It’s 1:11 am, and instead of sleeping I’m in bed, drinking pear tea and I’m blog hunting. That’s basically going from blog to blog looking for new music. It’s one of my favorite activities. Just the other day, I think it was Sunday I discovered that Adam Stephens of Two Gallants is recording a solo album. Immediately I became obsessed with his song “The Heights of Diamond”, it’s such an amazingly good song. I just can’t stop listening to it. Two Gallants is such and underrated band, and Adam is just  such an amazing musician. I love his voice.

Las Cruces Jail Long Summer Day (acoustic Version) Eu, Saddle Creek, 2005

I haven’t listened to this record in it’s entirety in over a year. I’m not sure why. I am listening now and remembering just how much I loved this record when it first came out. It was released in 2006 by San Francisco duo Two Gallants via Saddle Creek records.

I listened to it loads, and I saw the band play in 2008, but I’ve not really listened since. The album itself is full of brilliant songs with stories that really hook you in. It’s just 9 songs long but approaches an hour in length; and yet, for me atleast, it doesn’t have any lulls.

At the core of each song is a good story. And each song is brilliant. Adam Stephens has a rough voice full of character while the finger picked guitar is propped up by Tyson Vogel’s brilliant drumming.

It’s a brilliant album that I recommend if you haven’t heard it before. Worth revisiting too, if it’s skipped past your ears like it has done mine.

Quick – what’s the best drama on TV these days? If you answered Sons of Anarchy, you are correct. If you answered something else….well, you don’t exist. Just kidding. But seriously, my well-documented Harley obsession aside, Sons of Anarchy is a great show. In keeping up with the tradition of past FX dramas, Sons of Anarchy is certainly an edgy show, and always has an intense forward momentum within each episode as well as the season’s bigger story arcs. The show can conjure up heartfelt moments just as easily as it brings on the intense action. Even better, it doesn’t feature any of the overacting that plagues so many other dramas or shows full of action.

Beyond all the great writing and acting, Sons of Anarchy also plays great music. Kudos to the music director for having featured Murder By Death in the show earlier (who showed in their Harley ad that they are the perfect riding music), and in this week’s episode they brought out more great music with the song “Fly Low Carrion Crow” by Two Gallants. Check out the heartfelt scene below, as Piney holds his pistol with the song setting the heavy mood.

“you’re just a substitute for the one that I hold dear.” despite what you’ve been told-two gallants.

Two Gallants es un dúo de San Francisco (Adam Stephens, voz, guitarra y armónica; Tyson Vogel, batería y voz) que toman su nombre de una historia de James Joyce en Dublinenes. Tocan una curiosa mezcla de folk, rock sureño e indie rock (eso que todo el mundo cree reconocer pero nadie sabe describir). Su música alterna delicadeza y lirismo con agresividad y desgarro, con una intensidad que parece casi fruto de la desesperación.

Aunque cuentan con músicos adicionales en el estudio, el dúo es capaz de producir un sonido sorprendemente rico en directo:

Reflections of the Marionette es un ejemplo perfecto de su estilo: canciones variadas, arpegios, batería pasando de lo sutil a lo hiperactivo, voces desgarradas cuando sube la intensidad. Muy distinta es la maravilla acústica Fly Low Carrion Crow, tristísima, pura melancolía:

Estaba preparando una recopilación para el blog, fundamentalmente de novedades, y se me ocurrió mirar qué disco había puesto hoy Fer en Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow: ¡¡me había pisado la idea!! Y lo peor era que coincidía en más de media docena de temas (por cierto, no os perdáis End Of Summer 2009, que es buenísima). Así que decidí darle otro enfoque a mi selección y, partiendo del estilo que más o menos tenían los temas que había seleccionado hasta ese momento, fui recomponiendo la recopilación con otras canciones.

Haz clic en la portada para descargar la recopilación

Al final, este es el resultado: DAYS, una recopilación de temas de David Bowie, Wiretree, Cowboy Junkies, Dinosaur Jr., Stephen Malkmus, The Sea And Cake, Beck, Eels, Willy DeVille, Sondre Lerche, Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson, Two Gallants, Brendan Benson, Richard Thompson, Frank Black, The Apples In Stereo, Matthew Sweet, Fanfarlo, Mark Olson, Rickie Lee Jones, Lambchop y Mark Mulcahy, en la que se mezclan temas actuales (ninguno coincide con los de la recopilación de Fer) y otros de unos pocos años atrás que espero os haga más agradable este fin de semana que se presenta con temperaturas un poquito más suaves.

