Keepin’ on keepin’ on thanks to Long Player Late Bloomer by Ron Sexsmith!

February 1, 2011
By

Photography by Evie

We here at TSURURADIO are hard at work preparing for the launch of our next zine. It’s going to be beyond epic… One might even say “super epic”. On top of that, we are working on a special little presentation for you here but be on the lookout on Friday, Februrary 4th at http://tsurufoto.etsy.com — STAY VIGILANT!!!

WOOT!

It’s going to be our biggest and baddest zine yet! It’s a lot of work but fortunately I’ve got a sweet new gem of an album by long, long, LONG time TSURURADIO fave Ron Sexsmith and his latest LP Long Player Late Bloomer to keep me on task!

There is only one word for a Ron Sexsmith album you need to know, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”…… It’s like soaking weary feet in small tub of hot water and Epsom salt.

You know what you are going to get… Chill-tempoed (yeah, “chill-tempoed”, it’s a word.. I just created it) pop/rock. Like sweet AM radio tunes from the olden days of my youth that just fill the room with expertly crafted songs about love & life.

SIDE NOTE: The new Edie Brickell showed up on the internettals recently as well. Someone should really get these two together for a sweet little duet, amirite??

Anywhosals….. Enjoy!

1. Get In Line
2. The Reason Why
3. Believe It When I See It
4. Miracles
5. No Help At All
6. Late Bloomer
7. Heavenly
8. Michael And His Dad
9. Middle Of Love
10. Everytime I Follow
11. Eye Candy
12. Love Shines + the viddy….  Looks so familiar, eh?  Fuck who?

13. Nowadays

Ron Sexsmith love: Official

Cheers,
T.

VIDEO & BANDCAMP: Adelei by Lohio! Date night soon, Baby???

January 28, 2011
By

Just got this in ye ol’ inbox and it kinda caught my eye. Band called Lohio. Even got a Bandcamp page?

Nice! Looks like they be coming our way soon…. Date night, Baby???

2/3 Buffalo, NY 136 Loft
2/4 Morgantown, WV 123 Pleasant Street
2/5 Elkins, WV Davis & Elkins College
2/7 New York City Union Hall
2/8 New York City Lit Lounge
2/10 Elon, NC The Fat Frogg
2/12 Chapel Hill, NC The Cave
2/14 Lexington, KY Cosmic Charlies
2/15 Bloomington, IN The Bishop
2/16 Louisville, KY Rudyard Kipling
2/17 Indianapolis, IN Vollrath
2/18 Columbus, OH KOBO
2/19 Pittsburgh, PA Thunderbird

I said hell yeah to Said The Whale’s Islands Disappear!

January 28, 2011
By


Photography by Renee King

What? Wonderful indie-pop from Canada that I’ve never heard of? What? Been cranking out albums since ’07? How the hell is that even possible??? Seriously? It’s amazing what gets under the radar, isn’t it? There are just so so so many bands. You know, if we had as many bands available to us as we did back in the 80s/90s, we’d have a need for maybe 2, 3 blogs tops.

Though, I think music blogs are becoming obsolete — I mean think about it. Why do you need blogs when you got your massive massive social network of twitterers, facebookers, tumblrerers (assuming they can actually keep tumblr running), plus your pandoras, iTunes, last.fmers, various boards & forums, etc, etc, etc, etc, telling you, yeah YOU what to listen to? Blogs are becoming white noise. — the one thing keeping us in business is the sheer volume of bands out there your social group just can’t get to, that we music geekeronis suck in & spit out like dirty rapid-fire spit balls.

The commoditization of music meets the white noise of blogs and suddenly I can’t remember what I was loving the fuck out of just last week. Sad, eh?

But then you come across a little simple & simply awesome pop gem like Islands Disappear filled with one nugget after another of indietastic crafted tunes that apparently came out waaaaay back in ought-niner by Said The Whale and all that other bullshit just fades away……..

*happy sigh*

1. Dear Elkhorn
2. Gold in Them Plains
3. B.C. Orienteering
4. Camilo (The Magician)

5. Emerald Lake, AB
6. Islands Disappear
7. Black Day in December
8. Gentleman

9. False Creek Change
10. A Cold Night Close to the End
11. The Gift of a Black Heart
12. Goodnight Moon

13. Holly, ON

Whale love: Official | Twitter

Have a wonderful weekend, ya’ll! I’ll be a busy beaver wrapping up our NEXT ZINE (no. 3!), as well as getting some riding done and hanging out with my Baby. So, until next time!

