Harvey Danger has a new album!

Harvey Danger - Little by Little (2005, available exclusively at www.harveydanger.com or an independent record store near you!)


Do you remember Harvey Danger? You know, the guys who had that hit "Flagpole Sitta" from their okay first album and then went on to make a much better follow-up album that you didn't bother to listen to? Yeah, that band!

Indeed, Harvey Danger's second album King James Version was an overlooked gem much in keeping with the other bands of the Seattle indie rock scene like Death Cab for Cutie, Nada Surf and the Long Winters (of whom Harvey Danger frontman Sean Nelson is a member). And because none of you bastards bothered to buy the CD, Harvey Danger broke up... but wait, they are back with a new album, Little by Little!

But that's not even the best part. The best part is that if you visit the download page of the official Harvey Danger website, you can download the entire album legally and for free! No catches! Harvey Danger wants you to hear this fucking album. And then, hopefully, after you listen to it, you will say "Yes, Harvey Danger is a good band. I am stupid for ignoring them after that first album."

I've heard the album, and I highly recommend it. In fact, I'd recommend you just skip the listening process and order the new CD off the site (with which you will recieve a free bonus CD of rarities!). But if you must download the album first, be my guest! I recommend giving a good listen to "Little Round Mirrors" which was the track that stood out to me upon first listen. I look forward to many more.

To understand exactly why Harvey Danger made this decision to leak their own album, visit here and read their press statement. It makes a whole lot of sense.

Rosie Thomas review

Rosie Thomas – If Songs Could Be Held (2005, Sub Pop Records)


I’ve always thought that Rosie Thomas’s music is very pretty whenever I’ve heard bits or pieces of it, but I’ve never purchased it. I’ve sat at a CD store listening station with her album When We Were Small playing on the headphones for a long time, trying to decide if I like it enough to pay for, but eventually decided it just wasn’t for me. I decided instead that I would recommend it to an ex-girlfriend who I knew would like it. If it had been a cheaper copy, I probably just would have bought it for her myself.

I’m not sure that there’s going to be many men who find If Songs Could Be Held appealing enough to be inclined to purchase it. There is something very distinctly feminine about it, as if Rosie Thomas is singing straight to the other women in the audience. This is music about being a woman, and perhaps I might gain some insight if I’m willing to pay attention, but I personally won’t be able to identify with it. I’m not even certain if I’m invited to.

At best, I can feel that I might feel like I'm the subject of songs like “Say What You Want,” which is only one degree of separation away from Norah Jones’s “Don’t Know Why,” or “Clear As a Bell” as she sings “I’m sure I’ll convince myself to get over you" over some wonderful finger-picking. I can also appreciate when Ed Harcourt, who I quite like, pops up to help her cover the classic “Let It Be Me.”

But all in all, I feel like I should have a girl review this CD. I mean, listen to “Pretty Dress” yourself and tell me that any boy is really going to connect with this song in the way a woman would. So what’s a boy to do?

EXCLUSIVE! New unreleased Elliott Smith MP3!

Various Artists - Thumbsucker soundtrack (2005, Hollywood Records)













Yesterday, we saw the release of the soundtrack for the feature film Thumbsucker, which includes three tracks by Elliott Smith. The first is "Let's Get Lost" from Smith's final album From a Basement on the Hill. The second is Smith's cover of Big Star's "Thirteen" from Jem Cohen's short film Lucky Three, which has never been released on CD before. Lastly is a cover of Cat Stevens "Trouble" which Elliott Smith recorded not long before his death in 2003. The song is perfectly suited to Smith's delicate guitar-playing and fragile voice.

And guess what? Cut the Chord has an exclusive for you! We have the unreleased, unmastered demo version of Elliott Smith's cover of "Trouble." This is a different performance than what you'll find on the Thumbsucker soundtrack. You aren't going to find this anywhere else, ladies and gentlemen, so snap it up!

MP3: Elliott Smith - Trouble (unmastered)
(right-click and click "Save Target As...")

Bill Ricchini Interview

Bill Ricchini - Tonight I Burn Brightly (2005, Transdreamer)


Opening with a beautiful lullaby and closing on a hopeful lament, Tonight I Burn Brightly is one of the year's best albums.

