The Top Five 2007 Albums You Didn’t Hear

Woods - At Rear House

At Rear House, the second full-length from Woods (the lo-fi, acoustic, back-porchy offshoot of Meneguar), was one of my most-listened-to releases of the first part of this year. To paraphrase Fake Jazz, it’s something like “a junk shop TV on the Radio covering old school Sebadoh.”

MP3: Woods - Be Still

Dolorean - You Can’t Win

This is the other record that soundtracked the first part of my year. I’ve been a fan of Portland, Oregon’s Al James since 2003’s Not Exotic, and this one is, I think, his best yet. It’s a dreamy, lovely, meandering record, if a bit overly melancholy and beatdown. Al James sings of futility and disillusionment here, and rightly so; he’s an artist creating solid, well-crafted slow-burners, in a world that seems interested mainly in faceless Facebook pablum pop.

Album Stream: Dolorean - You Can’t Win

Giantess - s/t

There was a band called Battles that was really big this year, and there was a band called (The) Battles that was really big (to me, at least) last year. The band that was called The Battles last year is now called Giantess, and they put out another great record this year. Featuring members from Destroyer, the New Pornographers, Black Mountain, and Precious Fathers, Giantess deals in a left-field 70’s vibe, reminiscent of the Soft Boys and Roxy Music (which is to say: Good Shit.)

MP3: Giantess - Saturday Night

Jason Anderson - Tonight

People love Jason Anderson. Well, people that know of/have seen Jason Anderson love Jason Anderson. For years now, Jason has been gracing living rooms and backyards all across the country with his ebullient one-man love-in acoustic-guitar dance-parties. But for the most part, Jason’s recorded output hasn’t come close to matching the exuberance of his live show. Tonight manages to do just that.

MP3: Jason Anderson - July 4, 2004

Nathan Lawr & The Minotaurs - A Sea Of Tiny Lights

I got familiar with Toronto’s Nathan Lawr via his amazingly great 2003 release, The Heart Beats A Waltz. 2005’s Secret Carpentry wasn’t a great departure from the previous release’s sound, and neither is this new record trying to be dramatically different, per se, and you know what? These are good things. Lawr is a greatly talented songwriter, with a wonderful, smooth voice, to boot. Lawr keeps good company; he’s played in Royal City, The Constantines, and with Jim Guthrie and more. They all seem to recognize that there’s Something About Nathan Lawr, and so should you.

MP3: Nathan Lawr & The Minotaurs - Righteous Heart

Cripes, welcome to the internet age. That Bejar/Vermont Hello Blue Roses record isn’t even out for another 2 months, but there’s already a cover of one of the tracks! It comes courtesy of Ruby Isle (Dan Geller from I am the World Trade Center and Mark Mallman (Minneapolis Rock Monster)), on the recently-resurrected Kindercore site.

“Last Friday, Ruby Isle was in the middle of recording our new record and were looking for some inspiration so we decided to take whatever track was number one on elbo.ws and cover it. It turned out it was a song by Hello, Blue Roses called Shadow Falls…Our take on it is VERY different, I hope we don’t offend HBR because we mean no harm. It was just supposed to be a fun send up of a current indie fave.”

(And here’s the original, if you need a refresher:)

CBR 012: Manishevitz - East to East

Just in time to soundtrack your evening walks through the chill Autumn
air, Chicago’s Manishevitz have returned with their fourth long-player; the first since 2003’s critically-lauded City Life (Jagjaguwar, 2003). On East to East, Manishevitz cruises through a set of swaggering, thoughtfully-composed rock songs, with a liberal
dose of open-ended groove structures (think Neu!) and moody pop mutations (think Roxy Music).

East to East is Catbird’s *10th* release this year (which boggles my mind). And yes, we recognize the ever-changing face of the music industry, and though we still believe very strongly in the album as a physical, tactile artifact, we realize that not every one does– and as such, we’ve put together this all-new feature: the Catbird Records MP3 Downloads Store.

I know we’ve had releases available digitally already, on iTunes and eMusic and etc., but this is a little different and, dare I say, better? Because here’s how our system works: you want the CD? $7. You want the instant gratification of a 320k MP3 download? $7. You want the the CD *PLUS* the instant gratification of a 320k MP3 download? Just add a few bucks: $10.

Secretly Canadian = Secretly Morphing: Experimental/Underground/Fringe -> Crusty Singer-Songwriter -> Blog Rock

Someone nominate the Secretly Canadian family of labels as official “Blog Band” Aggregator of 2007: After kicking off Dead Oceans with a release from Bishop Allen (the original, old-school apotheosis of the “blog band”) they have, in the last 30 days alone, signed Bon Iver, Throw Me The Statue, and just now, Bodies Of Water.

