Saturday, January 19th, 2008
Stray Paper
The title of Tift Merritt’s new album Another Country can be taken literally as its source of inspiration, as it was written while the North Carolinan moved to France to recharge and find new inspiration and generally take a break from the music industry following the successes of her first two albums, 2002’s country strummer Bramble Rose and 2004’s more rock and soul-inflected follow-up Tambourine. While neither record was the sort you’d file under “groundbreaking”, they were full of solid songwriting made especially potent when delivered in Merritt’s pure honey twang and another album of such will always be welcome.
Another Country is out on February 26 and in addition to the downloadable track below, there’s additional samples of her new material at her MySpace and. North American touring commences in mid-March. She’ll be at the El Mocambo in Toronto on April 1, tickets $15 in advance.
MP3: Tift Merritt – “Keep You Happy”
MySpace: Tift Merritt
Basia Bulat, currently on tour across Canada and next month across America (where Oh My Darling will be released on February 5.), will be back in Toronto for a show at Lee’s Palace on March 29, tickets $10. Tourmate (and label boss) Hayden talks to The Montreal Gazette about the current tour and why he signed her to his label.
And look for an official show announcement involving Okkervil River before too long – a few dates are trickling out and given those dates and my rough knowledge of American geography, we can expect to see Will and the crew back in town sometime in mid-April… with a tourmate you probably wouldn’t expect. I’ll have that all good and formal soon, but in the meantime check out this Black Cab Session with Will Sheff performing Big Star’s “Big Black Car”. Literal much?
Video: Okkervil River – “Big Black Car” (Black Cab Session)
Dose talks to Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields about the quality of Distortion.
Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan talks to Commercial Appeal.
Daytrotter offers up a session with The Brunettes.
Shots Ring Out rounds up their top 79 music videos of 2007.
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1/19/08 5:44 pm
okkervil river is opening for new pornographers in st. louis on april 19.