John's Star (From The National)
90-Mile Water Wall (From Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers)
Fake Empire (From The White Sessions)
I like to think the primary focus of this blog is to highlight some of the lesser known artists out there that are creating music worth sharing and checking out, but every once in a while you have to set aside the formula for something
special, and herein lies a primary example.
Brooklyn's (via Ohio) The National rose into popular focus with the release of their critically acclaimed LP, Alligator, in 2005, and progressively climbed to the higher echelon of bands in their genre with each subsequent release (Boxer in 2007 and High Violet in 2011). A casual fan may not be as aware of The National's previous releases due to their lack of media attention, airplay, and inclusion of songs in their live shows, but there are two LPs (The National in 2001 and Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers in 2003) and the Cherry Tree EP in 2004 that set the stage for the band's old-fashioned style rise to the top. Today, I'm here to recognize and celebrate two things. The first, is the announcement of the re-issue of the Cherry Tree EP on June 28 on Brassland, the label co-founded by the band's Dessner brothers. The re-issue will be limited to 3,000 copies, 500 of which will be pressed on a special edition red vinyl. The other 2,500 copies will be pressed on black vinyl. The red vinyl will be exclusively available via the label’s online store. Last summer, the first two releases from the band were also re-issued by Brassland and are also available at the online store.
The second bit of recognition is to celebrate The National's scheduled show at the Hollywood Bowl on September 11 with Neko Case and Sharon Van Etten. The pre-sale is going on now (password: 2011BOWL) and the general on-sale starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. Los Angeles time (tickets). It's always a beautiful night at the bowl and this one should be extra special. In tribute to these three lesser known releases and The National's exceptional live show, I've chosen a track from each of these records for today, as well as a track from The White Sessions, which is an unofficial release from a French radio show in 2007. 'White Sessions' are essentially live recordings of the show with no audience. If you're a fan, I highly recommend grabbing a copy.
[Official | Beggars Banquet | 4AD | Brassland]
No comments:
Post a Comment