Cheers,
Tsuru aka Aaron

Yeah, I’m kinda obsessed with Dye It Blonde by Smith Westerns…

January 27, 2011
By


Photography by effie-fay

Let’s keep this one tight and to the right, shall we? Played this once on a whim, liked some songs, threw one on a mixtape, moved on, forgot about it. Until this week when I had that “oh yeah, forgot about you!” moment scannin’ ye ol’ iPodaroni. Then I pushed the play button and a little obsession of sorts took over. Yeah, I’m kinda obsessed with Dye It Blonde by Smith Westerns…

When it first gets going with one of their “singles” “Weekend”, you think to yourself, “alright, alright, not too shabby-dabby… not too shabby-dabby at all”. But then “Still New” gets going, and it kiiinda has the same vibe, that is until that lead guitar comes in dripping of 70s rock-operatics, beyoooo be-be-beyoooo! Then the jaunty “Imagine Pt. 3″ continues the feel. And so it goes. What’s interesting his just how, though it contains that hazy pop sunset overall aesthetic, the album seems to get more and more theatric the deeper we go!

Not sure how to explain it… Individually, the songs play as simple pop songs. But taken as a whole, it almost comes off as a rock-musical! Seriously. Don’t know another way to say express it. It feels like there’s a story here. Now, I haven’t quite got into the lyrics, so I could be completely full of shitake mushrooms, but it’s just wonderful.

Listen to the singles below, but really grab the whole thing, turn it up loud, and see for yourself!

DOWNLOAD DYE IT BLONDE

01. Weekend
02. Still New
03. Imagine Pt. 3
04. All Die Young
05. Fallen In Love
06. End of the Night
07. Only One
08. Smile
09. Dance Away
10. Dye the World

Smith Western love: Myspace? Really Smith Westerns? Time to get your shit together, you are too good for myspace.

Cheers,
Tsuru

VIDEOS: A shit ton o’ Said The Whale….

January 26, 2011
By

Yeah, kinda hooked on their last album at the moment. Went to find a viddy and found a shit ton. And, my friends, that’s a lot of shit, eh? Good times…

Gramahawk by Modern Skirts and we are still in our PJs!

January 24, 2011
By


Photography by Kalif Banane

It’s amazing anyone records in studios anymore, isn’t it? Last week, we went pretty deep into why you as a independent band, should delete your myspace page. The response has been overwhelming! Bloggers & band members joined up in a pretty united voice recognizing that diluting your band by spreading them all over the internet for the sake of being heard vs. focusing and directing your potential new fans to, at most, one site for news/tours/vids (like a blog) and one site to stream/embed/PURCHASE (like bandcamp).

The revolution is not over, we still have much work to do to get the word out. Do we start a facebook page (seems rather counter-revolutionary though)? A new blog? Just keep pointing people to our post that started it all? Keep an eye!

But, beyond that, this weekend I was listening to the new Modern Skirts album that found it’s way onto the intertubes of cyber love and I read somewhere that much (if not all) of the album was made via bedroom recordings.

If you hadn’t had told me, I’d never had known. As computers come, more and more as standard, with recording programs like Garage Band or with Audacity and what not free online, it’s amazing that anyone uses studios anymore. Don’t get my wrong, I’m grateful people do. Many many bands need to have that outside eye & ear at the helm, a professional system with professional people to help guide them along.

Sometimes we just don’t know when we suck.

But at the same time… not only has the demolition of the barriers to entry into the music world allowed for a seemingly infinite number of bands to try to make it, it’s also had to have made it so so so liberating for everyone, from your average schmo to your superbands to just plug in and go, upload & send, check done. A couple layers and you got a “full band” releasing a full song, never having to get out of your PJs. Pretty epic.

Seems to have done well for the Modern Skirts and their new album Gramahawk!

Apparently, after their last album, Modern Skirts felt the need to step back, do a little self-check action of sorts, then start tinkering around at home. The response seemed to be encouraging and before you know it, we got ourselves a full on gem!

The album is heavy on percussion and voice-play, which pulls them from the slightly more straight-forward pop we fell for on their last album. The mulit-leads still dominate (including the one guy who sounds like the guy from They Might Be Giants). But this time out, they are singing about their mad crush on Jane Child…


hot.

…break-ups, and, DUIs — which is also the name one of my favourite songs on the album, it’s almost like a military-carnival thing, pretty awesome-o! — hahahahahahhaha-EXCELLENT! To me, this is miminalist Modern Skirts kinda. Stark, rough, and really really fun.

