Grant Lee Phillips - Walking In The Green Corn

Following on from my Dimmer post, here's another Shoulda Been Huge community announcement!

Another Shoulda Been Huge fave, Grant Lee Phillips (nee Buffalo) has just written and recorded a new album Walking In The Green Corn.

But rather than selling his soul to those [insert your favorite negative descriptors here] record companies, he's seeking your support to fund the mastering, manufacturing, marketing, promotion and tour support of this new album.

You can support Grant by making a pledge to pre-order the album and take part in the greater pledge drive through Pledge Music  for US$10. This will allow you to take advantage of the some of the great offers that are up for grabs. You’ll have access to exclusive videos and updates about the album and its release, as well as news on live performances and more.

I'm desperately hoping Grant can make this idea work, and provide a succcesful alternative model for artists to get their music out to their fans - rather than artists having to prostitute themselves at the altar of the evil fascist (my favorite negative descriptors) recording industry.....smash the state!

Dimmer - Degrees of Existence

If you haven't heard Shoulda Been Huge favourites Straitjacket Fits, hang your head in shame. Luckily for you, redemption is only a click (or two) away.

Dimmer were formed after the breakup of The Fits. Dimmer plough a more electronic path then The Fits but still maintain The Fits' edginess.

If you wanna hear Dimmer, head over to Bedlam's excellent Australian and New Zealand music blog Rising Above Bedlam where you can score a copy of the excellent It All Looks The Same At Night, which is actually a compilation of the first two Dimmer albums. And while you're there, check out some other great Australian and New Zealand music......including the best collection of The Triffids material this side of Humpty Doo.

Alternatively, if you don't mind parting with your hard earneds, head over to the New Zealand bandcamp site where you can pick up the latest and greatest Dimmer album Degrees of Existence for a mere US$ 8 - that's little more than a burger, coke and fries - and much easier on the wasteline! Degrees of Existence lies somewhere between early Dimmer and The Fits. I can't recommend this album highly enough - hell, I've (temporarily) come out of blogging retirement to plug it so you know it must be good!

Various Artists - RooArt Youngblood 3

Australian radio station Triple J used to (and may still) have a competition for unsigned bands. The winning bands would receive a live radio session, be featured on the Youngblood compilation series on released by Australian label RooArt, and also potentially win a recording contract with RooArt.

This post features the third installment of this series. This LP is notable for two reasons: it features the first releases of two bands who have previously graced the hallowed (virtual) pages of this here blog (The Underground Lovers and hometown (Adelaide) band The Mandelbrot Set); it also features a few other bands that had some success (The Sharp, Custard, Ripe, Caligula, The Fauves) on the Australian music scene. Which says a fair bit about the judgment of the people who put this album together.

As far as these albums go it's pretty good. But since I wanted to feature The Underground Lovers and The Mandelbrot Set (especially since the latter's post has generated the most comments on this blog), I've included their tracks as separate downloads in addition to the entire album.

Various Artists - RooArt Youngblood 3

1. Rainyard – Technicolour Blind
2. The Underground Lovers – Ripe (FLAC, MP3)
3. The Welcome Mat – Stationary Blur
4. The Mandelbrot Set – Dream So Hard (FLAC, MP3)
5.  Ripe – Gaze
6. The Fauves – Wilding
7. Circle – World´s Delight
8. Sex Industrie – Jailbreak
9. The Lab – Heaven
10. Caligula – Wardrum
11. Custard – Rockfish Anna
12. The Sharp – I Know You
13. Glide – Fade
14. Snow Leopards – Coco Pops

FLAC: Pt1, Pt2, Pt3, Pt4
MP3

Grinderman - Primavera Sound 2011

As far as I can tell, all my old Mega Upload links have been replaced with Media Fire links. Let's hope Media Fire doesn't go the way of the dodo!!

Anyhow, to celebrate, here's a new post!

I know the jury is divided regarding the merits of Grinderman, but I love them! PC, what's PC?

Here we have a radio capture of Grinderman performing at Primavera Sound on May 26 last year. The musics great, but the interviews better- the band minus Nick Cave, but still a great example of the Australian sense of humour!

Grinderman - 2011-05-26 -  Primavera Sound, Parc Del Forum, Barcelona, Spain (FM)

01. Interview
02. Mickey Mouse
03. Worm Tamer
04. Get It On

FLAC: Pt1, Pt2, Pt3
MP3

Wilco - The Holy Grail

Dave from the excellent Quality Bootz recently posted Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot demos.

This is the holy grail for Wilco fans - some unreleased tracks, and some YHF tracks in vastly different forms and/or with vastly different mixes.

These demos also include Not for the Season, the track Jeff Tweedy brought with him to Loose Fur after being dissatisfied with Wilco's attempts at recording. This track was later released on the debut Loose Fur album as Laminated Cat.

Also included in the download are some Mermaid Avenue outtakes.

If you are a Wilco fan and haven't heard these, drop everything you are doing and head over to QB immediately!

More Mary My Hope

Ironically, "pulling the plug" on this blog has rejuvenated my interest in posting - but not enough to actually want to post anything. Maybe in a few months....

So please don't consider this post a return to blogging. Regard it more as a "haunting" - a "dead" blogger returning to relive past glories! Or regard it as unfinished business - something I intended to post but didn't get around to posting.

Here is a collection of Mary My Hope tracks I have collated from various interweb sites. I figure it's better to have it all in one place than across multiple sites. Nevertheless, thanks to the original posters of this material - I wished I'd bookmarked your sites and could give credit where it's due, but so be it.

I've now re-upped about 10% of the Mega Upload links with Media Fire links. Again, if there are any dead links you want reposted don't hesitate to ask. I've already fulfilled a few requests, and it's no problemo.

Mary My Hope - Various

01 - One Cigarette
02 - Chains
03 - Goodnight (Demo)
04 - Grind (Live)
05 - Hourglass - She Will (Live)
06 - Wildman Childman (Live)
07 - Suicide King (Live)
08 - Swords (Live)
09 - All The Young Dudes (Live)

MP3

Re-uploads

I may have pulled the plug on posting new music on this blog, but I'm not prepared to let this blog go the way of the dinosaur (jr) - I've put in far too much work to let that happen!

So over the next few weeks (months? years?) I'll start replacing all the dead Mega Upload links with new Rapid Share links.

If there is anything anyone specifically wants me to repost, please comment, and I'll make that a priority.

UPDATE 02/02/2012 - Been having trouble with Rapid Share, so I'm going to try Media Fire for the re-uploads!