Yet more good music

Now for my daily appreciation/promotion of various musicians :)


Mountain Man - A great newish trio from the States, at times Mountain Man remind me a little bit of Fleet Foxes, (if they were all-female, that is). I saw them live a few months ago with some other Bella Union acts, and I can safely say they're as good live as they are on record.

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Thisquietarmy - I don't actually know much about the man behind Thisquietarmy, but I do love this song very much - it's very atmospheric, which for me is an instant plus.



And to conclude, Le Tigre (yeah I know this song is old. It makes me happy though, plus the video scares my friends..)

Artist of the day - Holly Miranda

Wow. What can I say about Holly Miranda? If you know me at all you'll know she's one of my favourite upcoming artists - her recent solo album The Magician's Private Library is exceptional. I was lucky enough to see her live last month (read the review here). There's a good reason why I sound so fangirl-ish in that review - both live and in the studio, Holly Miranda will blow you away.

Anyway, I'm using this post to do three things - express my admiration (check), link her site, and namedrop the lovely people over at NYC Taper for their great live recordings - in particular, their downloadable mp3 of Holly's live show at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC earlier this year. I love recordings of live music, and am especially grateful for this as it features a few as of yet unrecorded songs (Pelican Rapids, Mark My Words, and a particularly moving cover of Etta James' I'd Rather Go Blind). Make sure you listen to Hymnal too - though it's short, I love it so. You can also listen to some of her tracks over at her website (do yourself a favour and buy the album though. You won't regret it. You have my (very reliable) word).

Tao Lin

Yes, another blog post, once again consisting of me singing the praises of certain talented people. What of it?

This time it's poet/author Tao Lin. I only discovered Lin last year, but quickly figured out he's pretty amazing - he's one of those rare cases in which I love his poetry as much as his prose. I began with 'You are a little bit happier than I am' followed by his debut novella 'Shoplifting from American Apparel', and on from there, though I don't really think it matters where you start with him. His second novel 'Richard Yates' will be out soon (according to his blog).

Secret Of Mana

See, I can blog about things other than music (sometimes)!

Secret Of Mana is one of the best games of all time. For a game that came out in the early '90s, this game really was (and still is) impressive in a number of ways. It has a great soundtrack (no, really), great gameplay, and in my opinion could hold its own against any modern day RPG. It's a must for fans of the Final Fantasy series, Zelda, Chrono Trigger (another SNES classic, albeit much harder to get hold of), etc. As far as I can tell Secret Of Mana isn't too expensive/rare (correct me if I'm wrong) - anyone with an SNES should definitely look into getting a copy.

Artist of the day - Rose Melberg

Rose Melberg has been around for a while now - you may recognize her from numerous other projects she's been involved in (The Softies, Go Sailor, All Girl Summer Fun Band, Tiger Trap, etc). Recently she's been concentrating on solo work, releasing a few albums under her own name. The fact that she's been consistently involved with so many great groups is a pretty good indicator of the scale of this woman's talent. The song below is from her most recent record, Homemade Ship.

Artist(s) of the day - Maudlin of the Well

A while back a friend of mine introduced me to this band, and I'm glad he did. Maudlin of the Well are relatively unheard of - I suppose I'd describe them as combining elements of jazz, metal and folk. That might sound a bit weird but personally I think they're one of the best, underappreciated groups around. Below is my personal favourite of theirs, 'Girl With a Watering Can'.



You can download their most recent release at their website. Last time I checked it was free, but donations are accepted.

It's a blog

Why hello there (if anyone ever actually reads this post).
I've been contemplating jumping on the blog bandwagon for a while now but as you can see, haven't until now. This blog will basically just be me promoting stuff I think everyone should be aware of/love as much as I do (just what the internet needs more of). It may progress into something more than that, but who knows?

At the moment the design is a bit clunky but hopefully I'll make it look a bit better later on.