Foot Ox - Ghost
http://www.mediafire.com/?2yj3imtjzna"You're staring at your sleeping 3-year-old daughter. Just remember she can't survive on Top Ramen and tap water. So send her back to the factory where they make human beings. Her tiny crippled face will always haunt your vivid dreams until you're numb." And so goes the morbid romp that is Foot Ox's debut album, Ghost. Foot Ox hails from Tempe, Arizona and plays a strange brand of pop folk that reminds me of a quirkier, more youthful Neutral Milk Hotel (minus the distortion) with Sad Sappy Sucker era Isaac Brock vocals. Foot Ox is lead by Teague Cullen with the help of over a dozen friends and a toy box full of instruments ranging from a circuit bent Casio, pianolin, xylophone, harmonium, singing saw and anything else you might pick up at a thrift store. On each of the twelve tracks Teague paints mental pictures with his pre-pubescent vocals (a draw for me, maybe a turnoff for others) about horrible demons, bad mothers, a girl with a pig's head, and growing up. All of these mini adventures are quick and the whole album is over is under twenty minutes. Which is fitting, because often life's most simple pleasures are over as soon as they arrive. But I guess you can always press repeat.
-Wooly Mammal
French Quarter/Stephen Steinbrink - French Quarter
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=42LOAPOGFrench Quarter is the name of 19 year old Phoenix AZ resident Stephen Steinbrink's music project. He's the only constant member and song writer, but is often joined on record and on stage by friends playing along. He's been releasing stuff (tapes, CD-Rs) since 2005, but earlier this year marked his first LP release on vinyl with Gilgongo Records. In a world where nearly every "indie rock band" feels like a rock band on a mini-major label, these fellas have their own set of rules - no shows at bars, no booking agents, and they won't work with anyone requiring draw protection. An interesting and inspired path to take.
The record comes across as hazy-folk from a sincere man, running the gamut from sad to ironic to uplifting. I usually have a hard time getting obsessed with this type of stuff (it sometimes fits with a little genre I call "boring music") but every song seems familiar and cozy. Not in a nostalgic "this sounds like my last favorite band!" throwback way, but in the way a random night with friends will just seem like a regular evening, but two years later it feels like that was one of the best nights you can remember, and maybe the only one you can remember that vividly from a whole summer. You know the feeling, when in retrospect it all came together and you'll reference a specific night or party as a measuring stick. This record feels like one of those nights. Also of note, Stephen and friends are touring the midwest this summer, and they'll need a place to play a show (whats the current house-show hotspot??) here in town tentatively on July 21st. Listen to these songs and you'll be begging to have the show in your living room. - Andrew
I try to post a review from different blogs of the albums that I post so that whoever downloads it, has the slightest idea and direction that the album is pushing for instead of taking a leap of faith into downloading something that is new for you.
Topic: download these albums thread (Read 467235 times)