Cut The Chord

Happy Birthday to Elliott Smith

2007-08-06T19:53:00.000-07:00

Today, Elliott Smith would have turned 38. Were he still around, he might be readying the follow-up to From a Basement on the Hill. Or perhaps he'd be more focused on running the New Monkey studio, helping out L.A. musicians get their albums recorded in the highest quality while paying next to nothing. He might have married his girlfriend Jennifer Chiba by this time, and maybe they'd feel comfortable enough at this point to really start thinking about a family. Certainly, he'd still be focused on the charitable causes that meant so much to him, such as helping abused children find their voices through art.

Elliott made some great mistakes in his life, but what made up for that was the wellspring of compassion that he showed, to his family and friends, even to complete strangers, and to those who only knew of him from album covers and that voice on the headphones and that tiny guy sitting on a chair up on stage, not always getting every note right, but always getting the sentiment across perfectly.

When it comes down to it, were he still around, it wouldn't matter to some people, even those who love his music most, whether he was still recording new songs. We would just want to know that he's okay, because at this point he deserved it.

We miss you, Elliott. We're always going to miss you, and we still hope you're okay.

Lavender Diamond - Imagine Our Love review

2007-08-02T13:35:00.001-07:00

Lavender Diamond - Imagine Our Love (2007, Matador Records)

Instantly, when I first heard the Lavender Diamond song "You Broke My Heart" I fell in love with it. That song just feels like the swelling of a heart until it bursts. After posting it on several message boards, I found that other people's reactions were either the same, or they vehemently hated it. Several gave stories about how terrible Lavender Diamond was as an opening act, I think for the Decemberists. Who knows which side you might come down on. In fact, I'm not even sure where Boone stands on them yet.

That song is not on this, their first full-length album, but Imagine Our Love does begin with quite a similar heart-thumper of a tune, "Oh No." This music is etheral, gorgeous and entirely heartfelt... and if for some reason or another, that doesn't translate to their live show, then fuck it. Just spin this album again, because it's a thing of beauty.

Handsome Furs - Plague Park review

2007-08-02T11:18:00.000-07:00

Handsome Furs - Plague Park (2007, Sub Pop Records)

With Spencer Krug getting his kicks in with Sunset Rubdown and Swan Lake, the other frontman of Wolf Parade, Dan Boeckner, had some time on his has, and thus we get Handsome Furs, his new project with his fiancée Alexei Perry. The result is nearly as strong as Boeckner's efforts on Wolf Parades Apologies to the Queen Mary. "Handsome Furs Hates This City," for instance, comes across only slightly less catchy than "Same Ghost Every Night." Perhaps there's nothing on par with "Shine a Light" on this record, but it's still worth grabbing if you like the Wolf Parade songs that sound like they were being sung by Beck.

Mixtapes & Cellmates - A Retrospective review

2007-08-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

Mixtapes & Cellmates - A Retrospective (2007, No Method Records)

Boone and I have both had an insatiable love for Sweden's the Radio Dept. for months now, so it's no surprise that I'm instantly head over heels for another Swedish synth-heavy pop band. It's in true spirit of bands like Joy Division that M&C can manage to create songs that are at once so reflectively mournful and dancibly catchy.

Here, their first two EPs have been collected on one album, so now's the perfect time to catch up!

Cut the Chord’s Top Twenty Albums of 2006

2006-12-28T14:54:00.000-08:00

As opposed to previous years where one of us posted a top ten and the other posted ten alternates, we decided to combine forces to create a top twenty list this year based on combining our individual long lists of favorites (which we might post later if you ask real nicely). The resulting list surprised us in a few places, but is a solid list through and through of CDs you need to buy right now.

So let's get to it...

1. The Long Winters – Putting the Days to Bed (Barsuk Records)

John Roderick, interviewed here just recently, has created the Long Winters most masterful album to date, both in terms of its energy and its intimacy. "Ultimatum" is a scorching rock song that blasts off from the very beginning, but is also a tempered complex letter to a girl in which Roderick sings "I hope I can keep seeing you as long as you don't say you're falling in love." Roderick knows how to get across a lot of subtext in a few short lines, such as how he sets the scene in the opening to "Seven" where he sings "your new haircut is so unfamiliar, but they only know you that way" or creates a perfectly calibrated metaphor to describe a failing relationship in "Hindsight" with "I’m bailing water and bailing water because I like the shape of the boat." Sure, the lyrics sound depressing, but Roderick keeps the music upbeat, from the soaring horns on “Teaspoon” to the plucking banjo behind the acoustic “Clouds.” It’s the combination of the catchiest hooks and the nimblest lyrics we’ve heard this year that makes this our top album of 2006.

2. Tap Tap – Lanzafame (Stolen Recordings/Catbird Records)

On the trail of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, British band Tap Tap is primed to be one of the true grassroots break-out bands of the year, given how Catbird Records having quickly sold out of their initial run of US copies of the CD with virtually no paid publicity. Their brand of rock is messy, raucous and wholly addicting, as exemplified by “100,000 Thoughts.” Furthermore, the spinning energy of “On My Way” makes for what by all means should be a radio hit if the word gets around enough. Also of note was the frontman Tommy Sanders’ other band, Pete and the Pirates, who released a comparably excellent EP this year called Wait Stop Begin.

3. Snowden – Anti-Anti (Jade Tree Records)

There were probably few others anticipating the August release as much and for as long as we were here at Cut the Chord, and the pay-off was great. When you hear the title track, you get it right away; the flurry of drums, the intense bass lines, the post-hipster lyricism. Snowden's hybrid of dance rock with shoegazer soundscapes makes them one of the most interesting new bands that you still have the chance to pick up on before your friends start recommending it to you instead. Be sure also to catch their intense live show if they come to your town.

4. The Sleepy Jackson – Personality (One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird) (Astralwerks Records)

Luke Steele, the Brian Wilson-channeling genius behind Australia's the Sleepy Jackson, fulfills the promise of his debut album Lovers with this monumental pop masterpiece. Steele's melodies, brightly colored and soaring to heavenly heights, are unparalled in their inventiveness. Steele places the ups and downs of love in the fairy tale universe of gods, devils, witches and dragons but still manages to come down from the clouds for the gorgeous “Miles Away.” An impressive work of imagination.

5. The Minders – It’s a Bright Guilty World (Future Farmer Records)

Some indie bands just turn out pop rock record after record with catchy melodies, but not many give a sense of history and personality like the Minders do. Here's a husband and wife team struggling to keep recording, setting up their own home studio to keep plugging away, as frontman Martyn Leaper talked about in a recent interview with us, and creating albums that are timeless and ready to be spun over and over, from the rollicking "365" to the terrific solo on "Red Admiral's (Gonna Catch Me)" to the quiet acoustic "Saturday Morning" which captures the spirit of Elliott Smith both in the songwriting and the way it was recorded. Here’s looking forward to future albums.

6. The Radio Dept. – Pet Grief (Labrador Records)

This Swedish dream pop band saw some much-deserved commercial success this year when several of their songs were featured on the soundtrack for Sofia Coppola's film Marie Antoinette. Pet Grief is the follow up to their masterful Lesser Matters and while is the sound is markedly different, synths and drum machines having replaced the fuzzy guitars featured so prominently on Lesser Matters, but the brokenhearted sentiment remains the same.

7. The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers (V2 Records)

Jack White of the White Stripes and CTC favorite Brendan Benson combined forces with two members of the Greenhornes to create a supergroup that brings out the best in all of them. The album's songs feel immediately familiar and reflect some of the best rock of the 70's (especially when Jack White hits Robert Plant's howl dead-on on the Zeppelin-ish title track). White and Benson trade vocals perfectly, never giving the listener a reason to question who is singing what. Even more impressively, their live shows have transformed these razor sharp pop songs into mammoth rock anthems worthy of the Who's Live at Leeds. You can snatch up the official bootlegs of their UK tour at http://www.concertlive.co.uk/Raconteurs/index.html to get the big picture.

8. Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat (Team Love Records)

Jenny Lewis has absorbed the spirit of country mainstays like Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton as she finds her true voice in her debut solo album. The album doesn’t so much contemporize the traditional country sound as it reminds us how contemporary that sound still is. Lewis is at her most fragile and revealing here, especially on a track like “Melt Your Heart.” Anyone who loved “I Never” from Rilo Kiley’s More Adventurous will fall in love with this Mike Mogis/M. Ward-produced album.

9. TV on the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain (Interscope Records)

We’ve been praising TV on the Radio since their first EP and this is just a continuation of their greatness. Despite signing with the major label Interscope, TV on the Radio hasn’t done a thing to water-down what’s the most unique multi-cultural sound on the current rock scene. Only TV on the Radio can create songs both as ethereal and erotic as the opener “I Was a Lover” or mix David Bowie seamlessly into the vocal mix on the track “Province.” This is at once one of the year's most challenging and ultimately satisfying albums.

10. Bound Stems – Appreciation Night (Flameshovel Records)

For fans of the lush layered rock of bands like Broken Social Scene and the Wrens, this is your album of the year. This album combines many of the best elements of the current indie rock scene, from its Decemberists-esqe hyper-literacy to the Stars-like boy-girl trade-offs on songs like “Excellent News, Colonel.” The highlight is “Wake Up, Ma and Pa Are Gone” which builds to one of the most cathartic climaxes we’ve heard lately. Turn it up, shout along.

11. Joseph Arthur – Nuclear Daydream (Lonely Astronaut Records)

After a disappointing follow-up album, Joseph Arthur finally recaptures the haunting beauty of the best moments of 2001's Redemption’s Son on this album. Having gone through a lot in the last few years, from living in New York City when the tower came down to transplanting to New Orleans just to see that town decimated, Arthur knows heartache and his music captures every last bit of that, as he searches for beauty while hanging on the edge of oblivion.

12. The Walkmen – A Hundred Miles Off (Record Collection)

Some have called this record a disappointment, though you can just throw that out the window. Bows + Arrows may contain several of the band’s best songs, but its herky-jerky loud-quiet-loud-quiet dynamic kept it from ever transcending the power of those individual songs. Here we have the Walkmen’s most solid, assured and consistent album to date, from the pulsating energy of tracks like “Lost in Boston” to the woozy delight of “Another One Goes By,” which only pales to us at Cut the Chord slightly because we were already so in love with the original version of the song by Marazin.

13. The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America (Vagrant Records)

Lead singer/songwriter Craig Finn has turned the everyday lives of youngsters and their drug and alcohol-fueled romances into something epic and universal. No band has sounded this good since Springsteen's The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle, which tackled similar themes with the same wide eyed grandeur. The entire essence of this album is captured in the ballad "First Night" when Finn sings achingly about a girl named Holly who was "golden with barlight and beer" and the boys who "spit white noise" when they kiss. Characters bet on horse races to score drug money, have habits that start "recreational" and end "kinda medical," and have "massive nights" at "all ages hardcore matinee shows." Finn's narrative flows together like a Robert Altman film directed by Larry Clarke. It's one hell of an album.

14. The Elected – Sun, Sun, Sun (Sub Pop Records)

Following up 2004's much more experimental Me First, Rilo Kiley's Blake Sennett has gone for a much more traditional Americana sound on this album, so much so that you can almost believe that it was recorded on the old mill pictured on the front cover. Think of it as his I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. The sound here is entirely authentic and somber from start to finish, with Sennett cooing lines of heartbreak like “I didn’t get what I want, so I just took what wanted me” on “Would You Come With Me.”

15. Band of Horses – Everything All the Time (Sub Pop Records)

Sub Pop caught singer/songwriter Ben Bridwell playing some dates with pal Sam Beam, the man behind Iron & Wine, and agreed to put out an album with him. The resulting debut album from Seattle's Band of Horses is both intimate and epic, projecting cinematic stories of mortality and heartbreak into listener's ears. Bridwell and Matt Brooke (formerly of Carissa's Wierd) sound like the Shins injected with a heavy alt-country rock dose of My Morning Jacket. “The Funeral” could very well be this year's indie rock anthem.

