Cake In 15

Unless you live in a cave or under a rock or maybe just don’t like music (huh?), then you’ve probably heard of Daytrotter.  I’d highly suggest creating an account on the site, as then you’re privy to the free downloads for bands like White Rabbits, Delta Spirit, Frightened Rabbit, & Bon Iver.  You can also check out local Minneapolitans like Jeremy Messermith, whose session just went up yesterday!  Do it, you’ll love it.  We promise.

Download Mp3 (more at Daytrotter!):
A Girl, A Boy & A Graveyard

Hello to All! This is Jason.

It is approximately Christmas 2009, and I am letting whoever you are know that I have a gift for you, if you want it.

I set up some microphones in my living room and recorded about 35 minutes of improvisational piano music, and…… It just so happens that playing my piano at home is one of my favorite things to do (in terms of music) so it was nice to be able to capture some of these moments of me just playing aimlessly and relaxed.

So….in appreciation to those of you who bought my album this year, or came to the shows, or donated money to help my sister, or even to those of you who did none of those things….here is a gift from me.

I hope you all had a good year and that next year will be even better!

Jason

oh yes, P.S.
I should also mention that I am currently at work on a new album and although I’m quite sure none of the songs will end up on the radio……I’m guaranteeing that this will be the weirdest, most wonderful mayhem I have made yet!

ok bye.

Click on the photo above to download the free holiday album.  Thanks Jason!

Seriously.  Add your email & click.  That’s it.

Jayber Crow is one of those bands that you’re supposed to like in college.  It’s a band that your friends are in.  It’s a couple of guys you know through someone else who happen to play music.  The difference here is that initial fascination extends beyond graduation into the real world.  You realize that even though Pete and Zach are doing this music thing as a side gig because they love it, their music hits home and resonates somewhere deep inside.

Their 2008 release Two Short Stories starts off with “Saint Anthony,” a rollicking jostle that always brings me right to the falls.  Later in the album “Oh My God When I Drop Dead” makes sure you’re awake with a scream and a yowl.  I can’t help but find that the album is over before I’ve even had a chance to absorb and enjoy the entirety of it.  The songs are short, decisive, and somehow the very definition of Midwestern niceness and toughness. Listening makes me stomp my feet, pound my fists, and try to keep my body on the couch or in the car seat.  It’s good down home folk music meant to be sung by and danced to by the masses.

Since Zach now lives in another state, the band’s appearance at Java Jack’s in Minneapolis is a rarity, which is all the more reason to come out Saturday to see them.  Another high point is that local musician Sean Neary’s (Cloud Cult, Seymore Saves the World) other side project, Wapsipinicon, is opening.  Hot damn!  A two-fer.

Jayber Crow, Wapsipinicon, and Eva Mohn (Coach Said Not To) play Saturday, September 12th at Java Jacks in South Minneapolis.  Showtime is 7pm.

Free  Mp3s:
Oh My God When I Drop Dead
The Farmer and the Nomad

…unless you’re Daytrotter.  Then, to be honest, I’ve been thinking it for a while.  The moment Arlen Peiffer, drummer for Caroline Smith & the Good Night Sleeps, told me the band was going to a Daytrotter session, I’ve been waiting impatiently for it to go up on the site.  FINALLY it has!  You can listen to & download four beautiful acoustic tracks for free!

I must admit that I’ve gotten some of my all-time favorite tracks from Daytrotter, and they do a fine job.  Also, everything is free!  If you like acoustic music, you should definitely check out the site.  All of the following mp3s are courtesy of Daytrotter, but you can download the rest of Minneapolis’ own Caroline Smith & the Good Night Sleeps by clicking HERE.

Fair warning though: Allow plenty of time if you are a first-timer.   You’ll need at least a few hours and an absorbent towel to catch all the drool.

Caroline Smith & the Good Night Sleeps  Tying My Shoes
White Rabbits  Sea of Rum
Elvis Perkins  While You Were Sleeping
Bon Iver  Re: Stacks
Basia Bulat  The Pilgriming Vine
Delta Spirit Trashcan

Photo by Mzelle Biscotte, via Flickr's Creative Commons Search

I get a lot of promo emails & after a while they sort of overwhelm my inbox.  Fortunately some of them have great free mp3s attached which I’m allowed to share with you.  So, as the mood strikes me, I go through these emails & post the Mp3 links.  Enjoy!

NPR’s “Music at Newport” Sampler can be downloaded here – songs from The Low Anthem, Avett Brothers, Elvis Perkins, Joan Baez & more…
Wildbirds & Peacedrums – There Is No Light
Casy & Brian – House on Haunted Hill
The Blacks – Sunday Boys
The Big Pink – Dominos
Why? – The Blackest Purse

Also, video of Ice Palace on Northern Outpost!

Since you can’t buy the music for the Dangermouse/Sparklehorse/David Lynch collaboration (you can still stream it here and god is it worth it), cop this EP. Miami based producer Tor does his best Grey Album impression with the breaks from Sufjan Stevens tracks and a variety of sweet hip hop cuts, from Outkast to Big Daddy Kane. As s4xton noted already, the Brother Ali cut is awesome, but I gotta say, the opening mix of “Star of Wonder” with Aesop Rock’s “None Shall Pass” is the hotness; a blissed out defiance, perfect for blowing out a smoke ring and stubbing out on Black’s Law definition of copyright infringement.

