[See post on tinyways.com to listen to audio]
Don’t Leave My Mind
Make Your Heart
If You Fall (from Hold On Love)

Premiered last week, Azure Ray’s new video “Don’t Leave My Mind” embodies everything we love about ethereal dream pop. It’s been nearly seven years since Azure Ray released their critically acclaimed album Hold On Love (2003) and the new record Drawing Down the Moon holds up to the highest expectations. “Don’t Leave My Mind” offers a sweet, warm and dreamlike taste of the new album and leaves us craving for more.

North American Tour dates:
Sun-Oct-10 Orlando, FL The Social
Mon-Oct-11 Tallahasse, FL Engine Room
Tue- Oct-12 Mobile, AL Alabama Music Box
Thu- Oct-14 Shreveport, LA The Collective
Fri-Oct-15 Houston, TX Walters
Sat-Oct-16 Dallas, TX The Loft
Sun-Oct-17 Austin, TX Mohawk
Wed-Oct-20 Tempe, AZ Rhythm Room
Thu-Oct-21 San Diego, CA The Loft
Fri-Oct-22 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour
Sat-Oct-23 Pomona, CA Glasshouse
Sun-Oct-24 San Francisco, CA The Independent
Tue-Oct-26 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios
Wed-Oct-27 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern
Fri-Oct-29 Boise, ID Neurolux
Sat-Oct-30 Salt Lake City, UT The State Room
Mon-Nov-01 Denver, CO High Dive
Wed-Nov-03 Omaha, NE Slowdown
Thu-Nov-04 Iowa City, IA The Mill
Fri-Nov-05 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center
Sat-Nov-06 Chicago, IL Schubas
Mon-Nov-08 Detroit, MI Magic Stick
Tue-Nov-09 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
Wed-Nov-10 Toronto, ONT Horseshoe Tavern
Fri-Nov-12 Boston, MA Harpers Ferry
Sat-Nov-13 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
Sun-Nov-14 Brooklyn, NY Knitting Factory
Tue-Nov-16 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s
Wed-Nov-17 Washington, DC Rock N Roll Hotel
Thu-Nov-18 Carrboro, NC Arts Center
Fri-Nov-19 Athens, GA 40 Watt
Sat- Nov-20 Birmingham, AL Bottletree

Thinking of You is another great example of how the video serves the music well. Indeed, the imagery is a loyal servant of the song, which is in turn is the servant of the sexual and lustful mind. Beautiful symbiosis.

Heart Paper Lover continues to explore the medium of video, this time in a more contemporary fashion, getting closer to the so common minimal video art. Urban lost souls unite!
I will finish with a charming cover she did to the eternal Leonard Cohen classic (BTW, he is back to touring, so be graceful with yourself and try to catch him):

“Oy vey” (Yiddish: אױ װײ) (or just “oy”) is an exclamation of dismay or exasperation.

And a word of approbation:

Understanding matters little when the division marches on. In the basements of Tel Aviv, of all other place, these Eastern European conquistadors has commenced their advance. With a mixture of languages and cultures long pronounced dead, Oy Division creates, and re-creates, the Eastern European culture that seemed to have died years ago. My Yiddish and Russian are non existent and my German is a shame. I do posses an extensive knowledge of Hebrew and English, which here proved totally useless. It’s, of course, matters little in this “retro” festivity. Oy Division does traditional Klezmer music, but they do it the way it was done when it dictated the heart beats of million – frantic and insane.

Oy Division are releasing their debut album in May and will be touring Bangkok, Singapore, Hanoi, Krakow, Toronto, Tel Aviv and Romania until August (details on their MySpace).
Links:
MySpace profile

I can’t possibly ever go to bed. The new, most likely last Elliott Smith release “New Moon” is just too beautiful. I want to dissolve into any of these songs. I want to move into them, like into an apartment, and dwell there forevermore. I want to dive into them and drown.
You see, it’s that amazing, that I can’t hold on to myself. And since I don’t have a platform to address an anonymous mass from, you’re once again the dumpsite of my astonishment. Don’t believe in those 4 of 5 stars reviews. This is the whole world’s wide canopy, in a pond mirroring it. Yeah, that’s a place to drown.

Links:
Elliott Smith @ Wikipedia
Official website
Post written by an anonymous friend.

Dear Marissa, will you play your famous song
your little song,
the one drifting over me
so light, and lovely
so fresh, and so old
will you play your little song for me?
I loved all the things you saw,
your little warbirds in the dark
I loved all the things you saw,
the ways in which the sounds fall
the ways in which your voice floats
into me

Marissa Nadler’s new album, titled Songs III: Bird on the Water, will be released on March 12th. It’s not as wonderful as the others were, it brings a whole new batch of wonders, packed neatly in a sack, to you, especially to you. Will you be the one say nay? This album is so full of wonders, one can only feel sorrow for letting only two flowers bloom here, but one can only hope that you will follow them and discover the miracles yourself, make them your own.
Marissa will be touring the US and Europe deep into May. Check out the dates on her MySpace page.
Relevant posts:
Live @ Resonance 104.4FM
The Saga of Mayflower May
Links:
Official website
Marissa Nadler MySpace page
Peacefrog Records

Puppet Folk Revival is a small act that revives folk, with puppets.
Videos:
Mercedes Benz [DailyMotion]
For What It’s Worth [YouTube] [DailyMotion]
Links:
Puppet Folk Revival

My musical exploration is chaotic, and by that I mean that it lacks any order, missing a method and even against forming one. At times all good music that I hear is wonderful, enchanting and spells me for life. At other times, it’s still good music, but it doesn’t touch. And thus, one of the main ideas of my musical world was born, the idea of missing. I miss a lot, and I can miss for years, and even for decades. Sometimes I find what I missed, I bump into it along the way, and what sounded good for such along time, sinks in, and sounds exciting, enchanting and grabs me. Some things I never find, and I miss them forever. Missing has been with me forever, it’s hunting me, and, actually, I don’t wish to get rid of it. By missing things, I give them the opportunity to come to me later. Yes, music comes to me. I think I was born this way, it just comes to me. It took me a while to understand it, grab it when it comes and hug it tightly, but it always came, even before I was ready for it. This is how I missed Björk, Stina Nordenstam, Neko Case, DJ Shadow, Devendra Banhart and many more. I know I missed them because today I have them, they came to me, loving and calling. This is how, a while ago, I missed Espers. Today, Espers came to me, and it grabbed me. Haunting, enchanting, freakish, it came to me wearing its best clothes, armed to make me fall in love. It worked, I fell in love. With Espers. Missing is wonderful, as long as they come back to you. What a shame it doesn’t work with people.

Links:
Espers by Espers post @ tinyways
Espers @ MySpace
Official website