Pictured above is a sketchbook of TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe’s drawings and comics titled “New Work”. I bought it at TV on the Radio’s merch table when they played the Touch and Go Records South-by-Southwest showcase back in 2004.

It also had a 3 song CD called “Colophon” The first two songs were never released anywhere else, but the third is an early version of “Ambulance”. All three tracks are lo-fi 4-track demos and sound like solo recordings of Tunde. All three are great, but “Ambulette” is the highlight.

I sold my copy on ebay a few months ago (which is why the above picture has the ebay icon in the corner) because I needed some money. I only got $22.72, which was a little bit disappointing, since only 200 copies of the sketchbook/CD were made. Obviously, I kept mp3s of the music, and I am sharing it now.

Download the “Colophon” EP

“Colophon” EP tracklisting
1. Skocks
2. All Ye
3. Ambulette

Voice of the Seven Woods is UK guitarist/sitarist/anything-with-a-string-ist Richard Tomlinson. This is his debut LP (on Twisted Nerve/B-Music). He’s going for a psych-folk thing here, but takes that genre and reads it very broadly. There is a lot of middle eastern & Indian influence and his guitarwork reminds me a lot of Pentangle, particularly the John Redbourn side. He also throws in some storming electric guitar just so you don’t get to comfortable. It’s largely instrumental, but he does sing on a few tracks. And he has a delightful voice. Despite touching on a lot of styles, Tomlinson doesn’t genre hop. They are all pulled together into a cohesive album. And an album that sounds entirely modern even as it reaches into the past. This is one of my favorite albums to come out so far in 2007.

He’s also going out on tour with Prefuse 73 and will be hitting my turf (Detroit’s Magic Stick) on November 30th. I’m already there.

Voice of the Seven Woods – Sand and Flames
Voice of the Seven Woods – The Fire in My Head

Buy It

I am going to go see Marissa Nadler tonight at the DAAC in Grand Rapids. She is one of my favorite contemporary artists, so I’m extremely excited. I’ve been listening to her dark & beautiful folk songs for a few years now, but this is will be my first time to see her. She put out a new album this year called Songs III: Bird on the Water and it was wonderful. If you buy the US CD version on Kemado Records, you get a code for a free downloadable 4 song EP. I’m posting one of those songs. It’s a Neil Young cover, and you know I love Neil Young.

Marissa Nadler – Cortez the Killer (Neil Young cover)

Buy it

Life Under a Tree is primarily a guy named Matt from Western Springs, Illinois. But when I saw him live, he was accompanied by a guy named Jon who whistles. It was pretty incredible. Matt writes good songs, but when he’s got Jon whistling a counter melody it’s something really special. His songs are very personal and specific, but with a sense of fun and the wordiness that is so common in the Midwestern folk-punk scene.

“My Dog” is my favorite song of his. It’s a bittersweet tune about his aging dog that the vet recommends be put down.
Life Under a Tree – My Dog (from Songs of Love and Friendship)
Life Under a Tree – Come Home (from Songs of Love and Friendship)
This one is from Folkilla, a split CD with Jenny is a Boy.
Life Under a Tree – Thank God for Scott (Mississippi) (from Folkilla)

If you want to get his releases, you should send him a Myspace message.

If you want a copy of Songs of Love and Friendship, I have an extra copy that I’m going to give to the first person who sends me an email with the subject “Life Under a Tree”. When I saw him live, I bought all three releases he had for sale. However, one of them had a bad CD. So I emailed Matt and he sent me another CD, but he also included a copy of Songs of Love and Friendship, which I already had. Anyway, if you want it, just email me.

What with Amy Winehouse being a pop star and all, I figured Candie Payne would be a bit better known on this side of the pond. Not that they sound alike at all, but they are both retro pop/soul singers from the UK. Candie Payne is more on the pop side (and the talented side), though. She has one foot in the British pop singer tradition of Shirley Bassey & Dusty Springfield, and one foot in the girl group revivalism of the Pipettes or Lucky Soul (who I will discuss in the future).

