Free and legal MP3: Matt Mays & El Torpedo (Neil meets the Boss, deftly)

“Tall Trees” – Matt Mays & El Torpedo

Driving, slashing Neil Youngish guitars leap into action here, but listen, at the same time, to the thoughtful melody and, best of all, to the off-the-beat octave harmonies that wrap up the verse with the repeated refrain “Tall trees hanging over the road.” I love the combination of heaviness and lightness that we get as a result, all the more delightful coming from a group called Matt Mays & El Torpedo. The deftness on display is—dare I say—charming.

Here in the midst of an indie-rock dominated decade, “Tall Trees” sounds like little of what we’re used to finding and sharing in the music blogosphere. This isn’t quirky, except maybe to the extent that not being quirky is its own sort of quirk by 2008. I’m hearing Bruce Springsteen in and around this ingratiating song—not in an obvious homage (a la Neon Bible) but in the succinct, road-friendly songwriting and, especially, in Mays’ ability to sound at once weary and inspired in that gruff, everyman way of his. And hm maybe on repeated listen there is a bit of a direct homage going on; check out the early bridge (1:12 to 1:26) and see if you don’t pick up a taste of something from one of the Boss’s first three or four albums (“She’s the One,” maybe?). I like this.

Matt Mays & El Torpedo is, as luck would have it, another quintet from Canada—Halifax this time. “Tall Trees” is a song from Terminal Romance, the group’s second CD, which was released on Sonic Records in July. Mays himself two releases as a solo artist as well.

New contest – win Angela Desveaux’s excellent new CD


Fingertips is giving away three copies of the excellent new Angela Desveaux CD, The Mighty Ship. See the contest page on the main Fingertips site for details.

Born in Quebec and raised on Cape Breton Island (Nova Scotia), the Montreal-based Desveaux is another in a seemingly endless series of talented Canadian musicians that have graced the rock scene over the decades. She has been featured twice so far on Fingertips, most recently for the song “Sure Enough,” which, sure enough, comes from the CD you can now win.

Released this month on Thrill Jockey Records, The Mighty Ship is an assured and well-crafted album; Desveaux sings with a voice at once strong and delicate, and writes with an admirable attention to detail, both melodic and lyrical. For lack of a better label, you might group the CD in the alt-country genre, but only in the same way you might put Lucinda Williams or Kathleen Edwards in that same place. Whatever the tag, this is really good stuff. And remember that giveaways on Fingertips work differently than in other places online. I don’t give away things that I don’t think are worthwhile; I’m not here to be part of a mindless promotional campaign.

Further details here.

The Fingertips Q&A: Dirk Darmstaedter


There’s a new Q&A available on the main Fingertips site, this time featuring an email conversation with Dirk Darmstaedter.

Darmstaedter is a Hamburg, Germany-based singer/songwriter who spent his formative years in Teaneck, New Jersey. He hit it big in Europe with his band The Jeremy Days in the late ’80s; they remained together through 1995. Since then, Darmstaedter has released a variety of albums as a solo artist. He also co-founded Tapete Records, a record label notable for its good taste, in 2002. “We Are Waves,” a song from Dirk’s Our Favorite City CD, was featured on Fingertips in June 2007.

The Fingertips Q&A is a recurring feature; each month, a real, working, album-making musician will answer a few direct questions about the current state of music in the 21st century, and where things may be going.

The Fingertips Q&A debuted last month with singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke.

Free and legal MP3: Land of Talk (urgent indie rock w/ subtle twitchiness)

“Some Are Lakes” – Land of Talk

Elizabeth Powell is a mighty guitar player, a compelling singer, and the front woman for a Montreal-based band that appears destined for big things.

Last year’s Applause Cheer Boo Hiss EP was a spunky, spiky debut; “Some Are Lakes,” the title track to the band’s forthcoming full-length CD, sounds a bit smoother on the surface than did the songs on the EP, but Land of Talk’s appealing sense of roughness and urgency remains, now channeled into the workings of the song itself. Instead of lo-fi atmospherics–basically, loud/soft and fast/slow changes–“Some Are Lakes,” with its wistful air and a muted drive, offers a subtler sort of twitchiness in the form of open-chorded melodies, a dissonant, cymbal-heavy chorus, and the buzzy undercurrent of Powell’s gravelly guitar playing. And Powell sings here without vocal processing this time, allowing us to hear more than ever the heart and soul in her powerful voice.

Some Are Lakes will be released next month on Saddle Creek Records. MP3 via Saddle Creek.

Free and legal MP3: The Little Ones

“Morning Tide” – The Little Ones

There’s lightweight-breezy and there’s substantive-breezy, and the Little Ones, a quintet plying power pop from Los Angeles, have nailed the wonderful but difficult job of being substantive-breezy. That’s really what great power pop is about: music that sails and soars but is nevertheless grounded in something deep and true and serious.