16. Beirut – Gulag Orkestar (Ba Da Bing! Records)

Sometimes it's great to have a CD that sounds like nothing else among your shelves and shelves of indie rock, but that you still love. Somehow, a 19 year old kid from Albuquerque created a CD of what sounds like authentic Greek folk gypsy music, but infused it with just enough modern sensibilities to appeal to those of us that still spin Neutral Milk Hotel's two albums to no end. It's safe to say too that "Postcards from Italy" was the song of the year when it came to sending your friend that really great MP3 link you came across on your favorite music blog.

17. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not (Domino Recording Company)

Along with Lily Allen, the Arctic Monkeys received a monumental amount of press before their US debut. When a band manages to live up to the hype the UK press often heaps on new acts prematurely, it’s always a pleasant surprise. Singer/songwriter Alex Turner tells sordid tales of working class kids in London, their fights, nightlife and flings. Turner’s lyrics are sharp and witty (“there’s only new music so that there’s new ringtones”), moving from anger to amusement to sadness in a matter of seconds. Oh, and the band rocks. There’s nothing else to say about them. Buy the album.

18. Film School – Film School (Beggars Banquet Records)

Following up their terrific Alwaysnever EP, Film School continues to create dense soundscapes that will reach every corner of whatever room you play this CD in. Mmm… and that’s all we have to say about this one. We’re a bit puzzled after doing the math that this made it onto our Top 20, but we do like it a lot. We’re just at a loss as to what to say about it.

19. Jude – Redemption (Naïve Records, available on CDbaby.com)

If there's anything I could say negative about Jude's triumphant return with 2004's Sarah, it's that it just wasn't enough at about 30 minutes to sate those of us who were thrilled to see him finally return to the kind music he had been crafting before he got put through the major label grinder. Well thankfully, Jude is back again with an album that stretches to almost an hour, recorded entirely independently with friends. Here he's found his feet, able to record music as commercial as ever but still as honest and penetrating as his early work. You've hardly ever heard a song so intimate and personal as when Jude starts out "End of My Rainbow" singing "I wrote this song to keep from killing myself." Try to find something that starkly honest on any other pop record this catchy.

20. Lilys – Everything Wrong Is Imaginary (Manifesto Records)

The thrilling return of Kurt Heasley's ever-changing Lilys hasn't gotten much notice in the last few years. In fact, when CTC's Patrick C. Taylor attended a Lilys show earlier this year, he found to his dismay that the band nearly outnumbered the audience. Yet, Heasley continues to turn out brilliant records that blend pop, psyche and shoegaze into something that's endlessly listenable. It’s time that you catch up.

Honorable mentions:

There was certainly no shortage of great CDs this year. Ones that didn’t quite make the list include the Decemberists, M. Ward, Loose Fur, Lily Allen, The Changes, Adem, Kelley Stoltz, Yo La Tengo, (The Sounds of) Kaleidoscope, The Dears, Math and Physics Club, Sunset Rubdown and Oxford Collapse.

Also, there were always the great albums released before 2006 but that just finally reached our attention this year like Hotel Lights, B.C. Camplight, P:ano and the Boy Least Likely to.

Catch you in 2007!

Record Store Owners of the World Unite!

2006-12-10T19:10:00.000-08:00

Geoff Cooper owned and operated "db Cooper's Music & Video" for fourteen years (1992-2006). Considered by many to be Burbank's best kept secret, the shop specialized in vinyl records. Born in Los Angeles, Geoff was a founding member of "The Roto Rooter Good Time Christmas Band" and worked as a sound effects engineer for fourteen years at NBC prior to opening the store. He was also the recording engineer and mixer of Tryad's 1971 self-titled psychedelic folk album which now sells for astronomical sums on Ebay. Geoff, now retired, finally has the time to play his sax and listen to his massive record collection.

Geoff is a close friend and my own personal musical guru. He's turned me on to some wonderful artists and albums and I feel it is my duty to impose his impeccable taste and expertise on you, dear reader. I've asked him, as we'll ask other record store owners in the months to come, to talk a little about himself and the albums from his collection that he considers to be "the essentials."

I'll let Geoff take it from here.

I’ve been collecting LPs since the early 1950’s. Between the “Safeway Classics” at $.99 and the then RCA Record Club, by age 12 I had amassed 50 records all enthusiastically played on my “suitcase” record player. My interest in records continues to this day and I now have over 7500 LPs in my collection. My tastes run from Gregorian Chant to Reggaetone and most points in between. Only opera and “contemporary” C&W are not represented in my collection.

My first interests were in big band jazz and general pop. It was the 1950’s and rock was just emerging. Even then, I valued artists like Ray Conniff, the Kingston Trio, Ken Nordine, Percy Faith, Belafonte and Mancini, to name a few, more so than the likes of Elvis and the 1st generation of rock. I did have keen interest in the “novelty” hits of the time – Chipmunks, Nutty Squirrels, and Freberg send-ups. I flipped over “new” and “challenging” music then as I continue to do now.

In high school, my tastes expanded to “mainstream” jazz and I was buying Brubeck, Getz, Miles, Mingus, Monk, Kenton, Jimmy Smith, Cannonball Adderley and Kenny Dorham records. College for me was the mid-1960s and the psychedelic era. The Seeds, the Association, Electric Prunes, Vanilla Fudge, the United States Of America (Joseph Byrd), along with Cyrkle, Simon & Garfunkle, Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the whole British Invasion scene were acquired and revered.

I was pretty broke in the 1970s and purchases were few but “essential.” It wasn’t until the 1980s when I worked at NBC that I had the funds to “go wild” at local record shops. A typical purchase was easily 30-50 LPs at a time, most often selected because of a specific artist or producer or side-man or label or song. I NEVER “auditioned” any LP I’ve ever bought and, luckily, was rarely disappointed.

In 1976 I was introduced to reggae. Pretty much discounted it at the time, but the attraction was to grow as Marley, Tosh, U-Roy, Toots, et al. continued to entice me with their revolutionary sounds. I went to Jamaica for the first time in 1978 and was instantly hooked, although it would be another 4 years before I was to return there. From 1982-1989 I went to the Reggae Sunsplash festival in Montego Bay armed with a high quality cassette deck (Sony TC-D5M) and two shotgun microphones with which I dutifully recorded each four all night performances each year. I was hooked. Reggae continues to be my passion, but I feed my need for diversity with a variety of styles. After a recent trip to Belize I’ve become interested in Reggaetone.

I’ve always programmed mixes of my favorite LP tracks. First on cassette, then reel to reel, and currently on CDs and DVDs. There aren’t many LPs that I play through in their entirety. Many have only 1 or 2 songs that I vibe to.

But which albums are my most essential?

At first it all seemed very obvious. But, being put on the spot to list the albums I could never live without, the process turned out to be quite daunting. I relish diversity and appreciate being teased and challenged by music. Based on a variety of criteria I therefore commit to the following:

Antol Dorati/Minneapolis Symphony Orch. – 1812 Overture (1958, Mercury)

This was the first LP I purchased as an 8th grader in jr. high school. I could not afford the entire $3.98 at the time so I made payments on this for 3 weeks until it was paid off. Not only the quality of the recording and the passion of the performance caught my attention, but the ensuing “documentary” on the recording of the canon and carillon were especially riveting to my young ears. It sounded so REAL! 25 years later, I became a recording engineer in NYC. This LP and others like; Sound In The Round, THE original stereo demonstration LP, complete with ping pong game; Word Jazz, Ken Nordine’s fantastic aural excursions backed by “progressive” jazz; and Zounds What Sounds, Dean Elliot’s technical triumph that blends big band with realistic and wacky sound effects – both funny and awesome. These and many others were fundamental teaching tools that led to my recording career.

Henry Mancini – Mr. Lucky Goes Latin (1961, RCA)

Thanks to the RCA Record Club, I was offered many Mancini titles, most of which I (that is, “Mom”) purchased. Mancini was a major force with such early hits like “The Blues and the Beat,” “Peter Gunn," “Mr. Lucky” and others. Mr. Lucky Goes Latin is my fave. Like all my picks on this list, this record was meant to be listened to from start to finish. Major players such as Shelly Mann, who leads the all-star augmented percussion section, are always present in Mancini recordings. Mancini’s arrangements are oh so very tasty! Authentic Brazilian instruments (timpanola) along with Laurindo Almeida’s brilliant guitar work combine perfectly to insure its position on my list. “The Sound of Silver” and the super-sonic “Speedy Gonzales” especially stand out.

Quincy Jones – Hip Hits (1963, Mercury)

Around the World and Birth of A Band precede this gem. 12 tracks of “soulful jazz hits” featuring Q’s “hip” arrangements and performances by some of the best players of the time makes this a “must." Side men represent a Who’s Who of 1963 jazz: Lalo, Milt Hinton, Ed Shaughnessy Clark Terry, Ernie Royal, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Jimmy Cleveland, Kai Winding, Melba Liston, Julius Watkins, Kenny Burrell, Jim Hall, Jerome Richardson, Seldon Powell, and many others. THIS was my Rosetta Stone identifying some of the finest jazzers ever! Most memorable were the presences of Major Holly (bass) and Roland (later “Rahsaan”) Kirk. Check out “Jive Samba” and “A Taste of Honey”. Better yet, like ALL on my list, play it in its entirety!

Laura Nyro – More Than A New Discovery (1967, Verve/Folkways)

The lead track, “Wedding Bell Blues,” was a minor hit on both San Francisco and Los Angeles radio in the late summer of 1965 and I was drawn into Nyro's complex world and immediately fell in love with her and her approach to the “popular” song genre. The album revealed an artist who spoke directly to me on every level. Her unabashed openness and jazz infused songs have both delighted and haunted me ever since. I was lucky enough to see her on her 1st appearance in L.A. at the TROUBADOUR, 1966(?). Just her, a grand piano, and a red rose in a vase. So powerfully unassuming! Incredibly, Ms. Nyro continued on that high level until her untimely, bravely fought death. Here’s HER version of “Stoney End” along with 11 other compositions. “Lazy Susan” defies description. Haunting, lyrical, intellectual – all when she was only 19! She was a ground breaking, one-of-a-kind, humanistic genius who ruthlessly bared her soul as well as evoking sensations of tenderness and compassion. Throughout Laura’s career I was, and remain, a staunch champion of her. Only she stole my heart and only now am I a virgin, I confess.

Burning Spear – Man In The Hills (1976, Island)

More so than any other reggae artist, Winston Rodney (the “Spear” in question) vibrated immediately with me. “It is good that a man can think for himself …..Exercise the thinking” – these lines literally changed my life. How could such fundamental, humanistic thoughts ever be put to song? Hypnotic rhythms and socially conscious lyrics make this mid-1970’s record an absolute “must”. Jah be praised! Spear did it! And still does! Nuff respect to brother Bob and all the reggae pioneers, but for the God’s honest TRUTH, there is none other than Burning Spear.

Harry Belafonte – Belafonte At Carnegie Hall (1960, RCA)

You only need to have this set to have the ultimate Belafonte collection. Arguably the best “live” recording of all time and, (un)fortunately an album plentiful at virtually every garage sale or in the cheap bins at record shops. No need for any other Belafonte album if you have this. When first released, a local AM station played “Matilda” in its twelve minute entirety one afternoon while my mother and I were driving to the market. We were so stunned by what we heard that we pulled off the road to hear it out. Needless to say, that was my next purchase. Absolute definitive performances of his many, many 1950s hits and a display of his unbelievably electric connection with the audience. Be aware that the vinyl version is the only true complete document of this event. All CD versions have been butchered to one degree or another.

Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention – Freak Out (1966, Verve)

“Are you hung up?” “Who Are The Brain Police?” These were questions to be reckoned with. The shit hit the fan with this one. At the time, the M.O.I. was a voice and a sound that, to my ears, had never been heard before - Irreverent, studied, deceptively intricate, with deeply layered sarcasm, and downright honest concern for what was coming down at the time. Wowie, zowie! You’re probably wondering what the heck is going on here? I did play this for my parents and guess what? Well, at least they heard some of it. My Zappa collection now numbers over 40 LP titles by perhaps the most underrated consummate musician, composer, and contemporary philosopher/observer of the 20th century.

