es ist immer dasselbe. redet man über eine dieser kapellen, muss man über ihn reden: carey mercer, den '75 in kanada geborenen englischlehrer. alles andere als spektakulär, was man da zunächst erfährt. aber in der folge spinnen sich lebensfäden ab, die mehr als brisant sind. an blue pine hatte er sich gütlich getan, danach wurden frog eyes gegründet. nebenher betrieb mercer sein soloprojekt blackout beach (im klienicum hier). zwei alben stehen für diese geschichte bisher zu buche. 2006 kam dann auch noch swan lake (im klienicum hier) hinzu. während blackout beach auf soft abuse veröffentlichte, erschienen die swan lake werke auf jagjaguwar, zuletzt in 2009. doch mit frog eyes zieht er auf dead oceans vom leder. während er in seinem musikalischen habitat wie ein berserker auftritt, hält der wüste kerl wohl am parkland secondary die waage, um als lehrer weniger auffällig ziele zu verfolgen. belassen wir es dabei und erfreuen uns an der gewissheit, dass es für die rampensau, den derwisch noch ein anderes leben gibt. denn mit "paul's tomb: a triumph" liegt ein neues album der frog eyes vor (dead oceans, 27.04.10), dass einem etwas vom wilden, ausgelassenen mercer erzählt. der sound ist roh und unbelassen, vollständig analog aufgenommen, wie mercer erzählt, unter nutzung sämtlicher frequenzen. gegenüber dem letzten album "tears of the valedictorian" hat sich dennoch nur marginal etwas verändert. die nutzung eines neve boards, "that hat this really euphonic quality to it", wie mercer in einem interview gegenüber dem anthem magazine erklärte, und der einsatz unterschiedlicher gitarrenamps sorgten für wärmere klangfarben gegenüber dem eher piano gestützten und twinkly gitarrensounds verwendenden vorgängerwerk. stabile keyboardflächen und der fragile backgroundgesang von neuzugang megan boddy sollte man addieren, um sich dem klangbild von "paul's tomb: a triumph" weiter zu nähern. ansonsten? ist alles besser! stringenter, klüger, ausgefeilter und dennoch direkter, klarer, irgendwie eindeutiger. vertracktes beließ man in der schublade und verwendete überschüssige energie in gesang und gitarrenarbeit. gepfeffert und melodisch. wie die pixies oder wie pere ubu. insbesondere wenn man daran denkt, wie sich mercer geriert. hier könnte man frontmanntausch betreiben und keinem würde es auffallen. fast keinem. ein album voller kraft, aber einer ausgeruhten, wie frisch herbei gerufenen, wie nach winterschlaf zum leben neu erweckten.neue swan lake und blackout beach werke werden übrigens zudem in aussicht gestellt.frog eyes - lear in lovefrog eyes - a flower in a glove
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Try It Before You Buy It features free and legal mp3 downloads and full album streams from the week's music releases:
Alcoholic Faith Mission: Let This Be the Last Night We Care
full album stream
Alcoholic Faith Mission: "My Eyes to See" [mp3]
Alpha Rev: New Morning
full album stream
Ane Brun: Spending Time with Morgan (reissue)
Ane Brun: "Humming One of Your Songs" [mp3]
Avi Buffalo: Avi Buffalo
Avi Buffalo: "Remember Last Time" [mp3]
Balkan Beat Box: Blue Eyed Black Boy
full album stream
Big Audio Dynamite: This Is Big Audio Dynamite (2 CD Legacy Edition)
full album stream
Bullet for My Valentine: Fever
full album stream
Ceremony: Rocket Fire
Ceremony: "Someday" [mp3]
Common Prayer: There Is a Mountain
Common Prayer: "Us vs. Them" [mp3]
Discover America: Future Paths
full album stream
Doug Burr: O Ye Devastator
Doug Burr: "Red, Red" [mp3]
Drowning Pool: Drowning Pool
full album stream
Emily Jane White: Victorian America
