Alternative & Indie Thread

[exy]

Jesca Hoop - Kismet Acoustic EP [2008]

“We wanted to make sure that our inexperience showed,” says Jesca Hoop about her entrancing debut album, Kismet. “This album was a process of discovery, and this is what that discovery sounds like. I wanted to hear something new, so I made what I think is something new – or fresh to my ears, anyway. I made the record that I wanted to hear. That was my motivation.”

Indeed, Kismet is filled with continually unfolding discoveries – from the shimmering wonder of “Summertime,” its lustrous opening track, to the off-kilter elegance of “Love and Love Again,” which brings it to a swooning close. Each of the album’s eleven song wanders into surprising sonic places – woozy keyboards, pop riffs that turn themselves surreally inside out, lyrics that flirt with multiple meanings and refuse to settle in any one spot. The result is a shifting, dreamlike atmosphere in which everything follows an internal logic that makes perfect sense for the length of each song, and then evaporates as the next song begins to take its equally individual shape. The album is seductive, fun and entirely mesmerizing.

How it came to be is a story in itself. Hoop was raised a Mormon, but eventually left that world behind to create her own path – and her own visionary worlds. She traveled in the West – California, Wyoming, Arizona – and, finally, worked for five years as nanny to the children of Tom Waits and his wife, Kathleen Brennan. Hoop had already been writing songs and performing with a band, and Waits took an interest in her songs. Through him, an early version of “Seed of Wonder” made its way to Lionel Conway who in turn gave it to Nic Harcourt, the musically adventurous and influential host of “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” on KCRW in Santa Monica. Harcourt began playing the song, and it became one of the most requested tracks in the station’s history.

1. murder of birds
2. intelligentactile 101
3. seed of wonder
4. out the back door
5. love & love again

http://rapidshare.com/files/249003529/JH_KA.rar

[exy]

[IMG]**********1.com/NewGallery/La-Roux-La-Roux-473578.jpg[/IMG]

La Roux - La Roux (2009)

mp3 VBR~256kpbs | 81MB | Synthpop, electropop, alternative dance, indietronic

With commercially successful singles "Quicksand" and "In For The Kill" (latterly remixed by dubstep luminary Skream), red-headed, pale-skinned Brixton girl Elly Jackson and her "invisible" co-producer Ben Langmaid irrevocably established their love of 80s pop. This debut album continues the duo’s foray into euphoric retro-dance, nodding non-ironically to the likes of The Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, Heaven 17 and The Human League while remaining impressively contemporary. Opening with a string of sassy tunes--the buzzing "Tigerlily", the synth-heavy "Quicksand" and the slick and fiery "Bulletproof"--it’s apparent that La Roux have colour, class and confidence in spades. The album tapers off a little during the second half--failed experiments like "Cover My Eyes" which features the London Community Gospel Choir don't help--but it still boasts way more in the shape of dynamic killers than sappy fillers. First class.

1. "In for the Kill" – 4:08
2. "Tigerlily" – 3:24
3. "Quicksand" – 3:05
4. "Bulletproof" – 3:25
5. "Colourless Colour"– 3:28
6. "I'm Not Your Toy" – 3:18
7. "Cover My Eyes" – 4:32
8. "As If By Magic" – 3:51
9. "Fascination" – 3:41
10. "Reflections Are Protections" – 4:19
11. "Armour Love" – 3:53
12. "Growing Pains" (UK Bonus Track) – 3:27

 http://rapidshare.com/files/250645961/La_Roux_-_La_Roux__282009_29.rar

[exy]

Arthur Russell - The World of Arthur Russell (2004)

mp3 VBR~224kpbs | 117MB | 73:13 min.
Avant-Garde, Experimental, Disco, Minimalism, Post-Disco, Club/Dance

wikipedia | myspace

Charles Arthur Russell, Jr. (May 21, 1951 – April 4, 1992) was an American cellist, composer, singer, and disco artist. While he found the most success in dance music, Russell's career bridged New York's downtown, rock, and dance music scenes; his collaborators ranged from Philip Glass to David Byrne to Nicky Siano.
The World of Arthur Russell is a compilation album by Arthur Russell, released in 2004 on Soul Jazz Records. <Wikipedia>

