Slowcoustic Produces a Goldmine of J. Tillman Covers

Before we get to the meat of the post, let's first address the photo above. One of my dearest pals, Tom Nugent happens to take some damned fine photos of people doing their rock 'n roll thing. This one here is a favourite of mine. Take a good look at that animal and you can get an appreciation for what's going on at that show. It's this one perfect moment of a man giving his all to a crowd, under a spotlight and microscope. The photo was taken at a recent show in Vancouver at The Commodore while J. Tillman now tours as Father John Misty. Say thanks to Tom for that little moment. Thanks, Tom.

And, Begin...

There's a music blog I frequent for new and old folk gems, maybe you go there too. It's called Slowcoustic and has archives back to 2008, so if you're looking for music from the, "Unhurried side of Americana/Alt-Country/Folk/Indie/Down-Tempo music", this is the place to go, and you have a lot of digging to do.

For all you J. Tillman fans, or all fans of folk in general, Slowcoustic has done you a favour and helped produce a J. Tillman collection of songs alongside some real fine musicians. The stack of songs is titled, Long May You Run, J. Tillman Revisited. The album also pulls its look from Tillman's own Long May You Run, a matchbook styled cover, limited run album from 2006.

Here's a photo of Slowcoustic's numbered copy of the KEEP Records' original release, and the artwork for the cover album.​

​Long May You Run, J. Tillman Revisited cover art.

​​You're wondering where you can go steal yourself a copy of this baby? Don't even worry, pirate. It's already free and available in its entirety on Soundcloud. Not just that streaming noise either, you can download each track and hit the road with them.

Below I grabbed a quote from Slowcoustic about the project and a few samples, including one from Doc Feldman, who I learned about in a post on Slowcoustic last in November. I've previously put up the two Show me Shows by Doc Feldman. If you haven't seen it them, get on it.

“It defines what the hushed singer-songwriter would ever strive and hope to be. A place of comfort to me and I hope a place for many others.”
,

Phosphorescent and a Beach by Where We Live

,
In front of La Luna hotel in Tulum

Matthew Houck creates some pretty fine music under the name Phosphorescent. If you haven't heard him before, this song from his upcoming album is a good place to start, although not necessarily an indication of the sounds you'll hear on his others. It's calmer in a way. Not that his other songs are in the soundtrack to Girls Gone Wild, this one just has a certain kind of calmness to it. Maybe it's the repetitive background sounds and echoed vocals. I don't really know so much about the thesaurus researched music writing you get elsewhere. I'm a simple man.

If you too can appreciate simplicity, you'll appreciate Song for Zula.

“It sounds really cheesy, but I went down there with a guitar and got a little hut on the beach in Tulum, on the Yucatan Peninsula.”

I don't know if Song for Zula was one of the ones written down here, but I can see this one going perfectly with late afternoons and evenings on the calm beaches of Tulum. If you haven't visited yourself, it's hard to get a grasp on how special of a place Tulum is right now.

The beach, the sea, the independent hotels and restaurants are all part of a small community with a perfect balance between rustic and refined. Restaurants have a relaxed, homemade feel, with a quality of food and drink you'd expect from accomplished chefs or bartenders in big cities. The beaches aren't busy like the towns to the north and the main street that runs parallel to the beach is barely lit, or not at all. Food is cooked in stone ovens and on charcoal grills. Alcohol is served all day long and the sun is almost always out. Even when it's not, the rain is still refreshing as everyone grabs their drinks and food to run under the nearest palapa, or out into the ocean where rain doesn't matter.

Whatever Houck got up to while down in Tulum was undoubtedly a good process for being productve, since it's stocked in abundance down there, and this song shows it.

Quote above was taken from Free People.

 

Wake Owl's New EP, Wild Country

This EP by Wake Owl just came out today and it's been on repeat a few times around here. The title track and album opener, Wild Country is the front runner after the first few listens.

Born and raised in California, Colyn Cameron of Wake Owl now calls Vancouver and Portland home. It's good to think that much of these songs could have been written while experiencing the mix of city and wilderness in British Columbia, our old home.

Wild Country EP, by Wake Owl
“With this EP I was really focused on just creating recordings I could be proud of and felt connected to as a group of songs. I wanted to capture and represent, in all its instrumentation and arrangement, what those songs mean to me.”

It looks like, at least for now, the whole album is available to stream off of SoundCloud. If you don't already subscribe to a service like Rdio (or Songza, GrooveShark, Spotify), do it. Rdio is just about the best thing to music discovery and listening that has happened in ages.

If you're on Rdio, come find me.

The Debut EP "Wild Country" Available Now! Purchase On: iTunes: smarturl.it/wakeowlwildcountry Amazon: http://smarturl.it/wildcountryamazon

Check out Wake Owl's Facebook page, or learn a bit more about them with their bio on Vagrant's site.

,

Rock & Roll in Vancouver: Japandroids do work at The Rickshaw Theatre

,
Japandroids at the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver

How the hell were your holidays? Sick of people asking that? Well, the holidays are over, you're coming out of a daze and you've most likely already broken two or three of your New Year's Resolutions. In a week the rest will all be forgotten while laying in wait for next year.

Speaking of holidays and a New Year's daze, dear friend, drink pal and photo contributor to Love & Rum, Tom Nugent recently went to the Japandroids show at The Rickshaw in Vancouver. Reid Stewart from Lifetime Collective was good enough to connect some dots and bring Tom and the band's manager together to get ol' Thomas into the sold out show. 

Check out a few of the resulting photos below, and then head over to Lifetime Collective's blog to see the rest. Oh yeah, and a freebie of Fire's Highway recorded at the show.

,

Sassparilla and Mars

,

I have a friend that works on Mars. He often tips me off to some new music. After your day is done, this one might help prepare you for the weekend when you pour that first beer.

Below are some of Andrew's photos from whatever planet he works on and a couple from what days he has to get away from sub-freezing temperatures while driving heavy machinery.

Follow Andrew's life on Instagram.