Big Sky: Denouement Mix Vol. 4

1. Camille - Vous

From Le fil, 2005

2. Love - My Little Red Book
From Love, 1966

3. Kate Bush - The Big Sky
From Hounds of Love, 1985

4.Tim Hardin - Black Sheep Boy
From Tim Hardin 2, 1967

5. The Seekers - On The Other Side
From Seen In Green, 1967

6. Mahotella Queens - Wozani Mahipi
From Isigubu Sabalozi, 1969

7. Genesis - Keep It Dark
From Adacab, 1981

8. Low - La La La Song
From Trust, 2002

9. Andrew Bird - Carrion Suite
From Useless Creatures, 2009

10. The Hidden Cameras - Learning To Lie
From Awoo, 2006

11. John Lennon and Yoko Ono - Dear Yoko
From Double Fantasy, 1980

12. Wanda Jackson - Funnel of Love
From Right Or Wrong / Funnel of Love, 1961

13. Generationals - When They Fight, They Fight

From Con Law, 2009

14. Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit - The Ghost of O'Donahue

From A Larum Box Set, 2008

Halloween Mini-Mix!

1. Round Robin - I'm The Wolf Man

From I'm The Wolf Man / Sit And Dance, 1964

2. Old Time Relijun - Daemon Meeting

From Catharsis in Crisis, 2007

3. Tom Waits - What's He Building In There?

From Mule Variations, 1999

4. Squirrel Nut Zippers - La Grippe

From The Inevitable, 1995

5. Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Little Demon

From At Home With Screamin' Jay Hawkins, 1958

Photo by Hollin Brodeur

Denouement Mix Vol. 3: How Come That Blood

Download the whole thing here.

Or, listen and download individual songs:

1. Port O'Brien - I Woke Up Today
From All We Could Do Was Sing, 2008

2. Ros Sereysothea & Sean Vanthy - Jam 5 Kai Thiet (Wait Five More Months)
From Cambodian Rocks, 2000

3. Common Prayer - Us Vs. Them
From There Is A Mountain, 2010

4. Billy Nicholls - London Social Degree
From Would You Believe, 1968

5. Julie Doiron - Consolation Prize
From I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day, 2009

6. This Heat - S.P.Q.R.
From Deceit, 1981

7. Thee Oh Sees - I Was Denied
From Warm Slime, 2010

8. The Animals - Talkin' Bout You
From The Animals, 1964

9. OOIOO - Umo
From Taiga, 2006

10. Sam Amidon - How Come That Blood
From I See The Sign, 2010

11. Dismemberment Plan - Girl O'Clock
From Emergency & I, 1999

12. Micah P. Hinson - Yard of Blonde Girls
From Dream Brother, 2006

13. April March - Laisse Tomber Les Filles
From Paris In April, 1996

14. Heartless Bastards - The Mountain
From The Mountain, 2009

15. Adrian Crowley - Bless Our Tiny Hearts
From Long Distance Swimmer, 2008

16. Akron/Family - Everyone Is Guilty
From Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free, 2009

Illustration taken from Le Livre de Sante, v.2, 1967. Illustration by P. Wyss

From The Archives - Daniel

Some time back in 2007 we wrote a song called "Daniel" which didn't quite make it onto our first album, Low Tide. About a year later we revisited it, as we often do with our songs, and came up with a slightly different take.

Have a listen to the demo of Daniel from '08

The Denouement Mix Vol. 2: Stones Throw From Heaven

I'm going to skip the writing this time, but enjoy the mix! This one's a little more subdued, and the next will be more... uh... aggressive. Again, you can download the whole thing below in one zip file, or listen and download one at a time.

Download the whole thing here.