Catholicism WOW! or Hanginaround the Holy Water with my Little Hoodrat Friends

I have never understood the Basilica Block Party. Doesn’t rock and roll have a standing agreement with Satan, and don’t Catholics have a vested interest in the overthrow of Satan, or at least maintaining the equilibrium of divine good and worldly evil? What do they do at the Block Party to maintain this balance? Is the beer spiked with holy water? I just imagine poor little CYO kids handing out tracts and nuns hawking t-shirt and rosary 2-for-1s. The whole thing kind of has an air of inviting the money changers back into the temple, not to mention the ramifications for my less-then-devout sensibilities. Does it matter that I voted for Kerry (remember, that whole abortion/communion thing)? Can I wear my NOW shirt? Is my Muslim friend welcome? I am probably overthinking this, but that is not unusual.

These wild imaginings mean I have never gone, a decision made easier by the ticket prices, weird advertising (those blockheads last year were especially aggressively creepy) and the fact that I have never liked any of the bands on the bill. There is no way in hell (pardon, h-e-double hockeysticks) I would pay $70 for Gin Blossoms or Gavin Rossdale.

But here I am with a dilemma in 2009. The headliners this year are pretty good, a mix of nostalgia, solid rock and bar-room passions with Black Crowes, Counting Crows, Jayhawks and The Hold Steady. It is almost as though they got some of those hip fathers who burned draftcards or nuns who get themselves arrested protesting the School of the Americas to hook up the bands. Also, why all the bird band names this year? Does it have something to do with the Holy Spirit? Despite the asinine scheduling of the headliners simultaneously (Jayhawks vs. Black Crowes Friday, The Hold Steady vs. Counting Crows Saturday) the bill alone might make a man want to get religion.

The tipping point may be this: the Basilica Choir sang the music of the Block Party headliners. Listen to it on the website, or you can get their version of The Hold Steady’s “Lord I’m Discouraged” here. This feels wholly inappropriate- the only fortified wine on church premises should be fortified with Christ, and the listening to very choral strains belting out tunes about drug deals and dealing with the hangover leave me in no mood to contemplate transubstantiation and salvation. Granted, “Lord I’m Discouraged” is a song about faith in the unseen and piety in the face of adversity, but it’s not uplifting pulpit material. Maybe it should be. If Christ hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors, he could sure hang out with addict musicians and strung out scene kids nowadays. But as Craig Finn, a mixed spokesperson for Catholicism at best, notes elsewhere, “I’m not saying we could save you. But we could put you in a place where you could save yourself. If you don’t get born again at least you’ll get high as hell.” That’s probably not as dogmatic as the institution of the church would like, but at least is honest about a personal commitment to something greater than oneself.

If anything, the choral versions of these songs make me long for real ones, which is why I will end up going. That and to cover it on a press pass. But don’t ask me to review the choir performances. The Church has an long arm that extends past the here and now.

City on the Make are about to drop Keep This on Fire, their second full-length record and the follow up to last year’s critically acclaimed $1,000,000 EP. If you haven’t already heard by now, you need to see this band. They are a monster live, they breath fire, they are acrobats and clowns, it’s a fucking three-ring circus and a big top inside Mike Massey’s head. The party is at the 400 Bar Bedlam Theater this Friday, 9pm, $10 $7 a head and no complaining. Pay the nice man at the door and let it all go.

In preparation, check out our interview with the CotM boys over at Decider. Andrea Swensson over at the City Pages also ran a nice interview with the boys, and they say different stuff about different things (but some of the same things). Check that out here. And if you still need some goddam convincing, stream the thing over at their website. That oughtta do it.

By the way, the interview was a beast in and of itself. Over an hour of tape and 10,000 words wrestled down to 700. I feel like I killed a bluefin to get at one piece of sushi. Here’s a little extra something that didn’t make it in:

cas: There is a lot more melodic work on Keep This On Fire too, especially in the vocals.

MM: Yeah, but if I want to keep doing this for the rest of my life, I gotta be doing more than just drinking whiskey and singing about that.

Go to the 400 Bedlam, drink the whiskey, roar into the night and get your sweet little rock and roll on.

By the time I’ve posted this, Mark Mallman will have already rocked the stage at the Bryant-Lake Bowl, and apparently his alter-ego MALLWOLF made an appearance. It seems almost unfair, that 9′x22′ stage can’t have been large enough to contain the massive piano-thumping, stage-jumping, heart-pumping energy of Mallman. His new record, Invincible Criminal doesn’t come out until August 11, but the sneak peaks (including “You’re Never Alone In New York” featuring Craig Finn) let you know the wait is well worth it. Check out this interview with Mallman we put together for Decider where he talks about the ghost of Elvis and obese twins and be sure to catch him at the Red Stag Block Party 8/22.