May 21, 2008
Bell is Russian-born, Alaska-raised, New York-based BTW Olga Bell. She has a band, yes, but she writes the songs and is clearly the central focus with the central voice. We loved what she did with Björk's "It's Oh So Quiet," but love it even more when she's tearing into her own tracks. This week's Drop featured the excellent "Brown Bear" from her self-titled, self-released, self-everything EP. As you'll soon find out, the song isn't about an actual bear. "It's 'bear-shaped water vapor,'" she explains. "As in 'hey, that cloud that looks like a bear!' Brown-shaped water vapor hovers over Los Angeles." You can hear the song and read her responses to our questions about "brown" and "home" here. You can also find out more about Bell and her EP at MySpace. Here she is illustrating infinity.
This time around, we also offered the chance to win an iPod and Willie Nelson's career spanning One Hell Of A Ride 4-CD, 100-song box set.
CONTINUE READING THE 'GUM DROP XXXVIII: HEAR NEW BELL, WIN A WILLIE NELSON BOX SET AND A NANO...
Posted at 11:26 AM in ,
latest by mike
May 14, 2008
We dug Invasive Exotics, Indian Jewelry's 2006 long player, but the feedback feels warmer, the structures more assured, expansive, unhinged and less Doors-y/VU-derived on Free Gold!. In fact, even if you didn't like the Houston crew's older work, you might find your groove within the excellent murk: For instance, check out Gold standout "Walking On The Water," which debuted beautifully in this week's Drop, where we also asked guitarist/vocalist Tex Kerschen about the fuzz-drenched hymn. Should we believe he's never heard of Jesus & Mary Chain or is that just one of those things? Judge for yourself here. Free Gold! is out 5/20 on We Are Free.
As is our way, we also have a giveaway. This time we're not fucking around: One winner takes home an Eastwood Airline 3P DLX electric guitar signed by Islands.
CONTINUE READING THE 'GUM DROP XXXVII: HEAR NEW INDIAN JEWELRY, WIN AN EASTWOOD GUITAR SIGNED BY ISLANDS...
Posted at 12:42 PM in ,
Tags: Indian Jewelry | Islands
latest by Vishal Agarwala
April 30, 2008
Paul Weller needs no introduction, but maybe his ninth solo album does. The ex-Jam and Style Councilor's releasing 22 Dreams 7/22 on Yep Roc. The 21-track, 70-minute shaggy-dog epic cycles soul, rock, folk, jazz, spoken word, Moog weirdness, etc. That's what makes it shaggy. Guests on the album include Graham Coxon, Ocean Colour Scene's Steve Cradock, Little Barrie, ex-Stone Roses guitarist Aziz Ibrahim, and Oasis' Gem Archer and Noel Gallagher. This is a lot to absorb, so for now, forget the other 20 songs and dive headfirst into "Echoes Round The Sun." The noisy, over-driven psych-rocker -- laced with strings and blips -- was co-written with Gallagher and is this week's Drop. Click here to read Weller's thoughts on the first ever Gallagher/Weller collaboration and to take a listen. [UPDATE: Yep Roc messed up and is taking our download away! Sorry. You can win a guitar below, though...]
[Photo by Lawrence Watson]
This week's 'Gum Drop also offered the chance to win an Epiphone DR-100 acoustic guitar.
CONTINUE READING THE 'GUM DROP VOLUME XXXV: HEAR NEW PAUL WELLER, WIN A GUITAR...
Posted at 10:55 AM in ,
Tags: Oasis | Paul Weller
latest by Robert Abramson
April 23, 2008
Next month the Dresden Dolls are releasing No, Virginia..., a collection of unheard material from the Yes, Virginia... sessions along with b-sides, compilation contributions, and previously unreleased winter '08 session tracks. One of those newer songs, "Night Reconnaissance," recorded in Allston, MA, came with this week's 'Gum Drop. We were curious about its Hughes-y, garden gnome-stealing narrative, so we asked the Dolls some questions. You can listen to the song and read Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione's responses o'er here. Also, the Dresdens are doing a contest in conjunction with the No, Virginia... pre-order -- you can win a toy piano used and signed by Amanda and Brian. Get details for that here.
[Photo by Beth Hommel]
Today's Drop also offered the chance to win Rhino's four deluxe and expanded re-issues of the Replacements' early Twin/Tone recordings, featuring 27 previously unreleased tracks...
CONTINUE READING THE 'GUM DROP VOLUME XXXIV: HEAR NEW DRESDEN DOLLS, WIN DELUXE REPLACEMENTS REISSUES...
