It's Living that Kills Me

Iuno - Nothing. Lately, since my dad has been reading the site, I've been putting together a series of mixes for him. He and my mom like to drive around in their little cars a lot, all through the New England countryside, up and down its coastline. It's sometimes difficult to pick out music for him-- someone who grew up with folk in the 60s, listens to the Red Army's choir quite often and has asked me for a copy of the Dropkick Murhpys album. One might think that he's not picky, but that would be the wrong observation.

So anyway, for a man whom Classical Gas falls into his top 10 singles of all time, I thought maybe I'd run with some traditional trip hop from the Netherlands. Not too far removed from his beloved Enya, Iuno sound like all those other trip hop bands that you knew and loved, they just don't happen to be from Bristol. They recently scored a movie that opened in the Netherlands this week, and you can buy their album here.

the Memory Band - Ploughshares. This happy little tune grows on me the more I listen to it. At first I found myself quite averse -- thinking that it was a demo off some lost Rusted Roots album or something. But now I think it might be a slightly more modern and worldly take on something like Classical Gas. An acoustic guitar, some snaps and claps and a bouncy rhythm providing backing for a quietly harmonizing pair of pipes. There's something festively melancholic about the song, if you understand what I'm trying to say.

I know absolutely nothing about the Memory Band. All I know is that this comes off of the "The Green Man Festival" compilation on Double Snazzy records, whose webstore seems to be malfunctioning at the moment. If anyone knows more about these guys, please let me know in the comments.