Best Music of 2010

TOP TWENTY ALBUMS I HEARD
1. Doug Burr - O Ye Devastator
Gorgeous and meticulously crafted bedroom pop from mini music-mecca, Denton, TX. A voice as fine as cashmere, stories as well crafted as a Lahiri short, and equally as emotionally evocative sonic craftsmanship, all tempered with exceptional restraint and control.

2. Beach House - Teen Dream
Baltimore dream pop delivers androgynous bliss through a disaffected haze. The accompanying videos are very much worth watching.

3. Horse Feathers - Thistled Spring
Horse Feathers step out of the dark, southern gothic landscape they cut their teeth in and emerge into soft pastoral light. Spring indeed.

4. Maximum Balloon - Maximum Balloon
TV on the Radio's David Sitek enlists a slew of celebrity friends and artists to make a modern day funk and soul record worth shaking your ass to.


5. John Grant - Queen of Denmark
Midlake backs former Czars frontman and everyone is better for it. Grant has an unparalleled baritone voice and his lyrics manage both dark humor and deep poignancy. If The Courage of Others left you wishing for something a bit more dynamic from the Midlake boys, here's your record.


6. Jonsi - Go
7. Samantha Crain - You (Understood)
8. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
9. Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues
10. Sam Amidon - I See the Sign
11. Neil Young - Le Noise
12. Breathe Owl Breathe - Magic Central
13. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
14. Vampire Weekend - Contra
15. Sharon Van Etten - Epic
16. Kanye West - My Dark Twisted Fantasy
17. Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago
18. The Black Keys - Brothers
19. Nathaniel Rateliffe - In Memory of Loss
20. Grinderman - Grinderman 2

HONORABLE MENTION: The New Pornographers, The National, Frightened Rabbit, JBM, Mumford and Sons, Max Richter


TOP 10 EP'S
1. Moonface - Dreamland EP: Marimbas and Shit Drums
2. White Dress - EP
3. XX Remixed by The Four Tet - VCR
4. Zola Jesus - Stridulum EP
5. Zola Jesus - Valusia EP
6. James Blake - Klavierwerke EP
7. The Tallest Man on Earth - Sometimes the Blues is Just a Passing Bird
8. Active Child - Curtis Lane EP
9. Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People EP
10. Destroyer - Archer on the Beach EP

Breathe Owl Breathe and the best band Press Photo Ever

While Breathe Owl Breathe's new album Magic Central will more than likely occupy a spot in my "Best Albums of 2010" list, their press photo is the best EVER.

Le Noise

If you've read any of these other posts you already know I love to contextualize the music experience. Where I was, what I was doing the first time a record grabbed me, the artist's backstory and who collaborated on a record all contribute to my appreciation (or dislike) of a record or performance. Obviously I'm no fucking purist.

Case in point, Neil Young's new album Le Noise is a great record who's greatness grows the more I think about it. Neil's now in his mid-sixties, his place in the history of rock 'n roll firmly entrenched. It'd be easy, even reasonable, to rest on his mighty reputation and put out agreeable acoustic folk records that have always garnered him great acclaim, or let a younger influence pilot the twilight years of his legendary career through the hazards of the modern music industry a la Rick Rubin and Johnny Cash. Hell, he could even retire like any sensible sixty-something year old with piles of money would. But this is NEIL YOUNG, the massive man with the fragile voice, the stubborn sonic explorer. So he set aside his acoustic guitar, and he set aside Crosby and Stills and Nash, and he set aside his electric guitar, and he set aside Crazy Horse, and he picked up an electro-acoustic guitar designed by fellow sonic adventurer Daniel Lanois and started another exploration. Alone with that guitar and his reedy, vulnerable voice he laid down the tracks recorded by the genius producer Daniel Lanois. Informed by a personally devastating year in which Mr. Young lost two very close friends, and allegedly only recording on nights with a full moon, Lanois captures perfectly a raw and powerful capstone on Neil Young's glorious career. Guys a third his age would kill to put out a record this urgent and relevant.

Le Noise couldn't be more suitably titled. Lanois and Young are both already famous and sophisticated purveyors of Sound, and this record listens like a manifesto. By stripping away everything else, Lanois and Young focus on the NOISES Young's voice and guitar and Lanois' recording equipment can make. There's the guitar and the voice for sure, but distortion, feedback, echoes and fingers on frets take prominent position as well. The argument is made for noise, for the beauty of imperfection, for the necessity of abrasiveness and dissonance as a counter-weight to harmony.

