Pavement - Stuff Up The Cracks (1994) (@256)

If there were such a category as "most anticipated reunion of 2010", Pavement would have already secured their place at the top. Their first announced show in Central Park was sold out in two minutes! After that, they booked for Coachella (April 2010), for All Tomorrow's Parties (May 2010) and for Roskilde (July 2010), among others. For a group that defined, in both music and attitude, what is considered today as indie, these shows aren't to be missed.
The related upload offers a bunch of live recordings, Peel sessions and rarities, which will definitely satisfy the fans of the group and the newcomers alike. Enjoy!

review link: here

download link: here

Various - The Indestructible Beat of Soweto, Vol. 1 (1985) (@256)

The Vampire Weekend did it again! They made me rave as I did with their first album. These guys are truly admirable. I watch them still being some simple, ordinary lads, although they have succeeded to become massive by reaching no1 of the US albums some weeks ago, by releasing the second brilliant album in a row. Again though, now that they have passed to wider audiences (without deteriorating their sound), I read here and there that "Ah, I didn't like them in the first place" or "they copy african elements" etc. So did the Rolling Stones with Muddy Waters. So fuckin' what. Miserable points of view for a group that it would be wonderful to initiate a row of success for other similar groups.

As for this upload, you will easily understand that it is a core album for Vampire Weekend's sound. This was obviously the core album for Paul Simon's Graceland which was uploaded earlier in this blog, while presenting the first V.W. album. All in all, do not miss the chance to listen to a compilation that will drive you directly to valuable, enjoyable roots.

review link: here (glidemagazine) and here (rootsworld)

download link: here (mirrorcreator) and here (rapidshare)

Billy Bragg - Talking With The Taxman About Poetry (special reissue bonus edition) (1986/2006) (@256)

This post comes partly as a succession to the previous post, where the 4th track named "Bragg Reshuffle" is indeed an echo of the basic elements that characterise Billy Bragg's music. A beloved figure of the British music scene, he is in a sense my generation's Woody Guthrie.
Always in the front line of political activism, he proved once more his consistency by refusing to pay his taxes unless the excessive bonuses at Royal Bank of Scotland are curbed. Bragg has also set up a campaign called NoBonus4RBS on Facebook to convince the Treasury to use the right of veto over the bank's bonus payments. Bragg wrote: "What I don't understand is why, now that we taxpayers are the majority shareholders of these banks, we seem powerless to curb their excessive bonus culture." You can also view Bragg's article "Why I'm withholding my tax" in Guardian.

review link: here

download link: (original album) here, (bonus material & covers, credits etc.) here (links removed due to a relevant request).