Como siempre, haciendo clic en la portada del disco os podéis descargar las canciones y la carátula en pdf. Y AQUÍ tenéis el listado completo de los temas que incluye.

P.D.: La foto de la portada la hice ayer durante la visita a una obra en Cártama (Málaga), viaje que tambien aproveché para tomar un café con uno de los visitantes más asiduos de este blog.

What the toll tells / Two Gallants. Saddle Creek , 2006

Les amateurs de blues, de punk, de folk-rock se retrouveront peut-être autour de cet album, qui fait un sort à la succession de Robert Johnson, Dylan, Nirvana & consorts.

Two Gallants : voix rauque et écorchée d’un chanteur que l’on sent nerveux,  sa guitare qui a l’énergie électrique du désespoir, le tout servi par une batterie qui cogne inlassablement. Les paroles, lettrées, sont autant mélancoliques que rageuses. Two Gallants se situe du coté des Etats-Unis des laissés pour compte de la réussite (“Long Summer Day”), des perdants même pas magnifiques, des indigents abrutis de dur labeur et des hors la loi d’un western imaginaire (“Las Cruces Jail”). Les arrangements convoquent l’inconscient sonore du Far West dans ce qu’il a de plus misérable : sifflements à la Ennio Morricone, harmonica fantomatique, vents venus du désert et cuivres mexicains hantés. Les ballades arides et tendues des Two Gallants sont le revers de la medaille pop béate et souriante  que produisent les terres californiennes, “Sunshine State” par excellence . Dernier Etat conquis par des aspirants à une vie meilleure, leur désillusion nourrit encore des générations de musiciens et on croirait encore entendre leurs complaintes dans What the toll tells.

PS : en prime, parce qu’il faut croire que les voix passées à la toile emeri me rendent accro, un petit court métrage du groupe en tournée.

Two Gallants are a band that I have loved for a long time, years, but I don’t blog about much, or ever. I saw them play last year and I adored Tyson’s hypnotic drumming. I enjoyed the whole show, I thought the pair of them, both Adam and Tyson, were brilliant.

I’ve seen some great drummers this year (the obvious one springing to mind is Andreas of Wildbirds & Peacedrums) but Tyson really is in a league of his own.

I had the pleasure of seeing him play with Port O’Brien tonight, and he really is something special. He’s such a skilled drummer, but on top of that, he’s completely mesmerizing to watch. He just puts all his force and energy into the drums, it’s almost like he could collapse at any moment. Such a joy to watch, it was a real treat to see him perform tonight. So lovely to see so much energy and passion. Completely wonderful. If you haven’t ever listened to Two Gallants, I really recommend them. Fantastic band. Listen.

So, my awesome friend and business associate Mike has hooked me and another friend up with a sweet box at the Pond for this weekend’s Power 106 fm’s PowerHouse. While I am not that into most of the other performers of the night, I will say that I am very excited about seeing Jay-Z. Jay is one of my favorite rappers and it will be awesome to have a free ticket. I mean, those things are expensive, ya know? So, in honor of Jay, here is the video for “D.O.A – Death of Auto-tune “.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the weekly Iphone Apps section, so that should be interesting. And, because its the new week, here is my play list as well.

Playlist for the week of August 3rd, 2009

1. Pretty Girls Make Graves – “Speakers Push The Air”

2. Tech N9ne – “Like Yeah”

3. Two Gallants – “Reflections of the Marionette” (live on Jimmy Kimmel)

Thats all until tomorrow. Hope you have a great rest of the day or whatever you plan on doing today. Me? I’ll be working…

-Reid

Thanks to BBQ for putting me onto these guys. This is lush.

Otro disco más con algunos éxitos calieeeentes de este verano. Abusados que quema.

01. “Tiny Vessels” – Death Cab for Cutie.
02. “The Breeze” – Dr. Dog.
03. “Leaders of the Free World” – Elbow.
04. “I’ll Fight” – Wilco.
05. “Open Up Your Heart” – The Rapture.
06. “Leftovers” – Jarvis Cocker. (un cigarrito y uffffff)
07. “Moving” – Supergrass.
08. “Showbiz” – Muse.
09. “Crop Circle” – Monster Magnet.
10. “Conan Troutman” – Kyuss.
11. “Loose” – Truckfighters. (upa!!)
12. “Luciforms” – The Mars Volta. (el buen TMV ha regresado)
13. “Eye” – The Smashing Pumpkins.
14. “See You” – Dinosaur Jr.
15. “Linger On” – Two Gallants.

