Kaatcha Blog Radio - Numero Uno, Son!

Alas alas... It's finally here! The first ever edition of Kaatcha Blog Radio. Yes, I know, I would feel lucky too.

So kaatcha fans, if you've got an extra hour.... or some idle minutes here and there, that in time will initially add up to an hour, I say take a listen. (It's available for download or to play insta-man-taneously!) This hour I'll be showcasing two albums that I've become awfully found of this year, M. Ward's Hold Time and Sin Fang Bous's Clangour. Also included will be some new stuff for you to check out including The Faunts and the latest from The Doves. Pluzz a few more surprises... And we all love surprises!


M. Ward: Hold Time

Oh boy, is this a good one. In a review I read of Hold Time, someone stated that it's "music about music," and listening through this umpteen times, I couldn't agree more. It's Americana. Hold Time explores the depths of past folk rock and intertwines it with a unique style of alt-country. It's an album that holds no place in time. It's a mp3 download at the present, but it could have been a dusty '78 from decades past. M.Ward does a fantastic job at exemplifying the good-natured roots of classic American twang, but adds a fresh new twist with his smooth style, layered vocals, and uncertain innocence.

This album includes covers of Buddy Holly's Rave On, and Don Gibson's Oh Lonesome, Me. This song has a guest appearance from female phenom Lucinda Williams. And if you're a fan of hers, you'll understand why it's a perfect fit. So much that I thought it actually was written by Williams, but eventually learned the truth after some prying. This truly is a post, Post War classic.


Sin Fang Bous: Clangour

Okay. So yes, I judged an album by it's cover here. And wow, it actually worked this time!! Can you blame me... a felt material volcano-antlified backdrop with Clangour Gumby blocks and colorful Play-Doh fangs!!! Come on. That's fun! And as it turns out, that's exactly what this album is. Thumpin' Fun.

And it's apparent with first track track. Advent in Ives Garden is filled with Postal Service-esque video game effects and tumbling vocals. Clangour continues on with a thick coating of delightfully eerie echoes and an overflowing waterfall of sounds. It's good. In an unusual way. Fa Fa Fa, Poi Riot, and Lies, the strongest, and last songs of the album demonstrate this well.

Sindri Mar Sigfusson, the creator and solo executioner of Sin Fang Bous, does an outstanding job of weaving childlike imagination with colorful texture and beautiful melodies. The listener can't help but return to the times when their doodles of stick figures and scribbled circles were refrigerator masterpieces; when twigs, leaves, and shrubbery built amazing, indestructible forts that could withstand anything; or of one's first ferris wheel ride in the summer soaked sky at dusk... All of these times, somehow, are transpired on Clangour... This is your childhood. (And it was great to live it again. Even if it was for just 50 some odd minutes.)

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Kaatcha Blog Radio #1 Run Down:

M.Ward - For Beginners/ Richard Swift - Lady Luck/ Neutral Milk Hotel - The King of Carrot Flowers/ Sin Fang Bous - Clangour & Flutes/ The Changes - No One Needs to Know/ The Doves - Jetstream/ Flaming Lips - She Don't Use Jelly/ A.C. Newman - Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer/ Pulp - Common People/ Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Dull Life/ Faunts - Feel. Love. Thinking.Of/ South - Paint the Silence/ Sin Fang Bous - Advent in Ives Garden/ M.Ward - Jailbird