01. Jane Child
02. Happy 81
03. Under Bridges and Overpasses
04. Bumper Car
05. DUI
06. Tape Deck
07. Glass of Water
08. American Gothic
09. Shipshape
10. Hitler on Wheels
11. To Be a Branch Davidian

Modern Skirt love: Tumblr!

Tour Dates:
1.21 – Charleston, SC – Tin Roof
2.11 – Raleigh, NC – Pour House
2.12 – Charlotte, NC – Snug Harbor
3.4 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club
3.5 – Atlanta, GA – Smith’s Olde Bar
3.11 – New Orleans, LA – Circle Bar

Previously…

Cheers!
T.

GUEST POST! Aloud.com’s Callie gives us the low-down on her Top 5 Upcoming Bands of 2011!

January 21, 2011
By


Photography of Yuck in London via Music For Kids Who Can’t Read Good (sorry, no credit to the photographer given)

Hey teamo! Got a special little treat for the day… The other day, the folks at Aloud.com asked if they could do a little guest post by Callie Morris on some awesome up & coming live acts of 2011. A) Being WOEFULLY ignorant on live shows (seriously, think I went to 2 concerts last year, not including the Sled Island music fest in Calgary which, by the way, is back again this year) & B) always love to have some fresh faces here on our own slice of the cyber intertubal love canals, I said “Sure! Bring it!”

Brunged it, they did. The metaphorical floor is all yours Callie!

***

Hello tsuruites! At the request of Tsuru himself I will tell you a little about me… I love music, (funnily enough!) gigs, new bands and then maybe a little bit of humming and foot tapping if it seems necessary. I sometimes go through phases where I listen to the same song on repeat for 3 days and then move on to the next one without a backwards glance. I thought I’d share with you guys the 5 bands I think will be tickling everyone’s fancy this year… Hope you like it!

The Top 5 Upcoming Bands of 2011

Well the Christmas decorations have all been taken down, and rooms just look like rooms again… Anyone got the January blues? Well with a whole lot of new music heading our way we have something to look forward to again. Callie Morris, web editor for ticketing website Aloud.com gives us her take on which will be the best live acts of 2011.

Funeral Party

Indie dance punk act Funeral Party began making a name for itself with the release of debut single ‘New York City Moves to the Sound of LA’ in mid-2010. They then went on to release equally popular ‘Finale’ in December, showing that they definitely aren’t going anywhere for a while.

With the release of a debut album Golden Age of Knowhere later this month, Funeral Party are about to explode onto the scene, time to get on that bandwagon now!

Their gigs are packed full of energy and enthusiasm, making them definite ones to go and see this year. Heading off on a UK tour in Bristol on 25th January, with visits to Scotland and Ireland thrown in, they will finally end with a performance at ‘Next Big Thing’ in London on 13th February.

For Funeral Party tickets and more details go to Aloud.com.

Clare Maguire

With her powerful voice and emotional lyrics Clare Maguire is topping all the lists as one of 2011’s most significant rising stars. Her debut single ‘Ain’t Nobody’ has brought her to our attention, leaving us all waiting to see what she can come up with next.

Clare’s new album Light After Dark comes out in February and will secure her fortune for the upcoming year.

Live, her vocal talents are pretty impressive – well worth getting involved before everyone else does! Clare will be performing in London and Glasgow in the next couple of months, check out Aloud.com for more details.

Egyptian Hip Hop

Genre spanners Egyptian Hip Hop mix together pop, punk, indie, alternative rock and electro to create music with so much enthusiasm and character we defy anyone to not get up and dance!

With the release of their first single ‘Wild Human Child/Heavenly’ in May last year they caught the attention of the Radio DJs and music critics. Just half a year later they have a huge fan base in the underground music scenes, and will undoubtedly be storming the mainstream in 2011.

They’ll be performing at the ‘New to Q Sessions’ on 27th January in London, for Egyptian Hip Hop tickets and more information go to Aloud.com.

Oh, they have funny tweets too. Usually about music… @egyptianhiphop

Yuck

Yuck is due to release its 2011 debut album in January, shaking off the old Cajun Dance Party roots of members Daniel and Max to create their own take on alternative rock with a very flippant edge… And a lot of distortion.

With Yuck you get two bands for the price of one – Their acoustic side project Yu(c)k is also making waves with music industry types and reeling in the crowds, these guys are definitely on my list of ones to watch out for!

They will be touring round the UK in February this year, including a performance at the NME Awards Show in London on 18th before ending in Manchester on 25th. For more details go to the Yuck tickets page at Aloud.com.

