by Fred From Tyler Cowen: The dirty secret of the Billboard classical charts is that album sales figures are so low, the charts are almost meaningless. Sales of 200 or 300 units are enough to land an album in the top 10. [Hilary] Hahn’s No. 1 recording, after the sales spike resulting from her appearance [...]
Discuss.
by Fred Ann Althouse reminds us of something she said back in 2005, being: To be a great artist is inherently right wing. A great artist like Dylan or Picasso may have some superficial, naive, lefty things to say, but underneath, where it counts, there is a strong individual, taking responsibility for his place in [...]
Tomorrow Becomes You by Slow Six
by Fred Strings. Guitar. Drums. And home-grown computer software. The eyebrow-raising equipment list belies their simple, gorgeous, and impeccable work. Slow Six is a post-rock ensemble with adagio intentions, and with their latest release the band marches further into their own serene and expansive place. The hawk-eyed reader may have just spotted the back-handed compliment, [...]
The Irrepressibles
by Patrick Some musicians are just more inaccessible to the listening public than others. For example, Antony and The Johnsons. It takes a certain person to be able to appreciate the novelty and brilliance of Antony Hegarty but for most the listening experience ends just a few minutes into the first song and then they [...]
New Music Tuesday
by Fred We’ve only given Los Campesinos! qualified praise before (for example here and here), but so far their new release Romance is Boring is excellent. Get to it. (Just caught a quick Don DeLillo reference, too. So they’re smart buggers as well. Hmm…) (home|myspace|rhapsody|lala)
“The Great Skua (Plover demo)” by British Sea Power
by Fred Catch it while you can at, well, Caught By The River. (No “stream” jokes, I promise.) The final studio version appears on their 2008 LP Do You Like Rock Music?
Fever Ray Delivers Best Acceptance Speech Ever
by Patrick Fever Ray’s Karin Dreijer Andersson is never one to shy away from leaving a few onlookers in shock and awe. So when she won an award at the P3 Guld award show in Sweden she again took an opportunity to make a few more people, that may be unfamiliar with her work, say [...]
“Ou Marye” by Wyclef Jean
by Fred That track tops Tyler Cowen’s “Introduction to Haitian Music.” Read the rest, and follow the links, here.
[mp3]Yeasayer – “O.N.E.”
by Patrick We’ve already heard the dazzling first single from Yeasayer’s upcoming release Odd Blood. Now we have single number 2 and while it doesn’t hit the same epic level that I believe “Ambling Alp” does it’s still a great bouncing that keeps the momentum and anticipation around the album. “O.N.E.” will be released as [...]
“Odessa” by Caribou
by Fred Swap an email address for an MP3 track here. It’s high-altitude psychedelic dance, probably mixed a bit colder than you’re used to, and quite groovy. From Caribou’s forthcoming LP Swim, due in late April. (home|stable|myspace|download)
