Boduf Songs "How Shadows Chase The Ballance"

Awesome artist. Quite difficult folk to hear. His name is Mathew Sweet. Minimalist, death aproaching musician, his works are intense and with a touch of doom in his "folk" music. This record is from 2008.
This is the tracklist:
1. (00:05:36) Boduf Songs – Mission Creep
2. (00:04:31) Boduf Songs – Things Not to be Done on the Sabbath
3. (00:05:52) Boduf Songs – I Can’t See a Thing in Here
4. (00:06:55) Boduf Songs – Quite When Group
5. (00:06:06) Boduf Songs – Pitiful Shadow Engulfed in Darkness
6. (00:06:19) Boduf Songs – A Spirit Harness
7. (00:07:06) Boduf Songs – Found on the Bodies of Fallen Whales
8. (00:05:20) Boduf Songs – Last Glimmer on a Hill at Dusk

Get it here. The password is soundwatching.blogspot.com

Info taken from Brain Washed:

On his second full length release, Mathew Sweet uses the same formula that he has employed previously; one microphone, one acoustic guitar, a few random instruments, a couple of field recordings, and a deft, understated touch with the mixing process. He locked himself away in his home studio (to be honest, his bedroom) and no one else heard a single note until he was finished.

This album is a further step away from the "folk" label, which never seemed all that appropriate to Mathew's work in any case. If you record solo with an acoustic guitar the description is somewhat inevitable. But the results might more rightly be construed as "acoustic death metal" considering the themes of death, alienation, fear, hatred and isolation that are his forte, as well as his affinity for gothic imagery.

Mathew states that the album was mostly recorded at night because there was less background noise to contend with in his neighborhood at that time of day. But if you listen closely you can still hears small bits of rain hitting the window, and cars sliding by on wet roads.

The final result is one of the most unassuming, and engaging recordings of the year. It is intimate, extremely personal, and spectral in presence.

The second full length release from this uk resident follows his Lion Devours the Sun album from late 2006 on kranky. A lot of artists are described as "outsiders" or "underground", but with Mathew Sweet this is actually an apt description as he belongs to no 'scene' and is working on the farthest fringes of the 'music business'.

press quotes for Lion Devours the Sun:

"Hauntingly beautiful music that is oft mistakenly labeled "folk." This is something darker, something much more sinister, and Mat Sweet's songwriting muse dives into the troubled waters of a tormented soul and the mysterious forests of the mind. This is the best record of the year, period." Mundane Sounds

"The spare use of his blurry instrumentation is the secret ingredient to the horror in these songs. Sweet packs a punch for such a quiet fellow, and his vortex is indeed a powerful one." Tiny Mix Tapes

"...the visions of human frailty channeled here are dry like a mouthful of dust and stirring in their haunted stillness." The Stranger

Below is a video for the song Pitiful Shadow Engulfed in Darkness:

Grouper "Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill"

One of the best things I've been hearing lately in the folk scene, Grouper is the solo project for electro-acoustic ambient/noise musician Liz Harris, of Portland, Oregon.
This album, released in 2008, is possibly one of the best albums in its genre. Take into consideration the first track: simply brilliant drone introduction, that blends into Liz Harris' sweet voice. The rest of the album is also assured to be good.
The tracklist is:
1. Diesengaged
2. Heavy Water / I'd Rather Be Sleeping
3. Stuck
4. When We Fall
5. Traveling Through A Sea
6. Fishing Bird (Empty Jutted In the Evening Breeze)
7. Invisible
8. I'm Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
9. A Cover Over
10. Wind And Snow
11. Tidal Wave
12. We've All Time To Sleep

My favourite ones are: "Diesengaged", "Heavy Water / I'd Rather Be Sleeping" and also "Invisible". The album's lenght is around 47 minutes. The album's size is 41.28 Megabytes.
You can get the album here. Also, if you're interested check her myspace. There's also a folk musician I've been hearing called Jana Hunter that's brilliant and kind of similar to Grouper.

Below is "Heavy Water / I'd Rather Be Sleeping":

Charles Manson "Lie: The Love and Terror Cult"

"Lie: The Love and Terror Cult is the debut album by Charles Manson, originally released by ESP-Disk. Recorded on September 11, 1967 and August 9, 1968 (overdubs), its distribution began during the Manson murder trial by Phil Kaufman who initially pressed a run of 2000 copies, that of which only 300 sold. He later approached ESP-Disk about putting out the album in hopes for a wider circulation, which they agreed to. The cover is a copy of the December 19, 1969 Time Life front cover, on which Manson had appeared, only with "LIFE" substituted with "LIE." Taken from Wiki.

Ever wondered what would be Charles Manson music? Well, I thought about it before I heard his stuff. It's folk. Simple, traditional folk. Nice lyrics, too. I wouldn't label it as psychedelic music... many people have said it's kind of psychedelic: it's just an acoustic guitar and Manson singing, most of the time, why does that seem psychedelic to so many individuals? More easily, Charles Manson' music fits into outsider music.

The track list is the following:

1. "Look at Your Game, Girl" – 2:03
2. "Ego" – 2:27
3. "Mechanical Man" – 3:18
4. "People Say I'm No Good" – 3:20
5. "Home Is Where You're Happy" – 1:29
6. "Arkansas" – 3:03
7. "I'll Never Say Never to Always" – 0:41
8. "Garbage Dump" – 2:34
9. "Don't Do Anything Illegal" – 2:52
10. "Sick City" – 1:36
11. "Cease to Exist" – 2:12
12. "Big Iron Door" – 1:10
13. "I Once Knew a Man" – 2:33
14. "Eyes of a Dreamer" – 2:35

My favourite tracks are: "Ego", "Eyes of a Dreamer" and "Cease to Exist". This album has some cohesion and as I have said before, pretty simple. The album's lenght is 31 minutes and 53 seconds.