full album stream
Frog Eyes: Paul's Tomb: A Triumph
Frog Eyes: "Lear in Love" [mp3]
Frog Eyes: "Flower in a Glove" [mp3]
Gogol Bordello: Trans-Continental Hustle
full album stream
Jesse Malin & St. Marks Social: Love It to Life
full album stream
Jonathan Tyler & Northern Lights: Pardon Me
full album stream
Juan Maclean: DJ Kicks
full album stream
The Lights: Failed Graves
The Lights: "Puerto Escondido" [mp3]
Linfinity: Martian's Bloom
Linfinity: "MSG" [mp3]
The Lodger: Flashbacks
The Lodger: "The Back of My Mind" [mp3]
Mary Chapin Carpenter: The Age of Miracles
full album stream
Mynabirds: What We Lose In The Fire We Gain In The Flood
Mynabirds: "Numbers Don't Lie" [mp3]
Nathaniel Rateliff: In Memory of Loss
full album stream
No Second Troy: Colors
full album stream
No Second Troy: "This Is the End of Me" [mp3]
No Second Troy: "The Black and White Movie" [mp3]
No Second Troy: "Leap of Faith" [mp3]
The Pack A.D.: We Kill Computers
The Pack A.D.: "Crazy" [mp3]
People of the North: Deep Tissue
People of the North: "Tunnels" [mp3]
The Rifles: Romeo & Julie EP
full album stream
Sugar & Gold: Get Wet
full album stream
Trashcan Sinatras: In the Music
full album stream
Unnatural Helpers: Cracked Love & Other Drugs
Unnatural Helpers: "Sunshine / Pretty Girls" [mp3]
Unnatural Helpers: "Girl in the Window" [mp3]
Various Artists: Punk Goes Classic Rock
full album stream
Walter Schreifels: An Open Letter to the Scene
full album stream
also at Largehearted Boy:
Try It Before You Buy It lists
weekly CD & DVD release lists
daily free and legal mp3 downloads
read more »
Some things are worth waiting for, and Seattle band The Lights prove that four years isn’t too long to wait for their third release in a decade. On Failed Graves, recorded once again with producer/engineer extraordinaire Erik Blood, The Lights continue to sound like a punk band writing pop tunes in the only way they know how, with a potent combination of aggression, melody, social consciousness, and unconventional song structures, as if Fugazi, The Minutemen, and The Ventures were all mixed into the same band… so, in other words, like The Lights.
Another excellent hard-hitting Seattle band, Unnatural Helpers, manage to cram 15 songs of buzzing guitar riffs, shouted vocals and razor-sharp hooks into just over 25 minutes. And they just so happen to be performing LIVE on KEXP today at noon to celebrate the release. In other Northwest related releases: Avi Buffalo debut with their self-titled release — okay, they’re from Long Beach, CA, but they’re on the venerable local label Sub Pop — and Courtney Love reforms Hole for their first album in a dozen years, which for many critics seems to hold the same sharp anger that made for their best songs.
Excellent new releases abound from other parts of the world: Leeds indie pop band The Lodger returns with their third album, French/Chilean songwriter Ana Tijoux returns to her rap roots on 1977, Germany electronic experimentalists Lali Puna come back after a six-year hiatus, and fans of gypsy punk can rejoice with two masterful releases from Balkan Beat Box and Gogol Bordello!
And while you’re out picking up all those great releases, don’t forget the latest album of alluring dark folk from Emily Jane White, the shoegazing sonic bliss of Ceremony (friends and former bandmates of A Place to Bury Strangers’ Ollie Akerman), and the insistently idiosyncratic indie folk of Frog Eyes.
Check out all of these, and more from Largehearted Boy’s list, below before heading out to prove that any day is Record Store Day!
