Owl and Bear’s Best Albums of 2009
Owl and Bear writers’ favorite albums of 2009. (more…)
Poetic Memory: Fruit Bats (List)
Fruit Bats at The Casbah, San Diego - February 3, 2009
The Ruminant Band, Fruit Bats‘ first release in four years, is undoubtedly one of the best releases of 2009. We recently sat down with Eric to talk Poetic Memory, and he listed the records most influential to him from the 1990s. Check it out below. (more…)
Tom Waits is the Devil (Links)
Owl and Bear contributor Marty responds to our post highlighting Califone’s Pitchfork review “While I like much of what Mr. Tangari says, I respectfully disagree that Califone has but one song to sing…[Funeral Singers] perfects the Califone project with more than subtle variations on the whole Califone/Red Red Meat oeuvre.” Flavorwire interviews Califone Hear what band leader (and filmmaker) Tim Rutili has to say about pairing visuals to songs, working with cult film star Angela Bettis, and more. Tom Waits is the devil At 59, Tom Waits has finally landed the role he was born to play: the devil. Former Beulah frontman Miles Kurosky plans solo disc After releasing beloved albums like 1999’s When Your Heartstrings Break and 2001’s The Coast Is Never Clear, Beulah broke up, and we haven’t heard from them since. Noah and the Whale’s gear stolen “I used that guitar for everything. I used that guitar to record the album…that’s my guitar. I feel like a part of my personality has been removed. It defines so much about the stuff we do, the way that stuff sounds.” Music video for “The Ruminant Band” by the Fruit Bats The Ruminant Band is out now on Sub Pop Records. The psychosocial complexities of ‘Mr. Ed’ When you blaze through an entire season’s worth of TV episodes all at once, some things stick out a little more plainly than they otherwise might. With Mister Ed’s first season, released on DVD today, this truth emerges: that horse is obnoxious. The different kinds of strangers (video) Featuring fake Philip Seymour Hoffman. Daniel Martin Moore: “Flyrock Blues” (Daytrotter MP3) I can’t get enough of “Flyrock Blues”, a coal mining song by the SubPop folkster Daniel Martin Moore.
Download: Fruit Bats – March 28, 2009 (FLACs)
Soundboard/Audience mic matrix/README/Download
This is a great Fruit Bats show. There are lots of songs from The Ruminant Band, their new album, but also classics like “Born in the ’70s”, “The Earthquake of ‘73″, “When You Love Somebody” (one of my favorite songs of all time), and a cover of Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere”. The sound is top-notch, too. Check it out. Thanks to Chandler for sending it to us.
If you don’t like downloading the files individually, check out DownThemAll, a handy Firefox plugin that allows you to download files in bulk. If you like the downloads, let us know in the comments. Also, requests (for your favorite bands, not specific shows) are always welcome.
Win The Fruit Bats’ ‘Ruminant Band’ on Vinyl (Contest)
Just a few days ago, O&B favorites The Fruit Bats released The Ruminant Band, their first long-player since 2005.
Pitchfork even gave The Ruminant Band a 7.4, the website’s highest honor for albums that contain semblances of jubilation.
To whet your whistle, here’s an MP3 of their excellent new track, “My Unusual Friend“. If you like what you hear, their megatour starts August 18, details below.
To enter the contest, comment on this post and include your email address in the form (your email won’t be visible to the public). The winner will be chosen at random on 8/30. (more…)
Fruit Bats to ‘Ruminate,’ Tour Extensively (MP3)
It’s been 4 years since Fruit Bats put out a new record (not including an excellent tour-only LP), so it’s with open arms that we embrace (how else do you do it?) the latest offering from Eric D. Johnson and Co. The Ruminant Band will be released on August 4 in both CD and gatefold LP fashion.
Excellently, if you pre-order through Sub Pop on or before the release date, the ‘Pop will shave $2 off the ‘Bats album’s “already well-priced price.” SubPop also promises to enclose trinkets and doodads and “whatever else they can find” to spruce up the package, but that’s not news; they’ve always been good for that. Consider it pre-ordered, SubPop. MP3 and tourdates after the jump. (more…)
Joan of Arc to Release New Album
On June 9th, Polyvinyl will release Flowers, a new full length album by Chicago’s prolific Joan of Arc.
“I think it’s harder for a band to make a tenth record than it is to make a first record,” says Tim Kinsella, who remains the one permanent member of the Joan of Arc lineup. “There is more freedom to be daring, but there is also your own standard to live up to and surpass.”
Over the course of a year, Flowers was recorded in four different sessions, with four different lineups, and mixed by Graeme Gibson (the current touring drummer for Fruit Bats, and a regular collaborator with Califone) at Chicago’s Clava Studios.
In late 2008, Kinsella and the latest incarnation of his live band entered the studio to complete the last batch of songs that would round out the album. With no instruments–and hardly any completed songs–the group simply did what felt right: they used what was available to all the musicians who had recorded there previously–pianos, acoustics, and synthesizers – to create a new batch of music after only two days.
Photos: Sera Cahoone and The Fruit Bats; February 2, 2009; Casbah, San Diego
Sera Cahoone
More photos after the jump.
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