Another installment of the Song o’ Day series I have been indulging in this last couple of months, hope you all like the fast blast of one track hits. Well, hits in my books…
Today we have Mason Lindahl and his incredible guitar work. He just happens to craft a song around his display of delicate acoustic guitar playing. He is new to me but apparently well known for being quite the “finger picker” and I am inclined to agree. There is a juxtaposition in this track though – you have delicate fretwork, but you also get coiled energy – this isn’t your daddy’s classically trained guitar work friends. I guess this is why the words Alternative and Folk were used by IODA (even if both words are bastardized versions of what they once were, but I digress…). There is just something about this track, I get the feeling there is more than just a song in this song…ya know?
Enjoy the title track from the recently released “Serrated Man Sound” album, it is worth multiple spins folks.
I first came across Hush Arbors around a year ago when Uncut magazine put one of their tracks on a compilation cd they give away each month. Signed to the brilliant ecstatic peace label I was immediately struck by the sadness in Keith Woods voice, it reminded me a lot of the late Saint Thomas who I am a massive fan of and the second track (Lisbon) on the new album which just came out this week in the U.K yankee reality is uncannily similar. This is completely accidental as when I saw Keith play a solo set recently in London he said he’d never heard if him when I asked him.
Hush arbors earlier albums blends fuzzy lo-fi psych-folk with country but on the new one, which is produced by Dinosaur jr’s J Mascis there’s an added rockier edge to it, namely on fast asleep and the blistering final track Devil made you high but it still manages to maintain the default sound on so they say and one way ticket. If I had to pick out my favourite track from this album which quite frankly doesn’t have a bad one on it, i’d probably go for take it easy only because it’s completely different to any other they’ve done, more country sounding in the style of say The Byrds but you could ask me again tomorrow and I could plump for coming home with it’s chugging along riff and mellotron (played by J Mascis) with the first line ” I was thinking about the country, walking down these city roads, thinking about the space between, the silent and my soul” I love shit like this, it resonates with me.
When I was in London and I saw Keith play rue hollow I remember sitting completely transfixed by him and coming to the realisation that I was in the presence of a genius. He’s got that certain thing no one can name or put a finger on, the same as Elliott Smith had or Nick Drake, just that something. His songs seem to come from somewhere deep within him very few of us ever reach, the bit where the real honesty lays and he’s bearing his very soul. Very few songwriters do this in my opinion, it takes guts to lay it all out on the line for everyone to hear and that leaves a certain vulnerability, it’s risky because it seems so fragile and any criticism could easily break it, or at least try to. Criticism must be hard to take when you’ve just bared your soul.
Now based in London there’s a couple of dates in Italy and then London at the end of October. Info here
Kindly I have been allowed to put up a couple of mp3’s for you to download but please please please, if you like it go and buy it here, you will not be disappointed I promise you. Enjoy.
So “Song o Day” today is a great cover. I say this as not all covers are great, some are simply imitation. It is nice to have a song that even though it is a cover, it can stand on it’s own. This is one of those tracks from Kyle Swartzwelder and his cover of the Kathleen Edwards track “Away”. Kyle sent these over to me the other day (along with a Neil Young cover of “Powderfinger”, nice), and I needed to share at least one of them. Man the slide guitar (or what I think of as the slide guitar) is just gorgeous, waning and waxing throughout!
Enjoy a bit of folky Americana for your Thanksgiving. Canadian Thanksgiving that is, and give thanks for talent such as Swartzwelder and Edwards. If you like this unreleased cover track – pick up Kyle’s album over at CD Baby HERE. If you wanted to hear more of Kathleen Edwards, visit her on her website HERE.
~Smansmith
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With a voice and a face like that who can deny Jack Savoretti. He had me at “Harder than Easy” you can buy his album on iTunes
Martin sent me the “Between the Minds” unplugged album and boy does it pull at my heart strings. This song “Without” has been playing non-stop on my iTunes today. I always find the words in songs that I can’t express myself. Sometimes I wish there was a rewind button and we could just start all over. Still learning to move forward without looking back. Hope you enjoy this album as much as I do. Ah, music the healer.
There is something about European Folk – it is soo good. This example by Signe Tollefsen provides the beauty of strings and Tollefsen’s almost classically trained voice with lazy banjo of a rocking chair on the prairies of Oklahoma. Definitely a song of the day here folks – this “half American in Amsterdam” provides you a gorgeous bit of European Americana. This could be the next big thing (as big as indie Americana singer songwriters can be…). Highly Recommended.
I’ve googled the web for two days trying to find an album, an ep, a single single but I’m empty-handed ! Well, half-empty as I found Kelli Schaefer myspace page which is streaming 4 sublime (awesome, huge, magnifiques, absolutely **** stars) tracks from this beautiful Portland songwriter. That’s it !
You’re just one step away from “Eyes In The Back Of My Head” another stunning song and i’m without word to qualify “Carry us Over” !
Is it the photograph or am I really upside down ? Is this the music or am I really “addicted” (shhhh ).
Count on me for tracking any movement on the web concerning Kelli !
Another installment of “Song o Day” for you folks – and yes, another winner from the Great White North (or Canada as I know it). This time we have the title track from the upcoming album “Burnout” that is due out on November 10th.
OX’s previous album (American Lo Fi) was considered a bit of a tour de force of the indie stoners – huh? Yeah, described as “weed infused” it was a pretty decent hit across Canada’s College/University radio scene. While I tend to shy away from describing music by indicating an intoxicant of sorts is needed to enjoy (because it isn’t) – the new album obviously is following the theme with a title like “Burnout”. They have brought a bit of country folk into the fold from the sound of the below track and I even though I enjoy the previous work, I like the direction of the mellowed out, day after vibe that this crew are putting forth.
“Burnout” – OX, from 2009’s “Burnout” album – due November 10th
You can always swing by their Website or visit iTunes for a copy of American Lo Fi HERE.
~Smansmith
p.s. If you like this track, swing on by my Slowcoustic postfor a bit of back story on OX!
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