poetic sensibility that sets him in a different stratosphere than most musicians. It’s not just that Kalispell’s music is creative and fresh (which it is), but it is also combined with his personal and profound command of lyrics that make me question my own abilities every time I listen to it.

Shane is most definitely the principle songwriter and supreme dictator of Kalispell, but that doesn’t keep him from packing some pedigree heat in his band. Accompanying him on his tours are some pretty incredible musicians in their own right. Dave Powers plays drums in Kalispell, but he also plays drums in a number of jazz ensembles in Eau Claire as well as the local Amble Down Records band Meridene. Rounding out the trio is Ben Lester on pedal steel and you may recognize him as the drummer for the also great A.A. Bondy.

Kalispell has a full length coming out fairly soon as well, and I have no doubt that you will be hearing more about them soon.

Kalispell LIVE at Revival Records in Eau Claire, WI

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Molly Parden

(Atlanta, GA)

RIYL: Classy southern songwriting, true love, becoming a fan of an artist before they become famous

I was introduced to Molly by John Davey when we played a show with her in Atlanta and it was one of those beautiful nights on tour where you kind of expect a show to go poorly, but it turns out to be really a really beautiful experience that is encouraging and affirming. A major reason for this particular night going so well was because of Molly Parden. I had an old friend come to the show so I talked to him through much of the show, but made it into the room right before Molly started sound checking. I was standing in the back when she first started singing and I immediately found a chair because I had to sit down to take it in. After the show and a late-night diner run with John, Molly and her boyfriend/musical companion Danny (a great musician as well who plays under the name Besides Daniel), we all went back to her apartment and had a great time talking and Molly burned me a CD of live songs and demos. That record has spent countless hours in my car and I would be lying if I said it didn’t make me tear up more than a couple times. (Full disclosure: I cried during The Muppets, Toy Story 3, 2 episodes of the WTF Podcast with Marc Maron, and talking to Shane Leonard’s mom)

There is no doubt in my mind that, of all the songwriters I’ve ever played with, Molly has the most potential to be a very successful and major force in the future American music landscape. Her songs are gorgeous and are arranged so perfectly, yet she writes from a unique personal perspective that laces her softly sung songs with power, grace, mystery, and doubt. Her music instantly takes me back to when I first fell in love with Patty Griffin before I learned who all the “cool” bands were in town and before it was cool to be constantly ironic. There is a natural sincerity to Molly’s music that almost makes me want to reject it because of my learned aversion to earnestness, but I implore you to ignore how you think you feel about country or folk or whatever hang-ups you have and allow yourself to be pulled into the power that comes from the songs of Molly Parden.

Molly Parden- “Travelling Souls”

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Laura K. Balke

(Indianapolis, IN)

RIYL: sincere personal songwriting, elaborate handcrafted packaging, Mad Dog 20/20: Orange Jubilee

I have known Laura for a couple years now and have played countless shows with her in countless different places. Every single show we play together is one of the best shows ever because she is one of the most genuinely wonderful people I’ve ever met and she is a really great songwriter with a vulnerability that works seamlessly into her art.

Recently Laura released her new full-length entitled Rumors & Legends and it might just have the most beautiful packaging of any record I’ve ever seen. She hand bound a book of artwork together as the packaging for both the CD and the gold LP and all of the artwork inside are illustrations which use the lyrics of each song to craft the image. There just really aren’t many artists out there who put the care and sweat into the overall craft like Laura does. Her songs are well arranged and beautifully orchestrated and she doesn’t get caught up in trying to be the hip new thing. She just writes really solid songs and finds creative ways to deliver it to her ever-growing audience. Before her full-length came out she released an EP that was packaged as a bracelet made by a local potter. The purchase of the bracelet allowed you to download the EP. I haven’t asked Laura how well her records sell, and that’s not for me to know, but I am inspired by how she is always trying something new and refusing to take the easy road. Her passion and determination to be a meaningful artist or die trying is one of my favorite things about her.

