Sunday 19 December 2010

Tuesday 14 December 2010

LISTEN: The Young Sinclairs - (I Need You) To Be Strong






you were always talking you were too proud to listen
laughing at me for a while
you've had it bad but I doubt you're worried
I just wanna see you smile
I need you, I need you, I need you, I need you to be strong
all the years you want to do alone
songs to show her for she's dying
please believe I'd never try and turn you
don't belong and don't be mine
I need you, I need you, I need you, I need you to be strong
I can feel it when I start to dream

Sunday 12 December 2010

LISTEN: River James - Fragile



River James follow-up last months incredible 'Arlington' with a new track entitled 'Fragile.' If these two tracks are anything to go by, their upcoming EP is definitely something to look forward to!

Saturday 11 December 2010

WATCH: Bruce Springsteen - Ain't Good Enough For You



If this video doesn't put a smile on your face for the whole weekend, I don't know what will! This and 'Save My Love' are easily two of the best songs I've heard all year and up there with the best songs Bruce has ever written. Magic!

Thursday 9 December 2010

WATCH: Desert River


Desert River from Nicholas Waggoner on Vimeo.


Beautiful video. 

WATCH: Ueli Steck - The Swiss Machine



Wow. This guy is incredible! Time to check out the full length film!

Wednesday 8 December 2010

LISTEN: Nightlands - Suzerain (A Letter to the Judge)


Nightlands - Suzerain (A Letter to the Judge) from Mark Schoneveld on Vimeo.


Just discovered this over on Trippin Through The Dew and loved it on the first listen. Time to head over to his bandcamp and listen to the other tracks available from the album, 'Forget the Mantra.'
"Nightlands is the recording project of Philadelphia-based multi-instrumentalist Dave Hartley. The music he creates in his bedroom is itself a bed of delicate, chiming strings and bubbling synths beneath a blanket of choral vocal arrangements. It's dreamy in the literal sense -- the seeds for the album were sown when Hartley began archiving musical ideas that occurred in his sleep with a simple bedside tape recorder. As a result his debut album Forget the Mantra is, in essence, a field recording of Hartley's dreams -- a travel journal through pop music and a collection of psych-hymns from the first human lunar colony. The songs sound both huge and intimate, breathy and cavernous like massive echoes of a faraway concert. It's the big, shadow music from just across the lake.
The album deals with themes of anxiety, fear and the limits of concentration. Therein, it mines Hartley's personal history as often as it does influences The Beach Boys, The Traveling Wilburys and Hawkwind. Side A pulses with layers of tom tom drums on wide-open standout slow jam "300 Clouds" and nimbly-picked acoustic melodies on "Suzerain (A Letter to the Judge)," like Crosby, Stills & Nash gone comsic-kraut. The songs roll and gallop then stop to breathe, always exhaling with what sounds like a thousand voices. Through its experimental back half -- reminiscent of Bowie's Low or Kate Bush's "The Ninth Wave" from Hounds of Love -- full of vocal samples from Hartley's real life, the more pop-leaning front end is given greater context, like a close study of a plant's blossom before traveling down through its root architecture.
Hartley, who for years has been a prolific sideman in many Philadelphia ensembles (most notably The War on Drugs), laid these songs to tape on a Tascam 388 insularly over several months, inviting friends along for feedback and ultimately, some additional tracking."
via Secretly Canadian

Tuesday 7 December 2010

LOOK: Logging Photos from Oconto County, Wisconsin (1823-1920)

"Temporary cabins were constructed right after the harvest season in fall, by the woodsmen, in the area to be worked. These log buildings housed the loggers and other camp residents for that particular winter. These were typical of the late 1800's from the Wheeler area, which is now known as Lakewood, in the northwestern part of the county. Often they were dismantled and rebuilt the next fall in a new location."

Joe Ziereis and son George 

6 Men On Logs.
"The relative size of these northern Wisconsin trees can be understood when compared to the size of the full grown men standing on them. After cutting, came the trimming off of all the branches, which were then cut to use and sell as firewood."
See more here.

Monday 6 December 2010

WATCH: The Annual Fjällräven Classic




ome join Fjällräven Classic – a trek in the Lapland mountains of Sweden and a folk festival for one and all - young and old, people who like to speed through life as well as those who like to stroll, experienced mountain foxes and curious beginners. With the right preparations, you and a group of people who share your goal will conquer a 110-kilometre challenge.
We know you will enjoy reaching out to the wilderness, but in the best moments the wilderness will be reaching out to you. When you least expect it. And that is what makes your experience unique.
Welcome to a wonderful opportunity to interact with Sweden's most breathtaking wilderness and gain a memory for life.



"We were thrilled to have Outside TV overseas for the Fjällräven Classic this year, capturing the event and its surroundings. Get a sneak peak of the feature in photos here and stay tuned for Outside TV´s take on the long-distance trek."


WATCH: Neil Young - Journey Through the Past (Live 1971 for the BBC)

Sunday 5 December 2010

WATCH: Mi Chacra



Winner of the Grand Prize at the 2010 Banff Mountain Festival Film Competition.

"Heavy mist hangs over the towering Peruvian mountains as a young subsistence farmer, Feliciano, his wife Locrecia, and their small son Royer till their fertile land. Farming the fields above the Sacred Valley in southern Peru is all the indigenous people of Mullacas know - that and the taste of the local fermented corn beverage, chicha. Though theirs appears at first glance to be a peaceful life, isolation and lack of schooling have given rise to feelings of social inequality and an increase in alcoholism. So while he values the beauty of their surroundings, Feliciano wants his son, as his father wanted him, to move to the city so he can get an education and have a better life. Marking director Jason Burlage's feature debut, this moving documentary chronicles the young family's struggles through the planting season and Feliciano's more lucrative work as a porter along the Incan trails to Machu Picchu..."

LISTEN: Music For Your Plants




I woke up this morning to find it snowing again and the roads and pavements hidden once again. I also woke up to find an e-mail labelled 'some plant music' and a short message that included a mediafire link to their new self-released, self-titled EP and a link to the band's Soundcloud page. 


"We are a threesome voyage expedition adventure band from tallinn, estonia."


The band label themselves as playing "tropical, lo-fi, instrumental" music and whist that isn't too far off, they incorporate a whole load of other influences and sounds. In places they remind of 60s elevator music ('Agave Americana'), in others Dam-Funk ('Dr Mudawi') and others Ducktails and Dick Dale ('Enchanted Sister') and even At The Drive-In (Listen to 'Mr. Huanted'). Tropical Acid Surf Music complete with the sounds of the ocean and birds.

Be sure to also check out this interview with the band over at Ashtapes.



Wednesday 1 December 2010

LISTEN: River James - Arlington


"Inspired by Earl Swift’s collection of essays “Journey On The James” about a man’s journey along the entire James River, from its trickling mountain origins in Virginia’s Northwest corner to the mile wide mouth at Hampton Roads, four friends – Vintz, Scoops, Tyler, & Jacob sought to recreate the journey for themselves. Early in the summer of 2010, they packed up 2 canoes with camping supplies, food, & musical instruments and set out on a month long excursion along the 410 miles of the James. Along the way, they encountered landscapes & characters unique to the Lover’s state, stopping often to take in the surroundings, strum guitars, and beat drums to the pulse of the waters."

This sounds like it's going to pretty special! Even on my listen of 'Arlington', I already know I'm going to love their upcoming EP. Read more here.

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