Iron and Wine "Kiss Each Other Clean"

Iron & Wine performing Tree By The River, from the new album "Kiss Each Other Clean", at Sunset Sessions. (sorry about the ads)

The first time I ever really heard Iron and Wine was when I listened to my sisters copy of the sound track for the movie Garden State. It has the track “Such Great Heights” which I am pretty sure was a cover. Besides that I never really got into Iron and Wine until this album, “Kiss Each Other Clean”

Sam Beam is the man behind Iron and Wine. He has released 5 full length albums, 7 EPs and 3 singles. The earliest of these is “The Creek Drank The Cradle” which was released in 2002. His first ever track on CD was “Dead Mans Will” which was released on the compilation Various Artists - Yeti One in 2000.

Kiss Each Other Clean was released under Warner Brothers Records on January 25^th 2011. This album features Beams storytelling lyrics and beautiful voice. The tracks range from upbeat acoustic to soft piano to tracks featuring a saxophone. His audience is wide encompassing. Even my mother listens to him. According to his fan site, www.passingafternoon.com , Sam Beam currently lives in Austin Texas and has 5 daughters.

There is a free download for "Tree By The River" on the Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/ironandwine?sk=app_4949752878

The album can be bought for $10.99 on iTunes and Amazon

Favorite Tracks:

• Me and Lazarus
• Tree By The River
• Monkeys Uptown (which is unfortunately unclean so it can not be played on air)
• Rabbit Will Run

They are all good though so give the album a listen

Sources:
http://www.passingafternoon.com/biography.html
http://www.myspace.com/ironandwine
http://www.subpop.com/artists/iron_and_wine
http://www.ironandwine.com/bio/

The Forms - Derealization

The Forms – Derealization

This was the first album I have heard from The Forms. It was another WUAG discovery for me. In 2003 the band released the album Icarus and in 2007 they released a self titled album. The EP Derealization was released in February of 2011. Matt Walsh and Alex Tween the artist behind The Forms. They are from Brooklyn New York and are on the record label Threespheres.

They worked with a couple different artist for the tracks on this album. The first track “Fire to the Ground” features Matt Berninger, who is the front man for the band The National. (which now explains why I got a call to my radio show asking if this track was The National) Track 3 features Andrew Thiboldeaux(from the band Pattern is Movement) and Track 5 features Craig Wedren (lead singer of Shudder to Think). The tracks featuring other artist are also the better sounding ones. Which makes me wonder if I would like their full length albums as much as this EP.

They have also worked with Daniel Hart of the band The Physics of Meaning from Chapel Hill NC. Yay North Carolina Artists!

On a bit of a side note before writing this I was unsure what the difference between an EP and full length album was. I looked it up thought I would share. An EP is longer than a single but not long enough to be considered a full length album. EP stands for extended play. It originally applied to a specific type of vinyl. LP or full length albums stands for long play and has the same origins.

Favorite Tracks:

Fire to the Ground

Steady Hand

Finally

Sources:

http://www.myspace.com/theforms

http://www.facebook.com/theforms?sk=info

http://www.theforms.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forms_(band)

http://theforms.bandcamp.com/

Look forward to my next post:

Iron and Wine "Kiss Each Other Clean"

Freelance Whales - "Weathervanes"

Freelance Whales – Weathervanes

“Weathervanes” is Freelance Whales debut LP which has made a big splash. I have heard them playing on the radio at the gym, on Starbucks commercials and they were even the background for groovesharks main page. I first heard them when reviewing "Weathervanes" for WUAG. At the time I compared them to hello goodbye and called them a bit overly cute sounding. Which on some of the tracks I still stand by. However I really appreciate the wide variety of instruments the group uses. Seeing videos of them playing live you can see they really enjoy what they are playing which I'm sure makes there live shows a lot of fun.

The band formed in 2008 and released “Weathervanes” in 2010.They describe themselves as experimental pop. They are from Queens New York and are signed to FrenchKiss and Mom and Pop records. They will be playing at Coachella this 16^th and at Bonnaroo in June. (wish I was going :/ to both/either of these)

The album is for sale on Itunes for $7.99

Tracks I like best:

Broken Horse (has a distinctively different vibe then the rest of the album, my favorite)

Kilojoules

Location

Generator^Second Floor

Starring

References:

http://www.facebook.com/freelancewhales?sk=info

http://www.freelancewhales.com/history/index.php

http://www.myspace.com/freelancewhales