Adrienne Pierce - Winter EP

Maybe it’s because Adrienne Pierce covered Neil Young's Pocahontas as part of Borrowed Tunes II that I which to share with you Adrienne’s new EP Winter. Maybe it’s because it’s cold outside here in Paris or that the holiday music season starts already. I don’t know... my mood today…
Adrienne Pierce is a Canadian singer from Vancouver, her six songs EP Winter (November 18th) is "a musical love letter to this special time of year. Recorded primarily in a cabin on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, this is a holiday release with both classic appeal and indie charm to spare. The four original Christmas songs are diverse in style but unified in theme and DIY approach."

Web: adriennepierce.com
MySpace: myspace.com/adriennepierce

Adrienne Pierce - Joy Is With Reach .mp3 via Scrink.com
Adrienne Pierce - Laundry And Dishes .mp3

Bonus: John Denver - Please Daddy Don't Get Drunk This Christmas .mp3

Megapuss Surf’s Up

Leaky Sparrow’s friend Devendra Banhart has a new project, it’s called Megapuss. Megapuss is also Greg Rogove (Priestbird), Fabrizio Moretti (The Strokes, Little Joy), Noah Georgeson (member of Banhart's band and producer), and Aziz Ansari (actor/comedian). One year after the half success of Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, Devandra signed with Neil Young’s Vapor Records label who released Surfing beginning of November.

Web: megapuss.net
MySpace: myspace.com/megapuss
Label: vaporrecords.com

Megapuss - Adam & Steve .mp3 via Cream Team

Priestbird - Mandog .mp3
Devendra Banhart - Will Is My Friend .mp3
Beirut - Mount Wroclai Idle Days .mp3

Postcard from Lisbon - Madredeus

Hi! Just been away on a short vacation trip in Lisbon; the little San Francisco of Europe. Lisboa is a wonderful city and also known as the birthplace of Fado a very melancholic music. I am not a connoisseur - I guess you all know Amália Rodrigues - but I would like to mention amongst many Madredeus whose music combines Fado influences with modern folk music. I discovered them in a 1994 film directed by Wim Wenders, Lisbon Story. Teresa Salgueiro is one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard. Ainda…….

Web: madredeus.com

Madredeus - A barca da fantasia (live) .mp3
Madredeus - Haja o que Houver (Lux Mix) .mp3

Photo (Leaky Sparrow): a wonderful guitar player in the quiet cloister of the Mosteiro de S. Vicente (Lisbon)

The Beatles White Album

After two and a half years and more than 300 posts, I just realized that I never wrote anything about The Beatles. As a teenager raised in the 60s with the sound of the four guys from Liverpool, I shouldn’t miss the opportunity to celebrate the 40th anniversary of that amazing masterpiece double LP usually called The White Album.
My mother gave it to me as a present for Christmas 68 (see photos of “the” copy). At that time, I didn’t have so many records and just few 45s… so The White Album, for months, was on my turntable. Before I had the Sgt Pepper’s, the Magical Mystery Tour LP and one compilation called Oldies But Goldies, my older sister already had Rubber Soul and Revolver. That was my first steps on the music universe… such a good start!
I could write pages and pages about that record and about everything song. It’s a listening delight even 40 years later.
The Beatles is the ninth official album by The Beatles, a double album released in 1968. It is more commonly known as The White Album as it has no text other than the band's name (and, on the early LP and CD releases, a serial number) on its plain white sleeve, which was designed by pop artist Richard Hamilton. More on Wikipedia

The Beatles - Helter Skelter .mp3

The Beatles are the most-covered band in history, here is just a quick selection of cover versions from The White Album:

Beatlejazz - Blackbird .mp3 from Another Bite Of The Apple
Evan Rachel Wood - Blackbird .mp3 via Friedreich from the musical movie Across The Universe (2007)
Evan Rachel Wood - Dear Prudence .mp3
Joe Anderson - Happiness Is A Warm Gun .mp3
The Rolling Stones & John Lennon - Yer Blues (Live) .mp3

Paul Weller - Sexy Sadie .mp3

Barack Obama - Hope For Peace

Barack Obama in Chicago last night (REUTERS)

Marvin Gaye - The Star Spangled Banner .mp3 via Living In Stereo

David Crosby - What Are Their Names .mp3

Deerhunter - Microcastle

You remember the time when you bought vinyls, do you? Like for you, it happened to me that I listened again and again to one side, Side A or Side B – the most well known example is the second side of Abbey Road. If Microcastle from Deerhunter was available only on vinyl (too bad, I just have the CD!), I'm sure that I will only listen to side B over and over again. It doesn't mean that the other songs are weaker but the last four ones, from Nothing Ever Happened to Twilight At Carbon Lake, are like one great song and encourage you to put the needle at the beginning of the side… And, there’s a little bit of Swell on Saved By Old Times. So…
Atlanta-based Deerhunter released Microcastle, the follow-up to 2006's critically lauded Cryptograms, at end of October. Microcastle will be released simultaneously on CD and LP via Kranky in North America and 4AD in Europe.

MySpace: myspace.com/deerhunter
Blog: deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com

Bradford Cox recorded an exclusive session for 4AD. The fruits of said session On Platts Eyott Island can only be heard on the 4AD website here.

Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened .mp3 via I Rock Cleveland
Deerhunter - Heatherwood .mp3 via Pitchforkmedia
Deerhunter – Wash Off .mp3
Bonus: Grizzly Bear - On A Neck, On A Spit .mp3 via grizzly-bear.net

Nico Icon - Cologne Girl Exhibition

Just come back from another great week-end in Cologne. No marathon or concert this time but a museum night with the visit of a remarkable exhibition that must be brought to your attention. Nico (Christa Päffgen), who died 20 years ago in Ibiza, is now celebrated until the end of January by her native town, Köln.
The exhibition is a nice retrospective covering every stage of her life from the time she was a young fashion model, then an actress, up to the moving singer-songwriter that everybody knows. All the documents are exhibited with taste and love: photos, movies, press articles, letters, posters and vinyl covers. The die-hard fans won’t discover anything really new but for those of you who just know her as a member of the Velvet Underground, you’ll understand why Nico became an Icon to many.

Info: Nico – Köln, Berlin, Paris, New York – Stationen einer Popikone Museum für angewandte kunst: October 30, 2008 to February 1, 2009 (in German)
Or here: Arte (in French)
And on… Leaky Sparrow

Nico - I'll Keep It With Mine .mp3
Nico - Nibelungen .mp3 via Greenpeaness
Velvet Underground And Nico - All Tomorrow's Parties .mp3 Via WFMU's Beware of the Blog
Bonus: Big Star - Femme Fatale .mp3