Phosphorescent Announces 'Muchacho'

Fantastic new music from a long-time favorite Phosphorescent. Muchacho comes out March 15 on Dead Oceans.

Muchacho reprises the understated melancholia and sensuous minimalism of Pride, while kicking up a little of Here’s To Taking It Easy’s dust, but it also strikes out into more adventurous waters via rhythm and electronic textures.

New Phosphorescent: "The Mermaid Parade"

[mp3] Phosphorescent: "The Mermaid Parade"

We've already written of our excitement for Phosphorescent's new album Here's To Taking It Easy (May 11, Dead Oceans). This new song, "The Mermaid Parade," is a heartbreaking country waltz about the end of a marriage, and while both parties have moved on, Matthew Houck is reduced to this simple line "I found a new friend too and yeah she's pretty and small, but goddamn it Amanda, goddamn it all."

While we haven't spent enough time with the full album to make detailed comments, our general impression is that Houck manages to successfully channel the sun-drenched, late 70s, California country-rock sound, while at times, staying true to the sound of his break-out record Pride; he reminds us all that there were artists out there layering gorgeous falsettos harmonies before some dude we call "Bon" came around. Tour dates after the jump, including May 13 at The Mercury Lounge. Pre-order the album HERE and get the mp3 record instantly.

TOUR DATES
05/10/10 New York, NY- Other Music (free in-store performance)
05/11/10 Brooklyn, NY- Union Pool
05/12/10 Philadelphia, PA- The Blockley
05/13/10 New York, NY- Mercury Lounge

05/17/10 Leuven, Belgium - STUK
05/19/10 Gent, Belgium - Vooruit
05/20/10 Antwerpen, Belgium - Trix
05/22/10 Ottersum, Netherlands - Roepaen
05/23/10 Den Haag, Netherlands - Paard
05/24/10 Zwolle, Netherlands - Eureka
05/25/10 Berlin, Germany - NBI
05/27/10 Nürnberg, Germany - K4
05/28/10 Vienna, Austria - Fluc
05/29/10 Freiburg, Germany - E-werk
06/01/10 Paris, France - L’Espace B
06/02/10 London, UK - ICA
06/03/10 Manchester, UK - Deaf Institute
06/04/10 Glasgow, UK - Captain's Rest
06/05/10 Birmingham, UK - Hare & Hounds
06/06/10 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
09/10/10 Dorset, UK - End of the Road Festival
09/11/10 Isle of Wight, UK - Bestival

After the jump.

Is It Matthew Houck's Time?

[mp3] Phosphorescent: "It's Hard to be Humble (When You're From Alabama)

There are often signifiers that come along with great records. Sometimes it's the current market climate, the artist's career to date, collaborations, producers, a certain "phase" that an artist is going through. Right now, everything seems to be pointing in the direction that Phosphorescent's new album Here's To Taking It Easy (May 11, Dead Oceans), is going to be Matthew Houck's full-on arrival as one of the elite artists on the indie rock scene; to be mentioned in the same breath as an Andrew Bird, M.Ward or Justin Vernon. Of course, that's the way it seems.

After his surprising, and surprisingly great Willie Nelson covers record To Willie, Here's To Taking It Easy represents the first full album of new Phosphorescent material since the haunting and ethereal Pride. The press release references albums such as Street Legal and On The Beach to describe the new Houck material. Material that finds Houck supported by musicians galvanized by the music coming out of LA during the fruitful years surrounding 1975, when East Coast folk-rock icons like The Band, Joni Mitchell, Clapton and the aforementioned Dylan and Young abandoned the freezing climes of New York, for the sun and drugs of California.

If Here's To Taking it Easy comes close to the magic captured on those classic records from the 70s then this album could truly be Houck's grand coming out party. Yet, even if the album doesn't contain a "New Pony" or "Revolution Blues," it's sure to satisfy, as Houck is a true songwriter and artist. He has that great album in him. It remains to be seen if this Here's To Taking It Easy is it, but we're hoping.

The Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning

Phosphorescent live on KEXP at The Cutting Room Studios NYC from KEXP RADIO on Vimeo.

[MP3]
Phosphorescent: "Reasons to Quit"
Phosphorescent: "A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise"

The last thing I needed first thing this morning was for the damn MUD Coffee Truck to not be at it's usual spot on Astor Place, (No, I'm not going to let that go). While bad, Willie Nelson was clearly having a worse go of it when he recorded the song "The Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning." (UPDATE: Actually written by, A.P. Nunn and D.S. Farar. Thanks, commenter.) Stumbled upon at Rcrd Lbl, we have Matthew Houck a.k.a. Phosphorescent, offering up this fantastically-melancholy song for Seattle's KEXP radio. As an added bonus, he also gives us the Phosphorescent original "At Death A Proclamation." Phosphorescent was to perform on Willie's Sirius XM radio show last night. Just some lovely tunes to put you in a great mood this morning. You're welcome.

