Alright, I’m back. For how long who knows, but here we go, bringing up the lovely Yula again, of Nanuchka, World/Inferno, et al). This time, she’s got a whole different assortment of folks, and though some of it is fairly familiar (Thumb Cinema mostly so, due to it already having been lent to World/Inferno for their last record, though it has certainly evolved into a fairly different song by now), there is a lot of craziness going on here, most notably from the opener, Back Off America, which was almost too crazy to get into, but has since endeared itself to me greatly.

The whole album is available at Woodland Records, which is quite nice of them, though they also provide a means to not only buy a physical copy, but to donate if you enjoy it. It’s fairly similar to what they’ve got going at Quote Unquote Records, which has a bunch more bands I need to get to on here one day.

From Victor
Back Off America – (MP3, 3.7 MB)
96 Yulix – (MP3, 5.3 MB)
Thumb Cinema – (MP3, 6.2 MB)
Magical Acoustic – (MP3, 3.4 MB)

For some reason, blogging’s become a higher priority for me lately. Partly because I’ve got more music, partly because we’ve got an adoring fanbase of 1 person, but either way, this posting frenzy won’t last (it never does), so enjoy it while it does! Reverend Glasseye is kind of a musical enigma in that you can’t really pigeonhole them too well, they sound like too many different things at once. Part gypsy, part cabaret, part punk, part “insert genre,” it’s amazing how they can pull it all together into genuinely enjoyable music. I can’t believe that it’s taken me this long to realize that 17 Lashes is a freaking amazing song, and my favorite of the good Reverend’s. I’ll give you 17 lashes to the face if you don’t like it!

From Our Lady Of The Broken Spine
17 Lashes – (MP3, 8.7 MB)
King Of Men – (MP3, 4.4 MB)

From Black River Falls
Seven Little Girls – (MP3, 6.4 MB)
Three Ton Chain – (MP3, 2.9 MB)

Based out of Mexico City, the closest genre classification I can come up with is Spanish punk-polka. I could seriously leave it at that, but then Hugh would probably yell at me.

Their Myspace describes their sound as a range from “euphoric polkas, melancholic waltzes to punk, rock and passages of classical music”. They also come highly recommended by Denise Petersen (the wife of Erik Petersen, i.e. Mischief Brew), and I seem to have a thing for any bands distributed by, or even just vaguely associated with Fistolo Records.

They also have some fine klezmer clarinet, and a penchant for instrumentals. As such, Hugh will probably hate them. They do have at least one member hailing from Oregon, though.

From Infausta Noticia
Sirentitas en el Espacio – (MP3, 3.3 MB)
Funeral del tio Perverso – (MP3, 4.9 MB)
Vida Propia – (MP3, 3.5 MB)
El Circo del Siglo – (MP3, 5.3 MB)

Please allow me to introduce you to Django Reinhardt. Despite what you may hear from other either/or writers, no one has ever heard of Django Reinhardt before. Django Reinhardt was one of the first European jazz artists. His long musical career allowed him to span from original jazz in the 1920s to the charleston. He played even into the 1950s. Django has always been known as one of the world’s greatest jazz guitarists despite having his hands partially crippled in a house fire when he was 18. Django’s music is always good for driving on a moonlit night with the windows open. Especially when you have nowhere in particular to go.

From Django Reinhardt Discography
Swing From Paris – (MP3, 02:37, 3.6 MB)
I Saw Stars – (MP3, 02:49, 2.6 MB)
Hungaria – (MP3, 02:49, 3.9 MB)

There seems to have been many ways to discover the music of Geoff Berner; while he’s been mentioned on a few semi-prominent blogs (which is where I discovered him), he’s also got a song on a compilation entitled Funky Jewish Sounds From Around The World. That compilation’s even got my favorite song of his on there, Lucky Goddamn Jew. As he sings ever-so-awesomely, “I’m a lucky goddamn Jew, lucky goddamn Jew! Got some food, got some booze, women who will sleep with me!” After that, you’ve got Good Luck Now, which is something of a sequel to that song, at least lyrically. And then you’ve got the excellent Whiskey Rabbi, which sounds like it could be a song by The Tiger Lillies, at least for the five seconds, and only because of the accordion. I really should have just posted this as “Jewish + accordion + violins = awesome,” but someone, somewhere, somehow, would get angry.

