As I was jamming out to Damon's last show of the season (Exposure Box radio show), I felt inspired to ask a question: Would anyone be interested in podcasts, done by..us?

Either participate in our poll, or leave your thoughts in the comments. Thanks guys!

P.S. I have no idea if this will show in the feeds, so if it doesn't just swing by if you can and let us know at our site.  

[poll=1]

Otherwordly Beats + Caterwauling + Ear Sex = Thievery Corporation 

I considered not writing this post, thinking, "Everybody has to know who the Thievery Corporation is…", but then I realized that even if one of you didn't know who they were before you read this post, then it was all for something. I'm so nice. And it would defeat our purpose.

Thievery Corporation was introduced to me by a friend when he was drunk, telling me how awesome they were. I took all this with a grain of salt, but he did burn me a disc with some of their stuff. I guess some people can communicate honestly when intoxicated. Well. I got hooked.

Some of you may be familiar with the track "Lebanese Blonde", which was featured on the Garden State soundtrack. (I swear, every song in the world has been featured on that soundtrack, and I've never even seen the bloody film.) They recently released their album "Versions" in 2006, which is a compilation album featuring a handful of outside artists. 

Possible categories: electronic, dub, acid jazz, lounge, world, ambient, experimental, indie, etc. 

What I like about Thievery Corporation is the global feel they have. They combine styles of music from all over, and languages, too, which makes for a quality blend of sound. Added to their political bent, you get music which is a sign of the times, and to me, representative of ever-increasing surge in globalization. (I'm an anthropology major, what can I say. <<—That. ) 

So, you have quick rundown of Thievery Corporation, a handful of links, and some selected mp3s. They're quite hard to choose, because TC is one of those groups whose albums have 12 out of 13 uber tracks. The ones I chose are from the albums I'm more familiar with. I'm not writing a band history because I don't care what year the DJ was born in. Its all about the music, dawg.

Related Links:

Thievery Corporation Official Website

Thievery Corporation on MySpace

Thievery Corporation Wikipedia Entry

Thievery Corporation at Last.FM

Related Ear Sex(doing a bit different):

Le Monde

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/02%20-%20Le%20Monde.mp3] 

Facing East

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/02%20-%20Facing%20East.mp3] 

Lebanese Blonde

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/04%20-%20Lebanese%20Blonde.mp3] 

Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes 

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/01%20-%20Heaven%27s%20Gonna%20Burn%20Your%20Eyes.mp3] 

JJJ: Like a Version

In celebration of my going to see John Butler Trio this weekend, this mp3 spotlight post comes to you filled with bias. I'm ok with that.

This track, "Message In A Bottle", is a cover, famously, done by John Butler for Triple J's Like A Version album, which features many Australian and other artists doing covers of well-known stuff.

I'm not sure how I came to find this track, but I'd like to share it with you anyway. It be awesome, just a voice and a guitar, reminiscing a classic.

Related Audio: 

Message In A Bottle - John Butler

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/john%20butler%20trio%20-%20message%20in%20a%20bottle.mp3]

A few years ago I watched one of the Academy Awards shows with my mother. I don't remember what year it was, but it was around the time of the release of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, because Sting and Annie Lennox performed together, and she sang a track from the soundtrack. I think. Or it was Cold Mountain. 

Anyways, Sting performed; he sung, and played an instrument I had never seen before. Only this year have I found out what it was—- —–a hurdy-gurdy.

I know, right, "a what?"

A hurdy gurdy, or a wheel fiddle. I remember telling a friend of mine that he had a box strapped to him, with a handle on the side that he turned very consistently, and it made a constant low, humming noise. Sound a bit boring, but the humming was beautiful. Beautiful enough for me to remember it like 5 years later. It stuck out.

I'd like to share what a hurdy-gurdy is with you, by way of a Wikipedia article.

A hurdy gurdy (or hurdy-gurdy, also known as a wheel fiddle) is a stringed musical instrument in which the strings are sounded by means of a rosined wheel which the strings of the instrument pass over. This wheel, turned with a crank, functions much like a violin bow. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses tangents (small wedges, usually made of wood) against one or more of these strings to change their vibrating length, and therefore pitch.

Most hurdy gurdies have multiple "drone strings" which provide a constant pitch accompaniment to the melody, resulting in a sound similar to that of bagpipes. For this reason, the hurdy gurdy is often used interchangeably with or along with bagpipes, particularly in French and contemporary Hungarian folk music.

 There we go, basically. Here's a picture (click on it for a bigger one):

Whats funny to me is that someone who plays the hurdy-gurdy is called a 'hurdy-gurdyist". Original, eh?

Well, I wanted to share this fascinating instrument with you, and for more information, heres a link to the Wikipedia article.

Hurdy-Gurdy on Wikipedia 

This weekend I'm going to see John Butler Trio at the House of Blues in New Orleans. Dedicated Follower of JBT, I am. 

Anyways, I'll be gone for about two days in order to trip there, trip back, and hopefully get sleep in between it all. While we don't usually post on weekends, before I leave I'll be leaving you with a few posts more, i.e., we usually post once to twice a day, I'll be doing a couple of extra for you, and releasing them on Friday evening/Saturday morning. I'm so nice/a workaholic.

It occurs to me that while I'm at Bonnaroo, there'll be nothing from me for like a week. Well, I hope theres no complaints about that, because it'll be for a worthy cause.  

Damon is always around to field emails and such, too, so if you have questions or other issues, you can reach him at damon at lovethemusicreviews dot com.  

And you can also expect pictures (hopefully) and other such news about the show from me when I get back. By the way, for the record, the tickets cost 18.00 dollars and we ended up paying about 60 bucks total for two tickets, with all the fees and crap they tack on there. I'm officially complaining. Also, the second picture you see is from a different road trip. Still cool, though.

In other news, Cinco De Mayo is coming up. This doesn't mean you have to drink Corona (ugh), but it does give you an excuse to go out and get drunk responsibly, at your local Mexican restaurant. Just a reminder.

Have a good weekend, y'all,

Jen 

Yesterday I was digging my way through internet as I usually do, when I'm supposed to be doing something else. I came across John Fahey. The name sounds familiar, but I know I'm not familiar with his stuff. But I should be. And so should you. Apparently his music is considered 'primitive guitar', and quite an inspiration to many musicians we know. Fahey passed away though, in 2001. 

 I chose 'Sligo River Blues' for this post because it was the easiest to get my hands on. If you check out the MySpace page there are two other tracks which are excellent, also. 

Related Links:

John Fahey Official Website

John Fahey on MySpace 

Related Audio:

Sligo River Blues - John Fahey

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/18%20-%20John%20Fahey%20-%20Sligo%20River%20Blues.mp3]