{You can hear the whole playlist by using the music player below and then you can either download individual songs or the whole playlist. We don't want you wasting summertime by being online all day, so save time while listening: go check your email, facebook, myspace, insert latest social networking obsession...}
{Click on the song title to download, we use yousendits so right-click to open in another window/tab. We will not re-link these so all the songs on here will only be available for 7 days. You can still stream it though on the music player for as long as you want. Click on the artist/band name for their MySpace or official site!}
Charlie's back! I didn't really go anywhere, the month of May just kept me on my toes and I was swamped with a lot of things, but school's over now and I can get back to writing again so yeah. Okay let's get down to it.
Although you've probably forgotten by now, I introduced Magic Bullets to you guys last November. I fell in love right after I saw them perform with Voxtrot. I've been waiting since then for their debut album to come out. And finally, today is the official worldwide release of, aCHILD but in life yet a DOCTOR in Love. With this release, I can finally enjoy ten simple and short yet powerful songs instead of only three (heatstroke, lay low, new kicks) that were available over six months ago.
The album kicks off with "Yesterday's Seen Better Days", it starts off with a sweet guitar riff that you just want to hear over and over again. Then several of my old favourites follow up after that including "Heatstroke", "Lay low", and my new favourite "Will Scarlett".
It's definitely what I expected from these bay area guys. The album makes you dance, snap your fingers, and bob your head from time to time without breaking a sweat. It's that distinct calm, and collected yet upbeat sound I crave for whenever I'm getting ready to spend a day at San Francisco. Basically, Magic Bullets starts of my day and recharges me just like a can of caffeinated red bull would. Yes, it gives me wings. So please, check them out, they'll be touring the west coast soon.
Well, another three months has passed and we're now welcoming our third group of guest photographers onto Camera Crowd's photoblog. Hence the name of our blog, we are both a music & photography blog and with the endless possibilities that the Internet offers we somehow had this idea of building a tight-knit photography community online with this photoblog and getting people to participate posting. In turn giving well-deserved exposure to young talented photographers around the world and it's also a nice way to let music lovers to rest their ears for a moment and open their eyes to the possibility that there is something outside of a computer screen. We're just teasing, we love/hate our laptops as much as you do.
Charlie & I are still learning how to find our way around this tricky blogosphere, so thank you for reading and growing up with us. To everyone who's reading and/or went through the application process, you have no idea how much your participation means to us. Thank you.
Alright, so go ahead and get acquainted with the three photographers who will be showing their workfrom now till the end of August. Click on their names below to check out some of their photography on their Flickrs now and in the future, thumbnails of the two latest photos on the photoblog will be shown on the top right sidebar of this blog.
Congratulations to Marina, Birdie and Ian! David Bowie knows how to party it up, so let's dance!
"You never really know what's going to happen in the city. Something exciting is always happening and you have to capture that moment or else it'll pass by in no time."
"What’s more exciting than making a piece of art in a matter of seconds? The world, along with the human body is remarkably unique and beautiful. Technology has enabled us to not only to embrace these things, but also look back on the way they were, share it with others, and start to see them in a more artistic way."
"Photography is my life, plain and simple. Both of my parents are artists, so needless to say I grew up with strong background in art. Though I always thought I would end up a scientist, I wasn’t happy in the field of science and realized my true love has always been photography. If I’m not taking photos for myself, I am assisting commercial and fashion photographers."
I'm a few days too late on covering this, but at least now I have a few more hours of sleep to run on compared to last week! So last Tuesday, Ben Gibbard along with Johnathan Rice and David Bazan of Pedro The Lion stopped by Emo's for a fun night of solo acoustic material. Here are the photos that came out of that night and Ben Gibbard's setlist. I loved singing to every song with the audience and clapping our hands sore. What a night.
Setlist:
To Sing For You (Donovan cover) Brand New Colony Title and Registration Crooked Teeth You Remind Me Of Home We Will Become Silouhettes Why'd You Want To Live Here Photobooth I was A Kaleidescope Soul Meets Body Passenger Seat ??? (American Analog Set Cover) 405 A Lack Of Color I Will Follow You Into The Dark
Encore Harvest Moon (Neil Young Cover) Blacking Out The Friction All Apologies (Nirvana Cover) The Sound Of Settling Such Great Heights
Last night decked out in white attire, Conor Oberst and his troupe played at UT's Bass Concert Hall, even the piano was white! The setlist would satisfy any devoted Bright Eyes fan, including songs from his beautiful new album, Cassadaga and older albums such as Lifted, Fevers And Mirrors, Digital Ash In A Digital Urn and I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning.
