Bat For Lashes

Just discovered this great little all female English band. They have a great sound. Accidently listened to Horses and I off of their album entitled "Fur and Gold". Soon as I heard I went and got the entire album. And I am not disapointed. Here is what WIKI has to say...

Bat for Lashes are an English female band led by Natasha Khan (born 25 October 1979), a Brighton-based songwriter.

Born to an English mother, and a Pakistani father, part of the eminent family of squash-playing Khans, her early childhood was spent travelling the world following her father who trained the Pakistani squash team, summers in Pakistan, and the rest of the time in Hertfordshire[1][2]. She had a strict religious upbringing until her parents separated, when she was eleven years old.

Khan graduated in film and music; while at university her experimental work was influenced by artists such as Steve Reich and Susan Hiller, and she produced multi-media work centred on sound installations, animations and performance. She went on to work as a nursery-school teacher, and it was during this period that she began writing the material for her first album.

Her debut single, "The Wizard", was released digitally through DiS records and on seven inch through Khan's own imprint, She Bear Records. She then signed to the record label Echo, alongside Feeder and Róisín Murphy, and released her debut album, Fur and Gold, on 11 September 2006.

Bat for Lashes' music has been likened to the work of Björk, Thom Yorke, Cat Power, Tori Amos, and Kate Bush.

Twilight Singers Cover TV On the Radio

This so cool! The Twilight Singers doing a encore of Wolf Like Me by Radio TV On the Radio! This comes from the infamous show where they ended the show and everyone left, well almost everyone. Then those who had stuck around, about 50 people, got a one of a kind encore. Frontman Greg Dulli took the mike to tell the crowd, "You'd better fu**ing work for an encore!"

ONCE August 2007 Mixtape

It seems like I should start calling these ONCE Late August 2007 Mixtape because I am putting them out later and later in the month! But it is ok because I have made it up to you by putting together a pretty sweet mix for this month. I put this together and listened to it for a week before deciding on the final track arrangement, ect. And I am just digging it.

Track #1
Stars- The Night Starts Here

Great new track from Canadian masterminds the Stars. This track has it all from the dreamy male\female vocals to the intricate lyrics of doubt and remorse. This comes off their brand new album entitled "In the Bedroom After the War".

Track #2
Against Me! - Thrash Unreal

This band has surprised me lately. Never been a fan but everyone kept raving about the new album "New Wave". So I finally gave it a chance and have found it a pleasurable experience. This track attempts to explain the pain and loneliness that leads to trying to dull it with the weekly parties. Leaving us with the great line, "No mother ever dreams that their daughter is going to grow up to a junkie".

Track #3
Junior Boys - In the Morning

A great track that mixes dance with Indie rock to great some really cool ambience rock. Canada is really cranking out some great bands lately. And Junior Boys are no exception. The songs leads explains how at night we can seem old and mature but in the morning we realize that we are just too young for these things.

Track #4
120 Days - Sleepwalking

120 Days is a Norwegian band with some great influences to pull from. Formed in 2001 this song comes from their first full length self-titled EP that saw the light of day last year. This song sounds like they have a bit of Radiohead in them along with a little Depeche Mode. The bass line carries this song.

Track #5
Charlotte Gainsbourg - The Songs That We Sing

This singer hails from France where she holds not one but two Cesar Awards, the equivalent of the Academy Awards, for acting. This is from her album 5:55. For those of you who saw The Science of Sleep you might remember her as the character Stephanie. The song asks the question, why do we sing? And does the song mean the same for the people that we are singing them to.

Track #6
CL Smooth - Smoke In the Air

In the 90's the famous hip-hop duo of Pete Rock and CL Smooth were the inspiration for lots of rappers. But after a falling out with his partner, CL has laid low until last year when he put out his album "American Me". The album is full of great beats and even better lyrics. This track is no exception and shows why CL Smooth is such a prolific artist.

Track #7
Clutch - Electric Worry

My friend Nathan turned me on to these guys about a year ago. Picture this. it is hot, humid and the mosquitoes are biting. And the five piece from Maryland is singing about the worries of relationships. Having been around since 1991, the band recently released their 17th album and continues it's steady progression into the world of blues rock. The song plays like a preacher telling the congregation of their sins. With this song they show why they are still a force to be reckoned with even after almost 17 years.

Track #8
Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)

This band almost made my mix a couple of months ago when their stellar album "Neon Bible" was released. For one reason or another they never quite made it. But this song off of their debut album "Funeral" really embodies what is so cool about this band. The slow bass line build up leads into the the resounding chorus that proclaims "every time you close your eyes... lies, lies". You can sleep but your problems don't go away.

Track #9
Wolf Parade - It's A Curse

Boy I could do a mixtape just on great Canadian bands that have come out in the last couple of years. Here we have Wolf Parade who was formed one day when the singer Spencer Krug was asked to open for Arcade Fire on their Us Kids Know tour. With only three weeks lead time they put together a band and recorded enough songs to get a EP out. Last year saw the release of their first full length EP entitled Apologies to the Queen Mary. This track takes us on a night trip driving with no particular place in mind.

Track #10
We Are Scientist - What's the Word

A great band out of California. They are close friends with Art Brut the band that made the ONCE July 2007 Mixtape. The song laments on the possibilities of being someone who tries to stand for something but fails in the end.

Track #11
Counting Crows - Holiday In Spain

I just heard someone out there reading this, "hey I know this band!". I am a sucker for good piano rock and no one does it better than perennial favorites Counting Crows. This song comes from the closing track off of "Hard Candy". A cool ditty about getting fed up with life and jumping on a plane for a quiet vacation with some bananas and booze.

Track #12
Samuel L. Jackson - Stackolee

Sam Jackson sings?! Yep, but it isn't a big departure from his usual self. Expect plenty of cussing, ranting and a great story. The song has it's roots in a John Lomax track from 1910. It tells the story of a man who finds his women messing around with another man and the revenge that he extracts. In this version of the song, which you can see in the great movie "Black Snake Moan", Jackson sings his own version of the torrid tale.

Track #13
Ani Difranco - 32 Flavors

Everyone's favorite folk singer out of Buffalo, New York gives a new listen to a classic of hers. She reinvents the song in this performance taken from her "So Much Laughing, So Much Shouting" live album. What is always a great song is giving a new skin.

Track #14
Two Hours Traffic - Heroes of the Sidewalk

Straight out of Canada, they recently released their first full length album entitled "Little Jabs". The songs on the album are full of poppy goodness and some decent vocals. This song is about eloping and feeling sorry for everyone else because they don't have the love that they have.