Hot new record. Within the first 30 seconds, I knew I was going to listen to the whole thing straight through. Dear cut his teeth in Detroit before moving to Brooklyn for the last 8 years. He recently moved with his wife upstate because Brooklyn is loud and smells.
“Her Fantasy”
Today I did what I occasionally do: downloaded 4 new records, listened to them all in a row, waited to feel something. It happened on the 4th record in: Dark Shores by Strand of Oaks. It sounds unique, while hinting at many other things: Feist’s orchestration, Jim James’ acoustic oeuvre with My Morning Jacket, maybe a light jam session with Sam Beam and Dan Auerbach. It’s just plain good.
It doesn’t take much more than one listen to “Maureen’s” to get the point – but here’s the whole record:
eMusic was way ahead of me / you: eMusic Selects ’10 Alum: Strand of Oaks
Way back in 2009: Who is… Strand of Oaks?
I’m proud that, by creating those custom post types, I had a tiny part in thrusting these stories onto the internets.
There’s an amazing documentary about the making of Paul Simon’s Graceland called Under African Skies that was released recently, as Graceland was just reissued as a celebration 25 years after its original release.
Paul Simon returns to South Africa to explore the journey of his Graceland album, including the political backlash he received for allegedly breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa designed to end the Apartheid regime.
Stream the whole thing for free (!!!):
http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/under_african_skies
Here’s a trailer: