Salad Fork has just put out a benefit compilation for Japan, composed of unreleased tracks from various artists. The tracks can be freely downloadable from their website, and you can buy one of the 36 hand-made packages for just $10, money that will be donated to Architecture for Humanity. Contribute to a good cause and get some new tunes (by the likes of Surf Club, Branches, Robert Foster or The Astroboy) hitting the link below.
Kim Ki O and Mkrni were meant to play in the previous day but had to postpone their gigs, so they opened the day at the pool stage. When we arrived there, Mkrni was already playing, followed by Narwhal and Nazka. All of them provided nice background music to a game of cards that I invariably lost almost all the times, but the prize goes to the drony/psychedelic outfit Narwhal. I almost got up to go see them, but figured out that losing one more round was probably a better choice. The only band playing on the pool that day that made me get up from my towel was Pega Monstro.
I intended to post about this in a long time now, but work has since piled up and I forgot about it. “Ghosts of the Dust Bowl” is the latest recording from Cliff Dweller, a multi-media collective from LA. I found this album while browsing the “folk” tag on Bandcamp – something that I should probably do more often – and it sounds like a homage to the Old West, the lonesome music being reminiscent of early, Spoke-era Calexico. I’m currently reading the Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy and this might be the perfect album to read it along to. Feel free to stream or download it for free below, courtesy of the artists themselves.
On the second day, we chose to skip the crowded pool: there was a giant entry line, which means virtually no space to lay a towel, let alone having a spot away from the sun. We took a walk in the city instead, and stumbled into The Glockenwise playing on a quiet garden near the city center, while being filmed by the Videoteca Bodyspace team.
After a couple of weeks devoted to the fabulous festival we’re still covering, I took little time to listen to new music. Opening an email at random, I discovered Breton Parks, a multi-instrumentalist from Denver, Colorado who has just put out his debut album, “Whelk”, available for free on his webpage. This guy can write pretty decent songs; why is he giving away his music for free instead of having a big label milking his talent? Having listened to the first half of the album, “Passing Off” and “Of Course That’s What You’re For” are the highlights. Someone please download this album, record it to a CD and send it to me through snail mail. It’s quicker than my connection back home and I’m pretty sure “Whelk” deserves the time you’d spend doing all that for me. For us.
