2010 was a dull year for discovering new bands; caught between over hype and under hype, the ripe atmosphere for discovery is quickly diminishing. The Cults signed to Columbia Records, Tennis played their first New York show at the large capacity Terminal 5, Blackberry got maximum coverage out of a Tune Yards song, Best Coast and Wavves annoyed the half of us with their money-friendly philosophy on selling out. So I stuck to, for the most part, old favorites who made great new releases. As far as releases go, that Future Islands put out their first proper full length, and that Lower Dens became a band, were probably the highlights for me. I wonder whatever happened to Yellow Fever’s release, though — their new songs seemed ready to go pretty early in the year! But here it is, the top 10.

Download this mix from MediaFire here.
Full list after the jump.

#10 The Books, The Way Out

#9 Thee Oh Sees, Warm Slime

#8 Callers, Life of Love

#7 Tony Castles, No Service

#6 Motel Motel, The Big Island

#5 Lower Dens, Twin-Hand Movement

#4 Dark Dark Dark, Wild Go

#3 Quiet Hooves, Saddle Up!

#2 Future Islands, In Evening Air

#1 The Tallest Man on Earth, The Wild Hunt

Download the mix

Last night’s opening song was “A Field of Birds”, an original theme song The Tallest Man on Earth recorded for the Yellow Bird Project.

Photo by Chris La Putt.
If I weren’t in a hurry I’d tell you all about the show!

Download “A Field of Birds“

Kristian Matsson, who goes by the name The Tallest Man on Earth, knows what to expect from New York. Last night he played Highline Ballroom for the first time, a higher capacity venue than Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg, and sold it out in advance.  This was an all-age show, which meant an avalanche of super excited young fans (“I don’t think you should go to school tomorrow”, said one little thing to the other after the show ended). The fans sang in the words that Kristian left out (“in your eyes babe”, “leather”). Someone yelled out something in Swedish, and Krisitian claimed the translation was “you fucking pussy”. He mocked the girl who yelled, “Say something in Swedish”. He addressed the impracticality of too many requests: “That Jackson Browne Cover”, “I Fall to Pieces”. “How can I sing them all?” is what he said, “We’ll be here all night”.

But there are assumptions that need addressing. The two girls who came in late frolicking and planted themselves in front of other people, blocking their view and giggling with joy: probably in late 20’s, early 30’s; the guy behind me who had obviously downloaded the leaked version of the new album, because how else did he learn every word and every inflection to the new songs in just 7 days?: probably in mid-late 20’s, early 30’s. Also, lots of guys. I don’t mean gays. Lots of guys contorting their faces into serious emotional expressions as if this were a Tori Amos show. This is a very good thing for Krisitan Matsson, who got “You’re so sexy!” from a guy. He replied, “Yeah that’s what I do”.

Lots of people talk about how Kristian has a great stage presence. But the truth is, he just has amazing songs. They were written with a certain performance value coded in, at which point the deal was sealed; there’s no way it was going to be boring live. My sister pointed out, though, that Krisitan roams the stage as if he were a wild horse plotting to escape confinement. His friend had drawn a horse He’s got a new tattoo of a horse (by the way) on the inside of his forearm. He referred to it as “horsie”, and said it was keeping him company on stage.

Songs played from The Wild Hunt were (that I’m listing using my poor memory): “The Wild Hunt”, “Thousand Ways” (love!), “Troubles Will Be Gone”, “Burden of Tomorrow”, “Love is All”, “King of Spain” and “You’re Going Back” (he didn’t play “A Lion’s Heart”); from Shallow Grave: “The Gardener”, “Pistol Dreams”, “I Won’t Be Found”, “Where Do the Bluebirds Fly”, and, what he called a song special to New York, “This Wind” (double love!); he said goodbye with a new song, “Like the Wheel”.

I was glad to see Nurses. I’ve enjoyed their quirky songs for a while, and they sounded great last night. They blogged on April 16:

tallest man on earth tour = best vibes

got a few minutes in a mofe shop, got a few words to say! 2 shows into the tour with the tallest man on earth, and we’re all smiles. kristian (sp?) aka the tallest man on earth is as nice as he is talented, and i’m really looking forward to this next month! kristian is already making 99 percent of the girls in the room swoon, blush, and fall apart, and performing the heckoutta real good folk songs.

this rules!

