jimmy morrison has elevators
by Sean
Please note: MP3s are only kept online for a short time, and if this entry is from more than a couple of weeks ago, the music probably won't be available to download any more.


 

Received a copy of the Jay-Z Construction Set in the mail today. Will update you when my Black Album / Astral Weeks bootleg is complete.

Prompted by this ilm thread, have been relistening (quite a lot) to the new Destroyer record. The horrible thin fakeness that came through on my speakers is dampened when listening on headphones, and there's room to appreciate the lyrics and indeed the music. It's coming across as quite a beautiful album, as well as a funny, mad one. Some of the arrangements are complicatedly lovely - layer upon layer of synthesized sounds, each flat enough to lie smoothly over the other.

Have also discovered Frog Eyes. No idea how I missed The Golden River, but it's great disjointed indie rock, with a fiery-eyed Bowie at the head (the vocals are also extremely reminiscent of Montreal's Wolf Parade). I'm really wishing the Destroyer/Frog Eyes tour was passing through the city.

i = super excited about the upcoming Jolie Holland record, and you should be too. Her debut was gorgeous, and from the sound of "Old Fashion Morphine", Escondida will be another linen-soft sliver of dusty bluegrass. hooray!

now then

Pipas - "No Suspires Mas". Discovered via the fantastic Anti-Hit List, who recommended the light and easy "Jean C". Indie pop rather terrifies me at this point - I get so many freakin' indie pop records in the mail to review, and so many of them are damnedly uninspired. Thank god, then, that a band like Pipas comes along, recording music so effortlessly great that a sunny day comes climbing through the window, even in the depths of winter. Sure to be a hit for anyone who enjoys kids like The Lucksmiths, or even a beachcombing Belle & Sebastian or Isobel Campbell. While I can't understand this song, I still come very close to singing along. It's the way that I wanted to feel at the party after high-school graduation. It's the sound of golden, twinkling stars.

CocoRosie - "Terrible Angels". Touch and Go never ceases to impress me with its ear for idiosyncratic talents. Rachel's, Dirty Three, !!!, Nina Nastasia, Enon, Black Heart Procession, TV on the Radio, and now CocoRosie. They're like Rosie Thomas crossed with Jandek, which is an analogy almost impossible to comprehend. Pink and black women's voices, doubletracked and gentle, bleeding over the scrape and snip of metal, decapitated samples. Devendra Banhart's bluesy twin sisters, caught in an AM radio. I can't decide if it's beautiful of creepy or both - but it's as compelling as anything I've heard this year. (more here.)

Still looking for heads-ups on the best of the new mp3-blog crop. If you've got a site that you think I might like, please do make yourself known!

Posted by Sean at March 16, 2004 1:55 AM
Comments

I'm doing some periodic mp3's, along with random other stuff (movies, dvd reviews, sports, personal junk etc). Check it out if ya like...

Posted by mr gilbert at March 16, 2004 3:30 AM

Damn. You beat me to the Coco Rosie post. I was really impressed when they opened for TVOTR the other night - though it was TOTALLY wrong for the crowd/venue.

Posted by Keith at March 16, 2004 7:17 AM

here's a nice new mp3 blog - quite diverse.

http://spreadin.blogspot.com

Posted by gabriel at March 16, 2004 12:30 PM

CocoRosie is a little too much like Devendra for my comfort (being a big fan of Devendra). thanks for the links....by the way Calexico doing "alone again or" is available on the Touch-n-Go website.
sweet.

Posted by scandal face at March 16, 2004 2:50 PM

Scoot through the "Musicblog Revolution" collection IF YOU DARE! MWAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Posted by forksclovetofu at March 16, 2004 8:54 PM

Thanks for all the music-blog-a-linkin'. And glad the Cocorosie meets your (group) approval, even if it's too much of a good thing for Mr Face. I'd be v. excited to see them live, myself. What were they like? Cat Power-style, sittin' on stools, or something more burlesque?

Posted by Sean at March 16, 2004 11:43 PM

just kinda sat there and sang - very quiet, lullabyesque.

The crowd rather obviously was NOT into it.

no energy and whatnot,.

Posted by Keith at March 17, 2004 8:34 AM

Eh. I'd say that Cocorosie sounds like what Devendra Banhart would sound like if he was interesting, catchy, or had a good voice. Or played in a totally different genre.

Posted by Matthew at March 17, 2004 5:13 PM

Frog Eyes = awesome!

Destroyer = awesome!

Frog Eyes are fuckin' great live, by the way.

Posted by Eppy at March 17, 2004 5:28 PM

Mine is in French. We're many wrting on it, there's a radio and a few mp3. Soon a new version with more mp3s...
http://www.blogotheque.net

Posted by Chryde at March 18, 2004 4:16 AM

Matthew: if you don't think that Devendra is at the very least interesting you must not be listening to the same Devendra.
it is not about conventionally "catchy" tunes in the same way cy twomlby is not about conventionally "beautiful" paintings. and what is a good voice really....i feel like i am talking to my grandparents. just forget it.
----

Posted by scandal face III at March 19, 2004 10:56 PM

Post a comment







(Please be patient, it can be slow.)
about said the gramophone
This is a daily sampler of really good songs. All tracks are posted out of love. Please go out and buy the records.