Woven Hand

David Eugene Edwards has to be one of the most interesting men in the Rock N Roll business these days, despite being mostly ignored by people in the rock n roll business during his 20+ year career. Mr. Edwards has been a cornerstone of the rich and deep music movement (often referred to as American Gothic, or Southern Gothic) centered in Denver, Colorado. That scene produced acts like Edwards' own Sixteen Horsepower and Woven Hand, as well as The Denver Gentlemen, Jay Munly and the Lee Lewis Harlots, Devotchka, and Slim Cessna's Auto Club. These groups shared much in common including often sharing members and gigs. They also shared influences, aural aesthetics, and a common approach to performing. Informed by Appalachian Folk, snake-oil salesmen, shape note singing, gospel music, eastern gypsies, traveling preachers, and country music these groups reflected an image of Denver as a frontier town in the late 20th Century. When I listen to this music I always imagine Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady)'s increasingly industrialized and developed, but still wild and virtually lawless, Denver hometown from Jack Kerouac's classic On The Road. Unlike Kerouac, these artists (except for maybe Devotchka) have enjoyed little commercial success for their portrayal of the underbelly and forgotten past of the America's New West. Which bears mentioning because it means a chance to see them perform is a rare delight oustide of Denver and Europe, where they carry a strong following.

Enough of the history lesson. Woven Hand played Mohawk last Thursday night and it was a spine-tingleing experience! David Eugene Edwards was raised by fire-and-brimstone traveling Nazarene preachers and has integrated their convictions and histrionics into his live performance, all to great effect. Rock and roll hasn't seen performances like this since the days of Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Jim Morrison. What's better is his affectations don't feel like contrivances in the name of creating a rock-god mythology. They feel genuine. From a project that's often been stark and skeletal, Woven Hand's last record is a huge, booming thing. They brought that feeling into this show. Perched on a chair, face twitching and ticking, in a flat-brimmed cowboy hat adorned with a long feather and swapping between banjo, electric guitar, hollow bodied guitar, and some sort of mandolin Edward's spouted Old-Timey Christian incantations, Native American chants and throaty conjurations. All this in front of a punishing rhythm section and keyboard that jumped wildly between middle-eastern, balkan, native american, country, and gospel arrangements. Nick Cave and his Grinderman co-horts have a harder time shocking and shaking me with vulgarity. It was the kind of show that rattles your mind, perception, and rib-cage all at the same time. Like being rocked to sleep by turbulence and a carnival barker. Whew. Can we do that again please?

Samantha Crain

In just two LPs and an EP, Samantha Crain is turning out to be a female equivalent of Richard Buckner for me. I got hooked on Ms. Crain's voice and folksy sensibilities upon the release of her 2007 EP, Confiscation. It's a little gem of a record in the vein of Jolie Holland and Buckner's first album, Bloomed. Crain's subsequent LP was a terrific example of revivalist Americana. Her new record, You (Understood), finds her navigating the revisionist terrritory of Buckner's later work (esp. Impasse), and thank god for it. She's always had a voice like a train, but here she straps on the electric guitar and lets her drummer loose, a la Jim White on his AMAZING collaboration with Nina Nastasia. The results are documentation of an artist helping to redefine what Americana means in the 21st century.

Samantha Crain - "Lions" - HearYa Live Session 7/16/10 from HearYa.com on Vimeo.

Required Reading

Grinderman 2

Nick Cave's testosterone fueled side-project, Grinderman, is streaming their soon to be released album on their myspace page. It's as raw and filthy as the last album, and a must have for any Nick Cave fan. They've also released a video directed by John Hillcoat (who's film, The Road, Grinderman members Cave and Warren Ellis scored) that's probably one of the craziest and best videos ever made.

Grinderman 'Heathen Child' from Trim Editing on Vimeo.

Zola Jesus, Sea Talk Video

Zola Jesus - Sea Talk (Official Video) from Souterrain Transmissions on Vimeo.

Zola Jesus dyes her hair blonde and continues her trend of making perfect visual companions to her gorgeous and brooding songs.

Miranda July, Eleven Heavy Things

Miranda July's latest endeavor, the sculptural installation titled Eleven Heavy Things, is currently on exhibit at Union Square Park.

The multi-talented artist/actress/writer/director displays her usual off-kilter sweetness and sense of humor in both the works themselves and the idea behind them. The sculptures are intended to be posed on, or within, for photographs, and to convey playful (sometimes even naive) textual messages and imagery. The resulting photographs will be taken by and shared with countless acquaintances of the tourists and visitors who pass through the park. The format all but guarantees an audience far more diverse than a typical gallery, museum, or even public art showing; exhibiting an optimistic/populist view of art consumption. It's a view that mirrors a lot of her work.

