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t. hardy morris // share the needle


 

 t. hardy morris  //  share the needle

 
T. Hardy Morris is honored to have R.E.M. debut the latest video from the “Audition Tapes From Places in Peril” series on their site R.E.M. HQ. The take away video for “Share The Needle”, off the Athens, GA based musician’s debut solo album Audition Tapes, was filmed at Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden. The unique and historic site is one of the Georgia Trust’s “Places in Peril”, and the same location where R.E.M. filmed their iconic video for “Radio Free Europe.”

On August 16th T. Hardy Morris will host a special screening at Ciné in Athens, GA to showcase the “Audition Tapes From Places in Peril” video series in full, with proceeds going to support the Georgia Trust. For the series Morris and filmmaker/photographer Jason Thrasher traveled to 10 historic sites throughout Georgia to film live performance “take away” videos of each song on Audition Tapes. All of these sites have been chosen for the “Places In Peril” list, published annually by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation to draw attention to historic sites threatened by demolition and neglect (Learn more). Peace. Continue reading “t. hardy morris // share the needle”

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on an on // unison = bjork cover

 

  on an on // unison = bjork cover

 
When ON AN ON will hit the road in September for headline dates throughout the US, they do so with a limited edition cassette release. The cassette features the Minneapolis/Chicago trio covering two artists they share immense love and respect for as they humbly take on Bjork’s Unison and Hot Chip’s Boy From School. While only available in physical form on tour, the covers will be released digitally on August 20th. As a preview of the tour exclusive merchandise ON AN ON has debuted their version of Unison via IndieShuffle.com. Peace.
 

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king khan and the shrines // darkness

Be prepared to be amazed and thoroughly entertained.

 

king khan and the shrines  //  darkness

 
King Khan and the Shrines don’t play. This is a band fronted by Arish Ahmad Khan, the band’s Berlin-based, Montreal-born, Indian frontman and he has a way of getting inside your head and heart. The spooky (but good) video for Darkness is a stop-motion animation delight. We can thank the five-person German animation collective Hylas for that. This is the rare case of a video (almost) upstaging the song. No matter they both work extremely well together.

The track Darkness, is taken from the band’s release “Idle No More” (it drops  September 3rd via Merge Records), and ts first in six years, reflects Khan’s own obstacles. “I sort of had a breakdown and was undergoing these serious psychiatric things, so I had to turn off my brain completely,” he revealed. “These tracks come after thinking I’d never write music again.”

But also, the albums title is more than meets the eyes. King Khan offered this statement on the release:

“It has been a lengthy hiatus, but we have finally finished our latest “masterpiece” and named it after an incredible indigenous-rights movement that is happening right now called Idle No More.”

The album’s title undergoes multiple dualities, it also urges us to get up and do something meaningful. Don’t just complain, get engaged. Khan says, “It’s all about taking pain and suffering and turning it into joy,” Khan said. “That’s the music people need the most.” I couldn’t agree more. Peace.
 

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dominique lejeune // wake ep

Some voices taste of a sugary delight, but this one is spiked with a dollop of absinthe.

 

dominique lejeune  //  wake ep

 
Dominique LeJeune has the kind of voice which sounds like it recently escaped from a candy wrapper, dripping sticky sweet footprints all the ways to your ears. And although its a voice of spilling all the colors of the entire Now & Laters lineup there is also fragility and honesty there too. Her debut WAKE EP courtesy of Community Records is a collection of 7-songs putting her heart and comparable songwriting skills on full display. Ms. LeJeune hails from New Orleans and has been kickin’ around the local music scene for a while now. I like her and I hope you do too. Peace. Continue reading “dominique lejeune // wake ep”

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amycanbe // truth be told


 

amycanbe  //  truth be told

 
Amycanbe is a band from Italy and they make pretty good alternative music. Although the track Truth Be Told is a few years old, it is new to me (and maybe new to you too) and regardless it’s still a great track. The song comes from the band’s Mountain Whales album courtesy of Open Productions. After the jump check out the Lele Marcojanni directed video. Peace.
 

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rare times // cloudy + watched over


 

rare times  // cloudy + watched over

 
The four-piece LA-based electro project Rare Times release the second track Cloudy from their forthcoming Mist EP courtesy of Feel So Reel Records. In case you missed it, after the jump check out their February release the Missionary EP. This is some sensuous music here, the perfect pairing for those moments of seduction or thoughtful introspection. Peace.
 

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baptist generals // jackleg devotional to the heart

One of the best folk-rock albums you’ll ever raise a glass to.

 

baptist generals  //  jackleg devotional to the heart

 
Baptist Generals begin their latest album Jackleg Devotional to the Heart with a star bursting cacophony of sound, imagine an aorta rupturing and your close. Machine En Prolepsis is not only a harbinger for the ensuing eleven songs, it is also a green light and it signals the lurching locomotive that this album is, forward and forever on upon rusted, misaligned tracks. The music is smart and painfully honest twangly-soul-folk and it sounds even better with the non-sobriety of late night musings.

The Denton, Texas-based Baptist Generals make the kind of music you want when you graduate from the top 40 folk acts and you’re ready to sink your teeth (and ears) into the raw meat of a damaged, limping, yet hopeful heart. This is pulsing bass lines and a palpitating drum kit, and lopsided ambient spirit noise threading through Chris Flemmons’ spit-grimed and soul fractured voice.

Singer/Songwriter Chris Flemmons describes this release as his “love album”, yet it rings of the unrequited variety rather than the reciprocal arrangement we all seek. Embedded throughout are sporadic rants and woeful sidesteps, instances of what sound like an avalanche of colliding instruments, perhaps a chipped scalpel and bent forceps commingling restlessly with twisted guitar strings choking and gurgling inside a semi-drunken voice-box. 

This is an album of blue painted hurt, it is desperately beautiful. But finally the Jackleg Devotional to the Heart is a shrouded opportunity, it is the mask you wear when you don’t want to pretend that everything is alright. So, buy the ticket for the train is coming round the bend. Peace.
 

 
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