Seems like just yesterday I thought to myself, "I should do a podcast!"

Well, once again, I've surpassed the capacity that Fileden lets me upload. But thanks to Mr. Tim Young I have come to realize that Google Docs is a fine place to store my files when they're too big and it won't send you gross/scary/sketchy pop-up ads! So, no play button this week, but I didn't want to cut anything out because....

IT'S MY ONE YEAR BIRTHDAY OF THE PODCAST (Go to hell, you old bastard)

So there's ample amounts of reminiscing about bygone days and days of yore and so forth and so on.

Also, never fear, I'll keep the podcast coming out nice and regular even though it's been coming out a bit late in the week recently. In the spirit of Stan Lee, "Stay Strong, True Believers!"

Countdown #47

***Featuring***
The Black Keys
Cage the Elephant
Foo Fighters
Linkin Park
Live
Middle Class Rut
Mumford & Sons
Rise Against
Social Distortion
Young the Giant

Some Call It Rough, But It's Beautiful

So King Post Kitsch released a new FREE EP today. It's called "Some Call It Hell, But It's Home" and I don't normally quote directly from the press for the release, but if I tried to summarize, I couldn't word it half as well. Here's what's on the BandCamp page (where you can download the album for free!):

"Well I first recorded a bunch of acoustic songs on a four track to listen back and get a feel for where they should go. I then tried to re-record them with more guitars, vocals, harmonicas, melodicas, percussion... but they didn’t really improve on the rough demos. So here are three of those songs, complete with tape-hiss, scuffs, fumbles and additional vocals on 'Riverbank' from a seagull who was outside my window."

Despite this description, these are three beautiful and delicate songs. My favorite is "Rebecca" but that may just be personal preference.

In addition to this release, King Post Kitsch has a single called, "Don't You Touch My Fucking Honeytone", coming out on 7" on May 16th. That's a single from a forthcoming album The Party's Over which will come out on June 13th on Song, By Toad Records

You should get everything thing that King Post Kitsch releases. I certainly plan to.

New Countdown in which I imagine Mumford & Sons use instruments that they don't use

That's right. It's a countdown where I let my imagination just go with whatever it can come up with. Good tunes, though

Countdown #46

***Featuring***
The Black Keys
Cage the Elephant
Foo Fighters
Linkin Park
Middle Class Rut
Mumford & Sons
My Chemical Romance
R.E.M.
Rise Against
Young the Giant

Russian Roulette (Blog Version)

So, over at Cathedrals of Sound, they do a Lazy Sunday feature where they talk about whatever comes to the top of the "shuffle pile" and I have always thought that was cool, but I wanted to do something a little bit different with it. So I'm going to do a round of Russian Roulette, blog style.

I pressed Shuffle Songs on my iPod one day and wrote down the first 6 songs that showed up. Then I went on random.org and generated 6 dates that will be occurring in the next 6 months. (This was on 3/6. Sensing a "6" based theme?) So I'm going to write these blog posts about these songs and on the designated day, the post will show up with a link to the song to listen and/or download. I'm hoping to forget all about which days things are scheduled so it will be a surprise for me AND you.

The Russian Roulette is based in the fact that I'm "taking 6 shots" and I don't know if one of those shots will result in the post being deleted by the powers that be. It adds a bit of danger and that's kind of fun.

So, look out for that in the near future!

A Brand New Countdown That's A Real Rocker, I Think. Don't You Agree?

Less computer sounds this time, but more rock! I'd say that's win-win. Damn, I love music. Sometimes it just hits me. And now is one of those times. What a wonderful time to be alive!

Countdown #45

***FEATURING***
The Black Keys
Cage the Elephant
Foo Fighters
Jesus Jones
Linkin Park
Middle Class Rut
Mumford & Sons
My Chemical Romance
Rise Against
Young the Giant

Dessa: The Appetite For Distraction Interview

So I got it into my head that maybe I should interview Dessa. If you've been reading my blog for more than a couple weeks, you'll know that Dessa was who I was most excited about finding out about last year. She's a part of the Doomtree collective and they toured America last fall. Now they're gearing up for SXSW and a spring tour! Find all your Doomtree related stuff HERE.

So this is my first interview I've ever done. Well that's not true. I interviewed a Boston College basketball player that my Dad taught. But that was maybe as far back as 7th grade? And it was for a school assignment, so it doesn't count. So, THIS is the first interview I've ever had to compose questions on my own for and I think it went ok. Maybe I'll be able to do more of this kind of thing on the blog. Thoughts? Well, don't give me your thoughts until you've read the interview.

The Past

1. Who were your role models growing up?

I had a sixth grade teacher named Patti who kicked a considerable amount of ass. She lectured with passion on the glorious history of Mesopotamia, she didn't wear a bra, and she took her students as seriously as we gave her reason to take us. 

 

2. What was your favorite subject in school?

I enjoyed language since I was a child, but I'm not sure I was particularly romanced by English in school. Science, that was probably my favorite subject of study. 