Arthur Russell was a formally trained cellist and composer with a background in Indian classical music, and a résumé highlighted by collaborations with Allen Ginsberg and Philip Glass.
In almost every other case, "The World Of" would be a careless, ill-suited phrase to use as the prefix of a compilation's title. "The World of [insert name of grunge band or substyle here]," for instance. In Arthur Russell's case, using "The World Of" is entirely appropriate. When you're listening to Russell -- whether it's one of his solo cello recordings or one of his peculiar disco productions -- you can feel as if you've been relocated to a place that you don't really want to ever leave. This is the common trait that each of his varied recordings shares. Russell and his collaborators are your friends, and the music they made is all the nutrition you need. It sounds silly, but it is 100 percent true. No one disc could possibly contain Russell's entire world, but this one samples from it rather well, emphasizing his mindbending club-oriented output and scattering three of his more private moments. The keen and curious could've rounded up the majority of the disc's inclusions on a number of various-artist compilations released within the past few years, in addition to paying princely sums for the handful of previously vinyl-only tracks; despite this, a compilation like this has been necessary for a very long time, since it provides a one-stop overview of one of dance music's innovators. The most-known track here is Larry Levan's mix of "Is It All Over My Face," a single that actually dented the U.S. club chart in 1980; it's Russell at his most straightforward, but it's also strange enough to be recognized instantly, thanks to its graceful electric piano line and singular vocals from a Loft regular. François Kevorkian's mix of "#5 (Go Bang!)" reshapes the relatively slick jazz-funk-disco of the original into dub-drenched dementia, throwing in woozy horn blurts to add further Kingston accents. A 13-minute version of "In the Light of the Miracle" is the most life-affirming inclusion; this left-field house precursor might as well be a sun dance or an offering, as you can visualize clouds parting once Russell's frail, slightly cracked voice joins to accompany a light 4/4 thump and one of the most elegantly layered collections of assorted percussion elements. Again, this all hardly shows the whole picture. Other places where valuable traces of Russell's club side reside include the Strut label's two Disco Not Disco compilations and David Mancuso's pair of Loft anthologies, released by Nuphonic. As is the case with most Soul Jazz releases, there's plenty of information included in the accompanying booklet. -- AMG

1. "Go Bang" (Dinosaur L) – 7:36
2. "Wax the Van" (Lola) – 5:27
3. "Is It All Over My Face" (Loose Joints) – 6:57
4. "Keeping Up" (Arthur Russell) – 6:20
5. "In the Light of the Miracle" (Arthur Russell) – 13:21
6. "A Little Lost" (Arthur Russell) – 3:18
7. "Pop Your Funk" (Loose Joints) – 6:38
8. "Let's Go Swimming" (Arthur Russell) – 5:14
9. "In the Cornbelt" (Dinosaur L) – 5:57
10. "Treehouse" (Arthur Russell) – 2:17
11. "Schoolbell/Treehouse" (Indian Ocean) – 10:05

http://rapidshare.com/files/242150993/The_World_of_A_R_1.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/242151485/The_World_of_A_R_2.zip

[exy]

The Minus 5 - Killingsworth (2009)

mp3 VBR~192kpbs | 56MB | 41:47 min.

