I have two very special things for you tonight.
1. Music to pay for, pleeeease: As I told you the last time I posted (ages ago, as it always is), I am still on my sweet indie pop and folk kick (so thank you Neon Filler for the Sally Seltmann tip). This is the reason I am asking you, begging you, DEMANDING you to pre-order Jenny O’s The Home EP. I’ve been listening to the few songs on Jenny O’s myspace over and over again for a couple of weeks and even tried desperately to find her first full-length album Love and Sleep ANYWHERE TO PURCHASE until I found that she hasn’t released it yet. This is confusing, but I know you can follow–she has finished her first full-length album, hasn’t released it, and is instead focusing on the release of new music, The Home EP. Here’s the deal, though. The girl needs some money (like us!) to release this EP. As of right this second, she’s 60% funded and has 2o days to go. Can we make it happen? I pre-ordered my copy. She’s got awesome pledge opportunities, too–just pre-order the EP, or pre-order and get a mix CD, or pre-order get a mix CD and have her write you a song, you get the idea. But! Don’t just take my word for it. Listen first. And then once you’ve done that, you can jet on over to this lovely website to help Jenny O produce her precious music.
2. Music for freeeeeeee!: Sea Oleena is one of those things that just happens to you and you’re not really sure where it came from (it came from Canada, but I mean, how does one find such a thing?). However, Sea Oleena is Charlotte Oline and her brother, and their album Smudges is currently a free download or stream on their website. It reminds me of the Laura Gibson/Ethan Rose project, Bridge Carols, in its mix of old, new, altered, and manufactured sounds, but it’s a bit more accessible and acoustic. Also, the vox are purer, I think. As an album, Smudges has successfully achieved the “parts of a whole” effect, piecing each track together so the entire album flows like water into itself.
The very short description of Smudges on the Sea Oleena website says the album “is to be listened to as a sort of rough draft; a preliminary sketch to a beautiful portrait.” This description is perfect. The tracks are long, flowing, and minimalistic, as if the music just came pouring out in one long thought. But it’s absolutely lovely. I love rough drafts. Brainstorms. Stream of consciousness. Jam sessions. I almost always use the first, passionate thing I’ve written in favor of making lots of edits. Is this lazy and foolish of me? Well, yes, probably. But there’s something so pure about the transition from the mind to the medium, and that purity is definitely found here in Smudges. The website says the tracks will be released at a later date. Whether they are cleaned up and refined into a final draft, or whether Sea Oleena will release this “rough draft,” it is (and will be) beautiful. Download or listen here.
The Indie Handbook 