David Kilgour has given us a lovely winter surprise: a new video for “Diamond Mine” from his 2011 album with the Heavy Eights, Left by Soft.
Directed by Bridget Sutherland, the bright colors and pastoral imagery of the video will have you longing for the days of flip-flops and outdoor picnics under the trees!
Watch the video for “Diamond Mine” on Merge ’s YouTube page
Left by Soft as well as other albums from David Kilgour and The Clean are available now in the Merge store.
We were lucky enough to see the Traveling Imaginary in action this week, and we don’t want to give away any of the exciting surprises you can expect to find waiting for you within the walls of the new circus tent. However, we did want to remind you of the special magic of the Music Tapes by re-posting a few of their videos. Please don’t miss your chance to see this truly extraordinary band!
The Music Tapes Present: The Traveling Imaginary dates (more coming soon!):
Jan 31 Washington, DC Rock & Roll Hotel
Feb 02 New York, NY Church For All Nations (2 Shows This Night)
Feb 04 Philadelphia, PA First Unitarian Church – Basement (2 Shows This Night)
And see The Music Tapes open for Jeff Mangum:
Feb 8 Hartford, CT The Great Hall in Union Station
Feb 9 Portland, ME State Theatre
Feb 10 Providence, RI Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
Feb 13 Ithaca, NY State Theatre
Feb 15 Poughkeepsie, NY Barvadon Opera House
Feb 16 North Adams, MA MASS MoCA
The Music Tapes’ albums can be found now in the Merge store.
Brian’s Favorite Things of 2012:
Albums:
Chris Cohen – Overgrown Path
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Mature Themes
Field Music – Plumb
Scott Walker – Bish Bosch
Here We Go Magic – A Different Ship
TEEN – In Limbo
Late Discoveries:
Haruomi Hosono & Tadanori Yokoo – Cochin Moon
Led Zeppelin – Presence
Roberto Cacciapaglia – Sei Note In Logica
Mark Hollis – Mark Hollis
Favorite Show I Played That Turned Into A Big Dance Party:
The Radio Room in Greenville, SC
Favorite Hurricane Relief Benefit Show Featuring Chris Elliott Giving A Detailed Seminar About How Awful The Godfather Part III Is:
Tom Scharpling and Ted Leo Present a Very Special Hurricane Benefit Show
Favorite Weirdest Movie I Had To See Again The Next Day:
The Master
Favorite TV Show, Possibly Of All Time?
The Eric Andre Show
Taylor’s Best of 2012 playlist
One song from each of my favorite non-Merge albums of the year. Maybe heavy on the singles, but sometimes, the singles are the singles for a reason.
Merge releases not included. Wonderful records forgotten I’m sure.
Beach House – Bloom
Jimmy Cliff – Rebirth
Deep Time – s/t
Bill Fay – Life Is People
Gross Ghost – Brer Rabbit
Neil Halstead – Palindrome Hunches
Hiss Golden Messenger – Poor Moon
The Human Eyes – Guiding Eyes For the Blind
Chuck Prophet – Temple Beautiful
Rangda – Formerly Extinct
Andy Stott – Luxury Problems
Swans – The Seer
In No Order – What I saw / heard this year that might have been from any year.
Modern Times – Charlie Chaplin – at Cinefamily LA -
Will Johnson – Scorpion (Album)
He Can Jog – Milwaukee Pinebender (Virginia Is For Lovers And Other Stolen Phrases)
Judee Sill – The Kiss
Rodolphe Kuffer – Leucippe
Vidro Azul podcast (from Lisbon)
Chris Squire – Fish Out Of Water (Album)
Another Year – Mike Leigh (Film)
Please Give – Nicole Holofcener (Film)
Requiem For Larissa – Valentin Silvestrov
Myke Dodge Weiskopf – Shortwave Radio Archivist – http://www.myke.me/
Non-Merge Favorites of 2012:
Tanlines – Mixed Emotions
Chuck Prophet – Temple Beautiful
Cat Power – Sun
Spider Bags – Shake MY Head
PARKS & REC
Tim Hecker / Daniel Lopatin – Instrumental Tourist
Tig Notaro at Haw River Ballroom
WTF Podcast w Marc Maron
Andy Stott – Luxury Problems
Bat for Lashes – The Haunted Man
Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind
GIRLS tv show
Aimee Mann – Charmer
Rebecca Gates – The Float
playing MotorCo with John Darnielle and Greg Cartwright vs Amendment One
VEEP
Bill Fay – Life Is People
AC Newman – Shut Down The Streets
NEW GIRL
Laetitia Sadier – Silencio
Titus Andronicus – Local Business
Run DMC & Seaweed live at Fun Fun Fun Fest
playing w Spider Bags & Titus Andronicus at noon in Downtown Durham
FOX NEWS ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE
Sharon Van Etten – Tramp
Personal Space – Electronic Soul 1974-84 (Various)
The Sea and Cake – Runner
Hot Chip – In Our Heads
favorite books i read this year:
Le Freak by Nile Rodgers
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Bedsit Disco Queen by Tracey Thorn
This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
The Trees The Trees by Heather Christle
Agorafabulous! Dispatches From My Bedroom by Sara Benincasa
My 2012 top 12 in no particular order:
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Nice canned tuna: you need it to make Spanish style tuna/egg/tomato salad.
