Elliott Smith at the Oscars

As we may not get an actual Academy Awards show this year, I thought I'd post Elliott Smith performing "Miss Misery" from the film Good Will Hunting at the ceremony in 1998.

Best musical performance in Oscar history... Sorry Neil.

www.americandust.net

department of eagles round-up

With a new year ahead of us, it seems entirely possible that 2008 will see new material from the mercurial, brilliant and frequently hibernating Department of Eagles. A few DoE items from 2007 that might have escaped your attention include...

The band's second-only live performance, captured for the cameras on the streets of Chinatown, New York by the indispensible French web site Les Concerts à Emporter de La Blogotheque.

Pitchfork's lovely write-up of the band's recent mp3s, "No One Does It Like You" and "Balmy Night."

And a great interview with Dan off the Ear Farm blog, where he talks both DoE and Grizzly Bear. To quote: "Maybe after this next record is done, there will be a great big Grizzly Bear Dept of Eagles orgy and we'll come up with some kind of a live band." Enticing!

In the meantime, you can pick up the band's debut disc, The Cold Nose, on the American Dust web site.

catch up on carr

In anticipation of the terrific new Miller Carr & the Shalants album Passage Through Wilderness Vol. II, available March 11, here are a couple posts about Miller's first album, released on Isota Records back in 2006. Enjoy some classic Carr, see what the bloggers had to say, and get ready for the stinging new disc:

Popsheep Blog
Sonictroubadour

finally...

ok then, we have 2 new releases scheduled with a March 11th street date:

Miller Carr & The Shalants' Passage Through Wilderness Vol. II

and

Matt Baldwin's Paths Of Ignition

www.americandust.net

Department of Eagles songs at the Walt Disney Concert Hall

On Tuesday night, Daniel Rossen of Department of Eagles and Grizzly Bear performed as part of the LA Phil Presents concert "Concrete Frequency: Songs of the City" at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Daniel played solo acoustic versions of two as-yet-unreleased Department of Eagles songs, "Balmy Night" and "Phantom Other." Other musicians appearing that night included Bob Mould, John Doe, Zach Rogue (Rogue Wave), Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio), Stevie Jackson (Belle & Sebastian), Inara George and Van Dyke Parks.

"Balmy Night" can currently be heard on the Department of Eagles's myspace page.

You can purchase the reissue of Department of Eagles' brilliant debut through the American Dust website or through iTunes.

i was wrong

i was tired of reading about LCD Soundsystem's new album in all the best of 2007 lists so i bought it to make sure i was right in being annoyed by it. i was wrong: Sound Of Silver is amazing and i keep playing it and playing it. Echo & The Bunnymen meets Neu! meets Randy Newman meets Public Image Inc.? no, better than that: All My Friends.