For Folk's Sake » Eels

Brian’s Mixtape #37: Let The Sun Shine

Lynn Roberts — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:23:52 +0000

Brian’s been having a lovely time at festivals over the past few weeks, and basking in the baking hot sun. Now the weather’s turned and he’s staying in to nurse his burnt feathers (not one for the factor 50, our Brian. Silly owl) he’s put together a nostalgic playlist for summers past. So kick back, crank up your Spotify speakers and remember those lazy, hazy days.

Listen on Spotify

Eels – Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues – Butch ‘n’ Joey Remix
Elbow – One Day Like This
Au Revoir Simone – The Lucky One
Noah And The Whale – 5 Years Time
Beach House – Used To Be
Daryl Hall & John Oates – You Make My Dreams
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Home
She & Him – In The Sun
Wintersleep – Weighty Ghost
The Smiths – Cemetry Gates
The Kinks – Sunny Afternoon
Wildbirds & Peacedrums – My Heart

Spotify is now freeeee. You can download it here for access to tons and tons of free music. FFS has just splashed out for Spotify Premium and sadly admits that you really do notice the difference in sound quality. Vandross and Jackson are a pair of filthy liars.

PS For those who can’t get Spotify, we’re trying out this new website, let us know if it is of any use to you: Listen on Playlistify.

Free Eels download, tour and album news

Lynn Roberts — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:34:28 +0000

Mark Oliver Everett’s Eels are offering a free download from their 2nd album in a year, Tomorrow Morning, due for release on 23 August.

The album is the third in the trilogy that began with Hombre Lobo and continued with last year’s End Times. Tomorrow Morning is described as “the brightest and most overtly uplifting work of the Eels’ career”.

Mr E said: “It’s a very electronic album — sounds normally associated with a kind of ‘colder’ music, but I wanted to make a warm album that was a celebration using electronic instruments to reflect joy in the times I live in.”

He continued:”These three albums were all meant to be part of a whole and I wanted them to come out close to each other,” says Everett. “I had a lot of time to work on music during the four year break that followed Blinking Lights and since then. After all that time revisiting the past in the book [Things the Grandchildren Should Know], documentary [Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives - a film about E's father, renowned theoretical physicist Hugh Everett] and retrospective collections, I was eager to get back to the present. But I don’t think we’re going to keep putting out a new album every six months. It was just the plan for these three. That’s it for now.”

Download Looking Up

The Eels are embarking on a world tour in August, including dates in London (Brixton Academy, 1 September), Dublin (Electric Picnic Festival, 3 September) and Manchester (Academy, 4 September).

Brian’s Mixtape #25: Hello, Sunshine

Brian — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:15:39 +0000

Every discerning folk fan’s foul of choice, Brian Wilson II, is pleased to announce that spring has most definitely sprung. He’s spent most of the morning being dragged around a meadow by a fresh-born lamb in whose fleece his talons became most unfortunately entangled, and yet his pleasure in the changing of the seasons remains unassuaged.

For that reason, this week’s playlist is quite the joy-fest. If you’ve just been dumped/fired/treated rather rudely by the young man who made your afternoon coffee, this’ll perk you up. Either that or the unbounded exuberance that spring inspires in Brian’ll annoy you so much you’ll want to stick daffodil stalks in your eyes.

Let’s hope for the former. Here’s the tracklisting, with the Spotify link below. Happy spring!

Noah and the Whale – The First Days of Spring
Monsters of Folk – Dear God (Sincerely M. O. F.)
Belle and Sebastian – Another Sunny Day
Adam Green – Bathing Birds
The Lovin’ Spoonful – Daydream
Erland and the Carnival – One Morning Fair
Efterklang – Natural Tune
Air – Cherry Blossom Girl
Emmy the Great – The Easter Parade
Fairport Convention – Chelsea Morning
Giant Cloud – Rainbows
Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard – Bugs & Flowers
Eels – Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues

Link: Brian’s Mixtape #25: Hello, Sunshine.

If you’ve not got yourself registered on Spotify have a look at their website to learn more. And, if you need an invite (so you can use Spotify for free) let uncle Brian know in the comments section below and he will bestow one on you.

Have a flap around our mixtape section to find Brian’s previous efforts.

Brian’s mixtape #24: Because We Want To

Brian — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:03:54 +0000

Readers, we’re a little worried. After his absence a couple of weeks ago, Brian’s been acting a bit strangely. He used to be such a lovely tidy, polite owl but now Brian’s stomping about like a petulant teenager, his roost is an absolute shambles and he’s taken to shouting “boring” whenever he loses interest in a conversation. Frankly, it’s alarming.

We think you’ll be able to see the change in Brian in this week’s mix. It’s thematically rather messy, and he’s chosen to call it “Because We Want To”. He’s stopped short of including Billie Piper’s 1998 atrocity of the same name though, thank goodness.

Despite Brian’s waywardness, he’s certainly not lost his wonderful taste in music. Every tune is a gem. FFS is going to be listening to this for a long time to come.

Stars – Your Ex-Lover Is Dead
Eels – Hey Man (Now You’re Really Living)
Regina Spektor – Fidelity
Amadou & Mariam – Mouna
Joni Mitchell – Night In The City
Field Music – Them That Do Nothing
Belle and Sebastian – Roy Walker
Alela Diane – The Pirate’s Gospel
Band – Up On Cripple Creek
Jackson C. Frank – Blues Run The Game

And here it is in all its rebellious glory on Spotify (which Brian says should be renamed Spotif-awesome – he’s not good with puns…) Brian’s Mixtape #24: Because We Want To

Have a flap around our mixtape section to find Brian’s previous efforts.

