amy millan

check it out. i can blog with a baby in my arms!

the people over at arts & crafts and galleryac.com and are kind enough to be sharing this free download from the upcoming, three-years-in-the-making solo album from stars' amy millan. honey from the tombs features not only amy's wonderful vocals, but a bottomless well of talent from that good ol' incestuous toronto bunch: evan cranley & chris seligman (stars), kevin drew & brendan canning (broken social scene) and charles spearin (broken social scene & do make say think) all appear on the record. if amy has that many things going for her, there's no way it can be bad.

MP3: "skinny boy"
from the album: honey from the tombs
release date: 05/30/06
label: arts & crafts
BUY THIS CD

midlake

midlake are currently sole possessors of my 'most anticipated album of the year' slot. initially, i was expecting van occupanther to come out this month. then it changed to sometime in april. now they're saying hopefully on june 5th. i'm telling you - these dudes are a tease. and in the same time it's taken to continue pushing the release date back further and further, the album's title has changed from simply van occupanther to the more extensive and slightly more perplexing the trials of van occupanther.

in the midst of all this uncertainty, however, there's one thing i can count on:
this album is gonna completely rule.
i loved their last one, bamnan & slivercork and from what i've heard so far, i'm gonna love the new one just as much, if not more. "roscoe" seems to be the song that's popping up on all the other mp3 blogs lately, most notably on gorilla vs. bear, where chris has called it his favorite song of the year so far and has posted it like 3 times now, if my tally is correct. and it is a dandy. so i'll post it now for everyone to hear. i posted the title cut for a bit, but was asked very politley to take it down for good reasons that i fully respect.
july, i gotta wait all the way until july. sigh...
and damn! i wish i could see them with the flaming lips at sxsw.


MP3: "van occupanther"
MP3: "roscoe"
from the album: the trials of van occupanther
release date: 06/05/06 07/25/06
label: bella union

kieran hebden and steve reid

seems like everything kieran hebden (four tet, fridge) puts his hand to turns out to be nothing but superb - his own albums challenging and inventive, his remixes almost always a marked improvement upon the original track. it's a little more difficult to claim his "midas touch"-like abilities when he collaborates with another artist who's not too shabby themselves. and that's what hebden has done on his latest work of gold, joining forces with the one and only steve reid (former drummer for miles davis, fela kuti, james brown, sun ra & plenty of other reputable names). and yet, one listen to the exchange session: vol. 1, and whoever wanted to oppose my claim would be left with no more evidence to further their half of the argument than they may have started out with.

what's so freaking mindblowing about this collaboration is that it took place in the span of only one day. ONE MEASLEY DAY! there are days when i can't even change out of what i slept in the night before. i mean, these are two dudes who, other than a chance encounter at the 2005 london jazz festival, were complete strangers. they get into the studio for one day and what comes out of that brief partnership sounds like the product of two wholly unified musical souls. this is a match made in heaven, if i've ever heard one. 37 minutes of magical, controlled cacophany. it's brilliant.

MP3: "electricity and drum will change your mind"
from the album: the exchange session: vol.1
release date: 02/21/06
label: domino
BUY THIS CD