If you're familiar with any facet of Miranda July's creative output you already know that she's a prolific, bizarre, and singular artist. She's an important voice of a fragmented generation, capable of finding strange beauty in highly unlikely circumstances. Her collection of short stories, "No One Belongs Here More Than You", is the most distilled articulation of her weirdness, inexplicable optimism, and vulnerability.

At the Grocerystowe our first exposure to Ms. July was through the exceptional film "Jesus' Son" (based on the equally exceptional collection of short stories of the same name by Denis Johnson). Ms. July had a small, but memorable role in that film. She went on to write, direct, and star in the quirky and poignant film "You, Me and Everyone We Know".

Sadly, the installation is the final public project to be presented by Deitch Projects.

New Chromcraft Desk Chairs

Picked these vintage 1960's? beauties up off of craigslist earlier today.

Zola Jesus, Sea Talk

Zola Jesus - Sea Talk

Zola Jesus strips away the noise and lets us hear what she's singing. Turns out that voice is even more powerful without all the noise.

Sonic Arboretum, A Collaboration by Andrew Bird and Ian Schneller

Mr. Andrew Bird has always been a hugely popular at the Grocerystowe, and our admiration of Ian Schneller's horn speakers has been previously documented here. As has the connection between Mr. Bird and Mr. Schneller. Their latest collaboration, however, makes me want to cut the legs off a pair of my jeans just so i can use the term 'cream in my jorts' to express the magnitude of my excitement. The two Chicago-based artists are teaming up to create an audio-visual landscape/performance piece for the Guggenheim's Dark Sounds Series (which also includes Beirut!).

I can't imagine a more fitting setting for the performance than Frank Lloyd Wright's nautilus-inspired building. It'll be a rumination on experimentation by master craftsmen inside a rumination on experimentation by a master craftsman, amplified by hundreds of artist-created horns inside a giant artist-created horn.


The photos above are from the photo journal on the Speciman website, and there's a ton more of them worth checking out.

Also, Mr. Bird just contributed to the Voice Project, a noble and artistic cause. I believe their logo includes artwork by the late mission school legend Margaret Kilgallen.

Artists discuss New Album "Grey Oceans" by CocoRosie

I've been a fan of these freaky/folky ladies since stumbling across their Beautiful Boyz EP while trying to find Beachwood Sparks' cover of Sade's "By Your Side". But that's neither here nor there. These sisters are artistic anchors of the so-called 'freak-folk' scene in New York and exhibit those qualities I most admire in music; experimentation, daring, vulnerability, and earnestness. Their music is certainly "difficult", but that's hardly an excuse for their ultra low profile in the music world.

Stereogum writer, Brandon Stosuy, and many of his musician friends clearly agree. Follow the link to read a great discussion on the merits of CocoRosie's music and artistic identity. Grocerystowe favorites Antony Hegarty, Doveman, Nico Muhly, Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) and William Basinski are among those who weigh in. If you don't take the time to read the piece I strongly suggest you at least download the track "Lemonade", as it's one of the best tracks of 2010 so far.

The Swedish Subway System

The Scandinavian countries have frequently set the bar when it comes to efficiency and design over the past century or so. These photos are a very vibrant reminder of those qualities. I find the images almost overwhelmingly inspiring. We can only dream of mass transit so modern, clean, and efficient in the United States, and works of public art here rarely approach the scope of this project in terms of both size and public engagement. You could certainly argue that the recent works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude fit this bill. However, their work is usually temporal and, in its own way, esoteric.

Conversely, the planners and artists of the Swedish Subway System appear to have deliberatley set out to project traditional Swedish folk themes and motifs in a very modern and urban way that reminds me of the output of the members of the Mission School featured in the film/book/exhibit "Beautiful Losers" (esp. Margaret Kilgallen, Barry McGee, Chris Johansen, Clare Rojas). I love the execution but i also love the apparent intention of reminding a community of its past, and humanity, while looking to the future, both artistically and technologically.


















p.s. can't figure out where the originals of these photos came from or i would link them. they're all over the interwebs though if you wanna see more.

2010 World Championship Cheese Contest | Cypress Grove Chevre

2010 World Championship Cheese Contest | Cypress Grove Chevre

I've been espousing the virtues of Cypress Grove's Midnight Moon Goat Gouda for years. Now the experts have validated my taste. Head on out to the grocerysto' and pick some up already!