You can get it here.

Below is a video of the song "Ego":

[gig reviews] Scout Niblett at ZDB, 16th December of 2009

Last year, Emma [the singer's real name] played at the same place, which is Galeria Zé dos Bois, in Lisbon, Portugal. This time, she seemed more confident, however always giving herself, emotionally. Slow, but intense, is the best definition you can obtain from seeing Scout Niblett's gigs.
The setlist included various songs, including ones from her upcoming album, I think.
She played the song "My Beloved".
Below, I'll leave videos I recorded:

Here are the links to part 2, part 3 (the song "My Beloved") and part 4. I'll upload more as time passes by.

[upcoming bands] Noiserv

Started playing in 2005, Noiserv is a solo project of David Santos. One of the promisses I see in Portuguese contemporary music, this artist blends many instruments together to create some dreamy melodies. He uses instruments such as: vocals, guitar, melodica, metallophone, bells, synths, acordeon, omnichord, megaphone, effects, toys, musicbox, stylophone and more. His style is certainly unique... alternative, folk, indie are the closest genres I can find similarities with Noiserv's work. He was on the [now dead] portuguese label Merzbau.
Check his myspace here.

-David, live.

Watch him perform live the song "Bullets on Parade":

Cass McCombs "A"

Cass McCombs deserves more attention: he's a great musician. Inovating in the folk and alt country fields, this album has received critical acclaim (the album he released in 2007, "Dropping the Writ" was nominated by Amazon as one of 2007's best albums too). Oh, you should also check his official website for some more info, perhaps.
The track list is the following:

1. "I Went to the Hospital" - 5:14
2. "Bobby, King of Boys Town" - 3:47
3. "What Isn't Nature" - 4:48
4. "Aids in Africa" - 5:42
5. "A Comedian Is Someone Who Tells Jokes" - 3:30
6. "Gee, It's Good to Be Back Home" - 2:59
7. "Meet Me Here at Dawn" - 3:39
8. "When the Bible Was Wrote" - 4:06
9. "My Pilgrim Dear" - 4:50
10. "Bedding Down Post Xmas Time" - 3:54
11. "My Master" - 4:20

My favourite tracks are: "What Isn't Nature", "My Master" and "Aids in Africa". The album's lenght is around 47 minutes, I think. It was released on Monitor Records (now he's signed to Domino Records, by the way).
I got to know this artist's music thanks to a pro skateboarder's part in a video of the DVS Shoe Company. The song that played on the pro's [Jason Dill] part was "What Isn't Nature" and it imediatly got stuck in my head. It's original, authentic and seems to be lost in many musical genres, being a misfit among folk music. It's melodic and melancholic and somewhat nostalgic too.
Just listen to the album by downloading it right here.

You can hear the song "What Isn't Nature" next, as a preview do Cass' music (in case you didn't know it):

Panda Bear "Young Prayer"

Panda Bear is Noah Lennox (who also plays in Animal Collective and Jane).
Young Prayer is Noah's second solo album. It's been evaluated by many critics as an excellent album. I personally like it, because of its sincerity manifested along most of the songs. Oh, it's also relevant to say that these songs don't have any titles: they're all untitled. I really like the first untitled song, starting with Noah singing and then we can hear (like in all songs) a great acoustic guitar.

I'll leave you here the track 3:

Ganglians "Monster Head Room"

The first cd of the band "Ganglians", made in California, is a great step for this group of recognized recent artists.
What's the meaning of their name? I surelly don't know.
Mixing lo-fi, folk, Beach Boys' influence and other peculiar and unique sounds with beautiful frequencies, this cd is a good bet of this year. They have a song called Violent Brave, that has been catalogued has one of this year's best new songs. Even Pitchfork loves them.
A funny coincidence is that Wavves were "born" in the same label where the Ganglians are right now: Woodsist.
They promiss us more good stuff, I can assure you.
You can get this album -"Monster Head Room"- here.

Below you have a music from their debut album:

Daniel Johnston "Fun"

Daniel isn't only recognized by his music. He's one of those artists who are constantly categorized as genius or insane. He got to make this album, I think, on Atlantis Records because at that time (1994) Kurt Cobain was wearing all the time a t-shirt about one of his albums- see the image here. And I don't want to offend anyone, but Daniel Johnston isn't clearly very stable, psychologically - he has a bipolar disorder /manic depression.
Labeled as folk rock and simultaneously "outsider music", his sonic adventures are catchy and feature remarkable lyrics. Lyrics that not only speak of his experiences, but also show us another side of a person who's got a disease: this kind of thing just adds more emphasis to the artist's work (just see Ian Curtis' epilepsy, Roky Erickson's schyzophrenia, Cobain's drug adiction, Jim Morrisson's acid trips, etc.).
Now this album isn't an occasional one that I feature here: it was given to me by my cousin yesterday, when I went to Coimbra to see Telepathe [again]. I've been hearing it and so I thought that I hadn't made a good post lately and I see there are many visitors around here.
This isn't imparcial, but who cares after all? Pitchfork has the same attitude towards its reviews and criticism. My favourite songs are: Life in Vain (2- this song is exceptional, I love the guitars and violins that appear here, so nostalgic), Happy Time (5), Foxy Girl (8), and Rock 'n' Roll / EGA (18). Actually, I haven't heard this album so many times that I can point out the songs I like more. Oh, and it's the first Daniel Johnson's album I hear too... Sorry if I make some mistakes during this review.

You should also check the documentary that was made about this fascinating man: "The Devil and Daniel Johnston".

Try listening to the album by clicking here.

Here's Daniel holding a Beatles record.