music for dead birds - vitamins

music for dead birds is an irish drums and guitar duo that blends traditional celtic folk melodies and sounds with heavy rock/grunge vibe in way i've honestly never heard before. rousing, big muff pedal choruses are intermingled with delicate acoustic string work and contemplative singing, packing a punch in between the traditional material that hangs around the edges of the songs.



name your price for this self produced album right here.

supersmall - this other world

supersmall is the multi-national, new york based combination of irish songwriter colin dempsey and isreali drummer daniella schiller. their debut album 'this other world', is a catchy, songwriterly collection of strummin' & drummin' folk rock. the album is minimally produced beyond the guitar, drums and voice, with subtle strings and touches of electric piano. it works well that way, a not so easy feat made easier by the fact that dempsey sounds very at home crooning his jaunty, bittersweet tunes.



buy the album here.

fur trader - fall moon demo

fur trader is a one man ambient/drone folk act from indiana. the music found on his 'fall moon demo' is comprised of washed out strings, trance-state drums, the found sounds of nature (including i think a crackling fire on the opening track 'at the fire's edge') and quasi-mystical moaning. the album is dark and monotonous (in a good way) and is full of deep-woods, ritualistic vibes.



name your price for it and some older recordings right here. if i had gotten this a day earlier, i would've had one more track for the no words mixed tape!

no words mixed tape

i thought i would drop another mix tape today, albeit a brief one. the theme is no words. i've got here a selection of six instrumental pieces, some american primitive, shufflin' rags, dreamy experimental folk, and ambient drone for you. enjoy.

the track list is as follows:

1 - he howls - once or twice aint good enough

2 - michael wohl - sheepmanblues
3 - j. williams friedman - sturm's a brewin'
4 - daniel bachman - seven pines (live)
5 - las lanas - on waking
6 - the modern folk - frosty dawn

download it right here.

arborea - fortress of the sun

arborea's 5th album, 'fortress of the sun' sounds a little bit like its title. a hazy, burnt around the edges psych folk ramble with desert-spirit lonesome-acid vocals and dreamy, fatigued instrumentation. at times this music sounds sun baked, like a heat mirage. some of the tunes hang loosely on the frames of traditional american folk songs. it's appropriate that this release is a collaboration with the infamous label ESP, home of such freak folk founding fathers as pearls before swine and the holy modal rounders. 'fortress of the sun' fits nicely into that catalog.



get more arborea here and here. buy 'fortress of the sun' here.

jessica bundy - careless smile

canadian folk songstress jessica bundy's first EP 'careless smile' is a whistful and darkly pretty debut. the songs are sparsely but carefully produced, with bundy's fluid guitar playing and subtle touches of strings or synth pads and percussion providing an intimate setting for her emotive voice, which can range from fragility to a brimming confidence while delivering her confessional folk style lyrics.



get the EP for $5 canadian right here. find out more about jessica bundy here. observe below a live performance of her song 'to fall'.

holiman y ube - si me miras (video)

a new genre for MFOA, here is a video from las vegas latin/urban duo holiman y ube. high energy electronic influenced latin dance grooves, with the music and video completely self produced. a blend of reggaeton, dubstep and hiphop that will certainly make you shake it hard. there is a little intro time to the video, it starts to bang around the one minute mark. this is a post that reminds me why i keep up with MFOA. these guys found my site and got in touch with me, and that's what i'm here for.



find out more about holiman y ube here and here. watch a bunch more music videos on their youtube channel.

michael wohl - moonfeeder/song of impermanence

awhile back i featured micheal wohl's excellent (and sold out!!) self released cassette in the american primitive mold, titled 'eight pieces for solo guitar'. now he is releasing a 7", 'moonfeeder/song of impermanence'. this piece of wax features two fairly acrobatic takoma school inspired compositions. 'moonfeeder' is a moody piece, evoking to me a wolf howling at the moon. 'song of impermanence' is somewhat more playful and rests more solidly in the country blues mode.



get it right here.

las lanas - the blind year

las lanas is the nom de song of brooklyn based singer/songwriter lisa liu. on her newest recording effort 'the blind year', liu brings together graceful, airy arrangements of piano and fingerstyle guitar with introspective, personal lyrics delivered in an ethereal, doubled near whisper. the effect is a restrained, musical beauty that is not easy to come by. there are also moments of instrumental meditation such as the spectral 'on waking'. this album is recommended.



get 'the blind year' right here.

the moonage shine - the western front EP

coming in at eight tunes in length, texas trio the moonage shine's 'western front EP' could fairly be called a full album. combining vintage psych and folk sounds with modern influences in an appealing lofi blend, the moonage shine yields a dark album of ambient, swirling alt-country with just enough weirdness in the peals of feedback and shuffling tambourines.  



get more shine right here. below, observe a video for the song 'river hymn'.

blind willies - big city (video)

blind willies is a san fransisco folk rock quintet with a few albums under their belts. their latest song 'big city' is a song about reflecting on the past and hoping for a better future. the big city seems like a character in the video.



get more blind willies here and here.

ezra triste - boy with antlers

bedroom/lofi singer/songwriter and recording artist joplin rice has too many songs for just one name, so here is another album he recorded recently, under the name ezra triste. composed mostly of just a guitar and vocals, this album is more bare bones than his work under the joplin rice name, but with a the same tape fuzz, swirling indie folk melodies and surreal, imagistic lyrics.



name your price for it here. grab the music recorded under the joplin rice name here.

accidentals - plain flavored gum

ever wish there was more music out there that sounded like that snotty, sloppy, snarly pop punk (op ivy/rancid, green day?) that hit it's zenith in the early to mid 90's? if, like me, you sometimes do, look no further than accidentals from buffalo, NY. you can hear and almost feel the drunken basement antics in this beer spittin', crowd surfin', occasional skankin' punk rock. like much of the classic 90's pop punk accidentals harken back to, their lyrics are just emotional enough to stir your rusty heart strings and make you raise a beer in the air when the "oh oh oh" misfits parts kick in.



name your price for it here.

teenager - big squeeze

teenager, a bedroom power pop giant from san fransisco, is releasing the tunes from his newest album 'the magic of true love' at a rate of one per week. this week's tune is the honestly brilliant 'big squeeze', an undeniably jaunty, swinging tune in the tradition of pop perfectionist/intellectual auteurs such as emitt rhodes and van duren. clever, maximally produced with bedroom charm, and catchy as hell.

preview the whole album right here.

kramies - all clocks were broken (video)

i posted about the great new dream pop EP 'wooden heart' by dutch artist kramies awhile back. here is the video for the jason lytle (of grandaddy fame) produced tune 'all clocks were broken' from that release



get 'wooden heart' here.