Ryan McGinley's European Wrangler ad

Ryan McGinley directed the video spots for Wrangler's ad campaign in Europe before he started working with Levi's on the Go Forth campaign. I couldn't find the video until just recently. Not quite as amazing as Go Forth but I think it's well done.

JBM, Not Even In July

Shortly after discovering new artist JBM, I discovered that he would be touring with Grocerystowe favorite, AA Bondy. Shortly after that i discovered the two would playing here in Austin on August 13th. I already bought my ticket.

JBM shares a label in the US with Mountain Man (see previous entry). I'm afraid to admit i was not very familiar with Partisan Records until just recently. They're a small label but have a very solid stable of artists including Deer Tick, Dolorean, and the criminally overlooked group the Standard, as well as those previously mentioned. The album, Not Even in July (official release date in July, but you get an immediate download code by pre-ordering it from partisan) is full of slow burners and features warm but disaffected vocals, with some sublimely recorded, rich guitar sounds.

Mountain Man

More Appalachian inspired folk outta Vermont, the state that was kind enough to give us Sam Amidon, Nico Muhly, Doveman, so much maple syrup, and Meredith. Their forth-coming album is being released by those stalwarts of great taste and espousers of the Denton scene, Bella Union.


Band Bio from Bella Union's web-page

Mountain Man is, as decribed by themselves “a creature growing from the mouths of,” Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Randall Meath. They met at Bennington College in the small town of Bennington, Vermont. It was not until Molly visited Bennington during a term off that the seeds of Mountain Man were set. On hearing Molly playing a song in the living room of their shared house, Amelia demanded she taught it to her, singing Dog Song over and over until Amelia felt she could remember it well enough to teach Alex. When Molly came back to Bennington in the spring, all three sang together for the first time. All equally amazed by the sound they made together, Mountain Man was formed. Each member writes for the band, writing a cappella songs nestled in the tradition of American folk, with the occasional use of an acoustic guitar. Their songs are shaped by three searching voices, encompassing harmonies and a shared belief in and love of the world. They are mutually moved to sing by their love for people, and for trees, birds and mountains, the ocean, the night, the moon, and being a woman.

Summer Love

Conan and Jack White!!!

if this doesn't make you at least a little bit happy check your pulse.

Efterklang

Here's a lovely little video from Danish atmospheric quartet, Efterklang. Mr. Peter Broderick has a pretty extensive and impressive body of work under both his own name and with Efterklang. This video reveals the quartets tendencies towards pastoral folk and sweeping atmospherics through both the visual imagery and lush string arrangements. I like the juxtaposition of pounding percussion, pop vocals, and bouncing piano tones alongside those other elements. The net result is chamber pop any fan of the genre can get behind.

The video is inspired by the Danish film, The Deer Garden, and was directed by the daughter of the original film's co-director.

Danish film + patriarchal artistic homage + orchestral/pastoral Scandanavian music = A good day at the Grocerystowe

Pela

Everyone already loves "High Violet", the new album by the National, so writing about it would be sort of redundant. Even if it would allow me to further my obsession with High Violet contributors, and Whale Watching Tour/802/Bedroom Community staples Nico Muhly, Nadia Sirota and Thomas Bartlett. But I'm not going to indulge that obsession today. A few posts back I called (or maybe i just meant to call) John Grant's "Queen of Denmark", the album Midlake should have put out this year. I'm going to continue along that line here by recommending everyone revisit Pela's fantastic 2007 release, "Anytown Graffiti". It's a moody and terse album that will fit neatly into your music collection alongside the National's output. Like the National, Pela exudes Brooklyn swagger tempered by midwestern roots. Unfortunately, the band broke up late last year and this was their only LP. I just thought it could use a little dusting off.

bonny billy

New Zola Jesus Vid

like everything this little firecracker does, it's pretty great. kinda looks like a dan flavin exhibit in the background no?

Shutter Island

I finally saw Shutter Island and I thought the movie was pretty good. The score, however, was drop-dead gorgeous. The highlight of the whole production comes during the credits for chrissake. Robbie Robertson curated the soundtrack and selected Max Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight" from his superb, The Blue Notebooks, as the pictures aural backbone. That is saying a lot in the context of a collection of work by modern classical giants like John Cage, Richter, Ingram Marshall, and Brian Eno. Robertson reprises the selection in the credits and seamlessly folds Dinah Washington's "This Bitter Earth" vocals into the composition making it seem that she was always there, or he was always there, or whatever the hell. This is currently my very favorite thing to listen to.

