Papa M Hole of Burning Alms review

Papa M
Hole of Burning Alms
Singles Collection 1995-2000
Drag City

We all know what we’re getting here. Papa M, M, Aerial M, M to the Mmmmth power, whatever he calls himself, David Pajo is a man who manipulates guitars and drums, and anything else he can get a hold of, to produce his own special alterna/folk/rock songs. The 12 tracks on this disc range between driving rockers, and hook-laden, noodling, epics; and give a fair look at Pajo’s prolific output.

Pajo - Slint, Tortoise, Palace – plays songs that are comfortable one minute, catchy the next, and overall resemble your moody sister a lot of the time, and has been a part of some fine projects, but most of these songs were solo outputs. Pajo played all the instruments - or computers … whatever – on 7 of these tracks, and he gives a brief account of each song in the liner notes. He calls “Mountains Have Ears” “an electric brain massage,” he says “Wedding Song No. 3” is the first and last time he ever recorded a live band on his own, and talks about the way the song titles, and artwork, on the original singles for “M is…” and “October” were supposed to fit together “Mad Libs” style.

One of the most interesting/amusing/glamorous/destructive insights in the liner notes is the note with the song “Turn, Turn, Turn.” Pajo’s and friends play a 16-minute version of the song – sans vocals - which came about, Pajo says, after “I stayed up all night partying with locals and doing Mexican speed. At 8 am I woke everyone up so we could record Turnx3. The only rule was, play until the tape runs out.”

Hole of Burning Alms is a pretty typical, solid, slightly melodramatic, album from Pajo – well, not an album, a “collection.” The most surprising parts of the album are the techno jam beat that appears in “Travels in Constants” – only for the first part of the song, before it shifts into Jimi Hendrix “National Anthem” at Woodstock mode – and the slow, sultry and ethereal cover of Danzig’s “Last Caress” on which Pajo sings- for the only time on the CD – and birds sing in the background.

As a nice collection of mostly out-of-print singles, Hole of Burning Alms is worth $7, and the liner notes are worth $3, but hearing Pajo sing “I raped your mother today,” priceless.

Sleepy Rebels “Unbelievable” Video

Sleepy Rebels

“ …interlocking guitar melodies, imbues the project with a dreamy, curious feeling.”
- CMJ

“ …the group combines their jangly-pop with the likes of infectious hand clapping, parachuters dropping into an antiquated village and girl fights.”
- Paste Magazine

“… an über-catchy pop trio who offer a timeless formula of infectious melodies, memorable choruses, and an intriguing visual look“
- PopMatters

Powerful Company formed by Jeremy Adelman and Samanta Balassa will be releasing some breath-taking projects in 2011. The pair are a true mom & pop musical powerhouse who found great success handling original music production and composition for advertising including national campaigns for VW, Hulu, Jaguar, and JC Penney. The first months of 2011 have unveiled several new projects created by this team of talent including three films that serve as music videos for Sleepy Rebels.

The latest video for the song “Unbelievable” invites you on a journey to an unknown history & geography for an unexpected and surreal love story that happens in the most peculiar way. Directed by Christian Loubek, known best for his work on the classic opening title sequence to Six Feet Under, check out the “Unbelievable” video where it premiered on PasteMagazine.com or HERE!

Powerful Company has quickly transformed from a 2 person team into a modern art factory attracting advertising's (and other industry's) greatest talent of freethinking writers, producers, musicians, directors, editors & designers who all share the same need to create content with artistic statements. Their desires to make music outside the confines of the corporate creative process lead them to establish Powerful Company whose establishing project is the development and marketing of Sleepy Rebels. The New York based trio, collaboration comprised of Jeremy Adelman and siblings Bruce and Erica Driscoll, have designs to re-establish the coolness of positive sentiments and ideals. Yellow Tree is the manifesto that soundtracks their rebellion!

AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD live show and mp3

I went and saw AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD at the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights on May 8th with my brother. It was a pretty well attended show, the co-headlined with SURFER BLOOD, and it rocked. TRAIL OF DEAD kicked ass, blhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifeeding energy and intensity on stage anhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd playing sutff from all over their catalog, including some of my favs from Source Tags and Codes and World's Apart.