Download “King of Spain” by The Tallest Man on Earth
Download “The Wild Hunt (Live at Bowery Ballroom)” by The Tallest Man on Earth
Download lots of other Tallest Man goodies on this site.
Download Technicolor by Nurses

PS: Contest to win The Wild Hunt vinyl is closed and I will contact the winner directly winner has been contacted.

The Tallest Man on Earth’s The Wild Hunt came out today, woo-hoo. Ever since I got my hands on it, I’ve listened to each song a crazy number of times (except the last one, “Kids on the Run”, because I just can’t get into the piano arrangement).

In addition to the generation-defining “King of Spain”, my current favorites are the folky-punchy “You’re Going Back”, which is full of swagger and youthful arrogance: “You said, driver please, don’t go that fucking way”; and the oddly aged “Thousand Ways”, in which the line between comedy and tragedy is all but faded: ”But I’ll always be blamed for the sun going down with us all / But I’m the light in the middle of every man’s fall” and then, “I bend my arrows down [?] in circles and I shoot around the hill / If I don’t get you in the morning, by the evening I sure will”).

That title track is a killer too. Buy the album!

To enter the contest, tweet this:
RT @sarahana Win The Tallest Man on Earth’s “The Wild Hunt” Vinyl http://bit.ly/92fQ3q

Contest ends April 20, date of the Tallest Man New York show at Highline Ballroom. FYI, the vinyl comes with download code for mp3.
You can be anywhere in the world to win it.

Kristian Matsson / The Tallest Man on Earth. Photo: Sarahana

The Tallest Man on Earth’s next album will be The Wild Hunt, and he’s switched labels to Dead Oceans. The album is set for an April 13 release in the US. Everyone’s live favorite “King of Spain” (below) is the first listen we’re getting from it; as you might’ve expected,  it’s pretty true to the live version. He also played a song called “The Wild Hunt” at the last few New York shows. Can’t wait to hear the rest!

Download “King of Spain” (album version)
Download lots of other Tallest Man goodies< on this site.

The Tallest Man on Earth, The Wild Hunt album artwork

I was psyched to learn yesterday that The Tallest Man on Earth has run out of his last vinyl press of Shallow Grave (which included a 4-track 7″ of his self-titled EP). Well done, fans! I’m super thrilled because I remember holding my copy when I bought it and thinking, this is the one vinyl I’m most glad to own; my idea of a perfect record, with foot taps and all; if I were to use one word, it’d be “courage”. Think about it. A man from Sweden writing folky songs in English, with nothing but a guitar, and sometimes a banjo, finishing them up in a home-recorded style, and putting out a US-release on a small run of vinyl. It’s kind of an F.U. to the state of the music industry, if you ask me.

Mexican Summer is repressing a run of a 1000, and it will be in white this time, though it won’t come with the 7″.

Anyway, here’s the full audio from Kristian’s (always-awesome) set at Brooklyn Vegan’s Northside Festival showcase on June 12, 2009, at Music Hall of Williamsburg, except there wasn’t anything festival-like about it, really, but I’m sure you’ve heard that from 10,000 other people already. Feel free to download it and rejoice in the unpaid goodness, but seeing that there is little we can do to affect our culture and society other than BUYING, just remember to buy awesome records on vinyl, especially Kristian’s. Buy t-shirts, too. And buy those beautiful prints he has for sale sometimes. Just makes sure he never goes out of business and that he’s never pressured to resort to unbecoming industry practices

Alright then, that’s enough rallying-up for today. Please link to this page if sharing this download link (don’t be a jerk).

Download (from Media Fire) – Live at MHOW, June 12, 2009.

Here it is: a four-song edition of a Secret Garden mini-movie with Sweden’s The Tallest Man on Earth. It was shot the last time he was in New York (he returns this weekend for two shows!). Kristian Matsson was barely up when we infiltrated the Brooklyn apartment he was staying at. His tour manager, Ryan, led us to the stairs that was, who knew, the perfect spot for Kristian to sing “This Wind” and a cover of Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces” (the best versions of both that I’ve ever heard). And you know how it is with a perfect hint of reverb: you cast aside your head and pull your heart out your neck (that’s right). We wandered around to the windy rooftop for “Over the Hills” and locked ourselves in an old-fashioned elevator for “Steal Tomorrow”.