Scott McCaughey is a man who has worn plenty of musical hats over the years, but he has a funny way of bringing his own personality to whatever project he's working on, even as his collaborators lend their distinct colors to the music. The eighth album from McCaughey's the Minus 5 is a fine example; for Killingsworth, McCaughey and his usual musical partner, Peter Buck, are joined by several members of the Decemberists, and when McCaughey's smart, slightly bent pop sensibilities meet Colin Meloy's arty grand-scale folk-rock, you get a curious but thoroughly compelling country rock album that sounds casual and epochal at once. McCaughey has brought a more somber set of tunes to this project than one might expect, and while there's an undercurrent of whimsy lurking in songs like "Vintage Violent," "Smoke On, Jerry," and "Scott Walker's Fault," the fiddles, steel guitar, and accordions that pepper the arrangements bring the sad side of these melodies to the surface, and the harmonies of the She Bee Gees walk a fine line between somber and playful. "Big Beat Up Moon" and "Dark Hand of Contagion" are sad songs that speak to a world full of sad people, while "It Won't Do You Any Good" and "The Long Hall" hold out little that things will improve anytime soon, but McCaughey's songs speak of a messed-up planet where we're all in it together, and that with a little compassion (and some cold beer), we can help carry one another's burdens. Killingsworth is an album a bit short on optimism, but there's a cock-eyed hope in the sweet sadness of this music, and for a guy who used to make like the class clown of the Pacific Northwest, Scott McCaughey shows again he's matured into one of the strongest and most distinctive songwriters of his generation. These 14 songs conjure up a musical vision that's very much his own, despite the A-list help backing him up. --- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p...0:hvfixzl0ld0e

01. Dark Hand Of Contagion ( 3:23)
02. The Long Hell ( 3:04)
03. The Disembowelers ( 3:10)
04. The Lurking Barrister ( 3:05)
05. It Won't Do You Any Good ( 1:50)
06. Vintage Violet ( 2:40)
07. Scott Walker's Fault ( 3:08)
08. Big Beat Up Moon ( 3:11)
09. I Would Rather Sacrifice You ( 2:58)
10. Ambulance Dancehall ( 2:51)
11. Gash In The Cocoon ( 3:57)
12. Smoke On, Jerry ( 3:13)
13. Your Favorite Mess ( 2:18)
14. Tonight You're Buying Me A Drink, Bob ( 2:51)

http://rapidshare.com/files/251959072/TheMin5KilWor.zip

[exy]

The Builders and the Butchers - Salvation Is a Deep Dark Well (2009)

2009 release from the Portland-based former Alaskans. Salvation Is A Deep Dark Well is a much more complete work than their debut, showcasing the bands full potential. On Salvation, the Builders worked with producer Chris Funk from the Decemberists who brought with him a throng of expertise, patience, instruments, and some of the best musicians in Portland. In the vein of the Southern Gothic tales Ryan [Sollee, songwriter] weaves stories of struggle with the usual cast of characters God, the Devil, soldiers, branches, wind, rain and hell fire. The story of Salvation Is A Deep Dark Well is that there's joy and celebration through the darkness, there's light in the hardest of times, and when you reach the bottom may salvation light your way. http://www.amazon.com/Salvation-Deep.../dp/B00284G2FI

The Builders and the Butchers add strongly to the long list of “indie-folk” bands coming out of Portland with their newest album, Salvation is a Deep Dark Well. The Builders and Butcher fit in quite well with other burgeoning ‘indie-folk’ acts from this region including Horsefeathers, Norfolk and Western, and Blind Pilot. But, their closest sonic kin has to be the Decemberists. Ryan Solle’s voice is strikingly similar to Colin Meloy’s.
The lyrics are similarly dark and depraved and Solle’s songwriting is lush and vivid. My favorite tune Down in this Hole opens with “Nothing lasts forever in a god-forsaken town. The pocket books are empty ‘cause the priest has left the town. He’s giving all his dollars to the girl that works the square, who never get a dime because there’s murder in the air”. The haunting indie-folk ballads are spread over rough, frantic, and ramshackle tunes thick with the harmonica, and banjo of the Deep South and hills of Appalachia. This album makes me think of bourbon, sweat, fog, and moss hanging from old, dead oak trees.

If Tom Waits and Johnny Cash took over a southern church choir, littered it with mandolins, banjos, acoustic bases, hand-made drums, and summoned a dance party, they might call the whole phenomenon The Builders and the Butchers . No other band will make you feel so blissfully compelled to make deals with the devil.

