Note That:

Page France has a new EP, specifically: The Tomato Morning Tour EP. Check the song titles, they couldn't be more Page France:

1. Without a Diamond Ring
2. Give Him a Blanket
3. Who Cracked Your Egg?
4. Tomato Morning

Here's main man Michael Nau's "Tomato Morning" and "Without a Diamond Ring," which he posted on his MySpace.

Michael Nau - Tomato Morning [mp3]

Michael Nau - Without a Diamond Ring [mp3]

Pick up the EP here.

***

Another love of mine, Mr. J. Ritter, is also releasing a holiday treat. In The Dark is a live album and concert dvd, but it's kind of an Ireland-only affair. For those of us not fortunate enough to live in, uh, Ireland, Road Records will ship it abroad.

From In The Dark:

Josh Ritter - Good Man (Live) [mp3]

Also, did you know Josh Ritter runs marathons? And then plays shows later that night? Now how do you feel?

Bows + Arrows Turned One

How very appropriate for me to have forgotten this blog's birthday, November 5th. I know it hasn't been very exciting or essential lately (not that it ever was)--but it ain't dying. I appreciate the support you've all given in the last year, it's honestly much more than I had ever hoped for.

Cheers!

Junior Boys - Birthday [mp3]

"I guess it passed me on my birthday..."

WZ&Y

I don't remember how or when I started listening to Pavement, though it seems I've always known of their importance (as, like the gigantic poster that shipped with the Wowee Zowee reissue says, a "radically seminal band"). I accepted Slanted & Enchanted as a masterwork and loved Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain twice as much; I found their last two albums had their moments, too. But Wowee Zowee, I gathered, was their weird record, and I didn't think I could handle an already weird band's self-indulgent experiments. So, many years later and mostly due to a terrific reissue campaign, I finally listen to Wowee Zowee.

And it's as wildly, impossibly revelatory as those first two albums were. Just listen, if you haven't already, to "We Dance," the majestic acoustic number (with faux-Brit vocals, in good taste) that opens the album.

Pavement - We Dance [mp3]

What follows illustrates the variation the album is known for--the stomp of "Rattled By The Rush" leads to slides on "Father To A Sister Of Thought" leads to "Kennel District"'s insistent fuzz--and, in their sweet slacker way, they pull it off.

The Sordid Sentinels Edition comes, like the two Pavement reissues before it, chock-full of goodies. "Easily Fooled" is, like, the most Pavement song I've ever heard.

Pavement - Easily Fooled [mp3]

EDIT: Perhaps this is because I have heard it before, only under the guise of "The Sutcliffe Catering Song" on the Crooked Rain reissue.

buy Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition here

***

YOU GUYS NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT PALMS OUT SOUNDS' REMIX SUNDAYS (get on that).

***

I just got through listening to Joanna Newsom's Ys, and I am in disbelief. This is beyond good, this is another level. More on that later. Have you heard M. Ward doing her "Sadie"? While I don't agree with the assertion that Ward does other people better than Ward does Ward, I will say that his covers are uniformly exceptional. Here, he begins in medias res, and once you recognize where he is, he's already bringing it home.

M. Ward - Sadie (Joanna Newsom cover) [mp3]

***

Finally, I've never heard Will Oldham like this. Actually, I've never heard a song like this. It's goofy and rousing and really, really damn good.

Pink Nasty - Don't Ever Change (ft. Bonnie "Prince" Billy) [mp3]

visit Pink Nasty online

Not Like We're Cheating

My goodness, how have I avoided Damien Jurado for so long? Really, it has been avoidance, though I can't remember what prompted it. I've got a not-so-secret thing for the abject misery Jurado seemingly dwells in, for the slow and sober tales from rock-bottom.

"Would you change your last name to mine?"

"I think my kids would mind."

That is, I think, as bad as it gets.

Damien Jurado - What Were The Chances [mp3]

Damien Jurado - Denton, TX [mp3]

buy Damien Jurado's And Now That I'm In Your Shadow here

***

This song, from the forthcoming Catbird Records 008, The Ghosts' Blue Birds Blood, has got me more excited than anything I've heard recently. It's called "Penny Falls," and it's got the sweetest lilt imaginable.

The Ghosts - Penny Falls [mp3]

visit the Ghosts

***

This song reminds me of that Midlake song I just can't get into. Only, I really like it.

Memphis - I'll Do Whatever You Want [mp3]

Memphis' A Little Place In The Wilderness comes out early next year

***

Finally, I'm still making reparations for not putting the Clientele's Strange Geometry at the top of last year's list. The a-side has always seemed flawless, but only recently have I recognized the latter half as near-perfect. The way everything lightens, I mean actually lightens, when he says "Once a spell of grace came over me" could be my favorite moment on an album full of moments.

The Clientele - Geometry of Lawns [mp3]

pick up the Clientele's Strange Geometry here.

Broken Deer

It's November, obviously and finally, it's the First and it's cold. Nothing fits quite right lately, but this fits quite right.

Broken Deer - It Creeps [mp3]

The sound of continuous resolution, I can see my breath in this song. It washes everything away.

Broken Deer - Coming of Age Funeral III [mp3]

Listening to this reminds me, sharply, of how I need to be away every so often, outdoors and breathing. It's something that has become more and more necessary, which is in its way delightful and frightening, and too often disappointingly impossible.

Broken Deer is a Lindsay Dobbin, who enjoys Geology. I am a geologist-in-training, and would like to think that I can hear it, the slow shift and the momentousness of an outdoor scene, in these songs.

buy Broken Deer's Displaced Field Recordings here