Three songs because Said the Gramophone is a sampler of really good songs, and all of these songs are really good.Emperor X - "Spieltier".Emperor X - "A Violent Translation of the Concordia Headscarp".Emperor X - "Go-Captain and Pinlighter".Another wonder and marvel, releasing music for free. Jacksonville, FL's Emperor X exist on the same (very vital, very 2009) spectrum as Francois Virot - at ...
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BLUE STOP-LIGHTS
Inglorious Cartel
The Meanest Boys - "I'll Take Whatever It Takes"Smash my door in, burn my couch, take a crap in my sink. Break all my old VHSs, leave wet black ribbons of The Lion King and Velvet Goldmine all over my cracked and crushed tile floors. Put my books in the microwave, my CDs in the toilet, throw my stupid posters out the window. Sell all my clothes for a high-five, pawn my computer for the price...
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NEAR AND ALSO FAR
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Artist:Travels
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Track:My Funny Valentine
Travels - "My Funny Valentine". One of the first postings at Said the Gramophone to achieve any recognition was a contest we held for the song "My Funny Valentine". It is my favourite jazz standard and I asked for covers that rivaled Chet Baker's. Nobody really did. And so I am happy that in Travels' version of "My Funny Valentine", released special for Saint Valentine's Day, they take their in...
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Fearing Words and Punishment
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Artist:
Harlem Shakes - "Winter Water"A worm runs away from home. A short note in the middle of the night, and across the field in the rain. Out of breath and hearts racing, worm reaches the city limits and turns back only for a second before heading out into the cold open air. Barely stopping to sleep, worm eventually meets others, a new gang of friends. Starts a new life, and for weeks doesn't eve...
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QUOTES FROM THE GREAT ARCHIE ANDREWS
Parlovr - "Pen to the Paper" "It's unfair to say that I'm unaffected by love songs. I think love songs are great, I just don't actually care about love anymore. Romantic love, I'm talking about, of course. (cough) I think it's all fine (gesturing with hands) to have the kind of love that keeps families together and all that, that I'm still on board with. I'm talking about the classic (drink...
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C'EST A TON TOUR
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Artist:
Busta Rhymes - "Don't Touch Me (Throw Da Water On Em)" [buy ] When I blow out birthday candles later today I will wish for two things:Wisdom; andTo be alive in the way that Busta Rhymes' words are alive in his throat & mouth; to be alive in the same way as those slipping, spinning, diving words, too fast to be pinned down in ink; to be too fast for painters, watercolourists, charcoalers, caric...
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Peaceful Third Grade
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Artist:
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[source unknown to me] Abe Vigoda - "Wild Heart" A stack of chips as tall as my chest. A wheelbarrow of chips, a hearty wagon, a shopping cart. I sold everything to get this many chips, sold my bike, my computer, even my winter boots. I take a free drink and head to the high rollers hallway, my pant cuffs wet with melting snow. My shirt sweaty and my heart beating fast. I sit next to a fr...
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OLD LONG SIGN
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Artist:
Gordon Downie - "Insomniacs of the World Good Night" . And loving evenings falling down in piles , Downie sings. Amid these evenings, these mornings- and afternoons-after, let's imagine a year without restlessness. A world of peace and fulfillment, of sleep and dream. We'll eat lembas and drink white tea; we'll smell the blooms on flowering trees; we'll remember the feeling of when our lips tou...
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My Mind's Meals and Snacks
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Artist:
Durrty Goodz - "The Youngers" A dense piece, this. Swinging on vines through the halls of a haunted house, a young gang of kids are the protectors and destroyers of a certain code of conduct. A complicated hierarchy of seniority, catalogued first by age then success then bad-ass-ness then assets then physical strength then proficiency with weapons and vehicles then just plain looks. Snoggin...
