Rachael Dadd’s Table is the second video today that first went to our video tumblr, but then got on the main site, because it’s a masterpiece and we’d be terribly sorry if it was lost in the avalanche that is the net:

“Hand painted animated video for Table, from Rachael Dadd’s mini-album Moth In The Motor. Created by the immensely talented hands of Betsy Dadd – oil paint on glass. Each pressing of the 10″ vinyl release includes a free download of this video, and every sleeve has been hand painted.”

Moth in the Motor is released tomorrow on 10″ vinyl, strictly limited to 300 pressings, hand numbered, with every sleeve hand painted using linocuts made by Rachael herself.

Canadian songwriter Barzin crafts melancholic folk songs for the suicide lane. Being a proud non-depressive I hesitate to take even the prescribed dosage of Barzin/year, because he’s like a siren who can manipulate your mood easily. Today though I received an email from Bad Panda announcing that they have gotten a previously unreleased Barzin song and released it with CC license, now I’m sitting in my depression cardigan, drinking red wine and contemplating why it has come to this…

Squeezed out of our inbox in the last couple of weeks, this two part edition for Nov 09 has some great tunes. The first part is consisted mainly of indie / indiepop / folk stuff, which makes up about 80% of our inbox.

This months noteworthy promos include:

+ Brown Bird’s sophomore “The Devil Dancing” on Peapod Records. An indie / folk group “resting wonderfully on a bed of cello, acoustic guitar, banjo and other assorted instruments”. Emotional without any sentimentalism. Check out if you like Balmorhea.

+ Sticklips debut “It Is Like A Horse. It Is Not Like Two Foxes” on Proliferate: Music. Psych-folk, indiepop, and artrock blended seamlessly!

+ LA based Singer songwriter Yael Mayer’s new EP, which is straight up indie pop with solid singalong tunes.

+ Tristeza’s own blend of afro funk and jazz, flamenco, tropicalia, and krautrock. Out in december. Stream from Muxtape

Part 2 with more electronica/beats & stuff.

image : Mother Nature, conceptual art by Jaap Scheeren

The Essential albums of 2009 are starting to appear, and one of the first (together with the Mulatu & Heliocentrics) that get the undomondo seal is American singer-songwriter Bill Callahan’s sophomore on Drag City. And it’s coming from a blog that is highly skeptical of the thriving indie/hipster scene which produces hundreds of unoriginal bands everyday both in the US and the UK.

Callahan’s gloomy voice registers as a non-guttural Mark Lanegan, matching the pristine sound of the album and the unpretentious structures of the songs. One thinks it must be extremely hard to convey this much emotion and grace with so little happening on the surface, yet he seems to achieve it easily with his heart-rending songs. It’s turned, me, not even barely a melancholic person, into someone who wonders if listening to one more song might make me fall prey to unforeseen depression.

“Sometimes I wish we were an Eagle” contains a stunning voice and epic songwriting, from a wise singer with a story to tell. Essential.

I think it’s safe to proclaim that Bill Callahan has officially attained Wallabee status. Like a pair of Clarks, Chuck Taylors, or Vans, Señor Smog has become a symbol of effortless style and reliability, crafting something so timeless in its aesthetic appeal that it’s quickly approaching “classic” status. Other Music

It’s been a long time since we last heard of Final Fantasy’s Owen Pallett. The eloquent singer-songwriter has a new ep called Spectrum, 14th Century on Blocks Recording Club, a Toronto artist-collective label. If you’re not already fed up with “baroque pop“, the romantic orchestral indie pop genre with chamber music influences you’ll be quite happy to know that he can still craft good offkilter pop songs and conjure pastoral fantasias. We thought we weren’t going to touch another release from this genre after hearing the über pretentious album from Parenthetical Girls’ , yet we were wrong, it wasn’t the genres fault.

PS: Got a mail from Owen Pallett yesterday that challenged what I think about the Parenthetical Girls album. I will be giving it a few more chances as he said it’s a very rewarding album and we shouldn’t be too quick to write it off. Let’s see.

