earth day 2008

From roots to garbage. Pictures taken on Earth Day 2008. The song is something I recorded a while ago fittingly titled "Floating Embers."

all is well by samamidon

This long-overdue post highlights the latest release from New York musician Sam Amidon. This Vermont native grew up the child of folk musicians with an affinity for the sounds of Appalachia.

Amidon began his musical career with indie-rock bands Doveman and Stars Like Fleas in New York City. Recently, though, he has branched out solo, releasing LP's under his own name. His latest release, All Is Well, was recorded in Reykjavik, Iceland, under the production of Valgeir Sigurðsson. It was released February 5, 2008 by Bedroom Community.

All Is Well is comprised of 10 renditions of folk standards that become uniquely Amidon.

Samamidon - Saro (mp3 download)


Smithsonian Folkways American Roots Collection version
performed by Doug & Jack Wallin - Pretty Saro (mp3 download)


Samamidon - "Saro"

fleet foxes by fleet foxes

This ablum is pure freedom. I'm not trying to be dramatic, but in an age when music has to be so complicated and hyper-analyzed, Fleet Foxes make criticism easy because they are so obviously good.

Fleet Foxes formed in 2006 in Seattle, WA. Since releasing a self-titled EP that year, they have toured extensively and written new material. In early 2008, they released Sun Giant [EP] in Seattle and via Sub Pop's web site. It will be released in stores nationwide tomorrow, April 8.

Their debut full-length is also self-titled and will be released by Sub Pop on June 3, 2008. Fleet Foxes is a beautiful summer album, with layered harmonies riding the wind like a wave.

Partly because I am a loss for words and partly because I just want the music to speak for itself, I won't try to describe it. I will, however, quote band memeber Robin Pecknold:

“We aim to be adventurous and true to ourselves and to enjoy our time together—the music we make is a reflection of our instincts. To me, the most enjoyable thing in the world is to sing harmony with people, so we do that a bunch. We love acoustic guitars, electric guitars, big rolling tom drums, mandolins, dulcimers, bass guitars, bass pedals, organs, pianos, kotos, and most of all harmony and melody. We’ve succeeded for ourselves if we’ve made a song where every instrument is doing something interesting and melodic. We try to draw from the traditions of folk music, pop, choral music and gospel, baroque psychedelic, sacred harp singing, West Coast music, traditional music from Ireland to Japan, and film scores, and are inspired by the music of our friends and contemporaries in the Seattle music family.”

downloads (right click and save as)

Sun Giant [EP]:
Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant (mp3)
Fleet Foxes - Drops in the River (mp3)
Fleet Foxes - English House (mp3)
Fleet Foxes - Mykonos (mp3)
Fleet Foxes - Innocent Son (mp3)

from Fleet Foxes:
Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal (mp3)
Fleet Foxes - Tiger Mountain Peasant Song (mp3)
Fleet Foxes - Quiet Houses (mp3)
Fleet Foxes - Oliver James (mp3)