Friday, March 20, 2009

TVD Parting Shots

My dad would have been 79 tomorrow. It’s curious to think that he was born at the very beginning of Spring and departed in the very last hours of Summer. (But ah, the time in between.)

Ten for my dad this week. And your dad. Raise a glass.


ELO - Can't Get It Out Of My Head (Mp3)
The Ink Spots - Don't Believe (Mp3)
Benny Goodman - Jersey Bounce (Mp3)
Glenn Miller - Always In My Heart (Mp3)
Gerry & The Pacemakers - Ferry Cross The Mersey (Mp3)
Crowded House - Silent House (Mp3)
Bon Iver - Blindsided (Mp3)
Elbow - The Everthere (Mp3)
Harry Nilsson - So Long Dad (Mp3)
Buckethead - Watching The Boats with My Dad (Mp3)

TVD's SXSW'09 Event Diary | with your host Leerone

Our good friend Leerone returns to TVD and this time she’s down at the SXSW Music Festival bathing in the warm glow that is creative musical expression. We’ve asked her, in between the music and the festival and the long, long evenings, to send us some thoughts and impressions on what she’s seen go down. Her first dispatch from the festival arrives this very morning:

St. Vincent @ Presbyterian Church
Annie Clark of Saint Vincent is not apologetic and I like that. She performed at the Presbyterian Church- the acoustics were gorgeous! She is a sick guitarist. Her voice is deliciously sweet... Definitely a fantastic performer.


Cesi Bastida @ Flamingo
Cesi Bastida, a Latin indie artist from Tijuana, performed at Flamingo last night. She sings in Spanish, dances and plays an array of instruments including the melodica and a tom (drum). She's pretty darn amiable! The band was very tight and looked like they were having the best time (that's always a pleasure to witness). I heard quite a few people in the crowd saying "Te Llamó" and in addition to professing their love, the audience was jumping
and dancing. Her energy is contagious, uplifting and fun.

TVD's Record Store Day 2009 Newswire

...with news of a number of just announced RSD09 vinyl exclusives:

The Record Store Day website has just posted the lowdown on these and other RSD09 exclusives. And if you're watching that ticker up there, we're less than a month away now...

TVD's Alternative Ulcer | Local Music Edition

Last year I was fortunate enough to see 302acid play at Artomatic (seriously, I love this city) last summer and was completely hypnotized by their sound. In fact, I feel almost inadequately equipped to describe what I hear and feel when their sound hits my tympanic membrane. Like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said about obscene material "I know it when I see it," that's how I feel about music that I like - I know it when I hear it. So when my friend Ben told me he would be performing with them on Saturday night, it motivated me to share my enthusiasm for DC-based artists with all you out there in TVD land.

My older brother, as a frequenter of events such as Seattle's Decibel Festival and DEMF could probably describe 302acid's music more articulately than I can, but he doesn't have a column on TVD, so you have to put up with my plebian description. The music is an experimental mix of electronic, samples, ambient noise, beats, and a ton of fantastic. Ben describes 302acid as "much more of a collective than a band so this is just another step in the evolution of the sound."

The show this Saturday will feature live bass, turntables and electronics along with Optical Grooves and Monica on video projections. Their site has a ton of free music, and I'll post a few of what I really enjoyed. This Saturday 302acid, along with Alexsei Borisov (the fact that he's Russian is good enough incentive for me), Violet and a bunch of other musically superb groups will be performing at Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring.

DC puts out a ton of great music, and I think that anytime you can go support local artists, you should. Even if that means crossing the line into Maryland. I guarantee, kids, it'll be totally worth it.


302acid - Transmission, Fire Dub (Mp3)
302acid - Quest & Future (Mp3)
302acid - Road Trip to Tokyo (Mp3)
Alexsei Borisov - Engineer Strepetovs Curve (Mp3)
Alexsei Borisov - Automated Management for the Seafood Industry (Mp3)


*thanks to Chester for the sweet artwork.

TVD's Eleven Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways | Week 8!

Well, is it me or do these vinyl giveaways just get bettern' better? (Uh, nope. Not me.)

Promo copy #1!
For the first time with a set rhythm section, critically acclaimed Built To Spill has created its most accomplished and focused album yet. Possessing a collective unorthodox vision, the band's second album, Keep It Like A Secret, builds on the success of 1997's Perfect From Now On. Invoking less analysis and more volume, Doug Martsch, one of today's most influential, independent-minded musicians, has crafted shorter, more direct songs that revel in a literate expressionism rarely heard in alt-rock and yet still rock with the same visceral impulses. Built To Spill may not be a secret much longer.



Promo copy #2!
Lamping -- also known as spotlighting or shining -- is a hunting method in which powerful floodlights are used to locate nocturnal animals in the middle of the night. The animals are either picked off or captured as they panic and flee for safety. It's a brutal, terrifying practice, but Of Montreal have adopted the technique -- albeit in a strictly metaphorical sense! -- on their ninth album, Skeletal Lamping. Over the course of the record's fifteen tracks, Kevin Barnes, the band's singer and songwriter, shines a light on the deepest, darkest corners of his psyche. He uncovers his freakiest fantasies, revisits his past, and explores seemingly contradictory aspects of his personality. The music is both startling in its specificity and inviting in its universality: Taken as a whole, Skeletal Lamping simulates the labyrinthine complexity of the human consciousness.


Your copy!
You know the drill by now, right? Grab our attention in the comments (WITH your email address--important!) gushing over TVD's Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaway Week #8 to set yourself up to win both of these indie gems. (Or, you can comment and forward your email address in an email to us. We're not picky.) And remember - each entry into our vinyl contest is an automatic entry to win the Stanton T.90 USB turntable on Record Store Day 2009!

Just make it funny. Or make it smart. About record stores. Or Record Store Day. Or vinyl. About us or you. Or something else all together. Just make it before next Monday (3/23) when we'll choose our winner. (AND launch giveaway #9 of 11--where does the time go...?)