The acoustics of the Bass Concert Hall was amazing and the 11-member band filled up the grandiose venue wonderfully. This Spring tour has Conor gracing venues that are more use to the sound of chamber orchestras and music appealing to your mom and dad. Of course I would've preferred a more intimate and familiar venue, but this show opened my eyes or rather ears to how music can still be enjoyed while sitting. My friends and I were more on the edges of our seats, clapping our hands and cheering our throats sore anyways. I guess some things never change no matter how big or small a venue is.
The neat visual display was from a projector all done while the songs were played on stage. Interpreting the songs with various photos moved from one side to the other, colorful marbles blurred and focused again, colored water drops nudged and blotted on the screen and more. Conor kept saying your name and I can't remember it for the life of me, but you were wonderful.
It's so lovely that they're bringing a string section with them on this tour, since a lot of Cassadaga'sbeauty rests on the string players. (Oh Nate Walcott, you and your string arrangements, Cassadaga wouldn't be the same without your work!) For the violinist that gets to play solo on the stage though, you are amazing. I mean I thought "Four Winds" was absolutely terrific on the album, wait till you hear it live, my stomach literally dropped! They also played full band versions, on the songs from I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. The only thing I could've requested was the presence of lovely Mister M. Ward and oh much closer seats! Well we did get a nice bird's eye view, since we were sitting from the first balcony.
When I saw Bright Eyes on their Digital Ash In A Digital Urn Tour at Stubb's(Austin), Conor was zipped up in a black hoodie and stayed mostly in one spot for the whole set. He seemed so comfortable on stage last night and would stage banter a bit and move from one side to the other. Again the setlist was wonderful generously dipping into four of his albums. I think the surprise of the night was "The Calendar Hung Itself", you could hear the sudden roar of the audience clapping and screaming when they recognized the song within the first few seconds. "False Advertisement" drew a similar extreme welcoming response. The night ended perfectly with a beautiful full band version of "Lua".
Setlist:
Clairaudients (Killed Or Be Killed) Hot Knives Middleman First Day Of My Life Four Winds No One Would Riot For Less False Advertising The Calendar Hung Itself Brakeman Soul Singer In A Session Band Lime Tree I Believe In Symmetry Gold Mine Gutted Lua
05-14 New Orleans, LA - Republic 05-16 Tampa, FL - Carol Morsani Hall at Tampa Bay PAC 05-17 Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live 05-18 Atlanta, GA - Fox Theatre 05-19 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium 05-20 Columbus, OH, - Wexner Center 05-21 Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre 05-22 Toronto, ONT - Massey Hall 05-24 Boston, MA - WANG Center 05-25 New York, NY - Town Hall
It's so good to hear your voice again, Elliott. We miss you.
The double-disc album named New Moon will release this Tuesday and is a collection of the late Elliott Smith's songs from 1994~1997. That was during the time when he was still in Heatmiser, but started gaining more attention for his solo work, back when he was still signed on Kill Rock Stars. These recordings could have ended up in any of his three albums he released during this time period: Roman Candle, his self-titled album or Either/Or. Larry Crane, Elliott Smith's friend, editor of Tape-Op magazine and owner of Jackpot! Recording Studio became the official archivist of the many recordings Elliott Smith left behind and is the one to thank for giving the rest of the world such a beautiful collection.
Each disc has 12 songs and includes many of the songs that were leaked online a year ago, referred by many though incorrectly(considering the songs were recorded much earlier than From A Basement On The Hill) as Basement II. The songs on New Moon sound just like what Elliott Smith would have done in the studio, in line with his usual no fuss, lo-fi recording style. The songs were left mostly untouched except for some additional light EQ and compression. Here is a clip from a Glono interview with Larry Crane on the studio work:
"Most of the ones that were tracked on the 8-track 1/2" machine were pretty well done, the same as tracks from Elliott Smith or Either/Or. I was really just balancing the mix and adding very simple, light EQ or compression to some tracks. Nothing fancy or over-the-top."
The album is a digipak, with extensive liner notes that include details on where and when each song was recorded. Also in the album sleeve are filled with words depicting fond memories of Elliott and his music from Larry Crane, Sam Coomes, Christopher O'Riley and Sean Croghan. A portion of the proceeds will go towards Outside In, a social service organization based in Portland, OR that helps low-income adults and homeless youths.
