Three large posts, a truckload of music, little-to-no editorialising (or even editing). It's the A-Z of what's been catching Scruffy's ears, too much for one post
Afghan Whigs">Afghan Whigs are back with a new album, Do to the Beast. Their new songs sound Afghan Whigsy, which is good, all dramatic and noir, passionate and perhaps insidious.
Neneh Cherry is back. She always had a unique voice and attitude.
Neneh Cherry - Out Of The Black (featuring Robyn)
Everything
Buffalo Stance
Dearly Belovedare getting ready to release a new album called Enduro.
Dearly Beloved - Aimed Right At Me
Dearly Beloved - To Better Days
Where We Been, a cover of Dinosaur Jr.’s Where You Been?, by Felled Trees, a collaboration that includes members of Knapsack, Samiam, Thrice, Texas is the Reason, and more.
Felled Trees -
Dinosaur Jr. - Watch the Corners
Drive-by Truckers' new album English Oceans is finally out. You know the band is the best. Don't you think all those radio stations that play Lynyrd Skynyrd and 38 Special and whatever else someone calls southern rock should sneak in these guys every once in a while?
Pauline Hawkins
Drive-by Truckers - Pauline Hawkins
Shit Shots Count
Cooley's voice reminds me of Willie Nelson in Made Up English Oceans.
Drivin' n Cryin' s latest, ‘Songs For The Turntable,’ available on Blank Records, is the fourth in a series of as-promised four EPs released over the past 18 months - pretty apt as tomorrow is Record Store Day. More on this soon.
Songs for the Turntable
Drivin' N' Cryin' - The Little Record Store Just Around The Corner
Space Eyes
Also check out the indiegogo fundraising for a doc called Scarred but Smarter: Life n Times of Drivin' n' Cryin'.
Grant Hart is not trading on past glories with his newest album The Argument, which seems to call on psychedelic pop and garage rock as much as it does his earlier work.
It Was a Most Disturbing Dream
Beloved Australian band Hunters & Collectors recently reunited as well as having a tribute album released in their honour featuring people like Neil Finn, Eddie Vedder, Paul Kelly, The Living End and Avalanches (you can stream it here).
Holy Grail
When the River Runs Dry
Do You See What I See?
Throw Your Arms Around Me
The Slab
Sloan has reissued their quietly beautiful, of-course-we're-not-grunge classic second album Twice Removed (1994). Still my favourite album by Sloan, one of my faves of all time. The pretty Deluxe Edition package includes, according to the band's website:
•3 VINYL LP's:
All LP's include 11" x 22" lyric inserts and standard LP jackets.
1. Twice Removed - Unavailable on vinyl since the 1990's.
2. The Demos - Demo versions of all the songs from Twice Removed in sequential order.
3. The Outtakes - Demo recordings of the songs that didn't make it to Twice Removed.
•7" VINYL SINGLE: Two more bonus demo recordings.
•Digital download of the entire box set in mp3 and FLAC formats.
•32 PAGE 12" x 12" BOOKLET:
Containing unreleased photo's, artwork and ephemera from the Twice Removed era.
As well, detailed recollections of recording & touring the LP and full track by track commentary by the band members themselves.
Whew! Ephemera from the Twice Removed Era? They're probably giving away my old ticket stubs. Sounds awe-inspiring, now I have to scrape up $90 to fork out. Sloan's also touring, playing every song from Twice Removed plus whatever they feel like doing. And the band hits Winnipeg tomorrow!
Some tunes not on Twice Removed you may like:
The Answer Was You
Unkind
An instrumental cover of Sloan's Deeper Than Beauty. This version reminds me of seeing Hardship Post perform as a two-piece (just drums and guitar); when they launched into a stripped, raw version of Coax Me, it made my year. Hardship Post, where are you now?
Dearly Beloved's Better Days includes some Patrick Pentland. I don't think I've shared this before, shame on me. That Dearly Beloved record is prety darned good (it's called Hawk vs. Pigeon).
Tourdates:
THU 20 SEPTEMBER - The Pyramid Cabaret Winnipeg, MB
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FRI 21 SEPTEMBER - 400 Bar Minneapolis, MN
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SAT 22 SEPTEMBER – Subterranean Chicago, IL, US
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WED 10 OCTOBER – Maxwell's Hoboken, NJ, US
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THU 11 OCTOBER – Black Cat Washington, DC, US
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FRI 12 OCTOBER - Cat's Cradle Carrboro, NC, US
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SAT 13 OCTOBER – The Underground Arts Philadelphia, PA,US
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MON 15 OCTOBER - Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY --------------------------------------
TUE 16 OCTOBER – Brighton Music Hall Allston,MA
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WED 17 OCTOBER – The Met Pawtucket, RI, US
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FRI 19 OCTOBER – Tralf Music Hall Buffalo, NY
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SAT 10 NOVEMBER – Grog Shop Cleveland Heights, OH, US
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MON 12 NOVEMBER - Molson Canadian Studio Hamilton, ON
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TUE 13 NOVEMBER – StarlightWaterloo, ON
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THU 22 NOVEMBER – Phoenix Concert Theatre Toronto, ON
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mp3s will be posted for a limited time and are for promotional purposes only. If you like it, buy the albums, go to the shows, buy the t-shirts - support the artist so they can keep on keepin' on. Artists - if you would like an mp3 or video removed, please contact me directly at chrisyakchart@hotmail.com.
If you've got something Scruffy should hear, same email. Snail mail is cool too.
Scruffy the Yak 34 Allenby Cres Winnipeg Mb R2C 3J4