I first got into Candie Payne through her bombastic Spectoresque UK hit “I Wish I Could Have Loved You More”, but that song is all over the internet, so I’m not going to post that. Instead, I’m going to discuss the slinky torch song “Why Should I Settle for You”. Her multi-tracked vocals have all the emotional punch of Dusty at her best. The arrangement, with its jazz noir trumpets and violin, isn’t that far from Portishead, but without a smooth 60s pop rhythm rather than dated trip-hop beats.

I don’t know if or when this is coming out in the US, but for now you can overpay for the import!

Why Should I Settle for You (expired)

This is the last edition of Orange Skies and my last show on KXUA. I’ve been doing Orange Skies for a little over a year, but I’ve been DJing at KXUA for coming up on 6 years now. Needless to say, not having a weekly radio show will be a rather major change in my life. Luckily, it will be part of a whole package of major changes (I’m moving to East Lansing, MI to go to graduate school), so it will get lost in the static to a certain extent. Still, I will miss it and will always look fondly on KXUA. My time at KXUA has been one of the most important things I’ve done and I can hardly imagine the person I would be if I hadn’t shown up at that recruitment meeting when I was a 19 year old sophomore.

Love – Orange Skies – Da Capo [1967]
Vashti Bunyan – Diamond Day – Just Another Diamond Day [1970]
The Avant-Garde – Naturally Stoned – Soft Sounds for Gentle People [1968/2002]
Harry Nilsson – Mr. Richland’s Favorite Song – Aerial Pandemonium Ballet [1971]
Animal Collective – Native Belle – Here Comes the Indian [2003]
Selda – Ince Ince – Selda [1976/2006]
Appletree Theater – You’re the Biggest Thing In My Life – Playback [1968]
Deerhunter – Hazel St. – Cryptograms [2007]
White Noise – Firebird – An Electric Storm [1969]
JK & Co. – Fly – Suddenly One Summer [1969]
John Fahey – Ghosts – The Mill Pond EP [1997]
The Black Angels – The First Vietnam War – Passover [2006]
The Coven – Black Sabbath – Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls [1969]
Comets on Fire – Holy Teeth – Avatar [2006]
Tyrannosaurus Rex – Debora – My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair… But Now They’re Content to Wear Stars [reissue] [1968/2004]
Grizzly Bear – He Hit Me (Crystals cover) – Daytrotter Session [2007]
The Dukes of Stratosphear – 25 O’Clock – Chips from the Chocolate Fireball [1987]
Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice – Dread Effigy – Gipsy Freedom [2006]
Six Organs of Admittance – Black Wall – The Sun Awakens [2006]
Gandalf the Grey – The Grey Wizard Am I – The Grey Wizard Am I [1972]
The Zombies – Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914) – Odessey and Oracle [1968]
Silver Apples – Oscillations – Silver Apples [1968]
The Seeds – I Can’t Seem to Make You Mine – The Seeds [1966]
The Temptations – You Make Your Own Heaven And Hell Right Here On Earth – Psychedelic Shack [1970]
Cromagnon – Caledonia – Orgasm [1969]
The Millennium – To Claudia on Thursday – Begin [1968]
David Crosby – Music is Love – If I Could Only Remember My Name [1971]
Marissa Nadler – Bird on Your Grave – Songs III: Bird on the Water [2007]
Bill Fay – Pictures of Adolf Again – Time of the Last Persecution [1971]
Pentangle – In Your Mind – The Time Has Come: 1967-1973 [1971/2007]
Joanna Newsom – Monkey & Bear – Ys [2006]

This is the next to last edition of Orange Skies.