They totally rocked this song at the show
WILL YOU SMILE AGAIN - from World's Apart


Check out the Trail of Dead Web site and their new album Tao of the Dead here.

Watch video from ETHIENNE "The Old And The New World" (Deep Elm)

Considering the current pace and magnitude of global change, there couldn't be a better time for the release of an album titled The Old And The New World. Coming at any other moment in time, this album would not mean as much. But this isn't that moment. No, this is the moment for ETHIENNE to shine. And shine they do, with a highly impressive debut that succeeds not only because of the fluid balance it keeps between reach and restraint, but also for its inventive indie pop songwriting and overall entrancing pulse. The velvet-like, alternating vocals carry the listener through curtain-raising anthems, atmospheric rhythms, climatic choruses and full-on rock moments with hushed overtones and sweetly placed falsettos that surround the words with warmth and confidence. It's impossible not to submit to the soaring melody of So Goodnight Day or the melancholic appeal of Ultrapop!...and by then you are only two tracks deep. This album is more than a glorious achievement for this young Italian four piece, it's a document of the times. Their times. Your times. Our times.

"This album represents a collection of ideas, a picture, like a sort of reminder of where we were and where we are" says guitarist Marco Longo. "It's useful remembering what has changed both inside and outside of us throughout the years. It's good to see our progress and sometimes unfortunate regress" adds Marco. "Everyday, people bring the old world with them: memories, stories, traditions and feelings from the past that directly effect the new world. We are all shaped by the past, but it's difficult to properly realize how much these things weigh in our everyday life without reflecting on them. With a careful balance between the before and after, this album immortalizes one of the most significant periods of our lives" continues drummer Fabio Burchielli. Vocalist Andrea Sara adds "the album title represents change. It's the evolution and involution of situations, sensations and feelings. I can see my entire life in this album. I don't know if I like it or I am scared of it. I see a little bit of melancholy but I also see a lot of hope. I see my dreams. I am definitely in the new world at the moment."

In the foreboding album closer District Line, Filippo sings "all the lights are burning out." Indeed, they are...but not for this band. Ethienne is just getting started...

Check out the video for "Ultrapop" HERE.

Stream the new Let's Wrestle

Let's Wrestle's new album Nursing Home will be available in stores on May 17, but you can stream the whole album now at PasteMagazine.com!

Stream Let's Wrestle's Nursing Home now!

Paste describes Nursing Home:

English indie rockers Let’s Wrestle straddle the lines between silly and sincere, raw and ridiculous. While their tongue-in-cheek name mirrors the band’s approach to be taken seriously, it’s only a matter of time before their addictive hooks will leave you immersed in their angst-ridden sprawl. For their second record Nursing Home, the trio of Wesley Patrick Gonzalez (vocals and guitar), Mike Lightning (bass and vocals) and Darkus Bishop (drums) traveled overseas to record with heralded producer Steve Albini in Chicago, Illinois. Out of this partnership, the group have emerged from the studio with another compelling batch of songs blending equal parts punk candor and pop sentiment into their darker portraits of suburban life.

Architecture in Helsinki Get Remixed by Javelin, Release New Album, Moment Bends- download remix mp3

Architecture in Helsinki Get Remixed by Javelin,

Release New Album, Moment Bends

Click HERE to Stream/Download Javelin’s Remix of “Contact High”

Click HERE for the Video of Architecture in Helsinki’s Original Version

Masters of modernist pop Architecture in Helsinki release their new album Moment Bends today on V2/Cooperative Music USA/Downtown Records. To celebrate the occasion the band is sharing a remix of their single “Contact High” by Brooklyn duo Javelin. Click HERE to stream/download this lush, shimmering take on the song. Click HERE to watch the video for the original version of “Contact High,” which Paste Magazine calls “summer’s first mixtape must” and Prefix Mag calls “absurdly catchy.” Don’t miss the band as they kick off their US tour next month!

In large parts, Moment Bends is in dialogue with the dance floor, without being a slave to any particular rhythm. Like the best pop albums it bubbles with an immediacy while revealing new layers after repeated listens. It also showcases the band’s most concise and sophisticated songwriting yet. Recorded over a two year period in the their studio space, Buckingham Palace, songwriter Cameron Bird says: “Moment Bends was all about being at one with our ideas, obsessed with popular music and falling in love with our hometown. We wanted to build a record to get lost in. A record that always feels exactly what you are feeling”.