1. The Ex – Huriyet
From Turn, 2004

2. Two Minute Miracles – Conjoined
From Vol. 4: The Lions of Love, 2007

3. John Lennon – Jealous Guy
From Imagine, 1971

4. Nurses – Technicolor
From Apple’s Acre, 2009

5. Hem – The Golden Day Is Dying
From No Word From Tom, 2006

6. Henry Mancini – Theme From Hatari
From Hatari! 1962

7. Terry Allen – New Delhi Freight Train
From Lubbock (On Everything), 1972

8. Josephine Foster – Stones Throw From Heaven
From Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You; 2005

9. Brent Gorton – That Photograph
From Brent Gorton, 2006

10. Brigitte Bardot – Les Cheveux Dans Le Vent
From Brigitte Bardot, 1964

11. Clifton Chenier – Zodico Stomp
From Bayou Blues, 1970

12. Floating Action – To Connect
From Floating Action, 2009

13. Incredible String Band – How Happy I Am
From The Incredible String Band, 1966

14. Vetiver – Strictly Rule
From Tight Knit, 2009

15. The Velvet Underground – I’ll Be Your Mirror
From The Velvet Underground and Nico, 1967

16. Al Green – Jesus Is Waiting
From Call Me, 1973

Five Winter Songs

It's finally been a little cold down here in Southern California, so to celebrate, here are five winter sounding songs.

Ella Fitzgerald - Rock Of Ages, Cleft For Me
From Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas, 1967

Holopaw - Igloo Glass
From Holopaw, 2003

Wes Montgomery - Polka Dots And Moonbeams
From The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, 1960

Beach House - Holy Dances
From Devotion, 2008

Damien Jurado - Walk With Me
From Ghost Of David, 2000

The Denouement Mix Vol. 1: Kindly Take The Floor

I'm going to try and have mixes like this available every once and awhile. I think the best thing to do is download the zip file and listen to it as a complete mix, but you can also listen to and download the individual tracks below. I should warn you that the song choices do not necessarily reflect the tastes of the rest of The Denouement.

Click here to download the entire mix!

The Tracklist:

1. The Microphones – Sand (Eric's Trip)
From It Was Hot We, Stayed In The Water, 2000
Phil Elvrum, the man behind The Microphones and Mt. Eerie, is one of my favorite musicians. Elvrum turns what are often weaknesses for other bands (the timid waver of his voice, the hesitant and fumbling timing, the muddy instrumentation) and melds them together to create something very beautiful and very hard to describe. His music often feels almost prehistoric and sometimes mystical in the best way possible. To those who are not familiar, I recommend starting with his album The Glow Part 2.

2. Harry Nilsson – The Beehive State
From Nilsson Sings Newman, 1970
As one might infer from the name of the album, this song comes from an entire collection of Randy Newman covers, all sung by Nilsson, who I think has one of the best voices in pop music. Nilsson stripped the arrangement down to essentially piano and tambourine, and I think the result exceeds the original.

3. The Sorrows – You've Got What I Want
From Take A Heart, 1965
The Sorrows are an underappreciated part of the British invasion and never managed to have a lot of success. Their course guitar tone and aggressive vocals may have been unappealing to people at the time, but in retrospect it almost seems like a precursor to punk much like the more popular American band The Sonics.

4. Timber Timbre – I Get Low
From Timber Timbre, 2009
“I Get Low” comes from one of my favorite albums of the year, and certainly the most overlooked. The album maintains a consistently haunting tone over the course of its eight songs. Taylor Kirk, the sole member of Timber Timbre, manages to arrange a sparse but perfect choice of instruments for each song. Nothing is wasted, and the album created from this minimal approach deserves a much bigger audience.

5. Moondog – Symphonique #6 (Good For Goodie)
From Moondog, 1969
Moondog has a pretty interesting story: To most he was a homeless blind man living in New York, referred to by locals as “The Viking of 53rd” because of his strange attire. But during this time he was writing and recording amazing music and spent time with the likes of Charlie Parker and Bennie Goodman. The quality of music matches the peculiarity of the story. His music mixes classical, Native American percussion, and jazz to wonderful effect.