I am not sure why anyone would want to play music for the sole purpose of making a lot of money. The costs are too great. It is a path of continuous self-doubt, lots of bad shows, and constantly putting yourself out in the open for everyone to judge with a number system and money just doesn’t make that worthwhile. What makes it worthwhile, in my opinion, is being able to express yourself artistically, meeting wonderful new people from around the world, and being involved in a powerful artistic community. I’m pretty sure that Laura shares this view and it’s pretty obvious in everything she does. She is the best kind of musician: an honest and sincere one.

Laura K. Balke – “Telephone Lines”

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Other great folks to check out:

Golden Coins (Milwaukee, WI) [http://goldencoins.bandcamp.com/album/animal-variables-ep]

Action! (Nashville, TN) [http://www.facebook.com/actionsongs]

Moor Hound (Orlando, FL) [http://www.facebook.com/moorhound]

We Are The Willows (Minneapolis, MN) [http://www.wearethewillows.com/]

The Daredevil Christopher Wright (Eau Claire, WI) [http://thedaredevilchristopherwright.com/]

NM Kjeldsen (Indianapolis, IN) [http://www.facebook.com/pages/NM-Kjeldsen/182189181798866]

Austin Miller (Orlando, FL) [http://www.facebook.com/austinmillermusic]

Seth Wood (Nashville, TN) [http://www.facebook.com/sethwoodmusic]

Jared Bartman [http://www.facebook.com/JaredBartmanMusic]

Matt Duncan (Lexington, KY) [http://www.facebook.com/mattduncanmusic]

Adelyn Rose (Eau Claire, WI) [http://www.facebook.com/adelynrose]

Robert Deeble has a new single from his upcoming album “Heart Like Feathers” that found its way into my inbox yesterday.  So then, today’s song of the day is actually the “B-side” from that single/title track with the acoustic version of the song!  Surprised that I picked it, right?

The track is a great little finger picked number that really puts the focus on the Seattle singer-songwriters laid back vocals intermingled with the creaks and twangs of the guitar.  Its a beauty!  The new album is due out on February 7th, 2012 from Dead Letter Records.  For a bonus you can check out another track “Undertow” that also includes Slowcoustic favourite Lotte Kestner assisting on vocals here.

Robert Deeble – Heart Like Feathers (Acoustic Demo) by fanaticpro

Find out more on the album and Deeble in general by visiting him on his Website, Facebook, Twitter and Bandcamp!

~Smansmith

I did this the other year and it went over pretty well I have to say.

One thing about putting up a list of music that you are saying is your “best”, “favourite” or “Top 12 of the year” is that your actual opinion is involved.  What?!?  Who needs opinion as it is rarely not swayed by what you think is good or what you might think fits your persona or what your readers want you to like.  Well let’s get rid of that elephant in the room and go with our iTunes play counts for tracks released in 2011 with the most plays in my music library.  This is my top 25 with 2 missing tracks that I dis-qualified as they are 2012 releases and still “unreleased” at this point, so there.

Slowcoustic’s 25 23 most played songs of 2011 up till the morning of December 11th, 2011

1. “Mary’s Gone” – The Deep Dark Woods
2. “All Things Past Serve To Guide You On Your Way” – Frederick Squire
3. “Holocene” – Bon Iver
4. “Lotus Flower” – Radiohead
5. “Big City Nights” – The Deep Dark Woods
6. “Goners Most” – Jeffrey Foucault
7. “Circle Drive” – Conrad Plymouth
   
8. “Anti-Pioneer” – Feist
9. “Passerines” – Jeffrey Foucault
10. “Everything to Me (Budapest Session) – John Statz
11. “The Woods” – Small Sur
    
12. “Never Prove False” – The Deep Dark Woods
13. “Barghest” – Tyler Butler
14. “December 25″ – South of Lincoln (now Great American Desert)
    
15. “Wore It Deep” – The Tree Ring
16. “Man, Part 1″ – South of Lincoln (now Great American Desert)
17. “White Clay” – South of Lincoln
18. “Poor Eliza (Bridgehouse Session)” – Chris Bathgate (Free D/L via Mostly Midwest)
19. “Little Raider” – Will Johnson
20. “Corsicana” – The Antlers
21. “Caught a Long Wind” – Feist
22. “True Faith (New Order Cover)” – Lotte Kestner
23. “Albuquerque (Neil Young Cover)” – Jeffrey Foucault

There you have it, my most listened to tracks!  They pretty accurately measure my listening I believe…you will find that my top album of 2011 does not have any tracks on this list, but that is due to the Josh T. Pearson album tracks being soo long that each play is worth 3-4 regular song plays…yeah, that is the reason.