Edgar Varese/Darius Milhaud – Ameriques and L’homme et son desir (1966, Vanguard Everyman Classics)

Difficult to NOT include Mr. Varese after having copped to my addiction to Frank Zappa. Varese’s influence on Zappa is pervasive. Groundbreaking avant garde works by both. My God, the utter exuberance of “Ameriques”, let alone the disconcerting seminal "Organized Sound," a term Varese coined in replacement of "Musique Concrete," which he disapproved of, along with “Poem Electronique” make Varese as exciting today as he was proclaimed at the 1958 Belgium Worlds Fair. Orchestral and concrete styles in Varese’s hands are deftly dealt with by the master. Milhaud, mentor of Dave Brubeck, among others, offers intricately devised soundscapes integrating South American rhythms and 20th century bi-tonalities into subtle and dazzling orchestral gems, unlike any other composer of the time. This LP showcases the talents of these two composers spectacularly! Also included on this album is "Pacific 231" by Honegger, which expresses his (and my) love of locomotives.

Thelonious Monk – Criss Cross (1963, Columbia)

If only for the album cover! And Charlie Rouse (remember, I play sax)! What can I say? You might notice my bent towards the outré, evidenced in my previous picks. Thelonious also challenged me with his outrageous stylizations, especially of old “standards” which, when played by Monk, literally transformed them into something else! “Tea for Two” highlights his insightful interpretation of “standards”, completely dissecting this ditty into a Monk tour-de-force! At first you want to laugh, but ultimately his true genius hits you like a brick. Charlie Rouse’s tenor work is awesome. This LP ranks highly on my list.

Peter Tosh – Equal Rights (1977, Columbia)

Along with the Spear, my soul brother (we were both born the same day, 2 years apart), Peter Tosh, founding member of the Wailers, remains a voice of consciousness to all of humanity. The social and world issues that he so wonderfully crafted into song and verse ring as true today as they did over 20 years ago. The words! The sound! The POWER! With Sly and Robbie backing rhythms AND Bunny Wailer on board, songs like “Equal Rights,” “African,” and the timely “Apartheid” (refer to current “Blood Diamond” flick), this is by far Tosh’s boldest and most scathingly protest album of ANY age.

The Clash – London Calling (1979, Epic)

Ah, the turbulent early 80s! Music was still groping for “the” sound. Mr. Strummer and the boys combined reggae with their own brand of Brixtonian punk, spiced it up with politics and morality, and set the stage for a host of “other” voices to be heard. This double LP set in my mind is an indispensable document of the times, both then and, sadly, now. 18 tracks include vintage cover versions of reggae classics “Revolution Rock” and “Wrong ‘Em Boyo” along with the title track and the anthem "Clampdown” – all make this album quite “essential.”

Yello – You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess (1983, Mercury)

Oh, yeah! THOSE guys! Boris Blank and Dieter Meir, the international gambler and the techno-freak, who combine talents to produce some of the most outlandishly edgy pseudo-Dark-Starish romps that bombards the senses into submission – all done “tongue-in-cheek”. There is mischief in their creations. Dare to take the “Great Mission” down the Amazonas near Manaus, filled with piranhas, and you’ll know what I mean. Production and recording are elegantly textured and dynamically charged with energy and wit that only YELLO can achieve. The “moody” side of Yello’s music evokes the sinister/impish side of these guys. Do not discount the importance of Yello.

The Roto Rooter Good Time Christmas Band – S/T (1974, Vanguard)

Admission. I’m on it and I like it. In 1972-73 there were two L.A. street bands worthy of notice: The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, and the Roto Rooter Good Time Christmas Band. One could see them at the La Brea Tar Pits, the Music Center, the Century City Mall and the occasional supermarket opening. It was an all horn band (plus our “portable” bass drum) consisting of 3 or 4 trombones (depending on the sobriety of the brassmen) and 3 saxophones, myself being the tenor guy. With blessings from Dr. Demento (who wrote the liner notes in exchange for the band recording over a dozen special Demento radio IDs including the Dr. Demento theme to the tune of the all time classic "Pico & Sepulveda"), the band’s avowed purpose was to set music back 1000 years and one way we could was to reduce ANY tune to a 2/4 march. No one was exempt: Beethoven, Shirley Temple, Jimi Hendrix, Star Trek, Lawrence Welk, Richard Wagner, U.S.C., the Wizard of Oz – NOBODY, NOHOW. So, when a man we knew was owed studio time we ended up in a recording studio and came up with this. Who else would have dared to put “The Good Ship Lollipop,” “Hungarian Dance #5,” “The Beer Bottle Polka” and “Purple Haze” together along with 11 others, all performed Roto-style? Peter Schickele featured our “Rite Of Spring” (yep, not even Igor was exempt from "Rooterfication") on his NPR radio show a few years ago. By the way, our name was by committee and a couple of six packs - (we formed during the Christmas season of 1972 playing carols to unsuspecting shoppers at the prestigious Century City shopping mall, and we were an all brass band, and we really enjoyed ourselves – hence the name).

Thanks to Cut the Chord for the opportunity to formulate this difficult list. I kept it to 13 out of self-defense and to be very picky in my choices. I could go on to easily list another 50 titles that I would never part with but I’ve limited it to these absolute necessities.

No, Geoff, Cut the Chord thanks YOU!

EXCLUSIVE! Interview with John Roderick of the Long Winters!

2006-09-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

We here at Cut the Chord have been obsessed with the new Long Winters album Putting the Days to Bed (released by Barsuk Records) for the last couple months now. So, we figured we would get in contact with Roderick so that he could answer a few burning questions that we had about the band and the new album.

CTC: Putting the Days to Bed struck me as a very confessional album. I think the best albums, where the songwriter really connects with the listener, share something in common, and that's a feeling of embarrassment on the part of the listener. Maybe embarrassment isn't the perfect word. Uncomfortable may be a better word to illustrate that feeling you get when you listen to Dylan's Blood on the Tracks, Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Tori Amos's early albums, everything Elliott Smith recorded. Those artists and albums I just mentioned, and I would include Putting the Days to Bed with them even though its more of an up tempo endeavor, are uncomfortable listens. And that's a good thing, not a bad thing. You almost feel while listening that the artist has exposed themselves perhaps more than they intended to and that really creates an intimacy with the listener. Do you ever feel that way about records, and do you feel like your new one fits this description? What albums in your collection give you that uncomfortable-but-great feeling?

JR: That close familiarity is what I want from any art. The first time I saw Francisco Goya's Maja paintings I was embarrassed for myself, at how engrossed I was and how exposed I felt. Likewise the first time I read Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson, or heard Elliot Smith's Either/Or.
I'm flattered that you feel that way about the Long Winters record. It's not something you can aspire to in your own work, you know? You just have to make the records that you're here to make. But it's great to hear people respond to them the same way I respond to the things I love most.

CTC: I'm struck by the vast difference between "Ultimatum" as it was on the EP, its richly layered acoustic approach, and the intense rock version on the album. Did you plan from the beginning to record and release two version? Was the music on the Ultimatum EP recorded at the same time as the album? Was there a different stylistic approach to each?

JR: There was absolutely no plan to make two versions. It was a very whimsical decision to rerecord it. I was playing a rocked up version one day in my basement, just to amuse myself, and thought "why not?" And why not indeed? It's funny how many people take that decision very seriously, some are almost offended while others are thrilled, choosing sides, pitting the one version against the other in a grudge match to the death. Redoing it as a rock song doesn't take anything away from the EP version, it's not a declaration of war against beauty, it's just a little bit of conversation between myself and myself.

CTC: This is your first album without Sean Nelson as a regular keyboardist (although I notice he still sings back-up on some tracks). I suppose he's focusing more on the much-welcomed revival of Harvey Danger. What kind of influence has he had on the band, and did going from a four member band to a three member band change the dynamic?

JR: Well, Sean was never a "regular" keyboardist, to be sure. He always asserted his influence much more in a live setting than on the records. He didn't appear at all on Ultimatum, and was by no means on every track of either of our first two records. None of that is to diminish his contributions, but only to point out that, in recording terms, he's on the new record pretty much the same amount that he's on Pretend to Fall. Sean was and continues to be a huge personal influence on me, and when he was in the touring band he absolutely transformed the experience for all of us, but he's always had tons of irons in the fire and was always careful to budget his time between many many projects. He doesn't tour with us now because of the reformed Harveys, but in most every other respect his involvement is unchanged.

CTC: It seems like the Long Winters are getting more exposure now than ever with this new album. What are your hopes with the success of this album and your long term goals in terms of your music and your career?

JR: I just want to the band's popularity to grow naturally, without any crazy or false surge of notoriety that brings a lot of doofuses into the tent. I'm afraid my "insult-comedy" style of on-stage banter isn't going to play very well to a bunch of soccer hooligans.

Lastly, we asked John to list a couple of favorites...

Albums: ZZ Top's "Eliminator"
Novels: Stendahl's "The Red and the Black"
Films: "Red Dawn"

If you want to download some Long Winters MP3s, you can visit the Long Winters website.

Things You Might Not Know About the New Elliott Smith Leaks

2006-09-19T21:16:00.000-07:00

So, late last week, four more unreleased Elliott Smith songs turned up on the Basement Demos page of www.elliottsmithbsides.com, labeled as so; “True Love,” “From a Poisoned Well,” “Let’s Turn the Record Over” and “Talking to Mary.” It should be noted that when Elliott Smith B-Sides’ site runner received these tracks, they were not labeled and the anonymous leaker did not provide song titles.

Blogs went abuzz straight away, and even Rolling Stone and Pitchfork caught on, but there’s a lot of misinformation floating around. So we’re going to tell you absolutely everything you need to know about these tracks.

First of all, we have discussed the track referred to as “From a Poisoned Well” here before. Elliott performed it live only once as “First Timer” before he updated the lyrics and recorded a more rock-oriented version. It was David McConnell who first mentioned to the unreleased track in an interview with MTV. However, despite the way he referred to it, the title is actually “From a Poison Well,” as it is sung in the song.

“True Love” was the holy grail of unreleased Elliott songs up until this point. I remember being the first person on the Sweetaddy message board to point out its surprising omission when the From a Basement on the Hill tracklist was first announced. As it turns out, those who were working on the release (Rob Schnapf and Joanna Bolme) were not able to find the finished vocal track until just soon after the Basement deadline had passed, and the family has since been unable to convince Interscope to release the song in any form.

Reportedly, this version of “True Love” is the one that Elliott recorded with Jon Brion, and given the rough mix and inconsistent lyrics of the vocal tracks on this recording, this leads us to believe that this is not the final version of “True Love” as it was completed by Rob and Joanna.

(UPDATE: Less than twenty-four hours after this article was posted, the final version of True Love leaked.)

“Let’s Turn the Record Over” had been the subject of much speculation since it was once referenced on Sweetaddy as an original song that was near completion at the time of Elliott’s passing. At the time before this leak, it was the only remaining Elliott Smith composition that fans were aware of but had not heard in any form. After the leak, one person on Sweetaddy revealed that “Let’s Turn the Record Over” has also been referred to as “Bonnie Brae.” It is unclear for now which is the final confirmed title.

Lastly, there is “Talking to Mary” which, despite being included among the Basement Demos, was not recorded during Elliott’s Basement sessions. Live performances of the song date back to 1995 when fans first began recording Elliott's shows. As you can hear on the studio track, once it ends, the first note of “Riot Coming,” also an Elliott rarity from around the era of the self-titled album, begins to play right before the track is cut off. It is possible, though there has never been any evidence or confirmation, that Elliott may have considered using this newly leaked track on From a Basement on the Hill, but it's clear that “Talking to Mary” is one of Elliott’s earliest recorded rarities.

There’s still plenty of Elliott Smith recordings that we have yet to hear, and that we hope to hear in the form of official releases rather than the result of further internet leaks. Kill Rock Stars, who released Elliott's self-titled album as well as Either/Or, is taking the cue by planning a Spring 2007 release of rarities that Elliott recorded in his years with that label. However, the bulk of his material recorded after that time is owned by Interscope, who have yet to publicly announce their intention for any further Elliott Smith releases.