Two Gallants
http://www.myspace.com/twogallants

One of the many ways I find my bands is through music magazines, my favorite being Filter. Magazines always do their reviews in advanced before the CD hits stores, so you get a lot of debut artists. This is how I found out about Two Gallants, a two man army from San Francisco, just before their self-titled second cd hit stores. The minute I scoped out their Myspace and “Despite What You’ve Been Told” hit my ears, I knew I had found something special.

Even though they’re a two man band, they seem to pull it off like their much larger.  Classified as folk rock, it’s that and more. Adam Stevens, the guitar and vocalist for the band has a very distinct voice, one that carries you back into a old western feeling, which is along the tone of  their songs. The lyrics are where the band separates itself from others, being a sort of tired-angst ridden, but beautiful. The anger that resides in each is shown through the emotional of the voice of Stevens, and this doesn’t include screaming. I shouldn’t forget Tyson Fogel on drums, who’s talent carves right into the sound, and together they create an amazing duo.

Their self-titled album is amazing, but the grace of Two Gallants is seen in their debut CD What The Toll Tells. This CD is just raw emotion, and it never disappoints. One of the favorite on the album is Waves of Grain, which comes in at 9:34, but isn’t long enough. It comes in lightly, but has a great build up. My favorite line is

“Behold a white horse, with you on it’s back,
a bow in your hand, a crown through your hair.”

If you’re looking for something to sit down and take a good listen to, Two Gallants is it; you won’t be disappointed. It can be a downer sometimes, so listen responsibly.

Dig It: Two Gallants – Despite What You’ve Been Told or Steady Rollin’
(Myspace)

It’s been a while since I’ve done a blog entry. I’m sorry I never did a big post about the new tour about dredg. We were just having so much fun that I didn’t have time to write much. I think dredg might have some of the best fans out there. Every night was great for us and all three of us, Jon, Lewis ad I came off of the tour with a new found sense of excitement about the future of Judgement Day.

We have mostly been taking June off. Jon has been working and playing with his other band VS Them. Lewis has been practicing cello, working around the house and will be playing some concerts with Berkeley Opera soon. I have just been hanging out in San Francisco, doing a few recording gigs and playing with my new band Devotionals. I had a great birthday party  a couple of nights ago. A bunch of cool bands played at it.

In July Judgement Day will be back in business! We’ll be appearing on the Chasing the Moon podcast on July 7th, which is going to be really sweet. It’s basically going to be a really high-quality video of a live set. Shortly following that we’ll be releasing our very first vinyl record titled “Out of the Abyss: Live on Tape” on Third Culture Records. To celebrate the release we’ll be doing a one week California tour. We’ll do a whole blog post about that release very soon.

_____________________

There is a very exciting new record that was released last week and that is the new dredg record The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion. If you are a fan of dredg’s previous records you’re definitely going to like it. If you’ve never heard dredg before I’d say this new record might be just the place to start. In addition to the healthy handful of polished, catchy prog-pop songs, it also has some of the craziest interludes that I have ever heard. We’re talking backwords children’s choir through vintage ring modulator type of shit. Actually, I honestly have no idea how they came up with most of these crazy sounds but I’m definitely feeling it.

The other added bonus for on The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion is…. us! Judgement Day is featured on 4 tracks:

Track 5: Lightswitch – We don’t do much on this one but we’re on it and it’s one of the better songs on the record.

Track  12: Mouring This Morning - We put some sweet disco string hooks on this uber-catchy prog-soul number.

Track 14: Long Days and Vague Clues - A crazy evil circus song on which we get to totally shred (see video below).

Track 18: Stamp of Origins (Horizon) – The sorrowful album closer.

_____________________

Although we only worked on that record for a few days it was truely a great experience. The members of dredg as well as the record’s producer, our friend and colleague Matt Radosevich are all great artists and collaborators, continually excited by prospects of musical exploration. Whether it was late-night percussion jam sessions or ultra-precise string overdubs the process was always fun and fulfilling.  That spirit is present throughout the record.

Check it out on itunes.