Alcoholic Faith Mission - My Eyes to See (MP3)
from Let This Be the Last Night We Care on Paper Garden Records
Avi Buffalo - Remember Last Time (MP3)
from Avi Buffalo on Sub Pop
Balkan Beat Box - War Again
from Blue Eyed Black Boy on National Geographic Records
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Johnny Bertram & The Golden Bicycles - Private Land (MP3)
from Days That Passed on Esperanza Plantation
Ceremony - Someday (MP3)
from Rocket Fire on Killer Pimp
Common Prayer - Us vs. Them (MP3)
from There Is a Mountain on South Cherry Entropy
Frog Eyes - Frog in a Glove (MP3)
from Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph on Dead Oceans
Gogol Bordello - Pala Tute (MP3)
from Trans-Continental Hustle on American Recordings
Jesus Makes The Shotgun Sound - Do Not The Clothes Make The Man!? (MP3)
from Damnant Quod Non Intelligunt EP on Ah Ritualism
Lali Puna - That Day
from Our Inventions on Morr Music
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The Lights - Puerto Escondido (MP3)
from Failed Graves on Wantage USA
Linfinity - MSG (MP3)
from Martian’s Bloom on American Myth
The Lodger - The Back of My Mind (MP3)
from Flashbacks on Slumberland Records
The Mynabirds - Numbers Don’t Lie (MP3)
from What We Lose In The Fire We Gain In The Flood on Saddle Creek Records
My Education - Oars (MP3)
from Sunrise on Strange Attractors Audio House
No Second Troy - Black and White Movie (MP3)
from Colors (self-released)
Anders Osborne - Echoes of My Sins (MP3)
from American Patchwork on Alligator Records
The Pack A.D. - Crazy (MP3)
from We Kill Computers on Mint Records
People of the North - Tunnels (MP3)
from Deep Tissue on Jagjaguwar
Brian Posehn - More Metal Than You (MP3)
from Fart and Wiener Jokes on Relapse Records
Sonoi - Sherry Fall (MP3) (courtesy of Magnet)
from Sonoi on Low Transit Industries
Sugar & Gold - Feels Like Fire (MP3)
from Get Wet! on Antenna Farm Records
Ana Tijoux - 1977 (MP3)
from 1977 on Nacional Records
Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work
from Tourist History on Glass Note
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Unnatural Helpers - Sunshine /Pretty Girls (MP3)
from Cracked Love & Other Drugs on Hardly Art
Emily Jane White - Liza (MP3)
from Victorian America on Milan Records
White Fence - The Love Between (MP3)
from White Fence on Woodsist
Wounded Lion - Creatures in the Cave (MP3)
from Wounded Lion on In The Red
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The Note Books series features musicians discussing their literary side. Previous contributors have included John Darnielle, John Vanderslice, and others.
Carey Mercer is the frontman for the band Frog Eyes, and his musical side projects have included Swan Lake and Blackout Beach.
The band's new album, Frog Eyes: Paul's Tomb: A Triumph, is out today, a record the NME called "a furiously lobbed Molotov cocktail of well-read rock – a volatile brew of uneasy drama and emotion."
In his own words, here is the Note Books entry from Frog Eyes' Carey Mercer:
I am not really interested in ideas or authors or novels in themselves; what I am interested in is the cables of similarities that stretch between poles. Thus, all of our expression might be seen as a glittering bridge, stretching between that which we experience and that which we wish to remember—the life of the body, the "lived life," bridging into the life of the mind. This bridge is the one true wonder of the world.
Bolano: it's the 2666 mind-punch that I will remember most from last year’s reading. I think the same violence that pulsates in Ciadad Juarez also pulsates in Vancouver; it is the same violence that haunts The Highway of Tears, and it seems to pulsate all around the world, not only through individual actions but also in the economic inequalities that force women into hardship and danger and exile.
Bolano is a pole from which many, many cables emanate. In fact, this multi-tendriled image, this author-as-lexicon, or author-as-polymath, applies to a lot of my favourite contemporary authors: Sebald, Marias, Mosley, Herling. I use the term "contemporary" here quite loosely—I still believe we are in (and certainly of) the twentieth century—it’s legacies, sewers and abysses still hold us in a gravitational pull that no arbitrary line on a calendar nor iPad-revolution can sever.
Which segues into Rebecca West, who is not contemporary, but is the chronological first, the birth-mother of this tradition for me. But it is only her magnificent travel-memoir of pre-war Yugoslavia Black Land and Grey Falcon that really "deserves" (what a funny term) mentioning here (though her essays on Hamlet and Kafka are wonderful). West is both acutely sensitive to the beauties and enchantments of foreign lands (I know I am being Romantic here), and also seductively arrogant in her judgments and proclamations. There is something so truly wondrous about this work—the pre-sentiment of WWII dread, the fascination with the "other," the quality of Britishness that is both fascinating and hilariously pompous (not that I'd be saying this to her face!). It’s the kind of work where one makes statements such as "this is truly the kind of mind that has gone out of the world" after reading it.
That is, until one picks up the works of Anne Carson. I know that the world is full of rogue-classicists, men and women intent on breathing new life into the Greeks in their own way (I'm making fun of my 2005 self here). So much has been said about Anne, and even a bit by me, that I will include her, and yet not even briefly discuss what makes her so fine to read.
Of all the novels that hit me hard during the writing of Frog Eyes: Paul's Tomb: A Triumph, I think Lydia Chernova's Sofia Petrovna had the most thematic impact: Frog Eyes: Paul's Tomb: A Triumph is "about" the systematic destruction of women. I read that Sofia Petrovna made Anna Akhmatova weep; Akhmatova's story, the story of a mother whose son is disappeared by bureaucratic terror, is mirrored in the novel. It is not just his destruction that is tragic--which it of course is--but the true tragedy is for the mother, who must keep sailing on. It's unimaginable.