The Vaccines

After making their debut with the single ‘If You Wanna’ on YouTube, The Vaccines have started to cause a bit of hype – ranking up the support on various music blogs and tentatively entering into the mainstream.

Their first gig at the Flowerpot in Camden was a massive success, the packed out venue included audience members Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, Marcus Mumford, the Maccabees and White Lies. Not bad for a debut!

The Vaccines will be performing at the NME Awards Tour all over the UK in February and will be at the Isle of Wight Festival in June. For tickets and more details go to Aloud.com.

***

Thanks so much Callie!!! Sounds like you folks down in the UKs gonna have a busy ass 2011!

Cheers,
T.

Warming up with a hot cup of Reptilians by Starfucker!

January 21, 2011
By


Photography by encorine

The weather outside is frightful indeed! Great day for some SNOWCLOCROSS!!! cycling, for realz (dog). What’s SNOWCLOCROSS!!! cycling, you ask? Ah, let me quickly e’splain. You take the cheapest cyclocross bike you can find, as sported by this rather interestingly spandexed individual…

Then, you rip off the knobby tires and throw on some surprisingly inexpensive (compared to road bike tires) studded tires from Peter White Cycles

Wrap yourself in enough layers that people mistake you for the little brother in A Christmas Story..

Find the nearest paths & fields covered in ice & snow and RIDE, BABY RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Photo of me by Tulibo!

WOOOT! It’s a blast!

Careful though, studded tires help, but it certainly doesn’t prevent you from falling, as demonstrated by my last second decision one ride to cut across a deep snowy soccer field, only to forget about the way these junior mobile soccer nets are kept upright, running over one of the metal bars hidden in the snow, SLIP, PLOP!

Left a lovely profile of a heavily layered snow angle on a bike. I was only able to get back on the back after about, oh, 10 minutes of laughing my ass off. Yeah, straight up LMAOing, as the kids text.

But, while the thought of riding around like an idiot on ice sounds amazing, for now, I’m stuck inside with a chilly feeling lodged in my brain. Fortunately, I’ve got Repitilians by Starfucker to keep me warm!

Yeah, yeah, dance isn’t normally in my wheelhouse, it’s true, but man there is something about this album. To me, it seems to go beyond superficial dance music, maybe just using the base of dance to build really fun, quirky, pop music!

Songs like “Born” sound right out of a Flaming Lips album — Her naaaame is Yoshimi….. She’s a black-belt in karate! Woo woo woo! — where “Julius” seems like some trippy 80s sci-fi soundtrack before dropping into some chillllaxing “Bury Us Alive” and so it goes through out the album.

Sure, some slip more into dance than others, but it has the depth and breadth and etc that gives it longevity and repeatability , but really….. it’s just really fun to listen to!!!

Enjoy!

1. Born
2. Julius
3. Bury Us Alive
4. Mystery Cloud
5. Death as a Fetish
6. Astoria
7. Reptilians
8. The White of Noon
9. Hungry Ghost
10. Mona Vegas
11. Millions
12. Quality Time

Starfucker love: BANDCAMP

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! Stay warm, go ride yer bikes, go take some pictures (then send some to me), and we’ll be seeing you soon!

Cheers,
Tsuru

An open letter to independent artists to delete their myspace pages.

January 19, 2011
By

Dear independent artist,

It’s time.

It’s time to pull the plug on your myspace page. To pull the plug on an ugly ad-infested site saddled with 66 million dead and or dying accounts (though, personally, I don’t know anyone who hangs out there). In the world of myspace, you are nothing but an unhatched fly egg on the giant mound of turds, larvae, flys, and god knows what else, i.e. not even a blip.

Your myspace is, at best, a diversion of a few select streamable songs on a horrible music player that I can’t even embed and promote for you on my shitty blog, along with some vids and info, lost in a shuffle of ads, and, of course, the obligatory false-genre.

Myspace is a joke. Don’t believe? Hell, even the mainstream press makes fun of it (I think even Colbert was slamming it the other night). You cringed when your mom got on facebook, yet you cling to a network that even emo kids who haven’t converted to hipsters and goths are even leaving in mass.

Yet you linger?

Why?

Maybe you are successful on myspace — maybe you are some kind of death metal goth band? — then by all means, keep it. But for the rest of you, I can’t buy your albums or mp3s on myspace, all I can do is cringe when I click the link to your page, hope it’s not going to take over my computer, hope that the player isn’t set to auto-start, hope that everything loads nicely. The odds are against me.