-Anton

Episode 12 of the Indie Music Hour contains a collection of tracks that have been warming my heart lately. I hope you enjoy them too

Tracklisting

Frankmusik – Gotta Boyfriend

Passion Pit – Sleepyhead

The Boxer Rebellion – All You Do Is Talk

Bon Savants – Between The Moon And The Ocean

The Lodger – Let Her Go

Stereo Total – I Love You, Ono

Vox Jaguars – Swagger

The Airborne Toxic Event – Sometime Around Midnight

Two Gallants – Despite What You’ve Been Told

Fake Problems – There Are Times

Lacrosse – Who Will Bring Us Together?

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names – Loop Duplicate My Heart

Imaad Wasif – Blade

Rose Kemp – Sister Sleep

Bat For Lashes – Sad Eyes

Bon Iver – Skinny Love

Fleet Foxes – White Water Hymnal

Chester French – She Loves Everybody

Thieves Like Us – Miss You

Johnossi – Summerbreeze

The Gay Blades – Why Can’t I Grow A Beard?

Thanks for visiting our site all you Music And Lies fans!  Today we have decided to post some of our personal favorites.  Let us know what you think!

Listen Here:

Two Gallants – Despite What You’ve Been Told.mp3

The Chords – Sh-Boom.mp3

The Dells – Oh What A Night.mp3

Tom Waits – Jersey Girl.mp3

Everly Brothers – Walk Right Back.mp3

Barbara Streisand – People.mp3

Let us know your favorites and we’ll be sure to post them.

Oh dear me: I’ve noticed recently that I seem to be spending more and more of my blogs deviating from my purpose on this blog, which was originally to talk about the woes of the fashion world, and about what I do at Lipstick Royalty… but, to be honest, at the moment, I’m not especially bothered by that world, for which I guess all that I can say is “sorry”…

Because, y’see, at the moment, I’m revising for my AS Levels, something that I am just about sick to death of, and I want to be able to use my blog as an escape, not a chore, like it was when I was fashion blogging. I promise; I will get back to my original cause soon enough… but, not yet!

So, what’ve I been up to recently?

Sunday? 7 and a half solid hours of revision.
Monday? About 6 solid hours of revision.
Tuesday? Theatre exam rehearsals for 5 hours… and then I fell asleep!!
Yesterday? Theatre rehearsals again, followed by Starbucks (I’m a frapuccino addict!!), followed by writing my Theatre Studies coursework…

And today? I studied three stories from Dubliners, which is actually going to kill me one day. James Joyce, well isn’t he a joy to behold?! Blooming ‘eck, no. I looked at “The Boarding House” (thank God my mother isn’t like that!!), “Two Gallants” (as if they bleeding well are!!) and “After The Race” (my teacher told me to brace myself for that one, and take it with whisky. Hmmm. Thanks for that, Miss!)(I went for chocolate eggs in place of alcohol…).

Then… I answered a section of oral exam questions in French. J’en ai marre et zut alors et cetera! =|

And then… then I answerred the question “Was 1822 a turning point for the Tory party?”. It only needed two words: “Sort of” – but I forced myself to string an essay together. Woo. Fun stuff kiddo.

THEN… I redrafted yesterday’s portfolio.

And now I find myself here. Bored out of my skull, and writing a blog which no one in their right mind would ever want to read! (D’you reckon that if I post it on twitter, someone will be stupid/bored enough to?)(I do… )

So now I need some moral support from my friendees out there. Make me smile? Leave me constructive comments which will give me an insentive to continue, or at least impersonate a chicken and let me know about it or something….

And I CAN’T EVEN HAVE THE RADIO ON BECAUSE MY MUM’S IN THE ROOM – and I have a bizarre phobia of listening to the radio at the same time as someone else is in the room…

There’s something for you to do!! Let me know your (even wieder?) phobias! Please. I. Am. So. Incredibly. Bored.

(: Much love and hugs xxx

Oh. Here’s a rather long “PS” for you.
I’ve been on deviantart this afternoon, apres work, to try to keep my mind intact. It hasn’t really worked, but one can but try.
So here’s some stuff to look at! ^_^
WARNING. Paul, if you read my twitter post, and decided therefore to read this, DO NOT click the links. I will be entering these things into the “Dennies” contest. So you can’t look at them. A ha ha haaa.
Please?

http://saffiyascarlett.deviantart.com/art/BridgendGrrl-What-If-119451346
http://saffiyascarlett.deviantart.com/art/Write-A-Song-For-You-119440680
http://saffiyascarlett.deviantart.com/art/Pathetic-Fallacy-119109621

That really is all. Night Night Kiddos. (: xx

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Si, la verdad es que nos encanta el folk, para que engañarnos, y algo de lo ultimo que he escuchado es esta pareja de americanos provenientes de San Francisco que encuentran sus principales influencias en grandes de la americana como Dylan o John Fahey. Ademas pertenecen al sello Saddle Creek, como Bright Eyes o Rilo Kiley.

