Portastatic recently released "Some Small History," a collection of 44 tracks covering 18 years worth of b-sides, demos, and other rarities. According to Pitchfork Media, it "jumps styles, instruments, recording techniques and eras with almost each successive track. Sequenced irrespective of chronology, it's an overwhelming jumble of moods and ideas that offers neither an easy definition nor a target audience." Just in case you're curious, Merge Records is making 11 songs from the package available for free -- well, you can have it in exchange for your blood! Your blood, I tell you! Your... oops. Apologies. Halloween is nigh, and I'm freaking giddy. Ok. All you need to do is register, and I'm sure that what little info you entrust them with will be safe, secure, warm, fuzzy, and so forth.
Beyond that, I found another 11 tracks online for you from Portastatic -- the brainchild of Superchunk founder and reportedly presidential hopeful Mac McCaughan -- with no registration or fees required:
I Wanna Know Girls (from Bright Ideas)
Chesapeake (from The Summer of the Shark)
Noisy Night (from The Summer of the Shark)
You Know Where To Find Me (unreleased live track)
Hurricane Warning (with Ken Vandermark and Tim Mulvenna -- unreleased live track)
Stealing Romance (from Looking for Leonard)
Luka's Theme (Shaker Mix)
In the Lines (from The Summer of the Shark)
Sour Shores (from Be Still Please)
Trajectory (from Bright Ideas)
Some Small History
Incidentally, you can find some additional tracks at C/NET's Music.Download.com, including Lively Chase and Oh Come Down.
BONUS -- Liner Notes for free tracks Merge is offering from the "Some Small History" collection:
1.Slant Roof - i used to crank out lots of little instrumentals like this on this old Gretsch New Yorker hollow-body, with a little casio thrown in for good measure. this and Flat Roof were made to bookend the "Hello" CD series EP that i did....Laura Cantrell's CD in that series was really good.
2.Weed Hopper - from the same lineup that brought you such oddities as "La Pelicula", this is a new wave number that features Ben Barwick (of Ashley Stove fame) on vocals and guitar. i'm playing the Farfisa. what's it about? mowing the lawn? soccer? i can't tell!
3.A Faithless Auld Lang Syne - first appeared on the Looking for a Power Supply EP that came out in Spain, i always forget about the horn part until it arrives somewhat shakily halfway through. recorded in a little office above the Orange County Social Club in Carrboro, NC.
4.Books for Any Occasion - a Jim Wilbur-penned number recorded probably 1990. i'm playing percussion and noodling on the lead guitar. great lyrics!
5.Clean Barrell - you can hear the end of some other forgotten number as this one starts...probably supposed to be a noise rocker but it never quite achieves full momentum in that direction.
6.Following Footprints - there was a cassette label in Richmond, VA called Tenderette, this recording of one of my favorite Honor Role songs was for them. the original riff as played by Pen Rollings kills, as does Bob Schick's delivery, though you'd never know it from this version.
7.Echoes Myron - a jangly version of one of my favorite GBV songs, complete with harmonies sung slightly out of my range and the odd synth line.
8.Duck 96 - an instrumental recorded during the Nature of Sap sessions at Duck Kee Studios (by this time relocated from Raleigh to Mebane, NC)...features a song-long timbale solo from Matt McCaughan and absolutely no vocals. there were going to be vocals originally, i just couldn't figure out where to put them, which left me with a really long instrumental.
9.Peace, Love, and Understanding - this is what Bricks would have sounded like covering this song, in fact i'm not entirely sure that Andy Webster wasn't around when we did this at my house. i think it's mostly me and Wilbur (on percussion). i had the pleasure of seeing Nick Lowe play a lovely solo version of this recently.
10.Jetlag - a Jim Wilbur song from the same era as "Too Trashed to Smoke", actual drums played by me i think, it's about what it sounds like, Jim getting sick on whiskey at his brother's wedding, though it's probably also about so much more.
11.Flat Roof - the companion to Slant Roof. love that Casio kick drum.
More stuff from Merge:
Tie A Rope To The Back Of The Bus, Mower, Hyper Enough, Watery Hands, Her Royal Fisticuffs, Hello Hawk, and Act Surprised by Superchunk
National Talk Like a Pirate Day and Slipped Dissolved And Loosed by Lambchop
Madame Butterflies by Destroyer
A cover of a song from a band you might have heard of . . . by Radar Bros.
(You can also download Warm Rising Sun and Sisters here)
ALSO, while hunting down tracks from Portastatic, I discovered "If Children," the first collection of recordings from Baltimore-based Wye Oak, another member of the Merge roster.
"The duo of Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack present an exuberant and assured debut seamlessly combining elements of noise, folk, and shoegaze to create a style all their own."
Here are MP3 downloads for each of the album's 11 songs, and if you like this stuff, please consider picking up a superior sound quality version from Merge. Cheers!
Please Concrete
Warning
Regret
Archaic Smile
Family Glue
Orchard Fair
I Don't Feel Young
Keeping Company
A Lawn to Mow
If Children Were Wishes
Obituary
"Some can throw a switch and they can sell you some half truths / So lie and tell me you miss me."
No comments:
Post a Comment