Painting the Silence

Annuals are an indie-pop group signed to Ace Fu Records out of Brooklyn, NY. It’s the independent label that has Man Man and Devotchka as well. This song is off thier 2008 Wet Zoo EP. They have several other EP’s and a Demo but no full-lengths yet.

I just ordered the Mates of State vinyl yesterday and I have been listening to a lot of the Barsuk bands lately due to Death Cab’s Narrow Stairs. Here’s one by Travis Morrison Hellfighters. The Hellfighters were added when Morrison decided he wanted to tour with his solo songs. That only lasted a year and in 2005 the group was touring with all new material. The album All Y’all (and that’s what we say here in Texas folks to refer to a group of Y’all’s) came out on August 21, 2008 on Barsuk Records.

Ever since I saw the movie Love Song for Bobby Long, on the plane on my way home from a semester in Italy, Scarlett Johansson has been one of my favorite actresses. The movie was a 2004 independent film also starring John Travolta as Bobby Long. Bobby is a retired English professor and alcoholic. Scarlett plays Purslane, a teenager who returns home to her mother’s house after she has died to find Bobby and his Protégé living there. So, they are forced to live together and hate each other at first then blah blah blah and by the end they love each other. There you have it. This site not only gives music suggestions but movie reviews as well.

Anyway, Scarlett Johansson has an album out now, released May 16, 2008. The album is titled Anywhere I Lay My Head and is comprised of one original, two David Bowie contributions (one entitled “Fannin Street” which refers to a street here in Houston that I drive passed everyday on my work commute), and ten songs written by Tom Waits. I posted “Falling Down” in May but I came across this Rhapsody interview that I would like to share now.

And since I’m traveling down memory lane back to when I was in love with the album by Grayson Capps, who contributed several songs to the soundtrack for Love Song for Bobby Long, I thought I’d post a live performance of the title track as well.

Alanis Morissette has a new album out. It was released on Tuesday June 10, 2008 and is called Flavors of Entanglement. This song is growing on me. It’s the first single off the album.

This is from Weezer’s new album, Weezer (The Red Album). It came out on Tuesday and I have been seeing this video “Pork and Beans” on VH1 JumpStart in the morning before work. This morning when I saw it I had to pull The Green Album and The Blue Album from the archives and bring them to work with me. So, I’m having a Weezer marathon today. Anyway, here’s the video for ya’!

“Check Yes Juliet” is the 2008 single off the debut album, We The Kings. This first full-length, by the band hailing from Florida, was released back in October of 2007. These guys will be part of the Vans Warped Tour.

So, I have been watching DVDs of Smallville. Thanks to my friend Victor who own’s all the seasons and wanted me to borrow them so that I could become extreamly unproductive. Anyway, while watching last night I heard the song “Falling” by Mindy Smith off her 2004 album, One Moment More. It reminded me of the song I fell in love with when that album came out, “Come to Jesus.” So, in case you missed it, here’s that video.

“Paisley Pattern Ground” is from the 2008 album Casting Shadows. This is the band’s second album after the debut, Chrimson Reflections. The 60’s and 70’s classic rock influence on this band is clearly noticeable from this music video, the suits and hair, and down to the psychedelic text on Chrimson’s album art.

West Indian Girl is a rock band from LA. They had a full-length in 2004 and an EP in 2006 comprised of remixes from thier first album. Both were on Astralwerks Records. Their latest is titled 4th and Wall and is on Milan Records. Here is a video for a song off 4th and Wall from 2007.

Moonbeams is the debut album by the five indie-pop artists who make up this band. It’s available on Secretly Canadian records (Bodies of Water, Windsor for the Derby) in LP and CD format. Casey Foubert of Sufjan Stevens helped with the construction of the album. So, again not a real video but you get the idea.