admittedly, i have never paid the talking heads and their music much mind. i know a lot of people dig em, but that hasnt stopped me from not listening to em. it may all stem from the early days of mtv and their non-stop airing of “burning down the house,” which is kind akin to my unfounded early hatred of van morrison. not their fault, but im just shallow enough to pretend that it is. anyway, i listened to this show, and im definitely impressed with the stuff that i hadnt heard before. anyone got a recommendation on where to start?

1. uh-oh love comes to town
2. with our love
3. the book i read
4. artists only
5. stay hungry
6. the big country
7. new feeling
8. thank you for sending me an angel
9. who is it
10. psycho killer
11. no compassion
12. 1,2,3 red light

top of the morning to you all. so ive been listening to the new truckers for the past 24 hours and its awesome. i dont know if its any more uptempo than any of their other stuff, although brighter was pretty un-rocking as a whole. either way, yeah its great. here’s a short grant lee buffalo performance from the bbc on 5.17.96. at the time of its release, i didnt think much of their copperopolis, but in the past month or so i have really gotten into. im not sure what i didnt like about it when it was released?

1. intro
2. homespun
3. two & two
4. chat
5. the bridge
6. all that i have

make sure you check out the a.a. bondy session on hearya that was posted a few days ago. you can download the sessions tracks, which are all taken from 8th favorite record of 09, when the devil’s loose.

photograph by michael patrick o’ leary

every once in a while, and sadly it doesnt happen much any more, but there are times when you put on a record, or an ep as it were, and you just immediately gravitate to the sound. thus is the case with baltimorian paul michael masson and his recently released and most excellent self titled ep. plainly put, this ep is one of the best collection of songs that ive heard in a while. granted its only 5 songs, but taking it for what it is, its spectacular. his voice is great, the lyrics are smart without seeming like he’s trying too hard, and the instrumentation is lovely – think ray lamontagne but with much better songs with the exception of “jolene.” i dont want to get too excited about mr masson’s work, cause i have been let down before, see artist in question one sentence up, but i got a good feeling about him. you can pick up the ep on emusic and itunes and its highly recommended that you do so….

gold
my girl baltimore

man its been a little slow going down here in the crescent city. things gotta a bit outta hand last night and im certainly feeling my age today. when i say outta hand, i mean i probably had 3/4 more beers than i should have. so, it really didnt get that outta hand, at least for me, but from the tv reports i do know that the partying lasted until maybe sunrise. like the title suggests, here is the band live at jazz fest, here in new orleans, on 4.22.94.

1. intro
2. caledonia
3. remedy
4. crazy mama
5. w.s. walcott medicine show
6. stuff you gotta watch
7. blind willie mctell
8. it makes no difference
9. rag mama rag
10. atlantic city
11. caledonia mission
12. mystery train
13. many rivers to cross
14. dont do it
15. life is a carnaval
16. the weight
17. the shape im in
18. audience
19. garth madness
20. blues stay away from me

being meaning to mention how much i really, really like basia bulat’s upcoming release, see this tuesday, heart of my own. i cant quite put my finger on it, but there is something about the record and her that i find really comforting. regardless of what it is, i like it, i like it a lot. again, the record is out on tuesday via rough trade.

go on

the mighty truckers are back, well almost. they’re releasing the big to-do on 3.16 via ato records and i, for one, am very very excited. i “stole” this track, the first single, from stereogum who also has more info on the record. so, you may want to click here if you are in the mood for reading about it.

this fucking job