Out of the 24 tracks on New Moon are two completely new, unreleased songs:, "All Cleaned Out" and "First Timer". Both songs and an early version of what would become "Miss Misery" were from the Jackpot! recording sessions in 1997. "All Cleaned Out" is a hard acoustic-driven song that is just heart-wrenching, I've rarely heard his voice so hardened, unlike his usual whispery style: "Here comes your pride and joy/the comic little drunk/you call your boy/making everybody smile/who takes your pretty plan/and then becomes a disappearing man/after a little while..."
The early version of "Miss Misery" has a set of different lyrics and "Go By" now has lyrics, whereas the leaked version was an instrumental version. The three songs "Angel In The Snow", "See You Later" and "Big Decision" have been officially released, but only on compilations. The Big Star/Alex Chilton cover of "Thirteen" is an earlier recording than the one on the Thumbsucker's soundtrack. It's hard to get through sometimes, his voice shakes and slides off tune on occasion and reminds me of the feeling that people tried to describe when they were at some of his live performances.
The song I keep going back to is "Pretty Mary K (Other Version)" on disc two, track nine. It is a totally different song than the one we know on Figure 8. No instrumentation is added here, except faint background drums and it has different lyrics and a different melody. It has a haunting melody, like how "Independence Day" and "Condor Ave." feels. There's also a different version of Heatmiser's "Half Right" on there without drums.
The only song that Larry Crane combined different takes was "New Disaster", including a vocal take from one reel and the instrumental take from a later reel with organ and drums that he thought was meant to be put together, but Elliott just never got around to it.
"Almost Over" is a brilliant example of his unique guitar work, just listen to it, it'll bowl you over! Throughout all the songs there are his classic double vocals and additional echoes. He's most known for intricate melodies and tricky chord progressions. New Moon is a great collection of songs meant to reveal and share more of Elliott's work in the 1994~1997 period, that could have very well been left buried and unheard, but thank goodness we have Larry Crane to dig through and preserve his tapes and cassettes.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with Elliott Smith's past work, here's an anniversary post from last year that touches on his discography and hopefully convinces you to get acquainted with the music by one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time.
{We usually put three or more songs for upcoming releases, but for this one only "High Times" will be featured as a download, since it's the only one that's been officially given to the public to preview the album. I'm sure other blogs will offer other songs off this album, but what I sure hope is that you'll buy this album, if you already have some of his albums or if you're completely new/have downloaded a handful of his songs, please read that post I recommended and start with Either/Or , sorry for such a long read.}
Tracklisting:
New Moon | Elliott Smith (Kill Rock Stars/Domino) 05/08/07
Disc One
Angel In The Snow
Talking To Mary
High Times
New Monkey
Looking Over My Shoulder
Going Nowhere
Riot Coming
All Cleaned Out
First Timer
Go By
Miss Misery (Early Version)
Thirteen
Disc Two
Georgia, Georgia
Whatever (Folk Song In C)
Big Decision
Placeholder
New Disaster
Seen How Things Are Heard
Fear City
Either/Or
Pretty Mary K (Other Version)
Almost Over
See You Later
Half Right
In other related news:
The lovely music photographer, Autumn De Wilde, who took unforgettable images of Elliott and was one of Elliott's close friends is putting together a book titled Elliott Smith. It's full of her photographs of Elliott, handwritten lyrics, a 5-track live CD of his performance at LA's Largo and conversations with his close friends/musicians, including Joanna Bolme, Ben Gibbard, Chris Walla, Jon Brion, Rob Schnapf, Neil Gust, Sam Coomes and more.
A portion of the proceeds will go towards the Sims Foundation in Austin and Portland's Outside In. It is available for pre-order on Amazon for $19.77 and it's slated to release in October or November of this year. I really cannot wait for this one to come out and I know it'll be definitely something worth buying, right now there's only one biography of Elliott that I know of and that's Elliott Smith And the Big Nothing by Benjamin Nugent.
Also, there is another interesting project called 33 1/3, it's a book series attempting to cover important/seminal music albums and Elliott Smith's XO was selected and will be written by Matthew Lemay. It's due out sometime in spring of 2009, so sit tight. Here's an affiliated blog that has the other featuring records listed so far.
Disclaimer: If you are the owner of the mp3s and would like them removed, please
email us, we would gladly do so. Having said that, people who read our blog must know we hope people will fall in love and buy the real thing to support the band.
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