Take care of the people you love.
Frog Eyes links and free and legal mp3s:
Frog Eyes MySpace page
Frog Eyes Wikipedia entry
Frog Eyes: "Lear in Love" [mp3] from Frog Eyes: Paul's Tomb: A Triumph
Frog Eyes: "Flower in a Glove" [mp3] from Frog Eyes: Paul's Tomb: A Triumph
Frog Eyes: "Bushels" [mp3] from Tears of the Valedictorian
also at Largehearted Boy:
Previous Note Books submissions (musicians discuss literature)
52 Books, 52 Weeks
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's comics & graphic novel releases)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
daily mp3 downloads
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
musician/author interviews
Soundtracked (directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
read more »
"troubleshooters" heißt die in gänze frei verfügbar ep, fünf ganz frische tracks als nachfolger zum debutalbum aus dem august 2009, appetithappen unten, das gesamte gerät hier:milks & rectangles - wink and a gun (the jury's hung)der schon obligatorische bad panda records track, diesmal spielt eine band aus chicago auf, natürlich auch unter der creative commons license: BY-NC-SA 3.0:yawn - kind of guyam 01.04. geht sie raus, die neueste scheibe auf la société expéditionnaire, betitelt mit "time and temperature", wer vinyl will, muss sich beeilen, reinhören, bitte:judson claiborne - song for dreaming (good ol' wobbly version)mark trombino (u.a. rilo kiley, jimmy eat world) hat die aktuelle single dieses milwaukee dreiers gemixt, dass sich auf dem teil auch noch ein remix von mad professor befindet, wollen wir nicht verschweigen, zudem gilt es zu verkünden, dass mit "measures melt" ein neues werk in den startlöchern steht, kommt im sommer:the new loud - heavendead oceans präsentiert uns ab 27.04. das neue werk, getauft auf "paul's tomb: a triumph", als debut auf diesem erstaunlich vitalen label:frog eyes - lear in love frog eyes - flower in a glovevierzehn tage vorher am start, wir hatten bereits angekündigt, tritt dead oceans mit "the wild hunt" an, mittlerweile gibt es zwei möglichkeiten des antestens:the tallest man on earth - king of spainthe tallest man on earth - burden of tomorrowpapergarden records bleibt am ball, am 27.04. erscheint das album "let this be the last night we care" dieser kopenhagener band:alcoholic faith mission - my eyes to seeganz frisch hat sub pop aufgelegt, "i will be" (30.03.) ist das debut und wir sind dabei:dum dum girls - d.a.l.dum dum girls - jail la lal"mount benson" ist da, wirklich!, ordern via myspace, bitte:apollo ghosts - things you go throughapollo ghosts - samurai chatterapollo ghosts - little yokohamacaribou27.04. Muenchen, Feierwerk28.04. Berlin, Berghain29.04. Hamburg, Prinzenbarget well soon07.05. Berlin, Volksbuehne08.05. Dortmund, Konzerthaus Dortmundnada surf20.04. Koeln, Gloria26.04. Berlin, Lido27.04. Hamburg, Knustthe notwist14.04. Wuerzburg, Posthalle15.04. Hamburg, Fabrik17.04. Bielefeld, Forum18.04. Darmstadt, Centralstationport o'brien13.04. Muenster, Gleis 2214.04. Nuernberg, MUZ15.04. Leipzig, Scala18.04. Dresden, Beatpol
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Frog Eyes have released another sneak peak at their upcoming Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph (Dead Oceans, April 27). The more concise “Lear In Love” is just as promising but no less manic than the unhinged epic “A Flower In A Glove”. As usual, Mercer’s vocals (choking every bit of reckless emotion out of every syllable) and the guitars crash around like they are lost at sea during the perfect storm, but here he gets some help from the sweet harmonies of new band-member Megan Boddy. Lots of upcoming tour dates here.MP3 :: Lear In Love(from Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph. Info here)Previously:MP3 :: A Flower In A Glove(from Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph)-------------------------------------------------------------------
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These are the best new songs I heard this month. Lots of rock. Dig in..MP3 :: A More Perfect Union - Titus Andronicus (original post)MP3 :: It’s Hard To Be Humble (When You’re From Alabama) - Phosphorescent (original post)MP3 :: Birthday Boy - Drive-By Truckers (original post)MP3 :: Jenny Jump - Roadside Graves (original post)MP3 :: Heart of Sadness - Sonny & The Sunsets (original post)MP3 :: A Flower In A Glove - Frog Eyes (original post)MP3 :: The Mighty Sparrow - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists (original post)MP3 :: Hope Child - Free Energy (original post)MP3 :: World Sick - Broken Social SceneMP3 :: Excuses - The Morning Benders (original post)MP3 :: Kingfisher - Joanna Newsom (original post)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Coconut and the Duke: "Pilate's Dream (from Jesus Christ Superstar)" [mp3]
other Coconut and the Duke posts at Largehearted Boy
Frog Eyes: "Frog in a Glove" [mp3] from Paul's Tomb: A Triumph (out April 27th)
other Frog Eyes posts at Largehearted Boy
Gobotron: "Never Turn Around" [mp3] from On Your Mark, Get Set...
