Contact/Links
Real is Rare
February 2nd, 2009

(((folkYEAH))) & naturalismo present: Kath Bloom [ + exclusive Devendra Banhart mp3]

kath-pic1

“One of the most heartbreaking singers ever. Beautiful” – Devendra Banhart

“I consider myself her biggest fan.” – Josephine Foster

Kath Bloom grew up in New Haven, CT, where she studied the cello as a child and started playing the guitar when she was a teenager. Bloom collaborated with Bruce Neumann in the early ’70s, but it wasn’t until she met avant-garde guitarist Loren MazzaCane Connors in 1976 that she started recording. Bloom and Connors recorded six limited edition albums of fragile, simple folk and blues melodies, the majority of which were written by Bloom herself. Bloom stopped recording new material soon after her collaboration with Connors ended, when she and her husband Stan moved to Florida together with her child from a previous marriage to live amidst the orange groves, buying and rehabilitating old houses. Kath eventually received a series of small government grants to operate a number of different after-school programs in music and other arts for latch-key kids as well as a moms-and-babies music class, and had two more children of her own. While struggling to make ends meet, she wrote copious amounts of songs and poetry that went unrecorded at the time.

On April 7th, Chapter Music is releasing Loving Takes This Course: A Tribute to the Songs of Kath Bloom. Disc One features recordings of Kath’s songs by the likes of Bill Callahan, Devendra Banhart, Mark Kozelek, Josephine Foster, Scout Niblett and many more, while Disc Two features Kath’s original versions of the songs covered on Disc One.

And, to mark the occasion, (((folkYEAH))) and naturalismo are teaming up to present Kath Bloom’s FIRST EVER West Coast tour, with Little Wings & Lee Baggett supporting. It’s going to be a short run up the coast — but these are going to be intimate gatherings, a rare chance to see this amazing folk artist on the West Coast.

March 5, Santa Barbara, Muddy Waters
promoter link: www.clubmercy.blogspot.com

March 6, Los Angeles, McCabes Guitar Shop
venue link: www.mccabes.com/

March 7, Big Sur, Fernwood Resort
venue link: www.fernwoodbigsur.com/

March 8, San Francisco, Cafe Du Nord
venue link: www.cafedunord.com/

Tracklisting for Loving Takes This Course: A Tribute to Kath Bloom

1.  Come Here – Marble Sounds
2.  The Breeze/My Baby Cries – Bill Callahan
3.  When I See You – Laura Jean
4.  Finally – Mark Kozelek
5.  Window – Mick Turner & Peggy Frew
6.  Forget About Him – Devendra Banhart
7.  I Wanna Love – Scout Niblett
8.  Biggest Light Of All – The Dodos
9.  Look At Me – Josephine Foster
10.  Ready Or Not – Mia Doi Todd
11.  Fall Again – Corrina Repp
12.  It’s So Hard To Come Home – Marianne Dissard & Joey Burns
13.  In Your School – Amy Rude
14.  If This Journey – Tom Hanford
15.  There Was A Boy – Meg Baird
16.  Come Here – The Concretes

[ first listen ] Devendra Banhart – Forget About Him

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

[ first listen ] Meg Baird – There Was a Boy

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

=tyler=

March 12th, 2008

Leafy Green Showcase @ SXSW

sxsw_poster.jpg

If you’re currently at, or are planning on making the voyage to, the South by Southwest (or SXSW in hipster vernacular) music festival be sure to check out the Leafy Green showcases. Spread out over multiple nights and venues, Leafy Green is bringing the heat: Akron/Family, Alela Diane, The Dodo’s, Jay Reatard, Vashti Bunyan, and many others.

Click the peacock for details!

February 27th, 2008

The Dodos Expand Tour, Announce Album, Release Single

dodos-779615.jpg

The Dodo’s – aka Meric Long – have been picking up a head of steam as of late. Not only were they just featured in Entertainment Weekly’s “Artists to Watch” (not that EW is a very reliable bellwether of good music, but hell it’s great news for them!), but they’ve also just vastly expanded their U.S. tour, announced the release date of their new album Visiter (March 18), but have also just posted a new song for us to enjoy.

[download] “Jodi” from Visiter

[photo © elizabeth weinberg]

2008 Tour Dates

dodotour.png

More dates after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

January 3rd, 2008

The Dodos

harris_de_sm.jpg

Hey everyone, I’m Tyler…a new writer in these parts. To quote Mississippi John Hurt “I’m a poor ol’ boy, a long way from home.” Bred in Boston, now surviving the hell of Los Angeles as best I can. At least I have good music to carry me through the hour commute to work. Ungh. Anyhoo, I hope to share the music I dig and I hope to hear about a lot of new stuff too. Shoot me an email anytime, lets talk folk.

———–

The Dodos (formerly Dodo Bird), are hard to categorize. On one hand, there’s the riff-driven emotional intensity of contemporary indie staples such as The Shins or Explosions in the Sky. At the same time, though, are bluesy barn-burning fingerpicked arpeggios, psychedelic meanderings, and even a trombone or two. Singer-songwriter-guitarist Meric Long skillfully pulls a page from John Lennon’s acoustic pop playbook, delivering hooks that never fail to intrigue or defy convention.

If for nothing else, check out The Dodos’ debut LP “Beware of the Maniacs” for the guitar work alone. Long torches the fretboard with his nimble fingerwork on songs such as “Chickens” where the virtuosity of his speed, dynamics, and clarity evoke artists as disparate as John Fahey to Elliott Smith. The Dodos’ aren’t ones to gloat, though. For all his talent, Meric Long knows when to reel in the bag of tricks to craft simple, elegant folk songs (“Bob”). Theirs is a sound that is as restrained as it is refined, as subtle as it is blunt.

The Dodos don’t claim to have the answers. In the end, “Beware of the Maniacs” is angsty, impatient, and thoroughly enjoyable – despite its flaws.

[download]

The Dodos – Chickens

The Dodos – Bob

[photo by Jeremy Harris]

This work is licensed under GPL - 2009 | Powered by Wordpress using the theme aav1