Ryan Sollee: vocals/guitar
Ray Rude: percussion
Paul Seely: percussion/trumpet
Harvey Tumbleson: mandolin/banjo
Alex Ellis: acoustic bass

Tracklisting:
1. Golden And Green (4:48)
2. Devil Town (2:47)
3. Short Way Home (4:19)
4. Barcelona (3:41)
5. Hands Like Roots (2:20)
6. Down In This Hole (3:55)
7. Raise Up Your Weary Hands (4:11)
8. Vampire Lake (2:59)
9. The Wind Has Come (3:37)
10. In The Branches (5:12)
11. The World Is A Top (3:54)

	
	
http://rapidshare.com/files/315885052/The_Builders_and_the_Butchers.rar

[Wisemage]

thanks man

[exy]

Florence and the Machine - Lungs (2009)

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock since the beginning of the year, you’ll be aware of Florence and the Machine. Before even releasing an album, the first lady and her revolving band have been championed by BBC Introducing, invited to play Glastonbury and support Blur at Hyde Park, and won the Critic's Choice Award at this year’s BRITs. Now they're being tipped for Mercury Prize glory. How can an album possibly live up to the pressure of all that expectation? I don't quite know… but it does by the gallon.

Florence Welch's distinctive voice intertwines beautifully with harps, strings and drums as she sings her inimitable 'soul inspired indie' and 'Tim Burton-style fairytales'. The gothic pop of Lungs has been excellently produced by a crack team - Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, Jack Penate, Maximo Park), James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Klaxons, Last Shadow Puppets) and Steve Mackay (Pulp, M.I.A.).

There's so much brilliant stuff it's difficult to know where to begin. The soaring crescendo of new single Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up), the achingly beautiful Howl and a breathtaking cover of The Source classic You Got The Love. Drumming is a fabulous nail-on-the-head song about what it feels like to be in love.

There are touches of Mama Cass on happy clappy debut single Dogs Days Are Over and at the other end of the energy scale, the twinkly loveliness of Hurricane Drunk. The low points are few – perhaps that I'm Not Calling You A Liar falls a bit flat between choruses, and the lyrics to Girl With One Eye are closer to disturbing than kooky. But mostly it's sheer gleeful bliss listening to Lungs.

Florence says music is, ''at best a kind of magic that lifts you up and takes you somewhere else''. With vocals building from breathy almost-nothings to soaring, arching crescendos and the accompanying harps, strings, hopes and dreams, this album takes you somewhere you'll never want to come back from. When news gets out that she writes her best stuff, ''when drunk or hungover'', Florence's transition from unknown to British classic will be complete. -- http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/9h4h

1. "Dog Days Are Over" - 4:16
2. "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" - 3:45
3. "I'm Not Calling You A Liar" - 3:08
4. "Howl" - 3:37
5. "Kiss With A Fist" - 2:15
6. "Girl With One Eye" - 3:37
7. "Drumming" - 3:43
8. "Between Two Lungs" - 4:12
9. "Cosmic Love" - 4:19
10. "My Boy Builds Coffins" - 2:56
11. "Hurricane Drunk" - 3:13
12. "Blinding" - 4:43
13. "You've Got The Love" (Bonus Track) - 2:48

http://rapidshare.com/files/252809083/FatM_-_Lngs__2009_.rar

[exy]

My Morning Jacket - Celebración de la Ciudad Natal (2009)

mp3 VBR~192kpbs | 69MB | 47:19 min.

Celebración de la Ciudad Natal (in english means "Celebration of the hometown) is a live album by the My Morning Jacket, release exclusive for the Record Store Day and sold only in exclusive independent retail stores. The band release some songs of the first albums and the new album Evil Urges. The audio was taken from two concerts held in two record stores, Ear-X-Tacy, and Waterfront Park. Later in May Ist the band re-release the album as a digital format, also sold exclusive in an independent record site. <Wikipedia>

Although they first emerged in 1998 as devotees of Neil Young's country-tinged classic rock, My Morning Jacket steadily widened their sound throughout the following decade, embracing everything from neo-psychedelia and Americana to funk, prog, and reggae. By the time Evil Urges arrived in mid-2008, they had successfully molded themselves into Kentucky's answer to Wilco, with unexpected detours and sonic experiments adding complexity to the band's alt-country roots. <AMG>