6. Bill Withers – Harlem
From Just As I Am, 1971
R&B doesn’t get much better than Bill Withers, as far as I’m concerned, and Bill Withers doesn’t get much better than “Harlem”. I’m probably exaggerating, but Withers is a recent musical love of mine, so my enthusiasm is nice and fresh. If the studio recording doesn’t convince you, check out this amazing live performance of the same song.

7. Cryptacize – Peg
From Unusual Animals Vol. 4, 2008
This cover of Steely Dan’s first Aja (1977) single is successful in the repurposing of melody from the jazz infused rock of the original for strange autoharp driven pop without ever feeling unnatural. Cryptacize’s newest album, Mythomania, (2009) is filled to the brim with songs as good or better than this, so add it to your list if you like Peg.

8. Brian Eno and John Cale – Lay My Love
From Wrong Way Up, 1990
Listening to their separate projects, it's easy to tell Cale and Eno have the ability to craft catchy, pop friendly songs when they want to. On this collaboration the two dive head first into a mainstream electronic pop sound. If anyone is averse to late eighties/early nineties synthesizers this might not be for them. Also, I can't mention this album without pointing out the appalling album artwork.

9. Margo Guryan – Timothy Gone
From Take A Picture, 1968
"Timothy Gone" is actually a song that was cut from Guryan's only released album. Though to a lesser degree, the song reflects the Beach Boys influenced sunshine pop that pervades the record. It's surprising that most of her musical career preceding the album was spent in the jazz world, with the likes of Ornette Coleman, Bill Evans and Max Roach. Her music never caught on, largely due to her aversion to performing, and she spent the rest of her career producing and teaching music.

10. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Easy Does It
From Lie Down In The Light, 2008
Will Oldham puts out consistently good albums, but I think Lie Down In The Light is a standout of his post I See A Darkness releases. This opening track sets the bar pretty high for the rest of the album, and for the most part, he follows through.

11. Roy Orbison – Candy Man
From The Very Best of Roy Orbison, 1966
Candy Man is the b-side to one of Roy Orbison's biggest hits, Crying. I would imagine it provided some much needed levity after listening to the first side of the record. Orbison doesn't have too many rock n' roll songs in his catalog, but that doesn't mean he wasn't good at making them. I'd put him on the list with Harry Nilsson for amazing vocalists.

12. The Black Keys – Heavy Soul
From The Big Come Up, 2002
I love The Black Keys gritty and simple approach to the blues and rock traditions. They tap into that blues energy better than almost any contemporary band. Like much blues, I can sometimes grow tired after listening to the whole album, (There are some exceptions, like Muddy Waters and Junior Wells) but taking each song on it's own merit reveals the quality of each.

13. Bill Callahan – Honeymoon Child
From Woke On A Whaleheart, 2007
I first heard Emiliani Torrini's excellent version of this song, which was recorded and released before Callahan's (even though he wrote it). I'm not sure what the circumstances are surrounding that... maybe Callahan wrote it for Torrini? Whatever the explanation is, both versions are fantastic. Woke On A Whaleheart is another album I highly recommend.

14. Justin Vollmar – Do You Have Hope In Your Eyes?
From Every Place Is Home, 2002
Justin Vollmar is another musician who has very little exposure in the music world. If he hadn’t opened for Half Handed Cloud at a tiny show in Pasadena, I wouldn’t know of him either. All three Vollmar albums display fragile, beautiful lo-fi acoustic music with narrative lyrics. It doesn’t hurt that he has an ear for melodies that stick with the listener.

15. Elbow – One Day Like This
From Seldom Seen Kid, 2008
Elbow’s sweeping romantic lyrics and instrumentation would probably be cheesy in anyone else's hands, but they bring a level of sincerity and musical skill that can’t help but penetrate the most cynical of ears. Elbow has been releasing music for nearly a decade, and they keep getting better.

Cover artwork taken from Al Ouchtomsky.