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THE SAME SONG, TWICE
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Artist:
Adrian Crowley - "Electric Eels" [MySpace /buy ] Nick Drake - "Fruit Tree" [buy ] Does Crowley steal from Drake? I am still thinking about it. Besides, I haven't seen the full liner notes. But probably this falls somewhere between reincarnation, hômage and déjà vu . One song is dusky gold, the other undersea grey. One is a prophecy, the other a warning. One promises fruit, the other - floodin
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TWO TIMES THE SAME
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Artist:
Adrian Crowley - "Electric Eels" [MySpace /buy ] Nick Drake - "Fruit Tree" [buy ] Does Crowley steal from Drake? I am still thinking about it. Besides, I haven't seen the full liner notes. But probably this falls somewhere between reincarnation, hômage and déjà vu . One song is dusky gold, the other undersea grey. One is a prophecy, the other a warning. One promises fruit, the other - floodin
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JURASSIC DUMP
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Artist:
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Album:
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National Beekeepers Society - "Lazy" . We don't call it lazy when a dune is all sanding in the sun, there, or when a tomato-plant bobs its furry leaves in the breeze. We don't call it lazy when oil slicks over the sea, when a cassette plays through in the Buick's tape-deck. So why does my mother call it lazy when I take the Greyhound for four days, cross-country; when I break into the art deco ...
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It Never Gets Old
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Artist:Tokin' Black Guy
Tokin' Black Guy - "Turn My Music High" I'm scared to post this, because I don't know anything about it. Granted, I don't know anything about any of the stuff I post, but I can't find anything about this guy or this song. All I get is this strange email from someone named Ken Ken with this song attached, and the subject line "tip". I feel like I'm getting scammed, like this is just a joke to...
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FARMBOYS
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Artist:
Andreas Scholl - "Venus' Birds Whose Mournful Tunes" . Countertenors are grown on farms. They are planted in fields of chamomile and sage, fed melted caramels. The most successful countertenors are grown on farms near the ocean, where the clouds will catch and carry some of the sea's salt, and the rain sprinkles it onto the growing countertenors' sand-blond hair. They are culled at the age of 1...
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Eternal Summers For Life
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Artist:Eternal Summers
[source ] Eternal Summers - "Fall Straight Back" --ever again. So now I can finally go home and clean my apartment. I'll make some soup, have a nice bun with it, make some ginger tea. Yeah, I can do all this stuff now. I'll read the last chapter of Tideland, I can finally write my brother back, it's a nice day. How many nice days like this have I missed? No more. Not one. Eternal Sum...
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OTHER CAROLS
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Artist:Eagleowl
Eagleowl - "Sleeptide" . It's ten days until Christmas, and besides - maybe you don't celebrate the thing. So what to do when snow is already blanketing everything like- like- like a blanket? What to do when the stars already sparkle like- like- like sparkles? What to do when you want a song like- like- like a carol? You close your eyes & you listen to this & you imagine yourself strung up with...
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BEST SONGS OF 2008
Here are my 50 favourite songs of 2008: the ones I really, really, really, really like.I decided not to include any artist twice, nor any songs from albums I heard last year. I made similar lists in 2005 , 2006 and 2007 . The best way to browse this list is to click the little arrow beside each song and then listen as you read. The things you like you can then download by right- or ctrl-click...
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Best Albums of 2008
1. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow, and Blue - "Foxes Mate For Life" Somehow two things can sometimes come into existence at the same time. Like babies who look the same and also happen to be named the same name. But when this happens, one wins, right? VHS beat Beta, Madonna beat Cyndi Lauper, and unbelievably, Vampire Weekend beat Born Ruffians. Both their big debuts kind of offer to fill the ...
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Pooper Sours*
Nurses - "Apple's Acre" We're getting buried in snow today. Everything outside is heavy, wet and soundless. Which means everything inside glows with a new warmth, somehow things find a heat they didn't know they had, and songs like this melt the inner layer and drain a full fresh glass. [Buy from the MySpace ] *credit for title goes to lead singer of Nurses -- Also: go here http://www.cutet...
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BEFORE OR AFTER
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Artist:
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Album:Colossal Youth (Deluxe Version)
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Track:Brand - New - Life
Young Marble Giants - "Brand - New - Life" the thing i started noticing the week you left was the way the red light lifted right off the glass when i passed an item over it. i would stand at work for eight hours at a time and listen to the tick of my watch and the clucking of a hundred people buying frozen macaroni pie and porkchops and pepsi and i would watch the red light, the laser, lifting ...
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