Listen To/Download: Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech is Kansas City duo Brandon Knocke (vocals, keyboards, programming) and Alexander Thomas (acoustic/electronic drums). Though initially formed in late 2009 as a live vehicle for Knocke’s solo electronic music, a more collaborative and organic sound evolved out of the creative pairing. The results are sonically adventurous and moody, while the emphasis on groove and melody keep things accessible to a wide range of music listeners.

Find out more at Overland Shark

Check out Parts of Speech live on May 14 at The Riot Room.

Download “Tasted Comfort” here (right click + save link as)

Music Archive: The Cramps “Tear it Up” (Live)

For no other reason than it’s Friday the 13th (and, hello, The Cramps are awesome – so says Tricia while editing this post) we decided to bring you this live performance of “Tear it Up ” by The Cramps. Who else could live up to this creepy, ominous day? “Tear it Up” is from The Cramps’ first studio album Songs the Lord Taught Us, produced by Alex Chilton, and is actually a cover of Memphis country singer Billy Burnette’s original from 1972.

Conjuring a fiendish witches’ brew of primal rockabilly, grease-stained ’60s garage rock, vintage monster movies, perverse and glistening sex, and the detritus and effluvia of 50 years of American pop culture, the Cramps are a truly American creation much in the manner of the Cadillac, the White Castle hamburger, the Fender Stratocaster, and Jayne Mansfield. Often imitated, but never with the same psychic resonance as the original, the Cramps celebrate all that is dirty and gaudy with a perverse joy that draws in listeners with its fleshy decadence, not unlike an enchanted gingerbread house on the Las Vegas strip. The entire psychobilly scene would be unthinkable without them, and their prescient celebration of the echoey menace of first-generation rock & roll had a primal (if little acknowledged) influence on the rockabilly revival and the later roots rock movement.

Continue reading this Cramps bio via allmusic

Listen To: The Love Language “Libraries”

The Love Language is the brain child of North Carolina’s Stuart McLamb. Beginning as an outlet to vent the trials and tribulations of his mid-20′s, McLamb crudely recorded a set of songs (originally intended explicitly for friends and ex-lovers), and eventually released the culmination as a self-titled debut in 2009. With his second release Libraries, out now via Merge Records, McLamb switched the process, approaching the songs from a musical standpoint first, keeping this vision clear by playing all instruments on the album himself. With the help of producer/engineer BJ Burton, The Love Language’s sophomore release is a mix of The New Pornographers, The Walkmen, and Neutral Milk Hotel with a sprinkling of The Mountain Goats.

In an odd move, McLamb places Libraries most sweeping, stately track right at the beginning. From the gate, “Pedals” throws out a lure of tremolo, strings, piano fills and distorted guitar riffs before the drums kick in. McLamb sets up his soapbox wrapped with heartstrings and starts belting lyrics. The track is sweeping in its grandeur and succeeds in keeping the listener wanting more. “This Blood Is Our Own” sounds like something off The Walkmen’s You & Me coupled with some of the string work akin to Jon Brion’s production. Lyrically, McLamb is pragmatic without seeming insincere. He possesses a simplistic quality that is passionate without seeming pretentious. “Heart to Tell” serves well to break up the bigger-than-life walls of sound that vacate the album by offering crisp rhythms and quirky lyrical hooks.

In the end, the mix match servings of sweeping ballads, acoustic indie pop and middle school slow dance tracks are diverse enough to warrant a proper listen. Libraries is ambitious and thematically spacious enough to entice a diverse group of listeners.

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Free Music Roundup: August 9, 2010

This is a free compilation of Ampeater Music‘s digital 7-inches, crafted exclusively for WFMU and the Free Music Archive.

Bonus Songs:

Dustin Wong (guitarist for Ponytail)
“Talking Walking Cloud”
From Wong’s solo debut Infinite Love, out 10/19 on Thrill Jockey
Download here (right click + save link as)

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Ducktails
“Hamilton Road”
From his third album Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics, out Fall 2010 via Woodist
Download here (right click + save link as)

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Jesse Woods
“Mind, Drips” (Neon Indian cover)
Download here (right click + save link as)

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Music Archive: Nirvana “Love Buzz/Scoff/About a Girl” (Live 1988)

This is a Nirvana rehearsal from 1988 filmed at bassist Krist Novoselic’s mom’s house in Aberdeen, Washington.  You’ll notice Dave Grohl isn’t behind the drum kit,  he didn’t join the band until 1990. All three of these songs evetually appeared on Nirvana’s first full length album Bleach which was released in 1989 on Sub Pop.

posted by: Harold Johns III