Month of The Beatles

September 9th sees the release of the The Beatles entire back catalogue digitally remastered. The re-releases will include the Beatles’ 11 studio albums, Magical Mystery Tour as well as Past Masters Vol. I and II. I heard a few tracks today and they sound great.

Also, September is the 40th anniversary of final album Abbey Road. In light of this MOJO magazine has just recorded and released a covers version of the album by various artists titled Abbey Road Now. It's a bit of a mixed bag but the below version of Sun King by Gomez stood out for me;

Gomez - Sun King

Finally, BBC2 and BBC4 are showing a selection of Beatles documentaries and films in the coming week, so keep an eye out for them.

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks, Fan Video

I'm a big fan of the official Two Weeks video, but here's another brilliant video made by a fan. It blew me away, hats off to creator Gabe Askew.

The Housemartins - Caravan of Love

Talk of harmonies in the last post got me thinking about a cappella songs. I reckon The Housemartin's version of Caravan of Love is definitely up there with the very best of them, and what a video!

Megafaun - Gather, Form & Fly

North Carolina natives Megafaun recently released their second album Gather, Form & Fly, and it's one of the best things I've heard in a while. The band consists of brothers Brad and Phil Cook, and friend Joe Westerlund. They formed in 2006 from the remains of DeYarmond Edison, with the only line up change being the departure of Justin Vernon (Bon Iver). Posted below is the gorgeous Kaufman's Ballad. With it's haunting banjo and violin, and Crosby, Stills & Nash-esque harmonies, it grabbed my attention immediately.

Megafaun - Kaufman's Ballad

Buy - Myspace

Iron & Wine - Will's Pub, Orlando, 2003

This year has seen the release of Iron & Wine's excellent b-sides and rarities collection Around The Well, and also a limited live album from a Norfolk show in 2005. Another great live recording is this excellent quality soundboard from one of his earlier gigs.

01 - He Lays in the Reins
02 - Sodom, South Georgia
03 - Overhead
04 - The Rooster Moans
05 - Waitin' for a Superman
06 - Free Until They Cut Me Down
07 - Lion's Mane
08 - Upward Over the Mountain
09 - Naked as We Came
10 - Watch and Chain
11 - Bird Stealing Bread
12 - Dearest Forsaken
13 - Muddy Hymnal
14 - Each Coming Night
15 - Jesus the Mexican Boy

Download from Rapidshare

Beck covers 'The Velvet Underground & Nico'

Beck's Record Club was recently started up on his website. The basic idea is that he gets together with some friends and records a cover version of an entire album in one day. The tracks are then released one by one on his website. It's an interesting idea, and I was delighted to see that the first album chosen was The Velvet Underground and Nico, one of my all time favourites. Collaborators on the day were Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker, Brian Lebarton, Bram Inscore, Yo, Giovanni Ribisi, Chris Holmes, and Thorunn Magnusdottir.

Here's what the man himself had to say about the project - "It was something we used to do for fun, myself and a few friends. We used to just get together and record an album or a few songs in a day. And then it evolved into this idea of doing an album in a day. You spend so many months and years in the studio, and you see the clock ticking and so much time spent on the minutiae of technical things. And I just thought it'd be fun to do something extremely fast and get that rush of something that had some energy, something that you weren't tired of when you finished it. So we just started doing it."

The results are fantastic. Posted below are a few of my favourites. Follow the link to his website for more.

Beck's Record Club - Femme Fatale

Beck's Record Club - Run Run Run

Beck's Record Club - All Tomorrow's Parties

Website: Beck's Record Club

Compilation #2

This is a compilation I put together recently. Some of it's old and some of it's new. It's basically what was on my stereo at the time. Hope you enjoy it. There's a link to download the lot underneath.

01 Dump - Rasberry Beret
02 Black Lips - Starting Over
03 King Khan & The Shrines - 69 Faces of Love
04 Crystal Stilts - Prismatic Room
05 Born Ruffians - Hummingbird
06 Les Savy Fav - Patty Lee
07 Metric - Help, I'm Alive
08 Lykke Li - Dance, Dance, Dance
09 Department of Eagles - No One Does It Like You
10 Grizzly Bear - While You Wait for the Others<
11 Papercuts - Future Primitive
12 Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy
13 The Radio Dept. - The Worst Taste In Music (Extended)
14 Phoenix - 1901

Download from Rapidshare

Caribou Activity

Dan Snaith (aka Caribou) is currently working on a new album. He recently remixed a track for Cortney Tidwell under the name Daphni. The 14 minute remix of 'Watusii', was a b-side on the 12" and download release of the song. Below is a Caribou track from a few years ago, along with the Watusii remix, and the video of Cortney Tidwell's original.

Caribou - Tits & Ass: The Great Canadian Weekend

Cortney Tidwell - Watusii (Daphni Remix)