We hope that Interscope will move forward with a release soon, because we are all eager to purchase a release that gathers the completed versions of songs like “True Love,” “Dancing on the Highway,” and “Stickman.” There’s still so many recordings from his last years that we have yet to hear, and we look forward to the opportunity to own them all.

Finally, for all you loyal CTC readers, here's an exclusively edited version of one of the newly leaked tracks...
MP3: Elliott Smith - Let's Turn the Record Over

EXCLUSIVE! Interview with Martyn Leaper of the Minders!

2006-08-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

This summer, the Minders released their first album in three years, It’s a Bright Guilty World (on Future Farmer Records). The band, which essentially revolves around frontman Martyn Leaper and his wife Rebecca Cole, has been recording for ten years now, first associated with the psychedelic-inspired Elephant 6 movement before branching out as they have created some of the best modern pop albums of our generation, from 1998’s Hooray for Tuesday to 2001’s Golden Street.

I had the chance to sit down with Martyn before he and his touring band gave a tremendous performance before the crowd at the Norva (in Norfolk, Virginia) where they opened for Of Montreal. For financial reasons, Rebecca had to opt out of touring this time around, remaining in their hometown of Portland.

Martyn Leaper of the Minders . (Photo by Melissa Parris.)

CTC: So it’s been a few years since you came out with The Future Is Always Perfect [in 2003] and I know that at first the next album was supposed to come out in 2004. What have you been up to in that time?

Martyn: Well, two years ago we did go on a trip, just a very short one. It was like a two week trip and we did like thirteen or fourteen dates, kind of a mini around-the-country kind of thing and we did a tour CD, which is called Stolen Boy. That was our last sort of release before this record, and we did that so that we could generate some extra cash. It didn’t cost that much money to make, and it basically paid for itself and helped us on our tour. I thought it would be kind of an interesting thing to do for our tour and we had some extra material. It was more back to basic like 8-tracking kind of stuff anyway, which our stuff is pretty basic. All of it’s recorded on the analog tape.

CTC: I know you have that set-up in your house [featured on the enhanced CD for 2000’s Down in Fall EP]. Does that allow you a lot more freedom in terms of recording?

Martyn: It does and it doesn’t. I mean, there are a lot of cons to having your own studio, like I don’t have… I have a very good machine, I have 24-track two-inch machine, but my outboard gear is not so great. It’s kinda crappy, so that hinders me in the quality of production. Although the amount of time I get to spend on stuff kind of balances that out. But, it’s a great thing to have. I think in the future [as] we continue to make records, I would probably like to do more demo recordings and then basically take those recordings to a studio and then not necessarily duplicate them but use them as a guide, because I’d really like to speed up the process of how we make records because I found that, like on this record there was actually a few songs we did that we did on the go in another studio and it was great. It went really quickly, everything stayed fresh.

CTC: Was that when you were recording at Jackpot [Studio, run by Larry Crane in Portland]?

Martyn: That was at Jackpot, yeah. I mean, there’s not really another studio that we can afford. That was at Jackpot and what we did is we tracked most of it at our little studio.

CTC: Is it something where you’re working at another job and trying to mix this life in with it? I’m curious where you’re at in terms of whether you hope to do this for life.

Martyn: Well, I’ll do this as long as I can. The problem sorta starts to happen where, like for us, since we’ve been kind of under the radar for… you always hear that, under the radar or subterranean or whatever it is... It really depends on if we can afford to keep doing it. That’s really what I think happens to most bands, or not every band, but like a lot of bands. Yeah, everything from touring, I mean, if we don’t bring in a lot of people, then clubs don’t want to book you. If you don’t sell a lot of records, record labels don’t want to put you out. You know, your booking agent doesn’t want to do anything for you because you’re not making any money for them.

CTC: It certainly seems like after a while, is it a plateau where all your records are going to be at this level?

Martyn: I don’t know. Honestly, yeah, I keep banking on us like being able to get lucky enough to keep putting out records, you know, finding people to do that. I mean, it’s been ten years. It’s very difficult for a band of our size to maintain or garner interest from labels. I mean, the next option is to just to keep doing it but doing it ourselves, you know and that’s how we started. So that seems to make sense, and there’s a handful of people that still listen to our records so it just means that maybe touring could be kind of a problem. Although, oh my god, touring is just, like on this trip… I mean there are people that do it year-round, but then again some people who do it year-round, they’ve got this [referring to the especially plush backstage area of the Norva], whereas doing it in a van, sleeping in a van and getting like two hours of sleep or something like that and then sleeping on someone’s shitty floor, that kind of wears you out after all. You know, eating all the crappy food on the road. There are various levels. I feel like we’re on the same level we have always been on and once in a while we get lucky to get on a tour that’s big enough [that] it sort of cancels all that out, like this has turned into. I mean, the last time we were on this level was with Elliott Smith. We did a tour with him in 2000 and it was a bus tour and that kind of stuff, and that was great.

CTC: It’s interesting how you’ve been mixed in with a lot of Portland people, like I guess you met Elliott through Joanna Bolme [former Minders member, currently a member of Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, who was intimate with Elliott and helped finalize From a Basement on the Hill after his passing].

Martyn: We did, yeah.

CTC: Yeah, and I’ve noticed a lot of people involved in your records. You know, Neil Gust [of Heatmiser and No. 2] played on your last EP. You’ve worked at Jackpot, and that’s nice to see. I saw Hutch Harris has played with you, he’s doing well now.

Martyn: Yeah, he’s doing really well now. He used to play with us. He did one tour with us and that was before the Thermals. But yeah, the scene is very… I mean, not like the scene… the community is very supportive, always has been.

CTC: I noticed on this record you covered one of Louis Schefano’s tracks. I guess you knew him through SpinArt [Records]?

Martyn: Yeah, I knew him through SpinArt. Actually I met him through my friend Robert [Schneider] from the Apples [in Stereo] and Robert, I think he mixed that record, the Regia record [Regia was Schefano’s recording name at the time]. And he went crazy about this record, and when I heard it I went like, “Oh my god, this guy is a great songwriter.” He’s an amazing songwriter.

CTC: I haven’t heard the album yet, but I was listening to that cover. I didn’t even realize it was until when I looked it up, because it does fit really seamlessly into your songwriting. I thought it was a great choice. I like way that Of Montreal has also covered the Shins and Gorky’s [Zygotic Mynci] and I’ve seen a lot of that, like Elliott had a tendency to cover you quite a bit.

Martyn: Yeah, which was very flattering. I couldn’t believe that. I think Louis is an amazing songwriter, I really do. I mean, he’s probably one of my favorite pop song writers. I just I wish… I mean, he’s probably in the same boat. Although we maintain a core, like even if it was just down to Rebecca and I. I mean, we’re married, we make music together. That in itself makes it easier to maintain a name and a band and stuff like that.

CTC: Yeah, that seems like a nice dynamic of you and Rebecca. I guess it’s harder for a lot of bands where if they lose all their band members but one, is it still, you know…

Martyn: Right, well I’ve always got that. I mean, the thing is, she can play bass and keyboard. So really, all you really need is a drummer and a guitar player and you’re set. So that’s almost like having three members in two.

CTC: Yeah. I like the way, especially in this album, how it’s become much more of an intimate band. When you started out, it was very sixties rock and there was sort of a disconnect, but now I think there’s a very sort of a personal feeling to your music.

Martyn: I’m trying… I mean, I shouldn’t say I’m trying but… I do get really self-conscious about it. I mean to be honest, maybe I’m just very old-fashioned in that sense, and I don’t know if that’s maybe a very good thing to say in an interview, but I just remember, you know… and it is getting better. I’ve noticed that alternative stations are now starting to play contemporary pop bands and you sift through a whole bunch of bullshit before you actually hear some really good stuff, but like…

CTC: It’s a lot harder to get, but the internet helps.

Martyn: Internet has helped, but I just miss when radio would play brand new music, brand new pop music. There was just a period there, I remember. Maybe I was just affected by it when I was twelve, when I first became conscious of pop music. It was the heyday of pop. You know, AM radio and all that. It was called medium wave, I think it was medium. What was it in England? It wasn’t FM still yet, or maybe it was but there was only one FM station in England at that time, Radio One. Well, there was Capital Radio. Now there are many different radio stations in England, but I knew when I was a kid I listened to Radio One and every week there was a new hit and it was just excitement. It was like an event. Every Thursday it was “Top of the Pops” and there’d be a new band and it was just like there was a continual buzz, and then it definitely died a death I think in the eighties.

CTC: Yeah, now I hear about all sorts of issues, like you hear about bands who couldn’t get on the radio, like this band the Cloud Room. Every station they could get this one song [“Hey Now Now”] on, it became a huge hit. But they couldn’t get on, you know, any of the Clear Channel stations.

Martyn: Oh, fuck Clear Channel! I mean, that company and other companies, I really feel that they are personally responsible for dumbing down the population. I mean, think about people who listen to the radio, like say like your regular workers, like some construction guys or people working in kitchens or in offices, they hear the same fucking songs every day. The same songs every day! It may be different sort of like… you know, or even some radio stations are so lazy that I’ve noticed that they’ll actually play the songs, the same like line-up of songs, the same résumé, or what do you call it, same mix of songs?

CTC: The same tracklist.

Martyn: Tracklist, every fucking day I would hear, and all mixed up and it’s like, don’t people get tired of that?

CTC: It seems like it’s just bred people to be a “play something I know” sort of culture at this point.

Martyn: Right. It’s disturbing to me. I mean, it all falls in with how we need everything to be as is. Everything needs to be cookie-cutter to the point where, you know, if you’re having anxiety, “Well don’t have anxiety!” you know, “Take a pill and then you don’t have anxiety and then listen to our radio station which plays all your favorite hits around the clock, the same fucking hits every day, day in and day out.” That’s weird, it’s weird. It’s stressful to me. I mean, it freaks me out.

CTC: Yeah, it seems like the internet hopefully is kind of an antidote to that, where you can just put an MP3 out there and get it around.

Martyn: Right. There’s problems with that too, though. More people have become sort of like… There are good things and there are bad things with it. I mean, I miss like, obviously on a smaller level, and there are still people that take the time to go to the record shop and buy the CDs, but you know, it’s getting harder and harder to sell the CD, sell records, because people just want a sample. That whole thing is so very disturbing how, just in the last ten [or] fifteen years, everything has become so dialed in. It didn’t used to be that way anyway. It was so much more spontaneous. You had no control over the chaos or the evolution of music, popular music… and again, there is a world out there that exists that is, you know… I don’t even think about FM radio. I listen to NPR.

CTC: I don’t even have a radio.

Martyn: I mean, I’m as guilty as everybody. I listen to classic rock. Once in a while I’ll dial into like whatever R&B radio or whatever else like that. But, for the most part it’s garbage. You know, I just keep waiting for some collapse of that or, you know, people get so tired of it, that this is happening.

CTC: It’s seems like, with all the lawsuits, the major companies are being mostly affected, but hopefully it does more to help the smaller companies, small labels and the smaller bands, because it seems like half the job is just getting someone to hear a Minders track, just to hear it and catch on.

Martyn: Right. I’ve more or less given up on that. That’s not even… I mean, I just expected that we wouldn’t be heard on the radio. Not to be defeatist, but it doesn’t bother me much anymore. It’d be great. Umm, yeah, the state of that world is, it’s like Brazil. You’ve seen the movie Brazil. Well it’s just like Brazil! You know, like there’s that scene in the movie where they’re all sitting, having dinner or lunch, and the fussy waiter’s coming around with this pre-packaged dinner and they just pick their number of dinner and it comes out. A bomb goes off and they’re completely oblivious to it. It’s become that way in society. It’s no longer… It seems like we are escaping. We’re getting further and further away from real life or something. I don’t really know how to explain it. But that’s definitely part of it.

CTC: Yeah. It’s good to see that you’re still working the music. It seems like this new album is sort of an evolution. I feel a lot of the input of all of your previous records on this one and still new things.