Posted at 12:03 PM in ,
Tags: The Dresden Dolls | The Replacements
latest by Scott
April 16, 2008
This week, Glaswegian crew Frightened Rabbit released their sophomore album The Midnight Organ Fight. The elegantly grimy heart breaker "Soon Go" isn't part of the collection, but it was a part of this week's Drop. We spoke with vocalist/guitarist Scott Hutchison about the track, a forthcoming UK 7" B-side, to make sure we knew the back story when we lifted our lighters skyward. You can grab the song and read his words -- including: "The original line on an old 4-track demo was 'someone will tuck you back in,' and it was actually my friend Darren who misheard the lyric as 'there's someone on top of you fucking'" -- here.
Additionally, this week's Drop offers a chance to win a Sonos Multi-Room Music System ($999 value) and to play tunes wirelessly, all over your house...
CONTINUE READING THE 'GUM DROP VOLUME XXXIII: HEAR NEW FRIGHTENED RABBIT, WIN A SONOS MULTI-ROOM MUSIC SYSTEM...
Posted at 12:42 PM in ,
Tags: Frightened Rabbit
latest by loweeda
April 9, 2008
Next month, Matmos release Supreme Balloon, a collection of "cosmic pop" tracks, including a 24-minute epic, made entirely from synthesizers. Drew Daniel, one half of the Maryland-based duo, stopped by today's 'Gum Drop to explain that on this follow-up to 2006's The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast the twosome "returned to the space music template that [bandmate/partner] Martin [Schmidt] really listened to heavily as a young man: Klaus Schulze, Vangelis, the cosmic burbling sequencer model." "Unbeliever," which the band debuted in this week's Drop, is not made entirely from synthesizers (therefore, it's not on Supreme Balloon, musicologists). But you can hear it, and read more of Daniel's musings about the horror-funk great, here. Or, do additional Matmos research here (for instance, Daniel recently published a book about Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats).
[Photo by AJ Farkas]
And we had a last minute hiccup with this week's prizing so ... well, no sweepstakes this week! We're bummed, too. You can still enter last week's Korg Mini-KP Kaoss Pad touch-pad effects processor giveaway here. Next week we have something so awesome to make up for it.
Posted at 3:34 PM in ,
Tags: Matmos
latest by dannygutters
April 2, 2008
Cassettes Won't Listen is New Yorker Jason Drake, a one-man electro pop outfit and, interestingly, the Director Of Marketing at Def Jux. Last week we showed you the day-job ditching, robot-loving video from his recently self-released Small-Time Machine. "Catch Up" isn't on that album, but you can hear the song, and read Jason's blow-by-blow thoughts on it, as part of this week's 'Gum Drop. As he notes, "It's amazing what you can learn about people by watching how they interact while getting completely shit faced." To hear the song and learn more, click here.
You can also win a Korg Mini-KP Kaoss Pad touch-pad effects processor! No idea what that means? Let us explain...
CONTINUE READING THE 'GUM DROP VOLUME XXXI: HEAR NEW CASSETTES WON'T LISTEN, WIN A KORG MINI-KP...
Posted at 12:38 PM in ,
Tags: Cassettes Won't Listen
latest by lower east side loser
March 26, 2008
On Monday 3/31, we launch Enjoyed, our song-by-song tribute to Björk's Post. (Click here for complete tracklist.) When we asked her about about the 1995 album she told us:
I was very aware of it at the time that I needed to be musically promiscuous and have almost every song [a] different mood/style, and so on. The picture on the cover is me on Piccadilly Circus (Times Square of London) too excited, too many things, Bright Lights Big City kinda thing, and me eager to consume. So my musical heart was scattered at the time and I wanted the album to show that.
Perfect material for a compilation by 11 different artists, no? As a hint of what's to come, this week's Drop offered Dirty Projectors' take on "Hyperballad." Björk told us she remembers the original's crystalline storyline as "a dream I dreamt." Dirty Projectors woozy, lilting take sounds like one. To hear it, and to read frontman Dave Longstreth's thoughts on the original and his band's beautiful re-visioning, click here.
In the spirit of covers, you can enter to win a 4GB iPod NANO and the new Michael McDonald covers CD...
CONTINUE READING THE 'GUM DROP VOLUME XXVIII: HEAR DIRTY PROJECTORS COVER BJÖRK, WIN AN IPOD NANO...
Posted at 11:00 AM in ,
Tags: Björk | Dirty Projectors
latest by poopster
