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Download “It’s Oh So Quiet!” and “Echinacea“ | I had no more than an hour to spare for CMJ last night, and I decided that songstress Olga Bell and her band Bell, playing at Pianos, would be well-deserving of the time—ridiculous, I know, since there were at least 12 good bands playing there, but I think most of us would agree that if you can’t afford to take a full week off, the next best option to fully enjoy CMJ is to practice serious moderation in order to avoid exhaustion and crankiness; as much as I love the idea of bands playing everywhere, all over the city, pretty much all day for one whole week, the scenario doesn’t come with a heavenly lift in temperament, so there. To get to the point, Ms. Bell was totally worth it. I know there are some people who believe liking an artist for her cover of a famous artist is no less than an evidence of moral corruption, but I’m a fan of the “It’s Oh So Quiet!” cover. Of course, the Bjork version isn’t lacking anything, but I think Bell still manages to add to the song, and don’t get me wrong, I enjoy all of her originals too, which is what she played last night.
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Download “I Don’t Mind” | Kashish was at the awfully clean-looking Red Bull Space last night, and his loyal adoration of the Classic Rock seems to have clicked with Ponderosa’s southern sensibilities. The boys are from Atlanta/Athens, Georgia, and it looks like last night was their last stop in New York.
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Download “Leonard Woolf“ | I’ve been waiting for Princeton to leave California behind and head to New York ever since I heard their Bloomsbury EP. I’ve a column of bands whose personality I find so likable and whose motivations I find so commendable that I’ll always be nothing but forgiving, patient and loving towards them no matter what, and Princeton exemplifies the kind of bands I’m willing to put on this list (another being These United States). The jewel on the crown, for me, is definitely the song, “Leonard Woolf”, with which I have a special attachment because it says so much with so little that it gives me goosebumps. It’s definitely a meeting point of worlds.
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Download “Everybody Here Is a Cloud” | I’m not one to sit down and plan out a CMJ marathon schedule, that would be too much an arduous task. So in the spirit of “discovering”, I offhandedly picked the Stunt Company showcase at Knitting Factory, which would feature an acoustic set from Cloud Cult. To see Cloud Cult in that level of intimacy, all stripped down as a two-piece—not counting singer Craig Minowa’s wife, Connie Minowa, who was the sole “live-painter” last night—was highly satisfying. Surprisingly, the painting Connie ended up creating was very much reflective of the mood the show evoked in my mind: that of feeling like a 10-year-old with a strawberry popsicle bicycling through a rainbow. Though that was not what she painted (she depicted a colorful profile of a hummingbird with its wings open, hovering above what looked like a ripple), the vibrancy of the colors were a match. Cloud Cult with play a “regular” show at Bowery Ballroom on Nov 11.
When we first talked about doing Secret Garden videos with The Loom, we had planned to perform “Patience for Books” at Retro Fret, a specialty music store in Gowanus that boasts a stunning collection of vintage instruments. At the time, we ended up shooting two videos at singer John Fanning’s apartment and were unable to visit Retro Fret. So we went back later, and below is the result—this is the shorter edit, I might post the longer one later. The Loom is playing several CMJ shows this week, and tonight they share a particularly lovely bill at The Bell House with some of my favorites Princeton, Frances and La Strada.
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Download “March Movement” | Many a music enthusiast from this city of endless revelry seems to have overlooked an intimate, endearing evening with Talkdemonic this past Saturday. The room did thicken considerably by the time the band went on (after Boston’s Bon Savants opened), but I’d anticipated a fuller turnout, and it was a show that turned out to be completely worthy of it.
hooves on the turf is a mostly-music blog based out of brooklyn. i can be reached at hoovesontheturf [at] gmail [dot] com - please send me your lovely music as an attached mp3 or an mp3 link. if i like what you send, i'll be sure to ask for more.
jon in Favorite Music Videos of 2008: “I’m not a big MGMT fan but I’d give an honorable mention to the Time To Pretend video for managing to crossbreed Lord of the Rings with a Windows95 screensaver.”angelica in Not altogether wicked, merely unteachable: “Thank you for this profound and somewhat haunting post. Orwell may have been referring to another period, but this excerpt is pretty much a description of the times now.”Payton in My Own Gummy Winners: “I was trolling the Hype Machine to see who else really enjoyed Crimes (it was my top album as well). What you had to say about West Won hit the nail on the head. Great opening track that does have a huge...”Croytaque in Videos: Dark Dark Dark, The Loom at Union Pool: “if there’s too many problem of sounds, how many “dark” will they add to their name? ; ) Nevertheless an engaging band.”Janice Cosenza in These United States at the Secret Garden: “Just finished watching. What can I say. The band is the best and the video is awesome. This band is not Meat-e-oak-a, they are Soup-ear-e-a! Oh, the pride of a Mom. Merry Merry to...”