Architecture in Helsinki US Tour Dates:

06/01: Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theater
06/02: San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
06/03: San Francisco, CA @ Slims
06/04: Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
06/05: Vancouver, BC @ Venur
06/06: Seattle, WA @ Neumo's
06/09: Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
06/10: Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
06/11: Toronto, ON @ Mod Club
06/12: Montreal, QC @ Le Tulipe
06/13: Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
06/15: Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
06/16: New York, NY @ Webster Hall
06/17: Washington, DC @ Black Cat
06/18: Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live

Spring Heel Jack - The Sweetness of the Water

Spring Heel Jack
The Sweetness of the Water
Thirsty Ear Recordings

I used to do a jazz show on the college radio station at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, with my buddy Dave, it was called Krush Jazz. I named the show after DJ Krush, who put out a fantastic album, among many he’s done, called Ki-Oku with trumpeter Toshinori Kondo. The album is a great mix of trip hop/electronica and jazz. It’s a free jazz album that incorporates the new urban sounds, and beats, that are popular today. The album challenges jazz fans and hip hop/dance fans to come together. And I liked that idea, the idea of crushing barriers between genres, so I named the radio show Krush Jazz.

Anyway, Spring Heel Jack has always pushed along the same barriers that DJ Krush and Toshinori Kondo did on Ki-Oku. Spring Heel Jack started in England in the early 90s with members John Coxon – a producer who worked quite a bit with Spiritualized in the past- and Ashley Wales. The group began as a drum and bass outfit, with a jazzy feel to them. They got noticed by the band Everything But The Girl, did some work with them, got more popular, then hooked up with Thirsty Ear Records. Thirsty Ear is a totally sweet label out of New York who has worked with DJ Spooky, Henry Rollins, Pere Ubu, Teenage Fanclub, Brian Eno and others, and they have a series of albums called the “Blue Series” that was started by avant-garde jazz pianist Matthew Shipp.
Spring Heel Jack has released its past 4 or 5 efforts on Thirsty Ear and the band has even done a live outing with Shipp. Slowly, the Jacks are growing into more of a free jazz band than ever before; such is the sound of The Sweetness of the Water. The band has produced a rolling landscape of horns, guitar noodlings and extraneous electronic sounds, among other things. Along for the ride with Coxon and Wales, are trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, sax man Evan Parker, drummer Mark Sanders, and bass player John Edwards.
Random electronic noises and feedback guide about half of the 8 tracks on this CD, but it’s not jarring or redundant, and Edwards displays some fine fingerwork – especially on the opening track. But, Leo Smith and his trumpet are featured most prominently in this recording – screeching in and out of songs and dropping off short bursts of fine horn work.
The songs on The Sweetness of the Water range between about 3 minutes, to 9 minutes, and they each have their peaks and valleys, with hyperactivity at one point, and a soft lulling at the next. The recording is kind of a mix of Ornette Coleman and Tortoise, it is pleasant, for the most part, and enjoyable to listen to for fans of free jazz and “experimental” bands along the lines of Joan of Arc, but it is not essential. It doesn’t do enough to grip the listener constantly. The bass playing on track 1 is a powerfully catchy force, and the piano notes on track 5 perk up listener’s ears before Leo Smith’s spastic horn – reminiscent of a hyped up Terrance Blanchard, or even Miles Davis in his electro funk years – dives in and levels out, but there are too many dead spots on the album. These parts halt any momentum that was being gathered. They’re not bad stretches, per se - they sound more slightly tweaked meditation music from your Tai Chi class - but they just give the album more of a soundtrack feel. Like, a love scene must be playing in the studio now, oops,http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif here comes a fight, maybe a chase scene here, and that’s definitely the ‘someone’s gonna die’ music.
On The Sweetness of the Water, Spring Heel Jack is missing some of the great continuity it had in early songs, on early albums, where they had a sneaky bass line following a symbol beat throughout, tying everything together. The band is really pushing themselves in more of an experimental, free form, direction than ever before, and while the experiments might not all be great successes, they are exciting, and they should help the band in the future, just, not so much on this album.

See and hear some Spring Heel Jack on youtube.com HERE.