~Smansmith

The numbering (as most year end list makers will indicate) is pretty accurate but each album had definitely fluctuated over the course of the year but overall they can easily settle at a +/- 3 spots.  So let’s get started!

~Slowcoustic’s Favourite Albums of 2011~

12.  Mount Moriah – Mount Moriah

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11.  South of Lincoln (now Great American Desert) – Homes

Man, Pt. I by South of Lincoln

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10.  Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Wolfroy Goes To Town

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9.  Bon Iver, Bon Iver

“Calgary”

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8.  William Elliott Whitmore – Field Songs

William Elliott Whitmore – Field Song by antirecords

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7.  Chris Bathgate – Salt Year

“Salt Year”

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6.  Frederick Squire – Sings Shenandoah and Other Popular Hits

“All Things Past Serve To Guide You On Your Way”

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5.  Tyler Butler – Winter King

“Morana”

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4.  Dolorean – The Unfazed

Dolorean – Country Clutter by Fargo Records

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3.  The Deep Dark Woods – The Place I Left Behind

West Side Street by The Deep Dark Woods

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2.  Jeffrey Foucault – Horse Latitudes

“Goners Most”

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1.  Josh T. Pearson – Last of the Country Gentlemen

Josh T. Pearson – Woman, When I’ve Raised Hell (Alternative Version) by Mute UK

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There you have it.  Now…discuss!

~Smansmith

Today is kind of a blast of 3 artists/songs that I have been listening to the past week due to recommendations and obvious discoveries.  Soo then, BAM, quick hitters!

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First off, Northcote is Matt Goud out of Victoria BC (that’s in Canada folks) and I discovered him as he is on the bill for the “Prairie Roots Revue” tour that Zachary Lucky updated me on as he is also part of this great roster of traveling musicians.  Then I discovered that Northcote has some free tracks from his website, so I think you all need to listed to a few of these acoustic demos/outtakes/alternate versions.  He has an album worth checking out called ‘Gather No Dust’ (iTunes) which includes the formal & less acoustic version of the track ‘Devils’ below:

“Devils (Acoustic)” – Northcote

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Next we have fellow Prairie Roots Review member Carly Maicher which was a combination Zach Lucky recommendation and April at Common Folk Music mentioning her…so obviously I had to look into it.  I had heard of her before but didn’t actually hear her prior – god dam, this is a great album that she has out now, “Hiding”.  She has a sultry and earthy vocal presentation over mostly sparse banjo laden tracks.  What else can a guy ask for really?  The album is one of my favourite end of year discoveries for sure.  Find it streaming on her Bandcamp page and find the absolutely gorgeous track “Worry” below.

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Finally we have a recommendation from Ben over at Vocal Nerd Rodeo who slapped the below track on my Facebook wall all casual and what not.  You know, no big deal just a guy from Denmark with some pretty damn decent acoustic jams and the below sad bastard track.  So I thought you could all check it out as well – he is offering the full WAV version for free download from his below linked Soundcloud page as well.  If you wanted to check out the whole album and offer up some pay what you want action, you can visit the Bandcamp Page as well.
December by TheWhiteAlbum

That is all.  Stick around tomorrow as there will be 2011′s Favourite albums by Slowcoustic making an appearance!

~Smansmith

Seattle based singer songwriter Sam Watts (Ghosts I’ve Met) has a new EP he has available at his live shows.  The EP “The Light Opera” has just started in rotation over at Local legend/radio station KEXP as well, so keep an ear out there as well.  The collection of tracks can be purchased from Sam directly if you are not able to make a local show (please email us and we can get you in touch if you were looking to pick up a copy) and it is still so new that it has no artwork!