In hindsight, the first thing that attracted me to this fine gentleman was his pseudonym. A frenchman singing acoustic folk songs in English, trying to represents among what, like ten thousand folk bands from the US?

Yet somehow after a few months of coming back to this album, it’s July and I should say this album has solidified its place in my heart now. Benjamin Morali is a good songwriter, it’s not that the songs are groundbreaking in their composition or sound, like so many psych-folk bands are trying to achieve without writing actual songs. Kinda like directors shooting avantmovies with no stories. Not that it’s bad hey, but sometimes you just want to listen to a good old song, with some identifiable melody and a verse/chorus format. I know his songs are more emotional than I could normally tolerate but don’t worry I’m not going emo, I might be slightly aging, though. Because Music

Syd Matters – My Lover’s on the Pier
Syd Matters – After all these years

Last week I spent some time to cover some promo albums we got and clear that inbox. After few days though it’s still full, so here’s another post with email submissions. Beware though I won’t be checking new stuff that’s sent to us for at least a month from now on. Simply because I don’t have the time, if anyone wants to help us checking out and reviewing some of the new stuff sent to us by PR crews and artists don’t hesitate to send an email. I can really use some help now that error101’s not touching her blogging gloves.

Here’s a quick rundown: We start off with Lightning Head alter ego of Bigga Bush from Rockers Hi-Fi. A massive afrobeat inspired dance tune which is going to be released as the debut single of his own label on May 27. Grillo is Matteo Grilli from Italy, with his debut jazzy beats and glitch hop album on Beatpick. Austin,TX native Rae Davis’s Antipop debut is highly impressive. Here’s the opener “Yesterday’s History”, laidback blunted beats with trumpet licks and strings. Singer-songwriter Alan Wilkis has a lighthearted pop / electronica album which reminded me of Victor Lams. This cheerful and catchy tune has a lovely moog solo. Whatfor is, ’60s-brand pop written by Michael Sienkowski from Madison, WI. His debut album will be released in May, not exactly my cup o’ tea but it’s a good tune.

Part 2 in a few hours..

I’ve been listening on/off to the UK release of Norwegian singer-songwriter Silje Nes‘ Ames Room released on Fat-Cat, and it’s about time to talk a little bit about her music now that the European release of her debut is due. The opener “Over All” is the anathema of “Ames Room”, gentle vocal pop over dissonant toy glockenspiel melodies. Silje doesn’t try to hide her Scandinavian essence by creating isolated and personal pop music like Hanne Hukkelberg, but nevertheless it’s much more lo-fi as “Ames Room” is entirely bedroom recorded material created between 2004 and 2007. The melancholic side of her can be heard in songs like “Long Shadows Left Around“, where backgrounds of acoustic guitar meet subtle electronic textures and delicate brasswork, you should listen through headphones though!.

Silje Nes – Over all
Silje Nes – Long shadows left around

15 Battles – Mirrored (Warp Records) : Everybody’s been talking about “Mirrored” this year, and they kind of deserve it for getting their oddtimed dissonant music to find strange acclaim from mainstream circles as well as mathheads.
14 Deejay OM – Reheated Naan and Curry (Galapagos4) : A fine hybrid of Indian samples mixed with beats. Somehow liked it much more than Madlib’s take. Past review on undomondo.