To hear a song in your browser, click the and it will begin playing. All songs are also available to download: just right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'

All songs are removed within a few weeks of posting.

Said the Gramophone launched in March 2003, and added songs in November of that year. It was one of the world's first mp3blogs.

If you would like to say hello, find out our mailing addresses or invite us to shows, please get in touch:
Montreal, Canada: Sean
Toronto, Canada: Emma
Montreal, Canada: Jeff
Montreal, Canada: Mitz

Please don't send us emails with tons of huge attachments; if emailing a bunch of mp3s etc, send us a link to download them. We are not interested in streaming widgets like soundcloud: Said the Gramophone posts are always accompanied by MP3s.

If you are the copyright holder of any song posted here, please contact us if you would like the song taken down early. Please do not direct link to any of these tracks. Please love and wonder.

"And I shall watch the ferry-boats / and they'll get high on a bluer ocean / against tomorrow's sky / and I will never grow so old again."
about the authors
Sean Michaels is the founder of Said the Gramophone. He is a writer, critic and author of the theremin novel Us Conductors. Follow him on Twitter or reach him by email here. Click here to browse his posts.

Emma Healey writes poems and essays in Toronto. She joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. This is her website and email her here.

Jeff Miller is a Montreal-based writer and zinemaker. He is the author of Ghost Pine: All Stories True and a bunch of other stories. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Say hello on Twitter or email.

Mitz Takahashi is originally from Osaka, Japan who now lives and works as a furniture designer/maker in Montreal. English is not his first language so please forgive his glamour grammar mistakes. He is trying. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Reach him by email here.

Site design and header typography by Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet. The header graphic is randomized: this one is by Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet.
PAST AUTHORS
Dan Beirne wrote regularly for Said the Gramophone from August 2004 to December 2014. He is an actor and writer living in Toronto. Any claim he makes about his life on here is probably untrue. Click here to browse his posts. Email him here.

Jordan Himelfarb wrote for Said the Gramophone from November 2004 to March 2012. He lives in Toronto. He is an opinion editor at the Toronto Star. Click here to browse his posts. Email him here.
our patrons
Said the Gramophone does not take advertising. We are supported by the incredible generosity of our readers. These were our donors in 2013.
watch StG's wonderful video contest winners
search


Archives
elsewhere
our favourite blogs
(◊ means they write about music)

Back to the World
La Blogothèque
Weird Canada
Destination: Out
Endless Banquet
A Grammar (Nitsuh Abebe)
Ill Doctrine
A London Salmagundi
Dau.pe
Words and Music
Petites planétes
Gorilla vs Bear
Herohill
Silent Shout
Clouds of Evil
The Dolby Apposition
Awesome Tapes from Africa
Molars
Daytrotter
Matana Roberts
Pitchfork Reviews Reviews
i like you [podcast]
Musicophilia
Anagramatron
Nicola Meighan
Fluxblog
radiolab [podcast]
CKUT Music
plethoric pundrigrions
Wattled Smoky Honeyeater
The Clear-Minded Creative
Torture Garden
LPWTF?
Passion of the Weiss
Juan and Only
Horses Think
White Hotel
Then Play Long (Marcello Carlin)
Uno Moralez
Coming Up For Air (Matt Forsythe)
ftrain
my love for you is a stampede of horses
It's Nice That
Marathonpacks
Song, by Toad
In Focus
AMASS BLOG
Inventory
Waxy
WTF [podcast]
Masalacism
The Rest is Noise (Alex Ross)
Goldkicks
My Daguerreotype Boyfriend
The Hood Internet

things we like in Montreal
eat:
st-viateur bagel
café olimpico
Euro-Deli Batory
le pick up
lawrence
kem coba
le couteau
au pied de cochon
mamie clafoutis
tourtière australienne
chez boris
ripples
alati caserta
vices & versa
+ paltoquet, cocoa locale, idée fixe, patati patata, the sparrow, pho tay ho, qin hua dumplings, caffé italia, hung phat banh mi, caffé san simeon, meu-meu, pho lien, romodos, patisserie guillaume, patisserie rhubarbe, kazu, lallouz, maison du nord, cuisine szechuan &c

shop:
phonopolis
drawn + quarterly
+ bottines &c

shows:
casa + sala + the hotel
blue skies turn black
montreal improv theatre
passovah productions
le cagibi
cinema du parc
pop pmontreal
yoga teacher Thea Metcalfe


(maga)zines
Cult Montreal
The Believer
The Morning News
McSweeney's
State
The Skinny

community
ILX