Breathe Owl Breathe

Breathe Owl Breathe - Own Stunts from Magic Central on Vimeo.

Love these guys, and this video is entertaining if nothing else. I'm not really sure why he's wearing that robe whilst cross-country skiing, but his snow moustache is top notch.

Will Oldham and a Dystopian Robot Brewmeister

This is one of the more entertaining ruminations on the world of beermaking since Strange Brew. It features craft brew hotshots, Dogfish, and everyone's favorite beardo, Will Oldham, aka Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, in all of his bizarre glory. It starts off seemingly very improvisational, and a little off-mark, but hang in there. You will be rewarded. Oh yeah, and if you haven't seen Old Joy, please do so now.

Does anyone else think Will Oldham's life seems really, really fun? He gets to have an awesome beard, dress HOWEVER the fuck he wants, make incredible records with a dizzying spectrum of collaborating artists, hang out with craft brewers, and occasionally star or cameo in a movie.

Jonsi and Nico

Jonsi from Sigur Ros taps grocerystowe favorite, Nico Muhly,on his debut solo record. Bird imagery abounds, and thats usually a good thing.

Resurrection of an unknown Czar

‘I Wanna Go To Marz’ - FREE DOWNLOAD

John Grant is one of THE great voices in pop music today. He was the singer in the underappreciated Denver group The Czars. After a tumultuous history, that produced three fantastic records, the Czars are just a relic of a fantastic Denver music scene (including Sixteen Horsepower, the Denver Gentlemen, Woven Hand, Devotchka, Jay Munly, and Slim Cessna's Auto Club) that almost nobody paid any attention to in its heyday. Well, Mr. Grant is back with his best record yet. Not only is "Queen of Denmark" a great display of Grant's baritone voice, it features Midlake as his backing band. If you were disappointed with Midlake's 2010 release, The Courage of Others, give this record a listen.

Pearl Snaps Are For Farmers

Try not to be too jealous of this vintage, customized western shirt. Thank God it fit me! Now i just need to bring it to Jimmy at ZZZ Threadz and have him add an "'s grandson" to the end, and i've got a fashionable tribute to my grandfather. He is the epitome of Americana. Francis Wagner farmed the fertile soils of eastern Iowa well into his 60's, dances better than anyone else i know, loves baseball, and was by all accounts a hell of pitcher in his younger days. Proud indeed.

AA Bondy on Hearya

The good people over at Hearya.com have a vast library of quality content. This is from their in studio session with AA Bondy. Mr. Bondy's record last year, When the Devil's Loose, was one of my top 10 records of 2009. He's got a face almost like Woody Guthrie's, a whiskey and honey-soaked voice, and his songs feature alt-country touchstones like harmonica, national guitar, and pedal steel. While I am a sucker for the product of those collective elements, Bondy achieves something both bigger and smaller than the sum of the parts. His restraint in both singing and songwriting produce the subtle kind of beauty Terrence Malick captures visually. It's like being wrapped in the warm air of a summer breeze and knowing you've got time and space to do nothing but enjoy it. There's still the obligatory heartbreak and hardships of the genre, but it's comforting and soothing in a way very few records are.

Richard Buckner: Daytrotter Session recorded Mar 22, 2010

this is very much worth downloading

Richard Buckner: Daytrotter Session recorded Mar 22, 2010

Timber Timbre on Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad's Season 3 is upon us and I, for one, am thrilled. It's hands down the best show on TV right now. It's both insanely dramatic, and excruciatingly sparse. The show features great acting by the likes of two-time Emmy winner Bryan Cranston, gorgeous cinematography and shot construction, and writing that sucks me in every time. Which brings us to music. Dave Porter's dusty and ominous score perfectly sets the tone for each episode of Breaking Bad, and the creators have shown great taste in selecting suitable, left-of-the-dial songs to subtley frame the unfolding drama. However, I was still taken aback to hear Timber Timbre's 'Magic Arrow' uninterrupted by dialogue, and almost in its entirety in last night's episode. Awesome.