Ólöf Arnalds – Klara

13 Ólöf Arnalds – Við og við (12tónar) : Icelandic singer Ólöf Arnalds‘ acoustic folk deserves a government grant as we get more and more interested in Iceland after listening to her debut.
12 White Magic – Dark Stars (Drag City) : Frankly I’m an utter sucker for their haunting minimalist folk, hopefully more to come in 2008.Past review on undomondo
11 Alamaailman Vasarat – Maahan (Backstage Alliance) : Finnish weirdo prog-rockers Alamaailman Vasarat didn’t fail to satisfy us with their 3rd album a highly versatile & wacky world music stuff. Circus music at its best.Past review on undomondo, The Armchair Critic review

Luke Temple – Medicine

10 Luke Temple – Snowbeast (Millpond) : Brooklyn, NY based singer & songwriter Luke Temple’s album is one of the best albums of the year, with hints of 70s psychedelia and melancholy, top quality singer songwriter pop. Past review on undomondo
09 Nostalgia 77 – Everything Under the Sun (Tru-Thoughts) : UK’s finest nujazz troupe a with an impressive effort, and they didn’t stop here and went for a second gold album as an octet. Past review on undomondo
08 Shellac – Excellent Italian Greyhound (Touch & Go) : Most critics didn’t like this album compared to other Shellac releases, but nevertheless it’s better than most of the stuff this year. Past review on undomondo. Pitchfork review

Men-an-Tol – Orange Juice and Vodka

07 Men-an-Tol – Men-an-Tol (Static Caravan) : I’ve declared my love for bearded UK folkers Men-an-Tol a few times this year, can’t wait for their debut album in 2008. Past review on undomondo
06 Fedayi Pacha – The 99 Names of Dub (Hammerbass) : Unnoticed by short sighted critics with the Burial syndrome, French dubster Fedayi Pacha’s “The 99 Names of Dub” is the most diverse dub album this year as well as the most cranked for me. Past review on undomondo

Battles – Race:in
Deejay OM – Silk dealers of New Delhi
Ólöf Arnalds – Englar og Dárar
White Magic – Poor Harold
Alamaailman Vasarat – Katkorapu
Luke Temple – Saturday People
Nostalgia 77 – Stop to make a change
Shellac – Steady as she goes
Men-an-Tol – Orange Juice & Vodka
Fedayi Pacha – Kufiq Type

Alright fellas, I couldn’t finish the list on time, but I’ll finish what I started hopefully. I’m still in London so I’m trying to wrap this thing up on a borrowed computer.

Ahleuchatistas – Even in the Midst… (Cuneiform) : One of the three best math/maze rock albums this year from Asheville, NC’s Ahleuchatistas. Past review on undomondo.
Thilges – La Double Absence (Staubgold) : Decent electronic/acoustic eastern/western fusion album unlike others. Past review on undomondo.

Kerkko Koskinen – Agatha (Ricky Tick) : Cinematic big band jazz stuff by Finnish composer Kerkko Koskinen. Past review on undomondo.
DuOud & Abdulatif Yagoub – Sakat (Label Bleu) : Lovely hybrid electronic/acoustic album with roots arabic oud music fused with dubby electronics. Past review on undomondo.
Grails – Burning off Impurities (Temporary Residence) : Dark Psychedelic rock from SF. Past review on undomondo.

Artanker Convoy – Cozy Endings (Social Registry) : Balanced blend of psychedelic, noise, funk, jazz , rock. Past review on undomondo.
Death Ambient – Drunken Forest (Tzadik) : Strings and Noise by the infamous Tzadik improvisers Fred Frith, Ikue Mori and Kato Hideki. Past review on undomondo.
Serafina Steer – Cheap Demo Bad Science (Static Caravan) : British leftfield pop by harpist & singer-songwriter Serafina Steer. Past review on undomondo.

Rahsaan Patterson – Wines and Spirits (Artistry Music) : Soulful urban electro-funk by Bronx NYC’s Rahsaan Patterson. Another review.
Lukid – Onandon (Werk) : Delicate stoner loops and sampler electronica by London whizkidLukid. Past review on undomondo.

Ahleuchatistas – Cup of Substance
Thilges – Mehreban Bash
Kerkko Koskinen – Sparkling Arsenic
DuOud & Abdulatif Yagoub – Ya Janiat
Grails – Silk Rd
Artanker Convoy – Rabbit
Death Ambient – River Tigris
Serafina Steer – Peach Heart
Rahsaan Patterson – Time
Lukid – A Smart Girl