The New Mendicants - A Very Sorry Christmas Plus Eels and Smithereens

The New Mendicants - A Very Sorry Christmas was released yesterday.

Eels - Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas

Smithereens - Waking Up On Christmas

Eels Give Live In-studio Tunes Away

Eels are getting in on the music-giveaway game, with 5 songs performed in the studio (by main Eel E alone, actually) free for you to download here. A 12" vinyl version is also available for pre-order here, which includes extra song "The Longing"; it'll be out September 1st.

The live songs are available from MySpace Transmissions, where you can see E perform the tunes as well as some interview footage. See E play his beautiful cream-cloured six-string and tickle the ivories. Do you think the big beard helps him sing with such a roughlysweet voice? Here's E and his pretty sky-blue guitar performing My Beloved Monster.

EELS "My Beloved Monster" from The MySpace Transmissio


I gotta admit that although I liked E's solo records in the early nineties, Eels were never high on my list. But looking back now, a new listen to a tune like Novocaine for the Soul reveals a song that's aged pretty well.



The new stuff is even better. Here's In My Dreams from Hombre Loco (another wolf/werewolf reference! Do you think Eels' werewolf-dropping has anything to do with the beard? Post coming soon about all of this wolf and werewolf mania.)



I first really started appreciating Eels when the band released the amazing With Strings: Live From Town Hall. Although not included on the album, here's a Prince cover with strings.

Eels new thing - Fresh Blood

Sterogum is now sharing the Eels' eerie/silly new video for "Fresh Blood". Here's part of the introduction:

"[T]he name of the new album Hombre Lobro means "werewolf." Continuing directly along that dark, creepy, and hairy course, the video for "Fresh Blood"'s shot at night with a red haze that looks bloody in the Carrie sense. The clip features an extremely bearded, lycanthropic E -- nice wolf walking stick...".

I like the song, it's menacing but tuneful. The video's fine too if you like watching music (not Scruffy's preferred ingestion mode). But wolves and werewolves seem to be everywhere these days. Blitzen Trapper's Furr is often playing in my vehicle or mp3 player, and somehow Wolf Parade and Sea Wolf have invaded my ears in the last week- I can't even keep track of all the other bands with wolf in their name or album title. What gives?