Early and Rare Yo La Tengo: Live at Cubby Bear, Chicago, November 12, 1988.

As an ardent music mole, I can tell you that it is tough to get hold of anything Yo La Tengo. YLT of course is one of my indie rock heroes, so it's pretty special to find this early live set performed at the Cubby Bear sports bar in Chicago. Georgia and Ira's early folksy leanings are apparent here, and the set is kinda gentle with Ira on acoustic guitar and Georgia on drums. Better still, this includes their first single "The River of Water". Enjoy.

The River of Water
Listen To My Heart
Palisades Park
Did I Tell You
Luxury Liner
Lewis
Fog over Frisco
Sh-Boom
You Tore Me Down
I Have a Secret
Clunk
Tail Of A Star
Sex
You're Gonna Miss Me
Teenager in Love
Old World

As a bonus for all you audiophiles, you can download the lossless files here (megaupload). Act fast, it's available for a limited time only.

New and Interesting: The Morning Benders

Via email comes this message:

hello,
I am in a band from the bay area called the morning benders. I came across your blog the other day and thought you might enjoy our music. here is a link to a bunch of mp3s that we uploaded, feel free to repost or link to them. some of them are unreleased and others were released on our first EP: "loose change." you can read what some other people have been saying about us here. please write back if you have any questions!

thank you much,

the morning benders
www.myspace.com/themorningbenders
www.themorningbenders.com

I get a couple of these a day and I try to check them out, always good to hear new music. However, I only post about stuff I like. That said, I find these guys somewhat interesting, worth checking out if you ever wondered what could be if Jeff Tweedy was a member of The Beatles. I particularly liked "I Was Wrong"-a kinda laid back track with lazy percussions, staccato-ed beats, and the ululations of vocalist Chris Chu. Keep your handkerchief close, you may need to wipe your tears.

I Was Wrong
Morning Fog
Loose Change (Rough Version)

Thin Lizzy: Peel Sessions, 1972-1977

I cannot tell you how come Irish hard-rockers Thin Lizzy got to play 9 sessions for legendary DJ, John Peel, or why those of you who read this puny blog voted to have this put up, but I can sure tell you that I was elated (now that's a fancy word) when I discovered a huge chunk of the Thin Lizzy sessions in my Peel trade. From the first notes of the essential "Whiskey In The Jar", Phil Lynott (R.I.P) and the Dublin boys transport us back to the days of midday classic rock radio, supra-aural headphones stuck in low-budget transistor radios with broken antennas and the midway through the song hiss, idling away at Baa's outdoor barbershop, hand-me-down jeans, global warming-free sunshine, and not a care in the world. And ever so rarely, AC/DC will follow on Coal City FM, 96.3, just before they cut to the news, then all about political strife, the governor's itinerary, and the travails of the Enugu Rangers FC (not to be confused with the Scottish club).

Whiskey In The Jar
Rosalie
Suicide
Emerald
Cowboy Song
Jailbreak
Don't Believe A Word
Little Darling
Still In Love With You
Vagabonds Of The Western World
Little Girl In Bloom
Killer Without A Cause
Bad Reputation
That Woman's Gonna Break Your Heart
Dancing In The Moonlight

Tom Waits: Live at the Paramount Theater, Oakland, CA, 6/10/99.

Lately there's been a lot of super fantastique blog posts featuring the elder statesman of weird cool. To mention a few:
rbally has a 1974 set performed at the San Diego Folk Festival.
The Captain's Dead has a Warsaw set.
San Diego Serenade has the Tom Waits' VH1 Storytellers episode.

Here's another great sounding set, for those of you who can't get enough Waits. Part 2 later.

Intro
The Black Rider
Singapore
Jesus Gonna Be Here
Get Behind the Mule
Goin' Out West
I Don't Wanna Grow Up
Hold On
Eyeball Kid
What's He Building?
The Fall of Troy
Picture In A Frame
Big Face Money For Ray
Take It With Me
Innocent When You Dream
Come On Up To the House

Deerhoof Blasts In Again With A Farewell EP

For all of you who care and who probably already know, Chris Cohen, guitarist of super-terrific band after my heart Deerhoof, is leaving the band to work on The Curtains. In commemoration of this event, the band has unleashed a free EP of covers and live songs upon the world. As with everything that Deerhoof does, this is delish. The EP is available on their website for free download, but as a single file. To ensure all you arrangement/tagging freaks and lazybums listen to this, and because I am an arrangement/tagging freak and occasional lazybum, I am providing individual mp3s of the files. Enjoy.

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill (Beatles cover)
Desapareceré (New EP Version)
Wrong Time Capsule (New EP Live Version)
Goin' Up The Country (Canned Heat cover)
Lose My Breath (My Bloody Valentine cover)
Spirit Ditties Of No Tone (New EP Version)
Dinner For Two (New EP Version)
Lightning Rod, Run (New EP Version)
There's A Kind Of Hush (Herman's Hermits cover)

The Fall: Live at Boulder Theatre, Boulder, Colorado, May 26, 2006.

Show info here.

Intro
Assume
Theme from Sparta FC
Mountain Energei
Pacifying Joint
Wrong Place, Right Time
What About Us?
I Can See The Grass Grow
Blindness
Bo Doodak
(encore)
Mr. Pharmacist

Keren Ann: Live at Artrock Festival, Saint Brieuc, France, June 7, 2003.

The beautiful and talented Keren Ann delivers a smoldering set at the Artrock Festival in France, all breathy vocals and gallic passion. Enough to make you forget about church today.

On est Loin
Rien de Précis?
Au Coin du Monde
Le Sable Mouvant
By the Cathedral
It's Always You (Tommy Dorsey cover)
Les Rivieres de Janvier
L'Illusionniste
Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell cover)
Sur le Fil

For more Keren Ann, buy Nolita. If like me, you like listening to songs rendered in a language you don't understand, you're are better off with La Biographie de Luka Philipsen.