I have nothing else to add, just making an observation.

Give Stereogum the cookie for premiering it, but save me some crumbs, because I’m reposting it. It’s the first track from the Magnetic Fields‘ forthcoming Distortion:

I’m gonna go ahead and break my “it’s-a-music-website-so-i-only-post-about-music” rule, simply because this is so awesome.

I noticed this weekend that there’s a new Kelley Stoltz record coming out in ‘08! Man, I loved his 2006 record, Below The Branches, so much. This is good, good news. The new record’s called Circular Sounds, and is coming out on Feb. 5th. It’ll be preceded, well, NOW, by a 7-inch, Your Reverie b/w Owl Service. MP3’s from Below The Branches (2006):

::: Kelley Stoltz - The Memory Collector :::
::: Kelley Stoltz - The Sun Comes Through :::

I’m starting to feel very, very optimistic (evidence is rapidly piling up in the form of release announcements) about 2008 being a great year, music-wise. It will be much welcomed after a fairly dismal 2007.

Did anyone catch Matt’s Home Blitz post on the Forkcast a few weeks ago? It’s a shame if you missed it, because this track rules:

::: Home Blitz - Hey! :::

Holy Christ, Pol-fucking-vo are reuniting?

Magnus Larsson, aka Pet Politics, (and who has graced us (the Catbird Records “us”) with two splendid releases) has a new 7-inch out on the UK’s Great Pop Supplement label. It’s only 300 numbered copies, and comes in a circular, shell-like sleeve (looks very cool).

Oh, and whattya know, StG just posted a new Pet Politics song.

P.S., over at Catbird Recs, we’re now down to our *last 2* copies of the Pet Politics Spring EP. $3. Act fast.

I totally forgot to mention that I finally got to see Clear Tigers play last week. I wasn’t sure if they were going to be able to translate their sound live, especially since they haven’t played very many shows, but my worry was unfounded, it seems. Because they totally “slayed,” as the kids say.

Also, I turned up just a *few* more copies of CBR 011, the Clear Tigers EP. Sure, the four songs on the EP all also appear on their Deathmaze Records‘ full-length, Brutal, but I know there were a few of you out there that wanted the EP, but thought you missed out, so here’s your one-more-chance.

And here are those Clear Tigers mp3s, just once more, because why the hell not?

::: Clear Tigers - Boredom :::
::: Clear Tigers - Igloo :::

Oh, and plus also, Deathmaze has provided me with an extra copy of Brutal, which I would be more than happy to give away to one of you guys. Just enter your email below, and I’ll pick a name out later this week.

(Winner chosen 11/15 - thx)

QUOTES OF THE DAY:

“The Hello, Blue Roses songs are completely untethered to any of the bullshit streams coursing through the scene right now… it’s a product of not really caring what people think, but still caring a lot about people.” [emphasis mine - ed.]

-Dan B. in the Hello Blue Roses press release.

“All my friends who don’t live in New York hate New York. Near as I can tell, they imagine the city as one giant, loathsome American Apparel ad, a crass, joyless, narcissistic, careerist, emaciated, insincere, hopelessly uptight, suffocatingly twee cesspool of white-privilege Williamsburg hipsterdom.”

-Rob Harvilla reviews S*fjan’s “BQE” in the VV.

Last week, I swung by the inimitable Popsheep, heard this song, and was so immediately into it that I leapt over to eBay and (luckily) managed to score a sealed vinyl copy. I am so incredibly happy that this sort of thing can still happen to me.

::: Cross Country - Just A Thought :::

Of course the catch here is that it’s not a new record. Pretty damn old, actually: it’s an obscure one-off release from 1973. At first, I wasn’t able to find out much of anything about the album (though there was this generous bit from XGau’s Consumer Guide: “Move over, Arthur, Hurley & Gottlieb–these guys make Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sound like Crosby & Young. Grade: D“).

But in the end, just a bit more research turned up some deeper info: Cross Country are actually none other than the mother-effing Tokens (maybe you’ve heard their ‘61 hit? A little something called “The Lion Sleeps Tonight?”), minus one member. This was a final, early 70’s-style swan song from the band, before they lapsed into inactivity for nearly 20 years (though they returned in the late 80’s in their “classic” Doo Wop incarnation, The Tokens).

I haven’t received the LP just, so I can’t make a call, but I’ve got the feeling that this record’s gonna fall somewhere between Nilsson Schmilsson and I Am The Cosmos, and that would be just fine by me.

Enjoy this month’s mix, a rerun an encore re-broadcast of a classic Catbird mix.