Martyn: Well, thank you. I mean, I try. I just got done with doing my history major. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last three years is going to school, and so has Rebecca and it gave me a lot to think about. I needed to change what I was doing in my life because I started to feel I was just becoming very narrowly focused. Just, you know, do a record and tour or whatever, or obsess about playing in a band and so I took some time off and did something else and it really helped. I think it really helped. It helped with material. It helped with my personal life. I wasn’t just dependent on one thing. When I go home, I’ll be going back to school again, but I’ll be working on… I’m gonna work on a compilation of b-sides and singles that we’ve done since. We had this compilation record Cul de Sacs and Dead Ends, and we did that in 1999. So there’s another, that’d be like Cul de Sacs and Dead Ends: Volume 2 and it’s got as much.

CTC: Oh, that’s cool. That was a great compilation. I imagine there’s a lot you were working on the last few years.

Martyn: It’s very much different because all of those, apart from a few at the very end of the record, they were all seven inches, and each seven inch, there were like I think three songs on each of them, and we deliberately, like when we recorded them, we made them obviously fit like a mini-player, you know, so when you would piece them together, they seemed to click together, which this one won’t be as easy to put together. It’s going to probably take me a while to figure out the sequence. There’s some instrumentals on there. There’s some covers on there. It’s much longer and there’s a lot of different kind of styles on there too. So I’m going to have a bit of a challenge, and plus I’m going to write a new song for it. So the idea is the same as the first one somewhat, I guess. It’s just a way of formatting or at least filing that as a compilation record, “Volume 2.” So that’s what I’ll do at the end of this year and then just start writing some new songs. I have some news songs for a new record probably like in 2008 or something like that.

CTC: I definitely look forward to that.

Martyn: Yeah, I do [too]. I’m hoping I can get it all done in time.

CTC: The thing is, the people who are fans of the Minders love the Minders. There’s only certain bands who really seem to have that connection. Just like with Elliott, there’s something where you feel like you maybe sort of know the person. I think there’s that sort of thing with your music. I guess what I get with you and Rebecca, there's something that I think feels very romantic about the notion of you two recording together.

Martyn: Yeah, it is… well, for lack of better description, it sort of a labor of love. I mean, it does a lot for our relationship. When you live with someone in a relationship and you do something like that, it really sort of bolsters, you know, there’s a major bond, it’s a bonding sort of… Yeah, I enjoy that. It’s really an intimate thing. I’m looking forward to doing that again and I think it makes our marriage special.

Martyn Leaper of the Minders. (Photo by Melissa Parris.)

To hear or read more about the Minders, check out their MySpace page or the artist page at the Future Farmer Records site.

Happy Birthday, Elliott Smith.

2006-08-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

August 6th is Elliott Smith's birthday. So as always, we at Cut the Chord take a moment to reflect on the impact he's had on us, one more personal and visceral than any other musician we have heard. I can remember a time in early 2003 when Boone and I heard rumors about how Elliott, living in Silverlake, wasn't doing well at the time and may have relapsed (which later proved false). Our instinct was to instantly go into protective mode. "Oh my god, we have to go save him!" It was a strange impulse, and Boone and I agreed that there was no other musician that would invoke such a response from us. Why was that?

The thing is, there was something about Elliott's music that crossed over a line to accomplish something that most music doesn't. Elliott had a way of writing music that wasn't just about his own feelings and frustrations. He was much more interested in trying to connect with emotions we all understood than he was in writing his autobiography in verse. He wasn't trying to make us feel for him. He just wanted to let us know that he felt for everyone who's had to go through the same kind of shit he did. That sense of selflessness and heartfelt empathy lives on in the music, and so as always, we are appreciative and glad for the time that he was with us. XO, Elliott.

Here's a few Elliott-related sites to visit...

www.sweetadeline.net
The official Elliott Smith site. News, lyrics, discography, most everything.

www.sweetaddy.com
The ultimate Elliott Smith message board.

www.elliottsmithbsides.com
Download MP3s of Elliott Smith rarities, including Confusion: Live Unreleased Songs, mixed by CTC's own Patrick C. Taylor.

Also...

Download the Elliott Smith Tribute CD for free, also mixed by Patrick.

And please donate to the Elliott Smith Memorial Fund which aids abused children.

What Albums Are Currently Rocking Our World? (Patrick C. Taylor's picks)

2006-07-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Let it be said that "rocking our world" was not my choice of phrase. That said...

The Minders - It's a Bright Guilty World (2006, Future Farmer Recordings)

It seems that nothing is going to stop the Minders. They’ve been around for about ten years now, with the indestructible core of husband and wife Martyn Leaper and Rebecca Cole, though they’ve also seen members of Dressy Bessy, the Thermals, the Jicks and Boycrazy fold in and out of the band. They’ve gone from full-on rock-ditties-of-the-sixties with their early work to a more experimental rock band to, on Bright Guilty World, something more personal and introspective on the current album than we’ve ever seen from the band before. Songs early on Bright Guilty World like “Don’t Stop” and “Accidental Joy” are rock numbers not unlike what we’ve heard on albums like Golden Street, but then the album relaxes into something much more somber than we’ve come to expect from this band.

I'll have more to say about the Minders when I review their August 17th at the NorVa in Norfolk, VA (along with Of Montreal, also a CTC favorite).

MP3: The Minders - Accidental Joy

Snowden - Anti Anti (2006, Jade Tree Records)

With its August 22nd release date looming, prepare for Snowden's first full-length to knock your socks clear across the room. The band's sound has evolved since their earlier work into something that combines the energy of a band like Bloc Party with the influences of bands like My Bloody Valentine. Just listen to the title track and you'll be hooked.

MP3: Snowden - Anti-Anti

Sound Team - Work EP (2005, Big Orange Records)

Pitchfork has gleefully trashed this band lately, proclaiming them to be up there with the Killers as the cheap impostor "hot band" of the summer and tore their full-length in half. But what they failed to mention is the energy and spark of the band's debut EP, which I've been listening to constantly since I picked it up earlier this year. I'll grant that the ensuing full-length was a bit of a letdown, but listen to this EP and you'll hear that Sound Team has crafted a sound that is both genuine and powerful.

Mp3: Sound Team - The Fastest Man Alive

What Albums Are Currently Rocking Our World? (Josh Boone's picks)

2006-07-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

The Sleepy Jackson - Personality (One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird) (2006, Astralwerks Records)

Hands down, one of the best albums of the year. I was a fan of "Lovers," but this blows that out of the water. Should be one of the hottest releases of the summer.

The Long Winters - Putting the Days to Bed (2006, Barsuk Records)

We're big fans of this band here at Cut the Chord. The Ultimatum EP, which came out at the end of last year, whet our appetites for their latest. Another solid album. These guys have never let me down.

Lily Allen - Alright, Still (2006, LilyAllenMusic.com)

She's smoking hot, she has an accent, she writes the catchiest songs I've ever heard, and she makes me laugh. Thus, she's the perfect woman. Everyone's already heard about how she launched her own career with the help of MySpace. Once she's on MTV and every radio station in the country, I'm going to like her less. But until then... She's mine.

View our Last.fm Recently Played lists!

2006-06-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

Josh Boone (Jdamen):

Patrick C. Taylor (TheKeenGuy):

If you didn't know, Last.fm is a great website where, after downloading a plug-in for your media player, you and your friends can view the statistics for what artists and songs you listen to most on your computer, plus you can get recommendation. It's like MySpace for the indie rock lover! So sign up!

The new Boy Omega album is available!

2006-04-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

Boy Omega - The Black Tango (2006, SlightRecord)

Everyone should click there way over to www.parasol.com or www.slightrecord.org and pick up the new Boy Omega album. If you dig Elliott Smith and Bright Eyes, you'll dig this Swedish import. I highly recommend this release and Boy Omega's debut album I Name You Isolation. This is melancholy pop at its finest.

MP3: Boy Omega - If Only
MP3: Boy Omega - Explode

The Secret Society – Sad Boys Dance When No One’s Watching review

2006-03-29T08:37:00.000-08:00

The Secret Society – Sad Boys Dance When No One’s Watching (2006, Aculera)

The Secret Society is one of those singer-songwriters-posing-as-bands monikers, this one belonging to Pepo Márquez. He’s not really fooling anyone though, given that most of the tracks on here are little more than guitar and vocals. But the result is still worthwhile. In fact, his music reminds me quite a bit of Cut the Chord favorites the Bear Quartet, although in a more low-key restrained way, given that there isn’t a full band behind the proceedings.

Michael Edwards – The Family Album review

2006-03-28T10:11:00.000-08:00

Michael Edwards – The Family Album (2006, Pseudobook)

So I’m going through some of the promo CDs we get sent. Sometimes we ask for them, sometimes artists ask if it’s okay for them to send it to us. Given the look of this CD case in my hands, Michael Edwards was probably one of the ones who contacted us. Michael has hand-cut simple computer-printed notes about the album (nothing fancy, black Times New Roman size 12 on white paper) and used scotch tape to apply them to the simple plastic slimline jewel-case in which the Memorex CD-R is contained, handwritten (by the Edwards himself, no doubt) name of artist and title upon it.

As is evident, Michael is obviously not working with much of a budget. In his hand-applied note, he states “I recorded [the album] myself using Logic Pro 7 on my Apple Powermac. I hope you enjoy it!” Michael has all the charm of a kid on a suburban street corner selling lemonade for five cents the five written the wrong way on the rumpled cardboard sign.

Of course, when it comes to promo CDs like these, I pop it in with all the anticipation of a judge on American Idol waiting to see what kind of voice comes out of the next desperate contestant in some nightmare wardrobe. I usually know almost instantly if I’m not going to like the music at all. But The Family Album started off pleasantly with the opening notes “The Family Lullaby.”

Next comes the voice. With many indie singer-songwriters out there, their playing is impeccable, but the moment they start singing you think “ahh, that’s why I’ve never heard of this guy.” It’s unfortunate that for some musicians, no matter how practiced they are, their voice just isn’t going to ever convey the feeling that they want it to. With Edwards, I found the first few lines a little shaky, and then he settled in with a voice that was at the very least passable. It doesn’t have the emotional intensity or nuance that would make him an indie breakout, but it will do.

It didn’t surprise me in the least that on Edwards’ MySpace page, the first artist he lists as a favorite is Sufjan Stevens. The influence is evident right down to Edwards’ ever-frequent use of the banjo. Edwards has made an album that certainly can’t live up to any of Stevens’ work, but it shows surprising sophistication given the scrapped-together presentation that arrived in my mailbox. I suggest you give him a listen.

2006-03-11T17:59:00.000-08:00

Kelley Stoltz – Below the Branches (2006, Sub Pop Records)

Instead of having his own face grace the front or back cover of the CD case for Below the Branches, Kelley Stoltz lets the real star of this album have the honors. Hence we get his piano and keyboard, present from the very start of the album, with the stomp-along pleasure “Wave Goodbye,” to the very end.

It must be said that Stoltz is not the most unique of the big pool of singer-songwriters flooding the market lately. He’s not shy to incorporate familiar Beatles and Beach Boys melodies, and he channels more recent artists at times like on “Little Lords,” which could easily fit on any Devendra Banhart album. No insult there, though. Even on a Banhart album, it would have been a stand-out track.

The thing that makes Stoltz’s music work is a genuine sense of charm, especially on the mix tape-friendly “Ever Thought of Coming Back” where, with a sonic wink and a smile, he encourages Jesus to make an early return. Then there's the frequent and refreshing dips into psychedelica that we don't get enough from when it comes to the other solo artists out there.

So what do you say, isn’t it time you become a fan of Kelley Stoltz’s piano?

MP3: Kelley Stoltz - The Sun Comes Through

Jude - Gay Cowboy MP3!

2006-03-03T19:28:00.000-08:00

I first heard Jude perform this song back in about early 2000, and Boone and I heard him perform it again at Largo in 2002. We've been waiting ever since to hear a studio version, and here it is, just in time as Brokeback Mountain looks to be the likely pick for Best Picture at the Oscars this weekend...