Will Johnson's Baseball Paintings

The lovely ladies at IF+D brought a little slice of Americana into my life this thursday night and officially ushered in spring, as far as I'm concerned. The prolific, multi-talented, and part-time Austin resident, Will Johnson finally showed his baseball paintings IN Austin. You may know Mr. Johnson from one of his many Americana oriented music projects. Mr. Johnson fronts the feedback-friendly band Centro-matic, as well as the gentler South San Gabriel, in addition to recording and touring under his own name. Most recently Conor Oberst, Yim Yames, Mike Mogis, and M. Ward were wise enough to realize they better include Will to fully deliver on the promise of their collective name, and had Mr. Johnson play drums and do a bit of singing on their Monsters of Folk tour. But that's enough about music, Thursday was about art! and baseball. and hot dogs. and cold beer.... and maybe even furniture.

Mr. Johnson's paintings struck a chord with me on many levels. The paintings depict primarily Negro League players, and baseball personalities that endured other unfair challenges during their careers. Clearly informed by American folk-art, pop art, and the rich tradition of outsider art so prevalent in these southern states, Mr. Johnson's paintings visually depict these heroes and anti-heroes in broad, iconic strokes. Coupled with these portraits are painted texts that apply more specific information to the subjects, sometimes telling a story, other times including a short quote that's particularly revealing of the subjects story. Being a fan of baseball, under-dogs, and this style of art; I thoroughly enjoyed the show. It didn't hurt that in between gawking at the paintings and grabbing a fresh PBR out of the ice-stocked kiddie pool, IF+D supplied us with free hotdog's from Frank and beautiful and comfortable couches to sit on from Blu Dot. I left with this song in my head that I remember my dad singing over and over again in the springtimes of my childhood. I never knew where it came from until this event caused me to look it up.

Take Care You Throaty Fairies

His voice is a fucking train. It could totally demolish you. Be careful.

Joe Henry

Last night my two best friends in the world went to see Joe Henry at the legendary Blue Note in Manhattan. I was supposed to be at the show with them, and really wish I could've been. I hear the show was everything a person could expect out of the man i think has the most accomplished body of work in the music world of the whole last decade.

Beginning with the Craig Street produced, avante-garde meets tin-pan alley 'Scar' in 1990, Joe Henry has been creating unclassifiable but unmistakeably American masterpieces, all through the naughts. Mr. Henry is a student of the blues, jazz, folk, and pop that define this country musically. He's proven his credibility producing albums by the likes of Allen Toussaint, Bettye Lavette, Ani Difranco, Loudon Wainwright III, Solomon Burke, and the Blind Boys of Alabama; but Mr. Henry has really shown his chops on his own records these last ten years. His obtuse but highly lyrical songwriting, coupled with compositions running the gamut of American roots music, presented in challenging incarnations, performed by the most talented and respected studio musicians of our times, have resulted in a body of work with no comparison. I mean that literally. Try to compare any one of his last four albums to anything out there and you'll be stretching your imagination at the least. Scar, Tiny Voices, Civilians, Blood From Stars. These albums are what it means to be an American and a romantic.

Samamidon + Beth Orton!!!!

Mmmm. Mmmmm. Mmmmm. I love Beth Orton. I love Beth Orton so much that when i saw her play in 2002 i asked her for her autograph. Pretty awesome, huh? Maybe not quite as awesomely dorky as when i hugged Wayne Coyne, but still pretty good. If you're not familiar with the lovely lady, immediately go buy her first two albums, Trailer Park and Central Reservation. I'll admit, i've found her work since then to be pretty inconsitent and largely disappointing. That is until now. NPR's World Cafe is now streaming a second track, You Never Mind, from Samamidon's forthcoming release, and it's a duet with Beth Orton! With strong stamps of participation from Valgeir and Nico on the track, Mr. Amidon lifts Ms. Orton's voice back to the lofty place it held on those earlier records.

Sage wisdom aka bathroom graffiti

This little gem in the Longbranch Inn men's room seems very appropriate with SXSW and all of its excesses and debauchery fast-approaching.

Provisions

When you're doing some really important or cool shit, like going to the moon, or climbing a really big mountain, the names of lots of things change. "Plans" become "itineraries", "food" becomes "rations", and all the fun things you get to go buy before you leave are called "Provisions". And that is why provisions is a rad word. The fellas over at Stag are definitely on-board the "provisions" bandwagon, they even just added the word to their outdoor signage. Since we have yet to mention them here's a little "debriefing", or history. They've got great taxidermy on their walls. The store is run by five guys with a background in vintage furniture among other things. Everything, including the fixtures and decor in the store is for sale. Which is pretty lucky for us because their store is impeccably decorated and merchandised.... and will soon have some new Stowe Provisions. Just in time for your SXSW "itinerary".