The EP was recorded earlier this year at a Lakehouse in Leavenworth, Washington with Ghosts I’ve Met recording/live performance regulars Bill Patton (yes that Bill Patton) and Faustine Hudson.

We do have a track to share with you courtesy of Mr. Watts and it is true to form with his airy acoustic performance but with one addition…there is some percussion working its way into the mix here…not out of the question for this particular “folk” artist but GIM has traditionally gone light or without the element.  I like the sense of purpose it gives the track, if not a small jolt of gravitas if I had to say!  Enjoy.

“Dark Blue Sound”  – Ghosts I’ve Met, from the EP ‘The Light Opera’

Find more Ghosts I’ve Met on Bandcamp and over on Yer Bird Records.

~Smansmith

The Black Atlantic’s new EP “Darkling, I Listen” is a step beyond their previous album “Reverence for Fallen Trees” as they are not sitting on their laurels and are moving into a larger more full sound.  The crew have been huddled together growing their acoustic roots into a more full band sound and brought ‘Darkling’ to life over a few months in spring/summer 2011.  This is not to say they were never a “full band” prior, it is just the music was more of an intimate folk experience while Darkling, I Listen incorporates splashes and bursts of pure indie pop & sonic soundscapes while remaining essentially folk at its core.  Some might compare to the transition of The Black Atlantic’s sound to something along the lines of Bon Iver’s “For Emma…” album to the new “Bon Iver, Bon Iver” album.  But I am just sayin’…

Overview of “Darkling, I Listen” lyrically:

” Lyrically the songs paint the psychological tensions and inward journey of a protagonist who, after an argument, finds himself going through an intense emotional/existential rollercoaster ride.  Over the course of his sleepless night, his past, his reality, and his future appear in a whole new light of day.”

The way the EP transcends the traditional smaller scale of an “Extended Play” release is almost in the way TBA weaves the many musical elements into the songs almost like chapters of a novel.  It builds upon itself and tell stories as well as entertains with songs.  Unabashed with stating influences such as ‘70’s psychedelic folk–rock, Phil Spector-esque orchestrated chamber pop and 60’s Motown soul‘ the songs really grow in scale.  Those that are long time fans and finding my comparison to the ‘new’ sound may be worried, but do not shy away from it, embrace it…as it will you.  You still have songs like the opening track (see below) and the final track “Quiet, Humble Man” that harken to the sombre beauty of earlier works.

Fans may embrace this new Black Atlantic and some may pine for the former…personally, not unlike the Bon Iver analogy I tend to follow the band and enjoy the musical paths they are taking.  Listen to the opening track “The Aftermath (Of This Unfortunate Event)” below.  Find more, stream more, purchase more on their Bandcamp Page.

01 The Aftermath (Of This Unfortunate Event) by Beep! Beep!

Full Track Listing:

The EP is officially released on January 13th, 2012, but a pre-order now gets you the digital files including artwork.  The artwork is quite extensive and adds to this as a full experience as a release.  A must have.

~Smansmith

Very happy to find in my twitter feed about a new release from Joel P West (frontman of The Tree Ring – see a post on them here) and I want to assure you right now that my excitement for new material was well warranted!

There is something about West’s voice that makes me want to join in (and utterly destroy what he has going on mind you) as his timbre just works for these rich textures of acoustic goodness.  The ‘Shoulder Seasons’ EP is 5 tracks recorded just last month and were officially released on his Bandcamp page on Nov. 24th.  As the EP is an acoustic affair, I don’t want you to think it is “stark” & “lonely”, but actually quite full of rich sounding layers of strings…and again that voice over it all.  West gets a bit of help from an outside string section for the closing track ‘We’ll Learn Them Soon’ that is featured below as a perfect closing song and to match it, the opening track ‘Desperate, Desperate’ is also included.  The EP is a must have for a measly $5.00.

So swing on by his Website for more info on Mr. West & Bandcamp Page HERE to pick up the new EP, check out his film Score for The Room Behind The Fireplace and do not forget his Dust Jacket project from a few years back.