 

3. What was your favorite song(s) when you were 16?

 

I didn't listen to very many artists as a teenager. But the few albums I did own, I listened to again and again. At sixteen, I was probably most enthusiastic about...man, I don't know. Sixteen is a total blur. But at 13, I was really into The Cowboy Junkies, Offspring, and Tracy Chapman.

 

As near as I can tell, Dessa is one year older than me. Which puts her being 13 in about 1995. Which means something from Smash

The Offspring - Nitro (Youth Energy) from Smash

The Present

4. Do you have any pre- or post-show rituals or traditions?

I get nervous before a show and drink whiskey afterwards. Those seem to be the only constants.  

 

5. What are you reading these days?

At a snail's pace, I'm reading A People's History of the United States. I don't have the mind for history--this is very slow going. 

 

6. What is your favorite music to wind down to?

 

I listen to a lot of melody-centric down-tempo folky stuff. But honestly, I'm waiting to find my next new favorite. 

 

Well, I don't know about it being down-tempo, but maybe we can turn Dessa on to a little Rocky Votolato

 

Rocky Votolato - Mix Tapes/Cell Mates from Suicide Medicine

 

7. What do you like to do in your free time? Do you actually ever have free time

I spend some time with my friends at the neighborhood bar, but really my job is both my social life and my hobby. A career in music takes up most of my time, but I don't have any complaints.  

 

The Industry

8.Where do you stand on music blogs? Helpful? Annoying? Useful in the right hands?

 

I don't read as many blogs as most of my friends. They're immediate, which can connect readers with fresh content. But I think there's a lot of pressure to publish quickly and that can dilute the quality of content. 

 

9. Do you think radio, in the AM/FM sense, is irrelevant when it comes to music? Or is there still a purpose for it that the internet can't supply? Do you miss it or would you miss it if it were gone?

 

Yep. Cats don't surf the net on their way to work, they listen to the radio. Independent radio has definitely been a large part of Doomtree's growth. 

 

The Label

10. What makes Doomtree work so well?

Doomtree was built on friendship. And we've stuck together through some pretty tough times. I'm not sure how other labels run their businesses, but we've tried to keep our expenses reasonable and divide our revenue fairly. I think that's probably a part of why we've been able to stick it out as friends and business partners. 

 

11. What's different about releasing an album as opposed to a book? Do you take different factors into consideration when you're putting them together?

I've only released one book, Spiral Bound. I wasn't sure if anyone at all would be interested in it, but was really heartened to find how many rap listeners were game to give my prose a try. I think I'll take the publication of the next one as a more strategic endeavor--more akin to an album release. 

 

12. Will we be seeing a follow-up to "Spiral Bound" in the near future?

Follow up? Yes. Near future? Uh, maybe. 

 

13. What's your favorite song on the new Sims album?

One-Dimensional Man or Hey You.  

 

You can hear both of these songs and MANY MANY others on the Doomtree SXSW sampler

 

14. Can you clue us in to what's coming up for Doomtree in 2011? (Releases, tours, etc.)

At the moment, Doomtree is looking down the barrel of SXSW--the independent music festival in Austin, Texas. After that, we'll be announcing a spring tour. Keep your ear to the ground.  

 

Here's the list of all the places to find Doomtree performing at SXSW

 

The Process

15. What is your songwriting process? I would imagine that, with your background in spoken word, the words would come first and the the melody.

This question's been pretty well answered in a bunch of interviews, I'll let you take what you like from those. 

Ok. How about this from Mom Culture:

As I lyricist, I’ll often overhear a bit of conversation that will end up in a song. A turn of phrase often catches my ear and sits on the clipboard in my head until I find someplace to put it. When I sit down to write music, I’ll review all of the snippets that I’ve collected in recent months to see what I can stitch together.

16. One of my favorite songs I've heard by you is "If & When" It has such an intense plot that seems like it belongs in a short story anthology. Where do you get the inspiration for songs like that?

I worked on that song with MK Larada, one of the Doomtree producers. We began with an image of a woman and a house fire, and it developed into the idea of a woman obsessively minding the pilot light in the hopes that it would serve to call her missing husband home in a very bad storm. The listener comes to learn that the husband was found frozen years before in the barn, but that the woman continues to tend the fire, refusing to heed the advice of her neighbors and descending into a frightening recluse in her small town.

 

Dessa - If & When (Daytrotter Session)

Thanks again to Dessa for being amazing in all sorts of ways. 

New Countdown with ANOTHER guest contributor!!

...the plastic of the laptop! That's right. I was recording tonight with the laptop on my lap (it's what it's meant for, for goodness sake! it's right in the name!) and whenever I moved even slightly, it makes this big noise on the tape. I hope it's not too distracting. The tunes are good this week and the laptop couldn't interfere there!

Countdown #44

***Featuring***
The Black Keys
Cage the Elephant
Linkin Park
Middle Class Rut
Mumford & Sons
My Chemical Romance
Rise Against
Social Distortion
Young the Giant