Harper Simon Kicks Off Left Coast Tour 12/6 (MP3)
Harper Simon, son of Paul, will be touring the West this winter to prove that genius doesn’t skip a generation. The younger Simon’s West Coast/Left Coast tour starts with a solo show (opening for none other than Brian Wilson, who has somehow not yet transformed into pure energy), after which he’ll kick off a slew of full-band gigs with a show at San Diego’s beloved Casbah on December 7. (more…)
Poetic Memory: Boy Without God (List)
Fact: there are more albums in existence today than ever before, and, as more albums are released in the future, that number will most likely increase. We, the intrepid writers for Owl&Bear, stand at the frothy frontline of this constant deluge of new music, bravely filling buckets with the good stuff and presenting it as sweet sustenance to our parched readers. We perpetually receive music from PR people, begging us to check out undiscovered artists, and a lot of it is, quite frankly, underwhelming. But once in a while we come across a diamond in the rough, something that grabs us by the ears and doesn’t let go. And so it happened that, mere seconds into hearing “If You” (MP3), I became a fan of Boy Without God.
Hailing from Massachusetts, famed home of the sassy Congressman, Boy Without God is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Birnbaum. His new album, Your Body Is Your Soul, which sounds like Neutral Milk Hotel if they’d been fronted by Johnny Cash, has been on constant rotation in the Owl&Bear offices lately and is shaping up to be one of the best albums of the year. Birnbaum was kind enough to share his influences with us for our newest installment of Poetic Memory.
Poetic Memory is a regular Owl and Bear feature in which musicians disclose their influences—whether it’s albums, songs, artists, or something random. If you’re interested in being featured here, send us an email. (more…)
GloNo Interviews Larry Crane, Curator of Elliott Smith’s Archives
GloriousNoise: “A few years ago, Larry Crane, editor of Tape Op Magazine, and Elliott Smith’s friend and studio partner from back in Portland, become the official archivist of Elliott Smith’s estate. We interviewed Crane back in 2007 before the release of New Moon, a collection of mostly unreleased songs recorded between 1994 and 1997…In the time since that interview, Crane has digitized over a terabyte of audio from various sources. It seems that Elliott Smith was constantly recording. We caught up with Larry via email to see what he’s found since we last talked.”
The Moviegoers Want You to Be a Man (MP3s)
Soulful San Diego cinephiles The Moviegoers have released a new digital EP, entitled Be a Man, and they’d like you to have it.
The three song release takes some of the sweetest elements of the 90s—Pavement, The Breeders, Elliott Smith, Yo La Tengo—and fuses them into a deliciously caramelized rock and roll concoction. Clocking in at an all too brief twelve minutes, Be a Man is so heartfelt and catchy you may find yourself listening to it ten times in a row. At least that’s what happened to us.
You can experience the sugary goodness by downloading the EP—miraculously free of charge. We dare you not to love it.
Elliott Smith – The Complete Live Covers (MP3s)
Lots of Beatles, Kinks, Dylan…
The below tracks have been culled from years of research and dozens of live shows. Not every song has the greatest recording fidelity, but as much as possible, I chose the tapes with the best combination of performance and sound for this collection…It should be noted that Elliott Smith was a fan of the bands he covered—most of these were not one-offs, but songs he performed regularly. His Texas heritage is on display when he sings Willie Nelson, his pop influences as he strums the Kinks, the same for Big Star, and his beloved Beatles. He took his covers very seriously, too: at many a live show, he wouldn’t play a request because he didn’t feel he could do it justice that night.
[Rawkblog]
Download: Owl and Bear’s Top 20 Albums of 2007
Owl and Bear writers’ favorite albums of 2007.
(more…)
Elliott Smith – New Moon
The best vault-cleaning release since Syd Barrett’s Opel suffers only from its brevity.