~Smansmith

Today’s song of the day is from Balto and is from the UK version of the October’s Road album with the track ‘Gravestones‘.  Well, I am not sure it is actually part of the album proper but it is included as a demo/bonus track with their recent foray into releasing the album in the UK.

As Balto has shown with numerous examples from the October’s Road album, once again, we get great acoustics, melody and hooks that almost anyone could be proud of!   I recommend looking into song ‘The Railyard‘ via the Bandcamp link below as well (my favourite from the album).  ’Gravestones‘ as a song is essentially Daniel Sheron playing all instruments and it was even produced by Hip Hatchet (yes, that Hip Hatchet) so you know it is going to be Slowcoustic goodness!

Balto – “Gravestones (Demo)”

Find out more on Balto via the band Website, Bandcamp and Facebook!

~Smansmith

Today we have the honour of premiering a track from the soundtrack of the upcoming film “Brunswick” set for limited release next week.  But before we get into the music created by Matthew Carefully for the film, you will need a bit of back story of what Brunswick is.

Synopsis:

Brunswick is a film about landscape change, told through the personal story of a farmer’s lifelong connection to his now-threatened land. The film weaves together the plight of Sanford Bonesteel, an aging farmer in his 90s, with the dynamics of small-town politics as a residential development is planned on Sanford’s former land.

The film takes place in Brunswick, New York, a small country town facing the challenge of balancing economic growth with the preservation of its rural character. It is a story both specific to Brunswick and yet recognizable to rural communities all over the United States.

So now you see the title of the track ‘Farm Prayer’ really makes sense here – both a beautiful full song in acoustics and meaning.  Before I say I have a strong connection to the American Farmer, you have to know I am Canadian, but from a small town with numerous farms and I see the nature of today’s world reflected in what today’s farmers are experiencing.  Some say that the future can’t be stopped and today’s (re: the future’s) world isn’t meant to be slow & meandering, lazy walks through wheat fields, the life that you live from and of the earth…if I was to say.  Sure there are pockets of the true rural communities around today, but I fear they are becoming a different beast now.  Sometimes progress can be needed and sometimes it is just painful in the transition.  Ahhh me, always one to be living in the city while always having a mind steeped in a rural state of mind.  But enough about it, watch the trailer below:

The Soundtrack

The soundtrack from Matthew Carefully (Bandcamp page) is as you would expect it would be.  Full of acoustic performances – 6 of which are instrumental and 4 that provide lyrics over layers of strings.  All have been written specifically for the project over the last 5 years and aren’t just sounds that looked good and happened to match with visuals.  These songs reflect the heart of a movie like Brunswick – I can only assume that the way you feel listening to the album would be the way you would experience the film.

Carefully provides a truly rural aura that flows throughout the album – it isn’t always a sombre affair with songs that truly make you think of the country lifestyle ‘Homestead Farm Bustle‘ to the heartbreaking instrumental ‘Well-Wished Waltz‘ through the banjo laden duet with Carefully and Katie Hammon on the opening track ‘Walks With Purpose‘.  I don’t know how the movie ends, but with one listen to the last track from the album in the instrumental ‘He Walks Away, Sincere’ it leaves you with a sense of hope and almost peace…probably one of the most beautiful tracks on the whole album.

The song below is my favourite on the soundtrack as I think it sums up the subject matter and the overall feel for the music on this movie.  ‘Farm Prayer’ brings the power of an instrumental but with Carefully’s pining lyrics of remembering what was is no longer.  Listen to just over 2 minutes what rural/country/farm living used to mean.

“Farm Prayer” – from the Soundtrack to Brunswick, by Matthew Carefully

For more information on the Movie from film maker Nate Simms, visit www.BrunswickFilm.com.

For more information on Matthew Carefully (and a full back catalog info) visit him on his Website and read about the experience of making the album from his blog space HERE.

~Smansmith

I have had some real great stuff float across my inbox, twitter feed, facebook timeline and overall discovered from my never-ending scouring of the world wide web.  Thought I would share as some of this stuff is just soo damn good that we all need to be listening (if you aren’t already – you Slowcoustic readers tend to be ahead of the curve in the first place…let’s be honest here).

