Blood Red Shoes - "It's Getting Boring By The Sea". The "death disco" genre of 2003-2004 kind of kicked the bucket when people decided normal disco was more fun. But I still love the stuff, the kohl-eyed pop-song roar of it. Often it's a disco for the apocalypse, or for the dying; but here Blood Red Shoes have made a song for the dead - the ones hurtling toward oblivion. And there's enough tambourine, cow-bell, handclap, stampstamp and yell to make the dead start crawling their way back. It's hard to believe this is just a demo. I adore the crowded thud of it, the hot spray of voices, the english accents with their sharp corners. The fire running fizzing into the tide. (And they're a two-piece?!)

[homepage] (thanks to Andrea at Warped Reality for the tip-off!)

Jim Bryson - "All the Fallen Leaves". The new album by Jim Bryson, one of Canada's finest singer-songwriters, is the most intimate he's yet recorded. The band recedes to the background and Jim stands quietly in the front, his throat hoarsening. He sounds more like Wilco's Jeff Tweedy now, and though I miss the electric guitar flare-ups that make his live show so great, a song like "All the Fallen Leaves" is rescued by its retraint, made altogether special. It has a modest Ottawa Valley funk, a backbeat and swing that would be grating if they were not so shy. But instead it's just lovely. "All the Fallen Leaves" could coax a non-dancer into dancing, a non-singer into "ooh-ooh"ing, a girl into smiling. Let's hope.

[buy Where the Bungalows Roam on CD, vinyl or mp3 / Jim will be playing Cambridge, Mass on the 26th; NYC on the 29th; and then the Blue Skies and Wolfe Island festivals in early August.]

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I like Blog For Dogs' Short Story Saturday - this time with William Faulkner and Ola Podrida & friends.

As you may be able to see (if not, reload the main page), a new Said the Gramophone banner has been added to the rotation alongside the ones by Keith Shore and Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet. This one is by Daria Tessler and it's pretty wonderful.

The initial lineup for Pop Montreal 2007 has been announced. October 3-7 we've got the likes of Patti Smith, Cody ChesnuTT, Pere Ubu, Half Japanese, Mort Sahl, Sunset Rubdown, Grizzly Bear, The National, A-Trak, Born Ruffians, Tiga, Bobby Conn, DJ /Rupture, Magnolia Electric Co., Chad VanGaalen, MSTRKRFT, Ndidi Onukwulu, Miracle Fortress, Ted Leo, Basia Bulat, &c, with many more to be announced. And, um, you never know... Said the Gramophone might be involved somehow too. I suggest you buy your plane-tickets now.

[photo by Jessica Williams]