"Winston-Salem NC, you don't stop..."

Well, I never thought I'd hear my hometown name-checked in a rap song, but here it is. Thanks to the Stypod for the pointer to Brother Reade, an (at least partially) NC-based hip-hop group. I'm not much of a rap expert (Public Enemy is still my standard, for what it's worth), but this suits me fine. Here's a blog concert review, and an old MP3 blog post (files gone, but you can see what someone who seems to know that they're talking about thinks...)

MP3: "Fire This Time"
MP3: "Gliders"
(from Seven Days in the Same Clothes -- don't know when it was relased or if you can buy it.)
Stream some more songs at their MySpace site or from their own web site.

Elsewhere: Fake Swedish and the dB's

Various factors are keeping me from posting much at the moment, but I'll try to keep the vital signs alive. Today, don't miss a fine post over at Moistworks tracing the evolution of covers of Jacque Brel's "La Chanson de Jacky", including a version by Chapel Hill's psych-pop Fake Swedish. Their debut LP, Get Correct, was released on Demonbeach Records last month (buy it here). Here's a piece from the Independent in the aftermath.

Also, from a few days ago, catch an old dB's b-side over at Little Hits. "Darby Hall" is from the era of the first post-Stamey dB's album, 1984's Like This. The original band has reunited and recorded several tracks -- somebody please sign them and release the album!

C[ary] & C[ockrell] Music Factory

I have been eagerly anticipating the forthcoming recording from Caitlin Cary (previous post) and Thad Cockrell (previous post) ever since I found out about it when I was previewing NC bands at SXSW. Cary has released two lovely albums of country/folk since Whiskeytown split up, and Cockrell has several albums of more straight-ahead country to his credit. They've written songs together and contributed to each other's albums for a while, so this recording of duets was a natural progression, as this Independent article describes.

While Triangle super-producer Chris Stamey had produced most of their previous solo output, this time around they met in Nashville with Brad Jones and a studio band that included Roman Candle's Logan Matheny. The result, called Begonias, will be released in mid-June, but Craig at Songs:Illinois has a preview track up now. Check out "Party Time" here.

Yep Roc also has a track up at their site, but the link is somewhat wonky. I haven't been able to download the song using Firefox, but it worked OK with Internet Explorer. It's worth the effort, though, if you like the twang. It's a lovely tune, somewhat slower-paced than the song Craig posted.

MP3: "Two Different Things"
(from Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell Begonias, Yep Roc 2005. Pre-order here.)

(Other welcome news from that Independent article: Tres Chicas, which includes Cary, will record a new album in London this May. And Roman Candle's Wee Hours Review -- a Chris Stamey supervised re-recording of their 2002 Say Pop -- sounds like it might finally see light of day soon. [Previous post])

Nothing but a song

MP3: "Gold Guitars"
(Farblondjet [Sandra Covin], from Compulation Volume One: Songs from North Carolina, Pox World Empire 2003. Buy it here.)

...but oh what a song! A shuffling drum machine, an organ, a lovely female voice, and a melody that has stuck in my head since I heard it.

Farblondjet is Sandra Covin, who came to the Triangle from San Francisco and apparently has moved on to Florida since Compulation was released. She may have released an album called Life in the South, and/or The Butt Vicinity, but Google reveals little.

So, Ms. Covin is an mystery wrapped in a riddle smothered in secret sauce to me, but she has left behind a lovely piece of music.

The MP3 is hosted at a seemingly-defunct Triangle music zine called Nobody Gives a Shit About Music Anymore. I hope they don't mind my linking to it, and I wanted to be sure to give them credit.