Seeing X play all of Wild Gift (and more) at Fun Fun Fun Fest. They never cease to amaze me. One song that really struck me this time was “White Girl.” Somehow it never occurred to me before that this song is a conversation. Exene’s interjections being disgust with the male desire for the young and blond, etc. I might be wrong of course, but the way she did it this time made that feel really apparent. Exene Cervenka also needs to get more credit for her sense of fashion by the way, ripped off by many over the last 30 odd years.
Redd Kross re-activation. Yeah!
Seeing Seaweed at Mohawk at the Fun Fun Fun Fest. I love those guys. They have such great songs and are such dear friends. Too bad they live so far away.
The bravery of the Syrian people. It makes me cry.
The courage of Ai Weiwei. I am not as strong as him.
People voting.
Downtown Calling (a documentary about the late 70′s art, music, and fashion scene in NYC)
Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita
The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
The Food of Spain by Claudia Roden
Bonus Spotify Playlist: LB’s Playlist
Some of my favorite things of 2012:
Tig Notaro’s “Live”
Reading David Rakoff essays
Eleanor Friedberger “My Mistakes”
Hospitality “Eighth Avenue”
Taken by Trees “Other Worlds”
Tanlines “Mixed Emotions”
Jens Lekman “I Know What Love Isn’t”
Lena Dunham’s Girls
The return of BBC’s The Hour
Seeing The Aislers Set live at Chickfactor’s 20th Anniversary Celebration
my top ten favorite things of 2012:
1. There were two Cy Young winners from Middle Tennessee
2. We will never have to hear the phrase “Vice President Paul Ryan”
3. Daniel Bachman “Seven Pines”
4. Tasty Kakes will outlive Twinkies
5. “Argo”
6. Ken Burns’ “Dust Bowl”
7. the Oklahoma City Thunder
8. kale
9. listening to Josh Turner in the van with Megafaun
10. “Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists” by Kay Larson
Bonus William Tyler Spotify list: Remembering Joe South by William Tyler
Everything I Watched or Rewatched on Netflix this Year that Received 5 Stars (in no particular order):
1. Ken Burns’ The National Parks
2. Father of My Children
3. Indie Game: The Movie
4. The Panic in Needle Park
5. The Art of the Steal
6. Midnight Cowboy
7. Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?
8. Shut Up Little Man!
9. My So Called Life
10. Into the Abyss
11. When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions
12. Resurrect Dead: Mystery of Toynbee Tiles
Some more obvious than others. All highly recommended – most of these are still streaming on Netflix. Watch one and let’s get some pie and discuss!
Top 10 of 2012 – Non-Merge, Ordered by Release Date
Listen to selections from the below at Nick’s Top 10 Spotify Playlist
Tennis Young & Old (Fat Possum) 2/13/12
Carolina Chocolate Drops Leaving Eden (Nonesuch) 2/28/12
Sidi Touré Koïma (Thrill Jockey) 4/17/12
Royal Headache Royal Headache (What’s Your Rupture) 5/8/12
Delicate Steve Positive Force (Luaka Pop) 5/15/12
King Tuff King Tuff (Sub Pop) 5/29/12
Deep Time Deep Time (Hardly Art) 7/10/12
Spider Bags Shake My Head (Odessa) 8/7/12
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti Mature Themes (4AD) 8/20/12
Jens Lekman I Know What Love Isn’t (Secretly Canadian) 9/4/12
Spotify Playlist – Classic Vinyl
This playlist is comprised of used vinyl releases (see list below) I’ve obtained over the past year from local retailers such as Bull City Records, Hunky Dory, Nice Price Books, and The Salvation Army. I’ve chosen a few choice tracks from each release for purposes of brevity. The playlist is ordered by original release date. Enjoy!
Joan Baez Joan Baez (1960)
Various Artists Walt Disney’s Merriest Songs (1968)
Joni Mitchell Song to a Seagull (1968)
Donovan Donovan’s Greatest Hits (1969)
Loretta Lynn Coal Miner’s Daughter (1970)
America History: America’s Greatest Hits (1975)
Blondie Parallel Lines (1978)
Willie Nelson Somewhere Over the Rainbow (1981)
George Winston December (1982)
Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues (1983)
Talking Heads Little Creatures (1985)
