I had forgotten...

This song just popped into my head #2


...how much I love Iron & Wine.



I mean, it goes beyond the beard love, but the first time I heard him, I thought to myself, "These are the songs that I would want to hear sung to me, in the middle of the night, very quietly, while laying in bed."

The Phenomenal Handclap Band:

Disco is not a dirty word #14

For fans of Munk, !!!, Liquid Liquid and live disco bands. A 12" was released a few weeks ago, featuring remixed by Horse Meat Disco

Enjoy.

A heavy cross to bear

Watch this #6
New releases #9

Major label. A career that has humble roots in blues-tinged rawk. A recent flirt with disco and electronics.

Holy shit, I love the Gossip.

Rest in peace, oh wonderful woman

Watch this #5

On Christmas day, one of the 20th centuries most distinctive voices in pop music passed away. Eartha Mae Kitt, chanteuse extraordinaire and the woman Orson Welles once dubbed, “the most exciting woman in the world”, died of cancer at the age of 81.



I first discovered Eartha Kitt not by her music, but rather by her words. In an interview in a book entitled “Incredibly Strange Music”, Kitt talked about her amazing career, starting in Paris Cafes, signing to RCA record where she was the highest grossing artist on their roster (that is, until Elvis came along) and her infamous speech at the white house in 1968 where she decried the vietname war and reportedly made Lady Bird Johnson cry.

Kitt is known to most people under the age of 40 for her role as Catwoman on TV’s Batman, where she replaced Julie Newmar and made usage of her famous “purr”. Musically, she is (unfortunately) known for her hit, “Santa Baby”. I say unfortunate, because to many, Kitt had become nothing more than a christmas novelty. But she was more than that.

Eartha Kitt was one of the greatest chanteuses the United States has ever produced, understanding the great American songbook in a way few have presented it. Not with sentimentality (though at times the arrangements could be argued as such), but with wit, intelligence and a razor sharp sense of humour.





Au revoir Eartha. Tu serais manquee.

One House. Twenty Bands. One film.

Watch this #4
I'm in the mood for this #26


Photos by Paul Hammond

In the spring of 2007, two friends were moving out of their home.



One of them, a local poster/print guru and sometime dance punk enthusiast, the other, a former local radio personality and History maker decided to throw one big last hurrah to their time while living at 6015 Willow Street in Halifax's north end.


Die Brucke

The "hurrah" became a "holy shit" when the idea blossomed into 20 bands in 3 days and a document of not only a house that has housed many musicians and artists (members of such bands as Die Brucke, The Memories Attack and Dog Day have all lived in the house) but also the Halifax music scene, or rather, the scene which often operates, creates and plays in Halifax's north end.



Our two friends, Paul Hammond and Jeff Parker enlisted not only the bands into this project (and by extension, a whole bunch of their friends) but also director Mark Mullane and (later on) editor Evan Elliott. This "holy shit" had now transcended into a full fledged "HOLY FUCK" as the film was now no longer a document of a weekend in someone's house, but rather, a document of a scene, a city and an artistic endeavour which was now bigger than the two people who had thought of it, almost jokingly.

In this episode of Moody Morning Music I interview Paul and Elliott about their work on this film, about 6015 Willow and how the little film that could is now the big film that is.

Listen. (Zshare)


Seth Smith of Dog Day, former resident of 6015 Willow Street and the other half of the Yo Rodeo Poster Company

***

Moody Morning Music for September 2nd, 2008

Check out the small profile on Annie in this week's edition, as well as the tracks by Poni Hoax and the Can edit from Disco not Disco Volume 2

Check it out


Stars, "The Beginning after the end", In Our Bedroom after the war
Merryn Cadell, "Secret", Angel food for thought
Grizzly Bear, "He Hit Me", The Daytrotter Sessions
Buck 65, "Devil's Eyes (Piano Version)", Secret House against the world
The Watson Twins, "Just Like Heaven", Fire Songs
Belle & Sebastian, "I'm waking up to us", 12"
Beautiful South, "We are each other", 0898
Stars, "Take me to the riot", In Our Bedroom after the war
G. Love & Special Sauce, "Cold Beverages"
Dog Day, "End Of The World", Night Group
Les George Leningrad, "Fifi F", Sur Les Traces de Black Eskimo
G Love & Special Sauce, "Cold Beverages"
King Khan & THe Shrines, "Took my lady to dinner", Supreme Genius Of...
Annie, "Chewing Gum", Anniemal
Annie, "The wedding (Live Mix)"
Annie, "I know your girlfriend hates me"
Annie, "I know your girlfriend hates me (Feel The Moog Remix)"
Sebastien Grainger, "When you go out"
Peaches, "Downtown", Impeach my bush
CAN, "Aspectacle (Holger Czukay Edit)"
Crystal Castles, "Crimewave (Dances With White Girls Remix)"
Poni Hoax, "Antibodies", Images of Sigrid
Tiga, "(Far from) Home (the speed of sexor reprise)", Sexor
MGMT, "Electric Feel (Justice is AWESOME Remix)"

Sounds like a Brazilian kids show...

Watch This #3
Cover me #5

Jesus Christ, I love Xiu Xiu

I do want, what I want, from Women as Lovers



It's not that he sings in this bizarre throaty way, or that he has a habit of screaming, or that it took me a while to understand/get used to/appreciate his music/art/performances/ideas. It's that he does what he does, because it's him.

And I admire that.

Profoundly.

Ceremony, live (Joy Division cover)



For the Archivist

Cyclying Trivialities

Watch This #2

I just found out the most amazing news.



Jose Gonzales is playing in Halifax, June 26th at St. Matthew's United Church (the same space where Final Fantasy performed when he was here). The show is being promoted by Jeemy.Net and tickets go one sale Friday May 16th, through Ticketpro both online and through their various retailers here in Halifax.

I am delirious.

As I said on a certain messageboard, I am going to cry more than a mascara'd emo teenage girl with clairol-dyed hair.

In honour of this, I am posting a video from La Blogotheque of Gonzales performing in the back of a pickup truck in the middle of nowhere in the U.S.

TakeAwayShow_JoseGonzalez-1-DivX
by lablogotheque

Watch this #1: Beirut inhabits the Blogotheque

There is no denying the fact that I love Beirut. I have extolled his musical virtues both here (see my best of 2007 list) and on my radio show ever since I discovered Gulag Orkestar.

So I was doubly excited when I found a bunch of videos on youtube, one for each track from The Flying Club Cup. These videos, I soon discovered, were all shot for La Blogotheque, which is probably one of the best blogs I have ever found. Less preachy (and better written) than Pitchfork (hey, c'mon, we all love to bitch about it), the site includes interviews, free live concerts for downloading, as well as copious amounts of videos from artists as diverse as Caribou, Islands, Keren Ann and more.

La Blogotheque is mostly written in french, but there are a few english speaking/writing contributors to the site. This, however, should not dissuade you from visiting it. It could be in hungarian and you could still navigate this site as easily as any tourist who is lost in a world who'se language they don't speak. Because here, we all know how to listen.

Beirut,In The Masoleum