• Lotte Kestner is more than a musician, she is an “official” poet now!  She has a book of poems entitled ‘In the Night I Go Sailing’ and you can purchase HERE.  I also mention this as her words were recently put to the test as lyrics sung by none other than Damien Jurado.  Please swing by her Tumblr page and listen to the demo for “Blind Accidents” HERE.
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• Samantha Crain covered a Slowcoustic favourite Chris Bathgate earlier this year and it has turned up on her Halfway House Music Session.  Catch/Download her version of “Salt Year” over at Halfway House Music HERE.  Watch the video for it below:
  
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• Just a reminder that John Statz is releasing his next full length album with us at Yer Bird Records in January – check out the lead off track “Distance” from our Bandcamp page!
  
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• You have to watch one of the “Notes From Home” videos that features Trespassers William, Joshua Morrison and Tomo Nakayama (of Grand Hallway).  TW even cover The National’s ‘Fake Empire’!
  
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• As I was so impressed with the video above, I checked out both Joshua Morrison (find him here) and Grand Hallway (find them here) that I thought I should share some tracks from them as well!  The Grand Hallway track is the one that Nakayama performs in the video above called “Little Sister” and the Joshua Morrison track is “Bastille Day” from the benefit album Songs for Japan: A benefit for Red Cross (that Grand Hallway has contributed to as well)
  
  
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• Matt Arbogast, or The Gunshy has some new material in the form of a one track sampling that is classic Gunshy.  Listen/Download via Bandcamp embed below:
  
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• Just thought I would post a live track from Ryan Adams as it made it into regular listening this week.  The classic ‘A Bar is a Beautiful Place’ from a 2001 performance: ‘The Bar is a Beautiful Place’ – Ryan Adams
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That is all I got for now, hope you find something in there to enjoy!

~Smansmith

Today’s song of the day is the stunning ‘To Find This Home’ from the upcoming EP from Paul Otteson called “Fall Where They May”.  Well to be honest, it is available now for digital download, the actual physical EP will see its release in early December, so by saying upcoming, I mean that in the old school music enthusiast way…the CD is upcoming!

To say that Paul brings a calming sombre aura to song-crafting is an understatement.  His songs enjoy banjo laden acoustic gems, sometimes more “indie-pop” like the track ‘The Full Spectrum’, have a bit of edge like in ‘Nothing We Could Do’ and then stop you in your tracks with a stunning piano beauty ‘To Find This Home’ and a lullaby induced opening track like ‘Never Knight’.  This little 4 track EP has it all – for fans of a less ethereal Justin Vernon or even a less eccentric Sufjan Stevens…you can make your own decision.

Find more to listen to and purchase at his Bandcamp page HERE or you can swing by his website HERE.

~Smansmith

Lead off track from the soon to be released John Statz album has its official release today!  The track is ‘Distance’ from the album ‘Old Fashioned’ due for full release on January 24th, 2012.  If you are at all familiar with Statz, you will find the new material possibly a bit more refined and even a bit fuller than previous albums.  The album itself is gorgeous, full of lazy prairie folk with a soft edge of good ol’ Americana.  Dig into the FREE DOWNLOAD ‘Distance’ now via Bandcamp HERE.  If that is too much effort, always feel free to listen to the stream via our Yer Bird Records Soundcloud page below.

John Statz – “Distance” by Yer Bird Records

We seriously can’t wait for you to hear the whole album – expect another track to surface in December with the worldwide album release in January.  Damn that seems far away now doesn’t it?

~Smansmith

I don’t know Bry Webb.  I didn’t listen to his previous band The Constantines.

I now know Bry Webb and wonder what removed him from The Constantines.

aaaannyywayy…

The album ‘Provider’ from Webb comes in almost on a different planet (or different time in his life) than his previous material and to my ears this is a welcome thing.  Provider is hushed, subdued but powerful, heartfelt and just plain good.  As I mentioned my unfamiliarity with his full band effort in The Constantines (I mean I heard OF them of course, just didn’t listen TO them), I can’t help but think this guy was long overdue with this album.  Mostly recorded “off the floor” with just the basics to create immense but “simple” songs by the use of only a guitar, stand up bass, lap and pedal steel the result is something I wholeheartedly recommend.