MP3: Jude - Gay Cowboy

Come on, catch the fever!

Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett Make Beautiful Music... Apart

2006-02-03T18:22:00.000-08:00

The Elected - Sun, Sun, Sun (Sub Pop)

Jenny Lewis With The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat (Team Love)

I'm not a Rilo Kiley fan. Not gonna pretend to be either. Together, Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett annoy me. The quality of their music is wildly inconsistent and, let's face it, a little too precious for its own good. But split these former lovebirds up and listen in awe as they bloom into brilliant singer-songwriters with distinct personalities.

I'm a huge fan of Sennett's side project, the Elected. Me First, their debut album, made my top ten list last year. I've listened to it many times since its release and haven't tired of it. If I had to make a list of my favorite songs, "Greetings in Braille" would be on there somewhere. Me First is a nighttime album. Mike Mogis and Jimmy Tamborello added just the right flourishes to Sennett's songs to make them the perfect soundtrack to a sleepless night.

With Sun, Sun, Sun, the Elected have now made an album that I can listen to during the day. It's a more polished affair, drawing its inspiration from classic rock albums of the '70s. Sennett is still singing about longing and heartache, but he's doing it while basking in the California sunshine. It calls to mind both Jackson Browne and the Eagles if they joined forces with Elliott Smith. This is a solid piece of work. Addictive and highly recommended.

Although Jenny Lewis isn't absent from Sun, Sun, Sun (she shares songwriting credit with Sennett on two cuts and lends backing vocals on the gorgeous "It Was Love"), Sennett is nowhere to be found on Lewis's solo debut Rabbit Fur Coat.

My favorite film of all time is Five Easy Pieces, in which Jack Nicholson plays a piano prodigy slumming it as a redneck oil rig worker. The soundtrack, which I found on LP recently in a local record shop, features a number of songs by Tammy Wynette. Rabbit Fur Coat reminds me a lot of that film and those Wynette songs. A photo inside the booklet could have been a still from the film. Jenny, shoeless, strolls down an aisle in a grocery store carrying a gallon of milk. She's wearing a waitress uniform.

I had no idea what to expect when I first popped it in. Based on my Rilo Kiley feelings, expectations weren't high. But by the end of the day, I'd listened to the album four times and gone on line and ordered a 180 gram vinyl copy from Team Love. It's the kind of album that you just know is going to sound even better spinning on a turntable.

I already mentioned Tammy Wynette, so it should be clear that this is a country album. Throw Hank Williams and Dolly Parton into the mix and you'll have a pretty good idea of what this sounds like. Mike Mogis produced the bulk of the tracks, giving the album a warm and spacious feel. M. Ward, who I'm a fan of, produced some of the more sparse tracks. The Kentucky bred Watson twins are a big presence here, backing Lewis up on nearly every song.

A lot has already been written about the cover of the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care," which includes Miss Lewis, Connor Oberst, Ben Gibbard, and M. Ward sitting in for George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty. Like the original supergroup, this is a gimmick. But it's a gimmick that works. It's the one song on the album that diverges from the intensely personal songs Jenny is singing, but it has a lot of charm and its fun. And you know what? At the point in the album that it arrives, immediately following the haunting title track, Jenny has earned the company.

Rabbit Fur Coat is the first great album of 2006. Listening to Rilo Kiley, I never had any idea who Jenny Lewis was. Now I do. Pleased to meet you.

Albums You Should Buy in 2006

2006-01-19T10:45:00.000-08:00

So, are you excited for a new year of great music? My appetite has already been whet by a few recent and forthcoming releases that I need to pick up...

Bearsuit - Team Ping Pong (Fantastic Plastic Records)

Bearsuit's first full-length release, Cat Spectacular, was a great accomplishment. But what you might not know is that it was in fact their second full-length album. Their first, In Charge of Meats, was never released because the label went belly-up shortly after the album was recorded. It took years of wrestling, but now Bearsuit finally has the opportunity to release much of that music as Team Ping Pong, including some of their very catchiest songs like "Hey Charlie Hey Chuck" and "Stop What You're Doing What You're Doing Is Wrong."

Film School - Film School (Beggars Banquet)

If you have the four-song EP Alwaysnever, then you know exactly why I'm looking forward to this release so much. If you don't, well here's "Activated" to get you started! Film School's music is lush and as cinematic as the name implies. Also of note, one of the band members has an excellent solo album as well, n.Lannon's Chemical Friends.

Lilys - Everything Wrong Is Imaginary (Manifesto Records)

The wait between 1999's Kinks-y The 3-Way and 2003's eclectic Precollection was a difficult one for me to endure, but this time I had at least a somewhat shorter waiting period as the new album is set for release in February. I have full confidence in Kurt Heasley's ability to churn out the catchiest of indie psyche-pop, so I'm sure it'll be worth the wait once again.

The Twin Atlas - Sun Township (Tappersize Records, available at www.thetwinatlas.com)

Okay, it came out in October of 2005... but if I haven't picked up their record yet, you probably haven't either. This is the Twin Altas's fifth full-length album since 2000, along with two rarities collections. Their prolific nature is impressive, especially considering the reliability and profiency of the tunes they crack out each time. If you haven't picked up on them yet, get cracking in 2006!

Albums You Can Swear By

2006-01-16T01:44:00.000-08:00

Boone picks his favorite albums from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s. He hopes to write about each album in depth sometime before he bites the dust.

60s

The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds (Capitol, 1966)
The Beatles: Abbey Road (Capitol, 1969)
The Beatles: The Beatles AKA The White Album (Capitol, 1968)
The Byrds: Mr. Tambourine Man (Columbia, 1965)
John Coltrane: A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1964)
Miles Davis: In A Silent Way (Columbia, 1969)
Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia, 1965)
Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde (Columbia, 1966)
The Doors: The Doors (Elektra, 1967)
Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland (MCA, 1968)
Love: Forever Changes (Elektra, 1967)
Lee Morgan: Search for the New Land (Blue Note, 1964)
The Mamas and the Papas: If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (Dunhill, 1966)
The Mothers of Invention: We're Only in It for the Money (Rykodisc, 1968)
The Rolling Stones: Beggar's Banquet (ABCKO, 1968)
Van Morrison: Astral Weeks (Warner Bros., 1968)
The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground & Nico (Verve, 1967)
The Zombies: Odessey and Oracle (Date, 1968)

70s

David Bowie: The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (RCA, 1972)
David Bowie: Low (Virgin, 1977)
Jackson Browne: Jackson Browne (Asylum, 1972)
The Clash: London Calling (CBS, 1979)
Elvis Costello: My Aim Is True (Columbia, 1977)
Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970)
Nick Drake: Pink Moon (Island, 1972)
Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks (Columbia, 1975)
Serge Gainsbourg: Historie de Melody Nelson (Philips, 1971)
Gang of Four: Entertainment! (Warner Brothers, 1979)
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (Qwest, 1979)
Led Zeppelin: IV (Atlantic, 1971)
Joni Mitchell: Blue (Reprise, 1971)
Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon (Capitol, 1973)
Pink Floyd: The Wall (Columbia, 1979)
The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers (Virgin, 1971)
The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street (Rolling Stones, 1972)
Bruce Springsteen: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (Columbia, 1973)
T.Rex: Electric Warrior (Reprise, 1971)
T.Rex: The Slider (EMI, 1972)
Television: Marquee Moon (Elektra, 1977)
The Who: Who's Next (Decca, 1971)
Neil Young: On the Beach (Warner Brothers, 1974)

80s

Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique (Capitol, 1989)
Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Get Happy!! (1980, Columbia)
Brian Eno & David Byrne: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (Sire, 1981)
Guns N' Roses: Appetite for Destruction (Geffen, 1987)
Hüsker Dü: Zen Arcade (SST, 1984)
Joy Division: Closer (Qwest, 1980)
Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime (SST, 1984)
Pixies: Doolittle (4AD/Elektra, 1989)
The Police: Synchronicity (A&M, 1983)
R.E.M.: Murmur (IRS, 1983)
The Smiths: Hatful of Hollow (Sire, 1984)
The Smiths: The Queen is Dead (Sire, 1986)
Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation (DGC, 1988)
Bruce Springsteen: Born in the U.S.A. (Columbia, 1984)
U2: The Joshua Tree (Island, 1987)
Violent Femmes (Rough Trade, 1983)
Tom Waits: Rain Dogs (Island, 1985)
The Vapors: New Clear Days (Captain Mod, 1980)
XTC: Skylarking (Geffen, 1986)

90s

Air: Moon Safari (Astralwerks, 1998)
Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes (Atlantic, 1992)
Tori Amos: Under the Pink (Atlantic, 1994)
Tori Amos: Boys for Pele (Atlantic, 1996)
Belle & Sebastian: If You're Feeling Sinister (The Enclave, 1996)
Jeff Buckley: Grace (Columbia, 1994)
Built To Spill: Keep It Like a Secret (Warner Bros., 1999)
Counting Crows: August and Everything After (Geffen, 1993)
Motorpsycho: Timothy's Monster (Bird Cage, 1996)
Modest Mouse: The Lonesome Crowded West (Up, 1997)
Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (Merge, 1998)
Nine Inch Nails: The Downward Spiral (Nothing/Interscope, 1994)
Nirvana: Nevermind (DGC, 1991)
Nirvana: In Utero (DGC, 1993)
Outkast: Aquemini (LaFace, 1998)
Pavement: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (Matador, 1994)
Radiohead: OK Computer (Capitol, 1997)
Radiohead: The Bends (Capitol, 1995)
R.E.M.: Automatic for the People (Warner Bros., 1992)
Sigur Rós: Ágætis Byrjun (Bad Taste, 1999)
The Smashing Pumpkins: Siamese Dream (Virgin, 1993)
The Smashing Pumpkins: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (Virgin, 1995)
Elliott Smith: Elliott Smith (Kill Rock Stars, 1995)
Elliott Smith: Either/Or (Kill Rock Stars, 1997)
Elliott Smith: XO (Dreamworks, 1998)
Sublime: Sublime (MCA, 1996)
U2: Achtung Baby (Island, 1991)
The Verve: Urban Hymns (Virgin, 1997)
Weezer: Weezer (DGC, 1994)
Wilco: Summerteeth (Reprise, 1999)

00s

Ryan Adams: Heartbreaker (Bloodshot, 2000)
Ryan Adams: Cold Roses (Lost Highway, 2005)
Animal Collective: Sung Tongs (Fat Cat, 2004)
The Arcade Fire: Funeral (Merge, 2004)
Badly Drawn Boy: The Hour of Bewilderbeast (Twisted Nerve/XL Recordings, 2000)
Devendra Banhart: Cripple Crow (XL, 2005)
Bright Eyes: Lifted... (Saddle Creek, 2002)
Bright Eyes: I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (Saddle Creek, 2005)
Broken Social Scene: You Forgot It In People (Paper Bag,2002)
Broken Social Scene: Broken Social Scene (Arts & Crafts, 2005)
The Clientele: Suburban Light (Merge, 2000)
The Comas: Conductor (Yep Roc, 2004)
Death Cab For Cutie: Forbidden Love EP (Barsuk, 2000)
Death Cab For Cutie: The Photo Album (Barsuk, 2001)
The Decemberists: Castaways & Cutouts (Kill Rock Stars, 2003)
The Elected: Me First (Sub Pop, 2004)
Interpol: Turn on the Bright Lights (Matador, 2001)
Iron & Wine: The Creek Drank the Cradle (Sub Pop, 2002)
Matthew Jay: Draw (Capitol, 2001)
Modest Mouse: The Moon & Antarctica (Epic, 2000)
Moonbabies: The Orange Billboard (A Hidden Agenda Record, 2004)
Radiohead: Kid A (Capitol, 2000)
Bill Ricchini: Ordinary Time (Megaforce, 2002)
The Shins: Oh, Inverted World (Sub Pop, 2001)
Sodastream: Looks Like a Russian (Tugboat, 2000)
Sufjan Stevens: Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty, 2005)
The Strokes: Is This It? (RCA, 2001)
Sun Kil Moon: Ghosts of the Great Highway (JetSet, 2003)
Kanye West: The College Dropout (Roc-A-Fella, 2004)
The White Stripes: White Blood Cells (Sympathy for the Record Industry, 2001)
Wolf Parade: Apologies to the Queen Mary (Sub Pop, 2005)
The Wrens: The Meadowlands (Absolutely Kosher, 2003)

Cut the Chord's Top 20 CDs of 2005!