Is myspace the first impression you want to give a potential new fan? Think about it, when people learn of your existence, they may google you. If myspace is the 2nd thing that pops up, there’s a good chance that’s what your average internet user will click. After wading through the shit fest, maybe you’ll get a stream or two and if they like it, who knows, they may go out to their favourite torrent and see if they can find the album.

Congrats.

Now, you may think it’s alright, what’s the harm, right? There’s so many users still there! It’s still the “standard” etc, etc.

I say fuck that.

It’s time to move on, move foward. You’d be better off spending your time & energy curating a sweet soundcloud page or youtube channel (how many phones & tablets come with a youtube app already installed?), and as awesome and powerful as those sites are, I think we got something better for you. It’s not new, it’s been around, but maybe you just weren’t ready to quit living in the days of myspace, so maybe it is new to you?

It’s bandcamp.

Bandcamp is awesome. I searched for a band on google, their 2nd link was their bandcamp page, there I was able to stream songs, full albums, etc, on a beautiful and clean page, I was able to share the album with you on my blog, my tumblr, my twitters, whatever, and then…

…here’s the kicker, so pay attention…

Their album was $5, so fuck it, I bought it. Done. 320kbps full zip file downloaded, opened, and on my iPod in minutes. The band got money, bandcamp got a little too, and I got the album I wanted never having to leave the site.

In. Your. Face. Myspace.

Think about this. Outside of clicking-through from a blog post or whatever, the normal flow of discover goes like this, right?

1. hear about band
2. search for the band on google
3. click something

You’ll have your official page, posts from blogs, maybe your label’s page, links to videos on youtube, and the myspace page is sitting right there, usually at the number 2 spot. But…. If there was no myspace page in the search results and instead there was your bandcamp page. I might click that instead. Ooo… I like what I hear, I can share the streams on my blog, share the album on twitters/etc, and, of course I can buy the album.

What? Can’t embed a youtube clip or put news up yet on Bandcamp? Then get a nice little free tumblr or blogspot to keep us updated on news & tours, and vids. You should be doing that already, anyway!

Bandcamp + Tumblr (which connects to your twitter & facebook already) = Successful modern band existence.

What if Pitchfork starts talking about you… Where do you want them to send these new potential fans? Wouldn’t it be nice if Pitchfork/stereogum/etc if they sent them somewhere where they could actually buy your album?

I know it’s not easy. Clicking delete is scary. But I’m here for you, as are many other bloggers like We Listen For You, and many more! So be brave, stand up, stand strong, and stop helping myspace/fox making money and let’s try to make a little money for you instead, for once!

Change is hard, but it’s also inevitable. Myspace IS dying. It’s time to get ready, it’s time to move on.

It’s just time.

Let’s start a list right here. You got a bandcamp page? Put it in the comments, share that comment on twitter (the disqus comments allow that), and I’ll update this post with your bandcamp link!

To the bloggers out there.  Let’s stand up and support these artists, share this letter, write your own, but for fuck’s sake, let’s get these artists into some greener pastures!!!

It was evolution, but it’s time to start a revolution!!!

I think it was Andy who said it best, “get busy living… or get busy dying”.

Who’s with me???  See you on the front lines!

OUR GROWING LIST OF COMPATRIOTS!!!

http://algo.bandcamp.com

http://chantilly.bandcamp.com

http://beatradio.bandcamp.com

http://daylaborersandpettyintellectuals.bandcamp.com

http://teethrecords.bandcamp.com

http://thegorgeouscolours.bandcamp.com

http://theaeronauticallegends.bandcamp.com

http://alrightthecaptain.bandcamp.com

http://machineheavenranger.bandcamp.com

http://amerchantmajestywe.bandcamp.com

http://gbaileyfsc.bandcamp.com

http://magneticisland.bandcamp.com

http://hallelujahthehills.bandcamp.com

http://superpill.bandcamp.com

http://quicksandproject.bandcamp.com

http://nonoknots.bandcamp.com

http://clownfacee.bandcamp.com

http://chuckhoffman.bandcamp.com

http://samuellockeward.bandcamp.com

http://thebassturd.bandcamp.com

http://microwaved.bandcamp.com

http://captainthreeleg.bandcamp.com

http://lipstickhomicide.bandcamp.com

http://pharmacyspirits.bandcamp.com

http://milesnighthawk.bandcamp.com

http://pazeinfinite.bandcamp.com

http://woodpigeon.bandcamp.com

http://kieranstrange.bandcamp.com

WATCH AS IAN MCGLYNN DELETES HIS MYSPACE!!!

