The Maestro of Acc idental Folk is Back | Daisuke Miyatani lives on a small Japanese island, works in a bookshop and releases beautiful, erratic guitar-music all over the world. His records at MiMi, Rain Music, Magic Book and Ahornfelder dog me ever since I started listening to free music. What joy to see his most recent “Fragments” EP published at Creation Centre! Gabriel Hernandez’ Rain Music Netlabel is a good home for Daisuke Miyatani, but Creation Centre is no less. His loose and lo-fi Folk scribbling suit the ideals of Pop on the one hand and an approach of spontaneity and defectiveness and the other. It’s a shame the EP is so damn short (just about 8 minutes) but following title and liner notes, it makes perfect sense at last: “Daisuke’s pieces are like trying to remember a dream after you wake up. Familar, but quickly fading into the noise of life. Quickly he is here to remind us of our dreams. to enjoy that we even have them to start with.” Miyatani’s music is based around tiny loop-a-like melodies he improvises on his acoustic guitar. Certain field-recordings wash through his compositions, hiss and environmental noise are are important as moments of silence. Sometimes, found sounds work as percussion elements. What I like best about Miyatani is the impressive element calmness and self-absorption of his music. There are similar (Japanese) artists like Kozo Ikendo or  Yuichiro Fujimoto, but Daisuke Miyatani is my favourite. P.S.: Watch out for his new collaboration LP with 12k’s Sawako on Schole Records! MP3 Folk Music Download Direct Download: “Fragments EP” ZIP Netlabel: www.creation-centre.com Artist Website: www.myspace.com/diskm Less

More three part me... Took the arrangement from the Wailin' Jennys This was the first song I ever heard from the Wailin Jennys and it had me at the opening chord. I wanted to see if I could duplicate it. I'm used to making up my own harmonies (which is easy) or picking out polyphonic parts in a song (which is also mostly easy). It was kinda hard to figure out what the parts did since the harmonies were so close and moved in lock step. First time working with a click track on this song as well. I think it worked pretty well, but it took some getting used to. Bonus points : Thats my dryer on percussion in the background. (He can't keep a beat, but he tries really hard) Less

Starting out with a few appearances at a local open-mic showcase, Bag of Toys has quickly risen up the San Francisco venue circuit by entertaining the masses at venues such as The Independent and Slim’s while sharing the stage with popular acts such as Pato Banton, Sean Kingston, John Cruz, Fishbone, The Expendables, and the B Foundation. Bag of Toys just released their second full-length album July 1st. Entitled “Afternooner,” the album was produced by Andy Zenczak at Gadgetbox Studios in Santa Cruz, mastered by John Cuniberti (Dave Matthews, The Grateful Dead, Aerosmith), and features 13 contagious tracks which not only have the signature sound that made their debut album popular, but also incorporate some new elements such as funk, country, and Latin rhythms. Undeniably, Bag of Toys has invented a sound all their own. Featuring two acoustic guitars, the music offers a relaxed vibe supported by a catchy groove and rock-oriented rhythm section. So sit back, grab a beer, and enjoy the imaginary sand in between your toes because Bag of Toys will take you away to a better place with what the band jokingly refers to as “acoustic surf-rock that doesn’t suck.” If you like tunes along the lines of Slackstring, The Expendables, the Mother Hips, or that one dude who sings fairytales about brushfires, make sure you pick up BoT’s album at iTunes, e-music, Amazon, or CDBaby. DOWNLOAD | SUBSCRIBE Spread It Around: Hide Sites Less

Another song recorded live at the cabin for the album. This was one of the first songs I wrote with the intention of trying to make a country song. We recorded this all live in the same room, so it certainly has a live feel, and by 'a live feel' I mean, the drums and the bass and the guy singing don't always fall exactly in line. I was pretty happy with it at the time, though. My friend Chad Kramer on the bass, Jeff Nicholas on drums, Roger McBride on pedal steel, Bruce Myers on a second acoustic guitar, while I did the usual guitar-vocals-harmonica thing. Less

I've always loved The Great Gatsby - it, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, have some significance here in Minnesota. I tried to get some personal elements into the characters for this. This is just the audio part of the video recording I made for this song. Less

MEFI MUSIC CHALLENGE July Is "John Denver" a genre? If that is too specific, then I hate earnest 70s granola country/folk. All my bags are packed I'm eager to go The food here sucks and your company blows I hate to wake you up to say goodbye I've been up all night Excited to leave Cause in your sight I get dry heaves To stay here one more minute I would die So fuck you and fuck this place No more need to see your face No need to get up, I'll find the door I'm leaving on a jet plane Don't think that I'll be back again Soon I won't be here anymore Less

Desert Music For Airports | OK, strange heading I admit… but a precise one. Tiago Sousa of Portuguese Merzbau Netlabel releases his fourth album “The Western Lands” at Resting Bell and manages to establish himself as the Brian Eno of desert Rock. Textures that flicker like hot air, wishful guitar melodies and desolate folk pickings make up for a unique piece of campfire Ambient. “The Western Lands” is a Folk record. Despite all the processing, Sousa’s guitar-play is what makes up all songs on his album. A handful of simple melodies, some improvisation and a lot of repetition, an trashy amp and the courage to go public with it, Tiago Sousa doesn’t need too much to release a cool album. Weightlessly draped on the infinite howl of a fuzzy guitar, piano and acoustic guitar come together for a beautiful waltz at “The Roads To Western Lands”. It’s stunning to hear the instruments merge, interfere and ab initio build new structures. Imagine Belgian Free Folk-collective Kaboom Karavan in a slightly more traditional arrangement. Focusing on the interplay of noisy, electric guitar and fine unplugged pickings on top, “Waghdas” is another good example for Tiago Sousa’s approach to experimental (Folk) music. With it’s haunting distortion grim, first drone “Can Any Soul Survive (…)” is the one extreme, while calm piano/ guitar ballad “The Valley” shows Tiago from his rather dreamy side. Chapeau Tiago! Make sure to check the excellent liner notes at Resting Bell for some infos about the concept of “The Western Lands” and take a look at the attendant photo session. MP3 Folk Music Download Release Site: Tiago Sousa - “The Western Lands” Netlabel: www.restingbell.net Artist Website: www.merzbau-label.org/tiagosousa Visit Merzbau Netlabel as well Less

Kind of a break from recording and re-recording songs to be played live this year, this is kind of a folksy, reverb and acoustic-heavy, simple and short composition. Harmonizing my vocals is such a bummer lately, since it reveals how limited one's range is... We changed our locks We knew you'd come Sisters or your father Just sifting through the cards You know you're wrong Just sifting through the cards You know you're wrong Less

Quick solo acoustic cover of the My Morning jacket song. I recorded this in under an hour on Saturday afternoon because I hadn't recorded anything in a while. Sometimes it's fun to just bang out a cover rather than try an original and spend your time wondering whether each part of it is rubbish or not. Obviously I can't compete with Jim James vocal-wise, but I don't think there's too much shame in that. Less