The Daily Sabbatical
Music, Books, and Assorted Maunderings

Several years ago I was so excited about these guys.  Liela Moss has such a cool, through the cigarette fog voice, and the band seemed to have the Velvet Undergroung drive down pat.  They never really lived up to the potential their first two eps showed, however, and the new(ish) album only disappoints further.  I mean, all the pieces are there, and some of the songs still have the right energy, but most of the time The DS just comes off sounding like a poor man's Metric. Without a doubt these guys sound best when… Read More

I have a lot of admiration for Nick Thorburn, the guy behind Islands, The Unicorns, and several other projects.  He knows how to write a song, has a beautiful voice, and obviously has energy to spare.  Nevertheless, I never really grow attached to his albums.  Moody Motorcycle--a collaborative product of Thorburn and Jim Guthrie under the moniker Human Highway--is no exception.  I fall in love with songs for a moment and then kind of move on.  Nevertheless, I do fall in… Read More

If you have nightmares where you are pursued along the wharf with calliope music fluting your doom in the background, this album probably isn't for you.  If you like the idea of Danny Elfman collaborating with The Clientele, however, listen up.  Misophone is a production of two guys from Bristol who are apparently cranking out songs left and right.  This is supposedly their thirteenth (or fourteenth?) album, though its only the second I find evidence of.  Whatever.  These guys have a flair for the… Read More

Another excellent blog with another excellent tops list.  John over at s1t1 has mp3s up for his top 50 (!) songs and for his top 10 albums.  His taste is generally spot on--he has a penchant for a sort of blues infused pop, but he ranges beyond that.  Just direct songbird to his site and you'll get a kick ass mixtape, learning something in the bargain.  Good stuff.
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Songbird 1.0 has finally been released!  If like me, you've been a follower since the early beta's, you're pretty excited.  If you don't know anything about Songbird yet, you've got something to look forward to.
Songbird is, in essence, a music browser.  Based on the Mozilla framework, Songbird combines a music manager a la Itunes, with a browser that allows you to play music right off webpages, automatically subscribe to mp3 blogs so that music is automatically downloaded to your computer, and much more.  It can… Read More

The new album by the Finnish group Paavoharju is my clear choice for an album to drive snow covered roads to.  Listening to this is like listening to a radio tuned between three stations, where one is playing the most beautiful melodies you have ever heard, another is playing organ music recorded in a gothic cathedral, and yet another is playing nordic-techno.  The music is of a crystal fragility, and it is layered beneath dissonant statics and hisses.  It is also utterly entrancing.  I haven't heard… Read More

I hope there is such a thing as a Marnie Stern wall-poster, and I hope that many of them are hanging on the bedroom doors of rock-aspiring young women everywhere.  This chick is completely kick ass.  Her new album "This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That" is one of the strongest records of the year.  Stern's Deerhoof-ish guitar leads the way in this uncompromising album, but her voice--more rhythm than melody--and the spasmodic drums push this… Read More

I know next to nothing about Yussuf Jerusalem. Their myspace page says they are from Paris, but I'm not sure I believe it. They certainly don't sound like it. They sound a bit like a garage band version of Joy Division, with female vocals thrown in on a track or two. Sound good? I'm excited as hell about them, in any case. You can purchase their wares at Floridas Dying records.  Nine bucks for… Read More

In these early post Obama hours, I feel a need for a little garage-punk, and my morning anthem comes from a young band out of Seattle.  Love Tan has released one seven inch, and the have an LP just out of the box on Kill Shaman.  I loved this song so much that I ordered their new album.  Not much info out there about them, but so far, I'm a fan.  Check out their myspace page.
Brush Your Teeth.mp3
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Fans of Field Music take note: the Brewis brothers are pursuing separate projects that are easily as good as recent FM output.  The Week That Was is lead by Peter Brewis, and it has a sort of 80s epic feel that reminds me at times of Tears for Fears and the early Peter Gabriel/Genesis.  For those who are cringing: stop!  TWTW is no mere repeat and they don't deserve to be simply lumped in with the wave of 80s revivalists. If you don't like the sort of scenic rock driven by keyboards and minor keys, you can probably leave these guys… Read More