News: Fanfarlo's "Reservoir" for $1, plus REM's Reckoning Deluxe Package

FANFARLO
fanfarlo.com ♥ myspace.com/fanfarlo

This band shot straight up my priority list because you only have FOUR more days to get Fanfarlo's Reservoir album for $1 USD. And for your information, I did buy it for $1, via paypal and it was quick, painless, and easy, just the way I like it. The download for the fifteen tracks was quick and comes with the image of their album on the unrestricted MP3s (949 pixels). This is a pretty nice deal because there's actually four extra tracks that's not on the vinyl or CD.

The extra tracks are: "Kist of Whistles", "Hands (demo)", "Drowning Men (acoustic version)" and "Acoemeti". Even if you've already purchased their special edition of Reservoir, these four tracks are definitely worth $0.25 each surely?

Apparently the promotion is doing the group some good as they moved 500 copies of their album as "Record of the Week" from Rough Trade in the UK (in fact, it's completely sold out). As for a release date for the US, I thought I read it wasn't even schedule until September!

Fanfarlo's music reminds me of a trend in UK alt-folk movement of late. As far as I'm concern, we seem to get a lot of that type of music going around these days: Laura Marling, Jay Jay Pistolet, Kill It Kid, etc.

Anyway, I just wanted to quickly get this article up prior to the expiration date of July 4^th, so excuse the lack of detail on examining the album. What I can tell you is that it's folksy. There's clapping, there's clarinets, there's strings. The singing is wimpish, sensitive, and hey, he probably wears glasses. And you know what? Despite all that, it sounds alright!

The track that they seem to like is "Luna", but I didn't like it as much as "Fire Escape".

Reservoir will be the best $1 you've spent this summer. Go for it.

PS, the cover artwork is creepy.  It reminds me of A Tale of Two Sisters.

R.E.M.
remhq.com ♥ myspace.com/rem

I know I've already reviewed Reckoning: Deluxe Edition, but we finally got the actual product in house. So think of this as the packaging review.

I have long suggested to musicians that music fans like myself still prefer to actually own a physical product. Compared to the endless amount of jewel case albums, it's definitely worth it to make your CDs more attractive and unique. Case in point: those awesome 2-disc "Deluxe Packages". I've previously praised Deluxe Editions for that very reason.

To start off, the clear plastic sleeve are interchangeable with other Deluxe series. The liner notes unfolds to reveal a poster of the album artwork. On the reverse are credits, random "aged" photographs, and a long introduction written by Tony Fletcher. The Fletcher article basically sums up R.E.M.'s first few years up touring for Reckonining. It also document the craziness of how songs were basically thrown together. Recordings were produced in very short amount of time with the rhythm section (Mike Mills & Bill Berry) catching on quickly as a result of being marching band partners and understanding each other's works.

Basically songs were recorded because "either you got it, or you didn't.".

The article is also printed in tiny, tiny, font, and I suspect only hardcore R.E.M. fans will likely read it. Bring a magnifying glass.

As expected and predicted, the package is very similar to Murmur. See picture of that previous package. You can pick up Reckoning Deluxe Edition at most places, like Best Buy - but amazon has it cheapest ($17.99).

MISCELLANEOUS
news.weheartmusic.com ♥ myspace.com/weheartmusik

What's on my radar? Here's a few that we've recently receive - that looks interesting. I'm especially drawn to Italy's Father Murphy (I think of Peter Murphy for some reason!) and K Records' The Pine Hill Haints. I heart K (so does Kurt Cobain). They recently signed up on twitter and I followed them immediately.... even though as of this writing they haven't exactly "tweated".