From The Wedding Dance Of The Widow Bride
Good Luck Now – (MP3, 2 MB)

From Whiskey Rabbi
Lucky Goddamn Jew – (MP3, 2.2 MB)
Whiskey Rabbi – (MP3, 4.4 MB)

While I have mentioned this band before, a mere mentioning here and there is not nearly enough! They are one of the finer gypsy punk groups out there, and certainly the best with a female singer. The singer, Yula, also plays bass for the band, and used to play bass for The World/Inferno Friendship Society, so she is no musical slouch! The rest of the band doesn’t have any slouches either, as the guitars and drums on Red will certainly attest. The songs from the EP below are samples, just quite lengthy ones (1:45 each) … they’re also demos of songs that would later appear on their full-length debut, A Carefully Planned Accident. And since I do not feel like ending my streak of mentioning some awesome lyrics, there’s a real keeper on Captain Sensible Calling in the form of “Oh you dour motherfuckers!” Makes me laugh every time.

From A Carefully Planned Accident
Red – (MP3, 2.9 MB)

From Nanuchka EP
Anyway – (MP3, 1.6 MB)
Good Well – (MP3, 1.6 MB)

From Drink The Best Wine First
Captain Sensible Calling (feat. Jack Terricloth) – (MP3, 3.1 MB)

Vermillion Lies is a circus-cabaret group out of… California? That amuses me to no end, but the music is as authentic as you’re going to find anywhere (perhaps there is hope for the West Coast after all). The band’s headed by two sisters, both of whom are quite capable singers. I’m not sure which sister sings No Good, but her voice sounded exactly like Katharine Whalen’s, the lady who sang for the Squirrel Nut Zippers; this can only be a good thing. While the singing is different on their other songs, it’s still good enough that they can make the lyric “It’s true you are my fish filet” sound sexy. Words to melt any man’s heart, I suppose. If that wasn’t enough, their guitarist has also worked with Tom Waits andThe Tiger Lillies. There aren’t many bands that can say that, and none that seem as strange as a circus-cabaret group from California.

From Seperated By Birth
No Good – (MP3, 3 MB)
Circus Apocalypse – (MP3, 3.3 MB)
Circus Fish – (MP3, 2.4 MB)

HUMANWINE (all caps, no gaps!) is an incredibly awesome cabaret group out of Boston, which is unfortunate for me as I am nowhere near Boston. That’s my only beef with good cabaret bands; they are all from the East Coast, while I am from the West. Fie! It seems that whenever I bring up this band, the only people who seem to have heard of them are those who know they’ve opened for The Dresden Dolls. While that’s entirely true, that shouldn’t be their claim to fame when their music is so damn good. Oh well. They’re kicking off the Fighting Naked tour on Tuesday, which doesn’t get any closer to me than Missouri… fie, again! And for those of you near Philly, another one of my cabaret favorites, Nicki Jaine, is playing with them at their first stop. I need to move…

From Rivolta Silenziosa
Rivolta Silenziosa – (MP3, 4.5 MB)

Luminescent Orchestrii is one of those bands that you might be hesitant to listen to due to the somewhat ridiculous name, but end up doing so anyway because you enjoy slightly ridiculous names. They will greet you with violins that can be quite rambunctious or simply relaxing. For those of you who prefer some excitement in your life, start with the music from the top, and for those who prefer relaxing songs, start with Moon Song. This band also has the distinct honor of being one of the only bands that consistently makes instrumentals that don’t put me to sleep, which is something of a feat considering how vocal-centric my ears seem to be. And because everyone likes lyrics, here’s some: “If you come a-knockin’, honey I don’t mind \ But if you’re not here for lovin’, baby don’t waste my time!” This would have been a good band to post on Valentine’s Day if I wasn’t such a cynical bastard… alas!

From Too Hot To Sleep
Knockin’ – (MP3, 6.5 MB)
Warsaw – (MP3, 2.7 MB)
Stranger – (MP3, 4.9 MB)

From Luminescent Orchestrii
Moon Song – (MP3, 5.4 MB)
Taraf Hijacked – (MP3, 5.2 MB)

So I haven’t posted in a while, which is probably a good thing because all I’ve been listening to is James Bond soundtracks…
Anyhoo, my real-life friend, Edith, supplied me with this CD, so it’s thanks to her that this post exists!

Despite all the crazy, modern, gypsy-influenced bands floating around on either/or, it’s nice to know that there’s still some groups around that play pure, unadultered gypsy music. Monsieur Camembert is one such band.

An Australian group, these folks seemingly like to play in the waters of gypsy, folk and a range of Eastern European music. Lots of accordians and goodness knows what other manners of gypsy-flavoured instrumentation. By and by, they’re largely an instrumental group, but they do have some tunes with singing, like Adon Olam and Kiss of Fire.

Utterly delightful and pretty music? Heck yes!

Unfortunately, their website does not have media, which is a darn shame, but I guess it’s my tradition to post about bands that have no media. Check them out, if you can, or if you want some old-school gypsy charm.