Please link back to this page if you’re embedding this video.

Check out all of our previous posts on The Tallest Man on Earth.

As you may have noticed, I’m not at all following the Secret Garden schedule as originally published. You know what comes in the way of timely blogging? LIFE

Hang on tight, a new schedule and all videos are coming out the pipe over the next few weeks. The Tallest Man on Earth video will go up tomorrow, June 10.

But I can’t just leave you with no gifts, now, can I? So I made your desktop a Tallest Man on Earth wallpaper. Grab the right size:

1024 x 768 | 1152 x 720 | 1280 x 800 | 1440 x 900

A new collection of Secret Garden performances will resume tomorrow, April 29th. Here’s a schedule of what’s in store. If you’re unfamiliar with this ever-changing magical garden, it is a mini-documentary series in which I film bands performing a few songs outside the context of a regular show. Along with the schedule you’ll also find some “candid band photos” that, as a tradition of my own, I take after each shoot.

If you’re a blogger who’d like to write a preview for any of these episodes before they release, just email me at hoovesontheturf [at] gmail [dot] com

2009 Spring/Summer Dates for Secret Garden Video Series

Arp 29 – Fanfarlo

Download “Harold T Wilkins“

May 05 – Cotton Jones

Download “Blood Red Sentimental Blues“

May 12 – Middle Distance Runner

Download “Brother John“

May 15 – Revival Times

Download “Curious Storm“

May 19 – Balmorhea

Download “San Solomon“

May 26 – Floating Action

Download “Absolute Sway“

Jun 02 – Sprengjuhöllin

Download “Worry Till Spring“

Jun 09 – The Tallest Man on Earth

Download “The Gardener“

While we’re on the topic of The Tallest Man on Earth, I’ve gathered a few other Swedish delights, plus more good stuff. But first, here’s another gem from Kristian Matsson, as performed live last night. I took the picture above after a Secret Garden shoot with him yesterday, so watch out for that loveliness.

Download “The Wild Hunt (Live at Bowery Ballroom)“

Swedish Delight #2: Francis

Sweden’s Francis is a drunkenly four-piece from a province called Dalarna, which they describe as “the darkest woods of Sweden”. They’ve just released a solid self-titled debut EP, which you can buy from here. “Beat, Beat, Beat” is pretty representative of the five songs you’ll find on it: strutting bluesy rhythms, a lovely soaring voice, wasted hearts, and all that good stuff. I can’t wait for this band to head to New York. Myspace

Download “Beat, Beat, Beat“

Swedish Delight #3: Hägga & the Thieves from the North

Hägga & the Thieves from the North is a howling outfit from Stockholm, Sweden. They’ve got some of the same free spirit you hear in Francis, but a lot less somber, with a dose of mischief and optimism replacing some of the wastedness. Their album Introducing The Thieves From the North was released earlier this year. Myspace

Download “In a Different Light”

Playing tomorrow: Floating Action

I’ve been admiring Floating Action’s self-titled debut ever since I got the first whiff of it. It comes out on April 21 (pre-order), though you should really come see them at Mercury Lounge tomorrow (Apr 17) if you want an advance listen. I’ve never seen them live and I’m very curious about how these recordings will be interpreted for the stage. Myspace

Download “Marie Claire“

Playing tonight: Afuche

Afuche is Brooklyn’s own, and be very proud. Their debut album I Made Dots… is an experimental bit of explosion, complete with shrieking horns and fairly-like prances tossed in with otherwise badass-like grooves. It’s all quite cinematic, and I’m very much excited to see them live. Their release party show is tonight at Bruar Falls with Tune Yards and Sister Suvi. You must wear black and white if you’re coming though, it’s Charlie Chaplin’s birthday. Myspace

Download “Karate“

Photographed: Eulogies

Los Angeles’ Eulogies is playing the Bell House on May 1 and Bowery Ballroom on May 4th in support of their newest, Here Anonymous, from which this track is taken. It features Nikki Monninger of Silversun Pickups. Here’s an interview they did with The Tripwire, for which I took a few photos. Myspace

Download “Two Can Play“