1. 'Evil Urges'
2. 'Highly Suspicious'
3. '(Interlude)'
4. 'Gideon'
5. 'Where To Begin'
6. 'Librarian'
7. 'Phone Went West'
8. 'Dondante'

Notes:
1. Tracks 1, 2 and 6 taken from "Evil Urges".
2. Tracks 4, 8 taken from "Z".
3. Track 7 taken from "At Dawn".
4. Track 3 is an audio interlude with the audience.
5. Track 5 appears in the Elizabethtown (soundtrack)

http://rapidshare.com/files/334594114/MyMorningJacket-CelebracionDeLaCiudadNatal.rar

[exy]

The Dead Weather - Horehound (2009)

The Dead Weather is an American alternative rock supergroup that formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2009. Comprising vocalist Alison Mosshart (of The Kills), guitarist Dean Fertita (of Queens of the Stone Age), bassist Jack Lawrence (of The Raconteurs and The Greenhornes) and drummer/vocalist Jack White (of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs), the band is due to release its debut album Horehound in July 2009. The Dead Weather was revealed at the opening of Third Man Records' new headquarters in Nashville on March 11, 2009. The band performed for the first time at the event, before immediately releasing their debut single &quot;Hang You from the Heavens&quot;. -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Weather

1. &quot;60 Feet Tall&quot; 5:33
2. &quot;Hang You from the Heavens&quot; 3:39
3. &quot;I Cut Like a Buffalo&quot; 3:28
4. &quot;So Far from Your Weapon&quot; 3:40
5. &quot;Treat Me Like Your Mother&quot; 4:10
6. &quot;Rocking Horse&quot; 2:59
7. &quot;New Pony&quot; 3:58
8. &quot;Bone House&quot; 3:27
9. &quot;3 Birds&quot; 3:45
10. &quot;No Hassle Night&quot; 2:56
11. &quot;Will There Be Enough Water?&quot; 6:20

http://rapidshare.com/files/253741161/TheDeaWeaHorHou.zip

[exy]

The Popes - Outlaw Heaven (featuring Shane MacGowan) [2009]

mp3 VBR V2 ~210kpbs | 90MB | 58:45 min

Chaos has surrounded The Popes, ever since Shane MacGowan created them as his backing band in 1994 after he’d been thrown out of The Pogues for "unprofessional” behaviour. They made a couple of studio albums with MacGowan in the Nineties before the singer wandered off into drink-sodden limbo. The Shane-less Popes then scored a critical triumph with their 2000 debut album, Holloway Boulevard, but since then fans have had only a live album and the reissue, Release The Beast, to sustain them.
But at last a second studio album is wrapped and ready to go. Outlaw Heaven is a stirring and cathartic collection of songs which run the gamut from punk to country, delivered by a new band assembled by original Pope-in-chief Paul “Mad Dog” McGuinness. The disc resonates with echoes of The Clash, Bo Diddley and a whole history of Irish balladry, but thanks to the influence of new collaborators Charlie Hoskins and Will Morrison, there’s a punchy experimental edge to it too.
Raw, for instance, is a ferocious bellow of rage lifted by a throbbing electronic groove, while McGuinness’ lurid tale of self-martyrdom in Crucified is buttressed by a sonic cathedral of crunching powerchords, gospel voices and horns. The title track’s exuberant singalong is led by Shane MacGowan himself, making one of three guest appearances on the album.

01.black is the colour [04:34]
02.angels [04:17]
03.raw [04:08]
04.back in your heart [03:49]
05.outlaw heaven [04:03]
06.boys don't cry [05:11]
07.let the bells ring out [04:53]
08.shine [05:07]
09.crucified [04:40]
10.bastards [04:03]
11.underneath the blue sky [03:33]
12.slip away [06:24]
13.loneliness of a long distance drinker [04:03]

http://rapidshare.com/files/255253498/TP-OH.rar