The Revelator

The Revelator is a place to hear, see, and read about new and old music with some historical depth, from 'John the Revelator' to 'Time (The Revelator)'. In other words, this blog is about AMERICAN ROOTS MUSIC: the Blues, Rock and Roll, Soul, Gospel, Bluegrass, Folk, Ragtime, and it's grandchild: Americana / Alt-Country. Hallelujah!

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

A Handsome New Album




After seeing Andrew Douglas' intriguing film about the deep south's obession with the conflict between the saint and sinner, and it's Christ-haunted folklife, "Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus", I immediately had about five great new artists to read about and listen to. One of the bands featured in the film is southern gothic or "backwoods noir" Husband/Wife duo Brett and Rennie Sparks. I gladly bought their newest album "The Last Days of Wonder" yesterday. The album is full of strange warmth, the sounds that come from your basement, and the sweetest melodies you could imagine.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

How I Ended Up In A Will Oldham Video...


(Me in the dress, obviously, and Andy in the purple shirt with Will)

About a month ago, my brother, Jon and I had the great pleasure of being in a music video directed by our good friend Andy bruntel. He has done videos for Stephen Malkmus, Rilo Kiley, The Mountain Goats (which Jon and I also cameo in), and other various projects with Roman Coppola and The Directors Bureau. So Will Oldham asked Andy to direct the video for the new Bonnie 'Prince' Billy single "Cursed Sleep" for his upcoming record, "The Letting Go", and somehow my brother and I ended up in it as well. This was nuts, since i've been a huge Oldham fan for years! Anyway, the video came out today, and it is wild!

Please do watch:
"Cursed Sleep" by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Directed by (THE GREATEST) Andy Bruntel



on Andy's website
(for good quality)

or

on Pitchfork/YouTube
(for bad quality, and some perspective)

or a plethora of other formats on Domino Records

p.s. i personally decorated that pouf-ball glitter dove!

Recent Musings of Mine


Just recently, I was lucky enough to see one my personal musical heroes, Mr. T-Bone Burnett play in Hollywood (w/ Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers). T-Bone is a man who has accomplished many admirable feats, from music supervising with an unprecedented style, for films like 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?', (whose soundtrack started a bluegrass revival in 2000, and won a Grammy), 'Cold Mountain', 'Walk the Line', and 'The Big Lebowski', to being a driving force in Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue, and has played a big part in producing the albums of greats such as Roy orbison, Gillian Welch, bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley (who i've had the great pleasure of meeting), etc etc etc, as well as having his own career in music in the late 70's/early 80's. His new album, 'The True False Identity', which was released in May, is his first album in 14 years, and is better than ever. Not only is Burnett a compelling artist, but he is also an incredibly forward-thinker, and i often read up on him to pick up whatever wise bits of knowledge i can. I suggest you do the same. here are a few of the crappiest images ever taken, of T-Bone Burnett and Jakob Dylan taken on June 20(?) at the El Ray in Hollywood, CA.



(T-Bone Burnett)


(Jakob Dylan)
Get Burnett's True False Identity here, if you know what's good for you.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

The 'Horse is A-Sparklin


Yeehaw. Cheers to no more years (5 of them) without our beloved Mark Linkous! NME reports the details of his new star-studded album:

'Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain' is out on September 25.

The album, which is scheduled to be released in September, features special guests Danger Mouse, Tom Waits, Stephen Drozd from The Flaming Lips and super-producer Dave Fridmann.

Here is the tracklisting:

'Don't Take My Sunshine Away'
'Getting It Wrong'
'Shade And Honey'
'See The Light'
'Return To Me'
'Some Sweet Day'
'Ghost In The Sky'
'Mountains'
'Morning Hollow'
'Knives Of Summertime'
'It's Not So Hard'
'Dreamt For Lights Years In The Belly Of A Mountain (aka Maxine)'

With "It's A Wonderful Life" perpetually on my top 5 albums of all time, this news makes me squeal! Get 'It's a Wonderful Life' here.