#4: Reason to Believe

So, not every day is rosy, that’s a fact. Sometimes you can wake up on a Saturday morning and want nothing more than to be lulled back to sleep by Tim Hardin’s plaintive odes. His is one of my favorite voices in the world to listen to, and though there are many songs that I’d be thrilled to share, this is the one I woke up wanting to hear today. Though this song actually appears on a Vince Guaraldi album, it’s one of my all time favorites by Hardin, and the piano accompaniment is probably the reason. It’s utterly sad, but there are these moments where it seems like Guaraldi really wants to try and make it uplifting, despite Hardin’s vocal resistance to that direction. Stunning. It was followed up by his collaborative version of “Black Sheep Boy” w/ Guaraldi (on the same album) - You can buy it here.

Vince Guaraldi + Tim Hardin “Reason to Believe”

Previously: #3: “Pastoral”, #2: “Jardim de Infancia”, #1: “Blue Tulip”

#3: Pastoral

The day by day mixtape continues with Moondog. Moondog is a relatively new discovery for me. I have had “Pastoral” on my hard drive for a long time, and always enjoyed it, but it’s been one of those tunes that for whatever reason hadn’t led to a full-on investigation of what else was out there. It’s my fault - I’m easily distracted.

Moondog was a blind eccentric artist in NYC in the ’60s and ’70s, and he wandered around wearing a cape and Viking helmet, talking about art, politics, and the Western tonal tradition. His music is a gigantic lesson in harmony and counterpoint, and it’s all tremendously beautiful. I’ve caught up with him a bit, so if you’re interested, my recommendations would be Moondog (1969), Moondog 2 (1971) (the album “Pastoral” appears on), and H’art Songs (1978).

Moondog “Pastoral”

Previously: #2: “Jardim de Infancia”, #1: “Blue Tulip”

Get Your Hands Off My Barracuda

To respond to myself for a moment on copyright legislation and meaningful artist control of licensing, all this Palin / Barracuda nonsense strikes me as a perfectly good example of why copyright and sharing (or assumed public domain rights) shouldn’t be in anyone else’s hands.

With all the difficulties they’ve had in finding a tune whose composer will let them use, the McCain/Palin campaign may well soon discover a previously unknown fondness for material in the public domain, which thanks to McCain’s earlier votes on copyright legislation, now includes only a very small amount of music composed within his lifetime. (via)

The Wilson sisters aren’t happy without their copyright choice being considered, and McCain is frustrated that no one in the public domain (ie people still alive) want him to use their songs. Gee, I think it might be time to revisit how we legislate these things, you think?

Retread Sessions B-Side: “Internet Song” by Akron/Family

Akron/Family — Internet Song from Retread Sessions on Vimeo.

During SXSW back in March, we recorded a couple of Akron/Family songs for KUT’s Retread Sessions video project. They performed “I Know You Rider” and “They Will Appear, Behold.” They also performed this song, which they called “Internet Song,” and it’s been a hidden special treat for us ever since. I decided to share it off-site today, because I think that it’s too good to keep … off the Internet. Enjoy.

Aside: The place this was filmed was a public outdoor art space called the Enchanted Forest. It was a huge, sprawling outdoors creative space utilized by many that has since been forced to close. It was a den of hippies, but goddamnit those hippies were my neighbors and I’ll miss that place. Tschous.

#2: Jardim de Infancia

Day two brings us a gorgeous, haunting song from Brazilian artist Olivia Byington’s 1976 debut, Corra a Risco. This song is number 2 in an ongoing mixtape, made day by day, song by song.

Olivia Byington “Jardim de Infancia”

Previously: “Blue Tulip”