VIVA REVOLUTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Aaron

PS. I wrote this letter in the heat of the moment, if grammatically it’s a hot mess, deal with it.

VIDEO: Don’t Look Back by She & Him!!

January 19, 2011
By

Thanks Baby for the heads up!!! Adooooooorable!

She & Him – Don’t Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

One more for the night: Twee As Folk by The Super Desserts!

January 18, 2011
By

Okay… working on some projects, always some projects, thinking of our next zine, our next mixtape, our next short film, and there ain’t nuffin’ better for inspirin’ & thinkerin’ then a little Twee As Fuck Folk.

The boy, the boy has hearts for hands!

Okay, NOW…. g’night.

A late night hankerin’: Saltbreakers by Laura Veirs

January 18, 2011
By

Got interviewed today by a local weekly paper. Weird & fun! Got me thinkin’ and now workin’ on a new mixtape, this song came in my head. And I love this song.  Less-than-three you Veirs!!! Less. Than. Three.

Laura Veirs – Saltbreakers

G’night.

A weekend without a computer aka my trip to Sedona & the Grand Canyon aka Kiss Each Other Clean by Iron & Wine!!!

January 18, 2011
By

Photography by Me…

What a fun weekend!  For those of you not following along on the intertubals of love (i.e. me twitters & me facebooks, ARR!), this weekend, I played jet-setter, hopping on a plane down to Arizon-I-A to see my baby cranes, swooping them up and driving up to Sedona & then to the Grand Canyon!  Our first times!  Wow, what can I say, Sedona is absolutely beautiful…

Our approach..

Wandering around..

View from our hotel’s property..

Sunset…

It was stunning.  We went hiking around and exploring before hopping in the car for 2 hours to get to the Grand mother fucking Canyon!

Oh god.

Okay… I need to be honest with you.  I have a thing about heights.  It’s not that I’m afraid of heights, per se, I can ride on planes and shit all day, though put me on top of the Empire State building and I get a bit jacked-up.  But, the bigger fear is the “hey, look at how high we ar-” *poof, dead* that things like the Grand Canyon shoved into my brain, down my spinal cords, and made me shudder with fear.

Yeah.  I was terrified.  For myself, for my girls.  It was intense.  I mean, for fuck’s sake, they don’t have barriers on some parts!  One little trip up and POOF, gone!  Then I read about how once or twice a year, sure enough, someone falls.  Last year it was some 4 year old, just there one second, gone the next.  There’s no ifs about it, it’s a straight drop to nothing.  It should be renamed The Ridiculously More Massive Than You Could Imagine Canyon.  It’s that big.

Woo.

You may note that all the photos are from my phone.  I had my camera and shot photos & film, but what I didn’t have, a first for me, was a computer.  Yep.  Computer-free on a trip for the first time ever.  Smartphones (I have an Evo) are great, but they are really just crippled substitutes for a computer.  I had a hard time staying in touch with some projects, and writing a real email was a challenge, but for the most part, not too shabby!  Getting there technology… getting there.

Conversely, oh man, on the plane back last night… A woman in a seat near me had, are you ready for this, an iPod, iPhone, iPad, AND a Mac!  3 of which she was actually using at once at one point on the flight.  Quite possibly the most idiotic thing I saw all trip.  Didn’t help she was a loud bitchy person.

Anywhosals.

The trip required a quite a bit of driving, 2 hours to Sedona, 2 to Grand Canyon, 2 back, and 2 back to the airport.  So, as you can imagine, music was key.  Sountracking our trip was new Cake, new Decemberists, new Iron & Wine (more on that in a sec), some mixtapes (of course), and eventually my first official introduction to Lady Gaga.

I’m sorry, but I don’t get it.  Woefully generic music.  Oh well.  Oddly, when it was just her & a piano playing live or some raw version of one of her songs, it was 10x better, but man, the official released songs?  I don’t know.  Just don’t get it.  Oh wells.

But, one thing that got stuck on repeat, not only on the long plane ride down, but during a couple hours of the drivin’ was Kiss Each Other Clean by Iron & Wine!

I’ve always liked Iron & Wine, not loved, just a song here and there, though I really did like his last album.  Beyond that, his whispery folk was really not my cup o’ tea.  But then I heard “Biting My Tail” and my mild enjoyment went to a weird mix of wtf, worry, and enjoyment.  Like fellow acoustic aficionado, Sufjan, Sam gone ee-lectronical!  After the initial shock, I liked the song, but I had no idea how far he’d take it on the album proper.  Was it going to be filled with silly autotuned vocals & blips & bleeps & lasers like the aforementioned sensitive bear?