2006-01-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

As always, Boone and Patrick switch off who gets to do the Top 10 CDs of the year and the other does the 10 alternates. This year, it's Boone's turn for the top ten. So without further ado...

BOONE'S TOP 10 CDs of 2005

1. Ryan Adams – Cold Roses (Lost Highway Records)

I've already written enough about this album. My first review was about the same length as In Cold Blood. With that said, I'm going to try and keep this short. Cold Roses is fucking brilliant and if you don't agree with me I'll kill you.

2. Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene (Arts & Crafts)

Broken Social Scene crystallize their sound, push the envelope, and throw in a free EP of goodies that puts most band's actual albums to shame. This is even better than the critically acclaimed You Forgot It In People. How can you not worship at the altar of an album whose closing ten minute epic, "It's All Gonna Break," begins with the line "when I was a kid you fucked me in the ass" and still manages to work in something as beautiful as "the sound of your heart is a god I can trust."

3. Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary (Sub Pop Records)

Are Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug indie's answer to Lennon and McCartney? This powerful debut album alternates between each of the duo's tunes, creating a cohesive whole without sacrificing the individuality of the two songwriters. There's no filler here, just one memorable song after another. Did I mention that they're even better live?

4. Bright Eyes – I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (Saddle Creek Records)

When I heard this for the first time last January, I was fairly certain it would be at my number one spot come year's end. But shit happens, right? Still, this is a wonderful piece of work. Oberst's writing grows by leaps and bounds with each release. "Land Locked Blues," originally titled "One Foot in Front of the Other" when I first heard it, is as impressive as some of Dylan's work. The companion album, Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, though not as tightly focused is worth owning as well.

5. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty Records)

The Superman controversy made headlines. Copies with the Man of Steel on the cover were selling on Ebay for a hundred bucks a pop the day it was released. The second in Sufjan's insane 50 states plan. This big, sprawling, American masterpiece is his finest effort to date.

6. Devendra Banhart – Cripple Crow (XL Recordings)

As ambitious as Sufjan's Illinois, Banhart's 22 track epic about innocence, community, and peace is one of the year's most satisfying listens. As the Sgt. Pepper-inspired cover indicates, Banhart has left his bedroom, opening his arms to an impressive backing band and variety of musical styles without compromising the singular vision he achieved on Rejoicing in the Hands. A monumental work.

7. Bill Ricchini – Tonight I Burn Brightly (Transdreamer Records)

If you haven't heard of Bill Ricchini I feel deep pity for you. Ordinary Time is one of my favorite albums of all time. If you like the Beatles, Elliott Smith, Big Star, etc, you'll love Bill's work. Tonight I Burn Brightly is his sophomore album and if songs like "Eugene Hill" and "Close the Door" don't touch your heart then you simply don't have one.

8. The Spinto Band – Nice and Nicely Done (Bar/None Records)

A perfect pop album. Nice and Nicely Done is endlessly addictive. With a little radio play "Oh Mandy" could be the biggest hit of the year. Untouched by hipster bullshit, the Spinto Band have made a heartfelt album that, in a perfect world, would be listened to by every teen across the country. Geek rock hasn't been this good since Weezer released their first album.

9. Tiger Lou – The Loyal (V2 Music)

Stockholm's Rasmus Kellerman, who blew my mind with his Trouble & Desire EP and debut album Is My Head Still On, returns with the dark concept album The Loyal. In the album's press release, Rasmus reveals an interesting tidbit about the album's recording: "All the vocals consists of two takes, one in the left speaker and one in the right, a method that was brought to my attention by the late Elliott Smith. It creates a very eerie and panoramic feeling that works really well with the songs and theme of the album." This is definitely one of the year's most atmospheric albums. A wonderful achievement.

10. Rogue Wave – Descended Like Vultures (Sub Pop Records)

Although less intimate than their first album, Descended Like Vultures proves that Rogue Wave is an indie rock band to be reckoned with. They're louder, the hooks are bigger, and the studio sheen is at the same level as the last two Death Cab albums. This is great stuff. I'm sure you'll be hearing it on an upcoming episode of The O.C. Damn that show.

Also... Kanye West's Late Registration, Sun Kil Moon's haunting Modest Mouse covers album Tiny Cities, Animal Collective's Feels, Spoon's Gimme Fiction, Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine, The Constantines' Tournament of Hearts, Death Cab For Cutie's Plans, The Long Winters' Ultimatum EP and M. Ward's Transistor Radio.

PATRICK'S TOP 10 CDs of 2005

1. Mazarin – We’re Already There (I & Ear Records)

Mazarin’s first album since 2001, and it’s their most solid album yet. Frontman Quentin Stoltzfus combines pop melodies with shoegazer sensibilities for a dense trippy delight. If I can travel from Virginia to Brooklyn just to see them play five songs in a coffee bar, then the least you can do is give them a listen.

2. The Kingsbury Manx – The Fast Rise and Fall of the South (Yep Roc Records)

North Carolina’s Kingsbury Manx have been releasing solid albums for years and where have you been? Have you been listening to Cut the Chord when they keep telling you to buy them? No! So get the fuck out there and get started with this one!

3. The Clientele – Strange Geometry (Merge Records)

The members of the Clientele may not have been alive in the ‘60s, but they never seem to have left it. From the first moments of “Since K Got Over Me” you get transported into a time when “pop music” wasn’t a shameful thing at all.

4. The Joggers – With a Cape and a Cane (Startime International Records)

I think I read a review of this CD which mentioned “counter-clockwise beats” and I thought, oh man, that nailed it. The Joggers add an element of the bizarre that keeps their music addictively off-kilter in a way I haven’t heard since the Dismemberment Plan.

5. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (self-released, available at Insound.com)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are having a ball performing a sort of Playschool version of Talking Heads songs. Their self-released record has been a huge success for them and will hopefully inspire other bands to break away from the corporate stranglehold on the music industry.

6. The Decemberists – Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars)

It might not have the stand-out tracks of the first two albums, but Picaresque is the most solid track-for-track album yet for this, the most literate band in indie rock.

7. Ghosty – Grow Up Or Sleep In (Future Farmer Recordings)

Ghosty has been around for six years, but this is their first full-length album, and it packs a wallop. This is the kind of mature textured rock that blows people away when you slip one of the songs onto their mix CDs. Here, try using “Big Surrender.”

8. Luke Temple – Hold a Match for a Gasoline World (Mill Pond Records)

After the very first listen, I found myself still humming Luke Temple’s music and wanted to give it a second listen as soon as possible. Think of a combination of Sufjan Stevens’ whimsicalness and Sondre Lerche’s charm.

9. Levy – Rotten Love (One Little Indian Records)

Boone loves this album too. Lush and sincere … think of something in between Coldplay and the Strokes, but more fun than either of those bands have been lately. In a perfect world, “In the Woods” would be the radio hit of the year, with all the girls singing along to “don’t tell me that you love if you don’t know why!”

10. Cass McCombs – PREfection (Monitor Records)

If Badly Drawn Boy had listened to the Smiths a whole lot more, he would have turned out more like Cass McCombs, and as a result, I would still be listening to Badly Drawn Boy. This is a great piece of reverb-laden pop beauty.

Also… Antony and the Johnsons' I Am a Bird Now, Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm, Pernice Brothers’ Discover a Lovelier You, self-titled albums by both Headphones and The Cloud Room, Andrew Bird’s The Mysterious Production of Eggs, Metropolitan's The Lines They Get Broken and the two EPs by Math and Physics Club.

Stream Forthcoming Ryan Adams Album Here!

2005-12-06T22:15:00.000-08:00

Ryan Adams will release his third album of 2005 on December 20th. It's called 29 and you can preview the entire album here...

http://scenestars.net/29/stream29.html

Another EXCLUSIVE Elliott Smith MP3!

2005-12-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

Recently, word came from both the unreliable David McConnell (who worked with Elliott Smith during Elliott's most chaotic period while recording of From a Basement on the Hill) and then from the much more reliable Fritz Michaud (who was working with Elliott later on when Elliott was sober and focusing on the completion the album) that before his death, Elliott Smith had finished recording a song titled "From a Poisoned Well." An interesting title, considering the long-standing speculation that Quasi's song "The Poisoned Well" was about Elliott, as Elliott's friend and collaborator Sam Coomes sang on the song "I'm not trying to document my suicide/You won't live long/But you may write the perfect song/Please excuse those who choose to not play along."

Around the same time as this revelation about "From a Poisoned Well," Neil (who runs Elliott Smith live music resource www.SomeSongs.net) posted an MP3 of a song that Elliott performed live in 1997 called "First Timer." This is a song that had never turned up before, either as a studio recording or as part of any regularly circulated bootleg performance.

After a little behind-the-scenes investigation, our own Patrick C. Taylor made the discovery that "First Timer" is actually a very early version of "From a Poisoned Well" with lyrics that were later reworked. Charlie Ramirez (who runs the official Elliott Smith site www.sweetadeline.net) has since confirmed this.

For anyone curious, we have a treat for you. We have an EXCLUSIVE mix of Elliott's live performance of "First Timer" from 1997. The sound has been adjusted in an attempt to improve the quality from the version that SomeSong.net's Neil was so courteous to share with us. Special thanks to him!

Elliott Smith - First Timer (live)
(right-click and hit "Save Target As...")

You Can't Take It With You or God's Plans For Your Record Collection

2005-12-05T01:17:00.000-08:00

I'm a sucker for lists. Anytime I'm at a newsstand and some music magazine has the words "THE 100 GREATEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME" splashed across the cover, I pony up for it. If everyone in the world took the time to write down what their favorite albums were and why each one meant so much to them, I'd take the time to read it. Because let's face it, music is the glue that holds people together. The world would be a steaming pile of shit without it.

What makes music so fascinating is how subjective it is. I'm in Los Angeles as I write this and I know for a fact that somewhere in this city there's some dude sitting on his couch right now listening to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and it's his favorite fucking album in the world. He swears by this album. He cries during "Landslide." Now I may think this dude is a complete musical jackass but it doesn't change the fact that Rumours has had an impact on his life. That same dude would probably read my list and come to the conclusion that I'm a musical jackass. Subjectivity. Every human being sees the world in a slightly different way. It's what makes us unique.

But there's one thing that spits in the face of musical preference, skin color, sexual orientation, social status, how much money is in your bank account, and what your favorite movie is.

We're all going to die. Every single person on this planet is going to end up six feet under or resting on the mantle of their kid's fireplaces in a fancy urn.

Okay, no new information there. But I do have some new information on the subject of death that might interest you.

Throughout history, mankind has occasionally received divine knowledge. This is how the Bible, the Qu ran, the Satanic Bible, Dianetics, and Anne Heche's memoir Call Me Crazy all came to be written.

And although I'm just a lowly music nut, God has seen fit to give me a little peek behind the curtain of the universe. He also, in His divine wisdom, felt that Cut The Chord, read by nearly three people a week, was the best soundboard to get this message to mankind.

So here it is, constant reader...

Drum roll, please.

When you die, God allows you to bring ten albums to heaven with you. That's it. And for those of you balking at only getting ten, you should consider yourselves lucky because folks who go to Hell are given a copy of Rumours right at the gate and are forced to listen to it on a loop for all eternity. So for all of you who killed a man in Reno just to watch him die, you and Stevie Nicks will have a lovely future together.

Being the questioning kind of guy that I am, always in need of answers and such, I actually did query God as to why he would allow us to bring only ten albums through those Pearly Gates of His. His reply, and I'm paraphrasing here, is that it forces one to decide which albums are truly important to them.

God also had a few simple guidelines He asked me to relay. These guidelines lead me to believe that God sometimes gets His geek on.

