Grant Manship

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - Oct. 31st, 2006

Daniel Johnston - "Casper the Friendly Ghost" from Yip/Jump Music

Sufjan Stevens - Songs for Christmas

Thanks to Asthmatic Kitty, you can now stream all 5 discs of the upcoming Sufjan Stevens release Songs for Christmas by clicking here.  Additionally, if you end up purchasing the box set you'll not only get the 5 cd's but also stickers, short stories, an essay, a video, a comic strip, songbooks, and an Official Original Christmas Family Portrait of Santa Sufjan making it quite the little stocking stuffer!

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - Oct. 30th, 2006

Annuals - "Complete or Completing" from Be He Me

Daytrotter Sessions - Of Montreal

Of Montreal is featured over at Daytrotter this week so be sure to check out the band's story and free songs.

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - Oct. 27th, 2006

Bishop Allen - "Bellingham" from April - EP

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - Oct. 26, 2006

The Walkmen - "Mucho Mungo/Mt. Elga" from Pussy Cats

Perpetual Peter and the Wolf

Red Hunter of Peter and the Wolf left his apartment six months ago to tour perpetually.  He currently lives in his car on the road with a suitcase full of clothing, some CDs, a strange fiddle he picked up in New York's Chinatown, a blanket, and his broken, taped-up guitar.  By giving away all his possessions we learn exactly what "lightness" he's alluding to with the title of his first official release due Oct. 31st from The Worker's Institute.

In the title track, which you can hear below, Red suggests the ways in which everyone can achieve this lightness if we, "carry only memories," and, "own nothing in the world."

• Peter and the Wolf - "Lightness" from Lightness (mp3)

Here is to safe travels for Red and his band as they carry on with their perpetual tour.  Be sure to catch them on one of the dates below:

• Thu Oct 26: Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 (w/ Swearing at Motorists, Hudson Bell)
• Fri Oct 27: Winston Salem, NC - The Garage
• Sat Oct 28: Charlottesville, VA - Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar
• Sun Oct 29: Baltimore, MD - Talking Head
• Mon Oct 30: Somerville, MA - PA’s Lounge
• Tue Oct 31: New York, NY - Knitting Factory Tap Bar (CMJ) 8pm
• Wed Nov 1: New York, NY - Pianos (CMJ) 11pm
• Fri Nov 3: Rochester, NY - Bullwinkles (w/ Josephine Foster)
• Sat Nov 4: Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place (w/ Califone)
• Sun Nov 5: Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks (w/ Beach House, Over the Atlantic)
• Tue Nov 7: Bloomington, IN - Art Hospital
• Wed Nov 8: Detroit, MI - Lager House
• Thu Nov 9: Cincinnati, OH - Alchemize
• Tue Nov 21: Dallas, TX - Club Dada

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - Oct. 25th, 2006

Clinic - "Harvest (Within You)" from Visitations

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - Oct. 24th, 2006

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - "House Fire" from Broom

Favorite New Release of the Week - Oct. 24th, 2006

The Walkmen - Pussy Cats

Gone are the days when drug-hoarding musicians descended upon the Hollywood Hills home of the odd serial killer or strung-out heiress and spent months shooting up, breaking down, and sleeping with Anita Pallenberg.

But the Walkmen have set out to recreate if not the substance, then at least the sound of such experiences with Pussy Cats, a stony, song-for-song remake of Harry Nilsson's iconic 1974 record produced by John Lennon over the proverbial "lost weekend"—really '73-'75 when Lennon and personal assistant May Pang ran off to Los Angeles together at Yoko Ono's suggestion. Loading up on Friends Who Rock—Ian Svenonius (once of Nation of Ulysses fame) and, well, Rockwell—the Walkmen romp joyfully through Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (Nilsson covered it, too) and a nearly off-the-rails version of the highly sing-along-able "Loop De Loop," that sounds like it was recorded at a drunken sailors' convention.

This album is an ambitious detour for a New York five-piece that has established themselves as an indie band worth watching. They've packed ten short songs that once cost Nilsson his vocal cords—he ruptured them while recording his version—with plenty of honking and aural freak-outs. While this sort of anthemic, swaggering sound might not be made in the same way, it's good to see that it hasn't yet gone completely out of style.

- Adam Rathe, October 3, 2006 via Radar Online