The answer was, thankfully, no.

I read somewhere he as going for this AM radio thing, and I certainly hear that (see: “Walking Far From Home” & “Tree By The River”) in some of the tracks.  At other times, he drops into tribal “Rabbits Will Run” or funk (see: “Big Burned Hand” or just something otherwordly beautiful (see: “Godless Brother In Love”).  It’s an amazing progression of sound, bold, and sure to piss off old time fans.  But, all I can say is wow.  Amazing.  My only complaint?  ”Biting My Tail” (so much fun) & “Summer In Savannah” (a jazzy awesome tune) should’ve both been included.  Fortuntely, due to the iPod world we live in, mine “copy” does now.

Now this is full-on Major Label now (still can’t believe the dude signed with Warner Bros, dropping, I think, Subpop… oh well, no accounting for taste).  Because of that, we are not sharing shit, but we do have the promo viddy:

And… the full album stream via a live performance on NPR that we previously shared and are more than happy to link again here!

Iron & Wine Kiss Each Other Clean (Full Album Live via NPR)

Plus the vid…

I think you can stream more here, but best to just pre-order this bad boy and enjoy for yourself!

Cheers,
T.

Odds & Ends: Vid by Noah & The Whale and 2 songs by Mister Heavenly!

January 14, 2011
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Noah and the Whale – L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

LESS-THAN-THREE!!!

And a mini-supergroup in Mister Heavenly with Nick Thorburn (Islands), Honus Honus (Man Man), and Joe Plummer (Modest Mouse)? Hmm… I’m in!

Mister Heavenly – Mister Heavenly
Mister Heavenly – Pineapple Girl

Thanks Graf for the heads up!

Okay… that’s enough from me today. See you Tuesday!

Cheers,
T.

TSURURADIO Presents… She Drives Me To Distraction! Oh Yeah, She’s My Passion Mixtape & Short Film!!!

January 14, 2011
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Photography by ME! HOORAY!

*WARNING* The following post contains tons of aural awesomeness, visual naughtiness, & some serious self-pimping. So, you know, you’ve been warned.

Alright my friends… a happy Friday to you and shit!  I gots something a little special for you today to wrap up the week that was, make that doubly, no, triply special, no, wait, QUADRUPLY SPECIAL!!!  WOOT!

Number 1:  If you haven’t notice or paid attention or something, TSURUFOTO NUDIEZINE issue no. 2 is LIVE, LIVE, LIVE!!!  BUT…………. Not only is it live on Etsy in paper form, it’s also live via Amazon on their Kindle or iPhone/Android/Blackberry/iPad/PC Kindle App!

Awesome, right? Our 2nd zine!!!!

I guess it’s true what they say… I really am the Hugh Hefner of Zines.

What is TSURUFOTO NUDIEZINE? We essentially took the idea of a classic playboy (photosets combined with articles) and the old punk zines, mixed them together, tsuru-style and this time, built a 20-page (including the cover) 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 closed, black & white photocopied zine!

In our 2nd issue we included…

Letters To Tsuru
T&A (Tweet & Answer)
Photography: White Winter Hymnal with Nina
TsuruBride Present… Craft Corner
A Naughty Wordsearch
Photography & Centerfold: A Walk In The Woods with Isabella Misery
Cookin’ w/Tsuru with Accompany Mixtape
Interview: Katie Pierce of Jack In The Pocket
Photography: Tabs & Tiffany Play Hide-n-Seek
Calendar: Oiseaux retros for February

ALL for only $4 in real live paper form or $1.99 in e-form!

Now, what’s that got to do with today?  Well… that brings us to number 2!

Number 2: We gots a big ass mammer-jammer double mother-fucking mixtape for you today inspired by one of the photo sets!  Yep, in the zine we had a set with Tabs & Tiffany playing naked Hide-n-Seek in the very very very very cold woods — see mixtape cover photo down below!  It’s a mix of old and new and funny and fun, but that brings us to number 3.

Number 3: When we shot the set, we also made a brand spanking new TSURUFOTO Presents short film to accompany the mixtape set to a song IN the mixtape by Cub where some of the lyrics became the name of the mixtape!  Very fun & very NSFW & very tsururific!

Ah.. but we ain’t done!  There’s a twist!

Number 4:  The mixtape is a blind mixtape!  

Wait.. What? Why blind?