Tuesday's Recommended Releases

Alela Diane "White as Diamonds"

As we move into February, good records are going to be flying at you fast and you might not catch 'em all, so we'll do our best to tip you off to the good shit you may not find right away. Our featured release today comes from the lovely Alela Diane. Although this is an iTunes only exclusive at this point, she has some great placement on the site and is the free iTunes download this week. Her album To Be Still is a gorgeous, wintry record highlighting her amazing voice and songwriting. Rough Trade releases the record to all outlets on February 17. Also released this week are fantastic records from a slew of Stark Favorites:

Pains of Being Pure at Heart: s/t (Slumberland)
"Everything with You" - mp3

Recalling the best aspects of late 80s and early 90s rock, POBPAH give us a record filled with perfect melodies, gauzy guitars, overdrive and timeless songwriting.


Dent May: The Good Feeling Music of Dent May and his Magnificent Ukulele (Paw Tracks)
Meet Me in the Garden - mp3

Dent May offers up a truly good-feeling record with his witty quips on local drunks, dance parties and academic conferences; all the while being backed by catchy-ass instrumentation and his charming croon.

Heartless Bastards: The Mountain (Fat Possum)
"The Mountain" - mp3

Another great rock record from the Heartless Bastards, stocked with Kim Deal quality songs and flawless vocal and instrumental execution.



Benjy Ferree: Come Back to the Five and Dime Bobby Dee Bobby Dee (Domino)

Following up on his excellent record Leaving the Nest Benjy continues to deliver well-crafted rock songs written with a singer-songwriter mentality. Come Back finds Ferree dipping into the Bowie influences more heavily, and trust us, that's not a bad thing.

Phosphorescent: To Willie (Dead Oceans)
Reasons to Quit - mp3

Matthew Houck's tribute record to Willie, modeled after Willie's tribute record to Lefty. With Houck's voice and Willie's tunes, To Willie is a guaranteed pleasure trip, even if it's not breaking any new or stylistic barriers.

MP3 Round-up

Harlem

This week, there has been a TON of new music circulating around the interwebs. It's tough to keep up and keep your day job. But since we strive to please, you, our fans - we complied a bunch of new and great stuff in a little post for you. Click through for mp3s from Harlem, Neko Case, Elvis Perkins and Phosphorescent.



mp3s are below...

Yesterday we received a heavily taped, crudely addressed jiffy envelope from Austin, Texas. Inside was the Harlem LP Free Drugs. It immediately hit us in the most visceral way. Played loud, this record is instantly amazing. It's trashy, fuzzed-out and amazingly catchy in that garage rock, hand clapping, tambourine shaking way. Already noted in GVB's top 20 of '08, Harlem is poised for something bigger, but have yet to capture the attention of the more mainstream press in the blog world. Listen, just buy the record and join the party.

Could Neko Case be more lovable? Doubtful. Read below from the press release. We're just doing our part here...
"Anti- Records has released a free download of "People Got A Lotta Nerve," the first single from Neko Case's new album Middle Cyclone (March 3), and for every blog that posts the song and iLike user who adds it to his/her profile, Neko Case and Anti- will make a donation benefiting Best Friends Animal Society. Five dollars will be donated for every blog post and one dollar for every user of iLike that adds the song to his/her profile."

We posted awhile back on the new Phosphorescent LP To Willie, modeled after Willie's To Lefty record. Yet, on To Willie you won't find your run-of-the-mill Willie Nelson songs. The track list culled from Willie's catalog could only have come from a true fan. From what we've heard live, Matthew Houck authentically interprets these songs and makes them his own. Definitely looking forward to more.

Elvis Perkins recently posted 3 new songs from his upcoming record to his website. XL releases Perkins' follow up to his stunningly amazing debut Ash Wednesday on March 10th. These new tracks succeed in that they capture the organic joyous jamming that happens during Elvis' live shows but was (understandably) absent from Ash Wednesday. Here's to you Elvis.


Harlem - "South of France" - mp3
Neko Case - "People Got A Lot of Nerve" - mp3
Phosphorescent "Reasons to Quit" - mp3
Elvis Perkins in Dearland "Shampoo" - mp3

New Phosphorescent LP - "To Willie"

Phosphorescent - "A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise" (from Pride) - mp3

Phosphorescent (a.k.a Matthew Houck) follows up their/his widely acclaimed (and excellent) LP, Pride with a Willie Nelson tribute record entitled, To Willie, released Feb. 3 on Dead Oceans. We here at Stark loved Pride; it was dark and haunting, yet somehow uplifting and gorgeous. At Brooklyn Vegan's CMJ party, we caught a great set from Houck, during which he played a few cuts from his upcoming tribute to Nelson.

More, plus track listing and cover art after the jump...

While stripping away some of the mystery and reverb from his voice, we found Houck no less captivating and equally as impressive as on previous efforts. The tunes we heard were accessible and tinged with a greater sense of Americana (they are Willie songs after all). Yet, Houck's arrangements gave the songs a unique sound and kept them away from the straight-shooting, middle-of-the-road country (or alt-country) that can bog down a record. To Willie is, of course, modeled after the classic Nelson record To Lefty from Willie - even the cover art is the same. Here's to hoping the results are as amazing as that seminal album, although I hate to say, I doubt it. We still love you though Phosphorescent.



Track List:
Reasons To Quit
Too Sick To Pray
Walkin'
It's Not Supposed To Be That Way
Pick Up The Tempo
I Gotta Get Drunk
Can I Sleep In Your Arms
Heartaches Of A Fool
Permanently Lonely
The Last Thing I Needed (First Thing This Morning)
The Party's Over