Gentle hum of the old machines

Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to a lovely, albeit boring Sunday, here on Looks Like Coffee, Tastes Like Juice. If anybody has been wondering (I'm sure none of you have), with the end of the summer behind us, the schedule, that ever changing, spontaneous, rarely followed schedule that I've made for myself, might actually be followed. That means the following will/might happen; a) a post every Sunday b) a post every Thursday and c) sporadic posts during the week. Hopefully, I can get out of my bad habit and actually start to follow that schedule. Anyways, now that I'm done rambling about my many shortcomings, I might as well get to the actual post. There's quite a bit of news in the music world this week, so be prepared for a long ass post. Enjoy.

Oh No Oh My!

Oh No! Oh My!, the fantastic Austin band, known primarily for their crazy catchy song "Walk In The Park", will be releasing their newest album in October. Yup, THIS October. Although, they ARE giving it away to several hundred fans, based on how many times they've listened to the band's material on Last.FM (Of course, I stopped using mine last week). So, if you're a Last.FM user, and subsequently an Oh No! Oh My! fan, then you might want to get on that.

Anyway, here's two tracks that will be featured on the release, straight from the Daytrotter session they did a while ago.

Be A Star - Oh No! Oh My!

Wham Bam Thank You Spaceman - Oh No! Oh My!

New Mountain Goats EP Featuring Kaki King

Instead of explaining it myself, I'll be just as lazy as Pitchfork, and just copy and paste from John Darnielle's website;

"The new Mountain Goats EP-- the one I mentioned a few weeks back, with the limited gatefold vinyl and the special cover art and the pay-whatcha-like download option (about which we'll tell you more once we sort everything out)-- is called Satanic Messiah. It has four songs on it, one per side at 45 rpm, the way God intended. Two songs are mainly piano and voice; the other two are mainly acoustic guitar and voice. This is the lineup:

A1 Satanic Messiah
A2 Wizard Buys a Hat
B1 Sarcofago Live
B2 Gojam Province 1968

The other news-- at which I hinted on my Flickr, here-- is that Kaki King and I, under a cloak of great secrecy, snuck into Baucom Road studios in western North Carolina last month and recorded the six-song Black Pear Tree EP together with Scott Solter producing. The record is presently at the pressing plant and the idea is to have copies ready on vinyl for tour, with a sleeve designed by Horse & Buggy press, and the first 200 on colored vinyl. People who know how I feel about Kaki's music can imagine what an honor it was for me to get to work with her. Here are the songs we played:

A1 Black Pear Tree
A2 Mosquito Repellent
A3 Bring our Curses Home
A1 Supergenesis
B2 Roger Patterson Van
B3 Thank You Mario but our Princess Is in Another Castle

We are both really excited to share this record with everybody. So excited in fact that here's one of the songs. On this one, I played piano and sang; Kaki played drums and glockenspiel, and also sang harmony. The song is sung from the point of view of Toad. If you know who Toad is, that's all I'll need to tell you. If you don't who Toad is, you better recognize."

There's no way to describe to you, in words at least, how excited I am about this. So, instead of using words, here's a track from the new album.

Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle - The Mountain Goats & Kaki King

Andrew Bird; A Non Animal?

Andrew Bird, the fantastic multi-instrumentalist from Chicago, Illinois, will be releasing his newest album, A Non Animal, sometime in 2009. For those of you who don't know anything about Andrew Bird (SHAME ON YOU!), here's a bit of info, shamelessly borrowed from Wikipedia.

"Andrew Bird (born July 11, 1973) is an American musician, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in Chicago and currently splits his time between Chicago and a farm near the town of Elizabeth in northwest Illinois. His musical proficiency includes competency in the violin, whistling, guitar, mandolin, and glockenspiel. "

Mr.Bird has released 10, 3 of those are live albums, and A Non Animal is scheduled to be his eleventh. Not much is known about this album, expect for the fact that it will have 10 songs, three of which have been played live, and that the release will be followed by an all instrumental album.

New Andrew Bird Songs Via You Ain't No Picasso

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah To Release A New Album, Probably On A Tuesday

Not much is known about the new album that Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are currently recording. With that said, what we do know is that are playing a whole slew of shows on Tuesday, and ONLY Tuesdays. Which leads me to believe that their new album could be released on a Tuesday?

Well, that's all for this week.

Til' Next Week

Who cares? You always end up in the city

Hello everyone, and welcome to another chilly, black Friday night on Looks Like Coffee, Tastes Like Juice. Today, instead of the regular Friday mix of new & old instrumental music, Stuart suggested that I post a couple songs that I will be covering at my very first gig. For those of you (a vast majority) who don't know, I'll be playing my first gig, as mentioned, at Dr.Disc Records on May 31st. The show will be at 3pm, and it's just an in store performance, so if you're in the neighborhood, browse through the records, and watch me play. Ah, how I love shameless self-promotion!

Anyways, here are a couple tracks that I've arranged for solo-acoustic play.

Born In The USA - José González

I'll be doing an acoustic version (a la José González) of this song. The vocals will be quite a bit more relaxed than The Boss', so I figured I'd post the José González version, to give you more of an idea what I'll be playing

Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division

This is a great song that I think I might have already posted before. Another song I'll be covering a la José González (man, I need to stop picking fruit from the José González tree).

In The Lines - Portastatic

I know for a fact that I posted this yesterday, but it IS on my set list, so I figured that I'd ignore my own blatant stupidity and repost. I'll basically be covering this as it is, with a bit of finger picking thrown in for flavor.

Paper Planes - M.I.A

Now, some of you may already know that M.I.A used the music from The Clash's "Straight To Hell", which is a song I already know how to play. So, basically, I'm rapping this catchy-as-hell song as I play The Clash. I couldn't think of a better musical combination myself. Plus, the sweet trill solo at the end just makes it that much better.

Lisa, Make Love! (It's Okay!) - Oh No! Oh My!

I'll be playing this song, without all the bells and whistles (a hideous pun for your pleasure). For the record, I'll be playing it for a very special person who shares a name with the protagonist of the song.

Well, that's all for today.

Til' Tomorrow

Locust tornadoes, crosses, and Nazi halos

Good morning everyone! When I say morning, I don't mean "normal person" morning, I mean 7:48 a.m on a Friday morning which happens to be a PA day for myself. This particular Friday, though, is like no other. This Friday signifies the birth off... well, me. I know it doesn't sound as exciting as the lead-in but, trust me, I am excited behind belief. So, I thought, for my birthday post, instead of trying to appeal to the readers of this blog, which I constantly try to do, I'm going to just appeal to myself. So, enjoy this selfish and self-deprecation-free post, but if you don't, I don't give a shit anyways.

Norman's 14th Birthday Mixtape; Unopened Mail Sits On My Desk, Covering The Coffee Stains & All Things Grotesque

I Might Need You To Kill - The Thermals (Live At Daytrotter)

I posted this because I want to.

Las Cruces Jail - Two Gallants (Minus The Extended Introduction)

I posted this because I want to.

Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL - Sufjan Stevens

I posted this because I want to.

My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes To Bitburg) - The Ramones

I posted this because I want to.

A Wolf At The Door - Radiohead

I posted this because I want to.

Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard - Paul Simon

I posted this because I want to.

I Have No Sister - Oh No! Oh My!

I posted this because I want to.

No Children - The Mountain Goats

I posted this because I want to.

Charles Windsor - The Manic Street Preachers

I posted this because I want to.

Friday Night At The Drive-In Bingo - Jens Lekman

I posted this because I want to.

Well, I hope you (or don't care if you didn't) enjoyed my selfish birthday post. Have a fantastic day!

Enjoy