Well, I just found that listening to a mixtape, completely blind, changes the way you listen to it. Here, I’ll give you an example. One of my favourite moments on a blind mixtape is when you’ll be listening to some song, maybe one you’ve never heard before, grooving along, enjoying it, no clue who it is, then suddenly BLAMO! the first few notes kick in on the next song and it’s immediate enjoyment, excitement, & sheer giddiness as “dude! this is one of my favourite jams!” It’s like a wonderful surprise!

Where otherwise, you might scan and judge a tracklisting, happy to see some songs you like, then decide to give some or all of it a go….. not quite the same thing. Last time we did this as one giant mp3, this time we kept it broke up and don’t worry, I left the ID tags in place so if you grab it, your iPod player of choice can figure it all out & shit, but more fun is to just push play on track no. 1 and let the next couple of hours be filled with music & fun & nekkidness!  Doesn’t that just sound grand? Oh, and for all you who just hate surprises or for those who just can’t figure out what some of the songs are… there’s a little spoiler link down there for ya.

So that’s it! Quadruple awesome good times on a stick!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.   I’m about to head out on a long weekend to Arizona to see my Baby Birds, sedona, and the grand canyon, & try to snap a few cool pics for ya (I’ve never gone before)…

So while I’m away, I you all have lots of fun, ride yer bikes, go get nekkid, take pictures, and report back here. But, until then, enjoy as…

TSURURADIO Presents…

She Drives Me To Distraction! Oh Yeah, She’s My Passion Mixtape & Accompanying Short Film!!!

(Full Zip – except the film, of course)


SIDE A: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

SIDE B: 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

Bonus: 35 Why? Because I love you…

*SPOILER*

TSURUFOTO Presents… Tabs & Tiffany Play Hide-n-Seek! (NSFW) from TSURUFOTO on Vimeo.

See ya’ll next week, unless you are all over the twitters & whatnots, then you’ll come on my trip with me!

Cheers,
Tsuru

VIDEO: “Light Bulb” by Rachel Goodrich… Gangsta twee for the win!

January 13, 2011
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Our buddy Paul dropped this in my inbox today saying, “we all need some gangsta twee in our lives”… Have any truer words ever been spoke?

Rachel Goodrich “Light Bulb” from Lucas Leyva on Vimeo.

VIDEO: Vampire Weekend vs. Black Keys: Moderated by Stephen Colbert… We all win!

January 12, 2011
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Yeah, this was yesterday’s thing, but we don’t have cable so I just saw it.

Here’s the skinny, my friends…

Colbert expresses love for & touching of Beiber & has a sell-out off between Vampire Weekend & Black Keys… Is there anything else you need to know? When our music & comedy worlds collide, we all win!

Enjoy!

Cheers,
T.

VIDEO: Walk Away by The Pass!

January 12, 2011
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Ah… foursquare! The epic games I played as a wee-lad back in the 70s and 80s, that I brought back to teach my own girls and various neighborhood kids in the late 90s! Those were good times. Pitty-pats, bustops, volleys, and I had the most viscous spin known to all 80s humankind.

Yeah. Suck it.

Well, our good friends over at We Listen For You got together with The Pass and built a brand spankin’ new viddy for their song “Walk Away” and just as you come to expect from their collabos, this is some tight-ass foursquare goodness!

Though… I do question the use of dress shoes and slams. Slams were never fair…. Knives, on the other hand, were up to whoever was in A.

The Pass – “Walk Away” Music Video from Visual Space Media on Vimeo.

Oh and look, the Pass is getting around! Though, what they have against Columbus, OH… I have no idea.

Jan 27th St. Louis Old Rock House
Jan 28th Memphis Poplar Lounge
Feb 1st Los Angeles The Satellite (Spaceland) *w/ Marvelous Toy
Feb 2nd Santa Barbara TBA *w/ Marvelous Toy
Feb 3rd San Francisco Milk Bar *w/ Marvelous Toy
Feb 6th San Diego Soda Bar *w/ Marvelous Toy
Feb 9th Austin TBA
Feb 10th Dallas City Tavern
Feb11th Fayetteville Smoke and Barrel

VIDEO: Random blast from the past, “What I Am” by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians!

January 11, 2011
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Not sure how, some one said some phrase (can’t even remember what it was) and BLAMO! This song was in my head. Man, how about that sweet guitar work, eh? Pre-90s… some really good times going on back then. Yeah, I smell a mixtape coming on!

Yeah, back in ’88, totally had a crush on her. Good album, all the way through if I remember right. Will have to dig that one out of the archives tonight!

Cheerses!