David Garland – Noise in You – Noise in You [2007]
Aaron Ross – Elevator Blues – Shapeshifter [2007]
The Great Society – Sally Go ‘Round the Roses – Collector’s Item [1971]
The Great Society – Somebody to Love – Collector’s Item [1971]
The Great Society – White Rabbit – Collector’s Item [1971]
Tanakh – Still Trying to Find You Home – Ardent Fevers [2006]
The Conqueroo – Passenger – From The Vulcan Gas Company [1968/1987]
The Conqueroo – Banana and the Cat – From The Vulcan Gas Company [1968/1987]
Of Montreal – Du Og Meg – Suffer for Fashion single [2007]
Tim Buckley – Monterey – Starsailor [1970]
Tim Buckley – Song to the Siren – Starsailor [1970]
Sonic Youth – Within You Without You – Daydream Nation (Deluxe Version) [1988/2007]
The Bachs – Tables of Grass Fields – Out of the Bachs [1968]
Hawkwind – You’d Better Believe It (single version) – Hall Of The Mountain Grill [1974]
Jandek – Nancy Sings – Chair Beside a Window [1982]
Jandek – Preacher – Follow Your Footsteps [1986]
Jandek – Babe I Love You – Lost Cause [1992]
Earthless – Sonic Prayer – Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky [2007]
Litmus – Dreams of Space – You Are Here [2004]

Caribou – Melody Day – Melody Day single [2007]
Aspera – Say Say Good Bye Bye – Sugar & Feathered [2001]
Elf Power – Confuse Yr Idols: A Tribute to Sonic Youth [1994/2004]
The Fox – As She Walks Away – For Fox Sake [1970]
The Fox – Madame Magical – For Fox Sake [1970]
sychedelic Sounds – Sorry Baby, Goodbye – Class of 66! [1967/1995]
Sian Alice Group – Nightsong [excerpt] – The Social Club No. 2 EP [2007]
Sian Alice Group – Contours – The Social Registry 2007 Spring College Radio Compilation [2007]
Begushkin – Stroll with Mine – Nightly Things [2007]
Ultimate Spinach – Behold & See (Gilded Lamp Of The Cosmos) – Behold & See [1968]
Pan & Regaliz – One More Day – Pan & Regaliz [1971]
Pan & Regaliz – Todaz it is Raining – Pan & Regaliz [1971]
Scott Walker – Plastic Palace People – Scott 2 [1968]
Mike Heron – Spirit Beautful – Smiling Men With Bad Reputations [1971]
Mythical Beast – In Memory of Yellow Skin – Mythical Beast/Pocahaunted split tape [2007]
Pentangle – Sovay – The Time Has Come: 1967-1973 [1968/2007]
Pentangle – Wondrous Love – The Time Has Come: 1967-1973 [1971/2007]
Faun Fables – Joshua – Family Album [2004]
White Hills – Spirit of Exile – Glitter Glamour Atrocity [2007]
Vietnam Veterans – Southern Comfort – Catfish Eyes and Tales [1987]
Jennifer Gentle – The Ferryman – The Midnight Room [2007]

Tomorrow – My White Bicycle – Tomorrow [1968]
Tomorrow – Hallucinations – Tomorrow [1968]
Nick & Nick & The Psychotic Drivers – Amedeo Tortella’s Bathroom – Nick & Nick & The Psychotic Drivers [1988]
Colleen – Sea of Tranquility – Les Ondes Silencieuses [2007]
Felt – Look at the Sun – Felt [1971]
Felt – World – Felt [1971]
Wooden Wand – Guru Femmes – More from the Mountain 7″ [2007]
The Fox – As She Walks Away – For Fox Sake [1970]
Au – Boute – Au [2007]
Jennifer Gentle – Take My Hand – The Midnight Room [2007]
Dungen – Man Amour – Tio Bitar [2007]
David Vandervelde – Cute Pretender – Nothin’ No (single) [2007]
Susan Christie – Paint a Lady – Paint a Lady [1967/2007]
Selda – Ince Ince – Selda [1975/2007]
Sarolta Zalatnay – Ne Hidd El – Sarolta Zalatnay [1973/2007]
Love – The Red Telephone – Forever Changes [1967]
Joanna Newsom – Cosmia (live) – Joanna Newsom & the Ys Street Band EP [2007]
Pentangle – Travelling Song – The Time Has Come: 1967-1973 [1968/2007]
Mike Wexler – Pneuma – Sun Wheel [2007]
Marissa Nadler – Stallions – Ballads of Living and Dying [2004]
Alec K. Redfearn & the Eyesores – Myra – The Blind Spot [2007]
Oneida – Sheets of Easter – Each One Teach One [2002]