AMG: Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, the country-punk band who’ve been spreading their gospel of tongue-in-cheek hellfire since the early ’90s, return to Alternative Tentacles for their fifth studio full-length, Cipher. As per usual, the album is a kind of puritanical sermon on good and evil, God and the Devil, combined with a Western lawlessness that can be nearly chilling at times. Slim’s the main singer here, his half-crazed voice like one of a man who’s been pushed too far one too many times, leading the way through the songs of sin and condemnation, women and whiskey, with only a very few hints at redemption. Slim’s god is a vengeful one, as ready to punish as he is save. The momentously creepy “Jesus Is in My Body: My Body Has Let Me Down” tells the story of a destructive apocalypse, while “Everyone Is Guilty #2″ goes from asking to open for Jesus (“your name still would draw a crowd/It would help our careers if we could warm up your show”) to a menacing break in which the vocalist drawls out accusations and demands that Jesus take responsibility for them. The band doesn’t let anyone else off the hook, either, naming, in the recurring “Introduction to the Power of Braces,” the ways in which their own faith has bent and how they will attempt to straighten it, or listing off specific sinners — themselves included — in “Children of the Lord.” The Auto Club play with familiar themes, like their take on Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” (itself a borrowed melody), called “This Land Is Our Land Redux,” a near-violent demand to take back the country from what it’s become, while the aforementioned “Children of the Lord” plays off the Sunday school song “Rise and Shine.” There’s a dark liveliness, a rebelliousness to the music, one that Slim Cessna has always exhibited, shown not only in the lyrics and vocal inflection but in the instrumentation, which is sprawling and tight at the same time, electric and acoustic, and the entire effect of which is absolutely captivating.
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club: Cipher (2008)
May 6, 2011Slim Cessna’s Auto Club: Buried Behind the Barn (2004)
May 6, 2011
Twisted twangsters Slim Cessna’s Auto Club roar back with some raw, heart-shattering tracks from 2000 and 2001. Led by the vocals of Cessna and Munly, the Auto Club bares even more of their troubled souls than usual. Briefly released as a limited-to-200 CDR in 2004, these songs are basically unreleased, original versions of later album tracks and compilation songs. Whatever their destination, all eight are undeniably prime ‘n’ primal Auto Club–a rambunctious mix of joyful twang, acoustic Folk, Hillbilly picking, and old-time Gospel backed with words of spiritual angst, roadhouse wisdom, and whiskey-drinking sin ‘n’ salvation.
Lift to Experience: The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads (2001)
April 17, 2011
AMG: How’s this for a concept album: three musicians from Denton, TX, with the help of former Cocteau Twins Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde, blend My Bloody Valentine’s sonic feedback with Kitchens of Distinction’s swirling atmosphere and the grace of Jeff Buckley to detail the “crossroads of Texas and Jerusalem.” What could have been a tiresome exploration of awkward religious theories is instead a spellbinding journey into the heart of human emotion and guitar dynamics. Josh T. Pearson’s beautifully controlled croon works dark magic over arrangements that suggest and depict both the whisper of birth and the fury of Armageddon. When the band kicks things into gear, they take off into bold, thrilling musical vistas without a single fear that they’ll be misinterpreted or mocked. Highlights include the evocative thunderstorm of “Falling From Cloud 9,” the ten-minute history of the world that is “With Crippled Wings,” the fascinating brimstone of “These Are the Days,” and the brutal storyteller-style warnings that span all sorts of musical genres on “Into the Storm.” The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads mixes poetic imagery with controlled feedback and emotional expression like few albums outside of My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. It’s a magnificent yet somehow subtle work of genius that delivers its strange message with incredible innovation and an inspiring feeling of a groundbreaking mission accomplished.
Mediafire (320kbps)
John Callahan – Purple Winos in the Rain (2006)
March 16, 2009There’s absolutely nothing funny about a quadriplegic in a wheelchair. Unless, of course, that person is John Callahan. For nearly a decade, this irreverent cartoonist has been shocking America with his own special brand of wicked humor. In the world of Callahan, nothing is sacred, nothing is taboo and nothing is funnier! Callahan writes songs? Callahan sings? Callahan plays harmonica? What’s the world coming to???? The London Independent calls his songs “Beautiful, but dark…”. He wrote all the music and lyrics himself and is backed up by many notable musicians. The album is produced by blues legend Terry Robb, with a special cameo appearance by Tom Waits. In all seriousness, John Callahan is an award winning cartoonist whose work appears in newspapers worldwide in addition to having published a dozen books. He has been featured on NPR, 60 Minutes and the cover of the New York Times Sunday Magazine in addition to being the only cartoonist mentioned in the O.J. Simpson trial.
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Bedhead Vol. 5 (a.k.a. What Will Happen Next)
November 8, 2008
Today I received my “strictly limited edition deluxe vinyl Cardinology package” (!) and to celebrate I’m sharing the 5th installment of the excellent Ryan Adams bootleg series, Bedhead.
Remember to stop by the Ryan Adams Archive
(pw is hardhittingsongs)
Enjoy!
Tracklist:
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Bedhead Vol. 4 (a.k.a. After The Fall…)
October 26, 2008
Bedhead, chapter the fourth: After The Fall. Compiled by the good guys at Ryan Adams Archive. Converted to mp3 and tagged by Woody @ hardhittingsongs.
Password is hardhittingsongs
Enjoy!
Tracklist:
Ryan Adams – Bedhead Vol. 3 (a.k.a. Live Rock’n'Roll)
October 17, 2008
Voila! 3rd chapter of the Bedhead-bootlegs. Converted to mp3 and tagged correctly for your pleasure, by yours truly…
(pw: hardhittingsongs)
Enjoy!
Tracklist:
Ryan Adams – Bedhead Vol. 2 (a.k.a. Live Is Hell)
October 11, 2008
Here you go: part two of the excellent Bedhead-bootlegs, featuring some surprising cover versions, eg Sonic Youth and Madonna (!).
Remember, if you plan on burning these files to disc, then head over to Ryan Adams Archive, and use the torrents instead. These feature lossless formats like flac, and sound better than mp3.
(password is: hardhittingsongs)
Enjoy!
Tracklist:
Ryan Adams – Bedhead Vol. 1
October 10, 2008
Hello there, and welcome to Hard Hitting Songs… To start things off, here is the first installment of the amazing Ryan Adams bootleg-series Bedhead.
Torrents for these can be downloaded from the Ryan Adams Archive, but these files are either flac or shn files, and not tagged. I have converted them to mp3s (192 kbps) and tagged them… just for you 
Enjoy!
Tracklist:
