Month: August 2011

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FREE MP3s

MP3 At 3PM: Gringo Star

Looking to match the luck the band had with 2008’s critically acclaimed All Ya’ll, Gringo Star is set to release sophomore album Count Yer Lucky Stars (Gigantic) on October 25. The LP’s first single, “Shadow,” has a lot to offer lyrically, reminding listeners they can’t escape who they are or the darkness that underlines their lives, but they can look forward to glimmers of light and hope at the end of the tunnel. Download “Shadow” below.

“Shadow” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/Shadow.mp3

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GUEST EDITOR

From The Desk Of Of Montreal: Paal Nilssen-Love

of Montreal’s music is hard to define, given it changes more often than frontman Kevin Barnes’ sequined and feathered outfits during a live show. One album might be heavy on the drum machine and synthesizer, while another showcases Barnes’ best high-pitched Prince wail with more traditional strings and percussion. The Atlanta band boasts a prodigious body of work; in a decade and a half, Barnes and Co. have churned out 10 albums, eight collections and 29 singles and EPs, including their most recent effort, thecontrollersphere (Polyvinyl). Barnes and of Montreal’s two art directors—wife Nina Barnes (a.k.a. geminitactics) and brother David Barnes—will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.

Nina: Paal Nilssen-Love is one hell of a drummer. If you don’t believe me, check him out! That is if you are into some crazy free-jazz improv madness. We are few, lovers of contemporary freak-out jazz, but we get down real hard!

Video after the jump.

Continue reading “From The Desk Of Of Montreal: Paal Nilssen-Love”
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FREE MP3s MIX TAPE

Big Harp Makes MAGNET A Mix Tape

If groups like No Doubt and Fleetwood Mac are any indication, it’s generally a bad idea to be romantically involved with bandmates. However, L.A.-based duo Big Harp doesn’t seem to have a problem with it. Chris Sensenery and Stefanie Drootin-Senseney met while touring together in separate bands (Art In Manila and the Good Life, respectively) and are now happily married with two kids and ready to release their debut album, White Hat, on September 13 via Saddle Creek. Not only are they each the perfect complement to the other’s musical style, but they also make a killer mix tape.

“Everybody Pays” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/EverybodyPays.mp3

Violent Femmes “Jesus Walking On The Water”
Stefanie: One of my favorite songs and bands of all time. Such a rad song. Hallowed Ground is also one of my favorite record of all times. Video

Blind Willie Johnson “Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground”
Chris: I don’t think there’s much to say about this that hasn’t been said. Slide guitar and wordless vocals combine in a hair-raising performance. Video

Nina Simone “I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl”
Stefanie: I love Nina Simone!! This song is perfect. I’m not sure what else to say about it. Video

Leonard Cohen “First We Take Manhattan”
Chris: I love the I’m Your Man album. The production style is completely 1988, but the songs underneath are 100 percent Cohen. The combination of cryptic, ominous lyrics and deadpan delivery really works for me. Video

Talking Heads “Heaven”
Stefanie: There was a time in my life where I watched Stop Making Sense every night. Love the movie, love the band, love the song. Video

Harry Nilsson “Medley (Walk Right Back/Cathy’s Clown/Let The Good Times Roll)”
Chris: I picked this one just because the video is so good. I love Nilsson, and this kind of sums him up for me. He’s a great singer and a great songwriter, but he never seemed to be taking himself too seriously. Video

Joanna Newsom “The Book Of Right-On”
Stefanie: This song went through my head every day for two years. Video

Lefty Frizzell “Long Black Veil”
Chris: I think most people are more familiar with the Johnny Cash version. This is the original and the one that got played around the house when I was a kid. Video

Townes Van Zandt “At My Window”
Stefanie: I heard this song on a documentary, Be Here To Love Me, that I watched with my husband back before he was my husband. Fond memories. Video

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GUEST EDITOR

From The Desk Of Of Montreal: Krzysztof Penderecki

of Montreal’s music is hard to define, given it changes more often than frontman Kevin Barnes’ sequined and feathered outfits during a live show. One album might be heavy on the drum machine and synthesizer, while another showcases Barnes’ best high-pitched Prince wail with more traditional strings and percussion. The Atlanta band boasts a prodigious body of work; in a decade and a half, Barnes and Co. have churned out 10 albums, eight collections and 29 singles and EPs, including their most recent effort, thecontrollersphere (Polyvinyl). Barnes and of Montreal’s two art directors—wife Nina Barnes (a.k.a. geminitactics) and brother David Barnes—will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.

Kevin: Hearing Krzysztof Penderecki‘s composition Threnody To The Victims Of Hiroshima completely changed my life and sent me on a new musical adventure. Some of you may recognize it from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. I can’t think of a better composition to inhabit the world of Kubrick’s hellish masterpiece. The score of the composition is a work of art in itself. This is from Wikipedia: “The piece’s unorthodox, largely symbol-based score sometimes directs the musicians to play at various unspecific points in their range or to concentrate on certain textural effects; they are directed to play on the opposite side of the bridge or to slap the body of the instrument. Penderecki sought to heighten the effects of traditional chromaticism by using “hypertonality”—composing in quarter tones—which sometimes makes dissonance more prominent than it would be in traditional tonality. The piece includes an “invisible canon,” in 36 voices, an overall musical texture that is more important than the individual notes, making it a leading example of sound mass composition. As a whole, Threnody constitutes one of the most extensive elaborations on the tone cluster.” Here’s a link to curious sections of the score (you have to scroll down a little).

Video after the jump.

Continue reading “From The Desk Of Of Montreal: Krzysztof Penderecki”
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VIDEOS

Film At 11: Poly Styrene

The late Poly Styrene may have left this world for the big festival in the sky in April, but there’s one last music video from the former X-Ray Spex frontwoman. “Ghoulish,” from her final solo album, Generation Indigo (Future Noise Music), features a number of Michael Jackson impersonators trying to win the affections of a group of judges. As you’d expect, there’s lots of moonwalking and crotch-grabbing—and a monkey. Jackson was the original inspiration for the song. The single version of “Ghoulish” is out as a digital single that features a remix from Hercules And Love Affair.