Listen to “Undertaker” from the new album, get “Rivers of Gold” for free download HERE and when you pick up the album take “Zebra” and “Asa” for a long spin.

Undertaker by Idée Fixe Records
Visit Bry Webb on his website and on Idée Fixe Records (purchase)

~Smansmith

p.s.  I guess I would be remiss in not stating that Colin Stetson plays on Undertaker, so it is almost an indie Canadian must have!

This young respectable folk artist pictured above is Mr. Tyler Butler.  He is playing a show tomorrow night at Wunderbar in Edmonton – or as it is also known, The New Wunderbar Hofbrauhaus.  Other than the obvious reason I am bringing this to your attention in order to go and see him play music, is he is also selling an EP of demos and cover tracks in support of the venue itself.  Tyler is a big proponent of local music and here he is doing his part by providing all proceeds of the sales of this EP to the Wunderbar itself.

So bottom line here, if you are in the Edmonton area, check out Wunderbar tomorrow night for a full line up of great music including Sheree Plett (new album now out), Tyler Butler, Jordan Norman, James Rockliff and an apparent surprise performance from Johnathan Inc.  The whole night was put together from the good folks at Old Ugly Co. and you can check out a bit more on the Facebook event for full address, etc.

For now, let’s listen to one of those covers from Tyler Butler, here is Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello”;

~Smansmith

Sorry couldn’t resist the Patrick Bateman in headphones photo when looking for an “HQ” & “Music/Headphones” image.  If you have read the book American Psycho, you will know that when they get into describing music (regardless of style) you will know what it is like to be a music junkie.  But I digress…

Thought I would simply grab whatever is kinda new and playing around here up for perusal, listening and mocking.  You know, a Saturday playlist!

First off, the band responsible for one of my favourite albums in the last few years has a new song out.  Yes, The Black Atlantic has new material out from Beep! Beep! Back up the Truck over yonder!  While it has a new feel for the band, it is beautiful and brings a new facet of the band in my opinion.  There is a new EP, “Darkling, I Listen” that is practically done, so there is more to come.  Take a listen below to the first track;

The Black Atlantic – The Flooded Road by Beep! Beep!

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I have also been listening to the upcoming album from Rob St. John via Song, by Toad Records over in Scotland.  The album is called Weald and is in a word haunting and in another word intoxicating.  There is just something that hits you square in the face and drags you inside.  I get such a strong Ian Curtis (of Joy Division) vibe from St. John’s vocals on songs like “Domino” & “Sargasso Sea” but it eases up on more traditional singer songwriter cuts like “Acid Test”.  Maybe the Ian Curtis comparison is where I get the haunting impression from…so it may be misplaced, you tell me.

Rob St. John – Sargasso Sea by Song, by Toad
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Lately I have also been listening non-stop to the Chris Bathgate Kickstarter Reward Downloads.  One of the great things about getting all these songs (I think there was almost 40 of them in total!) was rediscovering the album “Silence is for Suckers”.  This album was always either my favourite or hovering in a close race for top spot the whole time, but listening to the Kickstarter remastered version brought it all back.  If you have it in your back catalog, please listen to “Cinder” in headphones right now.  Let’s help you, shall we:

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You might also want to check out Conrad Plymouth covering Strand of Oaks’ track “Two Kids”.  A little retro with the drum machine, but sooo good.  Visit the Conrad Plymouth Tumblr page HERE.

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Just to let you know that I can switch speeds and I am not a one trick pony, if you were looking for a great indie-folk-pop album from Canada (and I know you are) – check out the new album ‘The Hunting Party’ from Corey Isenor (see his bandcamp page here, that also includes his awesome “Frost” album).  There is also a nice infusion of banjo in it, so it has to be good right?  Take a listen to the first track (and one that has some of that nice finger picking banjo) now;

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Now go forth and listen this Saturday!