other Gobotron posts at Largehearted Boy
Linfinity: "MSG" [mp3] from Martian's Bloom (out April 27th)
other Bromheads posts at Largehearted Boy
Magnetic Fields: "The Book of Love" [mp3] from 69 Love Songs (vinyl remaster out April 20th)
other Magnetic Fields posts at Largehearted Boy
Owen Pallett: "Keep the Dog Quiet (Simon Bookish remix)" [mp3]
other Owen Pallett posts at Largehearted Boy
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: "I Learned the Hard Way" [mp3] from I Learned the Hard Way (out April 4th)
other Sharon Jones posts at Largehearted Boy
The Soft Province: "One Was a Lie" [mp3] from The Soft Province (out summer of 2010)
other Soft Province posts at Largehearted Boy
Strand of Oaks: "Two Kids" [mp3] from Leave Ruin
other Strand of Oaks posts at Largehearted Boy
Purto Muerto: "Drumming for Pistols" [mp3] from Drumming For Pistols (out February 16th)
other Purto Muerto posts at Largehearted Boy
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
Drakkar Sauna: Daytrotter session [mp3]
other Drakkar Sauna posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
daily free and legal mp3 downloads
2009 Bonnaroo downloads
music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD and DVD release lists
read more »
New music today from Carey Mercer’s (Swan Lake, Blackout Beach) Frog Eyes project. Dead Oceans (on a roll lately) will be releasing the band’s upcoming Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph, the follow up to 2007’s Tears of the Valedictorian. “A Flower In A Glove” kicks off the 9 song album and is another manic, swirling epic in the spirit of 2007’s brilliant “Bushels”. Listen up.MP3 :: A Flower In A Glove(from Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph. Info here)------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Canada's Frog Eyes first came on my radar when they teamed up with Destroyer's Dan Bejar first as his back up band then as Swan Lake. Frog Eyes are releasing their seventh album, Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph which took almost three years to make. The first single from the album is "A Flower in a Glove". At nearly 9-minutes long, its not the typical single but it is definitely epic. Check it out.MP3: Frog Eyes "A Flower in a Glove"
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Carey Mercer is a living treasure. A songwriter of huge powers and abilities. So, it is with great delight that I can reveal a new Frog Eyes album is on the way. "Paul's Tomb: A Triumph" is to be released on April 27. This release will also be the band's first for Dead Oceans. Have a listen to "A Flower in a Glove" and marvel at the genius.Paul's Tomb: A Triumph Track Listing1 A Flower in a Glove2 The Sensitive Girls3 Odetta's War4 Rebel Horns5 Lear, in the Park6 Styled by Dr. Roberts7 Lear in Love8 Violent Psalms9 Paul's TombMP3: A Flower in a Glove-Frog Eyes
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Frog Eyes signed to Dead Oceans to release their new album Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph. Here’s the nine-minute opening track, “A Flower in a Glove.”
MP3: Frog Eyes – A Flower in a Glove
I’m unfortunately at work right now, so I can’t exactly dive into this one as much as I’d like. Suffice it to say [...]
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Led by sagacious howler, songwriter, and occasional op-ed writer Carey Mercery, Frog Eyes are following 2007's Tears Of The Valedictorian with Paul's Tomb: A Triumph. We've only heard the collection's 9-minute opener "A Flower In A Glove," but so far ... a triumph indeed. That said, like his Swan Lake bandmate Dan Bejar's monumental "Bay Of Pigs" disco or his own Enemy Mine standout "Spanish Gold, 2044" (to choose a more recent Mercer composition), "A Flower" deserves repeat listens and plenty of unpacking. For starters, note the awesome build at 4:42 while you get to the bottom the song's words, the album cover, etc.Continue reading New Frog Eyes - "A Flower In A Glove"...
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