Blog: New Eels album + video and free download

Lynn Roberts — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:59:41 +0000

Here at FFS we’re very excited about the new EELS album that plopped into our inbox last week. We’re loving it and we’ll get a review to you in the next few days.

The album is released on January 19th.

Here’s the video to the desperately sad In My Younger Days:

Download Little Bird mp3 from the official Eels website:

Brian’s Mixtape #19: The Goose is Getting Fat

Brian — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:57:00 +0000

The Christmas spirit is well and truly on Brian by now. He was already feeling pretty festive — eating mince pies for breakfast and mulling his acorn wine will all spice and cinnamon sticks — but then a wonderful thing happened today. Brian’s favourite Laura Marling’s Christmas song was finally put onto Spotify, which means he can add it to his playlist and share it with you folk. He’s bloody delighted.

The folk crowd really are brill at Christmas songs, so Brian had a smorgasboard of riches to choose from. Brian’s loves the incredible harmonies in Sufjan’s arrangement of ‘Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing’ from his wonderflul album Songs For Christmas. Lyrics-wise though, he thinks this mix peaks at “Baby Jesus: Born to Rock” declared by Mr E in ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas’.

So here is is folks. Gather your loved ones around, mull something up real nice, grab some stollen and listen to THIS:

Brian’s Mixtape #19: The Goose is Getting Fat

Laura Marling – Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)
Jona Lewie – Stop The Cavalry
Sufjan Stevens – Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing
Low – Just Like Christmas
The Leisure Society – The Last Of The Melting Snow
Slow Club – Christmas TV
Mumford & Sons – Winter Winds
Eels – Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas
Iain Archer – Little Drummer Boy – Black Forest Version
Fiona Apple – Frosty The Snowman
Martha Wainwright – Rebel Jesus
Emmy The Great – Christmas In Prison
Aimee Mann – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Brian’s Mixtape #18: Christmas is Coming

Brian — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:24:55 +0000

We’ve held him back as long as we could, but the Christmas spirit’s fit ready to burst out of old Brian now and the first (of many) Christmas playlists is ready to go. He’s been working on them since May, so don’t be surprised at how astoundingly wonderful they are.

If, by some miracle, you’ve not yet gotten into the saltdough, glitter, ribbon and wreaths yet, this week’s selection will boot you into the right frame of mind smartish.

Also, it has come to our attention that some of you are without Spotify access. We’ve instigated a bit of an invitation amnesty on Twitter (@forfolkssake) so if you’re in need we’ll sort you out with an early Christmas pressie. If you need one, or you have spares you’d like to share, get in touch!

Here’s this week’s playlist, for your delectation:

Brian’s Mixtape #18: Christmas is Coming

Johnny Cash – Blue Christmas
Ben Kweller – Rock if Ages
Au Revoir Simone - Christmas Time is Here
The Pogues – Fairytale of New York
Hefner – The Little Baby Hefner’s Xmas Song For Holland
Eels – Christmas is Going to the Dogs
The Beach Boys – Santa’s Beard
Parenthetical Girls – Festive Friends (Forever)
Blitzen Trapper – Christmas is Coming Soon
Kate and Anna McGarrigle – Il est né/ Ca Bergers
The Beach Boys – Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town
Sufjan Stevens – Get Behind Me, Santa!

Also, for those of you still woefully out of the loop, here are Brian’s previous offerings (I’d listen to the Christmas one first, mind, seeing as it’s DECEMBER).

Brian’s Mixtape #1: Salad and Twilight

Brian’s Mixtape #2: Pick of the Scmercuries

Brian’s mixtape #3: imitation and flattery

Brian’s mixtape #4: Conkers and Blusters

Brian’s mixtape #5: heroes and villains

Brian’s mixtape #6: Birthdays and Remembrances

Brian’s mixtape #7: End of the Road

Brian’s Mixtape #8: From A to B

Brian’s Mixtape #9: Yellow Bird Project

Brian’s Mixtape #10: Nymphs and Harpies

Brian’s Mixtape #11: With a Little Help from Dolly

Brian’s Mixtape #12: Swning

Brian’s Mixtape #13: Openings and inroads

Brian’s Mixtape #14: Hatchings and Hotchpotches

Brian’s Mixtape #15: The Wind and the Rain

Brian’s Mixtape #16: Up the Rainbow

Spotify – Brian’s Mixtape #17: The Laurel Canyon

Eels release live EP for free download

Lynn Roberts — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:14:52 +0000

Eels fans take note! The band have released a live EP for a free download, but be quick: it’s only available until 28th October.

The EP, which was recorded in Manchester on the ‘Eels With Strings’ tour in 2005 is available from the Eels’ website here.

The free download marks the release of a special vinyl edition of Blinking Lights “begrudgingly signed” by Eels frontman E, which includes the full 17-track live recording of the Manc gig.

FFS was at the London leg of the 2005 tour, which was brill, and wishes the pound was stronger so we could have a hope of affording the $205 boxset. Hmmft.

Words: Lynn Roberts

For Folk's Sake » Eels

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