~Smansmith

Brought to you from the good folks at Crossroads of America – Bro. Stephen is a relatively ‘new’ discovery for me.  Bro. Stephen (Stephen Scott Kirkpatrick) has a brand new 7″ that found its way to me way up in the great white north of Canada, and I am very glad it did.  This limited to 300 vinyl offering brings 3 tracks including the title track “Patrons of the Arts” and two b-sides “The Truth” and “Previous Things”.

If you are reading this about Bro. Stephen and are not here by mistake, you will know that he is bringing his acoustic guitar along for the ride on this release and I have to say it works out for him (and the b-sides are hardly ‘b-sides’ if you know what I mean).  I don’t have any official listening options as currently the release is vinyl only, but I am sure we will see a digital offering soon once all those 7″ copies are snapped up…so get to snapping them up right here.  For now, listen to a YouTube embed for the track below:

And as this is “Artist” of the day and not just “Song” of the day, lets keep on with the sampling, shall we?  How about one of the tracks from the Bro. Stephen contribution to Flannelgraph Records “Laminar Excursion Monthly” series that was one of my best buys last year.  Enjoy “Telephone Two” below.

Aaaand to top it off, how about a “bedroom folk” demo?  Okay, I thought so.  The below is “Where The Ohio” that I found via Last.fm.  Very lo-fi, hushed, short and sweet.  Its good stuff.

“Where To Ohio” – Bro. Stephen

Just so you know, there is an expected full length release in 2012 that will include the first track above “Patrons of the Arts”, but my current recommendation is getting that 7″ as it also includes the 2 b-side exclusive tracks!

Find out more on Crossroads of America and his blog.

~Smansmith

Well look at this…we just announced our next release over on Yer Bird Records and it is with all around Slowcoustic friend John Statz!  Having been listening to John’s music for years, when the opportunity presented itself we thought it would be a perfect fit.  The music of Statz comes in as an almost modern day prairie country tinged folk.  I know that encompasses a lot of genres but his music can span them and hold the ear of die hard fans of all of those styles.

For now, you can listen to his back catalog (highly recommended) over on his Bandcamp page HERE and like him on the ol’ Facebook HERE.  Also, stream one of my all time favourite tracks from Statz in his “Budapest Session” version of Everything To Me from his Ghost Towns album from 2010.

~Smansmith

An album that has snuck up on me is “Country Singer” from outspoken artist/musician/performer Emily Lacy.  I mean it is from 2010 and it might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but there is something that draws me to it.  It is dark, gothic, beautiful and oddly easy to listen to if you give it a chance to open up and breathe.

I keep thinking that she reminds me of a female folky version of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy…on this album.  This comparison might not hold up for some, but the way that the music has a bit more gravitas than most, despite what the songs actually sound like.  Listen to a song like ‘Darkness’ on this album and you just feel actual darkness oozing from it…maybe I am putting my overall impression I have of Lacy herself and projecting it onto the album…regardless, it is a solid listen and you should search it out.

Listen: ‘Earth’ – Emily Lacy – from 2010′s ‘Country Singer’
Visit | Purchase

~Smansmith

Re-found this stellar compilation album after re-finding a Heather Woods Broderick album the other day (and actually purchasing on eMusic again before noticing that I already had it…).  Kind of appropriate since this album was essentially curated by her, so I thought I needed to feature something on it for the blog!

This compilation album from late 2009 features multiple artists that would definitely be considered ‘up my alley’….notably Kele Goodwin, Sarah Winchester and the aforementioned Heather Wood Broderick.  So those are the three tracks/chapters I have included below…makes sense, no?
Kele Goodwin – Kite Strings by sonic pieces

Sarah Winchester – Northeast Kingdom by sonic pieces

You might remember another track from Sarah Winchester from my gushing post on her EP where the above track is from (see my post on The Northeast Kingdom Demos) and this one is a live, layered version of the song on the EP.

Heather Woods Broderick – Behind Doors by sonic pieces

Zip over to the Sonic Pieces site for more information on the album HERE.

~Smansmith