So, how to tell the difference between the lightweight and the substantive, when the music is in both cases so breezy and easy and catchy? I look to the craft of it for clues. When there’s more than one hook, that’s a good sign (“Morning Tide” has three, to my ears). When there the song is instrumentally interesting–when, that is, the instrumental parts are themselves worth listening to–that’s another good sign. (The Little Ones, it should be known, like to use a Mellotron, which is potentially a bonus.) Lyrics that aren’t totally vapid: yet another sign (unintelligible lyrics are fine, by the way). Best of all, I discern substance in the unexpected twist or turn–when the song goes somewhere you might not have expected but, once it’s there, it’s perfect. In “Morning Tide,” that moment for me comes halfway through the chorus, when the melody jumps up and shifts rhythms–the “It’s something to think about” part (1:49). Where did that come from? Wonderful stuff.

“Morning Tide” is the title track to the band’s second CD, which was released in the U.K. in July, and is scheduled for an October release in the U.S. on Chop Shop Records.

Free and legal MP3: Chris Letcher (classic-sounding rock, w/ harmonium)

“Milk” – Chris Letcher

“Milk” is an immediately engaging rocker with stronger ties to something resembling late classic rock—Peter Gabriel comes to mind, or early Michael Penn—than what we are used to hearing in our indie-rock-centric new century. Consider it a good thing. On the one hand, wholesale rejection of the past is a tiresome (not to mention lazy) artistic premise. On the other hand, diversity sustains us. And I’m talking honest diversity, not lip-service diversity, not photo-op diversity, and not (for heaven’s sake) diversity minus substance and qualification (any resemblance to a certain unexpected political announcement from the past week is entirely intentional).

But I digress. Chris Letcher—hey, yet another Fingertips veteran; three for three this week, for the first time—is a South African-born, London-based singer/songwriter whose experience, likewise, as a film composer no doubt informs his capacity to construct dramatic and unusual soundscapes, even in the context of a three-minute pop song. Through the judicious use of strings, percussion, and Letcher’s signature harmonium, “Milk” maintains an orchestral feeling even as it moves with a brisk, rock-like clarity which highlights the melody’s succinct tension. This version of “Milk” is a so-called “radio edit” of a song that appeared on Letcher’s Deep Frieze CD; it appears on his Harmonium EP, which was released earlier this summer on Sheer Sound/2 Feet label.

Free and legal MP3: The Blue Eyed Blacks (fuzzed up power pop)

“The Wrong Thing” – Blue Eyed Blacks

A sprightly piece of neatly crafted power pop, fuzzed up by some 21st-century effects. Front man Jason Moon Wilkins has an amiably droopy sort of voice and a keen knack for hooks. The way he breaks the chorus up by repeating the word “always”? Ending one musical phrase with the word, then beginning the next musical phrase with the same word? Love that.

The Blue Eyed Blacks are a trio from Nashville not shy about utilizing the talents of their peers on the always active local music scene; Justin Townes Earle and Garrison Starr are among the many guests who sat in on the band’s debut album, Black Eyed Soul, which is due for release in October on Chicken Ranch Records.

Free and legal MP3: Ghostkeeper (stompy, old-fashioned, and a little strange)

“Three More Springs” – Ghostkeeper

Stompy, greasy, old-fashioned, and a little bit strange. Ghostkeeper is a band from the remote reaches of northern Alberta; leader Shane Ghostkeeper (apparently his real name) is a self-taught musician who grew up listening to Hank Williams, CCR, the Stones, Robert Johnson, and maybe not that much else. With Ghostkeeper co-founder Sarah Houle (a self-taught drummer), he has figured out how to channel his influences together and emerge with something that is no mere nostalgia trip. “My whole idea is just to explore how I can contribute to the evolution of old-time intentions,” he has been quoted as saying.

“Three More Springs” is from the band’s debut CD, Children of the Great Northern Muskeg, released last month on the Calgary-based label Saved By Radio.

Free and legal MP3: Kuroma(lilting, ’70s-inspired psychedelic folk)

“Alexander Martin” – Kuroma

A little bit Led Zep, a little bit Ray Davies, fed through a breezy, psychedelic filter (don’t miss the freak-out instrumental break at 2:09). Kuroma is the performing name of Athens, Ga.-based Hank Sullivant, who was the Whigs’ original bass player; he has also played extensively with MGMT. Do listen closely for the bass itself: Sullivant plays his instrument here more subtly and melodically than is typical in a rock setting.

“Alexander Martin” is from Kuroma’s first recording, an EP entitled Paris, which has yet to be formally released.