let's rock this break
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.


 

The Go! Team - "Bottle Rocket". A choice cut from The Go! Team's upcoming debut, Thunder Lightning Strike. This is a one-of-a-kind act, flashy fun and fresh, their bodacious spirit matched only by their musical panache. It's like Belle and Sebastian jamming with the Furious Five, recorders and melodica that bump like toy boats against sample-flush tunes and double-dutch raps. "Bottle Rocket" is an effervescent single that high-kicks to the sky, marching down the street with floating balloons and spinning batons. There's energy to spare, a generous joy, just the right traces of melancholy - it's a triumphant back-to-school return, dancing to your own song on the abandoned beach. One of the year's best!

Spoilt Victorian Child has some other tracks online, as does Keith. Thunder Lightning Strike will be released on September 13, one day before The Arcade Fire's Funeral hits the shelves. A good week.

Obray Ramsey - "Rain and Snow". Plucked banjo and Ramsey's puckered voice, this is bluegrass for all seasons. It snakes a narrow line between sadness and perfect contentedness, every regret washed away with a swig of resolve. Obray Ramsey makes this seem easy, words squeezed out over a dance of strings. But I wonder at it, try to imagine it in utero, before this whole and simple thing sprung out and onto record. It can't be done. I cannot believe that this was slowly composed, written verse by verse, chord by chord. No - it emerged fullgrown. It grew among berries. (Thanks, Annette!) [buy]

Does anyone know which issue of Q magazine mentions this blog? If you could leave the info in the comments, I'd appreciate it very much.

Posted by Sean at August 12, 2004 1:06 AM
Comments

"Rain and Snow" is a Grateful Dead song. I had to look it up to make sure that the Dead weren't covering it, but it's an original composition. Great version though.

Posted by brooks at August 12, 2004 8:54 AM

And indeed there are now 3 blogs with current Go Team tracks!

Posted by Keith at August 12, 2004 9:30 AM

i'm relatively certain "cold rain and snow" is traditional.

Posted by cody at August 12, 2004 9:32 AM

Ahh... you're right. Although this isn't the original version of the song either. From the Grateful Dead Family Discography:

http://www.deaddisc.com/songs/Cold_Rain_And_Snow.htm

"Rain and Snow was collected by Sharp and Karpeles and included in the book, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. The collected version dates from August 1916 as was sung by Mrs. Tom Rice at Big Laurel, NC.

The Grateful Dead version is based on the recording by Obray Ramsey. The song was also performed by many bluegrass groups in the 1960's including those of Bill Monroe and Del McCoury and it may be that live bluegrass versions also influenced the Dead version."

So there ya go!

Posted by brooks at August 12, 2004 9:55 AM

wow, talk about research. i'd love to get my hands on that book. thanks!

Posted by cody at August 12, 2004 10:25 AM

That Go! Team song---it seems too busy, but it's still fun as hell. I bet these guys put on a hell of a show.

Posted by Scott CE at August 12, 2004 11:20 AM

AAh!
Im such a div sometimes...
Ive changed the offending bit now...

Cheers Sean.

Posted by Simon at August 12, 2004 11:27 AM

The Go! Team song is just amazing. Thanks for it Sean.

Posted by Marc-O at August 12, 2004 3:49 PM

It's Issue 218 (September 2004) of Q that mentions your mighty blog....Page 89,to be exact (yes,I have it right next to me as I type....!)

Posted by The Cap'n at August 13, 2004 5:27 PM

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This is a daily sampler of really good songs. All tracks are posted out of love. Please go out and buy the records.

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"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.

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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.

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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.
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