Bill was kind enough to do an interview. Here's what he had to say.


CTC: Bill, your new album, Tonight I Burn Brightly, has just been released. Your first album, Ordinary Time, was recorded at home. What was the experience like recording in a studio for the first time? Can you talk a little about what it was like working with producers Bryce Goggin and Britt Myers?

BR: Recording at home has its benefits. A record can slowly reveal itself to you over time. Its a less sterile environment than a studio and is recorded in the same environment someone will eventually listen to it in. It gives the songs a strength of atmosphere and built in intimacy, I think. The goal of making a studio record, something I at first had reservations about, was to capture the things I like about a home recording but also make the record more interesting sonically. I took a lot of time before I went in to record to really flesh out the arrangements yet also be happy to new ideas in the studio— like the country arrangement of “When the Morning Comes” and making “It’s A Story” more of a dance song. I learned that the same things I knew from Ordinary Time transferred to a “real” studio and it gave me the confidence day after day to make this album and more or less steer the ship in terms of arrangements, instruments, and composition. Bryce was great as a sort of capturere of the moment. He’s smart enough to know when something is working and he is also a master of sound (he engineered the Pavement album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain) with his background as an engineer. His studio in Brooklyn has all vintage gear, a huge keyboard arsenal and also he introduced me to Lee and Roy who were a great rhythm section— something that OT did not have. This record is much more fleshed out in a rhythmic sense. Britt mixed the albums and we did some more vocal overdubs there— lots of Beach Boys type stuff, harmonies, oohs and ahhs. The details that make a record really interesting, really gorgeous. He has great ears and I love his mix and the sounds he really carved for me out of thin air.

CTC: There was some early talk of this being a double album. Tonight is a very tight package. How many songs were left off the album?

BR: I wrote and gully demoed about 40 songs for Tonight I Burn Brightly. Many of those songs I still love but for this record I think it was more an exercise in economy. If this record has a theme it is 11 strong pop songs. Tonight I Burn Brightly has a fully demoed version which is somewhere between this and Ordinary Time. I think this was also a result of having 2 weeks in the studio. For my next album I would like to find more of a balance between recording my best songs, which I think I did, and also giving the record more room to breathe like a soundtrack with instrumentals and detours. At this time I wanted to make a record that was 11 strong songs from start to finish. I liked the idea of total focus, at other times I have liked the idea of more of a sprawling less disciplined work. There are arguments for each I suspect the next record will have elements of both. I have so much stuff on the shelf— from Jon Brion waltzes, to tin pan alley show tunes to folk guitar pop to bossa nova stuff.

CTC: "Eugene Hill" seems almost like a companion piece to the Beatles song "Eleanor Rigby." I've always felt that your character work was particularly strong. Can you talk a little about how much your music is inspired by personal experience and how much is fictional.

BR: Yes it is in a sense. "Eugene Hill" is more than the other a song about growing up in Philly and the idea that people need something in there lives to keep them going. For many people especially older people that is often religion. But I think religion is dying in the U.S. At least Catholicism is. But the whole parochialism of East Coast cities is strong. I think much of my music is emotionally true. I have felt these things but I don’t necessarily share those exact situations. I like the idea of storytelling but I can’t pull off the detached narrator thing. I'm too emotional for that and I feel like an emotional connection is what interests me more than being a cool customer. David Berman told me it’s better to “say something true than to say something cool.” I agree with him. And yes "Eugene Hill" is a character song, it is a church song, it is a bit of a companion to "Eleanor Rigby." But I amazingly did not really think that until about 5 minutes ago. I must be too close to it.

CTC: What are your top five favorite Albums of all time?

BR: Wow, this will change daily but:

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds/Friends (tie)
Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything
Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
The Beatles - Revolver/Rubber Soul (tie)
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead

CTC: Are you planning on doing extensive touring to support the album? I'd certainly like to see you out here in Los Angeles.

BR: I hope to. It’s about money at this point and how long I can afford to be out there. But I will be doing something

To learn more about Bill, check out http://www.billricchini.com/. To order Tonight I Burn Brightly or to purchase Ordinary Time, go to http://www.transdreamer.com/cart/index.htm.