THIS IS IMPORTANT ‼️‼️‼️

“Map Ref 43 Degrees North 110 Degrees W” (1979) by Wire (1976-1980; 1985-1992; 1999-present)

The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song

Comics and music? Yes please!

If you’re a fan of country act The Carter Family, I highly recommend this book. Hell, even if you’re not a fan, it’s a nice quick read with beautiful illustrations throughout. Written and illustrated by Frank M. Young and David Lasky, it chronicles The Carter Family’s lives and includes a CD with rare radio recordings. Young and Lasky have an accompanying blog called Carter Family Comics: Don’t Forget This Blog!.

If you’re not familiar with The Carter Family, and you’re a fan of country, you need to check them out! They consisted of Sara Carter (vocals, guitar, autoharp), Alvin Pleasant Carter (vocals), and Maybelle Carter (vocals, guitar, autoharp). Maybelle created her own unique style of guitar playing which has influenced many artists to come.

And if you’ve ever heard of a little old lady named June Carter (Johnny Cash’s wife), she just happend to be Maybelle Carter’s daughter.

“Wir bauen eine neus Stadt” (1981) by Palais Schaumberg (1980-1984)

This song is from their second album Palais Schaumberg, which was released in 1981. Palais Schaumburg was an early 80’s Neue Deutche Welle (German New Wave) band from Hamburg, Germany. The band was co-founded in 1980 by Holger Hiller and Thomas Fehlmann, who met each other at the HFBK.

Listen to more here.

Further Reading:

Art-Magazin interview of Hoger Hiller in German (2013)

Article in Electronic Beats

A Guide to Neue Deutche Welle

NPR probably won't be streaming this album for much longer since it came out this week. Highly recommended listening.

“Songs for Swinging Larvae” (1981) by Renaldo and the Loaf (1975-1988; 2006-present)

Pretty uncategorizable and weird….this is a short film compromised of bits and pieces from the album of the same name.

Further Reading:

Renaldo and the Loaf Official Site

Article on The Weirdest Band in the World

I just discovered an interview series called Making Music.  They have a set of videos with Alan Sparhawk from the band Low.  The few interviews I've seen so far are very different than most.  They get into the gritty details of the songwriters methods of creating songs, gear used, and much more.

“Eighties” (1985) by Killing Joke (1978-1996; 2002-present)

Nirvana definitely listened to these guys:

“Come As You Are” (1991) by Nirvana (1987-1994)

“If The Kids Are United” (1978) by Sham 69 (1975-1979; 1987-present)

http://www.youtube.com/embed/PWA_kJI8mA8

“Blaue Augen” (1981) by Neonbabies (1979-1983)

“Colour Green” (full album) (2006) by Sibylle Baier

When I want something peaceful to listen to, Baier is one of the first artists I generally turn to. She is originally from Germany, but currently resides in Massachusetts. These songs had quite a delay between the time they were recorded (1970-1973) and when they were actually released ten years ago.

Perhaps the simplistic beauty of the album comes from the fact that she wasn’t writing these songs to share with the world but rather just to fulfill her own desires. Modesty can breed grandeur. If it weren’t for her son Robby’s eagerness to share her music, the world may never have gotten a taste of this masterpiece. Robby gifted a copy to Dinosaur Jr’s J. Mascis, who in turn passed it onto the label Orange Twin.

You can purchase the album here.

Baier is currently working on her second album. At least she was in 2008… Listen to one of the new songs at her official site (scroll all the way down).