Su ultimo album, titulado Two Gallants(originalidad al poder) fue lanzado en 2007 y tuvo una gran acogida por la critica especializada, os recomiendo temas como The Deader y Miss Meri

The grey warm evening of August had descended upon the city and a mild warm air, a memory of summer, circulated in the streets. The streets, shuttered for the repose of Sunday, swarmed with a gaily coloured crowd. Like illumined pearls the lamps shone from the summits of their tall poles upon the living texture below which, changing shape and hue unceasingly, sent up into the warm grey evening air an unchanging unceasing murmur.

James Joyce is among the authors who cause me to both dream of being a writer and dread it at the same time, because to be a writer is to so plainly be a lesser to such men. The paragraph above is from  Two Gallants, a short story in the collection called Dubliners and serves as a clear illustration of the man’s literary brilliance.

God I fucking hate The Decemberists.

I mean, Jesus Fucking Christ can there be a worse band with more acclaim? Seriously, their music is fawned over by overtly pretentious white people, who use the music as yet another tool to look down their nose at people who just don’t “get” the music. In fact how the fuck is there not a Stuff White People Like article on these assholes and their fans? Really though Prog Folk? You people are fucking serious with this?

But, wait it gets worse! After Pitchfork’s less then stellar review of the album lead singer Colin Meloy called for a mass “e-mooning” via Twitter. this is the same asshole who released a statement that his band would never play Houston after the infamous Two Gallants incident at Walter’s on Washington back in 2006. Good job asshole go ahead and deprive the Rice kids of your terrible fucking music, they’ll just have to pass the time listening to something equally as shitty like Rouge Wave.

Pitchfork even had a quote from a Paste magazine interview with Meloy where he actually says “initially conceived as a musical… but I decided about halfway through my time in France that it wasn’t going to work as a stage piece. But it would still work as a rock record, so that’s where it ended up.”

I’ll go ahead and let that stand for it’s self.

These guys’ and their fans make Bright Eyes and their fans seem calm, and collected. In fact I once spent a Halloween dressed as one. Costume is as follows: one suit coat, one button up shirt, one pair of corduroys, one pair of glasses, a wine glass with a Shiraz, one pair of loafers, one incessant need to tell everyone how fucking amazing the layering of the instrumental orchestration is on Castaways & Cutouts (seriously what the fuck does that even mean?).

Take a listen to this shit

The Decemberists – The Hazards Of Love 2 (Wager All)

Terrible isn’t it? Go pick up the Dan Deacon album instead.

Oh yeah Reggie Miller sucks.

Banda muito boa essa. Segundo a revista Inrockutibles, o som é como se Bob Dylan fizesse covers do The White Stripes. Mas pra mim é mais como se Johnny Cash fizesse covers do The White Stripes. Na verdade, acho que é mais como The White Stripes fazendo covers de Johnny Cash.

Oh lady fair,
Your strangling hair
Ribbons around my tongue.
I try to speak.
My thoughts grow weak
From all the yarns you’ve spun.
I heard them say that evil may
Walk in beauty’s shoes.

Well, if ever I could love myself
Then I’ll stop loving you.

Were you out the other night
Flirting with all my friends?
I heard you told a joke or two
With my name at the end.
come ’round home, I’m all alone,
Tell me that just ain’t true.

Well if ever I could love myself
then I’ll stop loving you.

When you’re gone, I’ll carry on,
It’s never meant to last.
I’d much prefer to sit alone
And dream about the past.
So I say “Some how, some way”
Till I believe it’s true.

And, if ever I could love myself
then I’ll stop loving you.

Mais um bom som de Two Gallants! Enjoy

Este é um grande som que me foi dado a conhecer pelo Juba já há uns tempos. Gosto muito do inicio da música. O resto do álbum dos gajos não é mau mas nenhuma das outras músicas chega aos calcanhares desta. A seguir…