1) No Greatest Hits collections or box sets. Albums only.

2) Only one album per artist.

NOTE: I'm sorry, Patrick. You may not put all six Elliott Smith albums on your list. You'll have to choose like Sophie and leave the other five here on Earth.

With this divine knowledge handed to me on a silver platter, I decided it was my duty to sit down and ask myself a very tough question. If I was going to die right now, which ten albums would I take with me to the afterlife? And perhaps even more importantly, why these particular ten?

The albums you fall in love with are the ones that come into your life at exactly the right time. They seek you out. There’s a synchronicity to it.

I spent many hours pacing, smoking, and pulling my hair out as I got my afterlife in order. I challenge all three of our readers to do the same. You can post your lists in our COMMENTS section at the end of this piece. Please remember, just a list of album titles is boring. Here at CUT THE CHORD, we'd like to know WHY these particular albums hold a place in your heart big enough to fill eternity.

And please, dear reader...

Choose wisely.

'Nuff said.

JOSH'S TEN ALBUMS FOR THE AFTERLIFE

NOTE: No ranking. These are simply alphabetized.

Ryan Adams - Cold Roses (2005, Lost Highway)

"When you moved
They cut down the maple tree
I carved your name into..."

I’m a sucker for double albums. While I admire the tight rock masterpieces delivered in roughly thirty minutes by bands like the Strokes and Hot Hot Heat, there’s something equally exciting about the prospect of exploring an album that wasn’t satisfied with its station in life and longed to be more than just a typical single disc release.

Double albums are like the kids back in kindergarten who refused to color inside the lines. A large majority of music journalists take the stance that a teacher or principal would take with the offending student. They automatically assume that since the album doesn't conform to the standards set by... Other artists? Record labels? Critics? ...that it's probably bloated, pretentious, filled with extraneous tracks, unnecessary, full of itself, etc. In truth, double albums just require a little more time to digest.

Some of the greatest albums ever recorded in the history of rock and roll have been doubles. Blonde on Blonde, The White Album, Exile on Main Street, London Calling, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Songs in the Key of Life, Bitches Brew, Zen Arcade, The Wall, Electric Ladyland, and Physical Graffiti are just a few that come to mind.

The general rule of thumb is to give an album time to become a classic. Time will tell if it's really as great as you think it is. Blah, blah, blah. Fuck that. That's pussy talk. And for the most part, rock critics are pussies. The last thing they want is to make a bad call and have other music snobs balk at their impassioned claims of an album's greatness. It's like high school. No one wants to be laughed at.

In life, we're at our most vulnerable when we confess our love for something to someone else. It's like being naked or telling someone you're in love with them. The fear factor is there and it's unavoidable. Well, it's too late at night for me to give a shit what other people think so I'm just going to come right out and say this.

Cold Roses is not only the best album Ryan Adams has ever made but it's also one of the best double albums ever recorded. That's right. Right up there with those other classics I listed above. From start to finish it is an absolute joy to listen to. It's sad, heartbroken, and alive emotionally in ways that much of today's music is afraid to be. Producer Tom Schick and the Cardinals have brought out the absolute best in Adams. He has never sounded more relaxed or at peace with who he is as an artist as he does here. All eighteen tracks are gorgeous and shimmering testaments to his talent as a songwriter.

Needless to say, I'm taking this sucker with me. And come on, it's almost like I'm pulling one over on the Almighty by bringing a double album in. Two for the price of one, biatch!

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (1965, Impulse!)

“I want to be a force of real good. I want to discover a method so that if I want it to rain, it will start immediately to rain. If one of my friends is ill, I’d like to play a certain song and he’ll be cured. When he’d be broke, I’d bring out a different song, and immediately he’d get all the money he needed. But what these pieces are, and what is the road to attain the knowledge of them, that I don’t know. The true powers of music are still unknown. To be able to control them must be, I believe, the goal of every musician.”

-John Coltrane

When I was a kid, my parents forced me to go to church every Sunday. And although I no longer attend church and find die-hard Christians to be rather scary, I still find myself returning to the question of God on a daily basis.

A Love Supreme was, in John Coltrane's own words, his gift to God for freeing him from heroin addiction. It is a prayer, a deep rumination on man's relationship with the cosmos, and the single most important jazz recording of all time. Much has been written about this album. I won't regurgitate it here.

All I'll say is that I try to listen to this album every Sunday morning. It speaks more deeply to me than any preacher ever could.

Iron & Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle (2002, Sub Pop)

"How I've missed you lately
And the way you would speak
And all that we wouldn't say..."

This is a tough one. It's become somewhat of a depressing listen for me. You see, I was doing a lot of thinking about a girl I haven't seen in nearly a decade the month this was released. I made a huge mistake by listening to it while thinking about her. The girl in question imprinted herself on this album. Her essence, what she meant to me, etc. Sam Beam's darkly beautiful home recordings about loss and regret became a soundtrack to my memories. Turning this album on forces me to confront the vast ocean between what is and what could have been.

The first line of "Faded From the Winter," "Daddy's ghost behind you," sends me back a few years to an impromptu long distance phone call late at night. We're playing catch up and she tells me that her father died suddenly not long after I saw her last. When we hung up, I cried for her. And I was angry at God because I had mentally drawn a magic circle around this girl and nothing bad was allowed to happen to her. I felt that the universe had betrayed her.

Later in the same song: "You're the prayer inside me." Whether Beam knew it or not, he defined in one line what that girl meant to me. And distance and time never changed that. Needless to say, I don't play the fucking thing all that often. But I'm taking it with me. Because faced with eternity, I'll need something to remember her by. The old letters and solitary photograph I keep in a box just aren't enough.

Love - Forever Changes (1967, Elektra)

"By the time that I'm through singing
The bells from the schools of walls will be ringing
More confusions, blood transfusions
The news today will be the movies for tomorrow
And the water's turned to blood
And if you don't think so
Go turn on your tub..."

A dark, psychedelic gem from the Summer of Love that manages to be as terrifying as it is beautiful. The band was coming apart at the seams when the album was recorded. Acid tabs had been replaced with heroin, lead singer Arthur Lee, never the shining example of sanity, was convinced he was going to die and intended the album to be his final will and testament. With the help of the gifted guitarist Bryan Maclean, Lee crafted a cryptic, apocalyptic, musical bomb and detonated it on Los Angeles. Listening now, one wonders if Lee hadn't perhaps seen the city's future. The hippy ideals of the 60s were about to be ground to dust beneath the heels of Charles Manson, Watergate, and Vietnam.

Lee's visionary masterpiece never fails to draw in its listeners because Lee is such a compelling narrator. Every song is a battle waged on the landscape of his soul. Love, tenderness, and empathy are locked in a harrowing struggle against paranoia and fear. That you can't quite decide which side won the war at the album's close just adds to its power.

Forever Changes is even more timely now than it was when it was released 38 years ago. It has never failed to capture my imagination.

Lee Morgan - Search for the New Land (1964, Blue Note)

Lee Morgan was only 33 when his common-law wife shot and killed him at a popular New York club called Slug's where he was performing. To this day, jazz aficionados debate the details of his death. Some say he was shot on stage in front of the entire audience, others claim the shooting took place outside of the club after the show. Particulars aside, one thing everyone agrees on is that we lost one of the greatest trumpet players who ever lived on February 19th, 1972.

Morgan, who saved jazz's most renowned label, Blue Note, from bankruptcy with his hit album The Sidewinder, recorded Search for the New Land on February 15th, 1964. He was joined by tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, guitarist Grant Green, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Billy Higgins. Shorter and Hancock, legendary group leaders in their own right, would go on to join Miles Davis's band later that year.

Morgan recorded The Sidewinder in December of '63, after spending nearly two years recovering from a serious heroin addiction in his hometown of Philadelphia. The Sidewinder was his comeback album and the catchy, hard bop title track was used in a high profile automobile ad campaign. The song caught on with the public and the album made its way to the upper tier of both the pop and R&B charts. When Morgan returned to the studio to record Search for the New Land, The Sidewinder was still several months away from becoming a phenomenon. There in Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey on that cold February day, Morgan, who was only 25 at the time, was not yet feeling the tremendous strain that musicians often face when recording a follow up to a hit album. He was simply there to play a handful of songs he had written, accompanied by his friends. After finishing the day's work, I doubt he had any idea that he had just completed the finest session of his career.

The Sidewinder haunted Morgan for many years. He would record album after album trying to duplicate its success. It was only in the final years of his life that he returned to the terrain he began to explore in Search for the New Land. The live dates he played at the Lighthouse in 1970 and his final studio sessions in 1971 are a glimpse at the adventurous path his career might have taken if he had visited the open spaces of that land he discovered back in 1964 more often.

As far as jazz goes, Search for the New Land was my first love. An eternity without its dark landscapes isn't an eternity I care to be a part of.

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998, Merge)

"And when we meet on a cloud
I'll be laughing out loud
I'll be laughing with everyone I see
Can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all..."

Jeff Mangum is the J.D. Salinger of indie rock. He recorded one of the greatest albums of all time and vanished. Sort of. There's a pretty fascinating 6000 word article that I stumbled across on Atlanta's Creative Loafing web site called "Have You Seen Jeff Mangum?" that can be found here...

http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A13178

Although the author ceases to be a journalist towards the end of the piece, becoming a nuisance to both Mangum and his family, this is still a fairly comprehensive look at the album's history and Mangum's disappearance from the public eye.

Mangum's impassioned epic about Anne Frank, God, love, death, reincarnation, and semen stained mountaintops isn't something I feel all that comfortable talking about. I don't know that anyone should talk about it. Everyone should just listen to it, nod knowingly at others who have heard it, and fight the urge to cheapen it by picking it apart. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, like Stonehenge, the lost city of Atlantis, and the meaning of life, is a mystery and should remain that way.

If you listen closely to the final moments of "Oh Comely," you can hear a friend of Mangum's, clearly blown away by the performance, proclaim "Holy shit!" in the background. I think that guy summed it up best. Holy shit!

The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995, Virgin)

"The useless drags, the empty days
The lonely towers of long mistakes
To forgotten faces and fades loves
Sitting still was never enough..."

This was the soundtrack to my high school years. It's a time machine for me. And who better to score the soundtrack to the most depressing period of a teenager's life than a drama queen like Billy Corgan? Everything's here. All the highs, all the lows. "Tonight, Tonight" and "1979" made me feel like anything was possible. That I could go anywhere, do anything, and achieve whatever I set out to do. The utter desolation of "Stumbleine" brought me back to earth and reminded me that some things just weren't possible. "Zero" and "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" were my anger. "Galapogos" and "In the Arms of Sleep" represented every unrequited love I obsessed over. And as embarrassing as some of it sounds now, it fucking rocked. Kind of like your high school photo. You look at it and cringe but goddamn if that wasn't exactly who you were at that moment in time.

Elliott Smith - Either/Or (1997, Kill Rock Stars)

"Nobody broke your heart
You broke your own
'Cos you can't finish what you start..."

My favorite Elliott Smith song is "The Biggest Lie," off of his self-titled album from '95. That song encapsulates everything that I love about Smith's music. Unfortunately, I'm leaving that album and that song behind in favor of Either/Or, which is his best album. "Alameda," "Between the Bars," "Rose Parade," "Angeles," and "Say Yes," five of his strongest tracks, are included here, as well as seven other memorable tunes. Patrick, being the Smith obsessed fanatic that he is, will have a lot more to say on the subject if he ever gets around to doing his list. I don't want to steal any of his thunder so... Moving right along...

Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (1973, Columbia)

"Oh God save the human cannonball..."

The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle is Bruce Springsteen's best album. It is a joyous, infectious, exhilarating circus of an album that brings a smile to my face every single time I listen to it. The Boss's poetic romanticism has never been more fully realized than it is here. A flawless piece of work. I never leave home without it. I'm sure as hell not leaving Earth without it.

So that's that. The list is done. If I made it tomorrow, it would probably be different. But if the Grim Reaper showed up right now, these would work for me.

Stick a fork in me.

Happy Holidays.